Welcome to Episode 01? of Deep In Bear Country! I mean, it must be because we’re just now meeting the Berenstain Bears. Also, all of my episodes have disappeared so this might very well be the beginning. It’s “The Berenstain Bears’ Meet the Berenstain Bears!”
Tag: Grizzly Gran
Episode 453 – The Berenstain Bears’ Big Family Album
Look, Grizzly Gramps could have just INVITED the kids over to look at the Big Family Album and not TRICKED them into looking at the Big Family Album. I’m just sayin’. It’s “The Berenstain Bears’ Big Family Album.”
Episode 452 – The Berenstain Bears Love Is Kind
What can I say? I’m a sucker for straightforward messaging. It’s “The Berenstain Bears Love Is Kind” and it KIND of works!
Episode 441 – The Berenstain Bears Father’s Day Blessings
The Bear Family is all set to honor their fathers and HONER THEIR FATHER by sending Gramps and Papa out on a boat for the day. But, what’s this?! SINGING? Who’d a thought?! Also, the origins of Father’s Day. Also, the INCREDIBLY SAD STORY of the guy who wrote the hymn about the music of the spheres. ALSO, it’s The Berenstain Bears Father’s Day Blessings!
Episode 425 – The Berenstain Bears Gifts of the Spirit ❤️ Politeness
Man oh man, is there anything worse than being forced to sit through a terrible music recital? How about having to be POLITE afterwards? It’s “The Berenstain Bears Gifts of the Spirit ❤️ Politeness!”
Episode 415 – The Berenstain Bears Play Football!
This week, the Berenstain Bears play football in “The Berenstain Bears Play Football.” No kidding!
Episode 412 – The Berenstain Bears Bless Our Gramps and Gran
You ever hear of this Grandparents’ Day? And how does Nixon fit into all of this? It’s “The Berenstain Bears Bless Our Gramps and Gran!”
Episode 385 – The Berenstain Bears’ Graduation Day
This week, Willow joins me to talk about GRADUATION! Whose? Hers! And, the bears. But, they’re not REALLY graduating, are they? It’s “The Berenstain Bears’ Graduation Day!”
Episode 330 – The Berenstain Bears Show Some Respect and…?
“Show some respect for Judge Reinhold! I mean… your parents.” It’s “The Berenstain Bears Show Some Respect” and a SECRET BONUS! Tee hee. I respect you all!
Episode 292 – The Berenstain Bears’ Class Trip!
Life isn’t all bees and poop, but if you listen to this week’s episode, you might think it is! It’s “The Berenstain Bears’ Class Trip!”
Episode 276 – The Berenstain Bears Save Christmas/Old-Fashioned Christmas!
Merrrrrry happy! It’s Christmas Day and I am coming at you with two two two books! First, I’m finishing off my looks at “The Berenstain Bears Save Christmas” and then we’re talking “The Berenstain Bears’ Old-Fashioned Christmas!” Two good books! It’s a Christmas miracle! See you next year!
Episode 272 – The Berenstain Bears’ Thanksgiving Blessings!
The Reverend Lauren McLeavey is back! This week, we’re taking a look at “The Berenstain Bears’ Thanksgiving Blessings” and hoping that it avoids the pitfalls of last week’s – oh, nope… nope. No, it’s just as bad. At least stickers are included?
Episode 271 – The Berenstain Bears Give Thanks!
Ooh, dang. Sometimes you get to a book that really, uh, well, that’s really something. And then you gotta have a guest on to help you with it. The Reverend Lauren McLeavey is back to help me panic my way through an ostensibly religious book about Pilgrims and Mayflowers and turkeys named… turkeys that have a certain name. It’s not good, y’all! It’s “The Berenstain Bears Give Thanks!”
Episode 267 – The Berenstain Bears and the Big Spelling Bee!
This week, I’m all by myself and thinkin’ of BEES! Spelling bees, that is! It’s “The Berenstain Bears and the Big Spelling Bee!”
Episode 265 – The Berenstain Bear Scouts Scream Their Heads Off!
Let’s welcome back to the show the hosts of Kill By Kill, Gena and Patrick as we go exploring a spooky old house atop Spook Hill and maybe, just maybe, learn a little something new about Beartown.
Episode 263 – The Berenstain Bear Scouts and the Ripoff Queen!
This week, we are back with the Bear Scouts; we are back with Raffish Ralph Ripoff; and we are back with a story that doesn’t make a heck of a lot of sense. It’s “The Berenstain Bear Scouts and the Ripoff Queen!” There’s no queens. There’s actually no ripoffs. There is a lot of crime, but it’s mostly committed by our heroes? This is a weird one. And to help me through it, we have a returning guest! Jamie Tyler, cutural critic for Cinapse! Welcome back Jamie!
Episode 221 – The Berenstain Bears and the Family Get Together/The Berenstain Bears Reunion! (1993/2009)
When is a get-together not a get-together? When it’s a reunion! Whether the Bear Family is getting together or reuniting, we’re meeting some new relatives in “The Berenstain Bears’ Family Get Together” and “The Berenstain Bears’ Family Reunion!”
Episode 209 – The Berenstain Bears Say Please and Thank You (1997)!
This week, we talk about “Please” and “Thank you” – the words, the concepts, the social contract. We look at where these ideas came from; what the words mean; and how they hold society together. We also look at what happens when “The Berenstain Bears Say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You!'”
Episode 179 – The Berenstain Bears and the Big Question!
Here on “Deep In Bear Country” we know that I do like to blather on about topics I have no training in, especially religion! But, I’m breaking with tradition this week by inviting onto the show the Reverend Lauren McLeavey!
Lauren and I talk about “The Berenstain Bears and the Big Question” and . . . what is this question. Well, it’s about God. Capital G God. Sister gets all “asky” about the guy and Mama sets her straight by dragging the family to church. Along the way we talk about church architecture, Quakers and seminary. It’s a roller coaster of a talk! Check it out!
Episode 176 – The Berenstain Bears and the Joy of Giving!
And with this, the fourth episode in our Holiday Extravaganza, we *end* our Holiday Extravaganza. And what an ending to go out on “The Berenstain Bears and the Joy of Giving.” This book has it all: pageants, Jesus, presents, malls, Santa, Bearbie. It has everything you could possibly hope for in a Berenstain Bears Christmas book.
And I have everything I could possibly hope for in listeners like you. Merry Holiday everyone!
Episode 173 – The Berenstain Bears and the Nutcracker!
It’s the Season of Giving, the Season of Cheer, the Season of Something, Christmas is Here! And with the Christmas comes the Christmas episodes!
This week, I’m taking a hard look at a hard nut. Or, a hard nutCRACKER! It’s “The Berenstain Bears and the Nutcracker” and I get to the book at about the 25 minute mark. In the meantime, I give a bit of backstory of the tale of the nutcracker itself. Join me join me!
Episode 170 – The Homework Hassle!
We’re back with an ACTUAL BOOK! It’s exciting! You know what else is exciting? Homework. Wrong! It’s Brian Skinner! Brian Skinner is exciting and he’s back on the show to talk about taxes, homework, radio shows, peanut butter and not doing your assignments! It’s a meandering conversation that sometimes comes back around to “The Berenstain Bears and the Homework Hassle!”
Check out Brian and his lovely co-host Josh on their Show Predict-O-Cast!
Episode 157 – The Green-Eyed Monster!
This week! My dear college friend, writer, director, performer, monologist, cartoonist Brad McEntire joins me to talk about “The Berenstain Bears and the Green-Eyed Monster!” And, boy do we ever talk about it! And, a lot of other things!
Check out Brad’s many projects at his website! He always has a dozen things going on.
Episode 153 – The Evil Eye!
When is a book NOT a book? When it’s a sequel to a book YOU’VE NEVER READ! Yes, this week I discover the peril of not knowing which book comes after which as I delve into the second part of an apparent two-parter that isn’t actually that difficult to understand; it’s a book for children. It’s “The Berenstain Bear Scouts and the Evil Eye!”
Joining me to talk about this confounding book is the completely confounded founder of the celebrated Twitter account Best of NextDoor, Jenn Takahashi! Jenn is confused by everything going on, but that’s fine because she has been mentioned in an article in The Atlantic and have the Berenstains? Well, yes actually. They have on a number of occasions. Still, Jenn has been mentioned MOST RECENTLY!
Episode 148 – The Trouble with Grownups!
This week I am joined by not one, not two, not three, but FOUR GUESTS! It’s a veritable ROUND TABLE as I welcome back Elana, Corinna, Andrew and Scott – from Episode 55(!!!) “The Berenstain Bears Get Stage Fright” – to talk about “The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble With Grownups!” And, seeing as how we all have kids and we all do theater, I think we’re more than qualified to discuss a thing or two!
Episode 147 – Go Platinum!
This week, I’m joined by the delightful Drew Stewart to rock out to “The Berenstain Bears Go Platinum!” It’s the gripping tale of Stan and Jan Berenstain really wanting to stick it to the music of today!
Episode 146 – The Big Date
This week, I’m joined by Emily Bennett of Best Acquaintances to talk about the insidious nature of young jealousy! Like, seriously, it’s a pretty solid book that deals with a pretty serious topic for adolescent kids. I know!
Episode 143 – The Magic Crystal Caper
This week, we get mired in ATOMIC MAGIC. Seriously. There is ACTUAL MAGIC in this episode. Or, is it science? Doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I have Megan Sunday from In The Attic here to help me through it. And, man, once Grizzly Gramps starts yelling, things get a bit unhinged.
Episode 141 – The Berenstain Bear Scouts Giant Bat Cave!
Elana and Mitzi are back! Or, are here because they’ve never been on together!And we’re talking “Giant Bat Cave!” It’s a Berenstain Bear Scouts book and may, in fact be the *first Berenstain Bear Scouts book but, then again, maybe it’s not? Also, Elana gets really excited to talk about local politics and then has to settle for talking about bats.
Episode 131 – Too Much Pressure!
My CHILDREN ARE HERE and we’re talking about “The Berenstain Bears and TOO MUCH PRESSURE!” No pressure here, though. We’re cool as cucumbers.
Episode 113 – The Berenstain Bears and the Giddy Grandma!
Welcome to the world of degraded audio! Please bear with this terrible sounding episode, as I flop around trying to talk about “The Giddy Grandma.” Things didn’t work out according to plan, but I think I get my point across.
Also, I have a Patreon page!
Episode 111 – The Berenstain Bears and the Dress Code!
Meghan Griffin of Judging Book Covers and Fableulous Retellings joins me to talk dress codes, law enforcement and a Berenstain Bears book that gets way more political than we were anticipating!
Episode 107 – The Berenstain Bears and the Drug Free Zone!
Joel Torres of the Please Don’t Send Me Into Outer Space podcast joins me to talk about DRUGS! And DRUG ZONES! And BACKWOODS DRUG DISTRIBUTION? It’s a wild weird but pretty nicely done book.
Episode 85 – The Berenstain Bears Are A Family!
Episode 57 – The Berenstain Bears and the Week at Grandma’s!
What happens when cubs go to Grandma’s and spend the whole trip talking to Grandpa? What if they never actually call them “Grandma” and “Grandpa?” I don’t know! But, I do have Joy Riggs on my show to talk about family! And the importance of getting to know your extended family.
Visit Joy’s blog to learn more about her family and her projects. She’s a fantastic writer and well worth checking out. Also, check out her archive of writings at Minnesota Parent – there’s a lot of great stuff there.
You can find our official Facebook page on Facebook. Or, you can yell at me on Twitter. And, please please please rate and review the show on iTunes. Also, we’re on Google Podcasts!