JOSIE AND THE PODCATS with Maria Lewis and Blake Howard

Josie and the Podcats is a limited podcast series diving into the history, the production, the music, the legacy, and the fandom surrounding the 2001 cult classic Josie and the Pussycats. From the stars and creators to the obsessive fans, DuJour means this show is a must-listen for all Josie diehards. Hosted by Maria Lewis and produced by Blake Howard.

It has taken nearly 20-years, but after crashing and burning at the box-office, the most unexpected thing starts to happen: Josie And The Pussycats becomes a cult classic. In our final major episode of the show, we speak to EVERYONE - Rachael Leigh Cook, Deborah Kaplan, Harry Elfont, Adam Schlesinger, Bif Naked, Kay Hanley and more - about the movie’s unlikely legacy and hear from musicians who have defined their careers by it.

Everything is seemingly in line for Josie And The Pussycats to become a box-office hit but instead … it bombs. Immediately “dead on arrival”, we speak to writers and directors Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont about that crushing opening weekend but it finds fans in Rachael Leigh Cook, Letters To Cleo’s Kay Hanley, Bif Naked, Alanna Bennett and … Bono?

It's the Josie And The Podcats episode you’ve been waiting for: Soundtrack. To create the sound of Josie And The Pussycats, an eclectic mix of musical maestros get brought in to work on the soundtrack under the direction of Kenny ‘Babyface’ Edmonds. We speak to the voice of Josie herself, Letters To Cleo’s Kay Hanley, writers and directors Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, star Rachael Leigh Cook, back up singer Bif Naked and the late, great Adam Schlesinger from Fountains Of Wayne.

The Josie And The Pussycats movie is officially green lit, with production heading to Vancouver, Canada to shoot. Yet first, the trio of Rachael Leigh Cook, Tara Reid, and Rosario Dawson are going to band camp in Los Angeles to figure out how to be believable music superstars on screen. As for writers and directors Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, they start locking down the rest of their cast including quirky character actors Alan Cumming and Parker Posey.

After going on a historical journey to where the Josie and the Pussycats movie could exist as a commercial entity in the late nineties, now we get into the nitty gritty of development. Writing and directing duo Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont sign on to direct after their hit Can’t Hardly Wait and they put out an offer to Rachael Leigh Cook for the role of Josie. Tara Reid gets locked in as Melody and everyone from Aaliyah, Lisa ‘Left Eye’ Lopes, Beyoncé and Regina King audition for the part of Valerie. Welcome to the second episode of Josie and the Podcats, a six-part limited podcast series all about the 2001 cult classic Josie and the Pussycats.

Welcome to the first episode of Josie and the Podcats, a six-part limited podcast series all about the 2001 cult classic Josie and the Pussycats. This week, we’re looking at Josie’s unlikely history: from a World War II romance to the Civil Rights movement in America during the sixties. A collection of the world’s best Archie Comics and pop culture experts help us break down exactly how we got to the point where the biting, satirical movie Josie and the Pussycats could exist.