SHARON HORGAN: Whilst it’s lovely to escape when you watch TV and to look at something that’s gorgeous and glorious and aspirational and listen, I love that as well, but I think there’s really nothing better than watching something that reflects how you feel and feeling understood because of that. I think it’s a wonderful thing.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Welcome to We Disrupt This Broadcast. I’m your host, Gabe González. Today we’re talking to a multihyphenate who regularly implodes simplistic depictions of women on screen. She’s got several series under her belt that span a variety of genres, but all hold one crucial theme in common: a hilarious and devastating honesty.
Sharon Horgan is a writer, actress, producer, director, and comedian. She’s best known for creating series like Catastrophe and Shining Vale, as well as creating and starring in the Apple TV+ show, Bad Sisters, which we will be having a very good time diving into today.
Bad Sisters follows five siblings who are brutally honest with and fiercely protective of each other. A bond that’s tested when one of them becomes isolated by her husband. It’s a dark comedy that Horgan’s also called a cautionary tale and Call to action for women who are being separated from the people they love by an abusive relationship. Today, Sharon Horgan is joined by Executive Director of the Center for Media and Social Impact and Executive Producer of We Disrupt This Broadcast, Caty Borum.
We’ll also talk to Oona Metz, a therapist and author that is working to reframe the way we talk about abuse and divorce. Don’t go anywhere. We’ll be right back.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Welcome back. Today we’re talking with Sharon Horgan. Sharon is a prolific and hilarious creator who gets into the nuance of women’s lives in all its messiness, drama, and hilarity. Her series Bad Sisters is now streaming on Apple TV+. Here’s her conversation with Caty Borum.
CATY BORUM: Today we have a really special guest that we’re all pretty excited to talk to.We’re kind of all super fans here at We Disrupt This Broadcast. She is the multihyphenate award-winning creator, writer, actress, comedian, and producer of one million works that gloriously capture women in the trickiest moments of their lives. And to be honest, her show titles really say it all. I’m talking about her beloved dark comedies like Catastrophe, Divorce, Bad Sisters among many others, and she has literally won too many entertainment awards to properly recite on this podcast without taking up all of our time. But among them are Peabody Awards and multiple BAFTA awards. So we’re really honored and very excited to have Sharon Horgan showrunner, creator extraordinaire, join us on the podcast. Welcome Sharon.
SHARON HORGAN: Hi. Thanks for having me.
CATY BORUM: It occurs to us looking at your full body of work that this idea of marriage, institutionally, marriage as the ideal, as the one way to live one’s adult life is so culturally ingrained in American entertainment and certainly in other parts of the world. And what you are doing over and over again is complicating that idea by saying, let’s have a look at what it looks like actually when things are not harmonious or not as harmonious as we’ve been led to believe by this cultural portrait. Is that your intent to complicate the idea of marriage as an institution among other things that you’re doing?
SHARON HORGAN: I suppose for a long time, just historically, comedy was written by groups of men in writers’ rooms, and I guess they were drawing on their experiences, but I think also it was like some sort of escapist, aspirational kind of idea of womanhood or you know, their moms, or, I don’t know, they didn’t feel like– they always felt like in service, you know, to the man. And I think once I got the opportunity to write women, it was just about what made good character stories; and in doing that you kind of find that you’re not focusing on the idea of like, getting a man to make you happy or you know, just sort of getting through life in one piece was the main thing on their agenda.
And then I guess when it came to writing Catastrophe, it was women who were more sort of like, the relationship is the focus. I think for Rob Delaney and I, the specific thing that we kind of went after was in a marriage and how disappointed you are by your partner a lot of the time and the moments that are the most loving are usually the moments that are the least eventful.
I don’t know, I kind of, I. I’m inspired by the women I see around me. I am constantly have an open notebook of things that I think are like stupid, little, intimate, almost banal moments that I think, well, you kind of hope that when an audience hears them, they relate to it, you know, and they connect with it and… whilst it’s lovely to escape when you watch TV and to look at something that’s gorgeous and glorious and aspirational and — listen I love that as well — but I think there’s really nothing better than watching something that reflects how you feel and feeling understood because of that. I think it’s a wonderful thing.
God, I’ve said this so many times, but most people who’ve been in a marriage know what it’s like to want a divorce or to, you know, but not so many people have been through it. And so showing the, showing how difficult it is was really important to me. And as it turns out, it is really difficult. I’ve been through it now.
It’s a nightmare. You know, it’s really, really. It takes up a huge amount of time and it’s heartbreaking and all those things, so I think it’s not like a teaching moment or anything, but I like to show the reality behind every kind of a relationship, whether it’s a divorced one or a married one, or a sibling one, or you know.
CATY BORUM: So I wanna move to Bad Sisters and there’s so many things that we wanna talk to you about with Bad Sisters, but I’d like to start with the abuse, the storyline of the abuse, J.P. as this horrible character. But you know. There’s so many different ways that emotional abuse and intimate relationships can kind of take root and take shape.
So many implications. And in Bad Sisters, you know, we see a kind of step-by-step series of abuses from J.P. to his wife, Grace. But there’s so much subtlety, so you know, it occurs to me, we often say that phrase, “believe women.” And we think that’s an easy one to understand. Yes, “believe women,” but I often think what we’re really saying is “believe women, especially when the man seems charming.”
We know how to believe women when the man is an asshole, you know? But when the man is charming and you can’t quite put your finger on what it is that’s happening, and it occurs to us that the subtlety, and the overt nature of the abuse from J.P. is really creating this very complicated portrait of emotional abuse and what it does to a woman in an intimate relationship. So overall, what were you hoping the audience would get from this particular portrait?
SHARON HORGAN: What we were trying to do was paint a portrait of a man that’s sort of complicated. And you know, ’cause on the one hand we wanted to show that he was certainly viewed from the outside, a sort of standup member of society and a religious man.
And you know, in a lot of ways. Not always, but in a lot of ways a good father and an attractive, on the outside, man. You know, you can see how she fell for him. We wanted to show, you know, that he wasn’t– I mean, when we join them at first, Becca still has a fondness for him; you know, he’s not the enemy of the entire family.
We wanted the abuse to be something that hadn’t been seen on screen before. That’s sort of, the kind of abuse that the coercive control and the financial control and the sort of systematic, isolation and all of that, I think is so invisible for the most part, you know? And even your friends and neighbors are gonna miss it, even within a family, because as close as those sisters are, there’s a shame that comes with finding yourself in a relationship like that; and you protect the perpetrator because in a lot of ways you still love them and you’re hoping you can change things or turn it around.
It felt like something we hadn’t seen on screen before. So it was really important that as much as he was a villain and in some ways like when you’re introduced to him first and almost sort of comedy villain, you had to enjoy spending time with him. You know, this is like 10 episodes and it’s a show that sort of was treading a really fine line sort of tonally.
In some ways it’s a proper caper, you know, and there’s a lot of silliness there and sort of wish fulfillment and you know, there’s a heightened sort of element to some of the attempted murders. But like underneath all of that was this woman who really needed to be saved and who was pushing away the very people who could help her. You know? I mean, that’s a really scary thing.
I think it was just really important to have layers to his character to show that he was not just an out and out villain. That he’s someone who, it started out as a good marriage, that he’s, you know, a person who feels like he’s an outsider in the family and an outsider in that country and the anger built up over time and the person he’s hitting out at is her and eventually his daughter. I think when you sort of see that it’s going to impact her as well, that’s when we felt we had sort of carte blanche to, you know, do what we had to do.
But also it was, it was, it was also important to reveal his crimes and his villainy over time because you have to stay on this journey with them, and you have to root for them to do this terrible thing. And so you have to keep sort of making him worse and revealing more about him despite the kind of fun that you can have with the attempts on his life and how bad those sisters are at murder.
That what we needed underneath all of that was to believe the situation and to root for the sisters, and for there to be a real truthfulness there and honesty. Again, I think it comes back to that all the time. How you paint it has to feel real.
CLIP: Bad Sisters
Your sisters are poison Grace, and they poison your mind. Why do you keep talking about my sisters?
I’m just trying to help fix a problem.
Who are you to fix anything anyway? I mean, you are nothing. You’re a fly on a wall, you’re a shadow. If I turned out that light right now, you wouldn’t even exist. You wanna try it? You want me try that. See what happens. Here we go.
CATY BORUM: Just curious, have you heard from women who are responding to that element of the show to say, “oh, thank you for showing a kind of ostensibly charming man who’s an upstanding citizen?”
SHARON HORGAN: It wasn’t just women who had found themselves in those situations and had never seen that sort of painted in that way on TV before, but also, you know, sisters of women who’ve been in that situation or friends. It’s weird ’cause you’ve got a real sort of dichotomy of feelings because you feel really grateful that you didn’t sort of, get it wrong; because that’s the big fear, you know, that you’re telling a story and it’s not your story. You know, it’s, I mean, it’s not my personal story. You can research and you can sort of read and listen, but at the end of the day, you’re still telling a story that’s incredibly painful and very real for a lot of women.
So there’s a relief in hearing that you’ve done a good job. But I think in a way, that’s why I kind of felt like making the second season was, you know, the right thing to do because it felt like, in a way, TV kind of allows you to have a happy ending and, you know, they’ve held onto this secret and this shame for so long. It’s a difficult thing to get out of.
So I think Grace, when we returned to her in season two, and she finds herself in a situation that she’s so desperately ashamed of, and this is the kind of thing that happens to people who have been in abusive relationships– they’re not suddenly attracting the healthy relationships that they would want to or look for– often they’re incredibly vulnerable and it’s the opposite. So yeah, we kind of, we wanted to show the continuing damage that a relationship like that can do. I mean…
CATY BORUM: Yeah, you know, it would be very incomplete of us if we did not also point out that you are so funny and the characters are funny, and they’re all these little bits that are so funny. I was just rewatching one of the episodes last night and your character on the show, Eva, is running on the treadmill while she’s eating a piece of toast, which is so funny. So, you know, the comedy is such an interesting and fun way to get through some of this darkness, but can you talk about the power of using comedy to tackle these kinds of difficult issues?
SHARON HORGAN: Oh yeah, it is fun to write. I find it very hard not to write in that way, I guess, but for Bad Sisters in particular, it felt impossible to do it without the humor. Sorry, I feel like. You know, there’s absolutely a place for TV that’s very bleak, and I personally am not drawn to it. I feel like life is just not like that. You know, the worst possible times of my life have had me laughing like I’m losing my mind, because you kind of have to do that to get through some of the really brutal times.
CLIP: Bad Sisters
There’s all kinds of ways people can die by accident. All kinds of unfortunate mishaps. I was thinking something at work in industrial accident.
We’re in an open plan architectural firm. What we gonna do? Apricot him to death?
The roof terrace, the fire escape.
Yeah. We’re not doing anything like that. We’re not doing it again. We’re doing it with poison this time, like normal women.
SHARON HORGAN: As a tool, comedy is everything when you’re telling a story, when you’re telling a difficult to tell story, because it just simply makes the dramatic moments more unexpected and shocking; and then it sort of releases the sort of tension within a dramatic moment by allowing an audience to laugh, it’s really impactful. It really delivers the emotional ups and downs you need to tell a real story.
CATY BORUM: We read in the trades that you have a new show in development and all we know about it is that you’re creating a show about a divorcee dealing with your adult son and you know, madness ensues. Is there anything that you can tell us about the show?
SHARON HORGAN: Yeah, I mean, I can tell you a few bits. I think, I mean, madness always ensues. I mean, especially as you get older, that’s one of the fun parts of it. So really the new show is a version of my life, I suppose, where you find yourself in your fifties, no longer in a marriage — it’s, you know, been over a good while — but you’re looking for love, you don’t wanna die alone. And you sort of maybe think this is your last sort of last hurrah. You know?
I mean, that sounds really, I’m sorry, but you know, it’s just the stakes are higher, you know? And yet it’s that time in our lives that is the most difficult because you are part of this sandwiched generation where your kids should be leaving home, but they’re not; and your parents are getting older and you have an enormous amount of responsibility. And yet for this character, this is, you know, what she thinks is her last go at love.
And so yeah, it’s half-hour and it’s inspired by my life, but not my life. And yeah, it’s a mother-son relationship, which I’m really excited about. I have daughters myself, so I’m doing a lot of reading and listening and yeah.
CATY BORUM: We are huge fans as discussed. We just love, in particular, obviously the portrayals of women, midlife women, and moments of life that actually are complicated but can be very triumphant and new and exciting, and we just love the celebration of all the different kinds of women that we get to play with through your vision.
SHARON HORGAN: Well, I will continue to live vicariously. It’s a weird mixture of inspiring characters, but also getting to live out fantasies through those characters. I never get to be more brave or more clever than when I’m talking through someone else, so, yeah.
CATY BORUM: Oh, it’s great. Love that. Well, Sharon Horgan, thank you so much for joining us, and
SHARON HORGAN: thank you for having me.
CATY BORUM: We hope the writer’s room continues to go well.
SHARON HORGAN: Fingers crossed.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Ah, nothing brings a family together like perfecting the art of murdering a villainous man. While it might not be the traditionally heartwarming story of sisterhood we’re used to seeing on TV, there’s a very intentional balance of warmth and ferocity when it comes to the family bonds we see on Bad Sisters.
It gets messy. In a lot of ways, but it also feels brutally honest and very real. Now that we’ve heard how Sharon Horgan leans into comedy to tackle tough topics, Caty joins therapist and author Oona Metz to channel that same approach while talking about the unholiest trifecta: narcissists, gaslighting, and divorce. We’ll be right back.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: We are back with Caty Borum in conversation with Oona Metz, a therapist and author who specializes in women and relationships.
CATY BORUM: We are joined on the podcast today by Oona Metz, a licensed independent clinical social worker and certified group psychotherapist. She works mainly with women and female identifying individuals, helping them through transitional periods from college to the workplace, beginning and ending relationships ,and a lot more. So through this work, Oona has worked pretty intimately with women navigating divorce among other topics, and her forthcoming book titled Unhitched: the Divorce Book for Women will be released in January, 2026. So welcome to the podcast, Oona.
OONA METZ: Thank you so much for having me, Caty. I’m really excited to be here.
CATY BORUM: So let’s just jump right in. We are really interested in the show Bad Sisters. What struck us as particularly quote unquote disruptive in the show is the way that the writers deal with the topic of emotional abuse and control in what we would call the toxic marriage of characters named J.P. the husband and Grace, his wife.
We’re so accustomed to seeing, you know, abuse with a big A as kind of big and obvious and physical with a kind of obviously monstrous man, right? But this does not cover the spectrum of abusive or controlling relationships; and so we wanted to know what were your kind of initial thoughts when you discovered the show and kind of got into that particular storyline about this kind of hidden emotional abuse?
OONA METZ: Absolutely. First thing I would say is I just love the series Bad Sisters. It’s so compelling and it’s such a great story, and very empowering for women. But I think what we often see depicted as abuse is maybe a drunk guy, pulling up to kind of a rundown house, getting out of his pickup truck and going in and smacking his wife around, right?
So there’s a certain class that is portrayed there, a certain way that abuse happens, that it’s just physical; and yet emotional abuse –or what we now are calling coercive control — is very commonplace; and like physical abuse, it takes place in any kind of income group, any kind of educational group. So people of all classes, of all educational levels are experiencing it.
And I think one of the wonderful things about Bad Sisters is it does a really nice job of portraying all the little subtle ways in which coercive control can manifest. The producer did such a good job of showing him as he never lost his temper. That in itself is a kind of crazy making. Right? To have somebody who is so manipulative that he’s just gonna talk to you as if everything is completely fine, but really he is a very strategically evil man. Right? He’s not ranting and raving, so you can’t point at him and say, you’re a crazy man. I’m just speaking like this. It’s, everything’s fine.
CATY BORUM: Yeah. And I imagine, you know, in the sort of real practice of counseling women who are in similar relationships, that part of their thinking probably is, “but if I leave, no one will believe me.”
OONA METZ: That’s right.
CATY BORUM: Everyone thinks he’s a good guy and what’s gonna become of me?
OONA METZ: Oh yeah, absolutely. I think one of the things that’s so hard about either being in an abusive relationship or even really going through divorce is feeling all alone, feeling isolated and feeling crazy, and one of the aspects of coercive control, it’s designed to make the other person feel crazy, right?
That’s part of the strategy of the control is to gaslight somebody into making them feel like they’re overreacting, they didn’t hear it right. You know, their feelings aren’t correct. Any of that. Right. They can’t take a joke, you know, give me a break. And so I think having any kind of portrayals in the media of more real people who are going through real things is incredibly important because I think then people can watch that show and say, “Oh, I felt that way too.”
And that’s one of the beautiful things that happens in the support groups that I run as well, is that people sometimes will verbalize something that somebody else feels. And so they can say, “oh my God, I never thought of it that way, but that’s exactly how I feel.” And that in and of itself, that level of being able to verbalize something or not feeling alone, that is healing.
CATY BORUM: We know what Grace decides to actually do in the show, but do you think there’s a world where Grace could have left J.P.?
OONA METZ: She was so weak and she was so emotionally battered down that it would be hard to picture her being able to leave him. She did have really good support from her sisters, but I think she could have left him, and I have seen women in similar situations leave their spouses.
But J.P. would have taken it, if she left him — he would’ve been so threatened and humiliated by that — that he would’ve made her life an absolute living hell. So he would’ve gotten the best lawyers, he would’ve used the legal system against her over and over again. He is a man who really did not like being humiliated, and whenever he felt a slight whiff of humiliation or humiliation, kind of, came in his direction, he would immediately attack.
And we saw that in those episodes where he could not perform sexually and he became enraged, right? One time when he couldn’t perform sexually, he called Grace cheap. Right? He would then go after her and blame her for his medical issue.
Right? Nothing necessarily to be ashamed of, but certainly this big virile man, you know, was so ashamed and so I think within a divorce he would take that as such a narcissistic injury to himself, like, “how could you leave me? “Right? And he would’ve made it, I think very difficult.
I think the further she got away from him, the stronger she would get. And that’s what I see in my practice all the time is like the more separation that happens from the perpetrator, the more kind of the air can clear, the mind can clear; women can begin to really understand and have perspective about what happened, and then start to really build boundaries and self-esteem.
Ultimately, she could have been okay if she left, but I think it would’ve been a long drawn out process, and it would’ve been very difficult.
CATY BORUM: I have been riveted by the statistic over the last several years that says that 70% of divorces are initiated by women. To me, that’s a great marker of women’s economic liberation, their professional ascendence, like all of these traits, but it’s really what we’re talking about is women who say, I am worth more and my life is worth more.
And yet, culturally. We don’t treat it like that, do we? So I’m wondering if you think, is that part of why women stay longer than they should in something that might be like the Grace relationship?
OONA METZ: I think women stay for a lot of reasons. I think you’re absolutely right that women economically now are much better able to leave than they were, say in the fifties or sixties or even the seventies. Right? They’re economically, we’ve really almost caught up to men, not quite. But almost.
And I think the problem is that men have not caught up to being equal partners in the marriage. And so there is this kind of deference that happens, but I think there’s a big difference between when you leave a marriage and when you end a marriage; and I’ll tell you what I see all the time in my practice — is I see in straight couples oftentimes the man has left the marriage in some way through infidelity, through financial abuse, through passivity, through coercive control, kind of left the vows — the initial wedding vows, and the agreements, the marital agreements that the couple had — and he’s left marriage; but he’s sitting on the couch because marriage is good for him. Right? And so he’s still there, but he’s not participating in an equal partnership.
And so what I see is that women try and try and try to make that relationship better. And once they get to a point where they can’t anymore, they finally have to give up, that’s when they finally end the marriage. Right? They have to do the work to end it, even though they would like it to get better. So that’s what I’ve seen in my practice.
CATY BORUM: So thinking a little bit, super big picture here, Oona, you know, the norms and the model of heterosexual marriage is still, you know, if you think about it, one of the hardest places to kind of eradicate the patriarchy, right? So that you can be pro-marriage and pro-love and pro-relationship, and also be able to recognize that the institution of marriage was based on the church, patriarchy and capitalism, right? And so how can we bring more kind of feminist ideals to marriage or egalitarian norms and expectations to an institution that really has changed dramatically, and yet we still have these kind of patterns?
OONA METZ: I think one of the things we really need to focus on is helping younger men to understand what goes into a functioning marriage. There’s so much right now that is being written and researched about the unequal parenting and household labor load. I was just reading an article last night about women doing twice as much work, even when they’re working full-time as men in the house, when they have kids. And as we were talking about before, you know, women have made great strides economically.
And I think we need to really focus and I think it’s all of us. But I hope that men would really help to focus on bringing younger men up in a way in which they understand that women can’t be the default caretakers. That men who are taking care of their kids are not babysitting their children, right? They’re taking care of their children because they are their fathers. That’s one thing we can do.
I’m very worried about this push right now that’s happening. In a lot of red states to limit no fault divorce. So if no fault divorce goes away, people would need to prove a reason why they wanna get divorced. In the example of coercive control, it’s very hard to prove that, right?
What, like if we look at Grace’s example. What is she gonna do? Was she gonna come to the court and say, well, this one time he gave me champagne, and then he wouldn’t let me drive? What’s the judge gonna say? They’re not gonna say, oh, well that’s clearly abuse. Your, you know, divorce is granted, I mean, J.P. was so strategic and subtle and manipulative in his ongoing control of her, but very, very, very few of those things would be kind of provable in court. Right?
And so if no fault divorce goes away, I mean, basically what’s gonna happen is that women are gonna die. They’re gonna be in abusive situations that they can’t get out of. They’re gonna have to stay and it’s gonna be very dangerous for them to leave. It’s already dangerous for women to leave, but if they have to prove that they have been in a coercive controlling relationship, they’re gonna be in much more danger. So I’m worried about that.
CATY BORUM: So how can, in the sort of big cultural conversation, which includes media of course, how can interrogating and reframing the idea of divorce in society actually lead to healthier relationships and marriages? If we can be more open and celebratory even in saying that when you leave something toxic, everyone’s going to be better.
OONA METZ: I think we still have a long way to go on that. I mean, I think it is important that we’re talking about that the old research on kids and divorce said that divorce is bad for kids. The new research now says that it’s not divorce that’s bad for kids. It’s conflict that’s bad for kids. And so if kids are living in an ongoing conflict, that’s bad for them.
There could be divorces that are very conflictual. Usually those divorces are short term divorces, right? They don’t last forever. They don’t last as long as a long-term marriage. And so that’s one thing that can help reframe is like continuing to get the information out there about how damaging it is for kids to live in constant conflict.
I’m pro marriage as long as it works. As long as both people can be happy. And that doesn’t mean you’re happy every minute of every day, right? But as long as overall you’re really respecting each other, you still like each other and it’s going well, and if it’s not, then what I have seen is that incredible transformations can happen when people get divorced.
Going through a divorce is always so hard, so stressful, so uncertain. It’s an awful situation to go through, and what I’ve seen from the women that I’ve worked with is that it can be incredibly transformative and people can, on the other side feel so much better and so much more stronger, empowered and have different kinds of relationships afterwards.
CATY BORUM: Yeah. Including a very honest relationship with themselves. I’m sure you’ve seen that transformation.
OONA METZ: Yes. The transformation with self is enormous. If people do the work right, if people do the work of the divorce.
CATY BORUM: In this broad topic of women’s stories and their intimate backstage lives, what are some final thoughts or points that you would want to make about any of that?
OONA METZ: Yeah, I mean, I think one thing that I just really wanna say is to any listener who’s out there that might be experiencing any kind of intimate partner violence, domestic violence, coercive control, I wanna say to you that there is help available, and one of the very best ways to get help is the domestic violence hotline, the number to the hotline is 1-800-799-7233. Or you could text the word “begin” to 88788. So that’s one thing that I really wanna say, that there is help available and people don’t have to live forever in an abusive relationship. Really important to make a safety plan if you’re gonna leave, but you don’t have to live that way forever.
CATY BORUM: Yeah. Thank you for that, Oona. I guess what gives you hope, Oona? Let’s end on that. What makes you feel hopeful in all of your work with women?
OONA METZ: I actually feel hopeful every day because what I see in my practice is I see women connecting to each other in a very deep way. They’re very honest. I think women are wired to connect. I think they’re eager to connect and I think they have the skills to connect, and I think that connection brings healing. And so I see that every single day in my practice, and that’s what keeps me going. And what makes me feel like I love my work so much is because I get to see strength and empowerment and connection right in front of my eyes every single day.
CATY BORUM: Well, thank you so much for joining us, Oona. This has been really, really illuminating and it’s so interesting to also learn that you’re kind of a super fan of the show. That’s amazing.
OONA METZ: Oh, I love that show. I love it.
CATY BORUM: Yeah. I think Sharon will be delighted listening to you talk about what it means to your practice and to the work that you do, so thank you.
OONA METZ: Thank you so much for having me on. It was such a delight talking to you today. Really appreciate you reaching out and shedding light on this important subject.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Thanks again to Caty for chatting with Sharon Horgan and Oona Metz on today’s episode. One of the most resounding takeaways today seems to be how even though Bad Sisters is a comedy — through its sometimes painful and sometimes darkly funny portrayal of abuse– it uncovers a truth most television glosses over. Abuse doesn’t always look like a screaming drunk spouse or a creepy boyfriend with a gun, sometimes abuse happens slowly; so slowly you might convince yourself what’s happening isn’t abuse at all. Breaking the cycle of control and coercion starts with community. Whether it’s a hotline like Oona Metz mentioned, or the sisters who will always have your back, as Sharon Horgan depicts in her series. Abusers will always try to isolate the people they target, but connecting with folks who will love you, support you, and especially laugh with you, no matter how dark it gets, can be the greatest tool against them.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: Because the Peabodys are decided unanimously, every episode I bring you the quote that we chose unanimously as our most disruptive moment. Behold:
SHARON HORGAN: I mean, madness always ensues. I mean, especially as you get older. That’s one of the fun parts of it.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: That’s it for this week. Please join us next time when our guest will be Amber Sealey. Writer and director of the heartwarming Peabody Award-winning movie Out of My Mind.
AMBER SEALEY: We as a society are multifaceted, multi-layered. You know, we come in all shapes and sizes and kinds, and children who learn differently. My belief is that they should not be put in separate classrooms. I think we all learn better when we learn together, regardless of what our learning style is. I think it’s just to not be afraid of difference. You know that if you see somebody who’s different from you, don’t be afraid.
GABE GONZÁLEZ: We Disrupt This Broadcast is a Peabody and Center for Media and Social Impact production hosted by me, Gabe González, with on air contributions from Caty Borum and Jeffrey Jones. The show is brought to you by executive producers, Caty Borum, Jeffrey Jones, and Bethany Hall. Producer Jordana Jason. Writers: Sasha Stewart, Jordana Jason, Bethany Hall, Jennifer Keishin Armstrong, and myself, Gabe González. Consulting producer: Jennifer Keishin Armstrong. Associate producer, Bella Green. Graphic designer: Olivia Klaus. Operations producer: Varsha Ramani. The marketing and communications team: Christine Dreyer and Tunishia Singleton. From PRX: the team is Terrence Bernardo, Jennie Cataldo, Edwin Ochoa and Amber Walker. The executive producer of PRX Productions is Jocelyn Gonzales.