Since 1960, the newspaper comic strip The Family Circus has delivered cutesy malapropisms and observations from its cast of adorable kid characters. And for just as long, it’s been relentlessly mocked as cloying and sentimental. But MacArthur Genius Grant-winning cartoonist Lynda Barry is willing to get into fisticuffs with anyone who says a bad word about the strip.

Next to the psychedelic sounds of Jimi Hendrix and Jefferson Airplane, the campy performance by Sha Na Na at Woodstock seems utterly incongruous. Decked out in leather jackets and gold lamé suits, the 12-piece ensemble played amped-up covers of ‘50s and early ‘60s rock ‘n’ roll hits, complete with choreographed dance. Sha Na Na’s inclusion at Woodstock is even stranger given that they didn’t have a record out — and that they were, in fact, a bunch of Ivy League undergrads in an a cappella group.

In 1987 Elaine May’s comedy Ishtar flopped spectacularly at the box office and almost instantly became a sitcom punchline and a popular candidate for worst film ever made. But the truth is, this infamous cinematic turkey actually soars.

How did Yanni, John Tesh, and other unlikely musical superstars become a thing in the 1990s? They discovered an improbable — and ingenious — vehicle to success: the PBS pledge drive.

For kids growing up in the 1990s, Nickelodeon’s Doug was the animated show that represented all the anxieties of adolescent life. In this oral history, the staff behind the scenes talk about creating the show, its most controversial episode, and the show’s enduring legacy.

Mariame Kaba (@prisonculture on Twitter) devotes her life to fighting for the abolition of youth incarceration. She’s also an unexpected aficionado of Hallmark Channel Christmas movies.

In the late ‘60s and early ’70s, a new form of evangelical Christianity spread to a surprising audience: the long-haired hippies of the counterculture — and it become popularly known as the Jesus Movement. Their belief that the end of the world was coming any minute was spread through surprisingly effective pop culture.

How composers of library music — pre-made stock music, offered for relatively low prices — anonymously churned out some of the strangest, funkiest music of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

C.W. McCall had a surprise #1 hit in 1976 with the novelty trucker song "Convoy." Most surprising, though, was that McCall never existed. How a fictional character from a bread commercial, inspired by a real-life trucker rebellion, ended up sparking the ‘70s CB radio craze.