It’s been another challenging year of the pandemic, and families across the nation are trying to figure out how to be together for the holidays. For some, this is hard. Really hard.
Welcome to Problems, a series about comfortable, upper middle class people who have a lot to complain about. This year, sisters Andrea and Amanda have managed to get to their childhood home in Massachusetts to spend Christmas with their parents, but sister Pam and her daughter River are unable to get there. This is disappointing, and challenging.
On Christmas Eve, the sisters get together for a zoom call, and to share their yearly tradition of New Years Noticings.
Credits
Sarah Miller is a writer in Nevada City, California. Here is her biomass article in the New Yorker and here is her substack.
Amelia Meath is one half of the band Sylvan Esso, which has been nominated for a Grammy for best electronic/dance album. They will win if I have anything to say about it. Which I don’t. But they will.
Sedsel is my son Henry’s sister and she lives on a small farm in a place that is hard to get to. Thanks to her mother Stacey for coaching her on some spectacular whining.
Sedsel and chicken
OMG these are always so funny. I listened to this one twice in a row and was still laughing out loud by the end.
Totally cringe-worthy! My family has its share of dysfunction but these sisters are reaching for the gold!
“white men”, “famous writer”, “anti-vax”, “cheering for hitler”. Lots of words but not a lot of sibling empathy. Maybe once a year is maybe too much…
Omg this is gold!
Thanks Jeanette, and welcome to the club of about 7 people who like the awful sisters shows! I am one of the 7 and now you are too! Awful Sisters Forever.
This is the first thing i listened to on this website and i didn’t know it was fiction, and i was horrified.
Yeah. It’s horrifying. Most people hate the Awful Sisters but I can’t stop making these shows at Christmas. It’s not at all indicative of what I make, but I have a special place in my heart for the awful sisters. Welcome!
Ok so I don’t get this podcast yet. Some fiction? Some documentary? I’m still learning and I can’t get used to it. Listening to this Xmas episode I wanted to jump in front of a bus for all the sisters. Truly horrible. Then credits rolled? Ugh. I have 10 siblings and we have handled the pandemic with almost flawless compassion and respect for one another with one giant exception. In a few minutes this drama had more pathology than my family has displayed in the last 20 years. But it was fake? Ok. So sometimes it was supposed to be funny. I’ll try listening to a few more but if I have to Google Finn Rooney to see if he’s real it’s a problem for me. Was the dairy farmer real? Anyway those are the episodes I’ve listened to plus the defenders, which I hope was
was real cause I bought all of it as real.
Hi Mark, yeah. The only ones that aren’t ‘real’ are the Marriage during Covid show, the Christmas sisters and the Problems series. They piss some people off, but I love making them. Finn is most certainly…real. And the farmer, Forrest Foster, is as real as they come. Cheers….E
Was binging the podcast and ran into awful sisters by mistake. I thought it was real, and hilarious. I immediately sent it to my sister and sisterish-cousin, they also thought it was hilarious. But without context of the podcast, knew it was satire off the bat. We all still enjoyed it, and went to find the 2020 version and enjoyed that one too. Can’t wait for 2022 Christmas.
Welcome Tasha to the club of about five people who don’t hate the Awful Sisters Christmas Series!!!! I love the awful sisters and I will make these shows til the end of time…for the five of us who like it!
e