Episode 101

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Published on:

27th Jun 2025

Episode 101 | A Hangout with D.J. MacHale, Creator of AYAOTD — Part II

Tower of Terror stories, the great Disney vs. Nickelodeon debate, and a look at modern horror conventions… Oh lawd, it's about to get pretty dark! Join these ‘90s kids as they continue to pick the brain of DJ MacHale, Co-Creator of Are You Afraid of the Dark, and get his thoughts on everything from his film projects, to his TV show with Lizzie McGuire producer Stan Rogow, to his honest thoughts on Goosebumps! It’s a far-reaching, nostalgic-as-ever episode culminating in some of DJ’s own worst fears… if you’re brave enough to hear ‘em!

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About the Podcast

That's Pretty Dark: An '80s & '90s Nostalgia Podcast

A Frightfully Nostalgic Rewatch of Prime '80s & '90s Entertainment

Here for the '80s & '90s kids who still long for the safe, spooky glow of the TV screen in a dark room, Kalyn Andrews and Christian Baxter Mott take a nostalgic look at the grittier side of the children's entertainment that ruled our adolescence and moulded our generation.

Our show features every-other-weekly discussions ranging from movie nights and season-long binges, to spooky specials of shows and other traumas... (ahem, memories).

So, grab your flashlights and join us as we go searching for and researching what exactly it was that happened to us in the dark all those many moons ago.

Indulge the collective nostalgia and follow us on Instagram and Facebook @thatsprettydarkpodcast. Tell us about your childhood experience, frightful or otherwise, at thatsprettydarkpodcast@gmail.com. Peruse merch options and more at thatsprettydark.com.

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About your hosts

Christian Baxter Mott

Christian has lived his life amidst the storms and Spanish moss of Alabama. Haunted by undiagnosed anxiety and nightmares of the underside of his bed (along with the dread of the thing that lived in his closet), he delved into anything that helped make sense of these constant struggles, whether it be the 'Goosebumps' books in the school library he always chose for the Accelerated Reader program, or watching 'Are You Afraid Of The Dark?' after school as he chomped on freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, ruining his dinner. His love of frightful tales and adventures grew into a lifelong romance with all things spooky, macabre, and whimsical, brewing a yearning to tell as many of these types of stories as possible, whether it be through prose, performance, screenwriting, or podcasting. He currently earns his living doing an assortment of hard-to-explain jobs in the film industry, all while compulsively pursuing his own passions and projects on the side, and dreaming of being independently wealthy...

Kalyn Andrews

Gulf Coast native Kalyn Andrews is a lifelong storyteller, villain-song-enthusiast, and lover of all things spooky and sociological. Raised on a potent cocktail of Disney Channel Original Movies, vacation bible school, and millennial-hope, she is every day finding herself deeper in a spiral of socio-political radicalization, and, thankfully, finally learning how to be a person she likes. In 2017, Kalyn co-wrote and directed her first feature film, Marley, a dark retelling of A Christmas Carol focusing on mental illness and other things that plague her generation. When not hosting the podcast, she writes, produces, and directs film projects, manages public relations and media development for an engineering firm, and tries not to let her crippling existential dread ruin any of those pursuits. It's as exciting as it sounds.
She continues to live in Alabama, for some reason, where you can find her constantly refining nostalgic, emo playlists, binging docuseries, and attending as many pop-punk shows as she possibly can.