How 'Love Story'—and the Kennedys—Fooled America
Mar 22, 2026 · 49 min · 10 segments
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
- Speakers
- KatieHostCarolineHost
Mar 22, 2026 · 49 min · 10 segments
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.diabolicalliespod.com
What did I think about it? How much did you watch? I watched just under four episodes.
Okay.
So I watched three to four episodes.
Perfect.
What did I think? I think a lot of money went into this show, very obviously.
It's very slick.
I, like, was filling my Notes app with all these little notes about, like, the show itself and the narrative form, and I think we'll probably get into it at some point.
But I think, like, the banner thing is that it was really impossible for me to take it seriously because of just the bare minimum that I know about the Kennedys.
Like, it was just kind of absurd to me.
Carolyn Bessette is a very interesting character that they really warped in this show.
First and foremost, I think that she has always been a style icon and always had this like very iconic legacy as like a New York it girl.
But all of that was defined by her relative silence.
Like it was by her looks and by her fashion.
And so creating a persona for her was really like, to me, I was like, this kind of ruins it.
So it wasn't for me.
Okay, I love that you brought that up.
Thank God.
Why do we care about her today? I did not know much about the Kennedys before beginning this research, and something that I noticed right away was going to be a challenge for me, and was that because of their role in American culture, the sheer amount of hagiography and myth-making that surrounds them actually makes it very difficult to pull together what feels like a reasonably accurate picture.
I thought this was going to be like a light episode and Katie was like, buckle up, we're going to be recording for seven hours.
I
was like, I have 36 pages single spaced.
The other thing that makes it tough is that they were in the tabloids all the time.
So it's genuinely difficult to know where the game of telephone for particularly sensational tidbits about them even began.
And when I was looking into this, I was like, was JFK like the most profiled president? And it turns out that...
What did I think about it? How much did you watch? I watched just under four episodes.
Okay.
So I watched three to four episodes.
Perfect.
What did I think? I think a lot of money went into this show, very obviously.
It's very slick.
I, like, was filling my Notes app with all these little notes about, like, the show itself and the narrative form, and I think we'll probably get into it at some point.
But I think, like, the banner thing is that it was really impossible for me to take it seriously because of just the bare minimum that I know about the Kennedys.
Like, it was just kind of absurd to me.
Carolyn Bessette is a very interesting character that they really warped in this show.
First and foremost, I think that she has always been a style icon and always had this like very iconic legacy as like a New York it girl.
But all of that was defined by her relative silence.
Like it was by her looks and by her fashion.
And so creating a persona for her was really like, to me, I was like, this kind of ruins it.
So it wasn't for me.
Okay, I love that you brought that up.
Thank God.
Why do we care about her today? I did not know much about the Kennedys before beginning this research, and something that I noticed right away was going to be a challenge for me, and was that because of their role in American culture, the sheer amount of hagiography and myth-making that surrounds them actually makes it very difficult to pull together what feels like a reasonably accurate picture.
I thought this was going to be like a light episode and Katie was like, buckle up, we're going to be recording for seven hours.
I
was like, I have 36 pages single spaced.
The other thing that makes it tough is that they were in the tabloids all the time.
So it's genuinely difficult to know where the game of telephone for particularly sensational tidbits about them even began.
And when I was looking into this, I was like, was JFK like the most profiled president? And it turns out that...
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