What happens when a Real Housewives editor decides to kill off the Housewives himself? Timothy Hedden has spent 25 years behind the scenes of reality TV, cutting Real Housewives of Atlanta, New Jersey, and Potomac, plus Mob Wives. Now he's channeled all of it into his debut novel, Dead Housewives of Philadelphia, a campy, dark-comedy murder mystery out today. And this is his very first podcast interview.

Timothy's path to the edit bay was anything but direct: a would-be actor kicked off the set of Law & Order, a fur salesman at Saks Fifth Avenue, a stand-up comic, and a 38-year-old production assistant at the Food Network before working his way from audience coordinator to editor. He opens up to Zach about meeting the Housewives, why the shows have become so formulaic, and why the women on screen are far more than the characters they play.

He also shares, with remarkable candor, his life as a long-term HIV survivor: diagnosed in 1988, a drug trial that saved his life, the moment he told his mother, and why a run-in with a young guy at Pride pushed him to write his award-winning essay The AIDS Dinosaur.

In this episode:

• 25 years in reality TV and meeting Kenya Moore, Phaedra, Teresa, Dolores, and more
• Why Dolores is the inspiration for one of the book's characters
• Mob Wives, Big Ang, and the night Timothy and his husband ended up on camera
• From Food Network PA to Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to Housewives editor
• The prime-time shoot that made him quit producing
• Meeting his husband of 20 years after a dramatic gym transformation
• Writing as a dyslexic author, and his first novel that almost got published
• Living with HIV since the '80s and the life insurance policy he bought to cover his own funeral
• The drug trial at Rockefeller University that saved his life
• PrEP, condoms, and what younger gay men don't understand about the epidemic
• Inside Dead Housewives of Philadelphia: Bailey, Skylar, a séance, and a ratings stunt gone wrong
• His dream cast, and why Kenya Moore should play Erin
• Running into Andy Cohen after a week of editing his footage
• Why reality stars are real people, and why we all need a page-turner right now

Links:

• Dead Housewives of Philadelphia: https://deadhousewives.com/
  Timothy Hedden: https://www.instagram.com/heddenwrites/
  https://heddenwrites.com/

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

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In this solo This Is Everything episode, Zach Randles-Friedman takes on the exhaustion so many people are feeling right now. He talks about doom scrolling and a news cycle that feels like a horror show. He covers a job market where AI-polished applications flood every listing, grocery prices that jumped his weekly Instacart order from $200 to $312, and a McDonald's hot fudge sundae that now costs $6.99 on DoorDash. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Zach reacts to Senator Tuberville's "furry pilots" claims, to rhetoric targeting trans people, and to calls for violence against queer people. He also explains why he believes the November midterms matter so much. Through it all, he finds signs of hope: strangers being a little kinder, a TikTok plant auction that brings him joy, and the comfort of good friends. He closes with simple ways to feel better, including limiting screen time, volunteering, FaceTiming with a heads-up, sending voice notes, guarding your social battery, and getting help when you need it. It's a candid reminder that if you're in a funk, you're not alone. Intro music by Six Foot Five.

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

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What do people really think when no one is watching? Startup founder Kiko Zang joins Zach to talk about the gap between how we perform online and what we actually believe, and why she's betting $3.6 million on closing it.

Born in China and sent to an all-girls boarding school in small-town New Zealand at just 12, Kiko grew up as one of only a handful of Asian people in town. She opens up about the questions, the exclusion, and the moments of outright hostility that shaped her, including a story she's never shared publicly before. From there, her path winds through jazz conservatory, USC, the H-1B lottery, seven years in Shanghai, and a year and a half in Singapore.

Now she's building Chomp, an app that asks you what you think and what you think everyone else thinks. The results are often surprising: Zach guesses wrong on both questions Kiko puts to him live on the show.

In this episode:

• Growing up Chinese in a town of 50,000 on New Zealand's South Island
• Why her parents sent her abroad, and why she's not mad about it
• Racism, ignorance, and becoming "prickly" as protection
• Why "being different" may be the most universal experience there is
• Zach on once wishing he were straight, and why he'd never trade it now
• How social media rewards people for pretending to be authentic
• The perception-versus-reality gap, and how algorithms make the world seem more extreme than it is
• Would you cheat for $100,000? The surprising Chomp answer
• Saying "I love you" in the first month: red flag or green flag? 93% say green
• The couple who hit a 100-day streak answering Chomp questions together
• Why brand partnerships hurt user enthusiasm
• Kiko's bigger vision: a more honest internet and AI that understands lived experience
• Texting after a first date, and whether phone calls are now a "what the f—" moment
• Why Kiko held her wedding in New Zealand

Links:

• Chomp: https://chomp.fyi/
• https://apps.apple.com/us/app/chomp-can-you-read-the-room/id6758931572
• Follow Kiko: https://www.instagram.com/kikochomps/
• 500 users to receive 1 month free https://apps.apple.com/redeem?ctx=offercodes&id=6758931572&code=EVERYTHINGCHOMPS

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

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and Facebook and finds thousands of unread DMs waiting for him. After wading through the Nigerian princes, SEO pitches, and spam, he pulls out the real ones and reads them on air, Jimmy Kimmel mean-tweets style, except not all of them are mean.

In this episode:

• Why Zach ignores most comments, and the one thing that always gets a clapback (anyone coming for trans people)
• A listener who has walked 600 miles and lost 11 pounds to the show after a bad breakup
• The commuter who missed an exit, drove 11 extra miles, and blamed "traffic"
• A 24-year-old's "not flirtatious" career inquiry, and Zach's honest advice on starting a podcast
• A 58-year-old who came out to their kids in January and just wanted someone to know
• Listening in a truck with the windows up in a town of 3,000: why it feels like somewhere to go
• The first thing one listener could get through after losing their mom
• Five-point "constructive feedback" that's really a backhanded love letter
• A testosterone supplement pitch from someone who isn't sure the show is what he thought it was
• Shout-out to Six Foot Five, the artist behind the intro music
• A listener who disagrees with everything Zach believes but keeps listening because he sounds like their Uncle Ray
• Will there ever be a co-host again? (No.) An in-person show? (Maybe, Oprah, call him.)
• "The call is coming from inside the condo," the comment that roasted Zach's gay voice episode
• Why Zach covers transgender news so often, and why every part of the LGBTQ+ community should care

Have a question? Email Zach at zach@everythingandanythingpodcast.com. Comments can still go to the DMs; he'll get to them eventually.

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

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What happens when a surgical device inventor and serial entrepreneur discovers she can "see" inside the human body from across the world? Zach sits down with Julie Ryan — medical intuitive, psychic medium, author of eight books, and host of the Ask Julie Ryan show — for a wide-ranging conversation about what she calls "the buffet of psychicness."

Julie shares how a birthday gift of Caroline Myss's Anatomy of the Spirit sent her on a 30-year journey from hospital supply sales rep to one of the most recognized intuitive healers working today. She explains how she scans people energetically (with permission, always), why she believes nobody ever heals anybody else, and how a jar of Dippity-Do became one of her favorite healing analogies.

The conversation moves into end-of-life experiences and her "12 phases of transition," the reason her book Angelic Attendance is now handed out by churches, hospices, and military chaplains, and her belief that nobody ever dies alone. Zach opens up about his late mother-in-law, Irene, and the quarters that keep appearing — and Julie offers a meaning he didn't expect.

They also get into past lives (including Julie's own lifetime during the Irish potato famine), how she handles skeptics, her take on TV mediums who read strangers uninvited, and her simple first step for anyone who wants to start developing their own intuition.

Connect with Julie Ryan:

• Website, free copy of Angelic Attendance, and workshop registration: https://askjulieryan.com/
• Socials: @AskJulieRyan on all platforms
• Ask Julie Ryan live call-in show: Thursdays at 8 pm ET

Connect with Zach:

• everythingandanythingpodcast.com
• @TheRealZachRE on all platforms

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this solo episode, Zach talks about something most of us hit eventually: the moment you just stop caring what people think. For him, it clicked at 50. Now 53, he's still cutting people out, or at least putting them "on pause." He gets candid about the second half of life and the things nobody warns you about, from a surprise frozen shoulder diagnosis to the role reversal of caring for aging parents.

Zach also takes on friendship: why the friends you've had since sixth grade are forever, why some newer ones wouldn't make the cut if you met them today, and how to tell a normal rough patch from a friendship that's all take and no give. Then he turns to modern dating. He explains why he'd never want to be single today and reacts to news that a gay dating app promising "verified" profiles was found to have a big chunk of AI accounts. He closes with the growing wave of midlife professionals walking away from corporate burnout, and his own decision about whether to go back.

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

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At 25, Vinney Tolman was found dead on the floor of a Dairy Queen bathroom. Medics pronounced him dead, zipped him into a body bag, and loaded him into an ambulance. Then a rookie medic in the back of that ambulance got a feeling he couldn't ignore.

In this episode, Zach talks with Vinney, author of The Light After Death: My Journey to Heaven and Back, about watching his own death without realizing it was him, the life review that showed him every harm he'd caused from the other person's side, and his three days in heaven with a guide named Drake, who turned out to be his great-great-great grandfather. Vinney also talks about the childhood abuse that shaped him, why he now calls Earth "grad school," the 10 principles Drake taught him, and what it was like to finally sit across a lunch table from the medic who brought him back.

Content note: this episode includes discussion of drug use, overdose, and childhood physical and sexual abuse.

The 10 principles Drake taught Vinney

Authenticity
Life's purpose is to learn and grow
Love is the most powerful force on Earth
The voice of intuition inside your heart
Use technology responsibly
Hating prejudiced people makes you prejudiced
Your thoughts are your magic wands
Conquer negative energy by loving and releasing it
There is purpose in evil
We're all fingers on the Creator's hand

Links

Living God's Light: https://livinggodslight.org/
The Light After Death: My Journey to Heaven and Back: thelightafterdeath.com

If this episode moved you, share it with someone who needs it and leave a rating or review.

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

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Fighting for Their Lives: Jenn Garofolo on Mental Health & Raising a Trans Son

Fellow Bostonian Jenn Garofolo joins Zach to talk about her book Fighting for Their Lives, a mother's account of two separate but overlapping journeys: her son Daniel's severe mental health struggles, which began when he was a toddler, and his coming out as nonbinary and then as a transgender young man at 11.

Jenn has an Ivy League education, two master's degrees and a career in biotech, and it still took her a decade to navigate the mental health system for her child. She talks candidly about the early signs everyone wrote off as the "terrible twos," the judgment from her own parents that led to their estrangement, and the devastation of leaving her eight-year-old at a locked psychiatric unit. Then she shares how Daniel came out to her by text on a family vacation, why finding an affirming therapist was its own battle, and why, compared to everything before it, the trans journey was the easier one.

Zach and Jenn also get into her husband Craig's unwavering support, how the family's crises affected Daniel's younger siblings, the difference between gender dysphoria and body dysmorphia, the importance of found family and LGBTQ+ elders, and her decision to publish despite fears for her son's safety in today's anti-trans climate.

About Jenn Garofolo:
Jenn Garofolo, MPH, MBA, is an author, advocate, speaker and consultant with more than 20 years of experience leading healthcare access strategy. She sits on the board of the Boston Gay Men's Chorus and mentors families navigating mental health and LGBTQ+ journeys.

Links:

Get Fighting for Their Lives: [BOOK LINK]
Jenn's website: jenngarofolo.com
Follow Zach: @TheRealZachRE
More episodes: everythingandanythingpodcast.com
Daily LGBTQ+ news: Listen Up Girl, listenupgirl.com

Content note: This episode includes discussion of child suicidality and psychiatric hospitalization. If you or someone you love is struggling, call or text 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). LGBTQ+ young people can reach The Trevor Project at thetrevorproject.org.

Podcast song by SIXFOOT 5: https://www.sixfoot5prod.com

Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sixfoot-5/1551774977

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/5rHMzoU0G0fLhaBsrQiOOY?si=laSZ5hiKTYubJJyhrzf2JQ

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.