What are parents obsessing about right now? At Nicole's house, it's everything about the going-to-college process, from applying to deciding to (of course) paying for it.

Complaining about jury duty is a perennial topic, but we've managed to find a new, parenting-related twist on it. Would you make the same decision Terri's making? (And would you feel guilty if you did?)

On our entertainment-themed Round 2, we meet some new characters on The West Wing (thanks for the spoiler, opening credits). And on The Good Place, it's yet another new place along with a new face (Nicole Byer from Nailed It). Next week, we'll watch West Wing's "The Hubbert Peak" and Good Place's "Chidi Sees the Time-Knife."

An incident at Catherine's daughter's high school got us talking about talking: As in, when parents gossip about what's going on at school without knowing what's actually going on. A bad idea? Yes. Kind of fun? Also yes.

On this week's Round 5, our shout-outs: Nicole is listening to an Australian true-crime podcast called Teacher's Pet, which prompted Terri and Catherine to mention Serial's first season and The Blotter Presents. Terri's also sharing what's in her ears lately: her Apple Music "On Repeat" playlist, which you can check out if you're on that service. Finally, Catherine recommends the Social Print Studio photo-a-day calendar (which she discovered via John and Sherry at Young House Love). It's perfect for downsizing grandparents, as long as they can be ruthless enough to recycle those daily pics. And if you want to make yourself a quote-of-the-day calendar from Parenting Roundabout, we endorse that idea! And a special shout-out to Jon Morin for our fun in-and-out music, which you hear every day of the week. Thanks, Jon!

On today's Round 4, calendars and planners: every parent needs one (or several), and if we could only find the perfect one, everything would just fall into place, right? We do have some specific ideas for all the planner-makers out there.

Wednesdays are complaint day on Parenting Roundabout, and this week's subject is car trips with kids. So much to not like: arguments over the stereo system, bringing waya too much stuff, the entire state of Indiana.

On today's Round 2, two very different roles for Allison Janney: On The West Wing's "Third-Day Story," she's competent press secretary CJ Cregg, and her life is about to change in a big way. And in the 1996 movie Big Night, she's a competent florist who gets to eat a lot of really delicious-looking food. Next week, we'll watch West Wing's "Liftoff" and return to The Good Place for "The Book of Dougs."

Happy New Year, and welcome to a new format for Parenting Roundabout! Instead of a lengthy group chat every Monday and mini-episodes the rest of the week, we'll bring you a short segment every Monday through Friday covering, as usual, the things parents are talking about, complaining about, and obsessing about right now.

Round 1 on Mondays will be our "talking about" segment. Today, we scan Amazon's lists for best-selling and most-wished-for parenting books (or should we say "parenting?!" books) to see if there's anything we've read, anything we'd want to read, and most importantly, anything written by Terri or Nicole. No? C'mon, Amazon!