Tuesday, January 9, 2018

Tuesday Ten: Podcasts


Ask Me Another:  Game show hosted by Ophira Eisenberg.  Funny stuff and easy to play along. They have celebrity guests, like Rose McGowan, Lili Taylor, Jason Mraz, Rita Dove, etc.
Whine:  They resort to re-runs more than I wish they would.
Status: Current

Criminal:  True crime show hosted by Phoebe Judge.  The episodes are wide-ranging despite all being under the crime umbrella.  Judge has a good voice for podcasting.
Whine:  The eps are a bit on the short side.
Status:  Current  

Deviant Women, Stuff You Missed in History Class:  Women talking about history. The former focuses on nonconformist women (female pirates, for example), while the latter is more wide-ranging (Trail of Tears, Poe's death, etc.).
Whine:  Both annoyed me with their leftist politics.*
Status:  I have moved on from both. See above.   

This American Life:  Wide-ranging radio show (accessible over the internet after it airs) hosted by Ira Glass.  Usually three or four stories in each ep, for a total of about an hour.
Whine:  I don't like the multiple-story format. Or maybe I wish the connections would be stronger.
Status:  Current    

F This Movie!:  Movie podcast hosted by Patrick Bromley.  He has guests, usually one per ep, though sometimes more.  I like that they talk about older movies a lot.  It's a good podcast for movies you've seen, while most movie podcasts seem to be for current movies.
Whine:  My complaints are mostly Bromley-related. So not much I can say without being rude. Though I do wish there was less of a bias toward horror.  
Status:  Current, but selective.       

Welcome to Nightvale:  Fictional podcast starring Cecil Baldwin, who plays a small-town radio host. Various other people play different residents of the town.  It's goofy and unique.  Often funny.
Whine:  It can be tough to follow at times, with so much happening and the intervals between eps. Some of the plot lines are a bit too weird for my taste.
Status:  Current, when I get around to it. 

Pop Culture Happy Hour:  Books, music, movies, television, etc.   So it's about some of my favorite things, at least in theory.  They have multiple hosts, so it's easy to get different perspectives and recommendations.
Whine:  A bit too current for me and my pathetic budget.
Status:  I have moved on, but that's not the podcast's fault.    

Fresh Air:  Mainly an interview show hosted by Terry Gross.  Also has film and music reviews by professional critics. Interviewees have included Bruce Springsteen, John Le Carre, Jimmy Fallon, Amy Tan, Anthony Bourdain, Tom Petty, and HRC.
Whine:  Definitely a leftist bias.  It goes a bit deeper, but it's complicated.    
Status:  Current, but selective.   

Serial:  Investigative journalism podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig.  Season One focused on a murder and the convicted young man's claim that he was innocent.  Season Two was about Bowe Bergdahl's desertion case.
Whine:  They abandoned what I liked about the show when they went form an obscure case I hadn't heard about to one of the most talked-about cases in the country. Also, the break between seasons was very long.
Status:  I decided to skip Season Two when Bergdahl was announced as the topic.  Apparently there are going to be future seasons, so I'll probably check back to see what the topics are.       

Alice Isn't Dead, The Orbiting Human Circus, Within the Wires:  Fictional podcasts affiliated with the Welcome to Nightvale people.  Though not connected to the latter in content.  As with Nightvale, each has a decent amount of creativity and quirkiness.
Whine:  As with Nightvale, these shows are hard to follow.
Status:  I have moved on from the latter two.  I haven't officially moved on from Alice, but I haven't listened to it in a long while.  

*  Yes, I'm aware that leftist bias can describe most of these podcasts.  But with these two, I believe it crossed the line.  

2 comments:

  1. I don't know any of these but what you might term leftist, I might say Liberal:)

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    1. Generally speaking, I don't consider the Left in the U.S. to be liberal. It might be different in Canada.

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