July 2, 2018
THE LIST
1. Revisionist History - "The Hug Heard Round the World"
What does it mean to shed your identity? And to what extent is it even possible? Malcolm Gladwell ponders over these big questions via a mini-documentary about the complex life of Sammy Davis Jr. Worth it for the history alone, especially if you've heard the name of the famous singer without really having any kind of historical context..
2. American Fiasco - "The Dream (On) Team"
Roger Bennett of Men in Blazers fame seized upon this US-less World Cup to pick apart the U.S. Men's National Team of the 1990s, from their surprising showing at the 1994 tournament to the tragic shortcoming in France in 1998. This, the first episode in the WNYC-backed 10 parter, sets the stage for the heroic rise and fall of a team currently sidelined with hopes of future glory.
3. This American Life - "It's My Party and I'll Try If I Want To"
We follow Jeff Beals, a New Yorker running for Congress, against the backdrop of party-specific stage setting for this year's crucial midterms. Maybe the perfect mix of TAL's desire to gauge the political pulse of a nation and their much more time-tested excerpting of humanity via the citizenry.
HONORABLE MENTION
Planet Money - "The Fake Review Hunter"
99% Invisible - "The Barney Design"
SOMETHING NEW
Mike Pesca's latest venture in the podcasting world may stand alone in its novelty: an experimental companion adaptation to an essay collection. I'd guess that this might not be the first time someone's taken a written work and repackaged it as a pod, but Upon Further Review is next level. Occupying some strange central place in a venn diagram of speculative fiction, rigorous sports journalism, and New Yorker think piece, this is not an adaptation in the same way an opportunistic producer would use an existing text as the basis for a movie. This extremely elaborate show may be, on it's face, a ploy to sell more books. But what we end up with is as rich as any painstakingly investigative true-crime miniseries.
Drawing on works from his recently released book of the same name, Pesca animates various writer's ponderings on how sports and the world would be different if certain things had or hadn't come to pass. We get treated to four varied offerings in the might've-been worlds of professional baseball, basketball, football, and women's soccer, each taking on a style of their own. Jesse Eisenberg's narration of a fan letter that may have altered the course of the Phoenix Suns' championship hopes is a pure delight. The sports talk-radio style episode in a world where Tom Brady never became a star is a brilliantly inventive first in the podcasting. But the crown jewels in the series are the episodes that incorporate the broader implications of the real world - "What If Nixon Had Been Good At Football?" and "What If the 1999 U.S. Women's National Soccer Team Had Lost the Women's World Cup?" These draw upon audio from real experts and players central to the topic of the narrative, which serves to gird them with a learned resolve often lacking from blustering pundits simply looking to fill time.
Answering "what if" scenarios is an exercise in which fans of any commitment level can partake. But even amongst the diehards such talk tapers off pretty quickly into overly optimistic rationalizing. It takes a killer combination of deep interest and incredible imagination to birth the kind of work that can be platably packaged for mass consumption, and Upon Further Review executes this brilliantly. I am a bit of a shill for Mike Pesca and it's true that I heartily recommend The Gist to most anyone and everyone. That said, even if snappy political commentary and ceaselessly dapper wordplay are not your bag, give this show a try.
Drawing on works from his recently released book of the same name, Pesca animates various writer's ponderings on how sports and the world would be different if certain things had or hadn't come to pass. We get treated to four varied offerings in the might've-been worlds of professional baseball, basketball, football, and women's soccer, each taking on a style of their own. Jesse Eisenberg's narration of a fan letter that may have altered the course of the Phoenix Suns' championship hopes is a pure delight. The sports talk-radio style episode in a world where Tom Brady never became a star is a brilliantly inventive first in the podcasting. But the crown jewels in the series are the episodes that incorporate the broader implications of the real world - "What If Nixon Had Been Good At Football?" and "What If the 1999 U.S. Women's National Soccer Team Had Lost the Women's World Cup?" These draw upon audio from real experts and players central to the topic of the narrative, which serves to gird them with a learned resolve often lacking from blustering pundits simply looking to fill time.
Answering "what if" scenarios is an exercise in which fans of any commitment level can partake. But even amongst the diehards such talk tapers off pretty quickly into overly optimistic rationalizing. It takes a killer combination of deep interest and incredible imagination to birth the kind of work that can be platably packaged for mass consumption, and Upon Further Review executes this brilliantly. I am a bit of a shill for Mike Pesca and it's true that I heartily recommend The Gist to most anyone and everyone. That said, even if snappy political commentary and ceaselessly dapper wordplay are not your bag, give this show a try.
From: Slate
Recommended for: Sports fans. Conspiracy theorists. Imaginative people.
Drop Schedule: Tuesday, Seasonal
Average episode length: 25 minutes
Rating: Gotta Have It
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