October 23 - 29, 2016

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1. The Room Where It's Happening - "Kristin Chenoweth: My Shot"
From the first notes of Travon Free singing 'Popular' in the shower to the moment when he and Kristin Chenoweth are poised to take on the establishment in some kind of crusade for social justice, this episode is full of gleeful moments both Hamilton related and simply delightful to hear.  Chenoweth brings an amiable earnestness to the table that encapsulates the average fan of the hit musical.  No doubt she is in awe of the genius required to pen such a work, but you can tell she isn't a die-hard fangirl...and in a way that's rather comforting. It's just an absolute joy to listen to this bubbly person gush and dissect the musical in a way that is at turns both insightful and silly.

2. Hang Up and Listen - "The Joy Is Retroactively Applied Edition"
Hang Up and Listen is one of the must-listen shows in my ever-growing stable of podcast thoroughbreds, delivering the best sports analysis and repartee out there.  Love him as I do, Mike Pesca was out this week and I think that gave this episode legs to crawl near the top of my rankings. Not so much as for the absence of Pesca's takes, but for the addition of Pablo Torre!  Torre first met my ears guest hosting PTI, and he's batting 1.000 as a fill-in that steals the thunder from perhaps better-known personalities.  It also didn't hurt that this episode framed the NBA as a socially acceptable soap opera for men everywhere. All in all a pretty nice way to get me hyped about the return of the pro-hoops season during the week it tips.

3. Planet Money - "When Subaru Came Out (#729)"
Gender politics, meet the cutthroat opportunism of marketing!  Planet Money takes us through the coming out story of one of outdoorsy America's dearly held automobile companies: Subaru.  Nothing really shocked me about the idea that a million dollar business wanted to seize an opportunity for sales - the dollar sees no gender, after all.  It was actually more surprising to hear about the subtlety in adds that I likely saw and definitely missed, which catalyzed many thoughts on other types of coded messages that are flying under my radar.

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