January 29 - February 4, 2017
It was another massive week of listening - 30 logged podcasts, and a queue of 3 not-yet-listened-to episodes after the dust settled. In light of the volume, I'm adding a few 'Honorable Mentions' after the top episodes this week. This is the golden age, people. Get out there and soak up these shows!
1. The Cracked Podcast - "The Enormous Lie About Modern Life (You Likely Believe)"
I'll grant that the title of this episode reads a bit like unabashed click-bait, though the knowledge that this is a podcast and not simply a listicle should assuage any doubts about the thoroughness of this piece of media. The show is pretty lengthy, clocking in at a little over two hours, but considering the depth of the subject matter that doesn't seem so bad. Cracked's conceit is essentially that the world has been steadily improving in almost every measurable way, despite contrary press from any and all ideologies. I could see this conveying as a long-winded piece of "stop complaining" propaganda, and the producers of the show even nod to that possible misconception. If, however, you enter with some semblance of how earnest and humble these people are in their commentary, it becomes almost as revelatory as the title would lead us to believe. At the very least, it's a healthy dose of contextualized optimism amidst the rather dour mood d'jour.
2. On the Media - "The Ties That Bind"
It's still early in 2017 and early in the Trump administration, but I can already tell that On the Media is going to be one of the most essential podcasts of the year. The show routinely reports insightful tales that take the pulse of humanity from self-aware insider's perspective of the media. Such stories speak to a broader net of interest, and would be at home as standalone segments on any public radio news station. With "The Ties That Bind," however, the show more clearly bears out it's name and takes the pulse of the media after week two of Trump. Vaguely worrying but also a call for resolute engagement with the masses, this episode dissects some key moments in the recent past and briefly wonders at the implications this last fortnight portends for the future of media.
3. Criminal - "Finding Sarah and Philip"
As a genre, true crime podcasts often entice listeners with suspenseful details of a gruesome crime. While irrefutably compelling for an instant, I don't find that these sorts of stories affect me on the level that they should. It's the dime store novel of the podcast landscape: sure, there's a skill involved in crafting these shows, but after a while I start to feel as if I'm reading too much Us Weekly and not enough New Yorker, as it were. All this to say, Criminal manages to avoid those potential pitfalls week after week by reporting on a breadth of crimes from different perspectives. As the ominous title suggests, "Finding Sarah and Philip" is a cold case. What the title does not suggest is that the heroine of the story is an unlikely vigilante who works tirelessly to bring about closure. I'm not saying that true crime podcasts ought engage the listener base to this extent, but at least emotionally I want to feel more reverence for life and less titillation about crimes.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Only Human - "The Crowd Made You Do It"
Planet Money - "Retraining Day"
Hang Up and Listen - "The He Still Hate Me Edition"
Secrets, Crimes and Audiotapes - "Wait Wait Don't Kill Me - Part Three" (start with Part One)
1. The Cracked Podcast - "The Enormous Lie About Modern Life (You Likely Believe)"
I'll grant that the title of this episode reads a bit like unabashed click-bait, though the knowledge that this is a podcast and not simply a listicle should assuage any doubts about the thoroughness of this piece of media. The show is pretty lengthy, clocking in at a little over two hours, but considering the depth of the subject matter that doesn't seem so bad. Cracked's conceit is essentially that the world has been steadily improving in almost every measurable way, despite contrary press from any and all ideologies. I could see this conveying as a long-winded piece of "stop complaining" propaganda, and the producers of the show even nod to that possible misconception. If, however, you enter with some semblance of how earnest and humble these people are in their commentary, it becomes almost as revelatory as the title would lead us to believe. At the very least, it's a healthy dose of contextualized optimism amidst the rather dour mood d'jour.
2. On the Media - "The Ties That Bind"
It's still early in 2017 and early in the Trump administration, but I can already tell that On the Media is going to be one of the most essential podcasts of the year. The show routinely reports insightful tales that take the pulse of humanity from self-aware insider's perspective of the media. Such stories speak to a broader net of interest, and would be at home as standalone segments on any public radio news station. With "The Ties That Bind," however, the show more clearly bears out it's name and takes the pulse of the media after week two of Trump. Vaguely worrying but also a call for resolute engagement with the masses, this episode dissects some key moments in the recent past and briefly wonders at the implications this last fortnight portends for the future of media.
3. Criminal - "Finding Sarah and Philip"
As a genre, true crime podcasts often entice listeners with suspenseful details of a gruesome crime. While irrefutably compelling for an instant, I don't find that these sorts of stories affect me on the level that they should. It's the dime store novel of the podcast landscape: sure, there's a skill involved in crafting these shows, but after a while I start to feel as if I'm reading too much Us Weekly and not enough New Yorker, as it were. All this to say, Criminal manages to avoid those potential pitfalls week after week by reporting on a breadth of crimes from different perspectives. As the ominous title suggests, "Finding Sarah and Philip" is a cold case. What the title does not suggest is that the heroine of the story is an unlikely vigilante who works tirelessly to bring about closure. I'm not saying that true crime podcasts ought engage the listener base to this extent, but at least emotionally I want to feel more reverence for life and less titillation about crimes.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Only Human - "The Crowd Made You Do It"
Planet Money - "Retraining Day"
Hang Up and Listen - "The He Still Hate Me Edition"
Secrets, Crimes and Audiotapes - "Wait Wait Don't Kill Me - Part Three" (start with Part One)
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