March 18, 2019
SOMETHING NEW
Elizabeth Holmes captured the collective spirit of imagining a better world. She harnessed the charisma of a cult leader, a confusing aura of ambivalently benevolent self-assured-BS that tech giants seem to gravitate toward. But the idea that the medical industry could be exponentially streamlined with the novelty of an almost unnoticeable method for drawing blood? That was enough to get even the most rationale of folks tittering with excitement, and the commodification of promise lay waste to many hopeful investors angling to get in on the ground floor. ABC’s new podcast The Dropout takes listeners on a journey with the driven high schooler who would eventually morph into one of the modern world’s most arrogantly baseless thought-leader tyrants.
Judging by the ABC’s podcast webpage, the well established TV/radio outlet has experimented modestly in the on-demand audio game. It’s not too surprising - a lot of easy television-to-podcast adaptations and some on-brand vehicles for familiar network personalities. The Dropout did spur an adaptation to a television documentary that aired in primetime last week, but it has a different feel than the pulpy 20/20 imprints A Murder On Orchard Street and A Killing On The Cape (like, come on, Agatha Christie called and she said those titles are reserved for fictional storytelling). And I'm guessing the TV segment was a part of the plan all along, rather than a response to the success of the podcast. Despite not being exclusive to the audio medium, The Dropout feels like one of the most legit podcasts to be released by a major US television news network.
This show feels like a mystery unspooling with suspenseful twists and a gallivanting pace, which is pretty crazy considering how major the Elizabeth Holmes case was/is. I knew that Holmes’ whole scheme came crashing down, but host Rebecca Jarvis developed a sense of intrigue that had me wondering what would be revealed around the next corner. The details are quite salacious, but the narrative serves up the mini scandals as plot points rather than fodder for gawking. The Dropout pulls this off in part by using excerpts from interviews previously recorded on the network - a no-brainer when you’ve got the journalistic footprint of the American Broadcasting Company. Take “The Downfall”, for instance. This episode brandishes a 2016 clip featuring early Theranos backer Tim Draper, highlighting just how taken he was with the startup - even after an incendiary exposee graced the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Then, Jarvis brings back Draper to update listeners on his thoughts after the legal fallout came home to roost. This is a perfect microcosm of the willingness to suspend disbelief, as well as a cautionary tale that those with a ton of money to throw around are perfectly capable of being duped.
I appreciated the recapping from episode to episode, and would’ve loved to listen to the show in its real-time week-by-week release schedule. It feels a little similar to season 2 of Serial, which also went deep on a high profile subject. Serial’s approach was geared toward understanding why Army soldier Bowe Bergdahl walked off his post, in the sense of uncovering literal facts and emotional truth. The Dropout is more concerned with presenting as many of the details of Elizabeth Holmes’s case as possible without adding much in the way of hypothesizing. That’s partially the nature of the two people - there’s likely a very small slice of the world that sympathizes with Holmes, while Bergdahl’s actions may fall more into a gray area - but the change in approach might setup The Dropout for wider audience acclaim. I enjoyed Serial Season 2, mainly because I did not hope for a duplication of Season 1, but the righteous tedium of reportage did kind of add up to a metaphorical shoulder shrug.
The amount of people Theranos left in the lurch makes its founder a softball target for a well-researched beatdown. The Dropout positioned itself really well in relation to the subject’s pending litigation, as the final episode sets us up beautifully for a follow up season. Holmes’s imminent trial is sure to be widely covered and parsed as consumers become increasingly aware of overreach and deceit from Silicon Valley. Still, Rebecca Jarvis and company could have easily phoned it in. The Dropout’s juicy material, large distribution channel, and an audience with a seemingly insatiable appetite for true crime story would have lead to at least a middling reception of the show. But instead this show made me, a millennial who came of age during the dawn of internet ubiquity, believe in the power of network television. At least in podcast form.
Judging by the ABC’s podcast webpage, the well established TV/radio outlet has experimented modestly in the on-demand audio game. It’s not too surprising - a lot of easy television-to-podcast adaptations and some on-brand vehicles for familiar network personalities. The Dropout did spur an adaptation to a television documentary that aired in primetime last week, but it has a different feel than the pulpy 20/20 imprints A Murder On Orchard Street and A Killing On The Cape (like, come on, Agatha Christie called and she said those titles are reserved for fictional storytelling). And I'm guessing the TV segment was a part of the plan all along, rather than a response to the success of the podcast. Despite not being exclusive to the audio medium, The Dropout feels like one of the most legit podcasts to be released by a major US television news network.
This show feels like a mystery unspooling with suspenseful twists and a gallivanting pace, which is pretty crazy considering how major the Elizabeth Holmes case was/is. I knew that Holmes’ whole scheme came crashing down, but host Rebecca Jarvis developed a sense of intrigue that had me wondering what would be revealed around the next corner. The details are quite salacious, but the narrative serves up the mini scandals as plot points rather than fodder for gawking. The Dropout pulls this off in part by using excerpts from interviews previously recorded on the network - a no-brainer when you’ve got the journalistic footprint of the American Broadcasting Company. Take “The Downfall”, for instance. This episode brandishes a 2016 clip featuring early Theranos backer Tim Draper, highlighting just how taken he was with the startup - even after an incendiary exposee graced the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Then, Jarvis brings back Draper to update listeners on his thoughts after the legal fallout came home to roost. This is a perfect microcosm of the willingness to suspend disbelief, as well as a cautionary tale that those with a ton of money to throw around are perfectly capable of being duped.
I appreciated the recapping from episode to episode, and would’ve loved to listen to the show in its real-time week-by-week release schedule. It feels a little similar to season 2 of Serial, which also went deep on a high profile subject. Serial’s approach was geared toward understanding why Army soldier Bowe Bergdahl walked off his post, in the sense of uncovering literal facts and emotional truth. The Dropout is more concerned with presenting as many of the details of Elizabeth Holmes’s case as possible without adding much in the way of hypothesizing. That’s partially the nature of the two people - there’s likely a very small slice of the world that sympathizes with Holmes, while Bergdahl’s actions may fall more into a gray area - but the change in approach might setup The Dropout for wider audience acclaim. I enjoyed Serial Season 2, mainly because I did not hope for a duplication of Season 1, but the righteous tedium of reportage did kind of add up to a metaphorical shoulder shrug.
The amount of people Theranos left in the lurch makes its founder a softball target for a well-researched beatdown. The Dropout positioned itself really well in relation to the subject’s pending litigation, as the final episode sets us up beautifully for a follow up season. Holmes’s imminent trial is sure to be widely covered and parsed as consumers become increasingly aware of overreach and deceit from Silicon Valley. Still, Rebecca Jarvis and company could have easily phoned it in. The Dropout’s juicy material, large distribution channel, and an audience with a seemingly insatiable appetite for true crime story would have lead to at least a middling reception of the show. But instead this show made me, a millennial who came of age during the dawn of internet ubiquity, believe in the power of network television. At least in podcast form.
From: ABC
Recommended for: Tech acolytes, health nuts, would-be cult members, and anyone whose life is impacted by medical technology.
Drop Schedule: Wednesday, Seasonal:Weekly (All episodes now available)
Average episode length: 40 minutes
Rating: Gotta Have It
THE LIST
I can't believe I hadn't heard about the Mexican oil crisis before this podcast! The country that borders us cut off gas to its people for an extended period of time...because the supply of the life-giving resource was being siphoned off by thieves. Unreal. And expertly reported.
What do you get when combining a glamorous grandma who survived the Holocaust and familial pressure to settle down? A riveting tale that is both broadly relatable and incredibly unique. Also, an unrelated but still charming segment about a couple sleeping in separate beds.
The internet affords us the luxury of shopping in our pajamas, connects us with family members on the other side of the world, and acts as a repository for all the information one could ever wonder about any niche interest. And of course all the amazing potential rests precariously on a web of connectivity that can allow a stranger to bring your life to a screeching halt.
When some monstrous thing about an artist's personal life is revealed, a fans experience of the work can't help but be impacted. Even if one refuses to acknowledge the validity of new facts that come to light, the very awareness of an added layer of context may yield some subconscious influence. The current celebrity-exposee centers around Michael Jackson, and Wesley and Jenna have some tough conversations about the wide-ranging backward and forward looking effects of sexual abuse allegations.
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