I'm completely addicted to the new podcast,
Serial, from the producers of This American Life. OMG. It's the best, most addicting podcast I have listened to outside of We're Alive. Serial is a podcast that, in contrast to This American Life, focuses on one story and looks at it closely from a multitude of angles over the course of 12 or so
episodes. This first story centers on a Pakistani American man who has been serving a life sentence the past 15 years for the premeditated murder of his Korean ex high school girlfriend. The producer of the show was asked to look into the case because the defendant's friend believes his attorney botched his representation and that he never should have been found guilty. The podcast is a crime drama that focuses on a different aspect of the case during each episode (one is about a potential alibi for the defendant who never made it to court, another examines the alleged motivation of this heinous crime, another considers the credibility of the witness whose testimony is essentially the entire case against the defendant).
I bring this to everyone's attention for a few reasons. First, it's hot. Lots of articles have been written about Serial and it's the number one podcast on iTunes. Two, it's addicting like We're Alive was/is addicting. Only 6 episodes have aired so far (new ones come out on Thursdays) and I'm about to go through them all for a third time. Much as with
We're Not Dead and We're Alive Fancast, Serials has it's own podcast about the podcast, this one put out by Slate. Unlike We're Not Dead or WA Fancast, Slate's "fan" podcast isn't as enjoyable because I find the Slate hosts to be snarky and smug at times whereas Nick, Britt, Greg, Mick, and Redbeard all sounded genuine and earnest.
Lastly, it reminds me - much as We're Alive did/does - that the audio storytelling format is highly visual. Through the course of the Serial story you heard from the defendant (through direct interviews), the victim (through her diary), and a number of their friends and peers (more interviews), which altogether paints this clear picture in my head of what life was like in their Baltimore high school. I have become so engrossed in this podcast because I feel like I have lived with the "
characters" to some extent and know them well, or at least feel like I do.
Anyway, in case you are looking for something new to try, check out "Serial."
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