Recommended Serial or Multi-Episode Podcasts

Ogee Ogilthorpe

Over Macho Grande?
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Usually for daily driving I've got a handful of sports podcasts that I listen to but for the longer road trips, hunting trips, weekend getaway driving, I try to turn to longer run items to kill longer periods of time. I'm a bit of a true crime buff and I've found a couple that have been just fascinating, at least to me.

First one I found was what I believe is the first season of "Serial", which details and does a deep dive into the story of Adnan Syed, the HS student in Maryland that was convicted of killing his girlfriend in 1999. He's still in prison for it. Very well done, I think HBO did a special on it as well; to this day, I still couldn't tell you if he did it or not but I lean towards that there was not enough evidence to convict.

I did start and get through most of a second story under the "Serial" umbrella that was good but not as good about a girl that was murdered in northern Canada, an indian girl if I recall correctly. The most glaring thing I took from that one is just how racist the Canadians appear to be towards the native Americans, truly a second class citizen, which didn't help the effort in the investigation.

The one I'm currently plowing through is "Culpable", which details the story of Christian Andreacchio, a 21-yr old man who allegedly committed suicide in Mississippi in 2014. This one is completely fascinating, how this was ruled a suicide is maddening, and I wouldn't be surprised someday if this one gets solved as a homicide. The amount of evidence that indicates homicide/murder over suicide is substantial. I haven't finished it yet, although I did a quick search when I was about halfway through it to see where it was at and two of the people who aren't directly implicated but are certainly shown to have very well known more about it than they're saying have filed a massive $47M defamation lawsuit against the podcast creators.

Both of these are really well done and I'm constantly amazed at the amount of legwork and investigation effort that the narrators/creators of each one have done. The only downside to any of these is that if you're the kind of person who wants closure at the end of a good long story, it sucks that they are essentially unresolved. But if you're looking for something to keep you occupied on a good long drive, I think they have been fascinating.

I'm sure there are a number of other good ones out there? I've downloaded a couple others that got good reviews but I don't do that many 3-4+ hour road trips in a given year, especially driving solo, to get that much opportunity.

EDIT: Sorry, the one based in Canada that I mentioned was a "Someone Knows Something" podcast, not "Serial".
 

Wondery does a good job. They have the Home Depot voice over guy
 

I'm a big fan of the podcast "Mission To Zyxx". It's an improvised sci-fi space podcast about a group of (misfit) "ambassadors" travelling around the universe attempting to spread diplomacy. At least....that's the original premise. It's a comedy. Really fun listen......very much in the vein of "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy". In fact.....that is basically the perfect comparison for what it is. They are currently working through their final season. But it's been running for probably around five.

Depending on your tolerance for stupidity.....'The Teacher's Lounge' is another improvised comedy podcast. Drew Tarver will be recognizable to anyone who's seen Bajillion Dollar Proprieties or The Other Two on Comedy Central. Both very good shows. It's hard to even describe this podcast. But it's probably the funniest podcast I've ever listened to.....next to Hollywood Handbook.
 

Nice White Parents:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/23/podcasts/nice-white-parents-serial.html

From the makers of Serial and The New York Times: “Nice White Parents” looks at the 60-year relationship between white parents and the public school down the block.

We know American public schools do not guarantee each child an equal education. Two decades of school reform initiatives have not changed that. But when Chana Joffe-Walt, a reporter, looked at inequality in education, she saw that most reforms focused on who schools were failing: Black and brown kids. But what about who the schools are serving? In this five-part series, she turns her attention to what is arguably the most powerful force in our schools: White parents.
 



she turns her attention to what is arguably the most powerful force in our schools: White parents.
Hmmmm.... Sorry, gotta say that the Teachers Unions are infinitely more powerful than ANYTHING in our schools, and that was evident and absolutely crystal clear as the push to get kids back in school started to gain steam. Not trying to derail the thread, but let's be honest, parents don't hold a candle to the Teachers Unions. Not close
 




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