Are you all about the serial shows?

hunting 101, prison Q&A, a very human AI, hard goodbyes, names, internety news, UFOs

This week I found myself starting and finishing a lot of series, which doesn’t always happen so quickly for me. I like to jump in when there are at least three episodes out and tend to be a little slow finishing all the episodes. I eventually do finish most series, but this pattern also makes me appreciate episodic shows. The ones that you can pop into whenever and enjoy episodes as stand-alone pieces.

Which do you prefer - individual episodes from ongoing shows or introductions to limited series/seasonal shows? Sometimes I get overwhelmed by starting too many series, and just like to pop into the ongoing shows to pick and choose the episodes that grab my attention. In podcasting, the new seasons and new series are always bound to get some hype because they’re inherently newsworthy. But those ongoing shows need some love too! It’s forever a balancing act in the queue.

This week’s podstack

FOGO: Fear of Going Outside - 30 to 50 Feral Hogs

I’ll be honest, I was hesitant about the new season of FOGO. I loved the first season so much, it’s still one of the top shows I love to tell people about. Ivy Le’s comedic writing and unwavering honesty while putting herself through unfamiliar and sometimes uncomfortable experiences are impossible to stop listening to. And that is definitely still the case for her second season! I was hesitant because this season is all about Ivy learning to hunt and it’s an activity I was having a hard time listening to. But Ivy is really good at being both curious and critical about the experiences she learns about. Before I knew it, I had spent an entire afternoon finishing up the season. I was so invested in finding out how her hunting went. She did so much prep and really wanted to not only understand this activity, its history, and the people typically represented in it, she also wanted to accomplish a successful hunting trip. As the season progressed, I felt myself wanting to tell Ivy that it felt like she had already succeeded. She had already proven so much and taught us all so much about hunting, trying new things, and questioning the way things have always been done. Yet again, I have to reiterate that I will always recommend this show to people. If you like the great outdoors or you’ve always struggled to understand why people do, you’ll find lots to enjoy in both seasons of this show. (transcript)

Ear Hustle - Catch a Kite 8

Ear Hustle has done Q&A style episodes before, where they ask incarcerated people about questions sent in by listeners, but they’ve never done one about life inside a women’s prison. From beauty and books, to favourite snacks and finding joy, they cover so many parts of life inside the California Institution for Women. I didn’t expect the part about books to resonate with me so much, but it really did. You hear from a librarian from inside the prison about what some of the most popular authors and genres are, how they receive books, and any restrictions they face. This show is such a perfect example of the way podcasts give us the ability to learn about lives and experiences outside our own. (transcript)

Spark Hunter - Track One: About a Mortal Test

I learned about this show when I was guest hosting an episode of Feedback with EarBuds. The promo for the show definitely worked on me, since I was intrigued enough to add it to my queue. It feels almost impossible to escape conversations about AI these days and this audio fiction is all about a very advanced AI. The show features recordings of a discussion between a man and the AI he created that has become so advanced that the government is trying to determine if she’s too dangerous to keep “alive”. The AI shares about the experiences she’s been having and the emotionally advanced feelings she’s beginning to think about. The whole discussion takes place during a dinner and features some hunger-inducing food descriptions from the AI. It feels like such a simple premise, but the execution is so strong that this Podstack is slightly late because I had to finish the series. (transcript)

Invisibilia - The Goodbye Show

Goodbyes are never easy. They come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they’re quick and sometimes they linger. But they almost always leave an impact. And that’s what Invisibilia’s final episode is all about. The team discusses their experiences with many different goodbyes. Listeners sent in voice messages about what they’ve learned from various goodbyes in their lives. One of my personal favourites was when one listener guided us through recordings of sounds in their childhood home as they were preparing to say goodbye to it. The sounds of the stairs creaking and the light switch flicking hold so many memories and it’s such a powerful way to capture them. If you’re worried or scared about a goodbye in your life, I think you’ll find some comfort in this episode. As the team says goodbye to a show they’ve loved for years, they also show us how to believe that we can make it through even the hardest endings. It’s the epitome of bittersweet when an episode so beautiful has to stem from something so sad. Even though this is their final episode, their archive has so many great episodes for you to enjoy. (transcript)

Ten Thousand Things with Shin Yu Pai - Name

The new season of Ten Thousand Things, formerly The Blue Suit, kicked off with an episode about names. The show studies modern-day artifacts of the Asian American experience and names are such a fascinating thing to apply their analysis to. Our names can help us understand our place in the world, but they can also be something we outgrow or realize never truly fit. Through the experiences of both host Shin Yu Pai and guest Ebo Barton, we learn about what it’s like to search for the name that reflects the true you and how those around us react to it. (transcript)

ICYMI - Should We All Be Pirating More?

I’ve really been enjoying listening to ICYMI when I’m looking for some internety, pop culture analysis. I think they have one of the best podcast log lines or taglines I’ve heard lately: the podcast that’s extremely online so you don’t have to be. It’s a podcast for people who have a healthy relationship with social media, made by people who don’t. If something is happening in the zeitgeist, Rachelle Hampton and her guests are going to be talking about it. How did Pedro Pascal become the internet’s Daddy? What have we not learned from West Elm Caleb? Should we go back to pirating media? Honestly, all of those questions could sound like complete nonsense if you’re not online a lot, but Rachelle is really great at catching you up on stuff and making sense of the ridiculous world of the internet. (transcript)

High Strange - Pale Blue Dot

Usually I think about UFOs and other life forms the same way Don Draper does Ginsberg – as in, I don’t think about them at all. But now I am. Regardless of whether you’re a believer or a skeptic, this show knows how to hook you. Payne Lindsey has spent much of his career working on true crime shows and you can tell. The structure of the story, the teases of important moments that foreshadow future findings, and the pacing of the music, archival tape, interviews, and narration are all done so well. You’re introduced to the history of UFOs, hidden documents, and unexplainable abductions and can’t help needing to know what Payne finds in his investigation into the possibility of UFOs. “Space is literally so big that it makes our numeric system look stupid trying to explain it” and that might explain why there’s so much we just don’t know.

More sweet treats

• A fantastic list of podcast newsletters written by women.

• So proud of Tink Media’s nomination for Best Podcast PR Company.

• I want a podcast about this.

Thank you for reading! If you listened to something this week that made your heart sing, your imagination wander, or your brain ponder, I’d love to hear about it!