Looks like we’re getting an “Academy Awards of Podcasting.” The Golden Mics are coming in 2021.

This week’s counts: 50 notable guests, seven new podcasts, six deep dives and one love songs deep dive. Happy Valentine’s Day. 

Pod Take of the Week

“We get to the right destination by walking down the wrong trail many times over and over.”

Listen: WorkLife with Adam Grant: Wild Work Advice from Cheryl Strayed (7:28)

• That’s Cheryl Strayed, with a solid reminder that mistakes and detours aren’t fatal. They’re necessary. 
• The former Dear Sugar advice columnist and best-selling author of “Wild” steers Grant toward the light when talking about what constitutes good or bad advice. 
• Says Strayed: “Life is a long game,” and we don’t know what “bad” experiences resulting from “bad” advice will mean over time. 
• She adds: “Sometimes we’re ten years out and we look back and we say, ‘Oh, that bad experience, that thing I shouldn’t have done, is the very reason I’m here right now in exactly the right place.’”

Go Deep

1) Love Songs

Listen: All Songs Considered, Reminiscent, Studio 360

• Your love song amuse bouche before you dive in: Spotify’s top love song (1.1 billion streams!), John Legend’s “All of Me.” 
• NPR’s music pod surveys nine musicians about the love songs they wish they’d written. Amelia Meath’s pick is the best pick: Dire Straits’s “Romeo and Juliet.”
• Reminiscent goes for a Valentine’s Day pop punk mixtape draft, made for a very specific situation: “The year is 2006, you’re crushing on that cutie from homeroom, and you don’t know how to tell her how you feel.”
• Studio 360 replays an excellent interview with the queen of sappy love songs, Delilah. 

2) Dating in the 2020s

Listen: Monica & Jess Love Boys

• Armchair Expert podcast spins off a 10-part series on the relationship struggles of two opposites. Jess, who dates too much and Monica who dates too little.”

3) The Cold War

Listen: The Cold War: What We Saw

• Another ten-part series. This one aims to share “what it was like to live through the end of the Cold War.”
• It’s the current No. 6 pod on iTunes. 

4) The assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia

Listen: The Tortoise Podcast

• It’s a four-part investigation into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
• The background: “Daphne investigated corruption involving the most powerful businessmen and politicians in Malta where she lived. She paid with her life. Her son Paul goes in search of the men who ordered her murder.”

5) “The Breakfast Club”

Listen: The Rewatchables

• A 1-hour, 43-minute dive into the John Hughes classic that’s being re-evaluated in the #MeToo era.

6) Gun Violence in America

Listen: American Diagnosis with Dr. Celine Gounder

• The pod concludes a 36-part series with guests David Hogg and Tyah-Amoy Roberts, survivors of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting and members of the board of March for Our Lives.
• Today marks the second anniversary of the school shooting in Florida.
• Series binge time: 16 hours, 5 minutes. 

Guest Appearances By…

($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = A Spotify exclusive.

Abrams, Stacey Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air

Apatow, Judd Talkhouse

• He talks with David Duchovny about Garry Shandling. 

Bacon Brothers, The Vocal Point with Martina McBride ($L)

Barber, Andrea Nobody Told Me!

Bee, Samantha More with Anna Maria Tremonti

Bell, Kristen Second Life

Biggs, Jason Anna Faris is Unqualified

Bong Joon Ho The Awardist

Buscemi, Steve Bullseye

Cisneros, Sandra On Being

• Says Cisneros: “I think that artists are children that never grow up.”

Crow, Sheryl Rolling Stone Music Now

Dorsey, Jack The CouRage and Nadeshot Show

Duchovny, David Talkhouse

• Reminder: He talks with Apatow about Garry Shandling. 

Feliciano, Jose Latino USA

Ferguson, Craig Maltin on Movies

Fonda, Jane UnStyled

Gad, Josh Armchair Expert

Grohl, Dave The Bill Simmons Podcast

Howery, Lil Rey The Read

Iger, Robert The Bill Simmons Podcast

Jeong, Ken Office Ladies

John, Papa H3 Podcast

Kardashian West, Kim All’s Fair with Laura Wasser

Key, Keegan-Michael Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend

Kimmel, Jimmy The Al Franken Podcast

Klein, Ezra Armchair Expert

Kroll, Nick Comedy Bang! Bang!

Letts, Tracy Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!

Lewis, Huey This Must Be the Gig, You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes, Questlove Supreme, Bullseye

• The ‘80s music icon who’s been struggling with hearing loss makes the rounds in support of his band’s return with a new album. 

Louis-Dreyfus, Julia The goop Podcast

• “The fear is kind of like the gas in your tank,” Louis-Dreyfus tells Gwyneth. 

Luna, Diego The Big Ticket

Manson, Shirley The Margaret Cho

Martindale, Justin The Joe Rogan Experience

McKibbon, Bill Future Hindsight

• The author and environmentalist talks about facing climate change.

Miller, TJ The Adam Carolla Show

Nwodim, Ego Green Eggs and Dan

Obama, Barack Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

Obama, Michelle Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

Robertson, Robbie Broken Record

Ryan, Katherine Off Menu

Samberg, Andy Comedy Bang! Bang!

Schiff, Adam The Axe Files

Schwartz, Ben WTF with Marc Maron, ID10T, Comedy Bang! Bang!

Smith, Gary Big Questions with Cal Fussman

Sorvino, Mira Life is Short with Justin Long

Teller, Miles Pardon My Take

Tharp, Twyla Death, Sex & Money

Tomson, Shaun Remarkable People

Underwood, Blair Thirst Aid Kit

Wolff, Tobias Bookworm

Notable New Podcasts

1) Dying for Sex

• Molly gets diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer and “decides to do something bold: she leaves her unhappy marriage and embarks on a series of sexual adventures to help her feel alive.”
• She confides in her friend Nikki, who hosts this podcast about “friendship, death, sex, and what you do with the time you have left.” 
• It’s No. 4 on iTunes. 

2) The Great Fail

• The pod examines epic failures from “companies, brands, and people.” Debra Chen hosts. 

3) The Seventh Daughter

• An audio drama set a century ago about “a mysterious woman {who] tutors a young girl in the arts of mind reading and clairvoyance.”

4) All’s Fair with Laura Wasser

• The celebrity divorce lawyer will “chat with celebrities, innovators and experts about all kinds of relationships, breakups, love, war and everything in between.”
• Big get for her debut episode: Kim Kardashian West.

5) Citizen Critic

• The pod critiques “the critics of some favorite and iconic movies, music, television, and more.”
• Musician Scott Janovitz and scientist Greg Conley host. 

6) Dating While Gray

• Laura Stassi reveals the “lessons she’s learned and the stories she’s heard from people 50 and older searching [for], finding and choosing love.”

7) The Redheads Book Club

• A book club hosted by The Morning Toast’s Jackie Oshry. 
• The kickoff book: “The Husband’s Secret” by Liane Moriarty.

And One to Look Forward to: The Last Degree of Kevin Bacon (Feb. 17)

• It’s a Spotify-exclusive comedy about killing Kevin Bacon. 
• You have questions. Here are the details: “Randy Beslow has forever pinpointed his failed Footloose audition as the moment when everything in his life went downhill. 30 years later when he hits rock bottom, he vows to eliminate the one thing that ties together all of his problems: acclaimed character actor and cultural institution, Kevin Bacon.”
• My take: Subscribed!