Two new podcasts drove ample conversation and listening in podcastland this week: The much-anticipated Michelle Obama podcast launched, as did the latest from Serial Productions, which has a new home as part of the New York Times.
And, if it’s relevant to your interests, one of the guys from “Saved By the Bell” started a rewatch pod.
The counts: 48 notable guests, 10 new podcasts, four deep dives and one trip to Mars.
Pod Take of the Week
“Schools don’t show you the world. They just show you a bunch of careers.”
Listen: The Michelle Obama Podcast: President Barack Obama (20:49)
- That’s Obama, in conversation with her husband President Barack Obama, on the debut episode of her Spotify-exclusive podcast.
- The former First Lady says school and “working on the 47th floor in that fancy law firm making all that money” felt lonely, and gave her a limited vision of what she could be.
- Obama devotes her first episode and her conversation with the president to a bigger picture — her and our relationships to community and country.
- Note: The show’s only available on Spotify, but people looking for it elsewhere sent another Michelle Obama podcast up the Apple charts. When I checked Wednesday afternoon, Michelle Obama: Forever Changing History from 2018 ranked No. 14.
Go Deep
1) Taylor Swift’s “folklore”
Listen: Switched on Pop, Popcast, Las Culturistas, Pop Culture Happy Hour, The Pitchfork Review
- Swift’s surprise album drop captivated podland and provided content for hot takes to bloom. These are just a few of the most prominent.
- My take: Thumbs up for the National/Bon Iver/Taylor collaboration.
2) Murders at Whiskey Creek
Listen: The Sneak
- Season two of the true crime/sports pod follows “world champion surfer Jack Roland Murphy as he pulls off the biggest jewel heist in American history. Things turn deadly as he is implicated in two murders afterwards.”
3) Murders in Cameroon
Listen: The Bellingcat Podcast
- The two-part season two of the pod focuses on a viral video of “women and children being gunned down by a death squad. The video is a mystery – no one is sure where or when it was filmed, who the victims are or why they were killed.”
- The open-source investigative podcast hunts for the killers.
4) Yacht Rock
Listen: Hit Parade
- Chris Molanphy kicks off a deep dive into Yacht Rock, the “deluxe, yuppified, ‘smooth’ music suitable for playing on luxury nautical craft.”
- Note: Just the preview is free. You need a Slate Plus subscription for the rest.
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = Spotify exclusive. Arellano, Gustavo The Press Box
Azaria, Hank Daddy Issues with Joe Buck and Oliver Hudson
Birbiglia, Mike The Ezra Klein Show
Cooper, Sarah Don’t Ask Tig
Cuban, Mark Pivot
Day, Charlie You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes
Duckworth, Tammy The New Abnormal
- The Illinois Senator on the shortlist to be Joe Biden’s VP candidate talks politics, childcare during the pandemic.
Duplass, Mark I’m So Obsessed
Fauci, Anthony ESPN Daily
- Keep it up, Tony!
Firestone, Jo Small Triumph Big Speech
Franco, Dave Armchair Expert, Maltin on Movies
Frantz, Chris Sound Opinions
Hahn, Kathryn Off Camera with Sam Jones
Howard, Ron The Big Picture
Kelly, Kevin Deviate with Rolf Potts
Koy, Jo The Adam Carolla Show
Greer, Judy Curious with Josh Peck
Hadish, Tiffany People’s Party with Talib Kweli
Leno, Jay I Don’t Know About That
Maguire, Martie People Have the Power
- One-third of The Chicks picks U2’s “Sunday Bloody Sunday” as one of her favorite protest songs.
Maines, Natalie People Have the Power
- Another third of The Chicks picks Ocean Colour Scene’s “Profit In Peace” as one of her favorite protest songs.
Mantzoukas, Jason Reply All
Master P The Nod
Middleditch, Thomas Anna Faris is Unqualified
Myers, Mike Literally! With Rob Lowe
Notaro, Tig The Last Laugh
Osbourne, Kelly The Margaret Cho
Pharoah, Jay Touré Show
Post Malone The Joe Rogan Experience
- The musician breaks the 4-hour podcast barrier.
Raisman, Aly Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness
Rice, Susan In the Bubble with Andy Slavitt
Rogen, Seth WTF with Marc Maron
Roker, Al Life is Short with Justin Long, The Three Questions with Andy Richter, Kickass News
Root, Stephen The Treatment
Roth, Eli Inside of You
Run the Jewels Broken Record
Schwartz, Ben The Black List ($L)
Simpson, Jessica The Gift of Forgiveness
Strayer, Emily People Have the Power
- And another third of The Chicks picks M.I.A.’s “Bad Girls” as one of her favorite protest songs.
Sweeney, Julia Bullseye
Tyson, Neil deGrasse Smartless
Union, Gabrielle Red Table Talk
Villaseñor, Melissa Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out
Vonn, Lindsey Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls
- The Olympic gold medal-winning skier narrates the story of Olympic gold-medal winning gymnast Simone Biles.
Warfield, Marsha WTF with Marc Maron
Was, Don Eric Krasno Plus One
West, Cornel Future Perfect
Williams, Lucinda Walking the Floor
Zamata, Sasheer I Said No Gifts!
Notable New Podcasts
- The first effort from Serial Productions at its new home with the New York Times posits that if “you want to understand what’s wrong with our public schools, you have to look at what is arguably the most powerful force in shaping them: white parents.”
- It’s a five-part series.
- It’s No. 2 on Apple Podcasts.
2) The Michelle Obama Podcast (S)
- The former First Lady dives “deep into conversations with loved ones—family, friends, and colleagues—on the relationships in our lives that make us who we are” in a Spotify exclusive.
- It’s No. 5 on Spotify.
3) Blood River
- The Bloomberg podcast focuses on the murder of Hondouran environmental activist Berta Caceres and “follows a four-year quest to find her killers – a twisting trail that leads into the country’s circles of power.”
- A “Saved By the Bell” rewatch pod with Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who starred in the show, and Dashiell Driscoll, “who is currently writing for the series reboot and who wrote the Funny or Die series ‘Zack Morris is Trash.”
- The Los Alamos National Laboratory dives deep into the story of NASA’s Perseverance rover as it travels to Mars “to learn more about some of its incredible exploratory technology from the scientists who created it.”
- A true crimer about the 2016 murders of eight members of the Rhoden family in rural Piketon, Ohio.
7) Extra Points
- Cousin Sal and Dave Dameshek “discuss sports and entertainment items as well other nonsense almost guaranteed to annoy people.”
- Tami Roman and her husband Reggie Youngblood “keep it ALL the way real as they talk on love, sex, relationships, hot topics and any f*****g thing they want.”
- Laura Whitmore chats “with celebrity guests about their most embarrassing first date mistakes.”
10) Speed of Sound
- Steve Greenberg hosts another “podcast that breaks down the stories behind the pop songs – and sounds – that topped the charts and shaped the soundtrack of generations.”
And One to Look Forward to: The Distraction (Aug. 13)
- Most of the former Deadspin writers and editors are launching a new sports site, Defector.
- Drew Magary and David Roth have the podcast part covered, breaking down the week in sports.