No smash debuts, and the usual podcasts have settled back in at the top of the charts — Joe Rogan’s No. 1, The Daily’s No. 3 and Crime Junkie’s No. 4.
The biggest podcast-world drama this week revolves around Bill Simmons and the scathing response to his quotes in a New York Times story about the digital media company he started, The Ringer.
This week’s counts: 48 notable guests, 12 new podcasts, six deep dives and one awkward musical reunion.
Pod Take of the Week
“Action is my love language.”
Listen: WTF with Marc Maron: Janelle Monáe (18:29)
- That’s Monáe, responding to Maron’s question about whether she has hope during these tumultuous times.
- She adds: “I think that it’s going to take some real work and conversation in the white community.”
- Monáe talks with Maron about politics and social upheaval, as well as her art.
Go Deep
1) The Veepstakes
Listen: Pod Save America
- Campaign veterans Dan Pfeiffer and Alyssa Mastromonaco “break down the vetting for vice presidential candidates – how it happens, why it’s so secret, and what can go wrong.”
- It’s a three-part mini-series.
2) “Everybody’s Free (to Wear Sunscreen)”
Listen: Switched on Pop
- A 52-minute deep dive into the unlikely success of the 1999 hit song with an unusual provenance.
- Host Charlie Harding talks to most of the people responsible for the song — Chicago Tribune columnist Mary Schmich, filmmaker Baz Luhrmann — as he unpacks “one of the internet’s first conspiracy theories that turned into Billboard’s greatest outlier.”
3) “Kiss”
Listen: Strong Songs
- A 57-minute breakdown of Prince’s 1986 hit.
4) Murder and the Menendez Brothers
Listen: Court TV Podcast
- Court TV kicks off a multi-part dive into the two brothers who shot “their parents to death in cold blood.”
5) The Netflix Effect
Listen: Land of the Giants
- Recode’s pod resumes with a deep-dive into “how Netflix got where it is today and whether or not it can maintain its streaming supremacy.”
6) James Cameron
Listen: Blockbuster
- A 10-part miniseries tracking the career of the big-egoed filmmaker and “how he fought through decades of personal struggles and career setbacks to assemble the most expensive and grueling movie production of all-time, Titanic.”
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = Spotify exclusive. Ad-Rock Broken Record
- The Beastie Boy, along with bandmate Mike D, reunites with the group’s initial producer, Rick Rubin, for a candid conversation about the Beastie Boys’ debut, “Licensed to Ill,” and their roles in music history.
Andre, Eric Touré Show, Pardon My Take
Aoki, Steve The Gabby Reece Show
Apatow, Judd Unlocking Us with Brené Brown
Ballard, Glen The Rhino Podcast
Baquet, Dean Longform Podcast
- The executive editor of The New York Times talks about leading the paper and separating tradition from habit.
Berninger, Matt Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out
Besser, Carin Mike Birbiglia’s Working It Out
Beth, Jehnny This Must Be the Gig
Bridgers, Phoebe The New Yorker Radio Hour
- My take: “Kyoto” is fantastic.
Che, Michael People’s Party with Talib Kweli
Cheadle, Don The Bill Simmons Podcast
Connelly, Michael The Bob Lefsetz Podcast
Costas, Bob Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction
Cyrus, Miley The Big Ticket
Ellis, Mark I’m So Obsessed
Fauci, Anthony Science Vs
Ferrell, Will Las Culturistas
Green, Ceelo Questlove Supreme
Griffin, Blake Armchair Expert
Haddish, Tiffany Hustling with Vivica A. Fox
Handler, Chelsea The Last Laugh, Life is Short with Justin Long, The goop Podcast
Hansard, Glen Off Camera with Sam Jones
Hart, Kevin Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations
Hawk, Tony ESPN Daily
Hernandez, Laurie Changing the Game
Jonze, Spike Broken Record
- The filmmaker joins the surviving Beastie Boys and producer Rick Rubin for their reunion chat.
Koepp, David The Moment with Brian Koppelman, The Big Picture
Kravitz, Zoë The Big Ticket
Lakshmi, Padma Eater’s Digest, Anna Faris is Unqualified
Legend, John Rolling Stone Music Now
Lewis, Michael Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air
Longworth, Karina The Big Picture
Lowe, Rob Pardon My Take, The Bill Simmons Podcast
Marling, Laura Sodajerker on Songwriting
McBride, James Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air
McElhenney, Rob Bullseye
McInerny, Nora WTF with Marc Maron
Mike D Broken Record
- The Beastie Boy, along with bandmate Ad-Rock, reunites with the group’s initial producer, Rick Rubin, for a candid conversation about the Beastie Boys’ debut, “Licensed to Ill,” and their roles in music history.
Monáe, Janelle WTF with Marc Maron
Orji, Yvonne Good One
Patchett, Ann Good Life Project
Pratt, Chris Literally! With Rob Lowe
Questlove Eric Krasno Plus One
Ross, Tracee Ellis It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders
Savage, Dan The Margaret Cho
Stewart, Jon Pod Save America, The Axe Files, The Joe Rogan Experience
- He’s out there promoting his movie, “Irresistible.”
Tyler, the Creator The Zane Lowe Interview Series
Notable New Podcasts
- The actor who gave the Internet the “stop pooping” gif talks to “guests from the world of movies, TV, sports, music, and culture for fun, wide-ranging, free-wheeling conversations.”
- It’s No. 68 on Apple Podcasts
2) Axios Today
- Niala Boodhoo hosts Axios’s entrant into the daily podcast game.
- It’s No. 106 on Apple Podcasts
3) Foundering
- Bloomberg Technology’s serial podcast “brings you inside a different high-stakes drama from Silicon Valley” each season.
- First up: The WeWork debacle.
4) Record Club
- It’s a “live storytelling podcast that celebrates seminal albums and explores how these albums affect our lives.”
- The “serialised mystery-adventure performed by kids” features two teens who “have an online show investigating conspiracies” in the “quiet Australian country town of Mackaroy.”
- USA Today’s Nancy Armour “interviews icons, Olympians, and trailblazers in this eight-part series exploring how women have revolutionized sports as we know it, and the ripple effects they have on society as a whole.”
- Jaime Primak Sullivan speaks with “listeners who are ready to sweep their mess out from under the rug and get real, practical, no-nonsense advice about life-ing, wife-ing, mom-ing, and the bullsh*t we call balance.”
8) This Moment
- Timbuktu and Marcus Samuelsson “examine the fascinating current events through the lenses of their respective current countries, their deep roots in both places and the thoughtfulness of two of the world’s most respected creative artists in their fields.”
- The Marketplace spinoff focuses on “what’s happening in the economy right now with three-times-a day briefings.”
10) Essentialism
- Greg McKeown talks with people — “sometimes with thought leaders, sometimes with celebrities, and often with people like you and me” — “to focus on learning how to put what matters to you first.”
11) Idol Memories
- “American Idol” executive producer Nigel Lythgoe “goes one-on-one with some of America’s favorite former American Idol winners, the production team and crew members.”
- Shawn Nason “connects with fellow disruptors to challenge more of the status quo.”
And One to Look Forward to: The War Queens (TBD)
- Jonathan W. Jordan and Emily Anne Jordan tell the “incredible stories of history’s greatest female battlefield leaders—from Egypt’s Cleopatra to Russia’s Catherine the Great, from Israel’s Golda Meir to Britain’s Margaret Thatcher.”