So many emergency pods today chronicling President Donald Trump’s positive test for COVID-19 — and to speculate on what happens next.
Also, the name of the No. 2 podcast on Apple Podcasts this evening: Full Body Chills.
This week’s counts: 61 notable guests, 13 new podcasts, six deep dives and one American hero.
Pod Take of the Week
“I can live with myself. I sleep well at night. I can look my young daughter, who’s 9 years old, in the eye now and when she gets older and understands the role I played and not have to equivocate like many dozens of other people will have to do.”
Listen: Sway: Alexander Vindman Knew Trump Would End His Career (24:17)
- That’s Vindman, talking to Kara Swisher on her new-ish podcast about his role as a key witness in the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
- Vindman says, of those who didn’t step up as he did: “There will be an accounting with their future selves where they’ll kind of have to live with their decisions. There will be an accounting with their loved ones, their children.”
- He adds: “You had an opportunity to protect America and you chose to be silent, you chose to protect yourself or serve yourself. That is not who I am.”
Go Deep
1) President Trump Tests Positive for COVID-19
Listen: FiveThirtyEight Politics, Pod Save America, The Daily
- Many podcasts are wrestling with the news about President Trump and what it means for the country and the presidential race, including these late-in-the-day releases.
2) High School Movies
Listen: Unspooled
- Paul Scheer and Amy Nicholson wrap up a seven-episode series on iconic movies about high school with a 1-hour, 45-minute breakdown of “Dazed and Confused.”
- Other movies covered: “Mean Girls,” “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” “Cooley High,” “Rebel Without a Cause,” “Stand and Deliver” and “The 400 Blows.”
- Total binge time: 11 hours, 24 minutes.
3) The Troubling State of Water
Listen: In Deep
- The American Public Media pod finishes an eight-part series on underground water infrastructure.
- Binge time: 3 hours, 22 minutes.
4) Good Intentions
Listen: With Friends Like These
- Ana Marie Cox dedicates the latest season of the Crooked Media pod to “people and organizations who set out to make positive change, as well as the ones who ended up doing more harm than good.”
- She asks: “What’s the brain science behind warm fuzzy feelings? How does altruism change the way we feel about the world? And could trying too hard somehow get us killed?”
5) Prince, Revisited
Listen: Rockin’ the Suburbs, Rhino Podcast, Prince Official Podcast
- Rockin’ the Suburbs counts down the top 15 Prince songs over five episodes.
- On the Rhino Podcast, Prince historian Duane Tudahl dives deep into Prince’s “masterwork” “Sign O’ the Times.”
- And the official podcast of the Prince estate reaches episode six of its season-long look at the album.
6) “Back to the Future” (and Every Other Movie Directed by Robert Zemeckis)
Listen: Blank Check
- Griffin Newman and David Sims go 3-hours, 3-minutes deep (!!!) into the movie classic.
- It’s the fourth episode and the fourth Zemeckis movie in their mini-series dissecting all of the director’s movies.
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = Spotify exclusive. ($A) = Audible, behind a paywall.
Aniston, Jennifer SmartLess
Bacharach, Burt Broken Record
Baker, Nicholson Longform Podcast
Berninger, Matt You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes
- The frontman for the National has a new solo album.
Big Freedia The Nod
Birbiglia, Mike Make My Day with Josh Gondelman
Black, Michael Ian The Adam Carolla Show
Brockovich, Erin Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness
Buteau, Michelle The Last Laugh
Common Cannon’s Class
Copeland, Misty Skimm’d From the Couch
- The famed ballet dancer says of her upbringing: “I learned to be a survivor and I was just constantly in survival mode. So, stepping into the world of ballet, it was, like, peace and balance and security and consistency.”
Coppola, Sophia Armchair Expert
Corddry, Rob Bald Talk
Cox, Brain David Tennant Does a Podcast With…
Cuban, Mark Capital University, Just B with Bethenny Frankel
- The billionaire guests on two top-10 debut pods.
Dayglow Talkhouse
DeMaro, Mac Talkhouse
Dillon, Tim The Joe Rogan Experience
Ferrera, America Hysteria
Garlin, Jeff The PosCast
Gellman, Barton The Ticket
- The writer talks about his viral magazine cover story that asks: “What happens if a president loses reelection, but won’t accept the outcome?”
Guyton, Mickey Switched on Pop
Hawley, Noah The Treatment
Harris, Kamala You and Me Both with Hillary Clinton
- Current VP candidate talks to former POTUS candidate.
Hilton, Paris The School of Greatness
Holland, Jules Three Little Words
Jacobs, Gillian Busy Philipps is Doing Her Best
Keys, Alicia Questlove Supreme
Killer Mike The Bob Lefsetz Podcast
Kopple, Barbara WTF with Marc Maron
Legend, John You and Me Both with Hillary Clinton
Lithgow, John Kickass News
Mandvi, Aasif You and Me Both with Hillary Clinton
McMaster, H.R. Kickass News
Michaels, Al Sports Illustrated Media Podcast
Mould, Bob The Distraction
Musk, Elon Sway
Obama, Michelle Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Raisman, Aly Armchair Expert
Rannells, Andrew Queery
Ray, Amy People Have the Power
Rogan, Joe Artificial Intelligence
Sailers, Emily People Have the Power
Sanders, Bernie The Axe Files
Santino, Andrew H3 Podcast
Schwartz, Tony The Indicator from Planet Money
- Trump’s “Art of the Deal” ghostwriter talks Trump’s taxes.
Scovel, Rory The Three Questions with Andy Richter, Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
Shetty, Jay Good For You
Short, Martin Literally! With Rob Lowe
Smith, Will Red Table Talk
- He and Jada Pinkett Smith “share their journey of finding peace through pain.”
Steinem, Gloria I Weigh
Stone, Oliver The Jordan Harbinger Show
Strong, Cecily WTF with Marc Maron
Wallace, Chris Monocle 24: The Big Interview
Wallace, George Good One
Warren, Elizabeth Girls Gotta Eat
Weir, Bob Politics of Truth
Yang, Bowen It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders
Yorke, Thom The Zane Lowe Interview Series
- This is the best Radiohead song.
Zimmer, Constance Work in Progress with Sophia Bush
Notable New Podcasts
Reminder: I’ve contracted and expanded coverage of new podcasts. The newsletter includes a curated list of the most notable and best new podcasts of the previous seven days.
Broader coverage now resides at weekinpodcasts.com, where I’ll show my work with an evolving list of new and upcoming podcasts. Know of any podcasts that should be included? Reply and let me know.
1) You and Me Both with Hillary Clinton
- She “sits down for candid, in-depth, and sometimes hilarious conversations with people she finds fascinating.”
- Future guests include: Gloria Steinem, Samin Nosrat and Patton Oswalt.
- Apple Podcasts rank: No. 5.
- Spotify Trending Podcasts rank: No. 14.
- The former FOX News personality promises “open, honest and illuminating conversations with the most interesting and important political, legal and cultural figures today.”
- Apple Podcasts rank: No. 9.
3) Just B with Bethenny Frankel
- The reality show star and “self-made mogul” promises “unapologetic takes on food, investing, relationships, fame, parenting and beyond.”
- Apple Podcasts rank: No. 10.
- Spotify Trending Podcasts rank: No. 9.
- YouTuber and TikToker Bryce Hall teams with Anthony Pompliano for “a new age business/entrepreneurship podcast, geared towards helping young entrepreneurs and influencers create long term wealth.”
- First guest: Mark Cuban.
- Apple Podcasts rank: No. 13.
- Texas Monthly has been chronicling true crime for decades.
- This pod, with Skip Hollandsworth steering the narrative, “digs into a question that’s been plaguing the small Texas town of Canadian for four years: What happened to Tom Brown? The popular high school senior disappeared on Thanksgiving eve of 2016. His whereabouts were unknown until two years later, when his body was found—but what happened to him is still a mystery.”
- Apple Podcasts rank: No. 15.
- The NBA star and co-host Eddie Gonzalez “will have candid conversations about the best of sports, music, entertainment and culture.”
- First guest: Kyrie Irving.
- Apple Podcasts rank: No. 17.
7) Canary
- Amy Brittain hosts an investigative series from The Washington Post that follows an “Alabama woman’s decision to come forward with a claim of sexual assault against a high-ranking figure in the D.C. criminal justice system, and the spiraling effects of that choice.”
- Apple Podcasts rank: No. 26.
8) The Art of Asking Everything
- Amanda Palmer talks to “guests from all walks of life: doctors, sex workers, musicians, writers, teachers, painters, parents, activists, TED speakers, friends….basically anyone who wants to have a deep and honest conversation with me about The Big Stuff.”
9) Chameleon
- It’s billed as the “true story of one of the longest and strangest cons in history.”
- That story: Hollywood “strivers” get “a phone call or email offering the job of a lifetime….All these strivers have to do is get on a plane, for Jakarta, immediately. But when they land, there is no producer.”
10) The Fault Line
- BBC’s David Dimbleby recounts the 18 months between 9/11 and the beginning of the Iraq war, “[t]alking to prime ministers, politicians, spies and weapons inspectors.”
11) Appearances
- From Mermaid Palace, it’s billed as an “audio mind trip about an Iranian-American woman, the family she carries around in her head, and the family that she wants to have.”
12) No Time To Die: The Official James Bond Podcast
- James King hosts the six-part series.
13) Blind Dating
- Tara Michelle “introduces a hopeful single to two charming strangers from the comfort of their separate couches. They’ll get to know each other in a virtual hangout, chatting, flirting, and making the case for why they deserve a second date—without ever turning on their cameras.”
For 15 more podcasts that launched this week, plus upcoming debuts, visit the This Week in Podcasts website.