The counts: 54 notable guests, 23 new podcasts, six deep dives and one endangered letter of the alphabet.

Pod Take of the Week

“The alphabet should be reordered.”

Listen: The Hottest Take (:46)

• That’s Tyler Parker, with a scorching take during the debut week of the Ringer’s new opinion/comedy pod on Spotify.
• Parker just ain’t having R, S and T — “elite letters, superstar letters” — positioned behind Q. 
• Q, he says, can just be banished. K and W can do the work. 
• Says Parker: “If Q’s in the alphabet after this I’m gonna be furious.”
• Additional Reading: “The Mixed-Up Alphabet.” 

Go Deep

1) The World of Comedy 

Listen: The Gist

• The five-part, week-long series devotes an episode each to stand-up, improv, podcasts, film and late night. 
• Guests include Aparna Nancherla, Ron Funches and John August.
• Binge time: 3 hours, 1 minute.  

2) “Baby Shark”

Listen: Switched on Pop

• A 36-minute deep dive into the “dark magic” of the earworm, aka the parents’ “nightmare that will not end.”

3) Puerto Rico

Listen: Throughline

• A 1 hour, 6 minute dive into the relationship the territory has with the U.S. mainland.  

4) How to Make Meetings Less Terrible

Listen: Freakonomics Radio

• A 41-minute look at how to not waste time in conference rooms and on Zoom calls. 

5) “American Idiot”

Listen: Reminiscent

• The indie punk and emo music pod devotes 54 minutes to breaking down the landmark Green Day album on its 15th anniversary. 

6) U.S. Interstate System

Listen: Stuff You Should Know

• A 1 hour, 3 minute dive into the power — both positive and destructive — of America’s superhighways. 

Guest Appearances By…

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

Abrams, Stacey Lovett or Leave It

Ali, Laila Splitting Upward

Aukerman, Scott Off Camera with Sam Jones, Kickass News, Doughboys

• The co-creator of “Between Two Ferns” talks about the Netflix “Ferns” movie, Marie Callender’s.  

Baran, Madeline Inside Podcasting

Batiste, Jon The Open Ears Project

• The bandleader discusses his love for Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.”

Black Keys, The The Joe Rogan Experience

Black, Michael Ian Filling the Void

• The comic talks about poker. 

Braverman, Blair With Friends Like These

Carroll, E. Jean Death, Sex & Money

Carroll, Sean The Joe Rogan Experience, Science Weekly

Coates, Ta-Nehisi Longform Podcast

Cornwell, Patricia StarTalk Radio

Cummings, Whitney The Hilarious World of Depression

Day, Charlie Armchair Expert

Folds, Ben Conversations

Gadsby, Hannah Studio 360

Galifianakis, Zach Comedy Bang! Bang!

Gladwell, Malcolm Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations, The Bill Simmons Podcast, It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders, Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air

• Gladwell makes the round of podcasts with long names to promote his new book about strangers. 

Glazier, Ilana The Thrive Global Podcast

Godin, Seth The Moment with Brian Koppelman

Gyllenhaal, Jake Talks at Google

Hale, Tony Life is Short with Justin Long, You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Hannah-Jones, Nikole The Ezra Klein Show

Howard, Britney The New Yorker Radio Hour

Jacobson, Abbi The Thrive Global Podcast

Jefferies, Jim Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig

Kantor, Jodi Skimm’d From the Couch, Call Your Girlfriend, Recode Decode, The Daily

Kardashian West, Kim Foodgod:OMFG

Koenig, Ezra Keep It

Koepp, David Scriptnotes

Kramer, Julia Women Who Travel

• The editor of Bon Appetit’s Best New Restaurants in America list talks restaurants, rhubarb danishes.

Lake, Katrina How I Built This with Guy Raz

Lang Lang Here’s the Thing With Alec Baldwin

Lapkus, Lauren Comedy Bang! Bang!, Yo, Is This Racist?

Lorenz, Taylor Ringer Dish

Lynch, Jane The Three Questions with Andy Richter

McKenna, Aline Brosh Without Fail

Mendes, Sam The Open Ears Project

• The director talks about his affection for Carl Orff’s “Gassenhauer.”

Munroe, Randall The Ezra Klein Show

Newmark, Craig Recode Media

Nye, Bill Getting Curious with Johnathan Van Ness

Offerman, Nick The Poscast

Raphael, June Diane WTF with Marc Maron

Ray, Rachael Beyond the Plate

Ringwald, Molly UnStyled

Samuelsson, Marcus Off Menu

Sanders, Bernie Latino USA

Schine, Cathleen Bookworm

Snowden, Edward Fresh Air

Steinem, Gloria Work in Progress

Sturridge, Tom Talks at Google

T.I. Forked Up

Twohey, Megan Skimm’d From the Couch, Call Your Girlfriend, Recode Decode, The Daily

Zombie, Rob The Joe Rogan Experience, ID10T

Notable New Podcasts

1) Motive

• The murder-adjacent true crime podcast from WBEZ Chicago chronicles “a cruel sociological experiment. Lock up a 13-year-old boy for a murder that he swore he didn’t commit. Release him as a 30-year-old man. Then, give him $25 million.” The boy-turned-man is Thaddeus “T.J.” Jimenez. 
• Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Frank Main hosts. 

2) The Thing About Pam

• The true-crime pod from Keith Morrison and Dateline NBC focuses on a murder that sets off “a chain of events that would leave one man dead, another man implicated, and expose a diabolical scheme.”
• It’s the No. 1 podcast on iTunes.

3) Correct Opinions with Trey Kennedy

• Comic and video-maker Kennedy just wants us to “take a deep breath, make fun of some people and enjoy some remedy through roasting.”
• It’s the No. 10 podcast on iTunes.  

4) Passenger List

• Kelly Marie Tran and Patti LuPone star in the fictional pod about a flight that disappears while crossing the Atlantic.
• Tran plays a college student whose brother was in the flight, and she’s searching for answers. 

5) Finding Van Gogh 

• Another promising true crime pod about art theft, specifically Van Gogh’s “Portrait of Dr Gachet.”
• This one from the Stadel Museum “traces the painting’s eventful history – to get to the bottom of the question: where is the masterpiece now?

6) The Open Ears Project

• A non-news daily pod from WNYC “where people share the classical track that means the most to them.”
• Episodes run around 10 minutes each. 

7) Scared to Death 

• A podcast in which host Dan Cummins tries “to scare his wife Lynze to death with two tales of alleged-to-be-true horror.”

8) The Lead

• A daily pod about sports from The Athletic.

9) Campaign HQ with David Plouffe

• President Barack Obama’s campaign manager “digs into what the [Democratic presidential] candidates are trying to accomplish in their messaging.”

10) Working Daughter

• Host Liz O’Donnell focuses on “the millions of family caregivers juggling eldercare, career and life, telling their stories and answering their questions.”

11) Long May They Run

• LMTR goes for season-long deep dives into a band, its fans and “the journey that made them one of the most successful touring bands of all time.”
• Season one: Phish. 

12) Sports Criminals

• The focus is on “professional athletes who thought they could get away with anything, including blackmail, theft, prostitution and even murder.”

13) My Life of Crime

• 48 Hours’s Erin Moriarty launches a six-part true crime series that kicks off with a two-parter on the case of accused ax-murderer Lizzie Borden.

14) Three Big Points

• The management pod from MIT’s Sloan Management Review focuses on “one new idea from the world’s leading academics, researchers, and executives” and delivers it “with three takeaways.”

15) London, Actually (S)

• London Hughes’s Spotify-exclusive dating podcast finds the stand-up enlisting “various celebrity friends to help her find a man.” 

16) Foodgod: OMFG

• Reality show regular Jonathan Cheban talks” about his lifestyle, travels, food and more, often with his friends and celebrity guests.” 
• Like with his initial guest, Kim Kardashian West.  

17) She Makes Money Moves

• The pod from Glamour and iHeartRadio ”shares intimate, unscripted stories from women across the country along with advice from financial experts to help guide these women—and women everywhere—forward.” 

18) Work in Progress with Sophia Bush

• It’s about “frank, funny, personal, professional, and sometimes even political conversations with people who inspire Sophia.”

19) We Hear

• The podcast version of the New York Post’s Page Six column. Hard to believe this wasn’t already a podcast. 

20) Out Travel the System (S)

• Nisreene Atassi hosts Expedia’s Spotify-exclusive travel podcast.

21) Wide Open with Tony Gonzalez

• Former NFLer Tony Gonzalez has conversations “with the brightest minds in the worlds of business and entertainment to discuss health, wellness and mindset.”

22) The Hottest Take (S)

• The folks from the Ringer “will debate, defend, and parse a controversial opinion on a pressing topic of the day,” like fantasy football and indoor volleyball. 

23) Down to Date with Kendall Long

• Bachelor in Paradise’s Kendall Long hosts and listens in “to two complete strangers on a first date inside a recording studio.”

And One to Look Forward To: Frontier Tween (Sept. 24, $L)

• In the “coming-of-age scripted comedy series from Team Coco, the all-female writing staff takes you on a journey of 12-year-old poet Tilly Mulch’s life on the untamed prairie.”
• It’s a place “every day is full of adventure and the cows know all her secrets.”
• It’s from the team that created The Onion’s beloved A Very Fatal Murder.