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!

Pod Take of the Week

“The right-wing machine for pumping out this kind of misinformation is like the chocolates moving in front of Lucy and Ethel.”

Listen: Pod Save America: “Drunk dialing for kompromat.” (31:09)

• That’s Jon Lovett, on the overload of BS as the U.S. House of Representatives begins its impeachment inquiry. 
• Context: Watch Lucy and Ethel do their thing.

Go Deep

1) The Rise and Sale of Gimlet Media 

Listen: StartUp, Cold Call

• For podcast nerds, mostly. StartUp, the Gimlet Media podcast that has chronicled the company’s creation and growing pains for five years, starts its final season.
• It promises to tell the warts-and-all tale of its recent acquisition by Spotify. 
• For an outside perspective, the Harvard Business Review podcast Cold Call offers a Gimlet case study. 

2) The Market for Passports

Listen: The Documentary Podcast

• A 28-minute look at the “booming trade in passports” and “how easy it can be to get a second — or third — passport, for the right price.”

3) Facebook vs. Snapchat

Listen: Business Wars

• A six-part series on the tech battle between Mark Zuckerberg’s data-swallowing juggernaut and Evan Spiegel’s upstart. 

4) Pocky

Listen: Spilled Milk

• A 25-minute dive into Pocky and other stickbiscuits. 

5) Dave Chapelle

Listen: Still Processing

• A 42-minute dive into the comic’s latest comedy special, his place in the current culture and his highwire act of jokes about abortion. 

6) Jeanne de Saint-Remy 

Listen: Con Artists

• The pod kicks off a multi-parter on the 18th-century French con artist. 

7) John Wilkes Booth

Listen: 1865

• The pod completes a three-part series on Abraham Lincoln’s killer and his final hours.

Guest Appearances By…

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

Allende, Isabel Latino USA

Anderson, Nick The Dave Chang Show

• Convo with the Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist. 

Armstrong, Heather B. The Hilarious World of Depression

Avett Brothers, The Armchair Expert

• Supplemental listening: The band’s new album, Closer Than Together. Or listen to this and have a cry. 

Bandera, Antonio Studio 360

Banhart, Devendra This Must Be the Gig

Barr, Roseanne The Joe Rogan Experience

Brie, Alison Anna Faris Is Unqualified

Bryson, Bill Conversations

Byer, Nicole The Goodie Goodie with Sabrina Jalees

Byrne, David All Songs Considered

Cameron, David Pod Save the World

• Former UK Prime Minister talks about democracy, his book. 

Carey, Drew Talkhouse

Carney, Patrick The Road Taken

• The drummer of The Black Keys talks touring, his band. 

Clinton, Hillary Call Your Girlfriend

Clinton, Chelsea Call Your Girlfriend

Cochran, Jason Explore the World

Cox, Laverne LGBTQ&A ($L)

Day, Charlie Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!

DeVito, Danny WTF with Marc Maron

Ellis, Brett Easton The Portal

Faison, Donald Life is Short with Justin Long

Favreau, Jon Strictly Business

• Convo with the movie director.

Favreau, Jon Work in Progress with Sophia Bush

• Convo with the Crooked Media co-founder.

Feldman, Liz Work in Progress with Sophia Bush

Gates, Melinda HBR IdeaCast, Wisdom From the Top ($L)

Gladwell, Malcolm Happier with Gretchen Rubin, The Ezra Klein Show

Glazer, Nikki The Joe Rogan Experience

Guggenheim, Davis The Vergecast

Gulman, Gary You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes, The Gist, The Moment

• The comedian makes the pod rounds promoting his HBO special, “The Great Depresh.”

Henner, Marilu WTF with Marc Maron

Howard, Russell Full Disclosure with James O’Brien

Iger, Bob Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

Klosterman, Chuck The Bill Simmons Podcast

Legend, John It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Lennox, Annie Cry Power with Hozier

Marantz, Andrew Longform Podcast

Marsalis, Wynton The Open Ears Project

Martin, Giles All Songs Considered

Miller, Chanel Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

• Convo with the sexual assault victim formerly knowns as Emily Doe.  

Neistat, Casey H3 Podcast

Newsom, Gavin The Lead

• California’s Gov. talk NCAA, allowing college athletes in the state to get paid for the use of their name and likeness.

O’Brien, Conan Off Book

Phoenix, Joaquin ID10T

Porowski, Antoni Beyond the Plate

Raskin, Rep. Jamie Pod Save America

Remnick, David Stay Tuned with Preet

Rock, Chris The Al Franken Podcast

Rodman, Dennis The Jordan Harbinger Show

Rogen, Seth Scriptnotes

Rushdie, Salman Bookworm

Russo, Joe Talks at Google

Sagal, Peter Go Fact Yourself

Sarsgaard, Peter Bullseye

Shaffir, Ari The Joe Rogan Experience

Simpson, Sturgill The Joe Rogan Experience

Smith, Ben Recode Media

Tegan and Sara Queery

Thruman, Niccole Culture Kings

Tolentino, Jia Keep It

White, Jack Broken Record

Yamagata, Rachel Wheels Off

Yang, Andrew The Portal

Notable New Podcasts

1) The Mysterious Mr. Epstein

• Another week, another pod about the insidious Jeffrey Epstein. 
• It’s No. 1 on iTunes.

2) Borrowed Future

• The pod from Ramsey Network “explores the lies we believe about college and digs into the soaring cost of tuition and the predatory nature of the student loan industry.” 
• It’s No. 10 on iTunes.

3) America Dissected 

• The ten-part series from Crooked Media “goes beyond the headlines to explore what really matters for our health.”
• It’s No. 27 on iTunes

4) Heads of Sierra Blanca

• An eight-episode series about “a serial killer inspired by Rube Goldberg” in Sierra Blanca, Texas. The pod explores whether the killings are tied to a Mexican cartel turf war. 
• It’s No. 33 on iTunes

5) Scam Goddess

• An Earwolf pod “dedicated to fraud and all those who practice it!”
• It’s No. 84 on iTunes

6) Condition

• The podcast from the Las Vegas Review-Journal covers the mass shooting at the Route 91 festival by sharing “the stories of two Las Vegas police officers, a woman in dire straits and the night their lives intersected.”

7) The Left Ear

• Host Dakota Johnson covers “stories of assault, abuse, and harassment from survivors around the globe.”

8) Cry Power with Hozier

• The musician “talks to artists and activists about how to take action and change the world.”

9) The Law & Order: SVU Podcast

• The official pod about the TV show brings “behind-the-scenes episode intel from the cast and crew.”

10) Worst Year Ever

• It’s all about the projected craziness of the election year 2020, which “isn’t going to be fun for anybody, left, right, or center.”

11) Cryptids

• It’s a scripted show about “a conspiracy radio show host and an avid listener who go in search of an afterlife.” 

12) The Road Taken

• The Ringer podcast hosted by Vampire Weekend’s Chris Tomson and Chris Baio takes “an honest look at the life of a touring musician through conversations with their peers, idols, and rivals.” 

13) Sonic Boom ($L)

• The Ringer pod “tells a story of basketball and politics, wealth and power—revealing new truths about the NBA’s greatest heist.”
• That heist would be the NBA’s Seattle Supersonics departure to Oklahoma City in 2008. 

14) Mother of All Shows

• Actress Kimmy Gatewood “aims to uncover what it truly means to be a modern parent in an over-informed, Google-obsessed, placenta-eating world.”

15) Bear and a Banjo

• The music podcast from iHeartRadio “tells the incredibly tall tale of a band that time forgot.”

And One to Look Forward To: Dolly Parton’s America

• The trailer’s out for the nine-episode “journey into the Dollyverse.” Radiolab’s Jad Abumrad hosts.

And one more thing: Sunday’s #ShareYourBudsSunday, a day to share your love of podcasts with family and friends. Learn more from #ShareYourBudsSunday co-founders and friends of the newsletter, Earbuds Podcast Collective and Podcast Gumbo.

Pod Take of the Week

“It’s like they’re trying to rescue and preserve the last remaining copy of ‘Hamlet’”

Listen: Culture Gabfest: Iconic Staircase (26:29)

• That’s Stephen Metcalf, joking about HGTV’s sugary, much-hyped renovation of the Brady Bunch house on “A Very Brady Renovation.”
• HGTV marshalls eight hosts to join with the six Brady “kids” for a reno project: turn the real-life house that represented the exterior of the Brady home into a replica of the house depicted on the show’s set.
• My take: I’m so here for it. I love the collision of Slate’s over-intellectualization of “The Brady Bunch” and my own deep childhood love for the show.

Go Deep

1) President Trump and the Impeachment Inquiry 

• Emergency pods spawned even emergencier pods all week. I didn’t keep up. I followed the revelations about the whistle-blower’s complaint against President Trump and his Ukraine-related actions in real time. 
• If you need to catch up, the six top-ranked Trumpy pods of the week, per iTunes, are: 
• The Daily: ‘I Would Like You to Do Us a Favor’
• The Daily: The Whistle-Blower’s Complaint
• The Daily: An Impeachment Inquiry Begins
• The Ben Shapiro Show: Whistleblower Comes Up Empty
• FiveThirtyEight Politics: The Whistleblower’s Complaint
• Pod Save America: ‘Rudy Likes Club Drugs’
• Bonus: The audio version of the whistleblower’s complaint against President Trump.

2) Living with Sharks

Listen: Outside Podcast

• A 44-minute deep dive into the “extreme reactions” humans have to “living alongside one of the world’s most terrifying predators.”

3) “The Shawshank Redemption”

Listen: The Rewatchables

• A 1-hour, 50-minute dive into the movie that’s been playing on a loop on cable for almost 25 years. 
• The Ringer crew breaks it down with special guest, Bill Simmons’s dad.

4) “Do the Right Thing”

Listen: Deviate with Rolf Potts

• A 56-minute dive into another iconic American movie. Wesley Morris guests. 
• Morris says: “The importance of ‘Do the Right Thing’ out-lives all of the arguments against it. It embarrasses its critics, in a lot of ways. Spike Lee really is having the last laugh on this one.”

5) Skylab

Listen: American Innovations

• The pod kicks off a series on America’s first space station, known to one of the engineers that worked on it as “the little redheaded bastard out behind the barn.”

Guest Appearances By…

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

Allen, Byron WTF with Marc Maron

Ansari, Aziz Last Day

Apatow, Judd Thick Skin with Jeff Ross

Aukerman, Scott The Three Questions with Andy Richter

Blunt, James The Dan Wootton Interview

Booker, Sen. Cory The New Yorker Radio Hour

Brown, Karamo Naked with Catt Sadler

Burns, Ken Longform Podcast

Calcanis, Jason Inside Podcasting

Cannon, Nick ExpediTIously 

Carden, D’Arcy The Good Place, Comedy Bang! Bang!

• Janet!

Cummings, Whitney Work in Progress with Sophia Bush

Donoghue, Emma Bookworm

Duca, Lauren The Gist

Flea The Bill Simmons Podcast

• RHCP bassist talks music, Lakers. 

Francis, Dillon The Ron Burgundy Podcast

Gaffigan, Jeannie WTF with Marc Maron

Gaffigan, Jim Armchair Expert

Galifianakis, Zach Off Camera

Garofolo, Janeane Filling the Void

Gladwell, Malcolm The goop Podcast, The Jordan Harbinger Show, Full Disclosure

• Gladwell continues the pod rounds to promote his new book. 

Gorsuch, Neil The Strategerist

• The George W. Bush Institute pod talks to the Supreme Court Justice. 

Hurd, Will TED Talks Daily

Hyland, Sarah Celeste & Her Best ($L)

Izzard, Eddie The Open Ears Project

• The comic and actor raves about “Clair de Lune.”

Kander, Jason The Al Franken Podcast 

Khanna, Parag The TED Interview

Klobuchar, Sen. Amy Radio Atlantic

Kurtis, Bill Go Fact Yourself

Leonard, Franklin Hear to Slay ($L)

• Convo with the founder of The Black List.

Levy, Dan Thirst Aid Kit

• Co-creator of “Schitt’s Creek” guests as the beloved former Buzzfeed pod re-launches at Slate. 

Ling, Lisa The Tim Ferriss Show, Work in Progress with Sophia Bush

Ma, Jeff The Dave Chang Show

MacKaye, Ian Sound Opinions

• Fugazi founder talks about the band’s debut album, “Repeater.”

Meltzer, Brad Kickass News

Morales, Natalie Yo, Is This Racist?

Olson, Elizabeth UnStyled

Penn, Sean ID10T

Phillips, Lou Diamond Latino USA

Pierson, Rich How I Built This with Guy Raz

• Convo with the co-creator of meditation app Headspace. 

Puddicome, Andy How I Built This with Guy Raz

• Same as above.

Schilling, Dave Culture Kings

Sedaris, Amy Life is Short with Justin Long

Silverman, Sarah Last Day

Soderbergh, Steven Inside the Hive with Nick Bilton

Starr, Martin Curious with Josh Peck

Thornton, Billy Bob The Bill Simmons Podcast

Van Ness, Jonathan It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Warner, Sen. Mark Recode Decode

Will, George The Axe Files ($L)

Wilson, Mara The Hilarious World of Depression

Wilson, Rainn You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Zellweger, Renee The Big Ticket

Notable New Podcasts

1) Edge of Sleep

• The No. 8 pod on iTunes is a fiction pod that focuses on a night watchman who’s “terrified to discover that everyone in the world who went to sleep the previous night has died. Now he and a band of survivors must stay awake and uncover the secret of this global epidemic, before they fall asleep.”

2) Points South 

• The tagline for the Oxford American podcast is simple and cryptic: “Southern Stories. Southern Songs.”

3) Lost at the Smithsonian with Aasif Mandvi

• The comedian is also a “pop culture fanatic,” and he “gets up close and personal with the most iconic artifacts at the National Museum of American History.” 

4) Past Gas

• The Donut Media pod focuses on the “craziest stories from all of automotive history.”

5) School Colors

• It’s a “narrative podcast from Brooklyn Deep about how race, class, and power shape American cities and schools.”

6) Last Day

• Host Stephanie Wittels Wachs — sister of the late comedian Harris Wittels — reflects on the opioid crisis and “zoom[s] in on a person’s last day of life, exploring how they got there and how we, as a society, have gotten here.” 

7) Business Casual 

• The pod from Morning Brew features interviews with “thought leaders, CEOs, and high-profile experts.”

8) You’re Dead to Me

• Greg Jenner hosts a “history podcast for people who don’t like history or who forgot to learn any at school.” It’s a BBC Radio 4 production. 

9) Next Question with Katie Couric

• The TV host returns to podland with a show about “the people, movements, and issues changing our lives and redefining our world.”

10) Frontier Tween ($L)

• The “coming-of-age scripted comedy series from Team Coco” follows the journey of “12-year-old poet Tilly Mulch’s life on the untamed prairie.”

11) Metaphysical Milkshake ($L) 

• Hosts Rainn Wilson and Reza Aslan “tackle life’s big questions – What is spirituality? How do we walk through the world? Is Gen Z facing an epidemic of loneliness? Does money make rich people evil?”  

12) Vocal Point ($L)

• Martina McBride interviews “country music legends and her musical contemporaries, sharing life and music stories with each other and listeners.” 

And One to Look Forward To: The Road Taken (Oct. 2)

• Vampire Weekend’s rhythm section kicks off a 10-episode series about the realities of touring musicians.  

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.

Before I get to more on that, a shout out to Bello Collective’s 100 Outstanding Podcasts of 2018. I shared a few picks, and found a whole lot more to add to my listening queue. Check it out.

5 Pod Takes

1) “She’s always going to be remembered, and she’s going to be vindicated.”

Listen: The Teacher’s Pet: Arrest (41:49)

• That’s Julie Andrew, speaking about her late friend Lynette Dawson, whose 1982 disappearance is the subject of the true crime podcast.
• Andrew spoke an hour after news broke of the arrest of Chris Dawson, Lynette’s husband, on murder charges.
• The podcast sparked intense interest in the cold case. Police wouldn’t reveal the evidence that triggered the arrest, but they did tell host Hedley Thomas the podcast helped bring new evidence to light.

2) “I worry about humans…A human with an agenda, and with anger, is terrifying to me.”

Listen: 10 Things That Scare Me: Blair Braverman (5:40)

• That’s dog musher Braverman, revealing her No. 9 fear on this compelling new pod series from WNYC about people’s fears.
• Context: Braverman frames her fear of humans in relation to nature.
• She says: “A bear wants to eat, and a storm doesn’t give a shit about anything.”  

3) “It’s taking great, wonderful, imaginative people…and then crushing their souls by telling them what font size to use.”

Listen: TED Talks Daily: Confessions of a recovering micromanager I Chieh Huang (2:01)

• That’s Huang, nailing what it takes to kill happiness and morale at work.

4) “It’s like ‘Free Bird’ [and] ‘Hey Jude’ had a kid.”

Listen: Celebration Rock: Fantasy A&R: the Ultimate Mid-’90s Oasis Album(53:14)

• That’s Steven Hyden, who also throws the rocking parts of “Stairway to Heaven” and “Bohemian Rhapsody” into the mix when describing the alchemy of Oasis’s “Champagne Supernova.”
• It’s the closer on his excellent fantasy mid-90s Oasis album.

5) “The makers of these films have no idea what snow looks like.”

Listen: Pop Culture Happy Hour: Hallmark Holiday Movies (5:45)

• Stephen Thompson breaks down one of Hallmark’s most lovable contributions to cinema.

Tweet of the Week

Go Deep

1) China and the West

Listen: The Daily

• A two-parter from Apple’s most downloaded pod of 2018 focuses on bad assumptions made by Western countries regarding China’s economic decisions.
• Binge time: 44 minutes.

2) “The College Dropout”

Listen: Heat Rocks

• A 54-minute deep dive into Kanye’s classic, with G Yamazawa.

3) Ernesto de la Cruz

Listen: Villains

• Shea Serrano goes 48 minutes on the “Coco” baddie.

Guest Appearances By…

Abrams, Stacey TED Talks Daily

• The former candidate for governor of Georgia shares lessons from her campaign.

Abumrad, Jad Pod Save the People

Aiken, Clay The Adam Carolla Show

Albarn, Damon Ways to Change the World

Alexandro, Tex WTF with Marc Maron

Allen, Lily ID10T

Armisen, Fred You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Automator, Dan the The Trip

Black, Jack The Treatment, The H3 Podcast

Bloom, Rachel Good One

Briggs, Bishop Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

Brown, Sen. Sherrod Pod Save America

Burr, Bill Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend

Bush, Sophia Anna Faris is Unqualified

Carden, D’Arcy Off Book, The Good Place: The Podcast

• Janet!

Case, Neko Talkhouse

Cash, Rosanne The Moment with Brian Koppelman

Collazo, Julie Schwietert Without Fail

Cooper, Bradley Fresh Air

Copeland, Misty The Goop Podcast

Danson, Ted Off Camera with Sam Jones

• Michael!

Davis, Viola It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Dunham, Kelli My Best Break-Up

Eggers, Dave The New Yorker: Fiction

• He reads Sam Shepard’s story “ Indianapolis (Highway 74)”

Foer, Franklin Recode Decode

Galifianakis, Zach Doug Loves Movies

Gass, Kyle The Treatment, The H3 Podcast

Gebbia, Joe How I Built This with Guy Raz

Goggins, David The Joe Rogan Experience

Haidt, Jonathan Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Hamm, Jon Doug Loves Movies

Harbinger, Jordan Big Questions with Cal Fussman

Howroyd, Janice Bryant How I Built This with Guy Raz

Jeffries, Hakeem Pod Save America

Jenkins, Barry Monocle 24: The Big Interview

Kingsolver, Barbara Bookworm

Knievel, Robbie The Adam Carolla Show

Kurzweil, Ray The TED Interview, TED Talks Daily

Love, Darlene Ask Me Another

Luna, Diego Remote Controlled

Moore, Michael Scott Public Intellectual

Moretz, Chloe Grace Maltin on Movies

Nanjiani, Kumail Stay Tuned with Preet

Nelson, Tim Blake WTF with Marc Maron

Nepo, Mark Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations

• Two-part convo with the author and philosopher.

Noah, Trevor Kickass News

Nosrat, Samin Fresh Air, Eater Upsell

Puddicombe, Andy Hannahlyze This

• Convo with co-founder of Headspace.

Reitman, Jason The Bill Simmons Podcast

Romer, Paul Conversations with Tyler

Savage, Andrea Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Savage, Andrew This Song

Scheer, Paul I Am Rapaport: Stereo Podcast

Schmidle, Nicholas Longform Podcast

Silverman, Sarah Doug Loves Movies

Stewart, Martha Skimm’d From the Couch

Storr, Will The Ezra Klein Show

Swisher, Kara TBD with Tina Brown

Taylor, James Oprah’s Master Class

Traister, Rebecca On Being

Verducci, Tom Sports Media with Richard Deitsch

Weil, Dr. Andrew The Tim Ferriss Show

Wray, John Otherppl with Brad Listi

Wurtz, Bill The H3 Podcast

Zucker, Jeff The Axe Files

Notable New Podcasts

1) Post Reports

• The Washington Post’s long-awaited daily news podcast debuts. Martine Powers hosts.

2) Broken Harts

• The Glamour/HowStuffWorks co-production centers on the murder-suicide of the Hart Family. Twitter tagline: “Two white moms. Six adopted black kids. One car found upside down at the bottom of a cliff. What went wrong?”

3) Aria Code

• Each episode of this WQXR/Metropolitan Opera co-production “dives into one aria — a feature for a single singer — and explores how and why these brief musical moments have imprinted themselves in our collective consciousness and what it takes to stand on the Met stage and sing them.”

4) The Corp

• ARod and Big Cat of Barstool Sports “interview industry leaders, sports legends, and entrepreneurs on what makes them successful in their specific profession.” All seven episodes dropped Thursday.

5) Better at Everything

• Each season of this “zero b******t” self-help show will feature “a new expert who will help you get unstuck in a single but meaningful way.”

6) 10 Things That Scare Me

• The WNYC Studios production focuses on one person’s fears. “It could be anyone. It could be you. It’s someone driven by fears that keep them up at night, that define their lives, and inform their choices.”

7) These Miracles Work: A Hold Steady Podcast

• It’s a five-part deep dive into The Hold Steady’s album “Stay Positive.” I’m so in.

8) Wealth of Knowledge

• Host Antonio Barbera of U.S. News & World Report offers “weekly tips and expert insight on all things money.”

9) Numbers Geek with Steve Ballmer

• The former Microsoft CEO, current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers and Internet-famous dancer uses “numbers and data to make sense of the world.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. Also, find us on Twitter @WeekInPodcasts.

As promised, I’ve rolled some Pod Takes from last week to this week. Happy bonus content.

6 Pod Takes

1) “The robots, most economists think, will win out.”

Listen: The Daily: The Human Toll of Instant Delivery (24:31)

• That’s Jessica Silver-Greenberg, New York Times business reporter on the cold facts of the future of warehouse work.
• The Daily’s look at the how speedy delivery from Amazon and other retailers affects workers is chilling and heartbreaking.
• Tasha Murrell, a former warehouse employee, talks about when a co-worker died during her shift. Her supervisors: “Oh, well. People die. But we still gotta get this work out.”

2) “Has tax fraud gotten to the point where gangsta rap is in on it? Yeah, I guess so.”

Listen: Darknet Diaries: IRS (30:20)

• So says Jack Rhysider, highlighting one of the many places where tax fraud is thriving.

3) “It’s sort of James Baldwin and Charles Dickens wrote a book together.”

Listen: Broken Record: Nile Rodgers and Chic (28:48)

• That’s host Bruce Headlam, with the succinct and amazing take on music legend Rodgers’ autobiography.
• My take: You could do worse than start the weekend with this beloved Rodgers contribution to pop music.

4) “The best thing that ever happened to me was being hit by that car. It just changed everything for me. I highly recommend it for everyone.”

Listen: How It Is: Adventure, with Jameela Jamil, Danya Ruttenberg, and Jada Yuan (29:59)

• That’s Jamil, of “The Good Place,” who is not a monster for saying that.
• She adds: “As long as you can come out of it somewhat okay. Still alive. I really think it gifts you more than you would know. I say that somewhat tongue-in-cheek, as you can imagine, because I think not everyone is as lucky as I was when I got out of that car accident.”

5) “Remember what happened [with] Tom Brady’s T-shirt that he wore? There were torchlight searches going on in my neighborhood. There’s Rembrandts missing. There’s Vermeer missing. I want that enthusiasm.”

Listen: Last Seen: ‘Last Seen’ Live (20:34)

• That’s Stephen Kurkjian, an investigative reporter on the Isabella Stewart Gardner art heist beat, on the kind of focus he’d like to see on the unsolved mystery.
• Flashback: In 2017, New England Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady’s Super Bowl jersey was stolen. People went nuts.
• My take: An almost-satisfying finish to an almost-great podcast. Sarah Larson nails it.

6) “The butt is my window to the soul.”

Listen: Everything is Alive: Sean, Subway Seat (3:21)

• Thanks for sharing, Sean.

Tweet of the Week

Go Deep

1) Conversion Therapy in America

Listen: UnErased

• The four-part series hosted by Radiolab’s Jad Abumrad tells the stories of some of the 700,000 people who were subjected to conversion therapy, the “dangerous and controversial ex-gay treatment.”
• Binge time: 2 hours, 36 minutes.

2) Instagram

Listen: Why’d You Push That Button?

• Ashley Carman and Kaitlyn Tiffany, whose pod focuses on the choices technology asks us to make, finish a three-part mini-series on the fave social media channel.
• They cover Instagram boyfriends, Instagram shopping, what makes a place Instagram-worthy and food Instagram.
• Carman says: “They’re everywhere on Instagram with this stupid-ass rolled lasagna, disrupting the lasagna world.”
• Binge time: 2 hours, 32 minutes.
• See: The stupid-ass rolled lasagna.

3) Killmonger

Listen: Villains

• Shea Serrano goes 46 minutes on the “Black Panther” baddie.

4) “Raiders of the Lost Ark”

Listen: Scriptnotes

• Craig Mazin and John August dissect the 1981 classic that pits Indiana Jones against Nazis, snakes, dates.
• Binge time: 1 hour, 13 minutes.

5) The Assassination of JFK

Listen: Assassinations, Sinisterhood

• Guess we’ll never not be fascinated by the assassination of the 35th U.S. president.
• Assassinations completes a three-part series. Sinisterhood finishes a two-parter.
• Binge times: Assassinations: 2 hours, 14 minutes. Sinisterhood: 2 hours, 38 minutes.

6) Real vs. Fake

Listen: Benjamen Walker’s Theory of Everything

• Walker’s 15-part “battle between the real and the fake” concludes.
• Binge time: 8 hours, 55 minutes.

Guest Appearances By…

Attell, Dave The Bill Simmons Podcast

Bach, King Inside of You

Beard, Mary The Goop Podcast

Bell, Kristen Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend

Branum, Guy It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Brooks, Kim The Gist with Mike Pesca

• Convo with the woman who got 100 hours of community service for leaving her son alone in a car while she ran an errand.

Coates, Ta-Nehisi Why is This Happening? with Chris Hayes

Cohen, Marilyn The Indicator from Planet Money

• The bond manager plays overrated, underrated.

Cooper, Bradley Playback

Connelly, Michael Kickass News

Dickey, Bronwen Code Switch

• Author of “Pit Bull” talks pit bulls.

D’Onofrio, Vincent Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Dodd, Chris The Axe Files

Ellis, Sarah Kate Queery

Elitch, Dave The Tim Ferriss Show

Everett, Bridget ID10T, The New Yorker Radio Hour

Fake, Caterina Without Fail

Finnegan, William StarTalk Radio with Neil deGrasse Tyson

Frank, Scott The Moment with Brian Koppelman

Gibney, Alex TBD with Tina Brown

Gilroy, Tony The Moment with Brian Koppelman

Hader, Bill Anna Faris is Unqualified

Haidt, Jonathan The Ezra Klein Show

Hall, Carla The Sporkful

Hawke, Ethan Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Heller, Emily You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Iyer, Pico On Being

Jackman, Hugh Katie Couric

James, LeBron The Tim Ferriss Show

• Basketball’s best player (ever!) talks about his training.

Kidd, Sue Monk Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations

Kimbra This Must Be the Gig

Mackey, John Oprah’s Super Soul Conversations

• Whole Foods co-founder talks creativity, food.

Mandel, Howie The Adam Carolla Show

Maron, Marc Clear+Vivid with Alan Alda

Mayer, Jane Monocle 24: The Big Interview

Moore, Michael Scott The Adam Buxton Podcast

Mortimer, Emily Employee of the Month

Mull, Martin WTF with Marc Maron

Mulligan, Carey Off Camera with Sam Jones

Nancherla, Aparna The Hilarious World of Depression

Nabongo, Jessica Travel Genius

• The blogger/influencer talks about her mission to become the first black woman to visit every country in the world.

O’Brien, Conan Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Peterson, Jordan The Joe Rogan Experience

Reitman, Jason The Treatment

Rock, Kid Planet Money

Ross, Jeff The Bill Simmons Podcast

Sakran, Dr. Joseph Fresh Air

• Convo with the trauma surgeon who started #ThisIsOurLane.

Shires, Amanda Sound Opinions

Slater, Kelly StarTalk Radio with Neil deGrasse Tyson

Soloway, Jill TBD with Tina Brown

Tebow, Tim The Dave Ramsey Show

Tweedy, Jeff All Songs Considered, WTF with Marc Maron

Vargas, Jose Antonio Recode Decode, How to Be Amazing with Michael Ian Black

Wainwright, Rufus Broken Record

Weiss, Emily How I Built This with Guy Raz

• Convo with founder of Glossier.

Wolf, Michelle Ask Me Another

Yuan, Jada How It Is

• The NYT’s 52 Places traveler talks adventure, fearlessness.

Zimmer, John How I Built This with Guy Raz

Notable New Podcasts

1) The Slowdown

• U.S. Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith delivers a poem every day. She says, “poetry offers a way of slowing things down, looking at them closely, mining each moment for all that it houses.”

2) Business Schooled

• Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian “meets the OG generation of entrepreneurs and learns how they started their own booming businesses.” All eight episodes dropped this week.

3) TBD with Tina Brown

• Iconic magazine editor “talks with entertaining candor to writers, actors, politicians, crime sleuths, journalists, activists, digerati, thought-leaders and newsmakers of tomorrow’s social debates.” Whew.  

4) Winging It

• NBA players Vince Carter and Kent Bazemore, with an assist from Annie Finberg, take “a behind-the-scenes look at what NBA players think and talk about when their minds aren’t on the court.”

5) Super Awesome Science Show

• Jason Tetro’s pod will “venture into all areas. If it ends in ‘ology’, we’ve got it covered – chemistry and physics too.”

6) Chartable Radio

• The founders of the podcast analytics company “discuss all things podcasting, interview podcasters and dish the best advice on how to market and grow your podcast.”

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. Also, find us on Twitter @WeekInPodcasts.

Made some more tweaks this week based on your feedback, with small expansions to the guest and new podcast sections. And I scaled back the Pod Takes. I’m trying to keep the length from getting out of control.

As always, I’m grateful for any and all feedback. Thanks for reading!

5 Pod Takes

1) “Algorithms don’t decide what’s fair. People have to do that.”

Listen: Undiscovered: Party Lines (25:17)

• That’s Annie Minoff, explaining why having a ”neutral” computer algorithm draw fair political districts isn’t possible.

• The pod dives deep into North Carolina’s partisan gerrymander and the math-based challenge to it that’s in the hands of the U.S. Supreme Court.

• My take: A fantastic explanation of the problems created by the precision gerrymanders data and computing power make possible.

• Also: Vote!

2) “Earth rings like a bell. But the moon rings more like a gong.”

Listen: On a Mission: Music of the Spheres (12:43)

• So says host Leslie Mullen, summing up the POV of NASA colleague Bruce Banerdt.

• That revelation comes during the debut of a new pod from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory focused on the InSight robotic explorer of Mars. Banerdt’s the lead scientist on the project.

• Banerdt and his team, among other awesome things, will place a seismometer on Mars to hear what the red planet sounds like.

• Spoiler: The bell of which Banerdt speaks rings during earthquakes, for instance, but humans don’t hear the sound, which travels through earth at a frequency below what humans can hear.

• My take: Hope Mars sounds like this.

3) “I suspect I will never be anything but utterly confounded and just in awe of such a strange, impactful human being as Richard Simmons.”

Listen: Missing Richard Simmons: 18 Months Later (18:23)

• That’s the expert opinion of host Dan Taberski, in this short update, aka “Missing Missing Richard Simmons,” on Simmons’s status as well as others’ featured during last year’s podcast phenomenon.

• Spoiler: Simmons is still (mostly) missing from the public eye. He did write a Facebook post about someone close to him who passed away.

4) “The wonderful part about the internet is that loners and geeks and people who think that there’s no one else like them in the world can turn on the computer and find out there’s millions of other people out there like them in the world. Well, the racists are finding out the same thing.”

Listen: The Press Box: CNN and the Bomb, the Francesa Controversies, and Megyn Kelly (6:53)

• That’s co-host David Shoemaker, with a gut-punch of a kicker.

5) “It’s like going under the knife in a hospital where there’s really no doctors.”

Listen: Everything is Alive: Annie, Jack o’ Lantern (5:17)

• That’s Annie, with something to think about for next Halloween.

• She adds: “It’s just some amateurs kinda working at your face.”

• My take: Ouch. Sorry, Annie.

Go Deep

1) “The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill”

Listen: Heat Rocks, Dissect

• Author Joan Morgan joins Heat Rocks for a 50-minute examination of Hill’s classic album to mark its 20th anniversary.
• Dissect kicks off an eight-part deep dive, exclusively on Spotify.

2) Rudy in the Former Soviet Union

Listen: Trump, Inc.

• The Trump-focused pod goes deep on Trump acolyte Rudy Giuliani.

3) The Making of “Homecoming”

Listen: StartUp

• Gimlet goes meta with a four-part series focused on how the TV version of its pod got made.
• Binge time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

Guest Appearances By…

Albom, Mitch Sports Media with Richard Deitsch

Attell, Dave Amy Schumer Presents: 3 Girls, 1 Keith

Axelrod, David Off Message, Political Gabfest

Brill, Steven The Axe Files

Caine, Michael Kickass News

Chehadé, Fadi Ted Talks Daily

• Technology architect talks ways for society to benefit from technology.

Clinton, Hillary Recode Decode

Costello, Elvis Freakonomics Radio

Cruz, Wilson The West Wing Weekly

Daltrey, Roger WTF with Marc Maron

Daschle, Tom The West Wing Weekly

Diaz, Joey The Joe Rogan Experience

Dubus III, Andre Otherppl with Brad Listi

Dunham, Lena Armchair Expert

Ellis, Jason Curious with Josh Peck

Fountain, Ben Bookworm

Glaser, Nikki Good One

Godin, Seth The Tim Ferriss Show

Gray, John Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

Hagan, Joe Longform Podcast

• Author of the “Sticky Fingers: The Life and Times of Jann Wenner and Rolling Stone Magazine” talks about researching and writing his excellent book.

Harris, Sam The Ted Interview, The Tim Ferriss Show

Hill, Jonah Fresh Air

Jenkins, Brad Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig

• Funny or Die DC’s exec producer talks politics, comedy.

Kass, Sam The Sporkful

• Chef talks about cooking Barack Obama’s lucky pasta.

Kazan, Zoe WTF with Marc Maron

Keisling, Mara Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

• Convo with the director of the National Center for Transgender Equality.

Kelly, Michael Remote Controlled

Kinnear, Greg Remote Controlled

Koy, Jo The Adam Carolla Show

Krosoczka, Jarrett J. The Children’s Book Podcast

• Have you read the Lunch Lady books a million times with your kids? I’ve read the Lunch Lady books a million times with my kids.

Lee, Bobby Anna Faris is Unqualified

Malek, Rami Playback

McChrystal, Stanley Gen. The Moment with Brian Koppelman

McGrath, Amy Pod Save America

Minhaj, Hasan Off Camera with Sam Jones

Monáe, Janelle The New Yorker Radio Hour

Moore, CeCe Nobody Told Me!

• Convo with the investigative genetic genealogist.

Musk, Elon Recode Decode

Neyfakh, Leon I Have to Ask

Neville, Morgan Studio 360

Perry, Steve Inside the Studio

• Welcome back, Steve Perry!

Palmieri, Jennifer Skimm’d From the Couch

Pollak, Kevin Doughboys

Pollan, Michael Endless Thread

Redzepi, René Bon Appetit Foodcast

Reitman, Jason Recode Media with Peter Kafka

Richie, Lionel Oprah’s Master Class

Ringwald, Molly The a24 Podcast

Roberts, Julia The Goop Podcast, StartUp

Sanford, Mark The Ezra Klein Show

Sasse, Ben Kickass News

Scaramucci, Anthony Inside the Hive

Schmidt, Steve The Axe Files

Smith, Tracy K. On Being

• Convo with the U.S. poet laureate.

Strong, AshLee Skimm’d From the Couch

• Convo with the press secretary for Speaker of the House Paul Ryan.

Taffer, Jon The Adam Carolla Show

Talamon, Bruce It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

• The photographer talks capturing images of black musicians.

Tenacious D You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Traister, Rebecca Recode Decode

Turner, Julia Women in Charge

Varda, Agnès Monocle 24: The Big Interview

Wahlberg, Mark Pardon My Take

Wojnarowski, Adrian The Lowe Post

• NBA media heavyweights talk Jimmy Butler, Washington’s awful team.

Notable New Podcasts

1) On a Mission

If you love: Mars, NASA, Robots, Science, Space

• Eight-part series from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory focuses on the InSight robotic explorer of Mars.

2) Front Burner

If you love: Canada, News

• CBC News debuts a daily new podcast.

3) Bag Man

If you love: Money-stuffed Envelopes, Politics, Serials, True Crime

• Rachel Maddow’s pod dives deep into the crimes of Richard Nixon’s disgraced vice president Spiro Agnew.

4) Shedunnit

If you love: Agatha Christie, Detectives, Mysteries

• The new pod from Caroline Crampton “unravels the mysteries behind classic detective stories.”

5) Proof

If you love: Deep-Fried Oreos, Food, Mysteries

• The America’s Test Kitchen pod “goes beyond recipes and cooking to solve food mysteries big and small.”

6) Kingpins

If you love: Gangsters, Money, Power, True Crime

• The pod focuses on “the leaders of organized crime rings, and how money and power corrupted and changed their communities.”

7) Chapo: Kingpin on Trial

If you love: Drug Wars, Gangsters, Money, Power, Trials, True Crime

• VICE’s Spotify exclusive goes eight-episodes deep into El Chapo’s “high-stakes case through the stories of people caught up in the drug war in the U.S. and Mexico.”

8) Standoff

If you love: Paranoia, Power, Remote Cabins, Serials, Sieges, The Feds

• Slate’s narrative pod asks what really happened during the standoff at Ruby Ridge. Ruth Graham hosts. ‏

9) The Rewind with Guy Raz

If you love: Behind the Scenes, Exclusivity, Music, Origin Stories

• Raz “digs into the stories behind some of the world’s most famous artists and musicians,” exclusively on Spotify.

10) Function with Anil Dash

If you love: Cultural Criticism, Games, Tech

• Dash’s pod asks, “What goes into the technical choices that change our culture?”

11) Lethal Lit

If you love: Crime, Detectives, Fiction, Murder

• Join “teen detective Tig Torres as she investigates the twisted mystery of the infamous Lit Killer murders.” It’s a six-part series.

7 Pod Takes

1) “I believe the scholarly term is ‘hot mess.’”

Listen: Code Switch: The Cost to Cast a Ballot (21:11)

• That’s Carol Anderson, historian and a professor of African-American studies at Emory University, describing the 2000 election fiasco in Florida.
• This great ep takes a deep dive into the history of voter suppression and explores one of the most pressing topics in the U.S.: “Why people don’t vote and why more and more people can’t vote.”
• My take: It’s been awful. We must fight to do better.

2) “By the time you’re out of college your body is just done. Man, you are Brett Favre doing infomercials.”

Listen: Believed: The Good Guy (9:23)

• That’s host Kate Wells, outlining the crazy toll gymnastics takes on one’s body and highlighting the significance of doctors at the sport’s elite level.
• Wells and the Believed pod are focused on Larry Nassar, the once-beloved doctor now known as “one of the worst serial pedophiles in U.S. sports history.”
• The first episode of the series details how Nassar gained the trust of the gymnasts and their families.
• My take: Horrible story, masterful storytelling.

3) “President Trump is, more or less, a wedge issue generating machine.”

Listen: The Daily: How 1994 Gave Us Today’s Politics (3:21)

• That’s NYT opinion columnist Jennifer Senior, touting Trump’s unfortunate superpower, but also putting it in context.
• Senior tracks the genesis and evolution of the Republicans using wedge issues to gain political leverage against Democrats back to 1994. The costs are enormous.

4) “When you’re doing stuff that sucks you have a lot of time to think your way out of your present situation.”

Listen: The Gender Knot: Slow Burn’s Leon Neyfakh on gender in US politics(6:07)

• So says co-host Daniel Carroll, introducing himself in this insightful pod about the intersection of politics and gender.
• Neyfakh brings a POV influenced by his exploration of the Bill Clinton impeachment scandal on the excellent latest season of Slow Burn.

5) “I’ve had so many interviews about death…I think that’s probably improved my life in some ways.”

Listen: Outside Podcast: Dispatches: Alex Honnold on “Free Solo” (10:13)

• That’s climbing legend Honnold, in an interview about how his life has changed in the wake of his no-ropes ascent of Yosemite’s El Capitan and the movie about his achievement.
• Outside calls “Free Solo” the best climbing movie ever made.
• Honnold also goes 1 hour, 51 minutes with Joe Rogan on The Joe Rogan Experience.

6) “What really matters is the microphone technique.”

Listen: Pop Culture Happy Hour: Halloween (20:35)

• That’s host Linda Holmes, with a playful shot at herself and the PCHH crew for their digression about the awful practices used by the podcasters who play a key role in the latest “Halloween” movie.
• Spoiler: While they were in agreement about podcast horrors, they split on the quality of the actual movie.
• My take: Gotta love the passion of podcasters defending their craft.

7) “It’s still an armpit in a lot of ways, but it’s a loveable armpit.”

Listen: The Bill Simmons Podcast: World Series Thoughts Plus Hasan Minhaj(12:43)

• That’s Simmons, with a not-so-hot take on the oldest MLB ballpark. Simmons broke down his experience at Fenway Park during Game One of the World Series pitting his beloved Boston Red Sox vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers.
• My take: I’ll be happy if the series returns to that armpit.
• Go Dodgers!

Go Deep

1) Standup Comedy

Listen: The History of Standup

• Six-part series concludes with a look at the current (booming) state of standup.
• Binge time: 3 hours, 39 minutes

2) “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince”

Listen: Binge Mode

• Book six is in the books. Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion continue their Harry Potter immersion with a 10-part deep dive into the penultimate book in J.K. Rowling’s series, including the movie.
• Binge time: 17 hours, 9 minutes

3) The Politics of Population

Listen: Outside/In

• The pod “about the natural world and how we use it” goes two parts on population and the politics and impact surrounding it.
• Binge time: 1 hour, 18 minutes.

4) Consent in the #MeToo Era

Listen: Radiolab

• The celebrated pod takes a three-part deep dive into sexual consent.
• In “In the No,” they “wander into rooms full of college students, hear from academics and activists, and sit in on classes about BDSM.”
• Binge time: 2 hours, 1 minute.

5) “Halloween” the Movie Series

Listen: Halloween Unmasked

• The Ringer’s eight-part series on the horror flicks winds up with a look at the latest sequel.
• Binge time: 5 hours, 23 minutes.

Guest Appearances By…

Acevedo, Stacey Skimm’d From the Couch

• Convo with Girls Scouts’ CEO.

Abrams, Stacey It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Bareilles, Sara The Dan Wootton Interview

Barinholtz, Ike The Treatment

Bateman, Justine The Adam Carolla Show

Bee, Samantha Stay Tuned with Preet

Brown, Karamo Keep It

Bryant, Aidy Origins SNL

Carden, D’Arcy You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

• Janet!

Carlson, Tucker The Adam Carolla Show

Condon, Zach All Songs Considered

Cowell, Simon Oprah’s Master Class

Dano, Paul The Big Picture, Fresh Air

Duplass, Mark Anna Faris is Unqualified

Esmail, Sam Remote Controlled

Gethard, Chris Good One, The Adam Carolla Show

Gillum, Andrew Pod Save America

Goldberg, Danny Sounds & Vision

Goodwin, Doris Kearns The Ezra Klein Show, Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air

Hayes, Sean Recode Decode

Idle, Eric Bullseye, WTF with Marc Maron

Jacinto, Manny The Good Place: The Podcast

• Jason!

King, Elle Bobbycast

Kolbert, Elizabeth Longform Podcast

Lear, Norman Maltin on Movies

Lee, Spike Playback

Lin, Jeremy Freakonomics Radio

McCarthy, Melissa Fresh Air

McElhenney, Rob Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Merchant, Stephen Inside of You

Middleditch, Thomas Comedy Bang! Bang!

Minhaj, Hasan The Bill Simmons Podcast

Orlean, Susan Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin, Bookworm

Oz, Dr. The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast

Philipps, Busy Katie Couric

Plaza, Aubrey Talkhouse

• In conversation with Craig Robinson

Quavo The Bill Simmons Podcast

Redzepi, René House of Carbs

Roberts, Julia Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations, Remote Controlled

• The Hollywood legend goes two parts with Oprah, one part with Remote Controlled about the TV adaptation of “Homecoming.”

Robinson, Craig Talkhouse

• In conversation with Aubrey Plaza

Rogen, Seth How Did This Get Made?

Schiff, Richard The West Wing Weekly

Serrano, Shea The Bill Simmons Podcast

Silver, Nate The Ezra Klein Show

Singh, Lilly Pretty Big Deal

Slater, Kelly The Joe Rogan Experience

Thompson, Ben Conversations With Tyler

Ullman,Tracey Creative Conversation

Wain, David Comedy Bang! Bang!

Wojcicki, Anne Recode Decode

Yates, Sally The New Yorker Radio Hour

Notable New Podcasts

1) Believed

• NPR and Michigan Radio team for an investigative pod series that explores the question: “How did Larry Nassar, an Olympic gymnastics doctor, get away with abusing hundreds of women and girls for two decades?”

2) It Seemed Smart

• SB Nation debuts a seven-episode series about “the amusing, diabolical, and entertaining world of sports trickery and mayhem.” Spencer Hall hosts.

3) FWD: Thinking

• Quartz’s new pod covers “bold professionals who have challenged the status quo to recreate their careers.” Khe Hy hosts.

4) Dreamboy

• Night Vale Presents’ latest “is a story of creatures, human and otherwise, caught in the eternal pornography of the cosmos, told in the blockbuster cinematic style of Spielberg classics.” Listen for the murderous zebra.

5) My Best Break-Up

• The pod from Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine features different break-up stories each week. Guests describe how their break-ups transformed their lives. Maeve Higgins hosts.

6) Instant Message

• Wall Street Journal technology columnists David Pierce, Joanna Stern and Christopher Mims “talk about the most important tech trends.”

7) Tai Asks Why

• 11-year-old Tai Poole “is trying to find answers to life’s biggest questions.”

8) Blackwood

• The audio drama focuses on “the local legend of a monster called The Blackwood Bugman.” Turns out the local legends are true.

7 Pod Takes

1) “Spoiler alert: Everything’s about to get worse.”

Listen: Trump, Inc.: Pump and Trump (23:23)

• That’s Trump, Inc.’s Andrea Bernstein, in the middle of dissecting shady real estate deals involving President Trump and the Trump family business.
• Spoiler: She’s not just talking about shady real estate deals.

2) “Just because an audience laughs doesn’t mean it’s funny.”

Listen: Inside the Hive w/Nick Bilton: Monica Lewinsky and Hannah Gadsby Talk Trauma (14:11)

• So says Gadsby in a riveting conversation with Lewinsky, recorded at the Vanity Fair New Establishment Summit.
• Lewinsky, who says she bawled her eyes out seeing Gadsby’s show “Nanette,” talks to Gadsby about trauma and why laughter may not equal funny.
• When comedians punch down and get laughs, Gadsby says “what you’re hearing is not that your joke is funny. But that those people who agree with you feel their inhumanity is justified.”
• My take: Compelling pod with two people who’ve been through a lot and have distinct perspectives on the world.

3) “People should be weirder in their conversations.”

Listen: The Indicator from Planet Money: Overrated/Underrated: Nobel Prizes, Conversations, And Our Descendants (4:49)

• So says Tyler Cowen, arguing that being obsessive and weird in conversation is an underrated trait.
• More underrated things, says Cowen: Blogs, future ancestors, compound returns, and policies that pursue economic growth.
• Overrated: Nobel prizes, the damage from President Trump’s tariffs, the yield curve, and economic anxiety as a driver of populist sentiment.
• Overrated and underrated: Academia as a career.
• My take: One of my fave recurring podcast features.

4) “There are few positive images a bone saw conjures.”

Listen: The Gist with Mike Pesca: Myth Management (1:16)

• That’s Pesca, introducing a segment on the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi allegedly carried out by agents of Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman.

5) “There’s never been as strong a coupling between economic growth and democratic freedoms as we’d all like.”

Listen: The Ezra Klein Show: Why Bill Gates is Worried (45:11)

• That’s Gates on the tension between authoritarian and democratic governance during a compelling, wide-ranging conversation.
• Klein talks to Gates about politics, AI, poverty, the difficulty in feeding the world and, no biggie, the future of humanity.

6) “Luxury tends to infantilize us a little bit.”

Listen: The Happier Hour: The Road Less Travelled With Santayana and David Farley (21:51)

• That’s travel writer Farley, noting there’s nothing wrong with luxury, but there’s something that happens to a person when they only stay in five-star hotels.
• Farley talks to host Monica McCarthy about how and why we travel.
• Farley adds: “By putting ourselves out there and talking to people and going to places where other people don’t go…you’re opening yourself up.”

7) “We’re going to look back at people who had to stand in front of a charbroiler and inhale smoke and grease-laden vapors for their entire life the way we look back at people who worked in mines.”

Listen: WSJ’s The Future of Everything: Robot Restaurants: Good or Gimmicky? (10:41)

• That’s Alex Vardakostas, creator of a burger-making robot, talking about the potential of robot takeovers of restaurants.
• My take: Robot burgers? I’ll try ‘em.

Go Deep

1) Murder and Football

Listen: Gladiator, Carruth, Steve McNair: Fall of a Titan

• Three pods dive deep into the tragedies involving former NFL players, and as of this afternoon they’re all ranking well on the iTunes chart.
• In Gladiator (iTunes #1), the Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team investigates the life of former New England Patriot and murderer Aaron Hernandez.
• Sports Illustrated produces Steve McNair: Fall of a Titan (iTunes #57), about the murder of the former NFL quarterback.
• The Charlotte Observer dropped all seven of its Carruth (iTunes #79) episodes about former pro Rae Carruth and his efforts to murder his pregnant girlfriend.
• Carruth binge time: 4 hours, 46 minutes.

2) “So Afraid”

Listen: Song Exploder

• Janelle Monáe breaks down her song in 19 minutes.

3) Camper Van Beethoven/Cracker

Listen: Political Beats

• Musician and artists rights activist David Lowery goes deep on his music catalog and artists rights.
• Binge time: 3 hours, 28 minutes.

4) Missouri Politics

Listen: The Daily

• The New York Times pod devotes a two-parter about the politics surrounding abortion in Missouri.
• Binge time: 40 minutes.

Guest Appearances By…

Addario, Lynsey I Have to Ask

Avenatti, Michael Inside the Hive w/Nick Bilton

Baez, Joan The New Yorker Radio Hour

Barinholtz, Ike The Dave Chang Show

Bon Jovi, Jon Oprah’s Master Class

Brennan-Jobs, Lisa Longform Podcast

Burch, Tory Skimm’d From the Couch

Burr, Bill Pardon My Take

Carden, D’Arcy The Good Place: The Podcast

• Janet!

Carlson, Tucker The Jamie Weinstein Show

Carmichael, Jerrod You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Carville, James The Adam Carolla Show

Chazelle, Damien The Bill Simmons Podcast

Costello, Elvis This Song

Coulter, Kristi Otherppl with Brad Listi

Couric, Katie Skimm’d From the Couch

Dreeke, Robin Nobody Told Me!

• Former head of the FBI’s Behavior Analysis Program talks making connections, communication styles.

Dworman, Noam The Daily, The Gist

• The owner of the Comedy Cellar talks to Barbaro and Pesca about letting Louis C.K. perform on his stage again.

Ferrera, America Katie Couric

Fillion, Nathan Remote Controlled

Garcetti, Eric Recode Decode

Gilbert, Elizabeth The TED Interview

Goodwin, Doris Kearns Kickass News

Grant, Richard E. WTF with Marc Maron

Gugino, Carla The Watch

Hamilton, Laird Curious with Josh Peck

Hill, Jonah The Big Picture, Playback, The Bill Simmons Podcast

• The actor makes the pod rounds in support of hit new movie, “Mid90s”

Hyman, Jennifer How I Built This with Guy Raz

• Convo with the founder of Rent the Runway.

Jackson, Larry The Thrive Global Podcast with Arianna Huffington

• Convo with Apple Music’s head of content.

Kerry, John HBR Ideacast

Khan, Khizr The Axe Files

Kimes, Mina Sports? with Katie Nolan

Kokonas, Nick The Tim Ferriss Show

Kramer, Larry But That’s Another Story

Kreischer, Bert Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig

Landauer, Julia Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

McCartney, Paul Inside the Studio

McCartney, Stella The Goop Podcast

Michael, Drew You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Orange, Tommy Bookworm

Orlean, Susan Bullseye

Philipps, Busy WTF with Marc Maron

Redd, Chris Origins SNL

Robinson, Phoebe Fresh Air, Keep It, Good One

Rooney, Wayne Men in Blazers

• How amazing was this shot?

Rosen, Jay The Ezra Klein Show

Scalise, Steve Off Message

Schumer, Amy Armchair Expert

Sheraton, Mimi The Sporkful

Smith, Yeardley I Think You’re Interesting

Taibbi, Matt Waking Up with Sam Harris

Tagouri, Noor Pretty Big Deal

Thompson, Scott The Hilarious World of Depression

Turner, Tina Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

• Music legend goes two parts with Oprah.

Warner, Mark If Then

West, Nadja Women in Charge

• Army Surgeon General speaks about being born into a military family, choosing a career in medicine.

Notable New Podcasts

1) The TED Interview

• TED head Chris Anderson “speaks with some of the world’s most interesting people to dig into the provocative and powerful ideas of our time.”

2) Gladiator

• The Boston Globe’s Spotlight Team ”takes a hard look at the crisis facing football through the lens of Aaron Hernandez’s life and terrible crimes.”

3) The Cut on Tuesdays

• New York Magazine and Gimlet Media team for a pod highlighting “women’s voices on culture, style, sex, politics, and people.” Molly Fischer hosts.

4) 30 for 30 Podcast

• Season four of the 30 for 30 pod kicks off with a chronicle of Jose Canseco’s memoir that called out his fellow players for steroid use, triggering a congressional hearing. The season promises stories on the 2003 World Series of Poker and the New York City marathon.

5) Carruth

• The Charlotte Observer and McClatchy drop a seven-part podcast about former Carolina Panther Rae Carruth. He masterminded the attempted murder of his pregnant girlfriend, and will soon be released from prison.

6) The Brights

• It’s a reality show pod starring Lydia Bright and her sisters, brother, and parents.

7) The Horror of Dolores Roach

• Gimlet’s scripted horror pod features Daphne Rubin-Vega and Bobby Cannavale in a “macabre urban legend of love, betrayal, weed, gentrification, cannibalism, and survival of the fittest.”

8) Steve McNair: Fall of a Titan

• Sports Illustrated’s first narrative true-crime podcast looks at the murder-suicide of former NFL QB McNair. The pod asks: Or was it murder-suicide?

9) Hell and Gone

• The true-crime pod focuses on the murder of Rebekah Gould in a small town in Arkansas, and the efforts of Catherine Townsend “to bring her killer to justice.”

10) Maculate Conception

• The pod documents a couple’s struggles with infertility and in vitro fertilization treatment.

11) 2038

• New York Magazine’s new pod asks, What will life look like in 20 years? Max Read and David Wallace-Wells host.

12) Future Perfect

• Dylan Matthews hosts Vox’s new pod that “tackles big questions about the most effective ways to save lives, fight global warming, and end world poverty.”

13) Long Distance

• Paola Mardo hosts a new pod focused on “life in the Filipino diaspora.”

14) Unspookable

• The pod’s “a family friendly look at the histories and mysteries behind your favorite scary stories, myths and urban legends.”

15) Hostage

• The new pod from Parcast “tells electrifying crime stories culminating in intense, life-or-death negotiations.”

16) What Next

• Slate debuts a daily news round-up show.

7 Pod Takes

1) “Don’t be afraid to sit down in a crappy place and order every single thing you don’t recognize on the fucking menu.”

Listen: The Trip: A damn fine mezcal (11:57)

• That’s José Andrés, distilling a lesson learned from the late, great Anthony Bourdain in a bittersweet episode of the Roads & Kingdoms pod.
• Andrés joins Nathan Thornburgh and Matt Goulding in a heartfelt pod lamenting the loss of their friend and partner Bourdain, and celebrating a worldview that Bourdain championed.
• My take: Still feeling Bourdain’s loss. Glad to see R&K keep the pod going.

2) “Grievance and anger is a powerful motivating force in politics.” 

Listen: I Have to Ask: Nate Silver (6:03)

• That’s FiveThirtyEight’s Silver, with a take on one potential dynamic at play in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections next month, and potentially beyond, in the wake of the Kavanaugh hearings and almost two years of Trump.
• Adds Silver: “The more you gain policy-wise, particularly when you try to push forward policies whose popularity is ambiguous to slightly negative, then voters want to balance and you pay a price for that.”
• My take: Here’s to some righteous anger.

3) “I don’t love gentle things anymore.”

Listen: Recode Decode: ‘Full Frontal’ host Samantha Bee (32:03)

• So says Bee, who isn’t interested in just being entertained.
• She adds: “I like someone to take my hand and drag me into a world.”
• Host Kara Swisher conducts a compelling interview with Bee, ranging from her entertainment preferences to dealing with the fallout from her description of Ivanka Trump to the gamification of everything.

4) “It makes the telemarketing era look quaint.”

Listen: Today, Explained: All my friends are robocalls (11:10)

• That’s Simon van Zuylen-Wood on the rise of robocalls, a scourge of the digital era. About 4.2 billion robocalls were made last month.
• He traces the exhausting history of phone scams and unwanted calls back more than 100 years.
• My take: Same as yours, I’m sure. Someone make ‘em stop.

5) “A focus on quality, on uniqueness, on locality, on experience, ends up amounting to a kind of claustrophobic sameness.”

Listen: Decoder Ring: Hotel Art (30:17)

• That’s Willa Paskin, who goes deep on the evolution of hotel art and ends up in a familiar place.
• It’s the same as what’s happened at farm-to-table restaurants and “impeccably sourced coffee houses.”
• She adds: “Everywhere you go, there you are in a room with perfectly bespoke art that so carefully reflects presiding good taste. It looks like all the other rooms full of bespoke art.”

6) “Even if you’re famous, you shouldn’t go around stealing people’s memories.”

Listen: Heavyweight: Rob (19:45)

• So says Jonathan Goldstein, investigating whether Rob Corddry really broke his arm when he was eleven, as he remembers, or if he’s making it up, conflating his experience with his brother Nate’s, as his family believes.
• My take: It’s a poignant, entertaining pod about memory and the dynamics of family.
• Spoiler: Goldstein gets to the bottom of the mystery. Corddry ain’t stealing nobody’s memories.

7) “Pretty much everyone who’s fifty-one and still making rock ‘n’ roll is embarrassing most of the time.”

Listen: The Great Debates: Kurt Cobain Would Not Have Embarrassed Us(17:35)

• That’s Dave King, who takes the position that Cobain, should he have lived to be 51 and still with us today, would have embarrassed us because all old rockers embarrass us.

• My take: Wrong. Exhibit A: Without Bob Dylan still doing it into his fifties and beyond, we wouldn’t have this amazing moment.

Go Deep

1) Artificial Intelligence

Listen: American Innovations

• The six-part pod on thinking machines ends with an interview with chess legend Garry Kasparov.
• Binge time: 3 hours, 13 minutes.

2) That Infamous Sarah Palin Interview

Listen: Katie Couric

• The two-part docupod looks back 10 years to Couric’s interviews with the then-VP candidate, and asks how Palin’s rise helped usher in a new brand of politics.
• Binge time: 1 hour, 40 minutes.

3) “Dazed and Confused”

Listen: The Rewatchables

• The Ringer’s Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey go deep, “kick some ass, and drink some beer” with the Linklater classic.
• Binge time: 1 hour, 16 minutes.

4) “Halloween” the Movie Franchise

Listen: Halloween Unmasked, Nerdificent

• Two pods take a deep dive into the scary movie franchise, with Halloween Unmasked kicking off an eight-part look.
• Nerdificent goes deep for 1 hour, 17 minutes.

Guest Appearances By…

Armisen, Fred The A24 Podcast

Baldwin, Alec Origins: SNL

• SNL’s Trump talks SNL, Trump.

Bardem, Javier Off Camera with Sam Jones

Barinholtz, Ike It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Bell, Kristen Keep It

Bloom, Rachel Remote Controlled

Bridges, Jeff Kickass News

Brown, Alton The Sporkful

Charles, Larry Waking Up with Sam Harris

Chazelle, Damien Playback with Kris Tapley

Cummings, Elijah Off Message

D’Apolito, Lisa The Adam Carolla Show

• Convo with the director of “Love, Gilda.”

Damon, Matt The Bill Simmons Podcast

Deneen, Patrick The Ezra Klein Show

Faris, Anna WTF with Marc Maron

Garbus, Merrill Talkhouse

• In conversation with Meghan Remy.

Gay, Roxane How It Is

Glaser, Nikki The Joe Rogan Experience

Green, Hank How to Be Amazing with Michael Ian Black

Haberman, Maggie The Moment with Brian Koppelman

Hague, Nick Houston We Have a Podcast

• Convo with the astronaut.

Hawke, Ethan Mad Influence

Hirono, Mazie Hysteria

Hozier All Songs Considered

• The singer/songwriter guest DJs.

Jett, Joan The New Yorker Radio Hour

Jones, Radhika Recode Media with Peter Kafka

Kardashian West, Kim Pretty Big Deal with Ashley Graham

Kid Mero, The The Bill Simmons Podcast

Kramer, Jana Inside of You

Kroll, Nick Comedy Bang! Bang!

Lewis, Michael Fresh Air

LL Cool J Oprah’s Master Class

Maher, Bill Waking Up with Sam Harris

Mayer, Jane Stay Tuned with Preet

McFarlane, Bonnie The Church of What’s Happening Now: With Joey Coco Diaz

McLendon-Covey, Wendi Armchair Expert

Michaels, Lorne Origins SNL

Nosrat, Samin The Tim Ferriss Show

Osnos, Evan Fresh Air

• The New Yorker writer talks Facebook and Zuck.

Pelosi, Nancy Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air

Phair, Liz This Song

Power, Cat Song Exploder

• Chan Marshall breaks down her song “Woman.”

Remy, Meghan Talkhouse

• In conversation with Merrill Garbus.

Richards, Cecile How It Is

Ryan, Joey You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Santaolalla, Gustavo This Movie Changed Me

• The Oscar-winning composer talks “Wings of Desire.”

Schwartzman, Jason The A24 Podcast

Silverman, Riley Queery with Cameron Esposito

Smith, Kevin Anna Faris is Unqualified

Spacek, Sissy WTF with Marc Maron

Tenacious D Bullseye

Todd, Chuck The Axe Files

Traister, Rebecca Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes, The Ezra Klein Show, The Gist, Longform Podcast

• The writer makes the pod rounds promoting her new book, “Good and Mad: The Revolutionary Power of Women’s Anger.”

Notable New Podcasts

1) Crimetown

• In season two of the pod Marc Smerling and Zac Stuart-Pontier go deep on the culture of crime in Detroit.

2) Halloween Unmasked

• The Ringer launches an eight-part pod “celebrating the remarkable and terrifying phenomenon of America’s most revolutionary horror film, ‘Halloween.’”

3) Fangs

• A four-part pod about Dracula as a pop culture phenomenon.

4) Without Fail

• In the conversational pod, Gimlet’s Alex Blumberg talks to “visionaries of all kinds — about their successes, and their failures, and what they learned from both.”

5) Wild Thing

• The Los Angeles Times calls this pod “’Serial’ for Sasquatches.”

6) Mad Influence

• GQ gets in the pod game with “a conversational deep-dive into the behind-the-scenes stories and hard-won wisdom of iconic creative careers.”

7) Bear Brook

• The true crime pod from New Hampshire Public Radio covers a “cold case that changed the way murders will be investigated forever.”

8) Unobscured

• The pod from Lore’s Aaron Mahnke promises “to dig deep and shed light on some of history’s darkest moments.” The first-season topic: The Salem Witch Trials.

9) Heavyweight

• It’s season three of the pod that “goes back to the moment everything changed.”

10) Pretty Big Deal with Ashley Graham

• The “supermodel, style icon and barrier-breaking body activist” launches a pod with conversations about “culture, beauty, business and owning who you are” with noted podcast aficionado Kim Kardashian West.

11) Threedom

• Scott Aukerman, Lauren Lapkus, and Paul F. Tompkins “focus on the basics of being funny with each other.” The Wrap describes the pod as “casual conversations that suddenly veer into sharp bits of improv.”

Also, apologies to Dame Judi Dench for misspelling her name last week.

7 Pod Takes

1) “She had me at the word hippocampus.”

Listen: Political Gabfest: The “One Hundred Percent Certain” Edition (3:41)

• That’s Emily Bazelon, crystallizing her reaction to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford’s appearance before the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday.
• Bazelon noted Dr. Ford’s ability to “both bear witness and then also analyze as a psychologist the kinds of trauma she was feeling.” Dr. Ford says Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982.
• Bazelon’s response was echoed across many political podcasts that came out Thursday evening and into today with their analyses of the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings.

2) “Sometimes it takes a news article to turn whispered injustices into public outrage.”

Listen: Hidden Brain: Why Now? (17:15)

• That’s Shankar Vedantam in an incredible pod that, given the rise of #MeToo, asks, “What has changed in our minds and in our culture so that allegations of sexual harassment and assault are being taken more seriously than they were in prior decades?”
• Vedantam looks at the question through the lens of a group of women who accused a prominent playwright of sexual misconduct.

3) “The constitutional crisis would be an inconvenience, but the Tweetstorm, that would be deplorable.”

Listen: Pod Save America: “A little hiccup.” (43:44)

• That’s Jon Favreau, on the now-almost-forgotten report that Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said he would agree to quit if President Trump wouldn’t disparage him.

4) “Stillness can be an adventure.”

Listen: Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations: Pico Iyer: The Art of Stillness (3:52)

• So says Iyer, the great author and travel writer in conversation with Oprah.
• Iyer, who’s written about travel with elegance and insight, turned to a life of relative stillness after years of jetting around the globe.

5) “Drugs are a lot of work.”

Listen: The Hilarious World of Depression: Neko Case Leaves Bad Places, Goes to Better Places (11:24)

• That’s Case, sharing a reason she turned away from illegal drugs.
• She chronicles that step and many others in her journey to musical success and in her fight to maintain mental health.

6) “Fashion is just another word for the constant inevitable shifts in popular taste.”

Listen: 99% Invisible: Kids’ Clothes: Articles of Interest #1 (6:20)

• So says Avery Trufelman, setting up the kick-off episode of 99% Invisible’s six-part detour into examining the clothes we wear.

7) “The early internet was deeply groovy.”

Listen: Crazy/Genius: Tech Was Supposed to Be Society’s Great Equalizer. What Happened? (4:55)

• That’s Meredith Broussard, talking about early vision for the internet.
• “There was a lot of hippie idealism,” says Broussard. The internet was “going to be better than everything that had come before.”
• My take: Ha.

Go Deep

1) The Democratic Party

Listen: The Wilderness

• Crooked Media’s 15-part series on the Democrats’ “journey through the wilderness after the most crushing defeat in history” concludes with a conversation with President Barack Obama.
• Binge time: 11 hours, 44 minutes.

2) “The Good Place”

Listen: Armchair Expert, The Good Place: The Podcast

• Synergies! In honor of season 3 of “The Good Place,” it’s “The Good Place” week on Dax Shepard’s pod, with guests Ted Danson (Michael!), D’Arcy Carden (Janet!), Kristen Bell (Eleanor!), and creator Mike Schur.
• Jameela Jamil (Tahani!) and writer Jen Statsky appear on the show’s own promo pod.
• Binge time: 8 hours, 48 minutes.

3) Southwest vs. American

Listen: Business Wars

• The six-part series on the battle between two U.S. airlines comes to an end.
• Binge time: 2 hours, 26 minutes.

4) Frank Ocean

Listen: Dissect

• The serialized music pod concludes its deep immersion into Ocean’s music.
• Season 3 took on “Channel Orange” and “Blonde.”
• Binge time: 13 hours, 46 minutes.

5) “Exile on Main Street”

Listen: Heat Rocks

• A 52-minute deep dive into The Rolling Stones’ classic album, with The Ringer’s Chris Ryan.

Guest Appearances By…

Anderson, Carol The Ezra Klein Show

Bateman, Justine The Moment with Brian Koppelman

Bautista, Dave Inside of You

Burns, Ken Kickass News

Burton, LeVar The Nod

Carfrae, Mirinda Another Mother Runner

• Three-time Ironman champ talks nutrition, stroller runs.

Cassidy, Sukhinder Singh Women in Charge

Chong, Tommy Curious with Josh Peck

Coppola, Roman Creative Conversation

Dyer, Christopher Tides of History

Fukuyama, Francis The Ezra Klein Show

Haberman, Maggie Recode Decode

Haddish, Tiffany The Bill Simmons Podcast

Hayward, Gordon Pardon My Take

Higgins, Steve Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin

Hill, Jonah Maltin on Movies

Holofcener, Nicole The Gist with Mike Pesca

Idle, Eric Off Camera with Sam Jones

Jett, Joan WTF with Marc Maron

Killam, Taran Comedy Bang! Bang!

Kissling, Frances On Being

Klinenberg, Eric Why Is This Happening? with Chris Hayes

Lynch, Jane Recode Decode

Lynne, Jeff Required Listening

Miller, Geoffrey The Joe Rogan Experience

Munn, Olivia Modern Love

• She reads Marina Shifrin’s essay “A Life Plan for Two, Followed by One.”

Ovitz, Michael HBR Ideacast

Paz, Vinnie The Joe Rogan Experience

Polgreen, Lydia Recode Decode

Povitsky, Esther Forked Up

Rothwell, Natasha It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders, Keep It

Ruggirello, Jen Queery with Cameron Esposito

Saban, Haim How I Built This with Guy Raz

• Convo with producer of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.

Sagal, Peter The Axe Files

Saltz, Jerry Longform Podcast

Savage, Dan The Gender Knot

Shepard, Dax You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes

Suthana, Dr. Nanthia Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

• The neuroscientist talks about how virtual reality can be used in therapy.

Starr, Ken Off Message

Teigen, Chrissy The Goop Podcast

Tosi, Christina Skimm’d From the Couch

Zimmer, Constance Anna Faris Is Unqualified

Notable New Podcasts

1) Adventures in New America

• It’s a “sci-fi, political satire, Afrofuturistic buddy comedy” the New York Times called the “best new social thriller.”

2) The Shadows

• The first audio fiction from the CBC. In six parts, Kaitlin Prest tells the story “about the anatomy of a relationship: a crush, a choice, a resentment and an end.”

3) The Dream

• Jane Marie takes a deep dive into the “pyramid schemes, multi-level marketing, and all the other businesses that require their members to recruit their nearest and dearest in hopes of a commission.”

4) The City

• USA Today launches a longform pod that “tells true stories of how power works in urban America.” Season one begins in 1990 Chicago.

5) Time to Parent

• Julie Morgenstern’s pod focuses on “stories from real parents, advice from experts, and knowledge culled from her almost 30 year career as a consultant and a mom.”

6) Articles of Interest

• The six-part pod from 99% Invisible is “a show about what we wear,” produced by Avery Trufelman.

7) Happy Face

• Melissa Moore’s father is a serial killer. She “investigates her father’s crimes, reckons with the past, and wades through her darkest fears as she hunts for a better future.”

8) Pivot

• New Vox pod features Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway on “how technology is shaping business and culture across media, marketing, politics, and more.”

9) Start to Sale

• Erin Patinkin and Natasha Case talk to entrepreneurs and business about “the journey to succeed in business.”

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. Also, find us on Twitter @WeekInPodcasts.

I also listened to Slow Burn. I don’t think getting infuriated by Linda Tripp helped my recovery any.

7 Pod Takes

1) “It’s the most crushing non-important thing that can happen to you in life.”

Listen: The Rewatchables: ‘Rounders’ with Bill Simmons and Sean Fennessey(28:15)

• That’s Fennessey, during a 1 hour, 33 minute deep dive on “Rounders,” on the whiplash of losing at poker in a particular way.
• The moment defined: “[Y]ou hit a big hand and you’re so deluded with euphoria about hitting the hand you don’t realize there’s a better hand out there.”
• My take: Find someone who talks about you the way Fennessey and Simmons talk about “Rounders.” Or maybe run away from that person? Your call on how comfortable you are with obsession.

2) “Central casting couldn’t have cast a better villain.”

Listen: Slow Burn: Tell-All (5:12)

• That’s Linda Tripp, acknowledging the perception of her backstabbing role in the grand saga of Bill Clinton’s impeachment.
• My take: It’s an excellent, layered ep of the multi-part chronicle, with a meta subplot that hinges on host Leon Neyfakh’s own surreptitious recording of Tripp.
• Says Neyfakh: “I had thought that taping Linda Tripp without her knowledge was a violation of her trust. She seemed to think that it has brought us closer together.”

3) “That was my lowest point of my life, to have to eat a Thousand Island sandwich.”

Listen: Ear Hustle: Birdbaths and a Lockbox (12:54)

• So says San Quentin inmate Michael Williams, on what he had to do to get through a lockdown.
• Recipe for a Thousand Island sandwich, for the uninitiated: Thousand Island salad dressing, bread.
• Williams’s admission comes in the Season 3 opener, a deep dive into prison lockdowns.

4) “It’s amazing how [sports] provide a kind of structure of meaning in people’s lives.”

Listen: Freakonomics Radio: How Sports Became Us (9:51)

• That’s Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist with no innate interest in sports, talking about … sports. She came to her interest through one of her children.
• Egan’s one of an eclectic, interesting bunch of people talking to host Stephen J. Dubner for a Freakonomics series “The Hidden Side of Sports,” which will ask what pushes athletes to excel, among other topics.
• Other sources on tap include: Mark Cuban, Mikaela Shiffrin, Kim Ng, Daryl Morey, Kerri Walsh Jennings, and a busload of economists, of course.
• My take: Extremely relevant to many of my interests. High hopes for the series.

5) “I ate goulash before every race … I ate Spam on Christmas Eve. I’m not an elite athlete.”

Listen: Another Mother Runner: #329: In-Person Conversation with Two-Time Olympian Kara Goucher (9:02)

• That’s Goucher, who is indeed an elite runner (evidence: two Olympics appearances), with a funny and poignant articulation of her gnawing self-doubt.
• Controlling that doubt has been “so important in my career,” she says.
• AMR co-host Dimity McDowell gives Goucher props for her openness and emotionalism.
• My take: Goucher’s elite, but a relatable elite.

6) “That’s like an elevator, but sideways.”

Listen: Everything is Alive: Ana, Elevator (11:35)

• That’s Ana the Elevator, with her elevator-centric view of the world, talking about a bus.
• If you’re wondering what an elevator thinks of stairs, this pod’s for you.
• Spoiler: Upon seeing stairs for the first time, Ana says, “Wow. These are beautiful.”

7) “My dream is that I’m in bed by 8:30 every night.”

Listen: Queery: Tig Notaro (46:34)

• That’s Notaro, on life with kids and why it’s hard for her to do standup.
• She says of her current lifestyle: “There’s nothing I’d rather be doing.”
• My take: Right on, Tig.

Go Deep

1) Hurricane Harvey

Listen: The Daily

• A two-parter tells the story of how Houston’s emergency systems failed during last year’s hurricane, and how that affected one family.
• Binge time: 51 minutes

2) “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix”

Listen: Binge Mode

• Another book, another binge epic. Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion continue their Harry Potter immersion with a 10-part deep dive into the fifth book in J.K. Rowling’s series, including the movie.
• Binge time: 14 hours, 45 minutes

3) “The Lord of the Rings” Trilogy

Listen: The Bechdel Cast

• The two-part “epicsode” breaks down the three “LOTR” films.
• Binge time: 2 hours, 4 minutes

Guest Appearances By…

Apatow, Judd Anna Faris is Unqualified

Arguello, Marcella The Mash-Up Americans

Banks, Patrice Raising the Bar

• Convo with founder of Girls Auto Clinic.

Belsky, Scott The Tim Ferriss Show

Burr, Bill The H3 Podcast

Byer, Nicole Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig, Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

• Convos with the “Nailed It” host.

Carden, D’Arcy I Think You’re Interesting

• Janet!

Christensen, Erika Inside of You

Clapper, James The Josh Marshall Podcast

Cohen, Joshua Bookworm

• Author talks about his book “ATTENTION: Dispatches from a Land of Distraction.”

Cole, Kat Skimm’d From the Couch

• Convo with President of FOCUS brands.

Dorsey, Jack Recode Media

• Twitter’s CEO on Twitter’s problems, plans.

Eichner, Billy WTF with Marc Maron

Fallon, Morgan The Joe Rogan Experience

• Convo with a producer and director of “Parts Unknown.”

Fonda, Jane Remote Controlled

Formichetti, Nicola Creative Conversation

• The artistic director talks business, working with Lady Gaga.

French, David The Ezra Klein Show

Gabbard, Tulsi The Joe Rogan Experience

Galifianakis, Zach Comedy Bang! Bang!

Griffin, Kathy The Breakfast Club

Hahn, Kathryn Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

• 2 hours, 47 minutes with the actress about monogamy, the Amish.

Haidt, Jonathan Waking Up with Sam Harris

• Convo with the author of “The Coddling of the American Mind.”

Han, Jenny Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!

Hawke, Ethan Modern Love

• Actor reads Pauls Toutonghi’s story “Learning Humanity From Dogs.”

Holder, Eric Larry Wilmore: Black on the Air

Holofcener, Nicole The Big Picture

Isbell, Jason Pod Save America

Jefferson, Cord Invisibilia

Landgraf, John Strictly Business

Jacinto, Manny The Good Place: The Podcast

• Jason!

Jealous, Ben Off Message

Jordan, Kim How I Built This with Guy Raz

• Convo with a founder of New Belgium Brewing Company.

Key, Keegan-Michael The Bill Simmons Podcast

LaBelle, Patti Oprah’s Master Class

Leibovich, Mark Recode Decode

Lessin, Jessica The Substack Podcast

Lethem, Jonathan Filmstruck

Lorre, Chuck Maltin on Movies

Lovett, Jon The Axe Files

McGarry, Flynn Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin

McKenna, Aline Brosh Scriptnotes

Minhaj, Hasan The JJ Redick Podcast

Miller, Amy The Soft Spot

• The comedian talks about all things Pee-Wee Herman.

Nolan, Katie The Bill Simmons Podcast

Olson, Martha Rossini House of Carbs

• Founder of Sweet Martha’s Cookie Jar, which sells 1 million cookies a day at the Minnesota State Fair.

Rascoff, Spencer Inside the Hive with Nick Bilton

• CEO of Zillow shares why poor and middle class Americans are being priced out of the housing market.

Rhodes, Ben Pod Save the World

Rogen, Lauren Miller It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Ronan, Saoirse Feminists Don’t Wear Pink

Rothwell, Natasha I Think You’re Interesting

Saget, Bob Curious with Josh Peck

Stelter, Brian The Jamie Weinstein Show

Teigen, Chrissy Bon Appetit Foodcast

• She promotes her new book, makes pad Thai carbonara.

Thiel, Peter The Rubin Report

Tyson, Neil deGrasse Kickass News

Walsh, Jennifer Rudolph The Goop Podcast

• Literary agent talks storytelling, Together Live.

Whyte, David On Being

Winkler, Henry You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Wood, Anthony Recode Media with Peter Kafka

• Roku CEO talks streaming.

Wong, Nicole Recode Decode

• Convo with former deputy CTO of the U.S.

Yang, Jenny How It Is

Yarris, Nick The Joe Rogan Experience

• Writer talks about being wrongly convicted of murder and spending 22 years on death row.

Zeng, Ming HBR Ideacast

• Convo with Alibaba’s chief strategy officer.

Notable New Podcasts

1) Ellen on the Go

• A behind-the-scenes companion pod for “The Ellen Degeneres Show,” hosted by the show’s exec producers.

2) Southwest vs. American

• Business Wars kicks off a series on the battle between two U.S. airlines.

3) The Oval Office Tapes

• A dramatic podcast from R.J. Cutler asks, “What if that soccer ball Vladimir Putin gave to President Trump was covered in microscopic transmitters?”

4) Queerly Beloved

• From Vice, Sarah Burke and Fran Tirado host “a multifaceted portrait of LGBTQ chosen family — the people who help us figure out who we are and inspire us to live as our most authentic selves.”

5) Feminists Don’t Wear Pink

• Scarlett Curtis “interviews inspiring women about what feminism means to them.”

6) Wolverine: The Long Night

• Marvel’s first scripted podcast, which was previously available only to paid subscribers, is now free.

7) Directionally Challenged

• New pod from Candice King and Kayla Ewell about “30-something women asking life’s questions and learning from the people who just might have the answers.

And a couple I missed last week:

8) Uncover: Escaping NXIVM

• An investigative pod series about the cult.

9) The Secret History of the Future

• Tom Standage and Seth Stevenson “examine the ancient ingenuity that our modern digital technology can learn from.”

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. Also, find us on Twitter @WeekInPodcasts.

7 Pod Takes

1) “There’s an argument to be made that we’re born with the raw elements of Beatles songs in our heads.”

Listen: WTF with Marc Maron: Episode 948 – Sir Paul McCartney (4:11)

• That’s Maron, prefacing his conversation with a pretty freakin’ great podcast guest, Sir Paul McCartney. Maron charmingly frets about what he’s gonna ask the Beatles legend that hasn’t been asked before.
• Maron invokes Chris Farley, but thankfully doesn’t “do a Chris Farley.”
• McCartney talks the Rolling Stones, Little Richard, recording in Nigeria, and how the communal experience of leading sing-alongs to “Hey Jude” and “Let it Be” during his concerts still gives him thrills.
• My take: Maron loses his way a couple times, but mostly earns props for an engaging interview.

2) “Punk is a free space.”

Listen: Deviate with Rolf Potts: Punk Icon Ian MacKaye on why we should question the official history of rock music (12:15)

• That’s punk legend MacKaye, defining what punk means to him.
• It’s not a sound or a style or a look or an attitude. He adds: “It’s the place new ideas can be presented without having to hew to profit motives only.”
• My take: If anyone would know, it’s MacKaye.

3) “[Money] is the sole barometer of someone’s worth in this country.”

Listen: The Gist with Mike Pesca: Hedging Your Bets With Lake Success(12:36)

• So says guest Gary Shteyngart, talking to Pesca about his new book and this country’s deep obsession with cash.

4) “I don’t think we’ve ever been so busy while accomplishing so little.”

Listen: The Ezra Klein Show: Your attention is being hijacked. Chris Bailey can help. (9:27)

• That’s Bailey, nailing a paradox of modern American life.
• Says Klein: “There’s a war on for our attention, and we’re often losing it.”
• My take: Thank you for your attention to this newsletter.

5) “I think anybody who’s going to read this is not going to come away feeling that this ship is on a steady path.”

Listen: The Daily: Anonymous Senior Administration Official (15:09)

• That’s James Dao, Op-Ed Editor of the New York Times, discussing the anonymous account of a Trump administration senior official on his or her resistance within the White House.
• Dao offers a great behind the scenes look at how the op-ed that rocked Trump and Twitter came to be.

6) “The NFL is like a drug lord and we’re like addicts.”

Listen: Radio Atlantic: How Much Longer Can Football Last? (4:11)

• That indictment comes from guest Mark Leibovich, author of the book “Big Game: The NFL in Dangerous Times.”
• Leibovich says despite big issues (concussions, Kaepernick) and the smaller reality-show drama of the NFL, people still love football.
• More Leibovich: He appears this week on the Kickass News pod.

7) “This is a little bit more like an adrenaline shot directly into the heart. It kinda goes from zero to Azz Everywhere in record time.”

Listen: Pop Culture Happy Hour: Serotonin and What’s Making Us Happy(4:06)

• So says Stephen Thompson, touting the work of Big Freedia as something that boosts his and his family’s moods.

• Need a mood boost? Other recs from the PCHH crew include Ariana Grande’s “Sweetener” and news bloopers.

Go Deep

1) Women in Politics

Listen: Run Like a Girl, Women Belong in the House

• Women are running in record numbers for political office in the United States, with 323 women still contending for Congress. At least two pods are dedicated to chronicling the “pink tsunami.”
• The non-partisan pod Run Like a Girl launched August 23 and has released four episodes so far, including embedded reports from the campaign of Gretchen Whitmer, candidate for Governor of Michigan. Binge time: 2 hours, 48 minutes.
• Women Belong in the House, which debuted yesterday, aims to tell the stories of female candidates.

2) Robert F. Kennedy’s Assassination

Listen: The RFK Tapes

• The 10-part examination of the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy concluded this week with a bonus live ep. The whole series is now bingeable.
• Binge time: 9 hours, 46 minutes.

3) Coke vs. Pepsi

Listen: Business Wars

• The seven-part series chronicles the battle between the two sugary-drink purveyors.
• Binge time: 3 hours, 9 minutes.

4) Drake’s Summer Bangers

Listen: Switched on Pop

• A 43-minute deep dive into “In My Feelings” and “Nice For What.”

5) R.E.M.

Listen: R U Talkin’ R.E.M. RE: Me

• Adam Scott Aukerman finished their exhaustive and occasionally exhausting survey of R.E.M.’s entire music catalog.
• Binge time: 49 hours, 39 minutes (!!!)

Guest Appearances By…

Addison, Bill Eater Upsell

• Eater’s national food critic on fall’s most anticipated new restaurants.

Al-Adeimi, Shireen Why is This Happening? with Chris Hayes

• Michigan State professor talks Yemen.

Burr, Bill The Bill Simmons Podcast

• Comedian talks Tom Brady with the Sports Guy.

B-Real This Must Be the Gig

• Cypress Hill legend talks crowd surfing, new record.

Brennan, Margaret Skimm’d From the Couch

Bryant, Kobe The Adam Carolla Show

Carmichael, Jerrod Anna Faris is Unqualified

Carter, Jimmy Pod Save America

Chieng, Ronny Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig

Close, Glenn Wait Wait…Don’t Tell Me!

Danson, Ted The Good Place: The Podcast

• Michael!

Elder, Larry The Adam Carolla Show

Epshteyn, Boris The Jamie Weinstein Show

Feig, Paul Off Camera with Sam Jones

Goldberg, Danny The Bob Lefsetz Podcast

• Music industry legend talks the future of the biz, the day Cobain died.

Gondry, Michel The Big Picture

Goodwin, Doris Kearns The Tim Ferriss Show

Goolsbee, Austan The Axe Files

Graham, Rev. Franklin The New Yorker Radio Hour

Hawke, Ethan Filmspotting

Higgins, Maeve Bullseye

Kidman, Nicole Playback with Kris Tapley

Kravitz, Lenny Oprah’s Master Class

Legend, John The Dan Wootton Interview

Levi, Zachary Inside of You

Lillard, Matthew Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Lowe, Rob Pardon My Take

Mantzoukas, Jason The Good Place: The Podcast

• Derek!

McKelvey, Miguel How I Built This with Guy Raz

McMillan, Tracy Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

Morris, Wesley The Bill Simmons Podcast

• New York Times culture critic talks Burt Reynolds. RIP Burt.

Morrison, Keith Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Musk, Elon The Joe Rogan Experience

• CNET’s tweet about the pod sums it up: “Elon Musk smokes weed, talks flamethrowers.”

Nixon, Cynthia Pod Save America

Retta Curious with Josh Peck

Salzberg, Sharon You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Scaggs, Boz Bullseye

Sherman, Wendy Kickass News

• Convo with lead negotiator of the Iran Nuclear Agreement.

Simon, Paul All Songs Considered

Sittenfeld, Curtis The New Yorker Radio Hour

• Best-selling author talks about her love for the Midwestern supermarket chain Schnucks.

Snider, Dee The Moment with Brian Koppelman

Tchen, Tina M. How to Be Amazing with Michael Ian Black

Turner, David If Then

• Convo with the Penny Fractions newsletter maker.

Underwood, April Recode Decode

• Slack’s chief product officer talks about the future of work, Slack.

Weiner, Jeff Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

• Convo with the CEO of LinkedIn.

Welch, Florence Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

Wolf, Michelle Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

Notable New Podcasts

1) Dr. Death

• It’s the debut of a six-part series about a Dallas surgeon who intentionally harmed people. Hosted by Laura Bell.

2) Drunk Women Solving Crime

• Taylor Glenn, Catherine Wilkins and Hannah George promise a “[t}rue crime podcast with a twist… of lime.”

3) Animal Sound Safari

• The new kids’ podcast is “an aural safari around the world to hear amazing stories about animals.”

4) The Pat McAfee Show 2.0

• The former NFL all-pro is back with another sports pod.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. Also, find us on Twitter @WeekInPodcasts.

It’s been great catching up on the pods, though. So many excellent eps this week.

7 Pod Takes

1) “Just as a warning, if you’re listening with kids, today’s episode features Mel Gibson.”

Listen: Today Explained: Don’t call it a comeback (:27)

• That’s host Sean Rameswaram, with a #MeToo-era twist on the adult-content advisory.
• Moments of silence follow, so parents can stop their kids from hearing about Gibson and other men attempting comebacks, like Louis C.K. and Matt Lauer.

2) “An absurd, ridiculous faux-poetic romp through an imaginary America with absurd language and terrible dialogue and over-the-top performances, and it makes me cry every single time I watch it.”

Listen: The PosCast: PosCast Draft: US States with Actor Nick Offerman(46:55)

• That’s Mike Schur on “Field of Dreams,” the movie he and Offerman pick apart with hilarity — only to succumb to its magic.
• Offerman hammers the film for its bad logic and continuity errors — have you really paid attention to Archibald “Moonlight” Graham’s mustache? Yet, Offerman says, “Despite all these complaints, I cried my eyes out three times.”
• My take: Indeed. Every. Single. Time.

3) “So many bad things happened you would think that it was like God telling you not to make Legos.”

Listen: Nerdificent: Episode 22: LEGO (1:36)

• That’s co-host Dani Fernandez, setting up the pod’s deep dive into the turbulent history of Lego founder Ole Kirk Christiansen.
• My take: Thanks for persisting, Ole. I spent a day of my vacation with my family at Legoland. Legos are amazing.

4) “The internet has made the right, particularly among younger people, the new counterculture in a way.”

Listen: Conversations with Tyler: Claire Lehmann on Speaking Freely (14:10)

• So says Quillette editor Lehmann, in a nuanced, open conversation with host Tyler Cowen about a range of topics, including which strands of the right are being emboldened by the internet and which are falling away.

5) “There is no Twitter worse than political figure passes away Twitter.”

Listen: Pod Save America: “Florida man.” (3:41)

• That’s Dan Pfeiffer, commenting on the predictable reaction on social media to Senator John McCain’s passing.
• He adds: “Everyone thinks this is the moment they have to offer their hot take because the moment for the hot take will pass if they don’t do it right there.”
• My take: I abstain.

6) “I don’t know much about either of these topics, but if I’ve learned anything from cable news it’s that having a strong opinion is much more important than having an informed one.”

Listen: Anthropocene Reviewed: The Yips and CNN (:17)

• So says John Green, prefacing his nuanced, 10-minute review of CNN. His verdict: Two stars.
• Green also reviews the malady known as The Yips, in which athletes with pinpoint accuracy or incredible grace somehow lose their ability to perform a heretofore simple sporting act. His verdict for The Yips: One and a half stars.
• He adds: “I can almost feel the muscle twitch inside the word itself.”
• My take: Too many stars for The Yips, John Green.

7) “People are at their best naked.”

Listen: Everything is Alive: Tara, Bar of Soap (5:34)

• That’s Tara, a bar of soap, being interviewed by host Ian Chillag. Tara certainly has the experience to know.
• My take: I can’t get enough of this pod. It’s so good.

Go Deep

1) Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Listen: RBG: Beyond Notorious

• The six-part deep dive into the life of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg builds off the doc “RBG.”
• The last ep debuted last Friday, but I had to grandfather in RBG.
• Binge time: 3 hours, 28 minutes

2) “L.A. Woman”

Listen: Punch Up the Jam

• Paul F. Tompkins joins the pod to work on the train wreck that is The Doors’ tune “L.A. Woman.”
• Binge time: 1 hour, 38 minutes

3) “Crazy Rich Asians”

Listen: The Bechdel Cast

• The pod takes a deep dive into the hit movie “Crazy Rich Asians.”
• Binge time: 1 hour, 34 minutes

Guest Appearances By…

Aduba, Uzo Off Camera with Sam Jones

Bachman, Randy The Bob Lefsetz Podcast

Bateman, Jason Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Bridenstine, Jim Weather Geeks

• Convo with NASA’s new administrator.

Brooks, Arthur Kickass News

Byrne, Rose Ask Me Another

Caramanica, Jon Longform Podcast

Carden, D’Arcy The Good Place: The Podcast

• Janet!

Chaganty, Aneesh The Big Picture

Clark, Tom You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Crews, Terry Pod Save the People

Delsener, Ron Here’s the Thing With Alec Baldwin

• Convo with the man “who basically created the genre of the massive outdoor concert.”

Dennings, Kat Anna Faris is Unqualified

Dougherty, Dale Recode Decode

• Maker Faire founder talks about the maker movement, with Make Magazine editor Mike Senese.

Gupta, Sunil HBR IdeaCast

• Harvard Business School professor says your digital strategy needs work, businesspeople.

Hall, Regina Creative Conversation

Hardwicke, Catherine Maltin on Movies

Harper, William Jackson The Good Place: The Podcast

• Chidi!

Hawke, Ethan The A24 Podcast, This Song

• Actor talks Steve McQueen and Nova Scotia with Alia Shawkat, and with This Song about singer/songwriter Blaze Foley.

Hurwitz, Gregg The Jordan B. Peterson Podcast

James, Steve I Think You’re Interesting

Jamil, Jameela Ways to Change the World

Koy, Jo WTF with Marc Maron

Lanier, Jaron Waking Up with Sam Harris

Levien, David The Moment with Brian Koppelman

Newsom, Gavin Pod Save America

• Convo with candidate for governor of California.

Ourand, John Sports Media with Richard Deitsch

Peterson, Eugene On Being

Quigley, Mike The Axe Files

• U.S. Rep from Illinois talks polarization, Russian election interference.

Riggle, Rob Pardon My Take

Salbi, Zainab Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

Senese, Mike Recode Decode

• Make Magazine editor talks about the maker movement, with Maker Faire founder Dale Dougherty.

Shawkat, Alia The A24 Podcast

• Actor talks Steve McQueen and Nova Scotia with Ethan Hawke.

Simon, David The New Yorker Radio Hour

Stoner, Alyson Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig

Sutter, Kurt Remote Controlled

• Convo with the creator of “Sons of Anarchy,” “Mayans M.C.”

Syd It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

• Convo with “a breakout star of the hip-hop collective Odd Future.”

Theroux, Justin Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

Twitty, Michael W. Forked Up

• James Beard-award winning author talks food and race.

Wasser, Laura The Bill Simmons Podcast

• Celebrity divorce attorney talks prenups.

Wilson, Rick Kickass News

Yang, Jimmy O. Bon Appetit Foodcast

Notable New Podcasts

1) Heat and Light

• A deep dive into “six key but lesser known stories” from the tumultuous year of 1968. Hosted by Phillip Martin.

2) Thinking Machines

• American Innovations’ four-part series on the rise of artificial intelligence kicks off.

3) The Punies

• Kobe Bryant created the show for kids about “an eclectic group of neighborhood friends who play sports and take on adventures together.”

4) 70 Million

• The pod focuses on “how locals are addressing the role of jails in their backyards.” The 70 million refers to the amount of Americans over 18 with a criminal record.

5) More than Seven Dirty Words

• The FCC now has an official pod. Its goal: “Maybe we’ll even achieve the impossible: make telecom interesting.”

6) Sleuth

• New true crime pod covers a 2010 double murder in Southern California. The pod’s release dates overlap with an accused accessory’s trial.

7) Up and Vanished: Season 2

• The latest season of the true crime pod, which focuses on the disappearance of Kristal Reisinger from a Colorado mountain town, debuted while I was on vacation. The debut episode — and all the episodes from the first season — are dominating the U.S. iTunes chart this week.

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this newsletter, please forward it to a friend. Also, find us on Twitter @WeekInPodcasts.

Podcasts broke news. Podcasts soothed (me, at least). Podcasts put things into perspective. Podcasts featured A-listers. Podcasts interviewed inanimate objects. And people are still listening to Serial! As of this afternoon, it’s No. 13 on the iTunes chart.

Lastly, shouts to all who sent podcast recommendations about Achilles, tales of your own Achilles woes and well wishes. Thank you, and thanks for reading.

7 Pod Takes

1) “I don’t think joy is a privilege. I think freedom can be a privilege; I think luxury and comfort can be a privilege. But joy is a piece of basic human resilience. It’s a human birthright.”

Listen: On Being: Living the Questions with Krista Tippett (7:58)

• So says Tippett in just a snippet of her wise and beautiful response to the question: “How can we stay present to what’s happening in the world without giving in to despair and hopelessness?”
• She adds: “[H]owever seriously we must take what’s happening in the world and what the headlines are reflecting, it is never the full story of our time. It’s not the last word on what we’re capable of. It’s not the whole story of us.”
• My take: Tippett’s the guide we need for these extraordinary times. A highly recommended pod.

2) “I’m Jewish, and there’s a set of people who deny that the Holocaust happened. I find that deeply offensive. But at the end of the day, I don’t believe that our platform should take that down because I think there are things that different people get wrong. I don’t think that they’re intentionally getting it wrong.”

Listen: Recode Decode: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg: The Kara Swisher interview (20:25)

• That’s Facebook’s Zuckerberg, with the horrifically bad take that triggered countless hot takes and baffled millions.
• My take: See Jaron Lanier’s take from last week, arguing that we should delete our social media accounts.

3) “He might be another Alexander Hamilton in American history.”

Listen: Trumpcast: The Pieces of the Mueller Puzzle (5:35)

• That’s host Virginia Heffernan, on Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s importance and potential place in history books.
• She adds: He’s a non-president who “has moral authority who wears it well and acts on it with integrity.”
• Heffernan talks to Garrett Graff, Mueller’s biographer and a critical voice chronicling the day-to-day of the Special Counsel’s investigation. Graff believes Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein is the investigation’s linchpin.
• Graff says: “In a world of foxes and hedgehogs, Rod Rosenstein is the ultimate hedgehog. He knows how Donald Trump’s presidency ends.”

4) “Can you count to 27?”

Listen: The Bill Simmons Podcast: Denzel Washington on ‘He Got Game,’ the Yankees, and LeBron (4:48)

• That’s Denzel, in a disappointing performance as a cliched New York Yankees fan taunting Boston Red Sox fan Simmons with the number of championships won by the guys in pinstripes.
• My take: Overall a strong pod, recommended for sports fans or Denzel fans. Or both.

5) “It’s cost us ‘Take your hand off my leg, you creepy boss’ money.”

Listen: The Indicator from Planet Money: Saving Women (2:36)

• That’s Sallie Krawcheck, highlighting the damage of the gender investing gap.
• The numbers: Women save 74 percent of their income as cash. Men save 61 percent, and invest the rest.
• Says Krawcheck, who’s spent her career in Wall Street power positions: The costs of that gap are substantial, from having to stay in awful jobs to losing out on hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of a lifetime.

6) “[Red pepper flakes are] the Meryl Streep of the table toppings.”

Listen: Bon Appetit Foodcast: Pizza, Pizza! (8:35)

• So says Alex Delany, touting red pepper flakes as the go-to topping during his effort to eat 30 slices of New York cheese pizza in 36 hours.

7) “I thank God every day of my life that I was not born a can of minestrone soup.”

Listen: Everything is Alive: Louis, Can of Cola (16:02)

• So says Louis, a can of cola and the star of Ian Chillag’s new interview show where all the guests are inanimate objects.
• My take: Brilliant and weird. Mostly brilliant.

Go Deep

1) “Nanette”

Listen: Srsly, Pop Culture Happy Hour, Original Content

• Hannah Gadsby’s stand-up special that somewhere in the middle turns into “something else entirely,” according to PCHH’s Stephen Thompson, has become a cultural phenomenon.
• It’s been talked about, written about and fawned over for weeks, but it seems to have hit a critical mass among the pods this week — the “backlash to the backlash,” says PCHH’s Glen Weldon.
• Why? The “something else entirely” of Gadsby’s show has created space and urgency to discuss gender, trauma, art history, abuse, anger, storytelling and the limits of stand-up comedy.
• Guest Kumail Nanjiani shares the perspective of a stand-up on PCHH.
• SRSLY says Gadsby shows how comedy works in a way that isn’t boring or technical.

2) Bo Burnham

Listen: Bullseye, Fresh Air, Late Night Whenever with Michelle Buteau, The Big Picture, Filmspotting, Mortified, The H3 Podcast

• Peak Burnham? The YouTuber, comedian and director of “Eighth Grade” makes the pod rounds in support of his much-loved movie about a 13-year-old girl’s last week of eighth grade and the videos she makes.
• Why a girl? Burnham researched videos of kids talking online. He says on Late Night Whenever: “The boys tended to talk about Minecraft. The girls tended to talk about their souls. So it was like, obviously I’m going to write about the girls.”
• He adds: “The story about the boy would be just like 90 minutes of Fortnite references.”
• Fact check from a father of an almost middle grader: True.

3) Nuclear Energy

Listen: American Innovations

• Wondery’s six-part series hosted by Steven Johnson chronicles the rise and future of nuclear energy.
• Binge time: 4 hours, 7 minutes

4) The Avett Brothers

Listen: You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

• A 3-hour, 54-minute pod with the brothers Avett, perfect for those who are sad because they have to miss them on tour this summer (read: me).

Guest Appearances By…

Bharara, Preet Remade in America with Bassem Youssef

Brooks, Arthur The Ezra Klein Show

Case, Neko I Think You’re Interesting

• The singer-songwriter of one the best songs ever featuring a killer whale talks about her process, women in the music industry.

Charli XCX And the Writer is…

Couric, Katie The Dan Wootton Interview

Danson, Ted The Good Place: The Podcast

Diggs, Daveed WTF With Marc Maron, The Deadline Podcast

• “Hamilton” star on Oakland, his new movie “Blindspotting.”

D’onofrio, Vincent Curious with Josh Peck

Duritz, Adam This Must Be the Gig

Esposito, Cameron Modern Love

• Comic and actress reads an essay about hiking the Pacific Crest Trail.

Gaffigan, Jim The Adam Carolla Show

Gillan, Karen Inside of You

Ginsburg, Josh Recode Decode

• Zignal Labs CEO on the rise of bots in social media.

Greenwell, Megan Longform Podcast

• Convo with Deadspin’s EIC, the first external hire to lead the site.

Grossman, Mindy Skimm’d From the Couch

Hannah, Liz Scriptnotes

• The screenwriter of “The Post” talks storytelling.

Jay-Z Oprah’s Master Class

Johnson, Dwayne Oprah’s Master Class

Koppelman, Brian Recode Media with Peter Kafka

• Convo about poker, restaurants and “Billions” with the show’s co-creator.

Kroll, Nick Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Madden, Steve How I Built This with Guy Raz

Manson, Shirley Dear Sugars

• Garbage singer on being an outsider.

Macdonald, Kelly Maltin on Movies

Nancherla‏, Aparna Late Night Whenever with Michelle Buteau

Newhart, Bob WTF With Marc Maron

Ocasio-Cortez, Alexandria Pod Save the People

Pfeiffer, Dan The Axe Files

Roker, Al It’s Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Rooney, Wayne Pardon My Take

Smith, Jeron Strictly Business

• Steph Curry’s media partner talks expanding into entertainment.

Souza, Pete Here’s the Thing with Alec Baldwin

• Convo with the presidential photographer for Obama and Reagan.

Stanhope, Doug The Joe Rogan Experience

Totenberg, Nina Stay Tuned with Preet

Tyler, Aisha The Tim Ferriss Show

Van Sant, Gus WTF with Marc Maron, The Treatment

Waithe, Lena The Dave Chang Show

Whitehouse, Sheldon Important Not Important

• U.S. Senator on speaking about climate change in Congress 200 (!) times.

Williamson, Marianne The Goop Podcast

Youssef, Bassem Forked Up

Notable New Podcasts

1) The Wilderness

• Jon Favreau and Crooked Media launched a 15-chapter pod that chronicles the history and future of the Democratic Party “through conversations with strategists, historians, policy experts, organizers, and voters.”

2) Oprah’s Master Class

• The Queen of All Media spins off another pod, this one not-so-surprisingly about big achievers’ personal stories and lessons learned.

3) Everything is Alive

• It’s “an interview show in which all the guests are inanimate objects.” Ian Chillag hosts.

4) Race Chaser

• Alaska and Willam break down every episode of “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

5) Business Wars Daily

• The binge-worthy show about business rivalries spins off a daily pod focusing on current biz issues.

6) Passions in America

• A simple but compelling premise: Joe Posnanski speaks with guests about their biggest passions.

7) Nobody Listens to Paula Poundstone

• The comedian pitches her pod as “a comedy field guide to life.”

8) The Realness

• The pod “goes behind Prodigy’s music to reveal his lifelong struggle against his own body, and how that struggle informed his lyrics and fueled his success.” Prodigy suffered from sickle cell disease. He died in 2017.

9) Wrong Skin

• A new true crime pod about “a relationship banned under traditional law. An investigation into an unsolved suspicious death and a missing person in the Australian outback.”

7 Pod Takes: Provocative Thoughts From This Week’s Podcasts

1) “If I heard the phrase ‘bucket list’ one more time … I was gonna just beat someone severely with a baseball bat.”

Listen: The Sporkful: Is This Pizza Worth Waiting For? (10:36)

• That’s Doug Sohn of Hot Doug’s, who was fed up with people who just wanted to eat his food. The problem, as he saw it: People waited up to four hours during his Chicago eatery’s waning days just to say they went there.

• Dr. Queue, aka MIT professor Dick Larson, calls such lines celebratory lines.

• Is waiting for hours for a slice of pizza or a sausage worth it? Sohn says he told his customers, “If you think it is.”

• Host Dan Pashman thought it was worth an hour wait for pizza at Di Fara Pizza in Brooklyn.

• Spoiler: He wouldn’t do it again.

• My take: A great, thorough look at an unfortunate cultural phenomenon.

2) “The marshmallow test is the human condition.”

Listen: The Indicator from Planet Money: Let Them Eat Marshmallows (9:29)

• Stacey Vanek Smith sums up the marshmallow test, the famous experiment that asks little kids to eat the one marshmallow in front of them now — or wait five minutes and get two.

• Kids who can delay gratification allegedly grow up to be more successful.

• Spoiler: Scientists may have been thinking about the experiment wrong.

• Says Tyler Watts of the NYU developmental psych department: “[Delay of gratification] isn’t something we need to be overly concerned with teaching four year olds.”

3) “I think they would have thought it was the most asinine assertion possible.”

Listen: Lovett or Leave It: Autoerotic Obstruction of Justice (40:25)

• That’s the strong opinion of Kimberly West-Faulcon, weighing in on what the founders might have thought of President Trump’s suggestThe gision that he could pardon himself.

• She adds: “It’s taking a little bit of text of the constitution, and ignoring the rest of the entire document and its structure and its purpose.”

4) “Do I really have to advise you, ‘Try not to cast a vote based on a word you didn’t like six months ago from a person who has no power to affect your life?’”

Listen: The Gist with Mike Pesca: When Border Policy Crosses the Line (28:11)

• Mike Pesca wants nothing to do with stories about how Samantha Bee’s words or Robert De Niro’s words might sway voters.

• My take: Right on, Pesca.

5) “This is just a person who is living to an extreme that women are rarely granted.”

Listen: Still Processing: We Need Bad Women (21:07)

• So says Jenna Wortham, of the bruschetta-eating, ice cream-ruining murderous Villanelle in “Killing Eve.”

• Wortham and co-host Wesley Morris spend 48 minutes analyzing and celebrating that show and the movie “Ocean’s 8” for breaking ground in presenting “bad” women.

6) “Somehow Gedde Watanabe’s performance is one of the great comic performances of the last 30 years.”

Listen: Deviate with Rolf Potts: Why 1980s coming-of-age movies matter (30:34)

• That’s guest Kevin Smokler talking about Watanabe’s portrayal of Long Duk Dong in “Sixteen Candles.”

• Yes, Smokler knows Watanabe’s playing an offensive racial stereotype. He says Watanabe’s “an absolute force of nature, is like a weather system coming through that movie.”

• Smokler wrote “Brat Pack America: A Love Letter to ‘80s Teen Movies.”

• My take: A great, nuanced conversation about ‘80s teen movies overall as well as the most problematic character in the genre.

7) “The funny people are depressed, and the horror people making depressing, assaultive movies are super happy.”

Listen: Scriptnotes: Upgrade (12:02)

• So says Leigh Whannell, writer of “Saw” and other horror movies, about the people he sees in Hollywood.

Go Deep

1) Remembering Anthony Bourdain

Listen: The Press Box, House of Carbs, Pop Culture Happy Hour, Sound Opinions, I Have to Ask, StarTalk Radio, Anderson Cooper 360, The Watch, Fresh Air

• One way to judge Anthony Bourdain’s massive impact and his loss: His appeal was so broad that podcasts across topics from pop culture to writing to music to food to politics to astronomy offered their heartfelt remembrances. Here are just a few:

• Bryan Curtis on The Press Box: “What I was most struck by was, here’s a guy who had something like a hundred percent acclaim in American life.”

• Andy Greenwald on The Watch: He played a major role “not just in our lives, but in making us have better lives.”

• Glen Weldon on Pop Culture Happy Hour highlights Bourdain’s writing: “That prose was filled with such tightly controlled energy.”

• Sound Opinions revisits a conversation from 2008 about the similarities between the lifestyles of rockers and chefs.

• Neil DeGrasse Tyson revisits his two-part interview from 2013.

• Fresh Air revisits its 2016 interview.

• I Have to Ask runs a previously unaired 20-minute conversation from 2017.

2) “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”

Listen: Binge Mode

• Mallory Rubin and Jason Concepcion kick off a summer of Harry Potter immersion with a five-part deep dive into the first book in J.K. Rowling’s series, plus the movie adaptation.

• Binge time: 6 hours, 22 minutes.

3) Women in “The Royal Tenenbaums”

Listen: The Bechdel Cast

• Jenny Yang joins the hosts for a 54-minute deep dive into the representation of women in the Wes Anderson classic.

4) “What a Fool Believes”

Listen: Punch Up the Jam

• A 1-hour, 15-minute deep dive into The Doobie Brothers song, what they call “the most Dad song of all time.”

• My take: Wrong. The most dad song of all time is this.

Guest Appearances By…

Adlon, Pamela Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Balaban, Bob WTF with Marc Maron

Bird, Brad The Big Picture

• Convo with the director of “Incredibles 2.”

Bryant, Howard Fresh Air

• Convo about “the history of social protest among African-American athletes.”

Chua, Amy Why Is This Happening? With Chris Hayes

• Author of “Political Tribes” talks political tribalism.

Coe, Tyler Mahan Celebration Rock

• “Cocaine and Rhinestones” host talks Townes Van Zandt.

Cross, David How to Be Amazing with Michael Ian Black

Dubner, Stephen American Fiasco

• “Freakonomics” host talks World Cup soccer, USMNT failure.

Dunham, Lena RuPaul: What’s The Tee with Michelle Visage

Durkan, Jenny Off Message

• Mayor of Seattle on today’s political reality: “‘Resist’ is too passive.”

Frank, Adam The Joe Rogan Experience

Gibbard, Ben All Songs Considered

• Death Cab for Cutie singer on new music, how neighborhoods change.

Hanks, Colin Inside of You with Michael Rosenbaum

Hinojosa, Maria Remade in America with Bassem Youssef

• Convo with the host of “Latino USA.”

Hinton, Anthony Ray Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

• Two-part convo with man who spent 30 years in prison for crimes he didn’t commit.

Hunter, Holly WTF with Marc Maron

Irby, Samantha Talkhouse

• In conversation with Abbi Jacobson.

Jacobson, Abbi Talkhouse

• In conversation with Samantha Irby.

Jamil, Jameela The Good Place: The Podcast

Johnson, Jake Hannibal Buress: Handsome Rambler

Kerr, Steve The Lowe Post

• Post-NBA Championship convo with the Warriors’ coach.

King, Larry You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Klepper, Jordan The Treatment

Kroll, Nick The Bill Simmons Podcast

Kwan, Kevin But That’s Another Story

• Convo with “Crazy Rich Asians” writer.

Kweli, Talib Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Lambert, Liz The Tim Ferriss Show

• Convo with founder of Hotel San Jose about urban renewal.

Lampanelli, Lisa Curious with Josh Peck

• Comic talks food, roasting Chevy Chase.

Lawson, Jenny Dear Hank & John

Linnell, John This Must Be the Gig

• Convo with a giant of They Might Be Giants.

Macchio, Ralph ID10T

Mantzoukas, Jason Comedy Bang! Bang!

Manziel, Johnny Pardon My Take

• Talking CFL, Drake with the QB.

Moore, Mandy Modern Love

• “This Is Us” star reads an essay about “disability, ability, and the misconceptions surrounding both.”

Meyers, Seth The J.J. Redick Podcast

Neville, Morgan The Big Picture

• Convo with the director of “Won’t You Be My Neighbor.”

Ondaatje, Michael Bookworm

Perel, Esther The Gender Knot

Remnick, David Bon Appetit Foodcast

• The New Yorker editor shares his Sunday morning smoked fish ritual.

Tamblyn, Amber WTF with Marc Maron

Tyler, Aisha I Think You’re Interesting

Warner, Mark Recode Decode

• Convo with the U.S. Senator from Virginia.

Winokur, Marissa Jaret Whine Down

Wright, Edgar R U Talkin’ R.E.M. RE: ME?

• “Baby Driver” director talks R.E.M., music in movies.

Yang, Jimmy O. Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig

Zabka, Billy ID10T

• Johnny!

Notable New Podcasts

1) Bubble

• Maximum Fun’s first scripted comedy series follows a “band of monster killers” struggling “to make ends meet and find love in a nightmarish version of the gig economy.”
• Alison Becker and Keith Powell star, with podcast faves John Hodgman, Paul F. Tompkins and others as guests.

2) Gossip

• The “comedic soap opera” follows “three unlikely female friends” who “meet each week to drink coffee and share the latest gossip floating around their not-so-traditional suburban town.” Allison Raskin stars.

3) ZigZag

• Manoush Zomorodi and Jen Poyant document “the process of starting a media company without becoming bad mothers, bankrupting themselves, or destroying their wonderful creative partnership.”

4) Middle:Below

• The audio drama focuses on “ghosts, cats and the odd people who look after them.”

5) Comeback Szn

• Johnny Manziel is one of the hosts of a new Barstool Sports pod about football and Manziel’s journey with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats of the CFL.

6) Rough Translation

• NPR’s beloved pod that asks “How are the things we’re talking about being talked about somewhere else in the world?” returns for its third season.

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We’re all literary up in podland this week. We’re still obsessed with criminals, too.

Four pods about crime and criminal justice — The Wonderland Murders, BIKRAM, In the Dark and My Favorite Murder — anchor today’s iTunes Top 10.

8 Pod Takes: Provocative Thoughts From This Week’s Podcasts

1) “Reading that taco was like reading Moby Dick.”

Listen: The Sporkful: How to Read a Taco (28:37)

• So says host Dan Pashman, basking in the chilorio taco he ate at Taqueria Sinaloense during a taco crawl through Queens. It’s a pork dish, from the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
• His guide: Professor Steven Alvarez, who teaches Taco Literacy at the University of Kentucky.
• My take: Great pod for taco lovers. So everyone, amiright?

2) “Sports bars are such a rich hotbed of humanity. It’s like a Canterbury Tales of the different spectrums of humanity.”

Listen: Comedy Bang! Bang!: John Mulaney, Seth Morris, Betsy Sodaro (43:37)

• Another hot literary reference, from Morris, aka sports bar poet Clovis Mandrake.
• Spoiler: Sports bar poetry is amazing.
• My pick: “More TVs” (46:29).
• Excerpt: “What about college lacrosse and Canadian golf?/What about Greek basketball, horse and buggy racing, or ESPN Classics?/What about American Ninja Warrior?/This bar needs more TVs.”

3) “The internet subsidizes weirdness.”

Listen: The Ezra Klein Show: Tyler Cowen on the painful end of American complacency (48:32)

• That’s Cowen, arguing those subsidies are good for most people.
• Important point: Expect collateral damage as the internet grows, just as there was with the rise of the printing press and television.
• My take: A thoughtful, worthwhile hour-and-a-half conversation.

4) “Data and Bible quotes can be used to justify literally anything.”

Listen: The Indicator from Planet Money: Stacey and Cardiff Take on the Commencement Speech (7:16)

• A nugget of wisdom from Stacey Vanek Smith, part of the “never believe the data” advice she’d give to new grads instead of “another meandering cliche-riddled commencement speech.”
• Six more tips for grads from the pod: 1) Be appreciative of where you are. 2) Money helps with life satisfaction. 3) Don’t worry about looking stupid. 4) Aim for a short commute. 5) Avoid open workspaces. 6) Don’t be a workaholic.

5) “Why it’s been a lonely beat for me for 18 years I have never been able to understand.”

Listen: Popcast: Pursuing R. Kelly: The Reporter Who Never Gave Up (9:24)

• That’s Jim DeRogatis, talking about reporting the allegations against musician R. Kelly.
• Host Jon Caramanica’s take: DeRogatis actually does know why he’s been mostly alone chronicling of the allegations of sexual impropriety: The victims are people society doesn’t seem to value.

6) “The climbing gym is the new golf course, the new country club.”

Listen: Outside Podcast: Dispatches: Mikhail Martin is a Brother of Climbing(13:53)

• That’s host Peter Frick-Wright, highlighting outdoor sports like climbing as business and networking hubs.
• It’s the first of four pods about “the challenges minority groups face when engaging in outdoor recreation.”

7) “The fourth most powerful person in the fucking world is Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s bi-weekly trainer.”

Listen: Pod Save America: “Live from Radio City!” (29:31)

• That’s Jon Lovett, speaking for everyone holding their breath for the continued good health of Supreme Court Justice RBG. She stands as a bulwark against the Trump agenda.

8) “This movie exists to answer the questions that are on nobody’s lips.”

Listen: Pop Culture Happy Hour: Solo: A Star Wars Story and What’s Making Us Happy (1:25)

• That’s Glen Weldon’s critical framing of the latest “Star Wars” story. The questions at hand about Han:
• “How exactly did he win the Millennium Falcon?”
• “What’s with all the vests?”
• “If you’re gonna go with a feathered look, why go with the middle part when a side part would look less fussy?”
• My take: C’mon. Who doesn’t want to know these answers?

Go Deep

1) Bikram Yoga

Listen: 30 for 30

• The five-part pod chronicles the rise and eventual reckoning of Bikram Yoga founder, Bikram Choudhury.
• Spoiler: He revolutionized yoga. He’s also accused of sexual assault and harassment.
• Binge time: 3 hours, 11 minutes.

2) “Grit Week”

Listen: Pardon My Take

• Big Cat and no-longer-so-mysterious PFT Commenter take their circus on the road to SEC country for a week-long celebration of grit.
• Spoiler: Bortles is involved.
• Binge time: 4 hours, 11 minutes.

3) “Oh What A World”

Listen: This Song

• Clara-Nova talks about being influenced by the Rufus Wainwright song.
• Length: 24 minutes.

4) “The Social Network”

Listen: The Rewatchables

• A deep dive into the 2010 film about Facebook’s founding.
• Length: 1 hour, 17 minutes.

Guest Appearances By…

Ali, Ayaan Hirsi The Jamie Weinstein Show

Ben-Ishay, Melissa Skimm’d From the Couch

• Convo with Baked by Melissa founder.

Bloom, Howard The Joe Rogan Experience

• Convo with author of “How I Accidentally Started the Sixties.”

Branson, Richard Sir Danny in the Valley

Braunohler, Kurt Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig

• Comedian on fatherhood, butts and his driver’s license.

Brennan, Neal WTF with Marc Maron

Carter, Jimmy Off Message

Chabon, Michael Fresh Air

Crosley, Sloane Otherppl with Brad Listi

• Writer talks about her new essay collection and putting sweaters in her freezer.

Davis, Geena Bullseye

Dormer, Natalie ID10T, Maltin on Movies

Duplass, Mark You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes

Eggers, Dave The Children’s Book Podcast

• Author talks about his new middle grade novel, “The Lifters.”

Eisenberg, Jesse Upon Further Review with Mike Pesca

• The actor laments his role in the Phoenix Suns’ failure to with the NBA title in 1993.
• It involves a fan letter. Also: Mulch.

Farrow, Ronan Fresh Air

Fieri, Guy Beyond the Plate

• Your chance to make Chicken Marsala in Flavortown.

Goldblum, Jeff Bon Appetit Foodcast

• The actor talks oatmeal, butter and barbecue.

Handey, Jack Bullseye

Israel, Steve The Axe Files

• Convo with writer/former congressman touches on gun reform, midterm elections.

Jacobs, Gillian ID10T

Jensen, Billy My Favorite Murder

• Crime journalist checks in on the Golden State Killer case.

Jones, Doug Stay Tuned with Preet

• Convo with the Democratic Senator from Alabama.

Lauper, Cyndi Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me

Lin, Tao Otherppl with Brad Listi

• Author talks about his first nonfiction book in his third Otherppl appearance.

Lowe, Luther If Then

• Yelp VP has a beef with Google.

Malkmus, Stephen All Songs Considered

• “Abracadabra,” “December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)” among the his guest DJ song picks.

Maron, Marc Armchair Expert

Milian, Christina Curious With Josh Peck

Mulaney, John Comedy Bang! Bang!

Moore, Wes Oprah’s SuperSoul Conversations

Oppenheimer, Mark The Gist

• Unorthodox host talks about Philip Roth.

Pein, Corey Recode Decode

• Convo with the author of “Live Work Work Work Die.”

Pollan, Michael The Joe Rogan Experience

Raja, Omar The J.J. Redick Podcast

• Convo with the creator of huge-on-Instagram “House of Highlights.”

Rayo, Mando Eater Upsell

• “Taco journalist” talks Tex-Mex.

Rodriguez, Paul WTF with Marc Maron

Roker, Al Weather Geeks

Ronan, Saoirse Modern Love

• Oscar-nominated actress reads Emily Robbins’ essay about “an American woman who falls in love with a Syrian doctor while learning Arabic in Damascus.”

Schrader, Paul The Moment With Brian Koppelman, The Big Picture, Filmspotting

• Filmmaker and screenwriter makes the pod rounds promoting his latest, “First Reformed.”

Schwartz, Dr. Pepper Dear Sugars

• AARP columnist talks sex and aging.

Shawkat, Alia Queery

Watts, Shannon Pod Save America

• Moms Demand Action founder talks about fight to end gun violence.

Woodward, Bob Slow Burn

• Journalism legend talks Nixon and Trump at the pod’s live show.

Pick From a Podcaster

This week’s podcaster: Hilda Labrada Gore, host and producer of Wise Traditions, a podcast about ancestral health.

• Hilda adds: “I realized some years ago that in order to be healthy you need to fuel your body with real food, not just food-like products (think cheese, instead of Cheetos). The show covers everything from the benefit of healthy fats to protecting yourself from cellular radiation.”

Hilda’s pick: Radiolab’s Smarty Plants.

Hilda says: “There’s a reason Radiolab has over 17,000 reviews. They reveal truth in casual and often humorous ways. ‘Smarty Plants’ piqued my interest because it’s an episode that helps us see trees and flowers in a different light.”

• She adds: “Can they think? Do they learn? Maybe the phrase ‘dumb as a potted plant’ never applies!”

Notable New Podcasts

1) BIKRAM

2) Aftermath

• Amber Hunt hosts “an episodic look at survivors of gun violence. Two crime reporters travel the country talking to people whose lives changed in the blink of an eye.”

3) Converge

• Casey Newton hosts a game-driven pod. The crux: “Each week, one of the Valley’s most fascinating entrepreneurs steps into the hot seat to play games that are both funny and revealing.”

4) The Mother Jones Podcast

• It promises to go deep on big stories. It’ll also feature in-depth interviews.
• First episode: Primary Season in America.

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8 Pod Takes: Provocative Thoughts From This Week’s Podcasts

1) “Nothing cuts tension better than Rick Astley.”

Listen: Love Letters: The Night I Became Roy Orbison (3:35)

• So says Patrick Garvin, maker of song mixes for people who’ve been dumped. The episode explores “the healing power of music after a breakup.”
• A “breakup mix is a Trojan horse for letting someone know they’re not going through it alone,” says host Meredith Goldstein.
• Here’s Garvin’s go to Astley song.
• My promise: I’m never gonna Rickroll you.

2) “We had to wake up and watch Fox & Friends, which is something I would not wish on my worst enemy.”

Listen: Pod Save America: “It’s your Justice Department!” (1:47)

• Cracks Dan Pfeiffer, about Trump’s interview on the Fox News morning show. His ramblings gave political pods material to fuel panel conversations for weeks.
• Or at least until the next thing happens in … a few hours?

3) “You have to let people be disappointing.”

Listen: It’s Been a Minute With Sam Sanders: Meg Wolitzer on “The Female Persuasion” (16:33)

• That’s Wolitzer, author of book-of-the-moment, “The Female Persuasion,” being persuasive about why some of her characters annoy each other — and readers.
• My take: That’s life.