Next week’s Thanksgiving. I’ll be taking a break from the newsletter and, as is tradition around here, enjoying some Baltimore Bomb pie with my family. Back at ya Friday, Dec. 6.
On to this week’s counts: 40 notable guests, eight new podcasts, three deep dives and one podcast about the Burger Chef murders.
Pod Take of the Week
“TikTok can be funny videos and it can be a counterintelligence threat.”
Listen: What Next TBD: Is TikTok Really a National Security Threat? (20:45)
- That’s Washington Post tech reporter Drew Harwell, on the wildly divergent views of TikTok.
- Background: TikTok’s straight outta China, and it’s gaining attention on Capitol Hill and elsewhere for its potential security hazards for non-Chinese users.
- Harwell helps guide a sober but not-fearmongery look at the rising social media platform.
Go Deep
1) The Fascination with True Crime
Listen: Call Your Girlfriend
- Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow dive deep into “the public – and especially women’s – fascination with murder content.”
- Says Sow: “If I were a victim of a crime, I would one-thousand percent not want people consuming it and sending memes to their friends about it.”
2) The Raisin Wars
Listen: Business Wars
- The Wondery pod kicks off a series on the raisin cartels of California’s Central Valley.
3) The Demise of the Seattle SuperSonics
Listen: Sonic Boom
- The Ringer’s eight-episode Luminary-only pod about how Seattle lost the NBA’s SuperSonics concludes.
- Binge time: 4 hours, 52 minutes.
Guest Appearances By…
($L) = On Luminary, behind a paywall. (S) = A Spotify exclusive.
Armisen, Fred Talkhouse
Bernstein, Carl Stay Tuned with Preet
Birbiglia, Mike Scriptnotes, Never Not Funny
Boseman, Chadwick The Bill Simmons Podcast
- The actor talks movies, basketball, Jackie Robinson’s voice.
Buttigieg, Pete The Daily
Clarke, Emilia Armchair Expert
DeGeneres, Ellen Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend
DMC The Hilarious World of Depression
Donaghy, Tim Pardon My Take
Fischer, Jenna Inside of You
Gad, Josh Off Camera
Garrett, Peter The Bob Lefsetz Podcast
Gorgeous, Gigi Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig
Grimes Sean Carroll’s Mindscape
Hammond Jr., Albert The Road Taken
Hilton, Spud Deviate with Rolf Potts
Homme, Josh The Joe Rogan Experience
Iannucci, Armando Sue Perkins: An hour or so with…
- Convo with the creator of “Veep” and other amazing television shows.
James, Jim This Must Be the Gig
Junod, Tom Big Questions with Cal Fussman
Kerr, Steve Men in Blazers
Lane, Nathan WTF with Marc Maron
McBride, Martina Armchair Expert
- A convo with the country artist, recorded live.
Nanjiani, Kumail Off Menu
Nyong’o, Lupita The Awardist
- The actress talks about her role in “Us.”
Perez, Rosie Bullseye
Portugal. The Man Talkhouse
Quaid, Dennis The Jordan Harbinger Show
Redd, Chris Talkhouse
Reedus, Norman ID10T
Robbins, Tim Life is Short with Justin Long
- I didn’t listen but I’d be shocked if “Shawshank” wasn’t mentioned.
Robinson, Marilynne On Being
Saget, Bob You Made it Weird with Pete Holmes
Shulkin, David The Gist
Steinem, Gloria Hysteria
Tabbi, Matt The Joe Rogan Experience
Tucker, Chris expediTIously
Watkins, Michaela The Three Questions with Andy Richter
Warburton, Patrick Jordan, Jesse GO!
Winkler, Henry Work in Progress with Sophia Bush
Notable New Podcasts
1) Red Ball
- The makers of Crime Junkie focus on a “reinvestigation into one of Indianapolis’ most infamous unsolved cases.” It’s the case of the Burger Chef murders.
- Ashley Flowers hosts. It’s the No. 1 podcast on iTunes.
- The creator of Dirty John is back with a series about “a singular detective on a relentless, sometimes lonely quest for answers.”
- That detective: Julissa Trapp, “the only woman on the homicide squad, and a skilled chameleon: undercover cop in vice stings, crime-scene commander, patient confidante of killers.”
- It’s No. 4 on iTunes.
3) The Crown: The Official Podcast
- Edith Bowman hosts an episode by episode dive “into the stories and taking listeners behind the scenes with insights from many of the people involved in the show.”
4) 888-Barbara
- “Utterly candid and totally unfiltered” advice from “Shark Tank”’s Barbara Corcoran.
- A “documentary series about struggles in the United States” from Jacobin.
6) Gaslight
- Chloë Grace Moretz and Taran Killam are among the stars in the fiction pod.
- The crux: “Eight years after her mysterious disappearance, Danny shows up on the doorstep of her childhood best friend Rebecca hoping to reconnect.”
- The five-episode series from Pod Save America focuses on the Iowa Caucuses. Tommy Vietor hosts.
- ABC News goes full Disney promo with a “behind-the-scenes look at the making of Frozen 2.”
And One to Look Forward To: Catch and Kill Podcast With Ronan Farrow (Nov. 26)
- It’s a “look at the years-long investigation into Harvey Weinstein and the systems that protect powerful men in Hollywood, Washington, and beyond.”