The best podcasts you should listen to this week
By Jaclyn Schiff and Simon Owens
Do you love listening to podcasts but are overwhelmed by the sheer number of choices out there? Have you subscribed to way more podcasts than you could ever listen to and don’t want to miss the best episodes? AudioTeller is a weekly newsletter that tells you the can’t-miss episodes you absolutely need to download. To have this newsletter delivered to your inbox, sign up here.
Welcome! In this week’s issue we’ll revisit one of the best episodes of West Wing, learn why I Love Lucy was such a groundbreaking show, and confront the revelation that you too can be phished just as easily as all the other rubes out there. Stay tuned…
From Renan Borelli, director of audience growth and engagement at MTV News:
A great companion podcast for binge watching Game of Thrones [link]
Podcast: Binge Mode
This week, I want to recommend a new podcast from The Ringer called Binge Mode. Binge Mode (which once was a potential name for The Ringer itself) is a new show devoted to breaking down entire seasons of TV series, with the first 60 episodes devoted to every existing episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones. (Presumably, the podcast will be expanded to other shows going forward, but right now, the focus is on the world of Westeros.)
Binge Mode is hosted by Ringer deputy editor Mallory Rubin (the Mother of Dragons) and staff writer Jason Concepcion (the Maester), experts on the A Song Of Ice And Fire book series, and they devote one episode of the podcast to each episode of the series. The show is extremely fast-paced and well-structured, with equal amounts of plot recap, analysis, breakdowns of long-term implications, and jokes. (And lots of hilarious and terrible impressions from Concepcion.)
And, true to its name, the episodes are coming out season by season, all at once; so far, they’ve dropped episodes for the first two seasons of the show; they’ll roll out the subsequent four seasons over the next few weeks. Each episode is roughly a half hour, sometimes more, sometimes less. It’s a great resource for people looking to catch up before Game of Thrones returns in July, and lots of fun as a refresher for diehard fans.
From Sriram Gopal, a DC-based writer and musician:
A look back at a great episode of The West Wing [link]
Podcast: The West Wing Weekly — Episode: Bartlet For America
The West Wing is an all-time favorite and its first three seasons are some of the best network television ever made. The real world’s complexities make some aspects of the show feel a bit saccharine, but in terms of writing, character development, and acting, The West Wing holds up. The West Wing Weekly is a podcast in which hosts Joshua Malina, who played Will Bailey on the show, and Hrishikesh Hirway do deep dives on each episode of The West Wing. They often augment their discussion with actors and behind-the-scenes participants from its run, or even policy experts on issues that are dealt with in any given episode. “Bartlet For America” is an episode that won actor John Spencer an Emmy award. Spencer plays Leo McGarry, my favorite character from The West Wing, and he passed away unexpectedly during the show’s final season. The gem here is a 2002 interview with Spencer, presented in its entirety, that took place just prior to his receiving the Emmy.
Why I Love Lucy was such a groundbreaking show [link]
Podcast: Studio 360 — Episode: American Icons: I Love Lucy
I Love Lucy is a show that is part of America’s cultural fabric. It was the first three camera sitcom filmed before a live audience and the its mix of characters established archetypes that television comedies follow to this day. This episode of Studio 360 traces Lucy’s history and influence, starting with its titular character and fanning out from there. Host Kurt Andersen interviews academics, contemporary sitcom stars like Mindy Kaling, and people associated with the original production to put I Love Lucy into context. Part of the discussion revolves around the misogyny and cultural biases that existed in the ’50s, giving examples of how the series attempted to subvert those prejudices in subtle ways.
From Miriam Kagan, a nonprofit fundraiser based in Texas:
What it’s like to get the attention of a head of state when you may not exactly want it [link]
Podcast: Reply All — Episode: Favor Atender
Many are shocked at the way our current US President communicates via Twitter. However, apparently in Latin American many presidents are very active on Twitter, including the president of Ecuador. This is a fascinating podcast about public-government interaction via social media and the dark paths it can take us down.
From Rachael Zur, a shoe designer in Brooklyn:
How New York City once tried to chase out its squatters [link]
Podcast: 99% Invisible — Episode: Squatters of the Lower East Side
In 1995 a tank rolled down the streets of New York’s Lower East Side in pursuit of squatters who evaded police using Walkie Talkies. They poured urine from fire escapes, tar in front of doors, and rubble in the stairways to render the buildings impassable for police. This podcast brilliantly opens a window into the Lower East Side’s history with housing. By the 1980s, the economic crisis in New York City made some of the poorest areas in NYC even more derelict and insecure. “Planned shrinkage” was instituted in the lowest income neighborhoods to save money by removing important services like fire stations. Property values plummeted and once the landlord stopped paying taxes on the buildings, the city owned the buildings outright. This created a landscape of abandoned buildings in the Lower East Side, making it a haven for artists and the dispossessed with the willingness to suffer great discomfort — like no running water or heat — for a roof over one’s head. Ultimately, the LES squatters restored the livability to many of these structures. In a remarkable twist, in 1999, after decades of resistance, the Giuliani administration finally appealed to the squatters to allow them to receive loans to bring the buildings up to code and live as homeowners, not squatters.
From Simon Owens, AudioTeller co-editor:
Yes, you too can fall for a phishing scam [link]
Podcast: Reply All — Episode: What Kind of Idiot Gets Phished?
If you’re anything like me, and I’m willing to bet you are, you read stories about people who fall for phishing scams and assume it could never happen to you. Perhaps you’ve even successfully avoided a few that ended up in your inbox. What makes this episode of Reply All so fantastic is its depiction of how sophisticated phishing scams have become, and how even the savviest among us are vulnerable, especially when the person doing the phishing knows just a little bit of personal information about us. I doubt I’m the only one who finished this episode with a fresh bout of paranoia when it comes to my internet activities.
Thanks for reading (and hopefully listening to our recommendations). Think we missed a great episode? Email us at audioteller@gmail.com. Want to have this list delivered to your inbox every week? Go here.
And finally, if you enjoyed our list we’d greatly appreciate it if you share it to your Medium followers by clicking the heart icon below.
