10 Best Podcasts of September 2017
First listen from The Mission
In no particular order, below are the best of the best podcasts for the month of September 2017, curated by the Editors here at The Mission to help make your morning wake up, back-and-forth commute, and general entertainment listening experience better.
The New York Times Daily: it’s a new property for the venerable NY Times, with a daily program giving you a 30-minute rundown of what’s happening around the world. If reading the paper and blog posts just seems to take too much time, let this be a more efficient mechanism for staying caught up.
My Dad Wrote A Porno. You can’t make this stuff up. Which is also why it’s so interesting. The guy’s dad actually did write an erotic novel and published it on Amazon for the entire world to read with reckless abandon. It even has a few celebrity appearances because they’re such big fans of the show (i.e., Elijah Wood, Daisy Ridley, Michael Sheen). If you’re into the softer side of Sears, this one might be right up your alley.
74 Seconds: this is the real MPR podcast, not to be confused with NPR because it’s Minnesota, not national. It follows trial story of Jeronimo Yanez. He is a police officer who shot and killed Philando Castile, who was a 32-year-old black motorist. The incidence occurred in July 2016 in the Twin Cities. We highly suggest the opening episodes, which hit you like a brick to the face. It’s going to be hard to put this one down. Or un-hear it. Whatever the analogy is for sound.
Food 4 Thot: A great conversational podcast that describes itself as, “A new podcast discussing sex, relationships, race, identity, what we like to read, & WHO we like to read.” And don’t think that Thot reference got past us. It’s a place for real talk and no holds bar commentary about popular culture. Their email sign up form is pretty great too (we won’t spoil it for you). This podcast got no chill. “It’s like NPR, on poppers.”
Pod Save America: Let’s just say they’re no fans of Donald Trump. A few staffers from the Obama administration started this podcast after the most recent election to focus on “a political conversation for people not quite ready to give up or go insane.” Equal parts humor and rage, they pump out one to two shows a week. If you’re into politics and you were a fan of Hillary, this one might be for you.
The Bill Simmons Podcast: HBO and The Ringer’s Bill Simmons interviews Kevin Durant across three episodes. Why listen if you watch ESPN and already have heard Kevin’s thoughts? Well, this one is a deeper dive into the consciousness of athlete celebrity as it nears the peak of his career. The first two episodes track the Golden State Warrior star during the regular season, while the final episode happened after he had won the NBA Finals. Pay attention to the subtleties between the two. That’s where the nuggets are.
Mogul: The Life & Death of Chris Lightly: Music is a massive part of most of our lives whether we consciously know it or not. In this documentary series, it teaches you about the music industry and the business of hip-hop through the lens of one of its legendary music executives.
A Cast of Kings (Game of Thrones): HBO’s entertainment phenomenon, Game of Thrones, has taken the world by storm. There are a number of GOT-focused pods out there, but we like this one. It might take you awhile to catch up. There are nearly 100 episodes to listen to. So go make some coffee and make a start, friends.
S Town. This show keeps popping up everywhere so we’d be remiss if we didn’t include it on our own Best Of roundup. It’s from the same team as Serial and is about a man who was bragging about town that he got away with murder. Maybe it’s just me, but if you want to get away with murder, you probably shouldn’t talk about it. Because now you’ve got one of the world’s most popular podcast people covering it. If you like character studies, you’ll like this. Be sure to check out their website as well, the glorious animations and visual graphics make for an enticing entry into their curvy S world.
Serial. You didn’t think we’d leave this one out did you? It single handedly restarted the podcast movement based on the movie-theater like storytelling about investigative journalism for a murder trial in the year 2000. If that doesn’t get you going, then how about a stat. It has over 100 million downloads. If that was a music album, it would make it the highest selling in history.
