Robert Downey Jr. · Susan Orlean · Chris Cuomo
It's a podcast party!
the true crime that's worth your time
It appears to be “best podcasts of 2022” listicle season. We’re a little more than seven months into the year (which floors me to type, wasn’t it just Christmas?), which seems like an odd time to decide to drop a list like that. Why not every quarter, like earnings calls? But as true crime remains the dominant genre in the audio medium, I’m headed into the content farm to see if anything is ripe enough to pick.
I mean, far be it from me to rain on anyone’s SEO parade! Getting that sweet sweet “new podcasts” search traffic isn’t the worst goal to have, given all the evil click tricks out there. That said, when publications like — I am not making this up — Town & Country are dropping these lists, I really have to rev myself up to give a shit.
Town and fucking Country! With a lead line like “Where would we be without podcasts? Once an oddity for audiophiles, podcasts have steadily become as much a part of our everyday routines as a favorite TV show,” I hit close tab before I could evaluate the lineup.
Other folks seem to have put a little more vim and vigor into their traffic strategy. Vulture’s The Best Podcasts of 2022 (So Far) is from Hot Pod founder Nicholas Quah, a guy who’s not known for messing around. His list is a varied one and his analysis is thoughtful: true-crime wise, he recommends Sorry About the Kid (Alex McKinnon mounts an investigation into the speeding police officer who killed his brother) along with higher-profile offerings like The Trojan Horse Affair.
Wired’s list is the ambitiously titled The Best Podcasts for Everyone. It’s divvied up into categories, including a true-crime list…which kind of sucks! Seriously, it’s Criminal, S-Town, and Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen. All excellent podcasts, but is anyone (let alone the titular “everyone”) who clicks on this list going to experience a sense of discovery here? The answer, friends, is “nope.” Wired, you’re a good magazine, but this list is tiiiired. Go to bed, bitch.
Finally, there’s Mashable, which did a respectable job! It’s got solid Google juice with the hed “The 19 best new podcasts of 2022, so far” but I like both the equivocation of “so far” and the upfront declaration that you’ll need to scroll for 19 items. With picks like Ghost Church (the spiritualist/medium grift) and BE standby Sympathy Pains, this list feels like it isn’t just a cut-and-paste from various most downloaded podcasts lists, though it does have a lot of repeats (Trojan Horse Affair again? Sorry, Caleb.). You could do worse than Mashable’s list. — EB
You know, I think I’m going to keep this podcast theme up the rest of this issue. So, if you’re not into audio, feel free to peace out now. But if you do value true-crime podcast recommendations, news, and analysis, here’s my semi-regular reminder to become a paid a subscriber to help us keep this publication afloat.
As Sarah mentioned yesterday, we just hit 1000 subscribers. If all of those were paid, we’d still be making waaaaaay less than certain yucky people, so it doesn’t seem like that wild a dream! Maybe you’ll help us get there — and continue to non-yuckily do what we love — today? — EB
Susan Orlean Falls Asleep to the Dateline Podcast [Vulture]
I regularly forget that Meryl Streep is not actually Susan Orlean, so Q&As like this one are a nice return to reality. She, too, offers up a true crime-heavy podcast recommendations list:
I recently listened to The Execution of Bonny Lee Bakley, which I liked a lot, and I was completely caught up by Deliver Us From Ervil. I just finished Will Be Wild, which I thought was amazing, and Tiffany Dover Is Dead*, which you had recommended. Now I’m a little adrift.
I mean, every night, in order to fall asleep, I listen to the Dateline podcast. Which, of course, means I’ve never heard one all the way through. I know how they start, but I really don’t know how they end. They’re cheesy and terrible, but they’re great white noise. Usually, I’d start one, then I fall asleep and my husband turns it off for me. I can’t even believe it, but somebody else I talked to recently said he falls asleep to Dateline as well, and I felt vindicated. There’s something about the lilt in the way they narrate stories. It’s singsongy, like they’re reading a Mother Goose story.
After a career of cracking cold cases, investigator Paul Holes opens up [Fresh Air]
Who do I get mad at about this interview? Terry Gross sub Dave Davies, who fawns all over Holes and says “he co-hosted a podcast called ‘The Murder Squad’” without mentioning the simmering scandal at that pod or the troubling allegations against Holes’s recent creative partner, Billy Jensen?
Or do I just focus my ire straight at Holes, who says stuff like “the loss of that power and authority as a law enforcement officer basically pushed him over the brink from being a serial rapist to a serial killer” (about GSK), seemingly suggesting that folks who start with sexual abuse claims (like the ones against Jensen) can evolve into far more violent acts.
Anyway, I’m not saying you should listen to this episode of Fresh Air, but I do wonder why, given the growing storm of Holes-adjacent controversy, they dropped this ep this week. — EB
Maybe I should just save this for a Wednesday discussion thread, but I have to ask: Have we passed through the golden era of meta true crime satire and are now on the downhill slope?
Who knows, maybe Corked will be great, but this description from Nerds and Beyond does not fill me with hope:
Corked follows Jeffers Tatum Trench, a jilted roughneck from Louisiana, as he goes to investigative journalist Miles Fletcher about the mystery of what happened to Frances Meyer — the missing girlfriend of the famous and brash winemaker Lyle Le Monde. Trench is sure that Lyle is living under a false identity and that Frances isn’t just missing — Lyle murdered her! Miles investigates and learns that Lyle is, in fact, not his real name. He actually grew up with Jeffers in Louisiana as Robert “Buzzy” Baldanza, and the two were two-bit criminals, best friends, and maybe a bit more.
Corked drops on August 16, if you want to find out for yourself. — EB
Robert Downey Jr. & Susan Downey Move Into Podcasting With Cult Series ‘The Sunshine Place’ For Cadence13 [Deadline]
This new podcast on Synanon, a SoCal rehab clinic that evolved into a 1970s-era cult and eventual convicted criminal enterprise, dropped its first two episodes on Wednesday — and so far, I’m finding it a tight and gripping look at how unethical attempts to treat substance use disorder can destroy lives just as surely as drugs or alcohol might.
Downey isn’t directly involved with the show (it’s narrated by one of the cult’s former leaders) but it’s hard not to think about his struggles with SUD and subsequent rehab while listening. I wonder if that’s part of what attracted the couple to the project in the first place? As someone who is close to several folks with SUD, and the wife of someone who lost a parent to it, this show hits several of my sweet spots. If you listen, tell us what you think! — EB
Ratings for Chris Cuomo’s podcast sinking fast three weeks after launch [NY Post]
I mean, the NY Post is a shitty publication, but I still read this story with a wide grin. Cuomo, who was credibly accused of sexual harassment and misconduct, has seen his new podcast’s rank drop down to 72nd place. Recent guests include Andrew Yang, which inspired some folks to be mad at Cuomo:
But one could just as easily cast an eye at Yang for the decision to do an interview with a guy who allegedly assaulted a colleague…not to mention his admitted enabling an allegedly even more egregious harasser, his brother. — EB
Monday on Best Evidence: Paid subscribers will get to read it, the rest of you get a day off!
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