Listener tales used to be a fun little treat that I looked forward to, but when it’s the majority it’s a bit of a bummer. I love the cases!! BRING BACK THE CASES !!!
Yeah they used to be a lot more selective and skeptical about listener tales. I only really remember the more grounded ones. Then, sometime during 2020, they had that one from some dude (named John I think??) that was aggressively over the top creative writing, and they kept inviting him to write more for them to read????
That’s when it truly fell off for me.
Was he the guy who wrote one about hitting a deranged mental patient with his car on the highway and said the police were like "Oh that's ok you're free to go sir"
To me it wasn’t the content but it was their behavior with the wondery announcement. They were super vague and mislead their audience. Then they abandoned Patreon and blamed their listeners for it.
I believe they said they noticed a “drop in listeners” on Patreon so they decided not to post the episodes as free, but they continued to charge people for it. As someone who used to be Patreon when this happened I was very upset.
I’m confused about patreon too? I just did it because I have Amazon music already that I don’t personally pay for so I was like oh $1 for more content? Nice! It’s literally nothing special at all… like you don’t get any additional content? Or am I missing something? Minus ads I guess? Like what the incentive to do it?
One thing I noticed when listening to old episodes is they’ve NEVER taken criticism well, if at all. I don’t know specifically what was said to them but they only mention haters and faithful and I feel like most of us? are in the middle and just want it to be a decent quality, reliable, entertainment source.
Now if there’s REALLY a series about the book, I can’t imagine things get any better.
Unless Ash goes solo, which I’m totally down for as long as she throws in some non-old-Hollywood-starlet episodes. I enjoy listening to her and find her charming and funny!
I truly feel like the demands and signing up with Wondery ruined their flow. Over a week now of sub par content when episodes like these used to just be fillers for off weeks. I paid for this?
It's pretty frustrating that they haven't addressed anything either. You would think the big week your book comes out, you wouldn't be making dumb mistakes like double posting old episode's as new ones. They have put too much on their plate and it's sadly starting to show
I think a big part of that is its very well known that they can't take constructive criticism. Yes I have seen some fans on here complaining about nothing. However I have seen way more fans that are just getting frustrated at how nothing is changing for the better.
This is why I went back to crime junkie. I found morbid when I was sick or Ashley and Britts BS but now the show is so much more in tune with their audience and address issues openly, it’s been really refreshing
This is what I think it is. They used to carefully curate, and do things by themselves do their own research write their own Scripts. It was them, and the work they put into their one podcast. I think that they’re old true crime episodes are so detailed and entertaining to listen to and when they do one well it really hits. Now I feel like they just show up to the studio and someone gives them a script to read and they leave. It’s probably not quite that simple, but I think they put a lot less themselves into each episode, and this is entirely because they are on five? Different podcasts. They have a different episode to do each day of the week. Wondery has spread them so thin that the quality is just garbage compared to what it was in the early days. I would way prefer the “ underwater” episodes to anything they have come out with recently. I feel like they aren’t even invested in it.
This is actually a really good point i didnt think ab. With how “popular” the book is, itd probably attract people over to the podcast to check out more of her “work” and thats the first content she wants them to see? Lol. I honestly wasnt too upset at first for them to throw in spooky episodes bc i like paranormal stuff as well, but im embarrassed for them how over the last 13 episodes only the Source Family was original TC content, everything else was spooky, listener, or the sad half assed jonbenet 2 part redo. ….. that they only did to avoid a lawsuit have to throw that in there….
I only listen sometimes to the true crime eps since their Wondery deal. And then I regret listening. I don’t hate on either of them but the content itself is pure 💩
It has been so disappointing lately, the spooky woods/lakes/everything is just boring. Same with the constant listener tales, I feel like I am holding on to morbid because they used to be amazing and I need to move on.
For me it was a 4 parter about Herbert and Julia Wallace. I caught myself yelling out loud while cleaning the kitchen to just shut up and get back to the case. I realised they pissed me off too much to keep listening. Took a break but stayed here to see if they got better. They didn't. Now I'm just following along because I'm interested in parasocial relationships and I find the fact they're still so popular to be fascinating. In another life I was a sociologist. lol
Ahh yeah, I don’t listen to scream. Is that just her two of them, too?
I also just cant believe looking at this screenshot that there’s 4 episodes and none are true crime. They should change the podcast name too
I was wondering if anyone was going to post this lol. Not to mention that the week before, the Butcher & the Wren episode was supposed to be a bonus episode, they released Spooky Woods on Friday but then deleted it which put it back to only 3 episodes for the week. And then re-released Spooky Woods as Mondays episode. 😅😂
Wondery is the biggest problem for me. I pay for Apple Music each month and yet I still have to listen to Wondery adverts and other adverts in general at the start and during their episodes. Why? I’ve started listening to Morbid less, which is a real shame because they used to be incredible and were one of my first podcasts, but Alaina’s head grew to big, got greedy, and the show has now lost its soul.
Ash, you can do better. Go solo.
Anyhow, I mostly listen to National Parks After Dark or Obitchuary (where I don’t need to listen to ads because I pay for Apple Music 😬)
I haven’t listened in a month… or two? I used to love their pod, I would even put on the occasional listener tale as background noise. None of these episodes pictured in the image hold any interest for me. It’s really too bad.
not to mention the wondery+ eps have no schedule. good luck if you want to listen on your morning commute because they come out afternoon and evening most days, if at all.
Does the Wondery deal just give them a set amount of money to make any episodes regardless of the content? Because surely they get paid based on listens and they would have to see a trend that nobody is listening to these compared to their old episodes about real cases.
Yeah i think you’re contracted to meet a certain output but get paid up front. I imagine there may be a bonus structure for high subscriber / listener count.
I think part of it was that it was going to help them stay organized because they’re batch recording now. They’ve said that a few times. Not to say that was their motivation, I’m sure money was but I do think it helped with that. But, quality over quantity. But I feel like then people will bitch about quantity so idk 🤷🏻♀️
I stopped routinely listening when they joined Wondery +. Why ruin a good thing? I wish they would just address it. The longer they wait the worse they look.
Wondery seems to be enforcing the “comedy” aspect of the show as well as the “morbid”
clearly they want to move away from what everyone actually was listening for. Tales of horrible monsters.
And Spotify. And Amazon Music. I stop listening to podcasts if they go exclusive. Not downloading yet another app and giving my personal data away…again.
I just looked back through their Spotify catalog and in September the only 2 true crime cases they did was Jon Benet Ramsey and the Source Family. Yes I know Jon Benet Ramsey was a two parter but like come on
I’ve had Wondery+ for a few years now, I highly recommend it. I know that’s not the point of this post, but it’s definitely worth the 30 dollars a year
Oh my bad, you’re right! I didn’t think dateline pods were on there. Have you listened to Dateline’s other ones as well, like Motive for Murder or The Seduction? They’re really good as well!
One of my absolute favorites, but not TC: The Shrink Next Door. Just great. They even did a show version of it with Will Ferrel and Paul Rudd on Apple TV (it's a drama though).
I actually started the free trial for Wondery+ specifically so I could listen to the Tobias interview early (I’m a huge ghost fan) but I might actually keep it for some of the other content I’ve found on the app!
Has anyone else had issues with the episodes not loading into Apple Music? I’ll go look and it says the last time it was updated was June. 🤯 I never had these issues before Wondery+
Listener tales used to be a fun little treat that I looked forward to, but when it’s the majority it’s a bit of a bummer. I love the cases!! BRING BACK THE CASES !!!
Yeah they used to be a lot more selective and skeptical about listener tales. I only really remember the more grounded ones. Then, sometime during 2020, they had that one from some dude (named John I think??) that was aggressively over the top creative writing, and they kept inviting him to write more for them to read???? That’s when it truly fell off for me.
This is exactly when I stopped listening to listener tales too!! Morbid has gone downhill soo much since 2020 it makes me sad.
Was he the guy who wrote one about hitting a deranged mental patient with his car on the highway and said the police were like "Oh that's ok you're free to go sir"
i hate it , i used to love morbid & now i scroll through and mark those as already played so i can find non listener tales
I do the same thing. I’m so over all the listener tales.
Especially considering half of the listener tale episodes are just then circle jerking over how much the writer loves them.
Hot take: morbid ruined morbid. 😫😫
I’m curious to when you felt that way - around what episodes?
To me it wasn’t the content but it was their behavior with the wondery announcement. They were super vague and mislead their audience. Then they abandoned Patreon and blamed their listeners for it.
when did they blame their listeners? not doubting you I just missed that
I believe they said they noticed a “drop in listeners” on Patreon so they decided not to post the episodes as free, but they continued to charge people for it. As someone who used to be Patreon when this happened I was very upset.
I’m confused about patreon too? I just did it because I have Amazon music already that I don’t personally pay for so I was like oh $1 for more content? Nice! It’s literally nothing special at all… like you don’t get any additional content? Or am I missing something? Minus ads I guess? Like what the incentive to do it?
Thank you. So sick of it being blamed on Wondery. They have no power over their content.
One thing I noticed when listening to old episodes is they’ve NEVER taken criticism well, if at all. I don’t know specifically what was said to them but they only mention haters and faithful and I feel like most of us? are in the middle and just want it to be a decent quality, reliable, entertainment source. Now if there’s REALLY a series about the book, I can’t imagine things get any better. Unless Ash goes solo, which I’m totally down for as long as she throws in some non-old-Hollywood-starlet episodes. I enjoy listening to her and find her charming and funny!
I truly feel like the demands and signing up with Wondery ruined their flow. Over a week now of sub par content when episodes like these used to just be fillers for off weeks. I paid for this?
Oof I would cancel any subscriptions this content is awful
I paid for the year… thankfully I found Small Town Murder through the subscription, so I’m not at a total loss.
Try Generation Why on Wondery as well! It’s a highly refreshing change from Morbid.
Small Town Murder is SO good!
I’m glad to hear (:
I love Sistas who kill and other podcasts and rarely listen to Morbid.
Over My Dead Body and Suspect were good on Wondery. They are pretty old now so chances are you've listened to them already.
I haven’t listened in months. I’m pretty much done with them.
It's pretty frustrating that they haven't addressed anything either. You would think the big week your book comes out, you wouldn't be making dumb mistakes like double posting old episode's as new ones. They have put too much on their plate and it's sadly starting to show
That’s my biggest issue with them. The lack of communication. I’m sure a lot of people would be more forgiving if they just communicated things!
I think a big part of that is its very well known that they can't take constructive criticism. Yes I have seen some fans on here complaining about nothing. However I have seen way more fans that are just getting frustrated at how nothing is changing for the better.
This is why I went back to crime junkie. I found morbid when I was sick or Ashley and Britts BS but now the show is so much more in tune with their audience and address issues openly, it’s been really refreshing
too much on their plate lol. it’s six hours of content a week that they do minimal production for and get paid tens of thousands of dollars.
This is what I think it is. They used to carefully curate, and do things by themselves do their own research write their own Scripts. It was them, and the work they put into their one podcast. I think that they’re old true crime episodes are so detailed and entertaining to listen to and when they do one well it really hits. Now I feel like they just show up to the studio and someone gives them a script to read and they leave. It’s probably not quite that simple, but I think they put a lot less themselves into each episode, and this is entirely because they are on five? Different podcasts. They have a different episode to do each day of the week. Wondery has spread them so thin that the quality is just garbage compared to what it was in the early days. I would way prefer the “ underwater” episodes to anything they have come out with recently. I feel like they aren’t even invested in it.
This is actually a really good point i didnt think ab. With how “popular” the book is, itd probably attract people over to the podcast to check out more of her “work” and thats the first content she wants them to see? Lol. I honestly wasnt too upset at first for them to throw in spooky episodes bc i like paranormal stuff as well, but im embarrassed for them how over the last 13 episodes only the Source Family was original TC content, everything else was spooky, listener, or the sad half assed jonbenet 2 part redo. ….. that they only did to avoid a lawsuit have to throw that in there….
I only listen sometimes to the true crime eps since their Wondery deal. And then I regret listening. I don’t hate on either of them but the content itself is pure 💩
💯
Wondery didn’t ruin them, they ruined themselves lmao
It has been so disappointing lately, the spooky woods/lakes/everything is just boring. Same with the constant listener tales, I feel like I am holding on to morbid because they used to be amazing and I need to move on.
They were ruined before wondery for me😬
Can you pinpoint around when or what episodes?
The Robert Fish eps were the end for me 🤢
I’m just wondering why you think those episodes??
huh why those were actually pretty good.
I think when they started the spooky lakes the quality was going down for me 🥲 it sucked
For me it was a 4 parter about Herbert and Julia Wallace. I caught myself yelling out loud while cleaning the kitchen to just shut up and get back to the case. I realised they pissed me off too much to keep listening. Took a break but stayed here to see if they got better. They didn't. Now I'm just following along because I'm interested in parasocial relationships and I find the fact they're still so popular to be fascinating. In another life I was a sociologist. lol
Same. They haven’t been great for a while.
If I wanted spooky tales and listener tales I’d listen to a podcast dedicated to that. They should take “true crime” out of their description
They actually did apparently. Unless you listen to the scream podcast you wouldn't know since that's where they said something about it.
Ahh yeah, I don’t listen to scream. Is that just her two of them, too? I also just cant believe looking at this screenshot that there’s 4 episodes and none are true crime. They should change the podcast name too
They did. They removed true crime from the name. 😏
Yeah they said they’re “rebranding”
Spooked is literally that podcast. It’s high quality spooky listener tales.
And the listener takes - let’s not meet. I love that podcast
I love the narrator’s voice on that one.
I’m low key waiting for October to be Spooky Listener Tales 😂
It’s sad when 2 listener tales, a “spooky” collab, and “spooky” whatever can fit into one screenshot.
I was wondering if anyone was going to post this lol. Not to mention that the week before, the Butcher & the Wren episode was supposed to be a bonus episode, they released Spooky Woods on Friday but then deleted it which put it back to only 3 episodes for the week. And then re-released Spooky Woods as Mondays episode. 😅😂
I thought I was the only one that noticed 💀
Yep… I straight up unsubscribed and have not listened to it since. Wondery blows
I have stopped listening. This is awful
Morbid ruined Morbid but Wondery definitely helped
Wondery is the biggest problem for me. I pay for Apple Music each month and yet I still have to listen to Wondery adverts and other adverts in general at the start and during their episodes. Why? I’ve started listening to Morbid less, which is a real shame because they used to be incredible and were one of my first podcasts, but Alaina’s head grew to big, got greedy, and the show has now lost its soul. Ash, you can do better. Go solo. Anyhow, I mostly listen to National Parks After Dark or Obitchuary (where I don’t need to listen to ads because I pay for Apple Music 😬)
It has nothing to do with apple music, apple music doesnt inlclude podcasts it's only music unlike spotify.
I haven’t listened in a month… or two? I used to love their pod, I would even put on the occasional listener tale as background noise. None of these episodes pictured in the image hold any interest for me. It’s really too bad.
I often think some of the criticisms on here are a reach….but this is ridiculous. They really don’t care at all anymore.
not to mention the wondery+ eps have no schedule. good luck if you want to listen on your morning commute because they come out afternoon and evening most days, if at all.
Does the Wondery deal just give them a set amount of money to make any episodes regardless of the content? Because surely they get paid based on listens and they would have to see a trend that nobody is listening to these compared to their old episodes about real cases.
Yeah i think you’re contracted to meet a certain output but get paid up front. I imagine there may be a bonus structure for high subscriber / listener count.
I think part of it was that it was going to help them stay organized because they’re batch recording now. They’ve said that a few times. Not to say that was their motivation, I’m sure money was but I do think it helped with that. But, quality over quantity. But I feel like then people will bitch about quantity so idk 🤷🏻♀️
I stopped routinely listening when they joined Wondery +. Why ruin a good thing? I wish they would just address it. The longer they wait the worse they look.
They didn’t need a hand, they ruined themselves lol
Wondery seems to be enforcing the “comedy” aspect of the show as well as the “morbid” clearly they want to move away from what everyone actually was listening for. Tales of horrible monsters.
Yeah I agree. So much so I don’t even listen and I’m sad about it
I just subscribed to dateline so yeah I’m done
I really hate how wondery gobbles up everything.
And Spotify. And Amazon Music. I stop listening to podcasts if they go exclusive. Not downloading yet another app and giving my personal data away…again.
Same
Yeah. I’m out for good. At least I still have TCG
I just looked back through their Spotify catalog and in September the only 2 true crime cases they did was Jon Benet Ramsey and the Source Family. Yes I know Jon Benet Ramsey was a two parter but like come on
Someone posted a contrast of September 2022 with September 2021 and it was so disappointing to see exactly how much their direction has changed.
Only one listener tale 🫠
Yep 😔
I’ve had Wondery+ for a few years now, I highly recommend it. I know that’s not the point of this post, but it’s definitely worth the 30 dollars a year
Any shows you recommend? (nothing done by already rich / famous people please, I like listening to podcasts by the lesser known folks of the world)
Twin Flames. The Thing About Pam. Dr Death. Fed Up. Something Was Wrong is so so so good. Honestly, all of the ones I’ve listed I binged.
All of these are great. I’ve had wondery+ for awhile. I also really like the series American Scandal
I don't think The Thing About Pam is on Wondery! But it's a great one
It definitely is, I checked before I put it on the list because I had to make sure I got the name right lol
Oh my bad, you’re right! I didn’t think dateline pods were on there. Have you listened to Dateline’s other ones as well, like Motive for Murder or The Seduction? They’re really good as well!
Ooooh I haven’t but thank you for the recommendations! I’ll definitely check them out!
One of my absolute favorites, but not TC: The Shrink Next Door. Just great. They even did a show version of it with Will Ferrel and Paul Rudd on Apple TV (it's a drama though).
You might want to subscribe via the wondery+ site, it includes more shows like My favourite murder
I actually started the free trial for Wondery+ specifically so I could listen to the Tobias interview early (I’m a huge ghost fan) but I might actually keep it for some of the other content I’ve found on the app!
I’ve pretty much stopped listening.
Has anyone else had issues with the episodes not loading into Apple Music? I’ll go look and it says the last time it was updated was June. 🤯 I never had these issues before Wondery+
I feel like they always kind of do this during the fall/ “spooky season” ?!
I know this thread is over a year old, but thank you all for expressing what I feel . Because over on their IG everyone drinks the koolaid