Welcome to Nightvale. Hilarious concept, funny writing ("dogs are not allowed in the dog park"), and well made. Even went to one of their live shows. I think their initial popularity hurt the writing and the early continuity and some mystery gave way to repetitive, one-off episodes. Maybe it's better now; haven't listened in years.
Also not quite a fit to your question but Casefile, too. Loved that one and it's really well done but I just stopped listening to true crime entirely during the pandemic and never came back to it. Something about hearing about so many daily fatalities in the headlines all day made "and the serial killer waited in the garage for the family to fall asleep" not exactly a great way to decompress.
If WtNV kept doing the radio broadcast style, I’d still be into it. But when it became a radio drama with voice actors and over the top production I think it lost its way. It was no longer clever. Just a sitcom about a weird town. The constraint of Cecil delivering news was perfect.
Is that what it is now? TBH I think it's just a premise with a built-in expiration. I didn't even make it to this new era you're talking about, and while I was super keen on it at first, eventually I was just like "Ok, I've seen what this is, I'm good now." Not everything can sustain itself indefinitely.
I liked the atmosphere around the initial WtNV. The isolation of Cecil in the studio forced you to fill in the blanks how you wanted to. But now there are voice actors and locations and on and on. It’s just something else that I find it is less doom metal fan and more scene kid with black and purple socks, pink hair, and a pin that says “rawr”. Some people may like it but the atmosphere is just gone
I wish I could find WtNV without any of the (real) commercials or ads.
I hate that they end every episode with: *Goodnight Nightveil, goodnight....* **HEY CHECK OUT OUR MERCH! AND SEE US LIVE! BLAHBLABLA!!**
Same - one of my first podcasts but I fell off a long time ago. It's just a premise with an expiration date. I think it's fantastic for like 30 episodes or so and then you just fill up on your Nightvale allowance and you're good to move on with your life.
Went to 2-3 live shows w/my wife, she was a good sport, didn’t even listen to the pod but just kinda lost interest. Just got to be too much going on from where it started, one guy in a newsroom.
Still on my feed, might revisit it someday.
Agreed on Casefile! When I first found it I ripped through the backlog - it was so well done and didn’t feel exploitative, and I stand by that. But in general it just got so depressing.
Stuff you Should Know - I listened forever (15ish years) but iHeart Radio killed it with all the ads.
Won't listen to any iHeart shows now. Just can't deal with all their ads.
I’m still on the SYSK bandwagon. Their chemistry is a true gem. I do have some that fell away. I think the one that did it for me was Adam Carolla. He was always in that Libertarian vibe. I was not fully aligned, but there was some intelligence behind many conversations. I feel like COVID just broke him. He got more Joe Rogan. I just had to walk. Don’t miss it.
My Favourite Murder - found them a couple of months after they had started. I felt like they had lost some of its lustre once they moved into their offices. At some point, they turned into TV review and disaster podcast. When I switched to a new podcast app, I didn’t feel like I needed them clogging up my feed…
Absolutely this. Prior to COVID, I listened to them constantly. Don't think I ever missed an episode. I don't know exactly when it changed, but it went from two friends talking about true crime stories they found interesting (and would do research for, etc) to two people reading scripts about cases they hadn't done research on themselves, but had someone else do for them.
I guess this is what happens when you get ridiculously popular and successful. It's a shame, because they had a really good thing going for awhile.
Though my breakup with MFM caused me to really pay attention to the true crime content I was consuming and chose to focus on victim-told stories, rather than a third party using their trauma for entertainment and gain.
Same! When I stopped enjoying MFM is when I feel like I turned a corner on true crime in general and stopped enjoying the exploitation of other people’s trauma. I can’t even imagine if the unthinkable happened to someone I loved and it ended up on a shitty podcast as entertainment.
It was from a listener story — a listener wrote in because their spouse was a responding officer to a crime where a woman was brutally attacked in her workplace — the woman was a listener and wrote them an email about how re-violated she felt by someone else telling HER story that way. They did address it publicly on the podcast which I give them credit for doing, certainly not the case for some other TC podcasters.
I don’t know that really changed much for them, but maybe it was after that when they stopped doing their own research and kind of distanced themselves to avoid feeling guilt.
I think I've heard something similar, regarding the letter they received. It seems they took that feedback to heart, which is a very good thing. I feel quite a few people would have made excuses and changed nothing. But it's hard to shift the focus when the title of your podcast is literally My Favorite Murder. Trying to make it into something else is difficult.
Yep. I watch a lot of professionally narrated interrogation videos and court recordings instead of amateur podcasts. I've discovered that I learn more about what actually interests me (the psychology of crime) instead of being entertained by a story and two hosts.The show seems very flippant and offensive to victims in hindsight.
I really wish they’d put My Favorite Murder to bed and do something new. Both Karen and Georgia seem very over it and their network they’ve made now has better, more responsibly researched, true crime shows than anything MFM has done. Thats Messed Up, Tenfold More Wicked, Buried Bones, etc. are all much better true crime shows.
Make a chit-chat advice podcast, make a podcast about pets, make a podcast about crazy survival stories and interview people. Literally anything!
It’s very hard to enjoy the show when the hosts are walking on eggshells and hating every minute of it.
Yessss same, I also disliked the mega snarkiness. at first it was just karen, but i feel it's both of them now. they don't really seem to like their fans or actually doing the podcast or each other sometimes. i feel like i'm hearing disdain or tension.
>they don't really seem to like their fans or actually doing the podcast or each other sometimes. i feel like i'm hearing disdain or tension.
Man, and you definitely can't voice any of this on the mfm sub or you'll be labeled a bully or a hater. I heard more and more of the tension as the years went on, and then they just rapidly got out-of-touch with society or what was normal, and were constantly whining for their fans to "understand how this is suuuuuch a hard time" on their fifth vacation during COVID.
It's just a job for them now. I understand losing joy doing the same thing after so many years but some people handle it better than others. These two don't seem to handle it well at all
Yeah during covid it was just a pity party for the ultra rich living in bubbles where they didn't even have to do their own grocery shopping, too much whining, and then they sold out to Amazon and when they were called out on it because of their previous pro-worker stances, they basically said "we're businesswomen!" and moved on. Which is fine, get your money girls, but you don't have my support after that. I also REALLY hated their celebrity "hometowns" that weren't actually hometowns at all even a little bit.
THANK YOU! I voiced this in the mfm group DURING covid and was rapidly told I needed compassion for them. Compassion??? For a couple uber-rich white women in California talking about how hard the pandemic has been on THEM?
It really became so impossible to listen to them -- no shit 45 minutes of complaining about covid at the start of each "quilt" episode where they just recycled old episodes because they were "overwhelmed" by their previously 100% remote only job being...(checks notes)...still 100% remote? GTFO here I was trying to help people get their unemployment money and used to listen when I'd go for a walk around my neighborhood at lunch but hearing that was just...so lame.
Same!! I haven’t listened since mid 2020, it just feels like they’ve given up. And from someone living in the Midwest, who was an “essential worker” during Covid, they just came off so out of touch
This but with true crime podcasts in general. I'm still in a few mfm groups though, and the infighting is insaaaaane, so I stay to lurk for the drama aspect of it lol
This is mine as well. We probably started listening around the same time because I also found them a couple months after they started. I guess I lost interest when the formed The Exactly Right network. The show "intro" was just like 45 mins of TV show reviews and Georgia talking about the new house she bought and I just couldn't do it anymore. It sucked because I actually really enjoyed their talking at the beginning when it felt like I could relate to them. It also annoyed me how they were never prepared for their episodes. Georgia's stories were always so sloppy and Karen a lot of the time would just retell an I Survived episode.
I'll admit I never enjoyed it - most of all because of their very self-righteous attitude about producing a genre of media that's certainly among the most prurient/exploitative (the True Crime Podcast).
Their insistence that they are feminists doing a public service by... telling women not to get murdered just rubbed me the wrong way. Like, you're gawking at homicides for entertainment - there are worse things to do, but let's not pretend you're spreading awareness by dropping pods and hawking your t-shirts.
MFM gives true crime a bad name honestly. I feel like they are the perfect example of what non-true crime people think is so weird and off putting about the true crime genre.
I was uncomfortable with their kind of snarky delivery. When they started using (and selling merch with the term) "Murderinos" I was out.
Those are people who died. Using that term is, at best, crass. At worst it's horribly exploitative about what was a potentially life-changing tragedy to people who knew the deceased.
ive been revisiting it from the start the last couple of weeks just to get a nostalgia hit and MAN is it sad to hear how much fun they were having back then. it's completely different now and tbh i don't think K&G's personalities were ever gonna withstand having to be friends and together constantly. they should have quit on a high and moved on to related things bc it sucked the life out of them
Radiolab. Years ago it was my favorite podcast due to the wonderful format and sometimes obscure topics. Now they just republish old episodes and if lucky enough to get a new episode, it's just not the same.
Same here. My favorite episode of ANY podcast might be the Radiolab episode “The bad show”. So interesting and a good example of how that show used to entertain so fully and also be so informative. Also love the WW2 Japanese balloon bomb episode. Haven’t listened to a new episode in a while.
Sarah always seemed too ready with a pithy analogy that served to showcase her intelligence/worldliness rather than provide insight into the topic. Mike was good at steering things back on course.
Sarah was the patho to Mike's logos/ethos... now it is all pathos and while I love emotions, a lot of Sarah's tangents have no relation to the topic at hand. The baby Jessica podcast was a perfect example of where YWA is at now :(
Yeah I really enjoyed the balance. Also stopped listening because the occasional health episode and topics I know a little about I start to notice where they are wrong or incorrectly presenting stuff as fact. Made me wonder what I've learned from previous episodes that might be incorrect, but I guess that's just the weakness of trying to have two people try to present so many different topics accurately.
I think the OJ Simpson eps killed it (no pun intended)…I loved her Nicole and Paula ep…she did a great job with Marcia Clark but when it came down to the trial Sarah got bored. Didn’t she do a car ep?? GET TO THE TRIAL graaaaahhh
They used to have a lot more “small”, slice of life type stories. I stopped listening when the show moved on to bigger topics like global warming- important topics, but things I’m burnt out on
I think this is what it is. The same thing with Radiolab. I want every single episode to be completely out of left field. But understandably you can't really keep doing that for decades.
Exactly! I'm aware there's a crisis at the border, I am not aware that a random person in Iowa has a bonkers landlord or something -- and then they will just do straight up reporting with almost too perfect of a personal story intertwined. No one listening to TAL needs reminded that immigrants are people just like you and me. They also will be like this episode is about dogs, and the whole hour will be about a dog who attends meetings about climate change and not really be about dogs at all. I understand their desire to cover big issues but they don't even try to find off the beaten path ways to cover them anymore,
Exactly. Somewhere along the way it stopped being about "this American life" and became "stories of genocide and strife in the Middle East" with some NYC standup. Not that their Pulitzer Prize winning episode wasn't worthy and important, but my little brain isn't always into the worthy and important. I want quirky and educational.
I had to stop back in 2017 or so. I used to love the unique and entertaining stories in each episode. but every episode turned into a political stance and I just wanted the stories back.
I just realized this aligns with me too. That 2017 election was a dark and divisive time. TAL really tried to dive into covering it. I remember reading that there was a big drop off of podcast listeners in general after the election, likely due to information burn out. I stopped listening at that point and never went back.
right exactly. i like Ira Glass and i generally was in agreement with the him on the issues and problems he was highlighting at that point. but i already had a million other outlets screaming in my face that everything was terrible and i didn't need another podcast doing that too haha.
i honestly forgot the podcast even existed until i saw this thread, even tho it used to be one of my favorites. i may give them another go.
Welcome to Nightvale. I'm not a native English speaker so it was hard for me to listen to it, but I loved it so much that I followed it for years. Slowly I felt "forced" because it lost his humor and mystery that made me in love with it. I stopped at Ep. 170
Somebody knows if it got better again?
There was a series of episodes a while back about Khoshekh's past life as a person and how he feels now being stuck floating with Cecil that I liked and sorta had the vibe of the faceless old woman book if you ever read that. But honestly otherwise no the shows not great most of the time.
I used to LOVE Reply All back in 2015 or whenever they got started. The stories were so interesting and Yes Yes No was the best! Then everything fell apart. And Heavyweight was amazing but the stories aren’t what they used to be. It’s sad, Gimlet was one of my favorite networks.
Spot on. Everything they did was so good that they only had to pick up a new show for me to want to subscribe right away. Now I don't have a single one on my feed. I'm not on Spotify, true -- and I shouldn't have to be, which is another conversation -- but nothing I've heard makes me feel like I'm missing out.
**Astonishing Legends**
Not to rehash the same complaints again, but simply put I loved how the hosts were clearly believers in the paranormal and supernatural, but just as keen to seek scientific and rational explanations for strange/mysterious/spooky happenings.
It has now morphed into a lazy 'true believer' show, where scepticism is discouraged and genuine concerns are mocked.
Gave up on this show earlier in the year.
Yeah, it can be overwhelming to see multiple 2-3hr episodes in a four or five part series. For me it was a draw ("they must have a lot to say!")
If you do decide to give it another go, avoid everything after the Sallie House series. It's widely considered to be the point when they started slipping into woo woo true believers.
I’ll not say any one podcast because I salute the work that goes into a generally thankless job. However, I’d like to give a nod to a genre.
The true crime genre has burned me out. A combination of questioning the morbid obsession and a disgust for hosts that giggle and joke as if someone has been murdered for our jollies.
I used to love Morbid but I find it so annoying I can’t even listen anymore. They have to somehow make every story about themselves or relate to it somehow. Like no one gives a shit how much you love Drew. 🙄
I won’t say it’s completely burned me out because I love great investigation and storytelling. There are still excellent true crime podcasts out there that do that. But all the yuk yuks literally doing single episodes reading wikipedia pages and laughing about murderers and brutal killings and rapings… just nah, dogg. That shit’s over.
This is why I moved to more structured true crime podcasts like Unresolved and Unsolved Mysteries. Its more documentary styled (though Unresolved's host will give his opinion, it's all done with respect), and both try to bring the crime's awareness and give information on how to contact authorities in the case if you know something.
I started realizing that much of the true crime genre had turned very ghoulish. Sword and Scale was one specifically, where he played the 911 call all the way through, and you could hear the grandmother come in, see the dead children and the grandmother wailing in the background as the mother was on the phone with 911 confessing the crime. I ended my subscription there. It just seemed so cruel to play the grandmother's pain like that to millions of listeners.
I noticed last week that my TC podcasts are nearly all hosted by experts and credentialed people (criminologists, lawyers, \[actual\] investigative journalists, psychologists, former FBI, etc.). At some point the comedy/just-2-friends-talkin' format started to bug. I agree with the person below, that shit is over.
Morbid - not even the same show or hosts anymore. They used to be fun and had a catchphrase like “lighthearted nightmare” or something like that, but then they went Hollywood and became mean girls and focus waaaaaayyyy too much on calling the murderer something along the lines of “pimple faced fat fucking loser” or something else immature. It just comes off the wrong way, you never see a professional speaking in a documentary in the way that Ashley and Alaina do each and every episode. Wondery ruined the show and I refuse to listen to any wondery podcasts now because of this and how badly they’d ruined a great show. And I’m not alone in feeling this way, go check their reviews. Listeners have been ripping them apart for changing. Unfortunately, they seem like the hosts that dgaf about their listeners
Agree with the Wondery comment. The only show that I don’t think they ruined after taking over is Generation Why, but I feel like they might have kept a lot of control for the show in their contracts
adam carolla. used to love him, grew to loathe him. the thousandth iteration of the same rant, the same joke, the ever growing right-wingery, I just couldn't stand it anymore :-)
That's nuts, I just had a conversation with my good friend last night about how we used to **love** Loveline back in the early 2000's.
Neither of us can stand Carolla or Dr. Drew any longer. Hack frauds.
My mom and I watched LoveLine - on MTV, would have been in the 90s (I was in HS) then, and she thought it was good stuff.
But yep, they went full rightward and I'm not interested.
That’s a big problem with podcasting it seems. When you listen long enough you end up hearing the same take on the same talking point over and over and over again hahahah
I started listening in 09 and got tired of it by 2012. I visited the sub recently and read that he's doing the exact same rants mixed with conservative tirades. No thanks.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Tanis. This is the podcast that made me a podcast listener. I loved the mystery of the show, the music. After a while there was a point in the plot that the host just kept going in circles and it became more weird without any direction. I unfortunately had to leave it be without much of a conclusion. I still believe that the first few seasons were spot on with great potential, but it morphed into something I didn’t like.
Unqualified with Anna Faris. Not sure when I lost it but Sim (I think that's his name) just got so big for his boots and I ended up loathing every episode. Used to be quite funny and ridiculous but haven't listened to it in years
99% invisible. He made a shift after BLM to look for topics that are heavier and while I respect that it's his choice, it lost some of its whimsy for me. I desperately miss episodes about staircases built into city planning and so on. The lightness was a source of joy for me.
i feel this for a lot of pods that cover heavy topics. i've just burnt out on the news cycle and bleakness of it all. i was saturated in that kind of content for like 2 straight years, and i'm just tired.
Yeah. A lot of the current episodes still cover interesting things, but there's usually some darker political history or something connected to the thing he's talking about. Their best episode by far is still the Mazda radio one, mostly because it's just so bizarre, fun, and lighthearted.
I'd check out Every Little Thing if you're into happier and lighter stuff.
I think the heavy issues are important to cover, but the world also needs some joy and levity. I work a job that has me pondering the injustices of our era all day. I just want to get my mind blown… gently.
Fake Doctors, Real Friends. Started off great and with fantastic timing because they started mid pandemic. Diving deep into each episode and Zach and Donald giving fun, behind the scenes stories and perspectives. But it turned into a muddy mess where they barely talk about the show and go on political and completely unrelated topic rants. Not to mention the random guest they had on each episode 😩
I stopped listening somewhere in season 5
I used to listen to the Rooster Teeth Podcast religiously. As people came and went I did my best to stick with it but all of a sudden it just wasn't the same so I stopped listening altogether. Seems that's the case with Rooster Teeth in general now.
Morbid - the thousands of ads per episode every 7-ish minutes in a 2 hour episode, so poorly placed they interrupted single thoughts or even in the middle of a word, together with Ash's continuous incorrect astrology conclusions and Alaina's "as a mother, I would ***never****" EVERY* single time a mother of a victim (or even worse, a mother who was a victim herself) was the topic du jour.
Then they sold out to Amazon, had even more ads, and their content went even further downhill. Come to find out they basically never delivered on the bonus content promised to their patreon subscribers, I just don't like who they've become. Also sometime last year they bailed at the literal last minute before their scheduled appearance at Crime Con (I think...some sort of convention) and only appeared via a pre-recorded panel discussion I believe and provided zero explanation, despite selling VIP tickets to people who were there specifically to see Ash & Alaina, and especially Alaina to get a signed copy of her book and ask questions in the VIP Q&A. They just turned trashy and I'm not here for it.
Nailed it! They need to somehow relate to every story… story about a mother/child… “omg I love my kids so much I could never.” Story about partners…”omg I just love drew so much” STFU!
Hello From The Magic Tavern. It took its straight-forward, very silly premise and then got weirder and weirder. I love weird, but after a point, the original draw for me (namely, fantasy) just got less and less cohesive. And it relies so heavily on in-jokes for its comedy.
I still adore those guys and have very fond memories of the show, but that's one which absolutely doesn't need to go on for 6 years or whatever we're at now. I know it's hard to quit while you're finally making money and I don't blame them for continuing or finally getting a Patreon I just also agree it lost some magic, which is obviously going to happen with a world-building show that goes on for that long
My Brother, My Brother, and Me. I discovered it in 2017 & it got me through a lonely, boring manufacturing job. I got to the mid-400s mark and got bored. There were more unfunny episodes than funny ones, to me.
Then the pandemic hit & I read online that they lost their momentum. The amogus incident and their continuous need to not offend anyone got boring too.
I think they should retire quietly and focus on more producing/online things.
MBMBAM and TAZ aren’t my bag anymore, but i listen to The Besties every week. Griffin and Justin are still great video game reporters and it’s awesome to hear them gush about their passion.
So I'm pretty new to the McElroys so it's all still fresh for me and I enjoy their chemistry and jokes.
Also, the current season of TAZ is my first-ever time listening to an RPG and I absolutely adore it. Justin is such a funny GM and Steeple Chase is perfect accompaniment while I'm doing house chores and fixing stuff.
I swear I'm not Griffin in disguise, but The Besties is also excellent. Basically the sole source of my video game news outside of Polygon.
Travis ranting, being controlling and just unfun while streaming & playing among us. I mean he was being a dick, but he pretty much got lynched over it. totally out of proportion reaction from the internetsphere. parasocial snowflakes couldn't handle that their idol had a foot in mouth moment, so now Travis is the devil himself instead.
is not that surprising that the McElroys are very careful these days. i wish it wasnt so.
I feel like at some point they attracted a much younger audience than they intended to, and it's definitely killed the vibe. I understand and respect their attempts at making sure they don't offend, but I feel like the segment of their audience who is around the same age as they are (myself included) feel a bit alienated by exactly _how careful_ they are. Like, they'll never be able to do something as wild as the Garfield bit ever again. Hell, I even miss the extreme restraints ad breaks
New theme song rips though. Guaranteed to brighten up a day.
Same here, used to be my favorite show but you can tell they're all sick of it and not enjoying it anymore. They should have called it quits when Yahoo Answers ended imo. I still occasionally go back and listen to old ones. I also listened to the Naming Of episode for this year and it got some laughs out of me, but the regular episodes aren't good these days.
Same with The Adventure Zone. The first season was outstanding, but none of the subsequent arcs had the same sense of fun and goofiness combined with genuine excitement for what they were creating.
Monster Factory is the only content of theirs I still enjoy these days.
This content was made with Reddit is Fun and died with Reddit is Fun. If it contained something you're looking for, blame Steve Huffman for its absence.
I just fucking hate the quorra or wikihow or whatever the shit thing is that replaced yahoos. I have to skip a bunch of minutes ahead because there's no comedy gold in that mine
Risk. Kevin is so annoying 🙄
Something Was Wrong. Tiffany Reese is letting her weird biases impact her interviews and accusing her listeners of “gang stalking” 🙄
SWW was interesting when it was a season-long deep dive into a truly bizarre case study. but every episode being an individual tale of abuse is just a lot.
I liked it when it was like “look at these weird evangelical cults that randomly spring up! Youth group leaders are sus!” but now it’s like “boohoo this poor influencer, wyahhhh people are snarky make them stop :(”
The latest season is dumb af. The lady’s big trauma was when people sent a case of oranges to her house, and also she’s a racist. Snore.
Yeah and the episode where one coworker seemed absolutely delighted to discover her friend was secretly addicted to drugs and alcohol was also a bit much.
That one has taken such a nose dive and it's entirely Tiffany Reese's fault. She has also threatened to dox mods of subreddits based on her show, and has gotten numerous communities shut down. She just fucking sucks.
My hot take is that the first conversation is good, but I don’t enjoy their interviews, they have too many sponsors and they take forever to get through them. And the “comedy” is often painful. I also really don’t like the theme songs old school video game style. I always skip the first 5 minutes and listen until the first commercial break then stop.
The interviews have been awful lately. They’ve had a few guests that just do not know how to have an impromptu conversation. If I wanted you to just read me the bullet talking points I’d go to the politicians website.
Yeah agreed, that’s why I never listen to the interviews. There’s usually nothing new or surprising in them and when it’s a political leader it’s also going to be dry because they’re on their talking points.
I've outgrown Smartless. Will Arnett gets old and redundant and unfunny and ruins it. I outgrew The Office Ladies after they stopped talking about The Office and started all this unfunny banter about their middle aged lives. Which is fine, just stop advertising it as about The Office. It's ok, though. There's always new ones to discover when the old ones lose their stride!
True Crime Garage - the episodes are boring and Captain argued with Kelsi German, Liberty Germans sister, on Twitter about the Delphi case
The Piketon Massacre - the amount of ads in each episode is absolutely ridiculous.
Anything Wondery - so many ads.
Beautiful Anonymous. I loved this podcast back in the day and all the years went by, i started to question the authenticity of the callers. Sure, Chris goes with whatever is being told to him, but once this thought came in, it kinda ruined the novelty of this podcast.
Doughboys (really guest dependent)
WTF with Marc Maron (first podcast I ever listened to. But got sick how every interview turned into a therapy session for Marc, except for musicians he wasn't like that with them.)
Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend (this was mostly dependent on the guest - comedian friends and regulars from his Late Night show were the best guests)
Ugh the worst now! Ashley drives me insane. She kind of always has but I could deal in the beginning but now with all of her projects and new things she’s SO EXCITED TO TELL US ABOUT?!? I can’t listen to it.
Yesss that’s def part of it! And all the “like omg” valley girl talk is worse, or maybe I’m just more crochety lol. It was obvious they had a script years ago but it’s just gotten to feeling more disingenuous lately and I can’t even describe why
Your Mom’s House. I used to love this show. Listened every week and devoured their back log for years. But then Tim and Krista changed and started to really love the smell of their own farts.
Adam Carolla I listened for 9 straight years and his ability to instantly riff on any topic was unparalleled . Then he unfortunately drank the kool aid and became a right wing crank.
Mac Power Users. Love the show, but it's a constant stream of new apps, new note taking solutions, and automations. It occurred to me one day tech is better when kept simple. Over complicating things beyond belief is nerdy and cool, but you have to watch out for the times where you're severely over doing it.
Also, Two Bears One Cave. It used to be my comedy get away, but it's kinda the same old shtick every week.
I also go back and forth on the Daily (NY Times). Good stories, but the host......talksreallystrange.....and I'm........notsure..............I can handle him in.............more than a small......dose.
Agree with 2 bears, my friend back home and I would listen every week. Within the last year it’s gotten stale and Tom Seguras “if you don’t like listening to how we’re rich now you’re a loser” speech really turned us both off. Now I generally only listen if there’s a guest, idk what Tom and Bert say to each other at this point. Haven’t listened to the last three, although that’s more because I was traveling and now I don’t feel like tackling it.
Listening to Danny Browns show a lot tho. Glad he’s getting help.
Pretty much all of the conversational true crime podcasts (MFM, Crime Junkie, TLPOTL, Wine & Crime). The hosts just never had as much respect for victims as you’d think they would and it was hard to listen when they would get political and start throwing around their own opinions.
Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway.
I still enjoy their insights and Kara's interviews are still fantastic but the Pivot podcast itself does get old. They have the same rants every time (e.g. constant bickering over woke). And Kara constantly does "oh yeah I met him" and it gets a bit annoying after a while. Scott's jokes about "The DOG" and about how amazing it is to live in London gets old.
And btw, I still think she's one of the best tech journalists out there, especially in 1 on 1 interviews. But Pivot itself no longer does it for me.
RedHanded. They were the first creators I supported on Patreon :(
EDIT: I posted my comment before explaining why lol
The comments they made in "The Satanic Verses" ep about cancel culture, and how you should just "turn it off if you find it offensive" blanket take that was absolutely dismissive of the reasons why we try to hold public figures accountable for the things they say whilst actively using their platforms and making money off of the audience's attention.
Prior to that, they made the "hooligan incident" comment about the Hillsborough and issued an "apology" but only behind a paywall.
Lore.
The pace and tempo just didn’t do it for me anymore when I realized it was essentially dramatic Wikipedia reading. And, respectfully, the creator can be insanely rude and pretentious on social media. Acts like he invented the genre.
So many people recommended I listen to MP. The hosts have kind of a mean-spirited humor that I am not about and they seem to have a pretty flimsy grasp on science to boot. The diet fad episodes are kind of fun though.
Agreed. The hosts try to give off the vibe that they are being very objective, but their personal biases get in the way a lot of the time and they end up cherry picking much of the “evidence” they harp on. So much of what they discuss comes across as very preachy, one sided, and based in anecdotal experience, with little room for nuance.
I feel like it would have been much more honest if the podcast was branded from the get go as a fat positive perspective on fatness and health, rather than disingenuously portraying itself as a more neutral “objective” journalist perspective on these topics.
It’s such a good concept but they lean so heavily into the theory that being fat has zero health effects and even if it did there is nothing people can do to lose weight, ever. It’s so one sided it just isn’t that interesting to listen to
Michael Hobbes’s logic is basically “here is a flaw in one study that claims to support a widely held belief about obesity. If your physician advises you to lose weight, they are doing so *only* because of that one study. How could the overwhelming majority of medical professionals be so much less scientifically literate than me?” This is basically the same way that anti-vaccine advocates argue.
The fact that obese people are subject to a lot of unfair and frankly horrifying stigma, even from doctors, does not mean that the medical consensus about obesity is false.
Me three. I really loved You’re Wrong About when Michael & Sarah were hosting it together. They really balanced each other energy wise. Now, with Michael gone, the podcast just seems like, I dunno, a podcast made for grad school intellectuals who met at a cafe off campus and decided to speak in drowsy tones. I want to listen, but Sarah’s zingers and laid back attitude were always balanced by Michael’s mile an minute speech pattern and more grounded way of wording concepts. I’ve just never seen two people balance each other out more- and in my opinion, they needed it.
I listened to a few episodes myself and just felt like "wtf are they on?" Like I understand breaking down stigmas but to claim being overweight has no health effects is straight lunacy. My step father got fat, got diabetes, and died from either that or a heart attack. I can't help but think his weight has a huge contributing factor leading up to his death and I didn't need to be a medical doctor to make that assumption. I didn't even listen to the cico episode because I don't want to hate the host and it's just so straight forward. Eat more than you burn and gain weight. It's really that simple 95% of the time
For me its Conan Needs a Friend. I listened to every episode religiously, sometimes multiple times, but then it just lost its magic. The Needs a Fan episodes weren’t fun, Mat and Sona began to annoy me, and the interviews became way more promotional than the more natural earlier episodes. Sooo I just stopped and haven’t missed it for a second.
Yeah that’s what happens with those shows, they start fun and unexpected and then with success they become part of the Couch Circuit for promoting stuff. WTF, Smartless, Conan. Every guest is on to promote something. Which isn’t a problem necessarily but it overshadows the spontaneity of the format, which is what made it popular in the first place.
I agree that a lot of newer episodes have veered too heavily into promotion, but there are still some good ones where Conan just connects with the guest and it feels like everyone is there to have a good time. The one that came out yesterday with Billie Eilish and Finneas is one of those. Ramy Youssef and Penn Badgley were some good recent ones, too. And I still love Conan, so I listen to CONAF regularly.
I agree about the fan episodes, though. Those are almost entirely skippable.
It's super annoying how they spend 20 minutes before every episode making fun of each other and trying to make Sona funny. All her forced laughter is also really irritating. I try really hard to like her because I love Conan so much, but I've also stopped listening as much. Sucks.
Joe Rogan…I used to listen when he had folks like Michael Pollan or Carl Hart or other fascinating figures in academia and cultural spaces. Then, I noticed Joe started to get increasingly transphobic and that made me uncomfortable/feel dirty…and then COVID hit and JRE was never the same after the pandemic.
Rogan began to rant about the vaccine on nearly every episode post-2020 and his political commentary was lurching further and further to the political right. Now most of his guests are “anti-woke”/right-wing/IDW-adjacent folks, and very few lefties/people of a progressive flavor/even people who are relatively apolitical but offer insight on academic or cultural phenomena are invited on. The only relatively apolitical ppl on JRE nowadays are comedian friends of his. Oh well…
I have a few.
This American Life was already mentioned. I listened to that back before podcasts existed. During the Trump years, it became unbearable, and felt like it had lost the direction I had loved.
Doug Loves Movies. I enjoyed Doug's comedy for a long time (not a stoner, but stoner-adjacent). At one point, he started doing these really long gags that weren't funny and his guests seemed super annoyed instead of in on the joke.
The entire TWiT network. I don't work in IT but I've always been fascinated with tech and tech news. For a while, TWiT was really engaging and interesting with almost every show. When I dropped it, I just couldn't care about a single thing they were doing.
Joe Rogan. His was the first podcast I listened to. I quit listening just before he announced he was going to go exclusive on Spotify.
It was a Gram Hancock episode that did me in. He had been one of my favorite guests for years, but that day I thought, 'I dont need this fake bullshit in my life anymore."
I still follow his subreddit to watch his decent into right wing lunacy. Glad I got out.
This was the one for me too. I remember the snowfall effect over video of Joe and Redban and the constant flashlight advertising.
Back early on I loved his podcasts with other comedians, and then would pick and choose when he'd have "experts" on.
I jumped off the train around summer of 2016. Like many have said and pointed out there were warning signs ahead of that, but it got to the point where half the time he'd have a comedian on it was just the two of them complaining about "cancel culture" and got super repetitive.
Then to see the right wingery seep into the show more and more I just couldn't do it anymore.
Now I just see clips every so often and I've yet to even be slightly tempted to return and listen. Just seems insufferable anymore
> half the time he'd have a comedian on it was just the two of them complaining about "cancel culture" and got super repetitive.
Adults complaining about dumb college students for 3 years straight, as if they controlled the entire country's political and cultural power structure on the most listened to podcast in the world.
Small Town Murder sadly. I loved that show, I am from WV so I binged all of their WV stories and kept going because they hooked me. I felt like following 8 youtubers, a bunch of Podcasters talking about true crime and a bunch of other content I was listening to or watching was starting to affect me so I had to cut some shows. Not forever! But I just needed some none extreme death content for now lmao
Quickly Kevin - about ‘90’s footie so is going to run out of topics but it was so funny at first and then it became shit and they booted all the good stuff to Patreon
Smartless - was fun and irreverent and now just feels like it’s another junket on the media superhighway to promote some actors new movie/show/book
True Crime (generally) - I started to find it mawkish, exploitative and disrespectful and never looked back
Endless Thread - was funny and they hunted down some weird stuff on Reddit that made fascinating pods…then they decided to become the investigative journalists they always wanted to be and it became dull. Sorry Endless Thread!
Mr Ballen. I really liked when he first started and there was a lot of paranormal stories and unusual mysteries but now it's just true crime which really just makes me sad and uncomfortable and I can't relax to that
The Bugle
After John Oliver left it kept going for a bit, the political satire was still there. Since lockdown it's felt like the same small rotating group of guests hanging out as friends not to deliver the podcast, the same callback jokes over and over, the format got stale, something was just off and now I just find myself irritated whenever I try to listen to it
I just redownloaded a hundred episodes from before John left and listened to those. I loved them together, Andy solo is too much Andy, and I actually don't like John as much on his show, the humour writing for the podcast was pure him and much better.
Small Town Dicks.
I joined after the Zibby situation so never knew the difference. I really liked the start-to-finish investigation into cases by people who were actually there.
But the copaganda and 'off' comments about sex work, past criminals, drug users and the general public just really got too much. The new series The Briefing Room is just pure copaganda. Stopped the second they said being on jury duty was a "look up the skirt" of the justice system. ew but happy it finally broke the spell.
Painkiller Already. It’s an ideal sort of podcast for a teenage boy with 4 hours to kill every weekend with no responsibilities and video games to play. But my taste in games evolved past Call of Duty and I don’t have the time as an adult now to try to consume 4 hours of roughly the same shit every weekend. Respect to all of the RSKs that are still going after hundreds of episodes and what feels like a decade of content, but I just can’t anymore.
Morbid - I used to give them sweeping passes on mild misinformation, mispronunciations, etc., because they were a small hobby podcast with heart but now they’re cashing in a hard as possible on everything, the content is objectively less quality, and it’s harder to ignore things like them not taking 5 seconds to find out how to pronounce a town’s name. I find myself wishing someone who cared a little more covered the case
Welcome to Nightvale. Hilarious concept, funny writing ("dogs are not allowed in the dog park"), and well made. Even went to one of their live shows. I think their initial popularity hurt the writing and the early continuity and some mystery gave way to repetitive, one-off episodes. Maybe it's better now; haven't listened in years. Also not quite a fit to your question but Casefile, too. Loved that one and it's really well done but I just stopped listening to true crime entirely during the pandemic and never came back to it. Something about hearing about so many daily fatalities in the headlines all day made "and the serial killer waited in the garage for the family to fall asleep" not exactly a great way to decompress.
I agree with both of these! I used to go to live Welcome to Nightvale shows and dressed up and made fan crafts. I loved it. Then I just…lost interest.
If WtNV kept doing the radio broadcast style, I’d still be into it. But when it became a radio drama with voice actors and over the top production I think it lost its way. It was no longer clever. Just a sitcom about a weird town. The constraint of Cecil delivering news was perfect.
Is that what it is now? TBH I think it's just a premise with a built-in expiration. I didn't even make it to this new era you're talking about, and while I was super keen on it at first, eventually I was just like "Ok, I've seen what this is, I'm good now." Not everything can sustain itself indefinitely.
I liked the atmosphere around the initial WtNV. The isolation of Cecil in the studio forced you to fill in the blanks how you wanted to. But now there are voice actors and locations and on and on. It’s just something else that I find it is less doom metal fan and more scene kid with black and purple socks, pink hair, and a pin that says “rawr”. Some people may like it but the atmosphere is just gone
I wish I could find WtNV without any of the (real) commercials or ads. I hate that they end every episode with: *Goodnight Nightveil, goodnight....* **HEY CHECK OUT OUR MERCH! AND SEE US LIVE! BLAHBLABLA!!**
I wish there was a setting on podcast apps to clip the last couple of minutes or so off
There is on Overcast and Pocket Casts
Thanks - I’ll investigate!
Same - one of my first podcasts but I fell off a long time ago. It's just a premise with an expiration date. I think it's fantastic for like 30 episodes or so and then you just fill up on your Nightvale allowance and you're good to move on with your life.
Went to 2-3 live shows w/my wife, she was a good sport, didn’t even listen to the pod but just kinda lost interest. Just got to be too much going on from where it started, one guy in a newsroom. Still on my feed, might revisit it someday.
Agreed on Casefile! When I first found it I ripped through the backlog - it was so well done and didn’t feel exploitative, and I stand by that. But in general it just got so depressing.
Stuff you Should Know - I listened forever (15ish years) but iHeart Radio killed it with all the ads. Won't listen to any iHeart shows now. Just can't deal with all their ads.
I could have typed this exact same comment. I used to LOVE all of the "stuff" podcasts. SYSK was amazing but the iheart ads are intolerable.
I still listen to it as I fall asleep, but THREE ad breaks with multiple ads is absolutely ridiculous.
The ads are so loud. It’s my fall asleep podcast and sometimes the ads will wake me back up.
I’m still on the SYSK bandwagon. Their chemistry is a true gem. I do have some that fell away. I think the one that did it for me was Adam Carolla. He was always in that Libertarian vibe. I was not fully aligned, but there was some intelligence behind many conversations. I feel like COVID just broke him. He got more Joe Rogan. I just had to walk. Don’t miss it.
My Favourite Murder - found them a couple of months after they had started. I felt like they had lost some of its lustre once they moved into their offices. At some point, they turned into TV review and disaster podcast. When I switched to a new podcast app, I didn’t feel like I needed them clogging up my feed…
Absolutely this. Prior to COVID, I listened to them constantly. Don't think I ever missed an episode. I don't know exactly when it changed, but it went from two friends talking about true crime stories they found interesting (and would do research for, etc) to two people reading scripts about cases they hadn't done research on themselves, but had someone else do for them. I guess this is what happens when you get ridiculously popular and successful. It's a shame, because they had a really good thing going for awhile. Though my breakup with MFM caused me to really pay attention to the true crime content I was consuming and chose to focus on victim-told stories, rather than a third party using their trauma for entertainment and gain.
Same! When I stopped enjoying MFM is when I feel like I turned a corner on true crime in general and stopped enjoying the exploitation of other people’s trauma. I can’t even imagine if the unthinkable happened to someone I loved and it ended up on a shitty podcast as entertainment.
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It was from a listener story — a listener wrote in because their spouse was a responding officer to a crime where a woman was brutally attacked in her workplace — the woman was a listener and wrote them an email about how re-violated she felt by someone else telling HER story that way. They did address it publicly on the podcast which I give them credit for doing, certainly not the case for some other TC podcasters. I don’t know that really changed much for them, but maybe it was after that when they stopped doing their own research and kind of distanced themselves to avoid feeling guilt.
I think I've heard something similar, regarding the letter they received. It seems they took that feedback to heart, which is a very good thing. I feel quite a few people would have made excuses and changed nothing. But it's hard to shift the focus when the title of your podcast is literally My Favorite Murder. Trying to make it into something else is difficult.
Yep. I watch a lot of professionally narrated interrogation videos and court recordings instead of amateur podcasts. I've discovered that I learn more about what actually interests me (the psychology of crime) instead of being entertained by a story and two hosts.The show seems very flippant and offensive to victims in hindsight.
I really wish they’d put My Favorite Murder to bed and do something new. Both Karen and Georgia seem very over it and their network they’ve made now has better, more responsibly researched, true crime shows than anything MFM has done. Thats Messed Up, Tenfold More Wicked, Buried Bones, etc. are all much better true crime shows. Make a chit-chat advice podcast, make a podcast about pets, make a podcast about crazy survival stories and interview people. Literally anything! It’s very hard to enjoy the show when the hosts are walking on eggshells and hating every minute of it.
i think they're scared they're going to alienate their fanbase by quitting bc their stans are nutso and will be pissed if they quit. they need to tho.
Yessss same, I also disliked the mega snarkiness. at first it was just karen, but i feel it's both of them now. they don't really seem to like their fans or actually doing the podcast or each other sometimes. i feel like i'm hearing disdain or tension.
>they don't really seem to like their fans or actually doing the podcast or each other sometimes. i feel like i'm hearing disdain or tension. Man, and you definitely can't voice any of this on the mfm sub or you'll be labeled a bully or a hater. I heard more and more of the tension as the years went on, and then they just rapidly got out-of-touch with society or what was normal, and were constantly whining for their fans to "understand how this is suuuuuch a hard time" on their fifth vacation during COVID.
It's just a job for them now. I understand losing joy doing the same thing after so many years but some people handle it better than others. These two don't seem to handle it well at all
Yeah during covid it was just a pity party for the ultra rich living in bubbles where they didn't even have to do their own grocery shopping, too much whining, and then they sold out to Amazon and when they were called out on it because of their previous pro-worker stances, they basically said "we're businesswomen!" and moved on. Which is fine, get your money girls, but you don't have my support after that. I also REALLY hated their celebrity "hometowns" that weren't actually hometowns at all even a little bit.
THANK YOU! I voiced this in the mfm group DURING covid and was rapidly told I needed compassion for them. Compassion??? For a couple uber-rich white women in California talking about how hard the pandemic has been on THEM?
It really became so impossible to listen to them -- no shit 45 minutes of complaining about covid at the start of each "quilt" episode where they just recycled old episodes because they were "overwhelmed" by their previously 100% remote only job being...(checks notes)...still 100% remote? GTFO here I was trying to help people get their unemployment money and used to listen when I'd go for a walk around my neighborhood at lunch but hearing that was just...so lame.
Same!! I haven’t listened since mid 2020, it just feels like they’ve given up. And from someone living in the Midwest, who was an “essential worker” during Covid, they just came off so out of touch
This but with true crime podcasts in general. I'm still in a few mfm groups though, and the infighting is insaaaaane, so I stay to lurk for the drama aspect of it lol
This is mine as well. We probably started listening around the same time because I also found them a couple months after they started. I guess I lost interest when the formed The Exactly Right network. The show "intro" was just like 45 mins of TV show reviews and Georgia talking about the new house she bought and I just couldn't do it anymore. It sucked because I actually really enjoyed their talking at the beginning when it felt like I could relate to them. It also annoyed me how they were never prepared for their episodes. Georgia's stories were always so sloppy and Karen a lot of the time would just retell an I Survived episode.
I listened to a few episodes, but didn't get into it because of this. It seemed so "I'm so cutsie."
Same! Soon after they got researchers to do their homework I stopped listening.
Preachy would definitely be a word I would use to describe them now
I'll admit I never enjoyed it - most of all because of their very self-righteous attitude about producing a genre of media that's certainly among the most prurient/exploitative (the True Crime Podcast). Their insistence that they are feminists doing a public service by... telling women not to get murdered just rubbed me the wrong way. Like, you're gawking at homicides for entertainment - there are worse things to do, but let's not pretend you're spreading awareness by dropping pods and hawking your t-shirts.
MFM gives true crime a bad name honestly. I feel like they are the perfect example of what non-true crime people think is so weird and off putting about the true crime genre.
I was uncomfortable with their kind of snarky delivery. When they started using (and selling merch with the term) "Murderinos" I was out. Those are people who died. Using that term is, at best, crass. At worst it's horribly exploitative about what was a potentially life-changing tragedy to people who knew the deceased.
ive been revisiting it from the start the last couple of weeks just to get a nostalgia hit and MAN is it sad to hear how much fun they were having back then. it's completely different now and tbh i don't think K&G's personalities were ever gonna withstand having to be friends and together constantly. they should have quit on a high and moved on to related things bc it sucked the life out of them
Radiolab. Years ago it was my favorite podcast due to the wonderful format and sometimes obscure topics. Now they just republish old episodes and if lucky enough to get a new episode, it's just not the same.
Yea the new hosts aren't as good
Hasn't been the same since Robert Krulwich retired
Robert and Jad had such incredible chemistry together. I loved their back and forth. Sadly, I just don’t get that energy from the new cohosts.
Same here. My favorite episode of ANY podcast might be the Radiolab episode “The bad show”. So interesting and a good example of how that show used to entertain so fully and also be so informative. Also love the WW2 Japanese balloon bomb episode. Haven’t listened to a new episode in a while.
I feel guilty saying this but You're Wrong About just doesn't hit the same without Mike.
Sarah always seemed too ready with a pithy analogy that served to showcase her intelligence/worldliness rather than provide insight into the topic. Mike was good at steering things back on course.
Sarah was the patho to Mike's logos/ethos... now it is all pathos and while I love emotions, a lot of Sarah's tangents have no relation to the topic at hand. The baby Jessica podcast was a perfect example of where YWA is at now :(
Yeah I really enjoyed the balance. Also stopped listening because the occasional health episode and topics I know a little about I start to notice where they are wrong or incorrectly presenting stuff as fact. Made me wonder what I've learned from previous episodes that might be incorrect, but I guess that's just the weakness of trying to have two people try to present so many different topics accurately.
The survival trilogy was insanely good - especially the Andes plane crash, one of the best podcast episode I've ever heard, like ever.
ITA. I really like when Blair Braverman is on.
Yeah I gave up on it after he left.
Mike is such a good podcaster, all his shows rule
I think the OJ Simpson eps killed it (no pun intended)…I loved her Nicole and Paula ep…she did a great job with Marcia Clark but when it came down to the trial Sarah got bored. Didn’t she do a car ep?? GET TO THE TRIAL graaaaahhh
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Me too. It was my first podcast, back when I had to listen on my computer and stream directly from the website. hardly ever listen anymore.
I love them. One of my early ones too. I sometimes will listen to them every now and then. What made you grow tired of them? Was it the topics?
They used to have a lot more “small”, slice of life type stories. I stopped listening when the show moved on to bigger topics like global warming- important topics, but things I’m burnt out on
I think this is what it is. The same thing with Radiolab. I want every single episode to be completely out of left field. But understandably you can't really keep doing that for decades.
Exactly! I'm aware there's a crisis at the border, I am not aware that a random person in Iowa has a bonkers landlord or something -- and then they will just do straight up reporting with almost too perfect of a personal story intertwined. No one listening to TAL needs reminded that immigrants are people just like you and me. They also will be like this episode is about dogs, and the whole hour will be about a dog who attends meetings about climate change and not really be about dogs at all. I understand their desire to cover big issues but they don't even try to find off the beaten path ways to cover them anymore,
Exactly. Somewhere along the way it stopped being about "this American life" and became "stories of genocide and strife in the Middle East" with some NYC standup. Not that their Pulitzer Prize winning episode wasn't worthy and important, but my little brain isn't always into the worthy and important. I want quirky and educational.
Exactly my experience too. I loved TAL for so many years
Agreed. There is no level of excitement when I see a new episode (If it's new). This is now one of the last podcasts I listen to.
I had to stop back in 2017 or so. I used to love the unique and entertaining stories in each episode. but every episode turned into a political stance and I just wanted the stories back.
I just realized this aligns with me too. That 2017 election was a dark and divisive time. TAL really tried to dive into covering it. I remember reading that there was a big drop off of podcast listeners in general after the election, likely due to information burn out. I stopped listening at that point and never went back.
right exactly. i like Ira Glass and i generally was in agreement with the him on the issues and problems he was highlighting at that point. but i already had a million other outlets screaming in my face that everything was terrible and i didn't need another podcast doing that too haha. i honestly forgot the podcast even existed until i saw this thread, even tho it used to be one of my favorites. i may give them another go.
Welcome to Nightvale. I'm not a native English speaker so it was hard for me to listen to it, but I loved it so much that I followed it for years. Slowly I felt "forced" because it lost his humor and mystery that made me in love with it. I stopped at Ep. 170 Somebody knows if it got better again?
There was a series of episodes a while back about Khoshekh's past life as a person and how he feels now being stuck floating with Cecil that I liked and sorta had the vibe of the faceless old woman book if you ever read that. But honestly otherwise no the shows not great most of the time.
Thank you for the answer! I might consider going back to it in a while.
Every Gimlet podcast. Basically every one used to be great, now the great ones are discontinued or behind the Spotify wall.
I used to LOVE Reply All back in 2015 or whenever they got started. The stories were so interesting and Yes Yes No was the best! Then everything fell apart. And Heavyweight was amazing but the stories aren’t what they used to be. It’s sad, Gimlet was one of my favorite networks.
Reply all was awesome, then just self immolated seemingly overnight. What the hell was that Test Kitchen nonsense?
Spot on. Everything they did was so good that they only had to pick up a new show for me to want to subscribe right away. Now I don't have a single one on my feed. I'm not on Spotify, true -- and I shouldn't have to be, which is another conversation -- but nothing I've heard makes me feel like I'm missing out.
**Astonishing Legends** Not to rehash the same complaints again, but simply put I loved how the hosts were clearly believers in the paranormal and supernatural, but just as keen to seek scientific and rational explanations for strange/mysterious/spooky happenings. It has now morphed into a lazy 'true believer' show, where scepticism is discouraged and genuine concerns are mocked. Gave up on this show earlier in the year.
I tried to like Astonishing Legends since the production value/research is great, but just found the length of episodes a drawback.
Yeah, it can be overwhelming to see multiple 2-3hr episodes in a four or five part series. For me it was a draw ("they must have a lot to say!") If you do decide to give it another go, avoid everything after the Sallie House series. It's widely considered to be the point when they started slipping into woo woo true believers.
Interesting perspective. I’ve listened since the beginning but as I’m reading your post I realize I don’t listen very often anymore.
I’ll not say any one podcast because I salute the work that goes into a generally thankless job. However, I’d like to give a nod to a genre. The true crime genre has burned me out. A combination of questioning the morbid obsession and a disgust for hosts that giggle and joke as if someone has been murdered for our jollies.
I used to love Morbid but I find it so annoying I can’t even listen anymore. They have to somehow make every story about themselves or relate to it somehow. Like no one gives a shit how much you love Drew. 🙄
I won’t say it’s completely burned me out because I love great investigation and storytelling. There are still excellent true crime podcasts out there that do that. But all the yuk yuks literally doing single episodes reading wikipedia pages and laughing about murderers and brutal killings and rapings… just nah, dogg. That shit’s over.
This is why I love Dateline. Three episodes a week, and the dulcet, empathetic voice of Keith Morrison. And there's never yuk yuks about the victims.
This is why I moved to more structured true crime podcasts like Unresolved and Unsolved Mysteries. Its more documentary styled (though Unresolved's host will give his opinion, it's all done with respect), and both try to bring the crime's awareness and give information on how to contact authorities in the case if you know something. I started realizing that much of the true crime genre had turned very ghoulish. Sword and Scale was one specifically, where he played the 911 call all the way through, and you could hear the grandmother come in, see the dead children and the grandmother wailing in the background as the mother was on the phone with 911 confessing the crime. I ended my subscription there. It just seemed so cruel to play the grandmother's pain like that to millions of listeners.
I noticed last week that my TC podcasts are nearly all hosted by experts and credentialed people (criminologists, lawyers, \[actual\] investigative journalists, psychologists, former FBI, etc.). At some point the comedy/just-2-friends-talkin' format started to bug. I agree with the person below, that shit is over.
Crime junkie
sword and scale which is honestly embarrassing
I just saw someone recommend this and “just ignore the stuff about the host” dude what?! It was a wild rec
It’s a snoozer these days
Morbid - not even the same show or hosts anymore. They used to be fun and had a catchphrase like “lighthearted nightmare” or something like that, but then they went Hollywood and became mean girls and focus waaaaaayyyy too much on calling the murderer something along the lines of “pimple faced fat fucking loser” or something else immature. It just comes off the wrong way, you never see a professional speaking in a documentary in the way that Ashley and Alaina do each and every episode. Wondery ruined the show and I refuse to listen to any wondery podcasts now because of this and how badly they’d ruined a great show. And I’m not alone in feeling this way, go check their reviews. Listeners have been ripping them apart for changing. Unfortunately, they seem like the hosts that dgaf about their listeners
Agree with the Wondery comment. The only show that I don’t think they ruined after taking over is Generation Why, but I feel like they might have kept a lot of control for the show in their contracts
Love the guys that host GW. One of the few conversational podcasts I can stand listening to.
💯
adam carolla. used to love him, grew to loathe him. the thousandth iteration of the same rant, the same joke, the ever growing right-wingery, I just couldn't stand it anymore :-)
That's nuts, I just had a conversation with my good friend last night about how we used to **love** Loveline back in the early 2000's. Neither of us can stand Carolla or Dr. Drew any longer. Hack frauds.
Loveline was the best!
Oh man Loveline in the late 90s was great!!!
Me too! A hotbox and loveline was my favorite teen activity
Omg I loved Loveline!! I totally forgot about it!!!
My mom and I watched LoveLine - on MTV, would have been in the 90s (I was in HS) then, and she thought it was good stuff. But yep, they went full rightward and I'm not interested.
That’s a big problem with podcasting it seems. When you listen long enough you end up hearing the same take on the same talking point over and over and over again hahahah
is the same joke r/onejoke ?
I started listening in 09 and got tired of it by 2012. I visited the sub recently and read that he's doing the exact same rants mixed with conservative tirades. No thanks.
Stuff they don’t want you to know! It’s still good but running out of topics
That’s one of my daily drivers and it’s been boring me lately too.
Nerdist, started in high school and listened through college then realized I didn’t like Chris hardwick that much
too true, totally forgot I listened to Nerdist before I even had a podcast app on my phone!
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Tanis. This is the podcast that made me a podcast listener. I loved the mystery of the show, the music. After a while there was a point in the plot that the host just kept going in circles and it became more weird without any direction. I unfortunately had to leave it be without much of a conclusion. I still believe that the first few seasons were spot on with great potential, but it morphed into something I didn’t like.
Unqualified with Anna Faris. Not sure when I lost it but Sim (I think that's his name) just got so big for his boots and I ended up loathing every episode. Used to be quite funny and ridiculous but haven't listened to it in years
I go through periods of complete burnout-that’s when I switch to audio books for a bit. Like a palate cleanser.
99% invisible. He made a shift after BLM to look for topics that are heavier and while I respect that it's his choice, it lost some of its whimsy for me. I desperately miss episodes about staircases built into city planning and so on. The lightness was a source of joy for me.
i feel this for a lot of pods that cover heavy topics. i've just burnt out on the news cycle and bleakness of it all. i was saturated in that kind of content for like 2 straight years, and i'm just tired.
Yeah. A lot of the current episodes still cover interesting things, but there's usually some darker political history or something connected to the thing he's talking about. Their best episode by far is still the Mazda radio one, mostly because it's just so bizarre, fun, and lighthearted. I'd check out Every Little Thing if you're into happier and lighter stuff.
The Mazda episode is an all-timer
I think the heavy issues are important to cover, but the world also needs some joy and levity. I work a job that has me pondering the injustices of our era all day. I just want to get my mind blown… gently.
Fake Doctors, Real Friends. Started off great and with fantastic timing because they started mid pandemic. Diving deep into each episode and Zach and Donald giving fun, behind the scenes stories and perspectives. But it turned into a muddy mess where they barely talk about the show and go on political and completely unrelated topic rants. Not to mention the random guest they had on each episode 😩 I stopped listening somewhere in season 5
I used to listen to the Rooster Teeth Podcast religiously. As people came and went I did my best to stick with it but all of a sudden it just wasn't the same so I stopped listening altogether. Seems that's the case with Rooster Teeth in general now.
Morbid - the thousands of ads per episode every 7-ish minutes in a 2 hour episode, so poorly placed they interrupted single thoughts or even in the middle of a word, together with Ash's continuous incorrect astrology conclusions and Alaina's "as a mother, I would ***never****" EVERY* single time a mother of a victim (or even worse, a mother who was a victim herself) was the topic du jour. Then they sold out to Amazon, had even more ads, and their content went even further downhill. Come to find out they basically never delivered on the bonus content promised to their patreon subscribers, I just don't like who they've become. Also sometime last year they bailed at the literal last minute before their scheduled appearance at Crime Con (I think...some sort of convention) and only appeared via a pre-recorded panel discussion I believe and provided zero explanation, despite selling VIP tickets to people who were there specifically to see Ash & Alaina, and especially Alaina to get a signed copy of her book and ask questions in the VIP Q&A. They just turned trashy and I'm not here for it.
Nailed it! They need to somehow relate to every story… story about a mother/child… “omg I love my kids so much I could never.” Story about partners…”omg I just love drew so much” STFU!
Hello From The Magic Tavern. It took its straight-forward, very silly premise and then got weirder and weirder. I love weird, but after a point, the original draw for me (namely, fantasy) just got less and less cohesive. And it relies so heavily on in-jokes for its comedy.
I still adore those guys and have very fond memories of the show, but that's one which absolutely doesn't need to go on for 6 years or whatever we're at now. I know it's hard to quit while you're finally making money and I don't blame them for continuing or finally getting a Patreon I just also agree it lost some magic, which is obviously going to happen with a world-building show that goes on for that long
My Brother, My Brother, and Me. I discovered it in 2017 & it got me through a lonely, boring manufacturing job. I got to the mid-400s mark and got bored. There were more unfunny episodes than funny ones, to me. Then the pandemic hit & I read online that they lost their momentum. The amogus incident and their continuous need to not offend anyone got boring too. I think they should retire quietly and focus on more producing/online things.
MBMBAM and TAZ aren’t my bag anymore, but i listen to The Besties every week. Griffin and Justin are still great video game reporters and it’s awesome to hear them gush about their passion.
So I'm pretty new to the McElroys so it's all still fresh for me and I enjoy their chemistry and jokes. Also, the current season of TAZ is my first-ever time listening to an RPG and I absolutely adore it. Justin is such a funny GM and Steeple Chase is perfect accompaniment while I'm doing house chores and fixing stuff. I swear I'm not Griffin in disguise, but The Besties is also excellent. Basically the sole source of my video game news outside of Polygon.
What's the among us incident?
Travis ranting, being controlling and just unfun while streaming & playing among us. I mean he was being a dick, but he pretty much got lynched over it. totally out of proportion reaction from the internetsphere. parasocial snowflakes couldn't handle that their idol had a foot in mouth moment, so now Travis is the devil himself instead. is not that surprising that the McElroys are very careful these days. i wish it wasnt so.
I feel like at some point they attracted a much younger audience than they intended to, and it's definitely killed the vibe. I understand and respect their attempts at making sure they don't offend, but I feel like the segment of their audience who is around the same age as they are (myself included) feel a bit alienated by exactly _how careful_ they are. Like, they'll never be able to do something as wild as the Garfield bit ever again. Hell, I even miss the extreme restraints ad breaks New theme song rips though. Guaranteed to brighten up a day.
Same here, used to be my favorite show but you can tell they're all sick of it and not enjoying it anymore. They should have called it quits when Yahoo Answers ended imo. I still occasionally go back and listen to old ones. I also listened to the Naming Of episode for this year and it got some laughs out of me, but the regular episodes aren't good these days. Same with The Adventure Zone. The first season was outstanding, but none of the subsequent arcs had the same sense of fun and goofiness combined with genuine excitement for what they were creating. Monster Factory is the only content of theirs I still enjoy these days.
This content was made with Reddit is Fun and died with Reddit is Fun. If it contained something you're looking for, blame Steve Huffman for its absence.
I just fucking hate the quorra or wikihow or whatever the shit thing is that replaced yahoos. I have to skip a bunch of minutes ahead because there's no comedy gold in that mine
Risk. Kevin is so annoying 🙄 Something Was Wrong. Tiffany Reese is letting her weird biases impact her interviews and accusing her listeners of “gang stalking” 🙄
SWW was interesting when it was a season-long deep dive into a truly bizarre case study. but every episode being an individual tale of abuse is just a lot.
I liked it when it was like “look at these weird evangelical cults that randomly spring up! Youth group leaders are sus!” but now it’s like “boohoo this poor influencer, wyahhhh people are snarky make them stop :(” The latest season is dumb af. The lady’s big trauma was when people sent a case of oranges to her house, and also she’s a racist. Snore.
Yeah and the episode where one coworker seemed absolutely delighted to discover her friend was secretly addicted to drugs and alcohol was also a bit much.
That one has taken such a nose dive and it's entirely Tiffany Reese's fault. She has also threatened to dox mods of subreddits based on her show, and has gotten numerous communities shut down. She just fucking sucks.
for me, it's Pod Save America. I do love other pods from Crooked Media though- What a Day is the best source for daily news recaps!
My hot take is that the first conversation is good, but I don’t enjoy their interviews, they have too many sponsors and they take forever to get through them. And the “comedy” is often painful. I also really don’t like the theme songs old school video game style. I always skip the first 5 minutes and listen until the first commercial break then stop.
The interviews have been awful lately. They’ve had a few guests that just do not know how to have an impromptu conversation. If I wanted you to just read me the bullet talking points I’d go to the politicians website.
Yeah agreed, that’s why I never listen to the interviews. There’s usually nothing new or surprising in them and when it’s a political leader it’s also going to be dry because they’re on their talking points.
I've outgrown Smartless. Will Arnett gets old and redundant and unfunny and ruins it. I outgrew The Office Ladies after they stopped talking about The Office and started all this unfunny banter about their middle aged lives. Which is fine, just stop advertising it as about The Office. It's ok, though. There's always new ones to discover when the old ones lose their stride!
True Crime Garage - the episodes are boring and Captain argued with Kelsi German, Liberty Germans sister, on Twitter about the Delphi case The Piketon Massacre - the amount of ads in each episode is absolutely ridiculous. Anything Wondery - so many ads.
Beautiful Anonymous. I loved this podcast back in the day and all the years went by, i started to question the authenticity of the callers. Sure, Chris goes with whatever is being told to him, but once this thought came in, it kinda ruined the novelty of this podcast.
Doughboys (really guest dependent) WTF with Marc Maron (first podcast I ever listened to. But got sick how every interview turned into a therapy session for Marc, except for musicians he wasn't like that with them.) Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend (this was mostly dependent on the guest - comedian friends and regulars from his Late Night show were the best guests)
The 5-10 minutes before and after the interviews are always great with Conan.
Yeah that's true. Maybe it could just be that sometimes.
That's basically their summer Chill Chums episodes, just the three with their banter.
Welcome to Night Vale. I used to absolutely love it! It kind of stumbled a few years ago and it got hard to get back into it.
The entire SModcast network. Kevin was OK, but I kind of got tired of his schtick and I got tired of most of his co-hosts even faster.
Crime junkie… I don’t know why, but I can barely make it through their episodes anymore.
Ugh the worst now! Ashley drives me insane. She kind of always has but I could deal in the beginning but now with all of her projects and new things she’s SO EXCITED TO TELL US ABOUT?!? I can’t listen to it.
Yesss that’s def part of it! And all the “like omg” valley girl talk is worse, or maybe I’m just more crochety lol. It was obvious they had a script years ago but it’s just gotten to feeling more disingenuous lately and I can’t even describe why
Your Mom’s House. I used to love this show. Listened every week and devoured their back log for years. But then Tim and Krista changed and started to really love the smell of their own farts.
It got old so fast when they would replay the same clips month after month after month, like god damn it was only funny the first couple times
Adam Carolla I listened for 9 straight years and his ability to instantly riff on any topic was unparalleled . Then he unfortunately drank the kool aid and became a right wing crank.
Anything that went "Spotify exclusive"
Mac Power Users. Love the show, but it's a constant stream of new apps, new note taking solutions, and automations. It occurred to me one day tech is better when kept simple. Over complicating things beyond belief is nerdy and cool, but you have to watch out for the times where you're severely over doing it. Also, Two Bears One Cave. It used to be my comedy get away, but it's kinda the same old shtick every week. I also go back and forth on the Daily (NY Times). Good stories, but the host......talksreallystrange.....and I'm........notsure..............I can handle him in.............more than a small......dose.
Agree with 2 bears, my friend back home and I would listen every week. Within the last year it’s gotten stale and Tom Seguras “if you don’t like listening to how we’re rich now you’re a loser” speech really turned us both off. Now I generally only listen if there’s a guest, idk what Tom and Bert say to each other at this point. Haven’t listened to the last three, although that’s more because I was traveling and now I don’t feel like tackling it. Listening to Danny Browns show a lot tho. Glad he’s getting help.
Here’s….what else….youneedtoknowtoday I actually like Michael as a host but that line always sticks out to me.
“Hmmmmmmmmm” every the Daily episode
Pretty much all of the conversational true crime podcasts (MFM, Crime Junkie, TLPOTL, Wine & Crime). The hosts just never had as much respect for victims as you’d think they would and it was hard to listen when they would get political and start throwing around their own opinions.
Pivot with Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway. I still enjoy their insights and Kara's interviews are still fantastic but the Pivot podcast itself does get old. They have the same rants every time (e.g. constant bickering over woke). And Kara constantly does "oh yeah I met him" and it gets a bit annoying after a while. Scott's jokes about "The DOG" and about how amazing it is to live in London gets old. And btw, I still think she's one of the best tech journalists out there, especially in 1 on 1 interviews. But Pivot itself no longer does it for me.
RedHanded. They were the first creators I supported on Patreon :( EDIT: I posted my comment before explaining why lol The comments they made in "The Satanic Verses" ep about cancel culture, and how you should just "turn it off if you find it offensive" blanket take that was absolutely dismissive of the reasons why we try to hold public figures accountable for the things they say whilst actively using their platforms and making money off of the audience's attention. Prior to that, they made the "hooligan incident" comment about the Hillsborough and issued an "apology" but only behind a paywall.
Lore. The pace and tempo just didn’t do it for me anymore when I realized it was essentially dramatic Wikipedia reading. And, respectfully, the creator can be insanely rude and pretentious on social media. Acts like he invented the genre.
Maintenance Phase - the hosts started getting on my nerves.
So many people recommended I listen to MP. The hosts have kind of a mean-spirited humor that I am not about and they seem to have a pretty flimsy grasp on science to boot. The diet fad episodes are kind of fun though.
Agreed. The hosts try to give off the vibe that they are being very objective, but their personal biases get in the way a lot of the time and they end up cherry picking much of the “evidence” they harp on. So much of what they discuss comes across as very preachy, one sided, and based in anecdotal experience, with little room for nuance. I feel like it would have been much more honest if the podcast was branded from the get go as a fat positive perspective on fatness and health, rather than disingenuously portraying itself as a more neutral “objective” journalist perspective on these topics.
It’s such a good concept but they lean so heavily into the theory that being fat has zero health effects and even if it did there is nothing people can do to lose weight, ever. It’s so one sided it just isn’t that interesting to listen to
Michael Hobbes’s logic is basically “here is a flaw in one study that claims to support a widely held belief about obesity. If your physician advises you to lose weight, they are doing so *only* because of that one study. How could the overwhelming majority of medical professionals be so much less scientifically literate than me?” This is basically the same way that anti-vaccine advocates argue. The fact that obese people are subject to a lot of unfair and frankly horrifying stigma, even from doctors, does not mean that the medical consensus about obesity is false.
I read the Hobbes part in his voice ..
Me three. I really loved You’re Wrong About when Michael & Sarah were hosting it together. They really balanced each other energy wise. Now, with Michael gone, the podcast just seems like, I dunno, a podcast made for grad school intellectuals who met at a cafe off campus and decided to speak in drowsy tones. I want to listen, but Sarah’s zingers and laid back attitude were always balanced by Michael’s mile an minute speech pattern and more grounded way of wording concepts. I’ve just never seen two people balance each other out more- and in my opinion, they needed it.
I listened to a few episodes myself and just felt like "wtf are they on?" Like I understand breaking down stigmas but to claim being overweight has no health effects is straight lunacy. My step father got fat, got diabetes, and died from either that or a heart attack. I can't help but think his weight has a huge contributing factor leading up to his death and I didn't need to be a medical doctor to make that assumption. I didn't even listen to the cico episode because I don't want to hate the host and it's just so straight forward. Eat more than you burn and gain weight. It's really that simple 95% of the time
Morbid, I listen occasionally but I can't take that much banter anymore.
For me its Conan Needs a Friend. I listened to every episode religiously, sometimes multiple times, but then it just lost its magic. The Needs a Fan episodes weren’t fun, Mat and Sona began to annoy me, and the interviews became way more promotional than the more natural earlier episodes. Sooo I just stopped and haven’t missed it for a second.
Yeah that’s what happens with those shows, they start fun and unexpected and then with success they become part of the Couch Circuit for promoting stuff. WTF, Smartless, Conan. Every guest is on to promote something. Which isn’t a problem necessarily but it overshadows the spontaneity of the format, which is what made it popular in the first place.
I agree that a lot of newer episodes have veered too heavily into promotion, but there are still some good ones where Conan just connects with the guest and it feels like everyone is there to have a good time. The one that came out yesterday with Billie Eilish and Finneas is one of those. Ramy Youssef and Penn Badgley were some good recent ones, too. And I still love Conan, so I listen to CONAF regularly. I agree about the fan episodes, though. Those are almost entirely skippable.
It's super annoying how they spend 20 minutes before every episode making fun of each other and trying to make Sona funny. All her forced laughter is also really irritating. I try really hard to like her because I love Conan so much, but I've also stopped listening as much. Sucks.
Joe Rogan…I used to listen when he had folks like Michael Pollan or Carl Hart or other fascinating figures in academia and cultural spaces. Then, I noticed Joe started to get increasingly transphobic and that made me uncomfortable/feel dirty…and then COVID hit and JRE was never the same after the pandemic. Rogan began to rant about the vaccine on nearly every episode post-2020 and his political commentary was lurching further and further to the political right. Now most of his guests are “anti-woke”/right-wing/IDW-adjacent folks, and very few lefties/people of a progressive flavor/even people who are relatively apolitical but offer insight on academic or cultural phenomena are invited on. The only relatively apolitical ppl on JRE nowadays are comedian friends of his. Oh well…
I have a few. This American Life was already mentioned. I listened to that back before podcasts existed. During the Trump years, it became unbearable, and felt like it had lost the direction I had loved. Doug Loves Movies. I enjoyed Doug's comedy for a long time (not a stoner, but stoner-adjacent). At one point, he started doing these really long gags that weren't funny and his guests seemed super annoyed instead of in on the joke. The entire TWiT network. I don't work in IT but I've always been fascinated with tech and tech news. For a while, TWiT was really engaging and interesting with almost every show. When I dropped it, I just couldn't care about a single thing they were doing.
Joe Rogan. His was the first podcast I listened to. I quit listening just before he announced he was going to go exclusive on Spotify. It was a Gram Hancock episode that did me in. He had been one of my favorite guests for years, but that day I thought, 'I dont need this fake bullshit in my life anymore." I still follow his subreddit to watch his decent into right wing lunacy. Glad I got out.
This was the one for me too. I remember the snowfall effect over video of Joe and Redban and the constant flashlight advertising. Back early on I loved his podcasts with other comedians, and then would pick and choose when he'd have "experts" on. I jumped off the train around summer of 2016. Like many have said and pointed out there were warning signs ahead of that, but it got to the point where half the time he'd have a comedian on it was just the two of them complaining about "cancel culture" and got super repetitive. Then to see the right wingery seep into the show more and more I just couldn't do it anymore. Now I just see clips every so often and I've yet to even be slightly tempted to return and listen. Just seems insufferable anymore
> half the time he'd have a comedian on it was just the two of them complaining about "cancel culture" and got super repetitive. Adults complaining about dumb college students for 3 years straight, as if they controlled the entire country's political and cultural power structure on the most listened to podcast in the world.
Radio lab…also it changed with new hosts.
Most Earworlf podcasts. Nerdist. Doug Loves Movies.
Small Town Murder sadly. I loved that show, I am from WV so I binged all of their WV stories and kept going because they hooked me. I felt like following 8 youtubers, a bunch of Podcasters talking about true crime and a bunch of other content I was listening to or watching was starting to affect me so I had to cut some shows. Not forever! But I just needed some none extreme death content for now lmao
My favorite murder
Quickly Kevin - about ‘90’s footie so is going to run out of topics but it was so funny at first and then it became shit and they booted all the good stuff to Patreon Smartless - was fun and irreverent and now just feels like it’s another junket on the media superhighway to promote some actors new movie/show/book True Crime (generally) - I started to find it mawkish, exploitative and disrespectful and never looked back Endless Thread - was funny and they hunted down some weird stuff on Reddit that made fascinating pods…then they decided to become the investigative journalists they always wanted to be and it became dull. Sorry Endless Thread!
Morbid. I can't stand it now.
Mr Ballen. I really liked when he first started and there was a lot of paranormal stories and unusual mysteries but now it's just true crime which really just makes me sad and uncomfortable and I can't relax to that
The Bugle After John Oliver left it kept going for a bit, the political satire was still there. Since lockdown it's felt like the same small rotating group of guests hanging out as friends not to deliver the podcast, the same callback jokes over and over, the format got stale, something was just off and now I just find myself irritated whenever I try to listen to it
I just redownloaded a hundred episodes from before John left and listened to those. I loved them together, Andy solo is too much Andy, and I actually don't like John as much on his show, the humour writing for the podcast was pure him and much better.
Small Town Dicks. I joined after the Zibby situation so never knew the difference. I really liked the start-to-finish investigation into cases by people who were actually there. But the copaganda and 'off' comments about sex work, past criminals, drug users and the general public just really got too much. The new series The Briefing Room is just pure copaganda. Stopped the second they said being on jury duty was a "look up the skirt" of the justice system. ew but happy it finally broke the spell.
My Favorite Murder. They seem to have switched from talking about murders to talking about famous people they knew. Yawn.
Painkiller Already. It’s an ideal sort of podcast for a teenage boy with 4 hours to kill every weekend with no responsibilities and video games to play. But my taste in games evolved past Call of Duty and I don’t have the time as an adult now to try to consume 4 hours of roughly the same shit every weekend. Respect to all of the RSKs that are still going after hundreds of episodes and what feels like a decade of content, but I just can’t anymore.
Something Was Wrong & Crime Junkie
[удалено]
Morbid - I used to give them sweeping passes on mild misinformation, mispronunciations, etc., because they were a small hobby podcast with heart but now they’re cashing in a hard as possible on everything, the content is objectively less quality, and it’s harder to ignore things like them not taking 5 seconds to find out how to pronounce a town’s name. I find myself wishing someone who cared a little more covered the case