An interview with The Fix’s showrunners, Liz Craft and Sarah Fain, from the reality shows they watch and love to what it’s like being a writing team in Hollywood.
podcasts
The Good Place podcast is what’s good this summer
The Good Place: The Podcast is a riveting nonfiction look at one of the best fictional pieces of popular culture from the past few years. But watch season one first.
Talking reality TV with two reality TV podcasters
I was interviewed by Challenge alum Susie Meister for her podcast, and by Bachelor/ette spoiler Reality Steve for his podcast. Enjoy!
An outstanding reality podcast, Startup, becomes an ABC sitcom
ABC’s Alex Inc., starring Zach Braff, is an adaptation of Gimlet Media’s first podcast, and I asked its producer about how much of the real-life podcast will make it to TV.
Highly recommended: the new Queer Eye’s premiere, and A Very Fatal Murder
If you need some happiness this weekend, you will find it in the premiere of Netflix’s version of Queer Eye and a new podcast parody from The Onion.
Tears, accusations, and profiles start The Pitch season two
The Gimlet Media podcast The Pitch, an audio version of Shark Tank, started its second season with three terrific, must-listen episodes.
Another exceptional Startup season, and a comedic show I didn’t expect to like
Reviews of MTV2’s Shinesty, which follows employees at a clothing company, and Startup season 4, which follows Dov Charney, founder of American Apparel.
A podcast version of Shark Tank, and a show with drunk pitches
Reviews of Gimlet Media’s The Pitch and Fullscreen’s Worth a Shot, both of which give people the chance to pitch ideas, though in very different contexts.
Review: The Keepers and S-Town are not about murders. They’re about survivors.
Reviews of the Netflix documentary series The Keepers and the Serial podcast S-Town, both of which are extraordinary works of narrative nonfiction.
If you are not yet listening to the podcast S-Town, change that now
The new podcast from Serial Productions, S-Town or Shittown, is leading the iTunes charts because it tells an incredibly engaging story.
Missing Richard Simmons and the messiness of real life
A review of the controversial, questionable podcast Missing Richard Simmons, on which Dan Taberski explores Simmons’ disappearance from public life.
Missing Richard Simmons and 4 other gripping, real-life podcasts
This month, more than 35 podcast producers are sharing recommendations for podcasts as part of the “trypod” (try podcasts) campaign, while podcast listeners are using that hashtag to recommend their favorite audio shows.
It’s an excellent opportunity for me to introduce an expansion of my coverage into the world of unscripted entertainment. I’ve been thinking about covering podcasts for a while. Okay, you might be thinking, Isn’t there enough reality TV to be covering? Aren’t there shows you could cover instead of podcasts?