Nobody can predict the future. Just like how nobody could have predicted that, after an extensive period of everyone simply averting their eyes from what seemed like an inevitable car crash, a major presidential ticket shake-up would cause both Democratic Party hopes and the politics podcast economy to roar back to life — or that a series of audio essays by one li’l ol’ podcaster may very well have played some role in the process. Thankfully, we’re not in the business of predicting the future here.
We just curate it. And with this list previewing fall’s offerings, we’re most intrigued by a few returning shows, some lost-gestating projects from creators we haven’t heard from for a while, and a couple of unexpected creative trends. Who knew that wacky interpretation of the self-help genre was such rich territory? Here are seven shows we can’t wait to add to our podcast queue.
Mike Danforth and Ian Chillag’s weird, dry, and thoroughly fun “survival guide to life and assorted things” call-in show originally ran from 2011 to 2016, and it’s set to roar back to life as part of the Wait Wait ...
Don’t Tell Me! podcast feed. This season, the duo focus on how a town in the shadow of the Alps figured out a way to get sunlight, how chimpanzees recognize one another by their butts, how to get out of quicksand, and so on. Alan Zweig, the Canadian filmmaker known for idiosyncratic docs like I, Curmudgeon and Vinyl, turns to the audio-interview format with a fitting.