My Favorite Podcasts of 2017 - Entrepreneur Generations

I love the New Years and its fresh starts, rejuvenation and reflection -- so much so that, as I age, it might be considered my favorite holiday.

I also love lists, specifically year-end lists. I spend plenty of time scouring lists of Best Films, Best Television, Best Music, and Best Books from various sources from Entertainment Weekly to New York Times to blogs, and sometimes I make my own (usually just on Facebook, but here's my 2015 list of Best films). I've never, however, made a list of what definitely is the pop culture medium I most devour: podcasts. I listen to podcasts every day, whether during my 10-minute commute to work or at the gym or doing housework or yardwork.

Here are my favorites of 2017, and I'm not counting the podcasts which are just audio versions of television shows, also which I listen to every week (Real Time with Bill Maher, Meet the Press).

1. S-Town: Most people who know me know that I loved Serial (see my entries here and here documenting sites), but it sadly bungled its second season. Thankfully, S-Town delivered. Less of a murder mystery than a character study of the often profound and always profoundly interesting John B. McLemore, the eight episodes lead us into completely unexpected worlds. It's a window into McLemore's psyche (lonely, intelligent, constrained, tortured) but also into the culture of his small town in Alabama and McLemore's various passions and skills, from topiary to antique clock repair. I think everyone who loves podcasts has heard this one already, but, if you haven't, or want an introduction to the format, this is a near-masterpiece.

2. It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders: I liked Sam Sanders on the NPR Politics podcast, but it was a moving and authentic moment when he was discussing Orlando and Safe Spaces that really made me what I think will be a lifelong fan. When he, a couple of months later, announced that he would be leaving the NPR Politics podcast to start his own podcast, I was disappointed that he'd be leaving one of my favorite podcasts, but also intrigued: it was clear that Sanders had become a bit frustrated with some of the limitations of working stories within such a polarized political climate, and I was excited to see what he might come up with. After some tinkering and limited releases of the format, the podcast -- a mix of news, politics, pop culture, listener interactions, and humor -- is now humming along nicely. On Fridays, he has a couple of journalist-type guests on, and they discuss the week's news, but in quirky ways: through segments like "Three words," which has the guests describe the week's news in three words and then explain; or the Real Housewives of Atlanta-inspired "Who Said That?". My favorite segments, though, are the ones in which Sanders does what I think one of his goals is: to open up the news beyond the DC beltway, especially in the segment called "Long Distance," which has him talking to an "everyman/everywoman" in a city where some news is happening. It feels a bit like Sanders' answer to some of the criticism leveled at journalists that they only pay attention to the east coast or the west coast, and not to everyday struggles, and the interviews are always illuminating. And, of course, if you've read my Twitter feed you know my favorite segment of the week in any podcast is last segment, which is a collage of voices of listeners who have sent in recordings, describing the best thing that happened to them that week. The segment is beautiful in its simplicity, and I'm often moved to tears. And I haven't even started talking about  Tuesdays, when It's Been a Minute does a deep dive interview into a celebrity with a longform interview; the highest praise I can give it is I listen even when I've never heard of the celebrity, such as my favorite interview so far, Jenifer Lewis, or ones that I know well, like Dan Rather or The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel star Rachel Brosnahan. Sanders is a terrific interviewer: well-prepared, funny, and completely engaged. I definitely recommend this podcast.

3. Pop Culture Happy Hour: This one has been a favorite for a couple of years now, but it was buoyed this year by expanding to a twice-weekly format, which opened up the podcast to be able to discuss even more movies, books, television, and theater. Host Linda Holmes is smart and funny, and regular panelists like Glen Weldon and Stephen Thompson have both emerged, for me, as engaging individual voices whose hot takes I enjoy. My favorite 4th chair is Gene Demby, partly because my main criticism of the show is it sometimes too white, and he's offered some really awesome takes about stuff I wouldn't have thought about otherwise. All told, this is one of my favorite listens of the week, from which I get so many spoiler-free recommendations that I also find it rather invaluable.

4. Black on the Air: For years, Larry Wilmore has shown himself to be fiercely intelligent and often very funny, and I love how the podcast format has revealed another skill of his that I didn't know before: he's an adept interviewer, maybe one of the very best. To hear him go "toe to toe" with Neil Degrasse Tyson, or Malcolm Gladwell, or Kareem Abdul Jabbar, is just a pleasure. And I use the phrase "toe to toe" very purposefully; Wilmore's skill isn't that he's battling this intellects, but that he's with them, shot for shot. His preparation is tremendous and his quickness of wit and thought just as impressive. The only drawback is I want more: Black on the Air is produced only three times every four weeks, which is certainly a product of Gilmore's many other jobs as a writer and producer. I'll devour what he puts out in this format, though.

5. Filmspotting: I'm a movie buff, and I love this very thorough (podcasts often clock in at well over an hour, every week) combination of reviews, discussion, lists, listener call-ins, revisiting of older films, polls, and, my favorite segment, Massacre Theater (in which the hosts take a scene and act it out horribly, and listeners must identify it). I've learned a lot from the podcast, and hosts Adam Kempenaar and Josh Larsen are so analytic about the films that the English Teacher side of me really loves it. Michael Phillips is my favorite guest host, and I wish he was on it more. I'd like a little more diversity, in race and gender, on the takes about the films, but otherwise I love this one so much and have discovered so many little movies from it.

6. Dirty John: Another crime and character study, this one got me through a whole weekend of cleaning the basement, a dreaded task. The story is intriguing, the reporting (from the L.A. Times) is thorough, and they've constructed the podcast to maximize its surprises and twists. Highly recommended.

7. NPR Politics Podcast: This balanced take on the week's news has helped me make sense of the last couple years of politics. Tamara Keith and Domenico Montanaro and especially Ron Elving have emerged to have quirky and interesting personalities, and their reporting is thorough and even-keeled. The journalists explain things well, often in layman's terms when discussing complex issues like obscure laws or tax plans. I want more Nina Totenberg though!

8. Ken Rudin's Poltiical Junkie: I've listened to Rudin going back several years to when he was on NPR with The NPR Political Junkie along with Ron Elving. I'm not sure how it all went down, but Rudin is no longer on NPR, and Elving is, as a contributor on the NPR Politics Podcast, which I assume is sort of NPR's desire for a politics podcast aimed at a younger demographic. Rudin has thankfully gone independent, but the format is basically the same, although I do miss the repartee he had with Elving. The Thursday-released podcast is still full of puns and dad jokes, though, which I love, and it's also full of good information: Rudin uses his decades in journalism to get lots of great interview subjects, and I love hearing segments about, say, the 1972 Democratic convention alongside the modern news. Go listen to his recent podcast recounting deaths of political figures in 2017 for a taste of the in-depth dive into political details and personalities in this podcast and from Rudin himself, who is just a wealth of intricate knowledge about the political landscape of America over the last 50 years.  

9. The Swirl: In this chatty weekly podcast clocking in at less than an hour, Kodi Seaton and Stephanie Ruby -- both charming and funny -- have a lot of fun discussing issues of race, gender, culture. He's a black, gay, DC-based graphic designer and fitness advocate, and she's a white, straight, rural Pennsylvania-based blogger and mother. The two of them have great chemistry, and the podcast has the feel of sitting in on an entertaining and informative dinner conversation. It's at once silly and random while also being enlightening and instructive, and Seaton and Ruby have engaging personalities that make them quality guests in your ears every weekend.

10. FiveThirtyEight Politics: Another of the weekly political podcasts I listen to, this one being the product of Nate Silver and his team of the droll Harry Enten, whip-smart Clare Malone, and host Jody Avirgan. They whet my appetite for political news, and interesting but probably riduculous podcasts like a recent one in which they completed a draft (in December 2017) of possible 2020 Democratic candidates in terms of winnability in both the general election and the primary. Their picks, in order, were Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, Doug Jones, Corey Booker, Mitch Landrieau, Sherrod Brown, Hillary Clinton, Jason Cantor, Eric Garcetti, and The Rock. I think they're way too low on Booker; he'd be my #1 right now (not necessarily because I'm a fan of his, but because I think he's got the best chance right now, although Gillibrand is close). And I guess that's why the show is good: it starts people talking and thinking.

11. Murder on Orchard Street:  As Serial knockoffs go, this one's pretty good.

12. NPR's Up First: Very few podcasts change my life, and that's an overstatement for this one. But the 13 minutes of this daily podcast are my shower, the insertion of my contact lenses, and the brushing of my teeth. Every day, and I know the main news of the days. That's pretty cool. I wish it was on weekends, when perhaps it's needed more.

What am I missing? Let me know!

from Epiphany in Baltimore http://ift.tt/2CmKtD3 My Favorite Podcasts of 2017 - Entrepreneur Generations

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