Podcast Recommendations

[BomberPat]

On 9/14/2024 at 2:10 PM, DCW said:

Any recs for book podcasts? something along the lines of 'If books could kill' where they break down shitey books like the blind side & all Michael Lewis's rubbish, but without the smarm levels of its two hosts, who have disappeared up their own holes the last few pods.

It probably won't pass the "smarm level" test as one of them gets on my nerves, but Mike Nelson (of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax) and Connor Lastowka (writer for Rifftrax) have a book podcast called 372 Pages We'll Never Get Back, where they read weird and bad books and discuss them over a few episodes - there's a book club element to it where you're encouraged to read chapters of the book ahead of the episode, but I've been delving into their older stuff and not bothering with all that. 

They started out with Ready Player One, and them talking about Ernest Cline books is still probably the best thing they do, but they've done a lot of other stuff beyond that. Bram Stoker's Lair Of The White Worm was a good one.

Possibly because I've spent so much of my life watching MST3K and Rifftrax, I find Mike's voice really easy to listen to, but Connor can get on my nerves sometimes, he can be a lot more try-hard when it comes to comedy, and when they occasionally cut in little improv bits of them acting out bits from the books you can always skip them because they're never funny. So your mileage may vary on whether you find them annoying or not. 

[Frankie Crisp]

One for you Blues (thinking @Scott Malbranque and @RIDDUM_N_STYLE); a great Everton podcast my good mate started a few months ago:

The Good Times Everton Podcast

Each episode is a review of a full season and the lads really convey how utterly depressing it can be to support a team which tests your mental well-being every single game.

Liam and Kev are really funny in every episode and even as a non-Blue, I love listening to their passion and despair.

[BomberPat]

I used to really love the Ghibliotheque podcast when it started - Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham of Film4/BFI/other stuff going through the Studio Ghibli back catalogue, one has seen all of them before, one is seeing them for the first time. It's really chilled and relaxing, some interesting conversations, and it led to them doing some really cool stuff, including a couple of decent books.

Once they got through Ghibli, they started branching out into other filmmakers, and I just drifted away and lost interest. Except they've just started a mini-series about the films of Nick Park, and it's right up my street - they're two episodes in, so have done Creature Comforts and Grand Day Out, and it's a lovely time. 

Edited November 8, 2024 by BomberPat

[SuperBacon]

5 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

I used to really love the Ghibliotheque podcast when it started - Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham of Film4/BFI/other stuff

Their books are absolutely fantastic as well, and it's a testament to them that me, my 11yo and my 14yo all pick them up and read them. They're pitched perfectly. 

[The Gaffer]

Hopped onto Kill James Bond this week and it's cheered me up a lot. I hopped on with GoldenEye so can't comment on the earlier episodes but their takedown of Dr. Kaufman from the (awesome, shut up) Tomorrow Never Dies had me in bits:

 

[Chili]

Nothing is Real, a podcast about the Beatles quite incredibly. It's been around for years but I needed something new to listen to. It's good, two Irish hosts with relaxing accents that are fans but well researched and willing to openly criticise something they really like (mark of a true fan that). It's a nice listen that doesn't demand full attention over the three dogs I've got running my life.

[RedTwoster]

Whether you’re a football fan or not, I’d highly recommend Romanov: Czar of Hearts from BBC Scotland. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the story - and I’d imagine most of you are - Vladimir Romanov is a former owner of Hearts football club, who came into the club with great fanfare in the mid-2000s, vowing to win the Champions League, and end the Old Firm’s dominance in the league.

What follows was an utterly insane story of bringing in - as promised - a big name manager, sacking him while they were unbeaten and top of the league, replacing him with a convicted sex offender as Romanov thought he could control him, ‘mystics’ being involved with team selection, threats to make players ‘disappear’, a player rebellion and even an allegedly rigged appearance on the Lithuanian version of Strictly.

It’s a wild story, and an excellent podcast.

[Chili]

2 hours ago, RedTwoster said:

Whether you’re a football fan or not, I’d highly recommend Romanov: Czar of Hearts from BBC Scotland. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the story - and I’d imagine most of you are - Vladimir Romanov is a former owner of Hearts football club, who came into the club with great fanfare in the mid-2000s, vowing to win the Champions League, and end the Old Firm’s dominance in the league.

What follows was an utterly insane story of bringing in - as promised - a big name manager, sacking him while they were unbeaten and top of the league, replacing him with a convicted sex offender as Romanov thought he could control him, ‘mystics’ being involved with team selection, threats to make players ‘disappear’, a player rebellion and even an allegedly rigged appearance on the Lithuanian version of Strictly.

It’s a wild story, and an excellent podcast.

Yep, that sounds ace

[RedTwoster]

22 minutes ago, Chili said:

Yep, that sounds ace

And if you’re thinking ‘damn, he’s just given away the main plot points’, I can tell you that I’ve not even scratched the surface of the insanity that went on during this time. It’s a fantastic - and fantastical - listen.

[Lorne Malvo]

@waters44@HarmonicGenerator

Are either of you still listening to the Pilot TV podcast?

Despite not watching much TV, the Pilot TV podcast has long been my favourite listen. Just the ultimate comfort podcast for me. When Terri White left, I thought the show was doomed but they replaced her with the wonderful Beth Webb. Then when Beth left, again I thought the show would lose it's magic, but they replaced her with Kay who turned out to be my favourite host. All three iterations had very different dynamics but were always fun shows.

Unfortunately, now Kay has left and been replaced by Steph Seelan and the magic has well and truly gone. She's just... not very good. The gentle banter has turned into what seems to be aggressive confrontation if somebody has a different opnion to her and it can make for quite an uncomfortable listen. I'm going to give it a few more weeks to see if she beds in but can see myself unsubscribing soon.

[waters44]

13 minutes ago, Lorne Malvo said:

@waters44@HarmonicGenerator

Are either of you still listening to the Pilot TV podcast?

Despite not watching much TV, the Pilot TV podcast has long been my favourite listen. Just the ultimate comfort podcast for me. When Terri White left, I thought the show was doomed but they replaced her with the wonderful Beth Webb. Then when Beth left, again I thought the show would lose it's magic, but they replaced her with Kay who turned out to be my favourite host. All three iterations had very different dynamics but were always fun shows.

Unfortunately, now Kay has left and been replaced by Steph Seelan and the magic has well and truly gone. She's just... not very good. The gentle banter has turned into what seems to be aggressive confrontation if somebody has a different opnion to her and it can make for quite an uncomfortable listen. I'm going to give it a few more weeks to see if she beds in but can see myself unsubscribing soon.

Yep I’m still here but to be honest your post pretty much perfectly aligns with my thoughts too. 

The James / Boyd / Kay threesome was perfect in my opinion so I was absolutely gutted when she said she was leaving. 

I’ll keep going for now because honestly I’ve listened to every single episode and at this point it’s just second nature to listen Tuesday morning. 

Last week they had a section about sex scenes in shows and I was just wishing Kay was there as she would be giggling and I’d be giggling along with her too. James and Kay’s dynamic and the way they bounced off each other was so fun to listen to, I really miss that already

[HarmonicGenerator]

6 minutes ago, waters44 said:

Yep I’m still here but to be honest your post pretty much perfectly aligns with my thoughts too. 

The James / Boyd / Kay threesome was perfect in my opinion so I was absolutely gutted when she said she was leaving. 

I’ll keep going for now because honestly I’ve listened to every single episode and at this point it’s just second nature to listen Tuesday morning. 

Last week they had a section about sex scenes in shows and I was just wishing Kay was there as she would be giggling and I’d be giggling along with her too. James and Kay’s dynamic and the way they bounced off each other was so fun to listen to, I really miss that already

I am, but I'm about two months behind - when they added Pilot+ I just found it impossible to keep up with it alongside other things I listen to. So I didn't even know Kay was leaving! I'm sad to hear that. I think the Beth iteration has been their best but I liked Kay. They'd really turned a corner from about a year or so ago, where I was struggling with the pod a bit - it was all getting a bit insider-y and media-luvvie (the worst example being Boyd dismissing Steve Coogan being punished in court for speeding, saying it was fine because we want more episodes of The Trip), but they'd really toned that aspect down in the last year and it's been really enjoyable again.

I haven't minded Steph when she's guested before, though my view on true crime is the absolute opposite of hers. I'll see what it's like with her when I catch up (or when I reach early February's episodes) and if it's as you say, I can see myself dropping Pilot+ or falling even further behind. My rule with podcasts is once I'm so far behind I'll never ever be able to catch up, I sack them off. I wouldn't want Pilot to join that club.

Also I won't be able to forget Steph last summer claiming she's been a long-time fan of wrestler-turned-actor John Senna.

[Accident Prone]

Can anyone recommend some conspiracy podcasts? I'm really cautious about diving into those in today's landscape where that corner has been hijacked by right-wing melts (e.g Sandy Hook) and anti-science whoppers (e.g anti-vaxxers), so anything vetted by this forum would be a great filter.

[Lorne Malvo]

I thought I'd check out the Kermode and Mayo show again as it's been a few years since I unsubscribed, and whilst Kermode is a massive try-hard he did seem to be calming down a bit when I jacked it in.

One of their subscriptions tiers is a tenner a month now! Proper taking the piss that. I wondered what £10 a month got you - it's a paltry two shows extra a month and the option to vote in polls and access to a chat room. Just the lowest scraping the barrel shit imaginable. 

One of the reasons I gave it up is because they were putting more and more features/shows behind a paywall but it looks like they're really just on the take now. 

Edited April 29 by Lorne Malvo

[BomberPat]

I've got really into Broken Veil.

I don't normally do narrative podcasts, but this one really works for me, partly because of the subject matter, but I think largely the format.

It's a Fortean/paranormal investigation thing, and very convincingly sounds like an actual non-fiction podcast, between the way the two hosts/writers chat around the subject matter, and the varying sound quality and background noise when they're interviewing people or recording on location. The main thing is that they clearly really know their stuff when it comes to all things weird, and there's a lot of direct reference to some pretty obscure stories, but also it means they shy away from doing obvious ghost story or UFO entry level paranormal stuff and instead aim for much weirder ideas of timeshifts, lost media, hauntology, "backrooms", and a sense of real pervading dread, while never quite getting a handle on exactly what they're dealing with.

My only criticism was that I thought the last episode of series one maybe over-explained things a bit too much, like there was an edict from higher up to tie things up more neatly than necessarily made sense within the context of the story they're telling. Pleased to report that series two does a great job of dialling that back while still making it make sense, and so far (three episodes in) has found some fun new angles on the format, as well as the fun additional wrinkle of existing in a world where the first series existed, so they're getting correspondence and people know what the podcast is all about.

The second series is paywalled, as it's only available on Patreon. The writers have explained their reasoning, effectively being that the first series was beholden to advertisers and algorithms, and they don't want to play that game any more,  that it's not unusual for a creative product to be sold directly to its audience. I think it's well worth the money, and the first series is still free if you're unsure.