Talking points
In what seems to be becoming a daily occurrence, another podcast is being adapted for the small screen, with a new version of popular supernatural fiction pod The Black Tapes in development at NBC, according to Deadline.
Meanwhile, NPR are going to monitor podcast-listening habits in an attempt to find out which ads we stick with and which we skip.
Finally, in case you missed it in the pre-Christmas rush, the creators of the Guardian’s podcasts picked the 15 pods they enjoyed last year.
Picks of the week
Podcast from the Past
Just like host Tom Jackson’s cult Twitter hit Postcard from the Past, his podcast – where people have a chat about the cardboard oblongs – also has a charming retro feel. Special guests include the likes of Nick Heyward, Bonnie Greer and Robin Ince, and it features good stories about mini golf, haunted pictures and jesters. Start with Gary Kemp, who lovingly recalls how he would always send a postcard to his friend when he was on tour with Spandau Ballet and digs one out from Live Aid. Hannah Verdier
Murderville
Murderville has the key ingredients of a true-crime podcast: a brutal killing, a wronged man and two investigative journalists – Liliana Segura and Jordan Smith – who have found “quite a few problems with the investigation”. It follows the story of Devonia Inman, who was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Donna Brown, the night manager of a Taco Bell in Adel, Georgia. If he didn’t commit the crime, the real killer is out there – and since Inman was imprisoned, there have been more murders in the small town. HV
Guardian pick: Chips With Everything
Next year is the 20th anniversary of what some joked was one of the biggest anticlimaxes to ever hit the globe: Y2K. But now cybersecurity experts are warning us that forgetting the potential impact of an event similar to the millennium bug could have disastrous effects.
Just look at Japan. Experts are predicting we might see a Y2K-type problem on the island when Emperor Akihito abdicates the throne this year.
In this week’s Chips With Everything, Jordan Erica Webber chats to one of the people who was in charge of trying to safeguard against the full wrath of Y2K. They look at what might have been, what actually was, and what might yet still be for the millennium bug and others like it.
Producer pick: Whatever Happened to Pizza at McDonald’s? 100th episode
Recommended by Charlie Phillips (head of documentaries, the Guardian)
Did you know McDonald’s used to serve pizza? It did, briefly, in the 80s in the US, and then it stopped. It’s not a big deal for most of us, but for host Brian Thompson, it really matters. Or he’s good at pretending it matters, anyway. What started as a parody of investigative journalism podcasts such as Serial has become something much stranger and improbably reached its 100th episode in December. Improbable because Thompson discovered the answer in one of the first episodes of the series: they took too long to make, which is no good for a fast-food business.
Thompson, or rather the persona he adopts and never drops in this podcast, refused to believe it, and has drawn the FBI, Donald Trump, the film Willow, his local library and various podcasting celebrities into an imaginary web of intrigue. Episodes are rarely more than 10 minutes and usually revolve around excruciating phone conversations between Thompson and the latest figure he has identified in the coverup.
It all sounds very silly, and WHTPAM is essentially a comedy podcast, but Thompson’s manner is a genuinely sharp mockery of true-crime audio investigators, and a triumph of his surreal flights of fancy.
