|
I'm curious if there are any episodes that people really don't like. I've been listening to TAL for a few years now, and without fail it's always been fascinating and great. I have to really try hard to think of one, but the only episode I thought was bad was the one where they had an office contest to do stories pitched by their parents; they were all pretty terrible, if I recall. And even then, they admitted it was just a little experiment to try something new. I've heard some people don't like the Christmas/Holiday episodes, but they were fine to me. (Also, I hope I'm not the only one who gets super annoyed when they do a story set entirely in another country. It's called This American Life for a reason.  )
|
#
¿
Oct 1, 2011 18:04
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 00:54 |
|
|
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Mike Birbiglia's story in Fear of Sleep. That's my favorite episode and what basically got me hooked. It also got me to listen to episodes of The Moth for a while, which isn't that good in general, be can be fantastic on rare occasions.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 4, 2011 16:58
|
|
|
I really wanted to like The Moth based on the great stories they sometimes use on TAL. But, the thing is that they cherry-pick only the best stories out of the bunch for that show. However, The Moth Podcast is a mixed bag, and more often than not it veers into "my life overcoming drug addiction/depression/loneliness etc." or "look how quirky it is being me" which for me is boring and uninteresting. And you're right, a lot of people need to learn to end a story properly. But I'd also posit that if they abruptly end with "so that's my story, thank you," there's a good chance they didn't have a very interesting story to begin with, and were probably just rambling about nothing. Not that it is all bad. There was one with a woman who was shipwrecked that I thought was amazing, although it was pretty clear she had told that story a million times before.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 4, 2011 18:24
|
|
|
Hoops posted:There was one, maybe three months ago, where the whole thing was this woman whining about her relationship with her mother, and how messed up she was because of her non-abused, non-poor, non-endangered childhood. I completely rolled my eyes at that, it was the definition of the self-involved, neurotic, therapy-crutch cliche. I couldn't believe people were empathising and cheering, she should have been booed off the stage. I remember that one! Ugg. It's exactly stories like that that made me stop listening. Some of the stories can be great (anything from the New York cop guy is always good) but the ratio of genuinely great stories to self-centered pablum was just too low.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 5, 2011 03:05
|
|
|
Shane-O-Mac posted:The worst part about the undercover cop story is that the kid didn't even want to buy the drugs. The undercover cop seduced him and strongly pressured him to do it. Fuuuuuck. Meh. I don't completely buy his story - I seriously doubt he is as innocent as he claims to be. In any case, he doesn't seem AT ALL like a "bad kid" and worth the effort; seems like a nice guy, really, maybe just a little dopey. But great job police at wasting a ton of time and money to totally cock up his life. The story in "Play the Part" (the one about the woman who diagnosed her husband with Aspergers) is the one of the gooniest stories I've ever heard on this show. I wanted to scream to them, "Maybe your husband is fine and is just an inconsiderate rear end in a top hat." They even 'diagnosed' him using an online survey (I know they saw a doctor afterwards, but uggg...)
|
|
#
¿
Feb 29, 2012 22:37
|
|
|
Sucks to your ASMR.
|
|
#
¿
Apr 3, 2013 05:50
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 00:54 |
|
|
Gio posted:You know you may have a point. I think I will take the word of some scummy reporters because This Time It's Different! Shut the gently caress up and go back to D&D.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 6, 2013 22:27
|
|