![]() The Off Season is, in part, an exploration of the mind of a man who feels helplessly, inexcusably trapped by ingrained sexism. The plot becomes implausible-but the conversations that take place between the two allow listeners to process some of the major news events of 2018 without reliving the falls of Matt Lauer and Harvey Weinstein, both of which seem to have inspired the show. As his network investigates the allegations, Alvarez heads to Montauk, New York, where he has an unlikely encounter with an aspiring journalist named Erica Hernandez. They start taking callers, and the first one accuses Alvarez of sexual harassment. The Off Season begins with Bruce Alvarez, a fictional TV host, interviewing a prominent female journalist. The Truth’s Jonathan Mitchell has been doing experimental, fictional art audio since what feels like the beginning of time (for more than 20 years, actually). (As usual, we’ve recused The Atlantic’s shows from the list.) ![]() Here’s to the best podcasts of 2018, and to what they’ve made resoundingly clear about digital audio: So much more is yet to come. They are the ones that don’t require advanced preparation, the ones you’d recommend to your friends. They are the ones that answer the call “Make it new!” They made space for new voices, ideas, and methods of connecting with and harnessing audiences, the internet, and the material world. The shows on this year’s top-50 list highlight innovation where it collides with craft and entertainment. Podcasts, it seems, are the new black hole (a concept that’s explained very well on HumaNature), because they feed and feed on whatever is around them. There’s even a podcast ( Before It Had a Theme) about a radio show that is now also a podcast ( This American Life). They became more niche and even self-referential: The Onion’s A Very Fatal Murder satirizes true-crime podcasts. Podcasts are now regularly adapted for television ( Homecoming, 2 Dope Queens, Pod Save America, and Dirty John, to name a few). This year, playwrights and journalists came out from behind the page in droves. Last year, S-Town blew our minds by taking a novelistic approach to its fascinating characters, plot, and setting. Recipes for how to create a decent series were invented through trial and error, and thousands of producers now understand what makes our ears stand up: cults, cold cases, politics, feminism, and relationships, but most of all: stories. city does), which has brought new money and possibility to the form. ![]() Analytics that were once uncapturable have become fairly comprehensive ( downloads from Apple Podcasts surpassed 50 billion this year) and specific ( Chicago streams more podcasts on Spotify than any other U.S. The word podcast has by now become completely untethered from its namesake-the iPod. Editor’s Note: Find all of The Atlantic ’s “Best of 2018” coverage here.
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