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FC/OT: 'S-Town' Podcast - from the 'Serial' and 'This American Life' Team....

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anon_xdc8rmuek44eq

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Anyone listening or finished? For those familiar with the hugely successful 'Serial' and 'This American Life' podcasts, 'S-Town' (Sh*t Town) is their latest installment of serialized, investigative journalism and it ups the ante by making all episodes available on day one (and like 'Serial', this is a HIGHLY binge-able podcast that is designed to be devoured in one sitting).

The gist is this - Brian Reed, a reporter/journalist who works for This American Life/Serial was contacted by a man named John (a seemingly well off, climate-change obsessed, mathematical savant who spends his days building a hedge maze, fixing antique clocks, studying 'apocalyptic' statistics, and putting troubled locals to work on his property) who lives in a small town in rural Alabama and who believes that injustice is all around us, and nowhere more prevalent than his hometown of Woodstock, where local a local rich kid has been bragging to anyone willing to listen that he killed a man and got away with it. Reed takes the bait and after several conversations with John, he travels to Woodstock to uncover the truth. What starts out as a murder mystery is actually resolved mid-way through episode two, and an unexpected twist turns the entire story upside down in a fascinating shocking way.

I know there is a 'movement' of sorts with the fascination of Appalachia culture and 'redneck/hillbilly' ideology, but the journalism here is very sincere and fair, and the portrait painted of the people and life of Woodstock, AL is quite eye-opening. Would be interested to hear others' thoughts on this providing folks provide a 'SPOILER' warning - so far, I'm only half way through episode three (there are seven total).

You can listen via iTunes or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

https://stownpodcast.org/

s-town-maze-619-386.jpg
 
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I actually enjoyed the character study in S-Town (and, to a much lesser extent, Serial Season Two) much more than the whodunnit style of Serial Season One - which I found to be rather unsatisfying. Overall, I found S-Town to be a worthwhile, but difficult, listen.

"In The Dark" is another modified true crime style podcast that I really enjoyed.
 
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Raffycorn said:
I actually enjoyed the character study in S-Town (and, to a much lesser extent, Serial Season Two) much more than the whodunnit style of Serial Season One - which I found to be rather unsatisfying. Overall, I found S-Town to be a worthwhile, but difficult, listen.

"In The Dark" is another modified true crime style podcast that I really enjoyed.
Click to expand...

Yeah, in the same boat (so far), though I liked both seasons of Serial for different reasons. S-Town though is the finely tuned result of stuff like Serial and True Detective - 'rabbit hole' storytelling with layers and layers of detail peeled back very methodically.

What did or do you find 'difficult' about S-Town? I'm only in episode three, so no spoilers past that if you're able...
 
Midnighter said:
Yeah, in the same boat (so far), though I liked both seasons of Serial for different reasons. S-Town though is the finely tuned result of stuff like Serial and True Detective - 'rabbit hole' storytelling with layers and layers of detail peeled back very methodically.

What did or do you find 'difficult' about S-Town? I'm only in episode three, so no spoilers past that if you're able...
Click to expand...
No spoilers - John is an intensely fascinating man, and I found portions of his personal history to be a challenging listen. The episodes blend together, though, so I'm not sure where you are in the story.
 
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Raffycorn said:
No spoilers - John is an intensely fascinating man, and I found portions of his personal history to be a challenging listen. The episodes blend together, though, so I'm not sure where you are in the story.
Click to expand...

Ah, okay - will re-visit once I get through a few more episodes. Kind of figured this is what you may have been talking about...
 
In my opinion, season 1 was the best by far. Season 2 and 3 don't even come close.

Season 3 was much better than season 2, but it was so repetitive. 7 episodes were not needed.
 
On the next to the last episode now. I'm not sure what to think of it except that I keep listening to more episodes. This definitely isn't a feel good story but it intrigues me nonetheless.
 
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Raffycorn said:
No spoilers - John is an intensely fascinating man, and I found portions of his personal history to be a challenging listen. The episodes blend together, though, so I'm not sure where you are in the story.
Click to expand...

Okay, finished it up. I think I get what you're saying though not sure how I feel about the 'season' as a whole.

SPOILERS
.
..
...
....
.....

In the beginning, I was really fascinated by John's philosophy and brilliance (and that was only reinforced in later episodes where by nearly all accounts, he was one of the top one or two 'antiquarian hourologists' in the world) and cynical worldview. Once he killed himself and the podcast focused all it's attention on him, his money, his 'history', and his 'hidden present', I wasn't sure if it was entertainment or exploitation. But, as things moved away from the feud over his estate and got into his personal and family history, and especially his suicide note (the small things in life John said were 'worthwhile' and that he liked - such as admiring plants and flowers, nature in general, reading, looking at the stars, etc. - just hit like a ton of bricks), I felt sort of overwhelmed and sad. Tieing everything together with sundials, clocks, and the passage of time sort of reminded me of a small-town American Beauty or something. Still processing everything but am pretty convinced part of John's issues were related to almost some amount of mercury poisoning via his fire gilding.

I will say my one big issue with the podcast, and it isn't content related, was the narrator's penchant for ending statements as if they were questions...he does it literally dozens of times throughout the podcast and it's so annoying.

Overall though, happy I listened.
 
Midnighter said:
Anyone listening or finished? For those familiar with the hugely successful 'Serial' and 'This American Life' podcasts, 'S-Town' (Sh*t Town) is their latest installment of serialized, investigative journalism and it ups the ante by making all episodes available on day one (and like 'Serial', this is a HIGHLY binge-able podcast that is designed to be devoured in one sitting).

The gist is this - Brian Reed, a reporter/journalist who works for This American Life/Serial was contacted by a man named John (a seemingly well off, climate-change obsessed, mathematical savant who spends his days building a hedge maze, fixing antique clocks, studying 'apocalyptic' statistics, and putting troubled locals to work on his property) who lives in a small town in rural Alabama and who believes that injustice is all around us, and nowhere more prevalent than his hometown of Woodstock, where local a local rich kid has been bragging to anyone willing to listen that he killed a man and got away with it. Reed takes the bait and after several conversations with John, he travels to Woodstock to uncover the truth. What starts out as a murder mystery is actually resolved mid-way through episode two, and an unexpected twist turns the entire story upside down in a fascinating shocking way.

I know there is a 'movement' of sorts with the fascination of Appalachia culture and 'redneck/hillbilly' ideology, but the journalism here is very sincere and fair, and the portrait painted of the people and life of Woodstock, AL is quite eye-opening. Would be interested to hear others' thoughts on this providing folks provide a 'SPOILER' warning - so far, I'm only half way through episode three (there are seven total).

You can listen via iTunes or anywhere else you get your podcasts.

https://stownpodcast.org/

s-town-maze-619-386.jpg
Click to expand...
As an AmazonPrime newbie, would this be free streaming content?
 
I was intrigued with this very early in the story. I think the last two episodes I just couldn't listen to anymore. Once the questions were resolved I realized I just didn't like the guy and was done.
 
SPOILER ALERT - I agree with much of what everyone has said. John B was a fascinating character. My take on this whole story though is that John B actually tricked the podcast into chronicling his suicide in order to get his story and his message out there. I think this was his plan all along and he found a ingenious way to make his suicide a national news story along with his message of apocalyptic climate change and all the other injustices he was obsessed with. A modern day martyr of sorts. What say U?
 
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mOOse_44 said:
SPOILER ALERT - I agree with much of what everyone has said. John B was a fascinating character. My take on this whole story though is that John B actually tricked the podcast into chronicling his suicide in order to get his story and his message out there. I think this was his plan all along and he found a ingenious way to make his suicide a national news story along with his message of apocalyptic climate change and all the other injustices he was obsessed with. A modern day martyr of sorts. What say U?
Click to expand...

Interesting, but I don't know that he was that ambitious (but, anyone who writes a manifesto is by definition, right?). I do think he originally misled the journalists though - no way he doesn't know that whole 'got away with murder' stuff was a farce.
 
psualt said:
Starting to listen to Up And Vanished about Tara Grinstead. FYI do not google this like I did as there are some real spoilers from information that comes up.
Click to expand...
Up and Vanished was pretty good - and good advice about the spoilers, although you can listen to most of the season without the spoilers really even having an effect on the listening experience.

I ended up skipping most of the "Case Evidence" and Q&A segments towards the end, but the actual episodes were very well-done.
 
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Midnighter said:
Interesting, but I don't know that he was that ambitious (but, anyone who writes a manifesto is by definition, right?). I do think he originally misled the journalists though - no way he doesn't know that whole 'got away with murder' stuff was a farce.
Click to expand...
I just felt he was a liar and BSer and as much as he hated S-Town he had nowhere else to go. It was his comfort zone where at least there he could feel superior to everyone else. Interesting theory by Moose.
 
Raffycorn said:
Up and Vanished was pretty good - and good advice about the spoilers, although you can listen to most of the season without the spoilers really even having an effect on the listening experience.

I ended up skipping most of the "Case Evidence" and Q&A segments towards the end, but the actual episodes were very well-done.
Click to expand...

I started this and it's a straight knock off of Serial. I like that the host admitted as much in the beginning. They play more to the 'unsolved mysteries' format though which to me was a bit of a turn off. Still going to give it a shot.
 
psualt said:
Starting to listen to Up And Vanished about Tara Grinstead. FYI do not google this like I did as there are some real spoilers from information that comes up.
Click to expand...

I'm through episode 3 of Up and Vanished. Good advice on not googling it. Very compelling
 
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