We’re nearly halfway through 2024, which makes it’s a great time to do inventory on the podcasts that have come out so far that shouldn’t be missed. Here’s a list of the true-crime, comedy, fiction, and culture shows that stand out from the rest and will be some of the best things you listen to this year. Let’s hope the second half of 2024 keeps up the momentum.
Beyond All Repair
Credit: Beyond All Repair
Sophia Johnson was a pregnant newlywed when her mother-in-law was brutally murdered, and her own brother testified against her, claiming he saw her do it. Beyond All Repair, reported by WBUR’s Amory Sivertson with precision and heart, tries to figure out who is lying and what really happened. This is a messy family story that demands your full attention and will have you second guessing everything, unsure of what you really believe, until the very end.
Never Post
Credit: Never Post
Miss Reply All? Love 99% Invisible? Have I got news for you: Never Post, hosted by Mike Rugnetta (he wrote and hosted PBS Digital Studios’ YouTube series Idea Channel) is a podcast looking at the internet universe with a super powerful telescope, at things both big and small, giving the digital world the 99% Invisible treatment. On the show, he covers topics like influencer voice, posting disease, the emotional impacts of making and seeing before-and-after posts, purposely bad-sounding content, trickshot content, and more, more, more. Rugnetta is backed by a team of reporters to form a group of brilliant and funny cultural critics who are so much fun to hang out with.
Tiny Dinos
Credit: Tiny Dinos
Improvisers Connor Ratliff (Dead Eyes, Mean Girls, Search Party, so many things) and James III (Black Men Can’t Jump [In Hollywood], Astronomy Club, so many things) just created a world for their improv comedy podcast, Tiny Dinos, that is so much fun I just want to live inside of it. In this world, Connor and James are scientists who have brought back dinosaurs, but not normal sized ones—that would be irresponsible. These ones are tiny. This world is the perfect place for really silly conversations to happen as they attempt to keep their scientific endeavor a secret. If you need laughs, you will get them.
Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)
Credit: Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)
Jamie Loftus is making some of the funniest and smartest (and weirdest) stuff in audio. Her new weekly series Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) sees her asking various main characters of the internet what it was like to be the center of our digital attention—and more importantly, what happened once the fame went away. The kick-off is a two-parter with Antoine Dodson of “Hide Yo Kids, Hide Yo Wife” fame.
She Has a Name
Credit: She Has a Name
Tonya Mosley is an unforgettable journalist who I got to know in her beautiful series, Truth Be Told. She’s back with She Has a Name, something totally different: a true-crime investigation that lets her shed light on her own life. It all started when Tonya got a call from a nephew she never knew she had, about his mother, her sister Anita, who was murdered during the Detroit drug epidemic in the 1980s. The two set out to heal what had been broken, expose the trauma shared by so many other families, and try to once and for all give Anita the memorial she deserves.
Go Touch Grass
Credit: Go Touch Grass
It’s a simple premise: Go Touch Grass’ hosts Milly and Allie round up internet news so that you can remain informed without being addicted to it. They’re doing the lord’s work, really, sacrificing their own sanity to give us time to be in nature or do absolutely anything else. Every week they bring in an internet persona of some kind for an interview and coverage of the trend du jour with the ability to put everything in context. This is a comedy podcast even more than it is a podcast about the internet. The show ends with fun segments, which include crowning “grasshole of the week.” Listening will entertain you, give you a weekly course in internet culture, and make sure you don’t get crowned yourself.
The Competition
Credit: The Competition
The Distinguished Young Women event (formerly known as America’s Junior Miss) gathers high school seniors (one from every state) to Mobile, Alabama, for two weeks, competing for a $40,000 prize. The Competition is a six-part reality TV-style investigation that helps you get to know the girls and understand their friendships, the challenges, and the drama. After more than 20 years of being Nevada’s contestant, Shima Oliaee (of Dolly Parton’s America and Pink Card) returns both to share this complex story and also to be a judge at the pageant itself.
Fur & Loathing
Credit: Fur & Loathing
In 2014, a chlorine gas attack at the Midwest FurFest convention hospitalized 19 people and has yet to be solved. Hosted by Nicky Woolf, Fur & Loathing looks back to the FBI’s lackluster investigation as well as the people who might have done it. There aren’t enough explorations into the furry community, with so much of it is completely ignored or mocked. This is a serious, respectful look at a cold case that will fill in gaps, connect dots, and take you to unexpected places.
Stolen
Credit: Stolen
This year, Connie Walker’s Stolen, which has won a Pulitzer Prize and Peabody Award, returned with a new season: Trouble in Sweetwater, which looks into the cold case of Ella Mae Begay, a 62-year-old Navajo woman who was murdered in Sweetwater, Arizona. It’s as much a story about what happened to Ella as much as it is about what happened to her case—like why it’s still unresolved, despite the fact that a 23-year-old admitted to possibly killing her the night she went missing. Connie has been reporting on missing and murdered Indigenous people for years and nobody does this kind of reporting quite like her.
The Sicilian Inheritance
Credit: The Sicilian Inheritance
The Sicilian Inheritance is part murder investigation and part travelog that sees host Jo Piazza returning to her roots so she can try to find out, once and for all, how her grandmother Lorenza Marsala died. It’s a story her family has been passing around for decades. Was she killed by the Black Hand? Killed for being a witch? Jo really lets you sit shotgun on this true-crime road trip with more twists than a ride up the Amalfi coast. It all started with Jo’s novel of the same name, which fictionalized the story, but this podcast is the real deal.
Finally! A Show (About Women That’s Isn’t Just a Thinly Veiled Aspirational Nightmare)
Credit: Finally! A Show (About Women That’s Isn’t Just a Thinly Veiled Aspirational Nightmare)
Jane Marie is most known for creating the hit show The Dream, which beautifully shined a light on multi-level marketing before everybody and their aunt (who is now in a pyramid scheme) knew what that was. Her latest, Finally! A Show (About Women That’s Isn’t Just a Thinly Veiled Aspirational Nightmare) lets us walk in the shoes of women who could be the person next door, or you, or me—like an 83-year-old calendar girl shopping for a vibrator, a fish-throwing songstress delighting the crowd at an outdoor market, a young mother turned death care provider, or a TikTok viral plus-size boutique owner. Don’t pretend like you haven’t spent hours of your life peering into lit windows at night, curious to see what goes on inside the life of someone else. It’s why we watch reality TV. Here’s your chance to do it with Jane Marie as your guide.
Josie’s Lonely Hearts Club
Credit: Josie’s Lonely Hearts Club
Josie’s Lonely Hearts Club is about a fictional love advice call-in show hosted by “Josie Heller” (the stage name of fictional character Joanne Holtzinger, who is voiced by real person Rachel Music) that lets us eavesdrop on the funny, totally human interactions between Josie and her callers, conversations with the show’s engineer Frank, and Josie’s life. The fact that it’s “semi-improvised” gives it a certain springiness, and Josie (played by Joanne, played by Rachel) has a perfectly seductive voice that makes every second of the show a delight. The production is phenomenal.
