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This American Life Podcasts

Submitted by embren on Fri, 04/02/2010 - 23:44

This American Life: Parent Trap

401: Parent Trap 2.19.10
www.npr.org

This podcast, which is produced once a week, has been a staple on National Public Radio for years. The show is hosted by Ira Glass, but has many different contributers. Each week, a story topic is presented and there are several 'acts' in which different facets of the topic are presented.

For example, this podcast on 'parent traps' focuses on how parents will put their children into certain situations in order to teach the children, or themselves, a particular lesson. Other podcast topics have ranged from prom night to the recession. Parent trap talks first about a woman whom, before she died, wrote out birthday letters for her daughter, and how the letters affected her life. The next act was on parenting a different species, namely that of a chimp named Lucy.

This podcast has several presenters, which breaks up the monotony of a single speaker. Also, the show plays music between acts, but does not often give long introductions or outros. This is because the general audience of This American Life is an audience that generally follows the show, and is made up of frequent listeners.

The show is also broken into particular acts, parts, that present a distinct beginning/middle/end, which was effective because it was paced well and did not jump around. Stories were told in a timely and orderly manner. The tone was casual and the show was well explained.

However, each show is an hour long and may not be something that everyone would want to listen to. Also, it was not short, and not particularly focused. Again, there are many aspects of each show that change and develop.

QUESTION: Although the show was long, and not tightly focused, did you find yourself still wanting to listen to the podcast? Why/why not?

This American Life

Submitted by ANB5653 on Sat, 04/03/2010 - 17:11.

I've listened to a few "This American Life" podcasts before on various topics and have found them to be pretty interesting. I've usually been interested in the topic and actually wanted to listen to it. Although this episode was about children/parenting, a topic I usually wouldn't care much about, I still found it some what interesting. I didn't listen to the whole thing, but from what I heard I think Glass did a good job.

This American Life

Submitted by all9233 on Sun, 04/04/2010 - 21:31.

I have also listened to some epidsodes of This American Life before. The topics are always interesting and the stories are put together in a cohesive manner. I didn't think I was going to be as enticed with this episode in particular, but actually found it to be pretty entertaining. It was long, yet (from what I heard), fairly interesting.

This American Life

Submitted by mkc007 on Sun, 04/04/2010 - 21:32.

I've never listened to This American Life before and to truthfully answer your question, I did not find myself wanting to continue listening to the podcast. I found myself getting distracted early into it. It takes a lot to get my attention but I just couldn't really get into it and I think that it was a little long.

This American Life

Submitted by jnl3772 on Sun, 04/04/2010 - 22:08.



I read the summaries of each act before I began listening to the podcast, and I thought that I would find Act 1 the most interesting. Because of this, I only listened to a couple minutes of the prologue before skipping ahead to Act 1. When that segment was over the Podcast had already begun to loose my attention. I considered quitting, but after listening to the beginning of Act 2, I immediately got sucked in. I found the Lucy story interesting enough to listen to the remaining half hour with no problems.

I am a subscriber to this

Submitted by cah314 on Mon, 04/05/2010 - 12:39.

I am a subscriber to this podcast and listen to it frequently. The length of the podcast and the seemingly "unfocused" nature do not prevent me from listening from start to finish. While the podcast jumps from story to story, they are usually focused around a single theme... something that makes all sections of the show relate to the others. It's the perfect podcast for long drives and really helps to pass the time.

When I've listened to This

Submitted by aealbea on Mon, 04/05/2010 - 13:02.

When I've listened to This American Life podcasts before, I've never finished the entire show. I do think it's really interesting, but I don't feel like it's necessary to listen to the end. If it were shorter, it would be much easier to listen all the way through.

I did find this podcast

Submitted by ashleynladd on Mon, 04/05/2010 - 13:12.

I did find this podcast interesting, but I think it could be a little bit shorter. And, eventhough it was long I did want to listen because I found it very interesting... Obviously a lot of people like this podcast though because it is one of the most popular NPR broadcasts.