Others take exception with Tom's less charitable assessment

[Fido]

I can't help noticing all the posters in the subway, on bus shelters, etc. advertising "This American Life" on Sundance, which Newsweek has called "a jewel of a TV series." 

Why is Ira Glass standing dressed in a suit on what appears to be the Bonneville Salt Flats while shuffling papers?  Quite the promotional campaign! 

[TremblingEagle]

The tv show people came up with the idea of having the desk move around the world and stuff
it is arbitrary to have those elements but they have to do SOMEthing to give the radio show a visual element.

It's a pretty cool show especially for NPR fare, not everybody can be as edgy as FMU.

[Sploops]

...and now for something completely different.

[todd]

The show is great if you take it at face value, which I have a hard time doing. The whole show reminds me of that pretentious douche from American Beauty filming the plastic bag, going: "Isn't it... beautiful?" They'll look at a pile of trash and explain how it's a metaphor for blah blah blah blah, or find a farmer with a cloned bull and explain how he represents blah blah blah blah blah.

I just hate how they inject this tidy metaphor into their subjects' lives. Life isn't that clean.

[yesno]

I've said it before.  TAL is good when it's funny, bad when it tries to be socially conscious. I really like the weightlifting snowman story.

[Pat K]

I really like the weightlifting snowman story.

All Time Klassic

[gravy boat]

It's not great all the time - (I think that is a byproduct of quantity - they are prolific) but I think it can be great when it tries to be socially conscious.  I thought the March 2008 episode of "The Audacity of Government" was fantastic.  

I haven't seen the TV show, so I'm only talking about the podcasts.  My mom used to watch the Imus show on TV every morning, which I didn't get. I have never understood the appeal of watching a radio show on TV.

[yesno]

I thought the March 2008 episode of "The Audacity of Government" was fantastic.  

Yeah, I've got to agree with that.  That episode was great.

  I don't know what the formula is.  Some episodes are so gut-wrenchingly terrible, but the show does shine from time to time.

[Beth]

I've said it before.  TAL is good when it's funny, bad when it tries to be socially conscious. I really like the weightlifting snowman story.

I don't know. I cried buckets in the car when they did that story about the Muslim girl who was teased at school. Buckets.

[Chris L]

I've said it before.  TAL is good when it's funny, bad when it tries to be socially conscious. I really like the weightlifting snowman story.

I don't know. I cried buckets in the car when they did that story about the Muslim girl who was teased at school. Buckets.

That's ironic because I heard on Glenn Beck's show that Muslims aren't allowed to have buckets.  That's why the guy was scooping up water with his hand in that joke. 

[gravy boat]

I've said it before.  TAL is good when it's funny, bad when it tries to be socially conscious. I really like the weightlifting snowman story.

I don't know. I cried buckets in the car when they did that story about the Muslim girl who was teased at school. Buckets.

That's ironic because I heard on Glenn Beck's show that Muslims aren't allowed to have buckets.  That's why the guy was scooping up water with his hand in that joke. 

Buckets in a CAR? Not the Amish.

[Jouster]

I think that is a byproduct of quantity - they are prolific

Not at all - I think they average one new episode every six weeks.  It's just that they have a backlog of over ten years worth of shows that makes it seem so.

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

I cried buckets in the car when they did that story about the Muslim girl who was teased at school. Buckets.

Me too.

That's ironic because I heard on Glenn Beck's show that Muslims aren't allowed to have buckets.  That's why the guy was scooping up water with his hand in that joke. 

Zing!

I think they're just inconsistent.  Sometimes the funny stuff is unbearable (David Rakoff, sorry JK), and sometimes the socially conscious thing is obnoxious, but often they're both great.  Everything named so far - weightlifting snowman, little Muslim girl, audacity, has been pretty great, as has a lot of their Iraq stuff.  I like the show, but I don't love it - I subscribe during the school year, for listening during my Brooklyn-to-Rutgers commute and my office hours and pull the plug once classes end. 

[PatrickChew]

...and now for something completely different.

Good call, Sploops...

[Stan]

"Here we are in Bolivia to discuss storage jars..."



 I really am a fucking geek.


 
 And a Spartan Warrior!