Serial
Serial is a new podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial unfolds one story - a true story - over the course of a whole season. The show follows the plot and characters wherever they lead, through many surprising twists and turns. Sarah won't know what happens at the end of the story until she gets there, not long before you get there with her. Each week she'll bring you the latest chapter, so it's important to listen in, starting with Episode 1. New episodes are released on Thursday mornings. Serial, like This American Life, is a production of WBEZ Chicago.
Episodes
Podcast: Serial: The Retrievals - Ep. 1: The Patients (full season)
Patients at a fertility clinic experience excruciating, unexpected pain. For months the reason for that pain remains hidden. Then they get a letter from the clinic. [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: Nice White Parents - Full Season
Nice White Parents is baaaaasically Serial Season Four, coproduced by the New York Times. It follows the model of Season Three, focusing on a single institution enmeshed in a larger system, instead of an individual case. In this case, the past, present and future of a single Brooklyn school's history of failed integration attempts. [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S03 Episode 09: Some Time When Everything Has Changed
The state of Ohio decides where Joshua belongs. [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S03 Episode 08: A Madman’s Vacation
A teenager decides to cooperate.
Podcast: Serial: S03 Episode 07: The Snowball Effect
"If you listen closely to the trash-talking, you start to get the message."
Follow up on the cases of Jesse Nickerson, who feels he's continually harassed by police after winning a lawsuit against them, and Erimius Spencer, beaten by a cop subsequently fired for excessive force. [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S03 Episode 06: You in the Red Shirt
Life after you put a cop in jail. [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S03 Episode 05: Pleas Baby Pleas
Don't tell the judges, but the prosecutors have the most power in the building. [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S03 Episode 04: A Bird in Jail Is Worth Two on the Street
This episode deals with two separate murders of young children in Cleveland. It’s not an easy listen. [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S03 Episode 03: Misdemeanor, Meet Mr. Lawsuit
The smell of raw marijuana + acting nervous + hands in pockets = ? [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S03 Episode 02: You’ve Got Some Gauls
When a judge believes he knows you better than you know yourself. [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S03 Episode 01: A Bar Fight Walks into the Justice Center
A young woman at a bar is slapped on the butt. So why's she the one in jail? [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S02 Episode 11: Present for Duty
What's Bowe's fault, and what isn't? [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S02 Episode 10: Thorny Politics
Are you hearing what I'm hearing?
Podcast: Serial: S02 Episode 09: Trade Secrets
You don't make peace with your friends. [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S02 Episode 08: Hindsight, Part 2
Woulda, coulda, shoulda...
Podcast: Serial: S02 Episode 07: Hindsight, Part 1
It makes sense if you're Bowe Bergdahl.
Podcast: Serial: S01 Update: Day 03, Adnan Syed’s Hearing
This week, Sarah Koenig ducks back into the Adnan Syed case for a few days. There's a hearing in Baltimore—a court proceeding that's been nearly sixteen years in the making. Syed's attorney will introduce new evidence, and present a case for why his conviction should be overturned. Sarah and producer Dana Chivvis will discuss what happens, day by day. [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S01 Update: Day 02, Adnan Syed’s Hearing
Sarah and Dana discuss Day 2 of Adnan's post-conviction hearing. We learn about how the prosecutor cross-examined Asia McClain, and how the cell phone data might not hold up.
Podcast: Serial: S02 Episode 06: 5 O'Clock Shadow
Why did Bowe Bergdahl walk off?
Podcast: Serial: S01 Update: Day 01, Adnan Syed’s Hearing
Serial is going back to the Adnan Syed case for a few short daily episodes about a new hearing focusing on whether his trial lawyer was negligent. In this first episode, Asia McClain takes the stand.
Podcast: Serial: S02 Episode 05: Meanwhile, in Tampa
CIA, FBI, YouTube, the Portland PD? There was no handbook for getting Bergdahl back. [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S02 Episode 04: The Captors
What's happening on the other side of the door? [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: S02 Episode 03: Escaping
Bergdahl's first year in captivity starts with an escape and ends with an escape. In between, he learns necessary, twisted lessons of survival.
Podcast: Serial: S02 Episode 02: The Golden Chicken
On the move with Bergdahl, the Taliban slip past the U.S. Army's massive effort to find him. During those days and weeks, each side is asking, what is Bergdahl worth to us?
Podcast: Serial: Episode 01: DUSTWUN
In the middle of the night, Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl grabs a notebook, snacks, water, some cash. Then he quietly slips off a remote U.S. Army outpost in eastern Afghanistan and into the dark, open desert. About 20 minutes later, it occurs to him: he's in over his head.
Podcast: Serial: Episode 12: What We Know
On January 13, 1999, Adnan Syed was a hurt and vengeful ex-boyfriend who carried out a premeditated murder. Or he was a bewildered bystander, framed for a crime he could never have committed. After 15 months of reporting, we take out everything we've got - interviews and documents and police reports - we shake it all out, and we see what sticks.
Podcast: Serial: Episode 11: Rumors
Almost everyone describes the 17-year-old Adnan the same way: good kid, helpful at the mosque, respectful to his elders. But a couple of months ago, Sarah started getting phone calls from people who knew Adnan back then, and told her stories of a different kind of boy. [more inside]
Podcast: Serial: Episode 10: The Best Defense is a Good Defense
Adnan's trial lawyer was M. Cristina Gutierrez, a renowned defense attorney in Maryland – tough and savvy and smart. Other lawyers said she was exactly the kind of person you'd want defending you on a first-degree murder charge. But Adnan was convicted, and a year later, Gutierrez was disbarred. What happened?
Podcast: Serial: Episode 09: To Be Suspected
New information is coming in about what maybe didn't happen on January 13, 1999. And while Adnan's memory of that day is foggy at best, he does remember what happened next: being questioned, being arrested and, a little more than a year later, being sentenced to life in prison.