Which are you? The kind of person who can't wait to talk about Serial? Or the kind of person who doesn't do it, doesn't get it, and dreads having other people bring it up? The former sort of person was summed up by a recent New Yorker cartoon that showed a woman on a city sidewalk, flagging down a fellow pedestrian and saying "Excuse me, do you have a minute to talk about the latest episode of 'Serial'?"
Sarah Keonig's true crime podcast tapped into our most primitive instincts for telling stories and processing narratives. One didn't listen passively. It was more of an electronic campfire around which people gathered and chatted. It's also tied to very primal urges to know who did it and to see justice done. The Jeffrey MacDonald case, the Kennedy assassinations, the Memphis Three, Chappaquiddick... The story of the murder of Hae Min Lee joins that procession.
Have you been watching it? What keeps you coming back? Comment below, email Colin@wnpr.org, or tweet @wnprcolin.
GUESTS:
- Theresa Cramer is a writer and the editor of E-Content Magazine, where she covers the world of digital media
- Kevin Rennie writes a political column for the Sunday edition of The Hartford Courant, is a former member of the Connecticut House and Senate, practices law in South Windsor, Connecticut, and blogs at DailyRuctions
- Irene Papoulis teaches in the Allan K. Smith Center for Writing and Rhetoric at Trinity College
SONGS:
- "Listening to Serial" by Zach Sherwin
- "The Final Episode of Serial" by Funny or Die
