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Recent Reviews
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cherylfoster.uriDue Diligence Divulges DeceptionMeticulous investigative reporting pays off in this riveting, psychologically astute Season Six profile of a cunning Stolen Valor criminal. Skilled mastery of case detail is fueled by expertise in the larger context of patterns among those who live fraudulent double lives. The resulting series strips away layer after layer of the insidiously intentional, intertwined lies of fabulist Sarah Cavanaugh, leaving us with the stark dishonor at the heart of her cruel manipulation. Brilliant storytelling, perfectly calibrated to the sonic format here - and cathartic for Veterans who have lived through this or similar stolen valor ruses.
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Kml646FascinatingThis is a great show on a troubling subject matter. Excellent journalism. I was pleasantly surprised and engrossed.
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TdubstersGreat stuffThe amount of work that Jake must have put into his research is insane
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Spring7BoyA story about storytellers telling a storyMeticulous interviews are fashioned to express, understandably of course, much more than the facts— we must hear in a truly heartfelt way how victims feel now, and how they felt then. Surrounding every interview we must also hear how the hosts felt before the interview and how they feel after the interview. The multi-episode narrative suspense— since we know what happened from the beginning— is how the hosts will finally feel about their feelings of applying well-practiced empathy, compassion, and altruism. You hear as much from the perpetrator and victims as you hear from the hosts themselves about their own experience in crafting this detailed show. Their pursuit to understand – – why? Why did she do it? Spoiler alert: at the end they are “baffled”. Like the victims, the hosts now have to live with the facts of what happened regardless of their understanding. Mental health problems are not the fault of the perpetrator, so the highly literate but stealthily smug hosts find themselves struggling with the same cognitive confusion that plagues absolutely everybody in society, who is trying to reconcile good and evil. Sorry, I mean good and bad. How can someone say something but then do something else? Something else that damages and deters the lives of innocent strangers in their sphere. We have the scenario set from the very first episode. All of the victims of this criminal, whether they were intimately, close or duped and dumped, reveal nothing particularly surprising. They emote and of course we feel compassion. What is most frustrating about this work is that it too much serves as an exercise to demonstrate the impressive professional prowess of the hosts that wrote and rode these people’s stories into their own.
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BT2015Absolutely riveting!The rich texture of the writing and the amazing storytelling will have listeners spellbound. I could not put the podcast down and finished it within 24 hours of its original release. I think this would make a fascinating movie and I can’t wait to see if that happens! Bravo Jess, Jake and the entire team!
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LivinInTheSwampA riveting podcast — a remarkable work of art!In the conclusion of this tour de force, journalist/producer Jake Halpern notes that ”many of us, myself included, hold on to the perhaps naive hope of pure justice and clean endings, where the good guys win and righteousness prevails.” Yet, it is just such a hope of justice that motivates two investigators, starting with little more than a rumor, to patiently build a case that ends in a murder trial. Journalist/producer Jake Halpern and his brilliant team put us inside the car with the investigators as they approach the rural home of the man they believe is the accomplice to the murder. We are emotionally transported to join the investigators, the accomplice, the victim’s family, and others impacted by the murder. We are along for the ride in the highs and lows of this cold case investigation. I hope that Jake and his team continue their investigations – and give us the privilege of joining them in their remarkable work.
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shauyanne1994Thrilling and Very Well Narrated.I loved this. Totally worth it.
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allie87mallieWay too many adsOnly got 19 minutes into the episode and there were already 3 ad breaks, one of which was almost 2-3 minutes. Unlistenable.
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PanzollittoUnderwhelmingCame for season 4 because NYT best of 2024… BEYOND underwhelming
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TC mainGood reporting, unlistenable due to advertsSome good reporting but the adverts ruin the whole show and make it totally unlistenable. I would guess over half the episode is adverts. They have tried to deliberately make them blend in too, making them hard to skip. This is a guide for every podcast maker on how NOT to make a podcast. Yes you need to make money but if you make an unlistenable show, no one is there to listen to your adverts . A shame as the journalist knows what they’re doing. Id give 2 stars but it is so deeply hard to enjoy that i will never come back.
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2728!:&Season 4. Deeply dissapointingThe number of minutes spent on ads and the sorts of ads are really disorienting. The content on season 4 is reall dissapointing as well. A lot of very slow buildup to a conclusion that amounts to more or less a nothing burger. Can’t believe this was on NYTs best podcasts of 2024.
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tinternmarissaToo many adsThe ads make this an excruciating listening experience.
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jilly tbizarre adscontent of the actual show is decent, but the ads are so bizarre, frequent and lengthy that it becomes confusing and not worth the trouble.
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J.cahEarlier seasons are betterThe first few seasons are better than the last few. There are way too many ads, and sometimes the narrative isn’t pushed forward too much. This is especially true in seasons 4 and 5, but the early seasons are great.
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PostwarriorToo slow, too thinThese episodes have too little content and too much foreshadowing. The episode entitled Grand Jury spent about 20 minutes ruminating over how the testimony and evidence might go over, then just jumps and say they issued an indictment. The rest of the time was ads: pointless, endless, painful and repetitive. If you want to punish those who don’t want to pay for the ad-free version, you are overdoing it.
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FengLidaThis should have been a movieThis podcast was at least 50 percent ads and 25 percent, “these questions, after the break” or, “next time…” I listened to the nameless man after seeing it recommended on a list of best podcasts of 2024, but if this is one of the best then we are really in trouble. Similarly to when people complain that a tv series could have been a movie, this would have been a great hour long conversation. Fast forwarding the ads won’t help me, because of all the filler about “the next episode “ etc that is more difficult to skip.
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Bilas PelesGreat storytelling destroyed by too many adsDeep cover Five star storytelling in between tons of ads. Keep your hands on the fast forward button or all you’ll get is ads. But the storytelling is so very good, it’s almost it. In spite of my ad-phobia, I just had to binge listen to the murder story “Never Seen Again”.
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MeOLbTToo many adsMore ads than podcast
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makepatsingmoreToo many adsMore ads than content. Sad.
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SleepyfelToo many ads, too little depthI swear this thing is at least half ads. You can barely remember what was happening in the story because of all the ad breaks. The reporting itself does not seem that interesting or groundbreaking either.
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CynographerLazy, shallowDoes not go “deep” in any sense of the term. Omits great scads of widely reported, interesting, contextualizing, and entertainingly salacious background. Unskilled and timid reporting. Loses focus frequently. Much of episode 4 is a recording of the the two principles yakking on the phone with terrible audio quality. Know what has great audio quality? The many, many ads aimed at convincing us that it’s dangerous to leave the house.
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MegTheHippieBoringWe tried to listen to the 3rd season and felt it didn’t go anywhere. Turned it off because I was falling asleep. No great details or storyline to keep things moving and the audience interested. Maybe try a test audience next time or focus group to see if you grab listeners. Hope you can learn from this. Not being rude, just think it could be told better.
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renejr525so many adsi really wanted to listen to this, there was an ad every 3 minutes seemingly. felt like i was only ning to ads.
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papakilaProfessional malpracticeThis is just flat out crappy journalism. I know more about George Santos than you will learn in this podcast. You probably do too. The producers shamelessly ripped off the actual reporters who dug up all the lies and misdeeds of this man and made it 50% less interesting. There’s nothing here about how the NYT missed the scoop, about Kitara, about the North Shore paper that broke the story BEFORE the election, about elder abuse in Brazil….don’t waste your time. And Malcolm Gladwell better clean house.
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USA MknitterGeorge Santos - Season 5Why did George lie? Affirmation of his self worth? Maintain a level of expectations, as required by our current culture? Think of modern day influencers and smooth talkers. Refusal to accept the evidence (no different than a current politician who refuses to accept evidence from 2020)? No different than others who have pushed “the envelope” and not pay the consequences? TRUTH requires hard work and effort, and our society has become so accustomed to comfort that it refuses to accept blame. Thanks for this deeper dive into Mr. Santos than what I was able to hear briefly from the regular news media. Great reporting and narrators and speakers!
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Bugseye66Poor deliveryThis is one podcast I was so looking forward to , such an interesting story, but I can’t get past the first episode , how the presenter (female) speaks is like nails on a chalkboard . I know a lot of people that age group speaks like that, but I just can’t.
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NamsalotDisjointed bad story tellingI really wanted to love this. It was hard to listen to. It’s not the story of who Santos is and how his life/political career/downfall unfolded. It’s more listening to a teenage girl reading a group text thread. I really hope another better podcast does his story. It’s so worth telling.
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TildaJeanFor heaven’s sakeLearn the difference between loan and lend! You set my teeth on edge.
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looskaInteresting but annoying for a number of reasonsThe story of Santos is strong and the reporting was good but I wish it had been more in depth. Overall I think they were too soft on Santos. The reporter (Amy) sounded like she thought Santos antics were a lark when it’s anything but funny. Kathy the donor infuriated me. She made excuses for him too. I wonder what Warren Zevon would think of Republicans who’d named their ginormous house after his song. Finally, both hosts have an annoying verbal tic of completing sentences with “right?” Please stop.
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JanithVocal fry alertWhy can’t female reporters realize that their vocal fry is offensive? Good grief.
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FthisnikcnamesThis should have been 2 episodes MAXAt the end I didn’t learn anything new. Instead heard the same thing over and over repeated by different people. Way to stretch a podcast, truly with no added value for the listener.
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X13 b45 8AdvertsIf you like ads, this is the podcast for you! Have fun! 🤩
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deemcc02tenacious!Impressive research and stellar journalism. I don’t know how they find these stories. I am going to be sad when I get through season 5. Good stuff!
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SMT883Too many adsIt was a meh for me & too many ads to hang in there.
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IMHO FR9 ads per episode??It’s insane to me that a ~30 minute episode has 9 ads, it is so off-putting and ruins the flow of the show. While the topic is interesting, given that they’re just retelling other people’s research and insight into the topic, throwing in a couple of interviews, it’s a pass for me.
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matty2linesThe voice overI like this show. The reporting is solid. Her voice over is very hard to take. Most of the time it sounds like she wants to laugh. It makes it hard to take the information seriously. It’s a very immature way of telling the story.
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teenuts23Good story, SO. Many. Commercials.Good story telling, but no flow because there are so many ad breaks. skip.
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CalipodlistenerToo Many Ads!!Season 4 is a decent story but the ads are making it unlistenable. The same ads over and over and over. I spend half my time fast forwarding. I understand you need sponsors but what makes you think your audience will be okay with that?
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Smollett454Not for meLots of guessing and innuendo. The host doesn’t clarify or go back and state truths when clear lies are spoken by the people being interviewed.
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by50&;hxTerrible audioThat very long phone conversation was so hard to understand. The audio was terrible. Didn’t you listen to how this sounded before you included it in the podcast?
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BernieSpencerLove Amy!Amy is incredible! So smart and enjoyable to listen to. This is a great season!
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enatalieagnAll good but the santos seasonThis is a great pod but the last season doesn’t hit for me. It’s such an interesting story, but the hosts style of talking - like she’s holding in a laugh and having to halt after every word drives me insane! Take a breath, get to the story, and do some editing.
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HardKnockSalSeason 4 Episode 3Could this conversation NOT have waited until both the host and the producer weren’t walking in public? Wait until you are home and hop on a zoom
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TubelessSchwinnWell worth a listenEach season is different and enjoyable!
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dougparsons23State Run MediaHow come you don’t do hit pieces on democrats, all you podcasts are the same, why don’t you ever do pieces on how the democrats lie, cheat, and steal, and if that doesn’t work, they outright break the law. Like Biden, how many laws did he break, that if it were Trump, he’d been indicted? You’re all a bunch of biased, hypocritical, propagandist
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Scot2944SantosWho cares who George Santos is! Boring!!
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JZEExcellent podcastI love this podcast. It’s very well written. My favorite is season 3.
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idontknowYReally enjoy season 4 butThe speculation on Craig’s racial identity at the end with no evidence is very strange
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MoLyJannDrags on and on and on…..Season four could have been done in two episodes. There is not much to the story and cut out the insane amount of advertisements!
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Cuca GirlReally enjoyed!I liked the fact that this podcast is to the point and not just made to hear themselves speak. Some podcasts that are ten plus episodes are often repetitive. This was not.
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