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Whether it's from work, caregiving, emotional overload, or just trying to keep up with the pace of life, sometimes we all hit a wall. Fortunately, there are podcasts out there that can offer real help—not just quick fixes, but the tools, insight, and compassion you need to recover, recharge, and protect your mental health.
Here are 10 of the podcasts I turn to when I need to go from overwhelmed to just whelmed.
A constant cycle of shame can be one of the many reasons for feeling burnout, especially social burnout. On Mental Health Rewritten, Dominic Lawson is great at creating a cohesive and scientific narrative to help you combat shame with empathy, especially when that shame stems from elements of identity like race and gender. This season of the show hopes to help you rewrite your internal and external dialogues around sex, suicide, and cultural identity, from desire to dysfunction. At the very least, it might make you feel less alone and more heard.
The prospect of living mindfully can be daunting, but on 10% Happier, Dan Harris makes it feel accessible. With a focus on meditation, neuroscience, and emotional balance, this show is a powerful antidote to burnout. Harris, who got interested in the topic after experiencing his own on-air panic attacks, interviews a wide range of experts, blending science with personal experience. He is a skeptical, funny, and refreshingly honest host, sharing his own struggles with anxiety, stress, and overwork, giving the show totally relatable, approachable vibe. (We can all make tiny changes, right?)
On Therapy for Black Girls, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford offers accessible, culturally sensitive conversations about mental health, boundaries, and navigating burnout aimed especially at Black women—but her advice resonates universally. She interviews experts on topics like people-pleasing, toxic workplaces, and self-care strategies. This show will both inform you and make you feel cared for.
The Happiness Lab, hosted by Yale psychology professor Dr. Laurie Santos, is a science-based, myth-busting deep dive into what truly makes us happy—and how modern life often sets us up for burnout instead. The show draws directly from Dr. Santos’ wildly popular Yale course “The Science of Well-Being,” which has helped millions rethink their approach to stress, work, and daily life. Dr. Santos blends storytelling with cutting-edge research to address stuff like toxic productivity, perfectionism, emotional exhaustion, and how our brains often trick us into habits that fuel burnout rather than prevent it.
On Everything Happens, Kate Bowler brings heartfelt honesty to difficult conversations about navigating the most challenging seasons in life, offering perspective and grace for those feeling overwhelmed or exhausted. A historian who recently faced down her own cancer diagnosis, Bowler excels at exploring the intersections of grief, loss, and resilience.
On WorkLife, organizational psychologist Adam Grant dives into what we can do to make work better and less draining. His episodes on toxic workplaces, resilience, and remaining productive without burnout are essential listening. His expertise helps listeners reimagine work culture and personal habits, and not many people can blend academic research with engaging storytelling like Adam can.
While The Ezra Klein Show isn’t exclusively about burnout, many of his in-depth interviews tackle the cultural, economic, and psychological forces that drive modern exhaustion. Ezra interviews top thinkers, from psychologists to sociologists to economists, who help listeners understand not just how burnout happens, but why our systems often make it inevitable. As host, Ezra asks thoughtful, compassionate questions that get to the heart of work culture, attention scarcity, rest, and the pressures of modern life.
On We Can Do Hard Things, Glennon Doyle, Abby Wambach, and Amanda Doyle offer honest conversations about boundaries, feeling overwhelmed, and navigating emotional labor. With vulnerability and humor, these three share their own struggles and insecurities, making the show feel like a safe space. Topics range from dealing with parenting burnout to navigating exhausting relationship dynamics.
Based on their bestselling book Burnout, on Feminist Survival Project, sisters Emily Nagoski and Amelia Nagoski offer science-backed strategies for women dealing with chronic stress. (Don’t miss "Polyvagal 101," about your nervous system can screw you over.) If you're neurodivergent and looking for a podcast that acknowledges the exhaustion of living in systems not designed for humans to thrive in, it’s especially helpful; Emily is on the autism spectrum and is open about her experiences with ADHD. This one is more academic than other shows on the list, but it's weirdly also the funniest.
The Blindboy Podcast, hosted by Blindboy of the Rubberbandits, isn’t strictly about stress, but Blindboy’s gentle conversations and openness make theshow feel like a big hug when you’re stressed. With a mixture of cultural commentary, history, observations, and magical storytelling, Blindboy manages to normalize the therapy process and the experience of living as an autistic person. In free-flowing episodes that cover everything from Irish and Greek mythology, to what's inside of a tennis ball, to a discussion with the late Sinéad O’Connor, he helps listeners discover something they might need to hear about the world and themselves.
In June of 2025, Marc Maron announced he'll be ending his beloved interview podcast WTF With Marc Maron after 16 years and 1,600 episodes. The show became a staple for Maron's ability to get notable figures from then-sitting President Barack Obama to the late Robin Williams to open up and share intimate details of their lives, and will be much missed.
While there is only one WTF, long-time listeners needn't be at a total loss for intimate celebrity chats Here are 12 suggestions for other podcasts that can help fill the void.
If you’re craving interviews that feel like they’re happening in the dark, dozy corner of a pub at 2 a.m., The Blindboy Podcast delivers. He disarms guests with his surreal humor and gentle curiosity, then leads them into raw, vulnerable conversations that unfold like therapy sessions. It’s weird, it’s wise, it’s deeply human. Not all episodes are interviews, but all episodes do have moments that feel academic, philosophical, and full of heart. Blindboy gets to the hearts of his guests in a way that nobody else can—and it’s clear he’s only interviewing people he really wants to talk to.
Queuing up an episode of Kelly Corrigan Wonders is like dialing up your smartest, funniest, most probing friend. In each episode, Kelly blends curiosity, vulnerability, and that rare honesty that makes you feel like you’re eavesdropping. It’s part therapy, part storytelling, and all heart. Kelly has a gift for asking questions that go beyond the surface—interviews often feel more like soul-level check-ins than media soundbites. Kelly doesn’t shy away from hard topics (loss, abortion, aging parents) but is still able to make you feel seen, soothed, and just a bit better about being human.
Anna Sale started Death, Sex & Money in 2017 after realizing other interview shows often avoided the hardest yet most interesting questions about human nature. So she started a show about just that—episodes go to places no other show will go when it comes to death (Anna talks to a man whose father has voluntarily stopped eating and drinking, ending his life), sex (why a woman left her polyamorous marriage), and money (this writer’s favorite episode, an interview with someone who steals). Anna is gentle and direct, encouraging her guests to talk openly about the stuff we were told not to bring up at the dinner table.
Asking someone what has gone wrong in their life is maybe the fastest (and most uncomfortable) path to intimacy. On every episode of How To Fail, journalist Elizabeth Day asks her guest to take us through three failures they've experienced, reframing them as events that helped them be better people or live better lives (eventually, at least). Elizabeth creates a magical chemistry with all of her guests, including the likes of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mo Gawdat, and Brene Brown. The focus isn’t hacks or tips, but unpacking the mistakes and regrets that these people have been able to overcome, and how.
Award-winning author Michelle MiJung Kim’s mission is to make people feel seen—her podcast I Feel That Way Too is all about the big, messy questions we usually don’t ask aloud, like, “Why are so many Asian women with white men?” and “Am I really supposed to sleep with one person forever?” Think We Can Do Hard Things or Death, Sex & Money, but through the lens of a queer Korean American woman who leads with radical vulnerability.
Good Hang is silly and fun and gets into fewer deep moments than WTF, but Amy Poehler’s candidness and honesty with her guests makes this podcast feel especially intimate and quite unlike most other celebrity interview podcasts. It feels like the late-night heart-to-heart you didn’t know you needed. There are sneakily vulnerable moments—you show up for the laughs and stay for the unexpected emotional truths. If you're into podcasts that feel like a friend gently (or not-so-gently) pulling back the curtain, this one’s for you.
If you’re craving interviews that go beyond the usual celeb promo chatter, Neal Brennan’s Blocks is a must-listen. It’s not just funny—it’s uncomfortably honest. Brennan asks guests to share the emotional “blocks” that mess with their lives (think: shame, ego, addiction), and what unfolds feels more like therapy than a talk show.
On Therapy for Black Girls, Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, covers mental health, personal development, and exploring the small changes we can make to become the best possible version of ourselves, with the experience of women of color at the forefront. Whether the topic is work, friendship, money, or understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder, Dr. Joy is there to explain these experiences through a Black lens.
On Where Should We Begin?, renowned psychotherapist Esther Perel lets you be a fly on the wall inside her office to eavesdrop on a real couple’s counseling session. You’ll hear everything about their relationship—every raw and intimate detail. Esther's advice is both philosophical and reflective, dynamic and engaging, and direct but gentle. She’s solution-oriented, focused on helping these couples, who come to her for help with infidelity, desire, and divorce.
If you’re craving interviews that feel like a warm cup of tea to calm your existential dread, On Being is your go-to. Krista Tippett doesn’t just ask questions—she invites people to bring their entire souls to conversations filled with un-google-able questions about faith, grief, joy, and the meaning of life.
On Talk Easy, Sam Fragoso has thoughtful, long-form conversations that don’t feel like interviews, but deep dives into the minds of his guests artists, activists, and politicians. (Sam goes from sitting with the first Gen Z Congressman to discuss his fight for gun reform to getting a tea with Amelia Dimoldenberg of Chicken Shop Date.) Each conversation has a narrative arc. Sam is curious and empathetic, he does his research, and he’s interested in not just simple answers, but the full story.
From Now On is hosted by Lisa Phillips, a former model and current talent scout who has navigated the complexities of the entertainment industry. Lisa is also, importantly, a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein. This podcast dives headfirst into stories of abuse and recovery. An empathetic survivor herself, Lisa is the perfect host. Although it doesn't look like a true crime or investigative podcast on the surface, it has had a real-world impact: Because of it, several women who have been assaulted by the same man in the same way have come forward, and credited the show for giving them the courage.
If you’re sensing the world right now is becoming more and more unhinged, you’re not alone. Fortunately there’s a podcast poking holes in your subject of choice, whether that be diet culture, science journals, airport books, or Bill Maher specifically. With research and often a sense of humor, these shows break down some of the messages we are getting online, in the news, and across all sorts of media, explaining why you’re not crazy, it isn’t you, and why some of the systems we have right now (looking at you, capitalism) are broken.
Normal Curves is kind of like a science book club—on every episode, stat-savvy friends (and professors) Regina Nuzzo and Kristin Sainani help make sense of academic journals that have made their way to mainstream and pop culture. Examples include The Sweaty T-Shirt Study, which said you could find a perfect mate by smelling their sweat, and the The Red Dress Effect, which said that women in red were sexier. They’re the ones you can count on to dissect the data, challenge the claims, and arm you with tools to assess scientific studies on your own.
Is tradwife TikTok confusing the heck out of you? Wondering why capitalism feels like a scam wrapped in a vibe? Allow me to introduce you to Diabolical Lies, your new favorite rabbit hole. Hosted by Katie Gatti Tassin and Caro Claire Burke, this long-form (episodes are upwards of three hours long) podcast is part cultural critique, part political roast, and fully addictive. Katie and Caro named their show Diabolical Lies to poke fun at something Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker in a speech, that “it’s the women who have had the most diabolical lies told to you,” suggesting that feminism is the source of our unhappiness. Katie and Caro point their fingers at capitalism, patriarchy, and white supremacy, instead. They hold everything, from the yassification of Christian nationalism to the myth of the girl boss, all to the fire while making you laugh, think, and maybe (probably) get a little mad.
If you think the best true-crime is white collar crime, you might want to tune into Corporate Gossip, which is all about the shady stuff that happens in board rooms and business deals. Hosts (and siblings) Becca and Adam Platsky use tons of research and storytelling to tell the truth behind eBay, the WWE and Vince McMahon, Sam Bankman-Fried and FTX, Enron, and more. The topics are serious, but the vibe is casual and often hilarious.
Meredith Lynch (who you may recognize from TikTok) has one foot in pop culture and the other in politics—and her show represents that. Oddly Specific features a bit of everything, from the problem with dollar stores to the prison industrial complex. Experts come on to cover things they’re passionate about, and Meredith has a good way of explaining the basics of the subject at hand, exposing its problems, and helping you understand why it matters to you, your wallet, and your everyday life.
If you’ve ever side-eyed an Instagram carousel telling you to “cut off anyone who drains your energy,” there’s a chance you’ve been served some therapy speak. Fortunately, the podcast Bad Therapist is here to help. Psychotherapist Ash Compton and journalist Rachel Monroe are pro-therapy, but they are also pro-skewering the bad actors who use pop psych cliches and weaponize wellness to make a living from it, usually taking advantage of people who actually need real help. Whether they’re dissecting therapeutic communes, conversion therapy, or life coaches, all roads lead to grifting. Along the way, you’re always in for some history, cultural analysis, and humor.
You know those best-selling books—the ones that often promote miracle diets, pop psychology, pseudo-science, and reskinned versions of The Secret—sold at the airport that seem to take the country by storm, one book at a time? Michael Hobbes (original co-host of You’re Wrong About and co-host of Maintenance Phase) and Peter Shamshiri host If Books Could Kill, a podcast about those books and how they shape our culture and ruin our minds. (There is actually an entire episode dedicated to The Secret.) Together they point out the lack of citations, vague references, and fear-based marketing you find in every page. Episodes swing from hefty (the episode on Liberal Facism) to lighter and silly (there’s a great one on Who Moved My Cheese?).
Seasons one and two of The Dream are about multilevel marketing schemes and fraud in the wellness industry, but the show has since been turned into a weekly interview show. Its episodes now focus on a myriad of subjects, but they're all generally about critiquing the people, industries, and concepts that make "the American Dream" unmanageable. Hosted by This American Life alum Jane Marie, episodes cover the MAHA movement, abortion bans, cults, divorce, and more. Jane Marie is a top-notch storyteller and interviewer—even episodes that feel heavy have a lightness to them.
Hosted by Peter Routhier (If Books Could Kill), Rhiannon Brown, and Michael F. Vecchione, 5-4 provides a funny, liberal perspective on the rulings of the U.S. Supreme Court, often illustrating how much SCOTUS totally sucks. Always from a progressive point of view, each episode analyzes and discusses a single Supreme Court decision, providing an accessible and engaging way for listeners to learn about the high court’s biases surrounding hot-button issues like affirmative action, gun rights, and campaign finance. It clears the fog from our court system and clarifies how often the Supreme Court perpetuates unjust outcomes for marginalized groups.
Dan Friesen and Jordan Holmes keep close tabs on Alex Jones so you don’t have to. Each week on Knowledge Fight they review recent clips from Jones’ Infowars programming and try to make sense of it all. They go deep (and some of the content is dark) but Dan and Jordan are funny enough to make it both a wild ride and an enjoyable listen. There’s no better way to learn about conspiracy theories than to study the people steeped in them, and this show is like Cliff’s Notes for the source of many of the wildest theories taking hold of America.
When Michael Hobbes left You’re Wrong About, he put his energy into Maintenance Phase, a show he co-hosts with Aubrey Gordon that explores and critiques popular health and wellness trends and products. With tons of notes and a lot of rage-laughter, Michael and Aubrey run through the the worst diets, exercise trends, supplements and beauty products, and “nutrition” books, and evaluate whether they are actually effective or if they are based on misleading or harmful information. (It’s almost always the latter.) If you hate the BMI, were led astray by the food pyramid in the ‘90s, or roll your eyes every time your friend goes on and on about their latest cleanse, you’ll appreciate their myth-busting efforts.
Comedian Will Weldon hates Bill Maher so much that he created an entire podcast about it. Every episode of his show, I Hate Bill Maher, is a takedown of Bill Maher in general, but specifically his TV show Real Time and his podcast Club Random, episode by episode. Will is dead set on pointing out some of the superficial, misogynistic, and transphobic things Bill has said, as well as how lazy some of his comedy can be. He’ll even dip back into old episodes of Real Time to prove how much Bill’s opinions have changed over the years. (Not much.) Some call it petty, some call it a public service. Listen to the Emma Arnold episode—Will interviews her about the time she got to tag along on Bill’s annual New Year trip to Hawaii.
True crime podcasts have been in the zeitgeist for quite some time, but those focusing on scams seem to get less mainstream attention than their bloody, murder-heavy counterparts.
I’ve gathered recommendations for the best, most fascinating scam podcasts on the digital airwaves right now. Catch up, follow along, then pick your jaw off the floor as you learn the shocking ways some truly manipulative people were able to take advantage of the most vulnerable, robbing them of their money, friendship, and trust. From mysterious boys emerging from the wild to con a whole town, to an entrepreneur bilking investors out of millions of dollars for bunk science, each of these true life tales is dripping with lies and deceit.
The Con: Kaitlyn's Baby is a six-part true crime series looking into the case of Kaitlyn Braun, a calculating Canadian woman who pretended to have a series of traumatic events (like pregnancy loss and sexual assault) in order to trick doulas to care for her.
Host Sarah Treleaven tells us the story, focusing on the emotional impact it had on Kaitlyn’s victims to be taken advantage of for supporting others, something that requires such physical and emotional connection and vulnerability. Your eyes will widen, your heart rate will quicken—I even got a little terrified. The story of Kaitlyn's schemes can start to feel like a horror movie.
From the same host of Wild Boys (one of my favorite shows on this list!) comes Sea of Lies, a show about the prolific swindler Albert Walker, whose list of swindles includes stealing identities, defrauding people of millions of dollars, and murder. It starts with a huge splash (more specifically, a dead body in an ocean) and ends with Walker getting caught thanks to a Rolex watch, taking you on this zig-zagging path that will keep you guessing the whole time. The storytelling is excellent; you won’t be able to get to the next episode fast enough.
Believable: The Coco Berthmann Story introduces us to the life and crimes of Coco Berthmann, who gained internet fame by sharing her harrowing account of surviving child sex trafficking in Germany. When she was arrested for fraudulently raising funds under the guise of a false cancer diagnosis (someone got carried away!) people started wondering if they could believe her at all. This is a complex story well told with meticulous original reporting from Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Sara Ganim and award-winning showrunner Karen Given, who map out exactly which of Coco’s stories to believe and which to distrust—and why, at the root of everything, Coco lied in the first place.
For Believe in Magic, Jamie Bartlett (who also hosts The Missing Cryptoqueen) tells the story of Megan Bhari, a 16-year-old who founded a charity in 2012 to grant wishes to seriously ill children. Things really blew up for Megan when the band One Direction hosted a charity ball and Louis Tomlinson donated money from his own pockets. Eventually people started to notice contradictions in her illness story and the lack of transparency in how donation money was being used. In the end it’s an emotional, fascinating, and well-balanced story about Munchausen syndrome by proxy and what drives people to scams with fake altruism.
Amanda Riley, aka Scamanda, is a California woman who faked a long battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and used her blog and social media to solicit more than $100,000 in donations over almost 10 years.
Amanda claimed to undergo chemotherapy, radiation, and even a bone marrow transplant, which brought in sympathy and financial support from her church and community, who saw Amanda as a source of inspiration. It all came to a head when investigative producer Nancy Moscatiello got an anonymous tip about Amanda's blog, prompting an eight-year investigation that ultimately led to Amanda’s five-year prison sentence. Amanda’s blog posts, read by actor Kendall Horn in the podcast, give us an idea of what she was really thinking.
Scam Factory tells the story of a network of people tangled up in a compound in Myanmar that lures people inside with promises of high salaries and then enslaves them making it nearly impossible to get out. When a guy, they call him “Max,” gets suckered in, his sister Charlie needs to do some dangerous and unethical things to try to get him out—Charlie must play the game and become part of the scam factory herself, luring strangers into the factory for the sake of her family. If you’ve ever heard a story about toxic, cult-y situations and wondered, “no really, how does this happen to someone?” this show explains it perfectly.
If you’re among one of the many people swept away by the viral story of Kaitlyn’s Baby, you might like the Baby Broker series of The Binge Cases, which tells the story of Tara Lee, a woman who told more than 100 couples across the country that she could help them adopt a baby but was lying the whole time. Peter McDonnell spoke with some of the couples who were impacted, which are all fascinating and often cross paths.
It’s the summer of 2003 in the small Canadian town of Vernon, and two teen boys emerge from the wilderness. They claimed to have been raised in the British Columbia wilderness and grown up without exposure to society—no TV, no school, no registered IDs. Journalist Sam Mullins grew up in Vernon and can remember the impact the boys made and how the Vernon community embraced them with open arms, housing them, feeding them, and checking in on them.
But things weren’t adding up—one of the boys was extremely thin and would only eat fruit, and they both had huge gaps in their conflicting stories. Despite all the red flags, everyone was surprised to learn that nothing the wild boys said was true. Sam tells the story of the con that stunned Vernonites in Wild Boys and explores why two young kids would go to such great lengths to run away to establish an incredible identity in another country.
Maintenance Phase doesn’t appear, at first glance, to be a show about scams. In each episode, Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes (formerly of You’re Wrong About) examine fads in the wellness and weight loss industry with a fine-toothed comb, and help us splice fact from fiction. The things they cover—fat camps, the BMI, Olestra, and the Keto Diet—do usually end up, upon closer inspection, to be riddled with scams, from the unethical way products are marketed to the bunk science used to support their claims.
Aubry and Michael deliver disturbing insight into the ways we’re all being tricked, but their spark and sense of humor makes the show a total blast to listen to. They are experts at getting angry—and it feels good to get angry along with them.
Crypto is mysterious, so it seems only natural that people have fallen prey to one crypto scam after another. The Missing Cryptoqueen tells a whopper of a crypto scam story, perhaps the biggest in the industry’s short history. In 2014, Bulgarian entrepreneur Dr. Ruja Ignatova launched a cryptocurrency that she hoped would out-do BitCoin, called OneCoin. She lured investors from 175 countries into cashing in on the order of a collective $4 billion—and vanished.
Peeling back the curtain, Jamie Bartlett and Georgia Catt of BBC Sounds discovered that OneCoin was a Ponzi scheme—there was no blockchain and no trading exchange, just a bunch of servers in Bulgaria. Ignatova disappeared in October 2017 with all of the loot, and hasn’t been seen since. On The Missing Cryptoqueen, Bartlett and Catt detail how she pulled off her con, and track the ongoing hunt to find her.
Season one of The Dream was about multilevel marketing schemes, but season two zooms into the world of wellness and the lofty promises made by some of the industry’s shadiest purveyors. This American Life alum Jane Marie, along with producer Dann Gallucci, challenge the ethics of crystals, vitamins, supplements, and more, separating fact from fiction in each episode. Jane Marie adds a personal touch to her research by including personal stories: of how her own childhood brain injury impacted her view on the wellness industry, of an aunt who has been hypnotized by a popular essential oil company, and of a friend who is still trying to sell her Thirty-One bags.
Have you heard the one about the woman who became entangled in a con with people who she thought were her cousins, but who all ended up being the same person—her catfishing friend? Or the one about the real-life Truman Show, which left one unsuspecting guy living a lie with a bunch of actors? What about the one about the prank caller who pretended to be a police officer and used his power to get fast food managers to strip-search female employees, forcing them to jog naked, do jumping jacks, and perform other humiliating acts?
These are the stories told on Pretend, as Javier Leiva interviews swindlers, snake oil salesmen, and cult leaders, and tells some of the most unbelievable stories that the other con podcasts aren’t talking about—often in great depth, with investigations spanning several episodes or a whole miniseries.
Sympathy Pains is a six-part medical con story hosted by Laura Beil (Dr. Death, Bad Batch) about a woman who faked multiple illnesses—from cancer, to muscular dystrophy, to Ebola—and created a tragic backstory about being the mom to a child who had died. But none of it was true. She didn’t just want her victims’ money, she wanted their friendship and sympathy, and became a master in targeting people who she knew would drop everything for her, even when her stories started to crack. This is one of the most unusual con stories you’ll ever hear, and the best twist comes in the final episode.
By now, you’ve almost certainly heard of the scheme perpetrated by Elizabeth Holmes (or watched the Hulu docudrama about it). She’s the modern day poster child of scam artists, pulling millions of dollars from investors for her health technology company that promised to have revolutionized blood testing, but was built on faulty science with zero valuation.
You could read the book or watch the show to understand Holmes’ life and her complicated con, but The Dropout, a podcast from ABC News’ Rebecca Jarvis, fleshes out the reporter’s multi-year investigation with never-before-aired deposition testimony from Holmes and those at the center of the story, and includes exclusive interviews with former employees, investors, and patients. The story of how one alluring woman went from being called “The Next Steve Jobs” to finding herself facing criminal charges demands the kind of scrutiny this long form podcasts offers.
California City is located deep in the Mojave Desert, 100 miles north of L.A., a place that once held the promise of the American dream—thousands were told that if they bought land there, they would certainly get rich one day. At least 73,000 hopeful people poured hundreds of millions of dollars into California City, only to find out too late that the land was worthless. They would spend years trying to get their money back.
In this series, Emily Guerin travels to California City with a mic and a mission to find the people responsible for the con, and winds up enmeshed in conversations with real estate developers trying to sweep the truth under the rug, as well as the people who share heartbreaking stories of giving everything they had, chasing a dream that would never be realized.
There are plenty or reasons to be anxious and depressed about the world in 2025. And while parasocial relationships with your podcast friends are no substitute for therapy, a thoughtful, informative, empathetic podcast can be a useful addition to your mental health toolbox.
Unfortunately, not all of these shows are helpful (or even worthwhile), and wading through a sea of them is probably not something you feel like doing when you're already stressed or sad. Thankfully, I've done that hard work for you: Here are eight shows that don't just spew generic tips and hollow affirmations, but actually use thoughtful conversations, untraditional storytelling, and specific structures that can help you through a rough spot. (They've certainly helped me—the fifth one on the list legitimately changed my life.)
Basket Case is a mental health podcast unlike any mental health podcast I’ve listened to before. It’s not offering hacks or tips, but considering the mental health industry as a whole, using intimate narrative storytelling to reveal how it systematically keeps us sick. It's more about the forces that contribute to mental illness than it is about mental health, but invaluable all the same. Host NK ushers us through different mental health issues, from perfectionism, to depression, to anxiety, in a way that makes them feel visceral and immediate. This is accomplished partially through an amazing soundscape, which NK uses to recreate other ways of experiencing the world.
The Blindboy Podcast, hosted by Blindboy of the Rubberbandits, isn’t strictly a mental health podcast either, but it is like a hug in podcast form. With a mixture of cultural commentary, history, observations, and magical storytelling, Blindboy manages to normalize the therapy process and autism by being open about his own. He helps listeners discover something they might need to hear about the world or themselves. Free-flowing episodes cover everything from Irish and Greek mythology, to the inside of a tennis ball, to a discussion with the late Sinéad O’Connor.
Black Healing Remixed is the front porch, the kitchen island, and the perfect seat on the couch where honest and transformative talks about healing and wellness unfold. Each episode celebrates Black healing in all its forms—beautiful, messy, imperfect, and joyous—while giving listeners the language and practical resources to embrace their own healing journeys. What does it mean to thoughtfully and honestly foreground your mental health in the face of modern society? Hosts Yolo Akili Robinson and Natalie Patterson are the perfect guides for answering this question.
Meditation can seem so murky, so foreign, so woo-woo. And if you’re not woo-woo, you might not think it can help you. On 10% Happier, Dan Harris gets into meditation and mindfulness in a really approachable and science-backed way, offering practical tools and interviewing a range of guests, from meditation teachers to neuroscientists, psychologists, and the occasional celebrity. Dan is a relatable and authentic host—he once had a panic attack on air, which is what put him on the path toward his mental health.
On every episode of How To Fail, journalist Elizabeth Day asks her guest to take us through three failures they've experienced, reframing them as events that helped them be better people or live better lives (eventually, at least). Elizabeth creates a magical chemistry with all of her guests, which have included the likes of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mo Gawdat, and Brene Brown. The focus isn’t hacks or tips, but unpacking the mistakes and regrets that these people have been able to overcome, and how. You might not finish an episode feeling grateful for your latest screwup or setback, but hopefully it won't feel quite as dire either.
The One You Feed was inspired by the famous parable of the two wolves, representing the choices we all make in feeding either the positive or negative aspects of ourselves. Host Eric Zimmer blends health, wellness, and self-improvement topics into deep conversations with psychologists, spiritual leaders, and authors in episodes that tackle anxiety, depression, self-doubt, and more. The One You Feed beautifully balances ancient philosophical ideas with modern psychological research, and Eric’s personal story of overcoming addiction adds a layer of vulnerability and relatability to every installment—over 400 to date.
On every episode of Depresh Mode, John Moe (also the creator of The Hilarious World of Depression) sits down with comedians, musicians, authors, and actors to talk about the many ways we experience depression, anxiety, addiction, and rude internal dialogue. Familiar names like Jamie Lee Curtis, Justin McElroy, and David Sedaris have shared their baggage and the tactics that worked—and didn’t—as they attempted to handle it. If you can’t find someone in your life who identifies with your struggles, you might find it in John and his guests.
On Mental Illness Happy Hour, comedian Paul Gilmartin covers mental health issues in a way that makes listeners feel cared for and will get them laughing at the same time, helped along by his guests—actors, comedians, and the occasional doctor. The show covers a wide range of topics, and will help you realize not only that you don't have to feel so alone in your problems, but that so many others are facing different issues that probably have them feeling equally isolated. GIlmartin’s secret ingredient is humor, but he doesn’t skirt around the tough stuff.
I hear about the same interview podcasts over and over again. You know the ones I mean—the ones at the top of the charts right now. I’m here to remind you that just because you hear about them the most doesn’t mean they’re the best. Respectfully, these ones are. They are led by hosts with curiosity and respect for the people they’re interviewing, plus a lot of tricks up their sleeves to keep things interesting. Or maybe just a deck of cards. (Oh I’m spoiling the first one!)
See my list of best podcasts of 2024 here and the best true-crime podcasts here. And let me know which interview podcasts you think should be on the list in the comments!
On Wild Card, Rachel Martin uses an actual deck of cards to guide her interviews with actors, artists, and thinkers. It’s the guests who choose a card from the deck, and these little cards have pretty big questions—and they're so fun that I’ve written them down and brought them to parties. (Where did you get to feel independent as a kid? What’s a moment when a stranger made you feel loved? What do people misunderstand about you? What feeling do you have more than others?) I’m fun at parties! This is a podcast I never, ever miss. And you shouldn’t miss the Nikki Giovanni episode. I always liked it but love it even more now that we lost Nikki not long ago.
You might remember comedian Daniel Tosh for his stand-up specials and his long-running Comedy Central show Tosh.0, which featured satirical internet video commentary. For his podcast Tosh Show, he is doing the opposite of what almost every comedian is doing (interviewing celebrities and other comedians) and instead interviewing the people in his everyday life, the most normal people he can find. His airstream guy, his son’s music teacher, his wife’s gynecologist. The conversations are so quick, funny, and fascinating, proof that Tosh is skilled enough to make anyone seem like the most fascinating person in the world for even just a few minutes. He breaks the rules in other ways: sharing audio of his son reading stories and sending a gift to all of his guests. (It’s always something—used—from his home that he no longer wants.)
PJ Vogt was half of Reply All, which is probably one of the most beloved podcasts of all time. After leaving Reply All, he went out on his own to start Search Engine, where he solves mysteries that are ungoogleble—everything from, “Who buys luggage at the airport luggage store?” to “Why didn’t these two random guys get into Berghain?” (the exclusive dance club in Germany). The episodes are so good because they spring from PJ’s genuine curiosity. They’re funny and will consistently give you something to think about .
From Now On is hosted by Lisa Phillips, former model and current talent scout who has navigated the complexities of the entertainment industry. Lisa is also, importantly, a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein. This podcast dives head first into stories of abuse and recovery, and Lisa, someone who personally and deeply understands abuse, especially in regards to workplace and industry power struggles, is the perfect host. Although it doesn't look like a true crime or investigative podcast on its surface, it has had a real-world impact on crime. Because of it, several women who have been assaulted by the same man in the same way have come forward about him, and they said it was because of the show. Not all post Me-Too media has been able to do this, and my only guess as to why Lisa has is because of her open, emotional way of bringing them into her space. She makes them feel safe enough to let things out. Sometimes when I listen to From Now On, I cannot believe what I’m hearing.
Ryan Broderick's Panic World, launched in September as an offshoot of his newsletter Garbage Day, offers internet-culture analysis, exploring bizarre trends, moral panics, and viral phenomena originating from obscure corners of the internet and how they evolve to influence us IRL. Ryan talks to guests like Michael Hobbes and Akilah Hughes about niche internet subcultures and is able to effortlessly make sense of something weird that went viral online, sprinkling in humor and insight from his years working the tech news desk at Buzzfeed. Think: TikTok challenges, conspiracy theories, and stuff like Silicon Valley's obsession with anti-aging.
For his podcast Strangers on a Bench, singer-songwriter Tom Rosenthal has been strolling though London parks with his recorder going up to strangers on benches for conversations, and we get to eavesdrop. Because the guests are often anonymous, they often get incredibly personal, saying things you probably have never heard anyone say on a podcast, and I don’t think that most people would say if Tom (who obviously is a warm, charming, hospitable host) were to use a more traditional format. One woman opens up about visiting her deceased husband and daughter at the cemetery. Another talks about her emotional relationship with keeping things clean. Another about his inability to break the cycle of incarnation in his family. I love Strangers on a Bench because it teaches us a new way to get to know people, and because it’s a reminder that everyone is thinking interesting thoughts on those benches. Also because I’m nosy. Queue the cheesy music: On these benches, there are no strangers…
Anna Sale started Death, Sex & Money in 2017 after realizing many interview podcasts would pussyfoot around harder, more interesting questions about human nature. So she started a show about just that. Episodes expose our uncomfortable feelings about, and our very real relationships with, death (“My Father Planned His Death. I Didn’t Stop Him.”), sex (“Why You’re Not Having Sex”), and money (one of my favorite episodes, “Why I Steal.”) Anna is gentle yet probing and direct. Some interviewers make it about themselves; Anna never does. She’s comfortable in silences. And people open up to her. This is a part-storytelling, part-interview, part-don’t-even-think-about-bothering-me-right-now-I-am-clinging-to-every-word podcast.
The Worst Podcast is clearly selling itself short on purpose, it is one of the best interviews shows to emerge from 2024. Award-winning filmmaker Alan Zweig hosts, and comes to the mic cranky every time, asking his guests (whom he never knows anything about—first up? Paul and Janie Tompkins) to tell them about the worst things in life. Alan has thrown the interview rule book out the window. He argues with his guests and his producer and gets extremely personal with us; maybe too personal. He’s not trying to be liked, and for that you will love him. That first episode with Paul and Janie is really, really good. And if you love Anna Sale (see above), there’s a great interview with her.
There are many reasons I will listen to every episode of Bullseye with Jesse Thorn, whether I’m familiar with the guest or not. Lots of interview podcasts are coming from a place of curiosity, and that’s great. A lot of the shows on this list do that. Jesse comes to his guests from a place of deep respect—his questions dig deep beneath the surface. He can swing from serious to silly with people like Dan Aykroyd, Prodigy of Mobb Deep, Maria Bamford—people he’s carefully chosen to interview because he truly wants to talk to them. (This made me start thinking about how many interviews I listen to where I have to ask myself if the host really even wants to be interviewing their guest. And since we’re listening to artists who Jesse really likes (lots of indie comedians and hip hop artists), they aren’t necessarily people doing the rounds on all the podcasts. Conversations are broken up by segments like “Wish I Made That” or “Canonball,” which takes a closer look at albums that should be considered classics. This is the show I’m most likely to forward to a friend and say, “you won’t believe who has been interviewed on Bullseye with Jesse Thorn.”
On Talk Easy, Sam Fragoso has thoughtful, long-form conversations that don’t feel like interviews at all, but deep dives into the minds of his guests artists, activists, and politicians. (Sam goes from sitting with the first Gen Z Congressman to discuss his fight for gun reform to getting a tea with Amelia Dimoldenberg of Chicken Shop Date.) Each conversation has a narrative arc and feels like a meditation. Sam is curious and empathetic, he does his research, and he’s interested in not just single answers, but the full story. Even if you’ve heard someone speak on twelve other podcasts, Sam will deliver an interview that feels completely new.
True crime is consistently the most popular genre in podcasting, which makes it really tricky to narrow it down to a best-of list. Some shows are definitely trying to cash in on the trend, and even if they're popular or fairly well done, the aim for quantity over quality.
But not these ten: After listening to literal days' worth of podcasts in 2024. these are the true crime shows I could not stop texting my friends about.
Season three of In the Dark, produced by The New Yorker, is one of the greatest long form investigative projects I've ever encountered. Madeleine Baran is reporting on the 2005 Haditha massacre, during which 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians were killed by U.S. Marines, leaning on jaw-dropping audio recordings and with access to classified documents and photos that reconstruct what happened and belie nearly everything the military previously disclosed. More than just explaining this terrible morning and the anguish of the families left behind or finally identifying people responsible for these war crimes, it explores the ways war can dehumanize others. It's a sobering, compelling, difficult listen.
Chenjerai Kumanyika is the host of Empire City, a show that delves into the NYPD’s complicated history, all the way back to the beginning—and not to sound all tag line-y, but it's the history the cops don’t want us to know. Chenjerai is an amazing storyteller, he transports you back through time. If you're the kind of person who doesn't put a lot of faith into policing, Empire City will confirm that you probably shouldn't. This is a history podcast infused with so much life.
On Dec 7, 2014, there was a major chemical attack at Midwest FurFest, a convention for the Furry community, that remains unsolved a decade later. The police didn’t conduct a proper investigation, and the media made a joke of the story, even though it was a hate crime that sent 19 people to the hospital. Who would do such a thing? Finding out has been internet reporter Nicky Woolf’s white whale, and now he’s covering it on Fur & Loathing, a new podcast that’s both a compelling true crime case and a comprehensive, humane look at the tight-knit Furry community, the most creative and, as Nicky puts it, “nicest” community on the internet. Nicky is working (and attending a Furry Convention) with a community member known as Patch O’Furr to put a spotlight on the story, dig into the FBI investigation, and interview a likely suspect in an “alt-fur” group with links to far-right and neo-Nazi organizations.
In 1998, 28-year-old Harriet Thompson was murdered in her home, and thanks to a poor investigation, a racist jury, and an inhumane death penalty policy, wrongly accused Jesse Lee Johnson sat on death row for 17 years for killing her. Hush is Jesse’s story, and it delves into the weak case the state had against him, why he never for a moment considered a plea deal, and how it felt to get out of jail when the state finally decided he never should have been there in the first place. Hosts Leah Sottile and Ryan Haas (of Bundyville) seek to give the case the spotlight it deserved the first time around via great investigative reporting. They get some things on tape that are truly shocking and track down people crucial to revealing the truth of what happened.
The Confessions of Anthony Raimondi introduces you to Anthony, a man from one of New York City’s crime families who claims to have played a part in murdering the pope in 1978. He’s so full of yarns, it's impossible to believe all of them, and that’s the whole point of this podcast: Marc Smerling (co-creator of HBO series The Jinx) is following along with Anthony's stories and fact-checking them, which is hard, because Anthony is such an unforgettable subject and fantastic storyteller, it can be difficult to separate truth from fiction. I actually don't care if the stories are true or false, as Anthony is fascinating and the podcast is wonderfully made.
Ripple tells the story of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, the largest oil spill in American history, with in-depth reporting that will anger you to no end. Dan Leone takes us to the gulf waters to get to the bottom of what happened, and what is still happening. He’s pulling truth from lies, capturing real heartbreak, and telling us the real story about how BP attempted to clean up the spill and the people they put at risk doing so. Dan talks to people who risked their lives, lost loved ones, and lost their livelihoods. He rewrites the timeline of the disaster we were fed by BP and the media, and is able to prove how out of control this disaster was, and how feeble the response.
Beyond All Repair, Amory Sivertson’s true-crime series about woman accused of murdering her mother-in-law, never misses a beat. Every episode thickens the plot, making me second guess my assumptions, and ends on a cliffhanger. Amory takes us into every corner of the murder scene to investigate what really happened, and in the end, shares her own theory formed after chasing this story for three years. The last episode has a mic drop moment that I won’t soon forget.
Noble is a fascinating story about Tri-State Crematory, a crematory that wasn’t cremating bodies, but throwing them into a huge mass grave. It’s also about Tri-State's hometown of Noble, Georgia, and the criminal family at the heart of the corrupt enterprise. It builds out a compelling cast of characters in those involved in the discovery of all these bodies, as well as the family members who thought they were doing right by the memory of their loved ones. Though it all, host Shaun Raviv shows true empathy for all the people caught up in such bizarre, sad circumstances.
For season nine of Slow Burn, subtitled Gays Against Briggs, Christina Cauterucci takes us to 1970s California, where the biggest gay rights fight in the country was underway, thanks to a ballot proposition that sought to ban lesbians and gays from working in California public schools. The show provides all the context you need to understand the climate that allowed this to happen, all the hard work that went into stopping it, and the likelihood something similar will happen again.
Ransom is a documentary-style retelling of the ransom kidnapping and murder of 12-year-old McKay Everett from his Texas home in 1995, but that horrific crime is only a tiny piece of the story: The podcast doesn’t start or end with McKay’s death, or even the trial of the man who killed him, a friend so close to the family the boy called him “Uncle Hilty.” Ransom pulls way back—why would a man kill the son of a family friend? How did he get there? What does the murder have to do with the fact he was a student athlete with a gambling addiction? And then it zooms forward—what happened to the Everett family after McKay was gone? What happened to Uncle Hilty? Who is Paulette, McKay’s mother, really suspicious of? The show uses interviews, archival tape, and on-the-ground reporting from producer Ben Kuebrich to tell a layered and emotionally complicated story.
Google is doing as Google does: shutting down a service. This time, it's Google Podcasts, an application the tech giant launched just six years ago. Google Podcasts will be entirely gone at the end of March, according to Google, at which point you'll need to get your podcasts onto some other service.
Here are Lifehacker we think the best podcast app is Pocket Casts, so we'll show you how to get your shows into that app. The general steps should work with almost any podcast application, though, provided that application supports importing OPML files.
To get started, open Google Podcasts, either on your phone or on the web. At the top of the screen you'll see a warning that the application is shutting down on April 2 along with a link to export your subscriptions. Tap or click that export option and you'll see two options: one to export your shows to YouTube Music and another to download an OPML file.
If you have confidence that Google won't eventually shut down YouTube Music, or just remove podcasts from that app, I think that you are capable of trust beyond that of mere mortals. Your soul is pure and I'd admire you if I wasn't completely certain that Google is going to make you do this all over again in two years or so.
So, yeah: tap the Download button instead. You now have an OPML file, which is essentially just a text document full of links to RSS feeds. Don't worry if you don't know what that means: you basically just need to open the file using your new podcast application of choice. Open the application and tap your profile, then the settings cog. From here you'll find the Import & Export option. On Android you'll be able to browse for the file you downloaded and grab it.
If you were using Google Podcasts on an iPhone, well, you're odd. You're not out of luck, though: on iOS, the application will tell you to use the system share functionality to send the OPML file over to Pocket Casts. Just head to the Downloads folder in the Files app, tap-and-hold the OPML file, then choose Pocket Casts as the application you want to open it in.
If you'd rather use some application that isn't Pocket Casts, the process should be more-or-less the same. Just dig through the settings until you find an "import" option—OPML is an industry standard supported by almost all applications. The main exception I can think of is Apple Podcasts, but I somehow doubt that's what you wanted to migrate to.
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You can get a premium lifetime subscription to 12min on sale for $49.99 right now (reg. $362.97), though prices can change at any time.
Nine out of 10 podcast lovers who listened to Reply All—everyone’s favorite podcast about the internet, hosted by PJ Vogt and Alex Goldman—deeply, deeply miss it. It’s been more than a year since the show ended, and even though nothing can truly replace what was lost, some shows come awfully close.
If you were a fan of Reply All, you might have followed PJ Vogt to his next pursuit, Crypto Island, which explored the world of cryptocurrency and the weird human stories behind the blockchain. He’s now using that feed for a new show, Search Engine, where he explores the kind of questions you usually can’t find online. (Why are monkeys at the zoo sad? Why is cannibalism taboo?) If you miss Reply All partially for PJ’s laugh, rest assured—it’s back.
Never Post is a brand-new podcast all about what's happening with, to, and on the internet, and what people are saying about it, placing the weird and wonderful and contradictory alongside the philosophical, legal, linguistic, artistic, and more. It draws connections and asks questions—it’s about the questions as much as it is the answers. These conversations will stir your curiosity about the internet and your relationship with it, and how it’s impacting your relationship with others. It’s hosted by Mike Rugnetta (formerly of the five-time Webby-award-winning YouTube series "Idea Channel," also "Fun City" and "Reasonably Sound") and produced by Hans Buetow (who was behind many shows you’ve listened to and loved, like Still Processing, Modern Love, The Daily, In The Dark, and more.)
Debuting in 2016, Gimlet’s Heavyweight, quite possibly the most beloved podcast of all time, is a narrative show that puts quirky host Jonathan Goldstein in hot pursuit of solving personal and intimate mysteries, like whether or not the stories a woman’s father told her were true, or why the school’s prettiest, most popular girls asked a misfit to prom. It’s not about the internet, but it shares this sense of wonder and optimism for the world around us that I think Reply All listeners will appreciate. Self-deprecating Jonathan brings humor and heart to his investigations, and the best part is that it’s not just entertaining: Jonathan really helps people. Everyone has a favorite Heavyweight episode, from Gregor to the award-winning Skye.
Slate’s Decoder Ring explores the cultural history and significance of quirky objects, concepts, and phenomena—everything from the smiley face to the suburban mall to the “Chicken Soup for the Soul” book series. Host Willa Paskin delves into the origins and evolution of each topic, always revealing unexpected connections and surprising stories along the way as she chats with experts, historians, and cultural commentators, lending us a deeper understanding of the world around us and the invisible ways culture shapes our lives.
Every episode of Underunderstood takes a look at an un-googleable mystery and gets to the bottom of it. The hosts walk each other through the mysteries, like tracking down strangers in photos, debunking reality TV scandals, answering abandoned Twitter threads, and more. It’s part chat show, part documentary, and almost always surprising. If you liked the Reply All episode #158 The Case of the Missing Hit, then start with the Underunderstood episode Lou Pearlman Tried to Send a Boy Band to Space.
Comedians Milly and Alise think we all need to log off the internet—right now!—and Go Touch Grass. On their show, they spend all their time keeping us up on internet gossip, as well as trends, memes, and hashtags that are lighting the internet up today. Interviews with influencers and other digital personalities give an unfiltered look at the stories our screens are telling us. Milly and Alise are hilarious. Time flies when you’re listening to them unpack the internet; it feels like you’re jumping in on the best group chat.
Most Endless Thread stories begin with something strange found on Reddit, and evolve from there into a story about people IRL. Using storytelling, interviews, and discussions, hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson find the people involved in the stories and bring their threads to life. The show is full of mysteries and personal experiences that will give you a glimpse into the lives of people around the world, both online and off.
Miss fun internet culture and Reply All’s buddy vibes? On The Content Mines, hosts Ryan Broderick (of the Garbage Day newsletter) and Luke Bailey (head of digital for inews.co.uk) talk about digital content—whether that’s Facebook magicians, TikTok landlords, crypto scams—and what makes it good and bad. Ryan and Luke spend a lot of time online, engaging with it, and explaining it to others, and are smart enough to make sense of it in a really entertaining way.
If you asked 10,000 podcast nuts the #1 show they miss, I bet you’d get a ton of votes for Mystery Show, and it shares DNA with Reply All. Long long ago, in the early days of podcasting, Starlee Kine would solve weird mysteries, like what happened to a video store or the real height of Jake Gyllenhaal. Starlee was fully committed to these tiny mysteries and investigated with both seriousness and a sense of humor, and all of her heart. There are only six episodes. Cherish them.
On ICYMI, hosts Rachelle Hampton and Candice Lim pick up on the digital threads and trends that everyone is talking about—the ones that are shaping our culture—and explain why. If you’ve ever felt left out of the discourse, this is a way to wrap your brain around it. The hosts are completely knowledgeable about #CruiseTok, Gypsy Rose Blanchard’s influencer era, the TikTok joy of Mychal the Librarian, and whatever wild thing is happening in the digital zeitgeist.
Why do we baby talk? Why do we keep goldfish in bowls in our houses? Why is it so hard to catch a roadrunner? Why, why, why? Every Little Thing (another beloved and now-defunct show) took calls from listeners about little things that puzzled them and tracked down experts to come up with an answer. The questions aren’t necessarily silly; they were always about things you’ve probably never really thought about before. Flora Lichtman’s deep dives will make you an expert by the end of each short episode.
It’s been almost 10 years since TLDR released its last episode, but when it comes to Reply All, it’s kind of where it all began—TLDR was where PJ and Alex started podcasting. For each episode, they’d take turns sharing weird stories about the internet. A new host, Meredith Haggerty, popped in at the end. Those episodes are great, too.
What are you watching tonight? With so many options to choose from, such a simple question can quickly feel overwhelming. So, why not outsource the problem to the experts? When I need a recommendation, I like to turn to podcasts designed specifically to help the rest of us find the stuff that can’t be missed, the stuff everyone will be talking about, and the stuff that’s safe to skip. Get deep dives and behind-the-scenes info about everything that’s lighting up your screen, play TV trivia games, and even revisit old shows from your childhood. Friends don’t let friends watch bad TV. Consider these podcasts your friends who will act as your friendly and fun TV guides.
On Extra Hot Great, Tara Ariano, Sarah D. Bunting, and David T. Cole bring on guests to host a lively roundtable about all the new stuff on TV. They also nominate their all-time favorites to The Canon, and play a TV trivia game called Game Time, thus covering all the bases of the TV coverage you need. They also step back to study the cultural nuances of TV trends and the people behind them. Consistently entertaining and smart, Tara, Sarah, and David are careful about spoilers so you can rest easy while you listen.
Comedian Ashley Ray is the host of TV, I Say w/ Ashley Ray, a TV review show that gets deep into what’s streaming. It seems like Ashley watches everything, and she has a strong sense of TV’s impact on culture and society. She brings on guests of all kinds—fellow TV lovers, celebrities, and people in-the-know—to provide a range of thoughts and opinions about what you should be watching and what you should skip. Ashley is hilarious, so even if she’s talking about something I’ve never seen, I’m entertained. I’m taking notes while I listen. Ashley has an opinion I have grown to trust.
Look forward to happy hour five days a week on Pop Culture Happy Hour, where journalists Linda Holmes, Glen Weldon, Stephen Thompson, and Aisha Harris (along with a rotating cast of guest experts), give their takes on not only the buzziest TV shows, but movies, books, albums, and video games, too. They cover everything from prestige dramas to reality TV, treating everything with the same amount of care and respect. Episodes are pretty short—most are less than 20 minutes—so it’s easy to work listening to it into your daily routine.
The Ringer gang (Bill Simmons, Joanna Robinson, Sean Fennessey, Mallory Rubin, Van Lathan, and many more) jump onto the feed of The Prestige TV Podcast to focus on the most popular TV shows with weekly recaps, comprehensive breakdowns, and exclusive creator and cast interviews. They’re not giving you a little taste of everything; they’re deeply focused on the stuff that’s trending in the zeitgeist. If you’re following along with their watching, you’ll feel like you’ve gotten the most out of everything you see. Their commentary will take you behind-the-scenes and point out important details you might have missed. I consider the analysis of The Prestige TV Podcast necessary accompaniment for any show I really want to understand and appreciate.
Hosted by Gerrad Hall, What To Watch is Entertainment Weekly's daily guide to the shows that should be on your radar. Gerrad, and the team of EW editors he brings in to help, are fantastic, as are all the interviews and behind-the-scene peeks. Episodes are super short and get posted every day, so you’ll always be on top of things.
Wading through scripted crime dramas and true-crime documentaries? Crime Writers On… is a podcast that takes a truly critical look at the genre’s most consumed content with the help of a panel of crime-writing experts: Rebecca Lavoie, Kevin Flynn, Lara Bricker, and Toby Ball. Each episode, the crew gives a complete breakdown (with spoilers) of hits like Only Murders in the Building, Stranger Things, and HBO’s The Staircase. (They also cover true-crime podcasts.) Don’t want them to spoil it for you? They give you a timestamp for their thumbs up or thumbs down review, so you can skip to find out whether or not a show is worth your time. They feel like a funny true-crime family who don’t hold back any punches. This show is a blast, and will help you refine your true-crime diet to boot.
If you're obsessed with the latest Netflix documentaries, You Can’t Make This Up (made by Netflix) is a must-listen. Host Rebecca Lavoie (one of the hosts of Crime Writers On…) goes in-depth interviewing creators and documentary subjects to uncover how these stories were made and the impact they have, revealing new information for people who want more than just a casual watch. Whether you’re interested in Twin Flames or just binged Depp v. Heard and feel the need to hash it out with someone smart like Rebecca, You Can’t Make This Up is your go-to for being an expert when it comes to Netflix’s latest doc.
Raised By TV hasn’t produced an episode for years, but it’s such a favorite of mine that I have to put this on the list. Comedians Lauren Lapkus and Jon Gabrus talked to other funny people about the TV shows and culture that raised them, what it was like to be a TV kid in the '90s, or to go to Blockbuster (remember those?) and pick out one movie to watch—without the distractions of a nearby phone. They tackled themes like finales, IMDB, and did a “First Last” segment, where they reviewed the first and last episodes of shows like Degrassi, making it an evergreen show to add to your rotation.
Sometimes I wish someone would just tell me what to watch. Now on Netflix (Made by Netflix and Tudum, Netflix's official companion site) won’t hold a gun to your head, but they will help you make sense of the Netflix algorithm and point out what’s notable on the streaming service. They'll tell you what everyone will be talking about, highlighting the biggest premieres, news about upcoming releases, and behind-the-scenes looks you won’t get anywhere else.
Kids programming is so different than it was when we were kids, so how do you know which shows will drive you crazy, which ones will parrot outdated worldviews, and which will become new family favorites? On What The Kids Are Watching, Natalie Puche and Ryan Bailey rewatch the weird and wild shows that all the kids love, but this show is for YOU. They break down, analyze, tease, and try to understand why kids can’t get enough of Paw Patrol, Bluey, Cocomelon, and more.
It’s that time of year again: Time to start getting assaulted by messages of bikini bodies, fad diets, and fitting into jeans that haven’t fit you in decades. If you’re trying to get healthy (and stay sane), it can be tough to mute all the noise and focus on what feels right for your own body, and not anyone else's. These podcasts challenge all the toxic messages we get about dieting, help explain why your brain might listen to them, and encourage you to laugh through all of it.
Join the revolution of Rebel Eaters Club, the podcast that will help you break up with diet culture. Host Virgie Tovar, a writer and activist, tackles intuitive eating, food culture, and enjoying the hell out of meals with friends. She's smart, joyous, real, open, and uplifting, discussing these issues in interviews and dazzling conversations that are as fun as they are informative. This is the place where "pizza" isn’t a bad word. Say yes to the cheese fries.
Diet culture is notoriously toxic, but if you think about it, it can be funny, too. Right? I mean how ridiculous are "revenge bodies?" On Fad Camp, comedians Conor Dowling and Grace Mulvey bring humor to their sharp takedowns on the wellness trap, fat camps, the BMI, wedding diets, and more. They’re your friends who will remind you that it’s okay to say F-you to all those messages you get about thigh gaps and bikini bodies—all while laughing about it, too. Fad Camp is a blast to listen to, and is the perfect pick-me-up for anyone experiencing a moment (or entire life) of body doubt.
Food, We Need to Talk isn’t just inspiring (it is) and it isn’t just funny (it’s that, too); it’s science based. Juna Gjata, a woman who has struggled with body image, is paired with Dr. Eddie Phillips (Assistant Professor of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at Harvard) to take on everything from fiber supplements to artificial sweeteners with lots of info and a little bit of sarcasm. (Ozempic? Eye roll.) It can be fun to talk to funny, relatable friends about diet culture, and that’s why Juna is there. But it’s also nice to have someone like Dr. Eddie there to confirm that your doubts about dieting are correct, and that you can usually trust your gut (no pun intended) when it comes to feeding yourself and caring for your body. Whatever stage you are in when it comes to body acceptance, you’ll find a lot to extract from Juna and Dr. Eddie’s fun, fact-filled conversations.
You've heard of body positivity, but have you heard of body neutrality? It emphasizes a neutral and accepting attitude toward one's own body, without placing undue focus on its appearance or societal beauty standards. In the world of body neutrality, your body just…is. It’s great, no matter what. That’s what This Is (Not) About Your Body is about. Body image coach Jessi Kneeland, author of BODY NEUTRAL: A Revolutionary Guide to Overcoming Body Image Issues, explores the deep issues that impact our body images and features interviews with experts on everything it touches—mental health, beauty ideals, sexuality, gender, and more.
From Christy Harrison MPH, RD, CEDS, author of The Wellness Trap and Anti-Diet, and host of Food Psych Podcast (another good one! Check it out!), Rethinking Wellness challenges all those things like "clean eating" and alternative medicine that are sold to us as wellness tactics, and gets honest about the truths behind them. It’s the anti-wellness podcast that will help you get closer to wellness, if that makes sense. Christy exposes the wellness industry for what it is, revealing the technically smart but toxic marketing tactics it uses to keep us obsessed with our bodies. Once you learn that so much of wellness is smoke and mirrors, you can’t unlearn it. The genie is out of the seed oil bottle.
Ronald Young Jr. is fat, and on his podcast Weight for It, which was selected in Tribeca’s 2023 Official Audio Storytelling Series, he’s talking about it. Weight for It is part narrative storytelling, part personal memoir—and it gets extremely personal. Every episode is a deep exploration into his own desirability, his shame, and his relationships. He even brings his mic into the doctor’s office, so we can hear the completely absurd ways that doctors often treat fat people.
When Michael Hobbes left You’re Wrong About, he put his energy into Maintenance Phase, the show he co-hosts with Aubrey Gordon that explores and critiques popular health and wellness trends and products. With tons of notes and a lot of rage-laughter, Michael and Aubrey run through the worst diets, exercise trends, supplements, beauty products, and "nutrition" books, evaluating whether they are actually effective or if they are based on misleading or harmful information. (It’s almost always the latter.) If you hate the BMI, were led astray by the food pyramid in the ‘90s, or roll your eyes every time your friend goes on and on about their latest cleanse, you’ll appreciate their myth-busting efforts.
Diets don’t work. So what does? Once you’ve decided you’re ready to kick the D word to the curb, you might need some help from your new friends, intuitive eating coach Stefanie Michele and psychotherapist Sarah Dosanjh, hosts of Life After Diets. They talk all things disordered eating and bad body image, drawing from their own eating struggles to inform you and make you feel like you’re not alone. And if you feel like you are alone, you’re wrong. I just introduced you to two people who will guide you to a life free from body obsession.
2020 Great British Bake Off finalist Laura Adlington and her best friend Lauren Smith are the duo behind Go Love Yourself, the bold show that fights back against the messaging that so many of us grew up with in the '90s and '00s—that we should be watching our waistlines, that fat was unhealthy, and that…we should all be wearing skinny jeans? They’re inviting you to unlearn it all with love, confidence, and friendship, covering things like body dysmorphia, "almond moms," cosmetic surgery, and opinionated family members. Go F yourself, diets. And you, go love yourself.
We Can Do Hard Things isn’t a podcast specifically about diet culture, it’s about (as you might guess) how to do hard things. But for many of us, one of those things is living in a body. Tamed author and thought leader Glennon Doyle recently came out very publicly about her anorexia, and has been an open book about her process in getting healthy and unlearning the things that got her here. So many stories focus on people who are already recovered, not the messy middle, and that's part of what makes We Can Do Hard Things so great. Along with her sister, Amanda, and wife—Abby Wambach, one of the most accomplished female soccer players in the sport's history—Glennon shares mind-shifting insights and epiphanies about her own recovery, fatphobia, and how to flip the dangerous dieting rhetoric on its head. She also shares other, related tips, like how to maintain friendships, get along with partners, and disable imposter syndrome. Often, all this stuff trickles down into body issues. So if your New Year’s Resolution is to stop caring about dieting, this show will help you on your journey.
