This year’s best mystery/drama/story isn’t on TV. It’s not even in theaters. It’s actually a podcast, but even if you don’t consider yourself a podcast listener, you need to be listening to Serial. WBEZ Chicago is the station behind This American Life—this country’s other great audio documentarians—but Serial is a different animal. It’s clearly made with Generation Binge in mind, trusting that the same addiction that fueled Breaking Bad could be harnessed for podcasts and, boy, were they ever right. The segments are posted weekly (they’re currently six episodes in) and listeners are on tenterhooks between releases.
Serial is a piece of serialized investigative journalism that, for its first season, is focusing on the 1999 real-life murder of a teenager in Maryland. The boyfriend was charged in the murder, but as reporter Sarah Koenig (pictured) goes over the facts, some serious questions are raised. To tell you any more than that would be to spoil this team’s masterful unveiling of their own riveting research. You shouldn’t even be reading this. You should be listening to Serial. It’s all free, but be warned, once you start listening, you won’t be able to stop …