Podcasts: True Crime For Your Ears

[TattleTeeny]

Quote

I actually like the mother's voice/way of speaking.  I'm not Canadian, though, so all the "ehs" do crack me up at times.  

What about the seemingly millions of "Right?" used sort of like punctuation by....was it Michael LaVoie's mom?

[starri]

Dave Ridgen certainly has a pretty high opinion of himself.  He seemed shocked that Michael LaVoie wouldn't speak to him, even though the guy is, at best, wrongly suspected of murder, and at worst, an actual murderer.  Of course he wasn't going to go on the record.

In the end, I was really unsatisfied, even more than I was with the first season.  I could have done with a little less editorializing, particularly when he was trying to be deep and failing.

I think I finally figured out why Odette Fisher's voice drove me so crazy.  I don't know if it's just a speech impediment or a Nova Scotia accent (I've been to Nova Scotia and don't remember hearing people talking like that), but she was this way of emphasizing very strange syllables in words and odd words in a sentence.  I almost wondered if I'd misremembered her being from Newfoundland, but that's not a Newfie accent either.

[TattleTeeny]

Is it all done?

[starri]

Yep.  They said they'd update the story when and if there are any developments.  I'm not really expecting any

[starri]

On 10/11/2016 at 6:04 PM, glowbug said:

I also listened to Missing Maura Murray. The guys that host it don't seem all that bright and I feel like the structure of each episode is disjointed. 

You aren't kidding.  I've only listened to the first few episodes, but I think it's more about the two dudes than about the actual case.

They also do the obnoxious "I'm just the guy asking questions" that most conspiracy theorists do.  I'm not sure why I'd continue listening, except that I find their theorizing amusing.  Until it gets annoying.

How in the world is there enough material for this to get 40 episodes out of this?

[Christina]

Thank you @starri for saving me the trouble. I didn't enjoy the first one and didn't know whether to start this one.

[starri]

This is going to be my last rant about Missing Maura Murray unless someone wants to chime in, but, I just can't with this.

Firstly, there's the sneering at the "armchair detectives" who think they're going to solve the cast from their keyboards...while they continue to do the exact same thing.  Then there's spinning out of wild conspiracy theories while ignore the far more likely idea that a drunken college student might wander off into the woods, get lost, and die of exposure.  Then there's the guy who keeps being interviewed as a thin excuse to pitch his book, who keeps labelling Maura a sociopathy because of...reasons.  He is not a psychiatrist.  He is not a psychologist.  He never met her.  And then the jackasses defend him for some reason.

But the last fucking straw was their visit to a psychic.  They were amazed that she kept hitting on things around the case.  She was hitting on things because they kept feeding her information to parrot back.  I'd say she was cold reading them, but she honestly didn't have to work for it.  I was so incensed by that, I actually looked up their video about it on YouTube, and saw them defending it as saying "Oh, we weren't trying to say psychics are real, we were just interested in pursuing new leads."  How is that different?  "She's alive...no, she's dead...no, she's alive and dead.  She's in a pond...no she's in [the river that you just mentioned because there wasn't a pond nearby]...she's in Canada...she's in Franconia Notch."

Idiots.

[MargeGunderson]

Thanks for the honest review @starri! I have crossed it off my list.

I found a new-to-me podcast: Casefile True Crime. The host is Australian and some of the stories are as well, but it's not focused on Austalia. It can be a little slow but enjoyable. 

[Soobs]

I listened to one episode of Missing Maura and I couldn't do more than that.  I like Casefile. There's a lot of famous Australian crimes that I've never heard of. The narrator has a good voice and is pretty serious. Breakdown was pretty good. They did two seasons, the second one was a lot better than the first in my opinion but it was a more famous and salacious case (baby left in the hot car by a dad who had multiple affairs some with underage girls).

For me it's varies on what makes a good, true crime podcast. Whether it be accuracy, an unheard of case, an original way of telling a story, chemistry between the hosts, all those aspects matter in varying degrees. Not a podcast, but I like The Vanishing Women because it also tells the story of a typical Midwestern town and how it slowly fell into despair because of opioid abuse. Crimetown sort of does that too. I guess I like it when the story speaks to some type of greater truth. I've started Strangler and I just find it so sad that I'm not sure how far I'll get. All these older women who raised families, worked hard and just wanting to quietly live out their days and then the head of the newspaper saying things like, "they're nobodies". It was a little too real. Sorry for the rambling post. 12 hour work day followed by a glass of wine (or two). It was fun to read what you all are listening to. I mostly keep my true crime interests to myself.

[RainbowBrite]

On 2/17/2017 at 9:39 PM, starri said:

Dave Ridgen certainly has a pretty high opinion of himself.  He seemed shocked that Michael LaVoie wouldn't speak to him, even though the guy is, at best, wrongly suspected of murder, and at worst, an actual murderer.  Of course he wasn't going to go on the record.

In the end, I was really unsatisfied, even more than I was with the first season.  I could have done with a little less editorializing, particularly when he was trying to be deep and failing.

I think I finally figured out why Odette Fisher's voice drove me so crazy.  I don't know if it's just a speech impediment or a Nova Scotia accent (I've been to Nova Scotia and don't remember hearing people talking like that), but she was this way of emphasizing very strange syllables in words and odd words in a sentence.  I almost wondered if I'd misremembered her being from Newfoundland, but that's not a Newfie accent either.

Her voice was so painful to listen to. I feel like I was inside her mouth while she was talking, somehow. Ugh. I'm Canadian and I've heard that type of accent around before but I have no idea where it originates. 

Sheryl definitely ran with a rough crowd and was likely involved in illegal activities; it amazed me that almost everyone he talked to had that hard, gruff voice - they've all lived hard lives. 

[MargeGunderson]

Not exactly true crime, but is anyone listening to Missing Richard Simmons?

[Princess Sparkle]

4 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

Not exactly true crime, but is anyone listening to Missing Richard Simmons?

I am! And I'm thoroughly enjoying it and recommending it to anyone that will listen.

[MargeGunderson]

I'm going to start it this weekend. I'm really intrigued! I vaguely knew that about his "disappearance" but I want the whole story.

[Yokosmom]

Yes.  It is very weird.   Of course, he's perfectly within his rights to just drop out, but to do it with not a single word of explanation?  Not one farewell statement? Not even a "I need to spend time on ME for once"?  So sad to hear him say in interviews that he has no personal life.  Did he have a nervous breakdown?  If he didn't want all this attention, then he should have planned his retirement/withdrawal a bit better.  Of course, everyone is going to wonder if he is being drugged/mind controlled/manipulated.

[RainbowBrite]

On 3/3/2017 at 2:03 PM, Yokosmom said:

Yes.  It is very weird.   Of course, he's perfectly within his rights to just drop out, but to do it with not a single word of explanation?  Not one farewell statement? Not even a "I need to spend time on ME for once"?  So sad to hear him say in interviews that he has no personal life.  Did he have a nervous breakdown?  If he didn't want all this attention, then he should have planned his retirement/withdrawal a bit better.  Of course, everyone is going to wonder if he is being drugged/mind controlled/manipulated.

The thing I don't understand, if he just wanted to "go away", is why he couldn't have had some sort of final interaction with all of those who he had a relationship with - the old woman he drove to classes and the woman he spoke with over the phone regularly, etc. Why couldn't he have one last conversation to explain why he was retreating? If it's depression, has he really not had one moment of reprieve in the past three years in which he could have tried to ease the minds of those missing him? I try not to subscribe to conspiracy theories, but I just have a bad feeling that he may be held against his will or being blackmailed in some way.

 

Another thought on Richard Simmons: He has phoned into TV shows to refute his "missing" status, so why could he not contact those closest to him that are worrying about him, to provide them with an explanation? I feel they're owed more than the media is.

Edited March 6, 2017 by RainbowBrite

[Guest]

There's a new true crime podcast, The Blotter Presents,  right here at PTV.  Here's a link to the the forum that contains a link to the podcast.

[Christina]

I have very conflicting thoughts on the Richard Simmons podcast. If he wants to be left alone after giving himself to others for several decades, he should be allowed to remain left alone. But, if he is being held against his will this podcast won't help him. He won't know about it and he won't respond to it, so it is only benefiting the person creating the podcast. I mean, he starts the fourth podcast asking for the people listening to tell others and introduce this podcast to them. It seems less and less about bringing word to Richard to contact someone and more about promoting themselves with each podcast. 

The third option is that he has passed away and his maid is keeping that hidden so that she retains access to his money, but she was also his wife who would probably inherit a lot of it. I'm sure his will left things to charity because that is the type of man he is, but unless she signed away her rights, she would inherit a large portion by law. I don't know how long I will continue to listen. If it is only six episodes, I'll probably finish it, but if it is more than that and drawn out much longer, I think I am done.

[biakbiak]

On 3/16/2017 at 8:58 AM, Christina said:

The third option is that he has passed away and his maid is keeping that hidden so that she retains access to his money,

I doubt the police would go along with that and they have no reason to lie about his well being after they did a wellness check.

[starri]

I've never listened to Crime Writers On...before, and someone somewhere suggested I check out their episodes about S Town.

Once you get past how meta the idea of a true crime podcast about true crime podcasts is (the first episode I listened to was even sponsored, Inception-style, by a true crime podcast), I was surprised by how often their opinions aligned with my own.  They did an incredibly polite takedown of Missing Maura Murray that was so cathartic, I had to listen to it twice.  And their rebranding of Someone Knows Something as Nobody Knows Anything sums up my feelings about the show in three words.  And Kevin's rant about the second season had me wanting to punctuate it like I was Uncle Jimmy from S Town.

[MargeGunderson]

@starri, I'm going to have to listen to that episode. I was annoyed by both Missing Maura Murray and SKS so it sounds right up my alley.

So far S Town hasn't grabbed me. Maybe I need to really pay attention to it rather than doing something else while listening. I have played the first episode 3 times and still couldnt tell you much about it.

[starri]

I don't know if you've been spoiled about S Town, but if you can make it into the second episode, by the end you'll realize that the show you thought this was going to be isn't the show that it actually is.  If it's not grabbing you, it's not worth forcing yourself, but it does turn out to be more interesting than it first appears.

This is the SKS S2 episode.  Kevin's big rant starts about 35 minutes in.  The ones for the first season and MMM were earlier when they were a little rougher around the edges.

[MargeGunderson]

I gave S Town another shot, and now I'm blazing through it. It's not the story it seemed like it was going to be from the first episode but that's not a bad thing. The story that is told is really very interesting.

[April Bloodgate]

I'm a longtime forums lurker, but I just discovered this thread. I just added 4 podcasts to my app thanks to you all. :) 

I do love My Favorite Murder. I was a fan of Karen before the podcast, so it really works for me. Really excited to see them live in a few months!

Agree with you all about Last Podcast on the Left. Ugh...

[MargeGunderson]

I finished S-town. I felt like the ending was a bit abrupt. 

[RainbowBrite]

I just discovered Missing Maura Murray yesterday and am on the 8th episode (listening throughout the day at work). If anyone has listened to this, is it worth continuing? There are 44+ episodes...

Edited May 4, 2017 by RainbowBrite

[starri]

9 minutes ago, RainbowBrite said:

I just discovered Missing Maura Murray yesterday and am on the 8th episode (listening throughout the day at work). If anyone has listened to this, is it worth continuing? There are 44+ episodes...

No.  Unless you're listening to it in a case study in conspiracy theories.

[RainbowBrite]

26 minutes ago, starri said:

No.  Unless you're listening to it in a case study in conspiracy theories.

Dammit! Ha.

Thanks!! I was hoping maybe there were some developments, but I guess I probably would have heard about the podcast before this if there had been...

[starri]

If you want to hear the same information repeated again and again and again and James Renner popping off with wild accusations that he states with no evidence.  But there's thing called life and it's very short.

I hate-listened for a while (including recently, when they had a return appearance from Renner where they actually tried to call him on his bullshit), and I was halfway between rage stroke and putting my fist through my phone.

[RainbowBrite]

I had never heard of the Maura Murray case before (I'm not American) and found the first couple of episodes intriguing, but already on #8 they have run out of steam. I think I'll skip to the most recent episode to see where they are now, but then I'm going to delete it from my app.

Thanks for the tip! I'd like to avoid a rage stroke if at all possible.

[starri]

I'm not even entirely sure why the "case" is such a big deal beyond the standard Nancy Grace answer that it involved an attractive young white woman who may or may not have been in peril.  There's not even any real evidence that there was any crime.  But there's this subreddit that's incredibly active for some minor (in a global scale) thing that happened more than a decade ago.

Like, I understand the obsession with JonBenet Ramsey.  The story got going during a slow news period the week between Christmas and New Years.  The coverage of it was wall-to-wall, and the more salacious details gave the tabloids plenty of grist.  But that at least contains a definite crime and definite evidence.

Did you make it to the psychic episode?  How about the one where they spend an hour cataloging each and every item found in Maura's car?  I'm sure they're well-intentioned, but they just seem like dumbasses.

[RainbowBrite]

11 minutes ago, starri said:

I'm not even entirely sure why the "case" is such a big deal beyond the standard Nancy Grace answer that it involved an attractive young white woman who may or may not have been in peril.  There's not even any real evidence that there was any crime.  But there's this subreddit that's incredibly active for some minor (in a global scale) thing that happened more than a decade ago.

Like, I understand the obsession with JonBenet Ramsey.  The story got going during a slow news period the week between Christmas and New Years.  The coverage of it was wall-to-wall, and the more salacious details gave the tabloids plenty of grist.  But that at least contains a definite crime and definite evidence.

Did you make it to the psychic episode?  How about the one where they spend an hour cataloging each and every item found in Maura's car?  I'm sure they're well-intentioned, but they just seem like dumbasses.

I think I was 2 episodes away from the psychic episode...I saw the title and started to question whether I should keep listening.

I've learned my lesson with a couple of other true crime podcasts, that I should just cancel my subscriptions instead of continuing to hate-listen (i.e. Up and Vanished, Undisclosed, etc.).

[starri]

I've never listened to Up and Vanished, but Undisclosed doesn't bother me, if for no other reason than they have hosts who are actually educated in the things they're talking about, however you feel about the conclusions they reach.

Which I guess is a broader critique of True Crime podcasts in general.  Say what you will about My Favorite Murder, Karen and Georgia freely admit their ignorance of a lot of things and position the podcast as entertainment.  Last Podcast on the Left, for all of my problems with it, generally tries to be merely informational.  Serial, Criminal, Stranglers, and Crime Writers On all have journalists (one of the CWO hosts is also a private investigator).  Real Crime Profile has an FBI agent and a criminal psychologist.  MMM and True Crime Garage just have some dudes talking.  And there's nothing wrong with dudes talking; that's what MFM is, after all.  But they seem to think they're...I don't know, on equal footing with the pros.

I ranted about this over in the Internet Pet Peeves thread, but the whole idea of the "armchair detective" annoys the ever-loving crap out of me.  I'm sure they're intelligent people, but being able to google stuff is not an equivalent of being educated in it, and it's certainly not the same as doing it in real life.  Piecing together whatever snippets of information are publicly available isn't "solving the case."  It's fun to do this stuff.  I like doing it, but it doesn't make you a detective any more than watching ER makes you a doctor.

There's a podcast titled simply Serial Killers that I listen to for reasons that are beyond me.  At the top of the episode, the host introduces his co-host "Who is not a psychiatrist or a psychologist, but has done a LOT of research."  GRRRRRRRRR!

[biakbiak]

On Thursday, May 04, 2017 at 9:37 AM, starri said:

Karen and Georgia freely admit their ignorance of a lot of things and position the podcast as entertainment.

I just find them painfully ignorant on so many things that I often have to stop myself from screaming so only listen to an episode every few weeks because I do like their dynamic.

[starri]

I get that, and in one episode where I think Georgia made some comment about how terrible double jeopardy made me so angry that I fired off a Tweet telling them to stick to what they're good at and leave Constitutional Law to people who know what they're talking about.  And there's a strong streak (more from their fans, but they're guilty of it too) where every single crime means you have to be in jail forever and there's no such thing as rehabilitation that offends the hell out of me.

OTOH, in their most recent episode, Karen was telling the story of Belle Gunness, including her black widow personal ad that included the phrase "Triflers need not apply."  Which lead them singing "No Scrubs" and the biggest laugh I've had in a long time.

[RainbowBrite]

1 hour ago, starri said:

I get that, and in one episode where I think Georgia made some comment about how terrible double jeopardy made me so angry that I fired off a Tweet telling them to stick to what they're good at and leave Constitutional Law to people who know what they're talking about.  And there's a strong streak (more from their fans, but they're guilty of it too) where every single crime means you have to be in jail forever and there's no such thing as rehabilitation that offends the hell out of me.

OTOH, in their most recent episode, Karen was telling the story of Belle Gunness, including her black widow personal ad that included the phrase "Triflers need not apply."  Which lead them singing "No Scrubs" and the biggest laugh I've had in a long time.

"Triflers need not apply" was great!

I much prefer Karen to Georgia, but I enjoy Karen enough that I'll deal with Georgia. I feel bad saying that, as they are real people, but Georgia just bugs.

[starri]

2 minutes ago, RainbowBrite said:

I much prefer Karen to Georgia, but I enjoy Karen enough that I'll deal with Georgia. I feel bad saying that, as they are real people, but Georgia just bugs.

Karen is by far the funnier of the two.  Having seen them live, she's also much better in front of a crowd, although Georgia is by no means bad.

Georgia doesn't bug me, exactly.  She's got her good points.  But she's not quite as good at seeing nuance as Karen is.

[glowbug]

I agree that Karen is much more entertaining than Georgia, and while I like Georgia too, she does sometimes annoy me. The Sweet Baby Angel thing is really irritating to me for some reason. I also agree that their stance/non-stance on the death penalty and rehabilitation get to me. I'm anti-death penalty (though fully support life in prison without parole when necessary) so when they make comments about being happy when someone gets the death penalty it gets to me. The murderers they talk about all deserve life in prison without parole so I don't have a problem with them being appalled when time and time again these people are set free (or receive mere slaps on the wrist) by the justice system after doing some pretty horrific things like murder or rape. But you can tell neither of them has really thought deeply about the criminal justice system and specifically about the death penalty, false convictions and rehabilitation. 

Edited May 8, 2017 by glowbug

[FormerMod-a1]

Breaking news on Richard Simmons.

Richard Simmons Claims Former Associate Has Been Blackmailing Him for Years, Bombshell Lawsuit Reveals

Lots of other sources on the lawsuit now too, including CNN and USA Today.

[starri]

For the MFM fans:  The "Triflers Need Not Apply" merch is available.  I'm getting a coffee mug.

Apparently, Real Crime Profile decided to come up with a profile of S Town's John.  Crime Writers On read both them to filth for doing it (agreed), and Rebecca impressed me even more by coming out and very strongly saying that the idea of criminal profiling is a bunch of bunk.  But that's a discussion for another place.

[RainbowBrite]

On ‎5‎/‎11‎/‎2017 at 3:08 PM, starri said:

For the MFM fans:  The "Triflers Need Not Apply" merch is available.  I'm getting a coffee mug.

Apparently, Real Crime Profile decided to come up with a profile of S Town's John.  Crime Writers On read both them to filth for doing it (agreed), and Rebecca impressed me even more by coming out and very strongly saying that the idea of criminal profiling is a bunch of bunk.  But that's a discussion for another place.

I'm finally falling in love with Crime Writers On...although their banter still drives me bonkers.

I also liked their current discussions around trigger warnings.

[starri]

I don't think Toby adds a whole lot, but Rebecca adds so much, it doesn't bother me.

The trigger warning discussion was great, as was Rebecca's refusal to back down after getting a lot of hate mail.  

[RainbowBrite]

18 hours ago, starri said:

I don't think Toby adds a whole lot, but Rebecca adds so much, it doesn't bother me.

The trigger warning discussion was great, as was Rebecca's refusal to back down after getting a lot of hate mail.  

I agree re: Rebecca on both points.

My dislike of the banter is specifically between Rebecca and Kevin; my complaint is totally unjustified but it's how I feel nonetheless. (Ha)

[Soobs]

Is anyone listening to Convicted? It's like the first season of Serial except it's about a young father who was found guilty of shooting his toddler daughter. The narrator sounds a lot like the Serial narrator but she's a social worker and not a journalist. It's pretty good so far. I think the goal is to get him a new trial.

[RainbowBrite]

10 hours ago, Soobs said:

Is anyone listening to Convicted? It's like the first season of Serial except it's about a young father who was found guilty of shooting his toddler daughter. The narrator sounds a lot like the Serial narrator but she's a social worker and not a journalist. It's pretty good so far. I think the goal is to get him a new trial.

I enjoyed the first episode but the second one dragged and I stopped listening. Has she released more episodes now?

[Soobs]

On 5/26/2017 at 6:31 AM, RainbowBrite said:

I enjoyed the first episode but the second one dragged and I stopped listening. Has she released more episodes now?

Me too. Then I ran out of stuff and went back and listened to the third, which I liked. There's 4 episodes up now and a panel discussion which you can skip. It's basically a super long teaser.

[Atlanta]

Unconcluded is a great podcast. It covers the disappearance of Jennifer Kesse in Orlando.

[RainbowBrite]

On ‎7‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 2:28 PM, Atlanta said:

Unconcluded is a great podcast. It covers the disappearance of Jennifer Kesse in Orlando.

Thanks for the suggestion! Checking it out now.

Edit: I started the first episode and this was definitely on a Dateline-type show before.

Edited July 18, 2017 by RainbowBrite

[Chairperson Meow]

On ‎7‎/‎17‎/‎2017 at 2:28 PM, Atlanta said:

Unconcluded is a great podcast. It covers the disappearance of Jennifer Kesse in Orlando.

I'm really trying to like this one, but the host's voice kinda irks me a bit.  He says he never did a podcast before, so it may be that.  I can't do True Crime Brewery because the couple's voices are like a kindergarten teacher.  I do love True Crime Garage and Generation Why.

[ElleBee]

1 hour ago, Chairperson Meow said:

I'm really trying to like this one, but the host's voice kinda irks me a bit.  He says he never did a podcast before, so it may be that.  

I like elements of Unconcluded but have the same critique. It's like he's trying too hard to be a Serial Next Gen by emulating Sarah Koenig's vocal style, but isn't really pulling it off.

[Atlanta]

12 hours ago, Chairperson Meow said:

I'm really trying to like this one, but the host's voice kinda irks me a bit.  He says he never did a podcast before, so it may be that.  I can't do True Crime Brewery because the couple's voices are like a kindergarten teacher.  I do love True Crime Garage and Generation Why.

I tried to listen to TCB but the hosts' voices put me to sleep.

With Unconcluded, I like that Jennifer's mom, Joyce, is a friend of the show and is active in the FB discussion group.