Serial

OMG so excited.

Just listened to it.

I have never heard of this guy but apparently it was big news when he was rescued?

How do people with android phones download the podcasts?

I use an app called Podcast Addict.

Once subscribed I just have to refresh the app each morning and it tells me how many new podcasts are available and then I just hit the download button on the ones I want.

Cheers. Will try it.

Sword and Scale is so dark. There were a couple of episodes I had to stop listening for a while - the paedophile/abuse ones are not very nice.

anyone else's day ruined by the announcement that they have changed Serial to bi-weekly?!? really annoyed, as I was looking forward to hearing today's episode, but glad it reflects greater access to the people who know the most about it.

I sort of feel like this one hasn't quite picked up the momentum of the last series, but maybe I should be more sympathetic to Bo...

I sort of feel like this one hasn't quite picked up the momentum of the last series, but maybe I should be more sympathetic to Bo...

Same, but I dont know if thats because I didnt listen to the 1st season until it had ended so I listened to them all in one day.

It's interesting enough just hearing first hand accounts of what goes on from all sides out there . But i kind of feel as if the centre of the S2 story is totally lacking jeopardy. What happens to Bo is surely the difference between subtly different flavours of fucked by a bizarre military justice system, as a coda to something horrible that has already happened.

From that point of view the whole premise for the show of "as told week by week" is more or less meaningless. It's 90% excerpts from interviews that were done a while ago, eked out try and build tension and timed (presumably) to peak at around the time some announcement on the case is due. I'm assuming the change to bi-weekly is a reaction to a change in that schedule. It's all a bit silly.

As to the nub of the story they keep dangling: "what he was thinking when he walked off?" Does it really matter? I'm not sure I care really.

I'll keep listening like the whore I am though.

I use Player FM. Not brilliant but easy enough functionality.

Yeah, I get the feeling that they are banking on it being interesting to more americans because of the military angle, and most Americans having family or friends who have been in the military at one point or another.

"what he was thinking when he walked off?"... I'm not sure I care really.

I have to say I do find this an interesting question, and I hope the reason they are trying to play this up is that the real answer, the only thing that could actually make sense of the situation, is that America and the whole effort in Afghanistan was so endemically, structurally and pathologically insane from the off, that walking off into the middle of nowhere was the only sane response. Because THAT would be a strong point if you could convince my fellow yanks...

S2 just doesn't grip like S1. There are some interesting perspectives into stories you don't often hear told, but it feels WAY over-stretched to play it out over 12 episodes. Would have made a really interesting 1 hour special.

I went down the rabbit hole with the Adnan story and listened to this podcast by Rabia (who brought the story to Sarah's attention) which goes deep into the evidence and legal side of the story and the court case(s). Massively overlong at times and frequently drags, but there are some really startling revelations that Serial never made and (whilst you need to keep in mind some overt bias) certainly throws lots more light onto the case. The episodes on 'Crime City' (reviewing other miscarriages of justice featuring the same cops in the same area), 'Jay's Day' (some of the stuff on police coaching for Jay's story are seriously enlightening), 'Crime Stoppers'/'the Deals with Jay' (potential case-changing revelation) and 'Tina' (on Guttierez's breakdown) are all worth a listen if you want to go deeper into the story.

You post pretty much nails it.

S1 always had the potential to be resolved, so when it wasn't that in itself was a surprise. I fully expected to find out the "truth".

S2? Well we know why thingybob says he ran off, and to the best of my knowledge the Army haven't disputed it, and I can't see why they need to. If ture it's hardly a mitigating factor / defense, is it?

Oh Series 1 has 3 new bits

This week, Sarah Koenig ducks back into the Adnan Syed case for a few days. There’s a hearing in Baltimore—a court proceeding that’s been nearly sixteen years in the making. Syed’s attorney will introduce new evidence, and present a case for why his conviction should be overturned. Sarah and producer Dana Chivvis will discuss what happens, day by day.

listened to these, a little frustrating that the hearing is going to continue this week but Serial won't be there to cover it.

Just listened to the latest 2 episodes. I'm unsure where this goes.

Pretty annoying that they changed it to every second week and now they're releasing two episodes back to back.

I'm not annoyed by that.

Just don't see what they didn't stick to the weekly format.

This. The constant changing of schedules makes me think they're trying to time everything just right.

Heads up – another episode is out today. So it's gone from weekly, to bi-weekly, to daily and presumably back to bi-weekly.

i think they make these things as they go to see what happens with the narrative. Adding updates on the Adnan case was a nice touch.

I get the feeling that the story arch is also designed in such a way to send your emotions back and fourth before finally resting somewhere in the middle as there will no final payoff, no grand confession, no court decision etc.

Or maybe they just don't know and we're all too cynical?

What happened with the Syed hearing then? It pretty bizarre of them to duck back into S1 because the hearing is SUCH BIG NEWS only to report on it for two days then when it was scheduled to continue into the next week, announce they couldn't be there... and then just then just stop reporting on it.

What the actual...? Have I missed something?

The hearing is over, but no opinion/judgement will be given for a few weeks. If you want more info, the hearing updates (daily) here are pretty detailed: http://undisclosed-podcast.com/

I've decided Adnan did it.