The 12 Best New Podcasts This Fall

Fall is a time for new podcasts to be released, but there are a few you can’t miss. There are family secrets on this list; a murder mystery based on GV reality; a sitcom for your ears starring a German techno DJ, thoughtful reflections on class and weight; previously unpublished information about who killed Biggie Smalls; and the dolphin sex scandal. Am I getting your attention?

Weight for this

Ronald Young Jr. is fat, and on his podcast Weight for It , which was selected as Tribeca’s Official 2023 Audio Storytelling Series, he talks about it. The Weight of This is part narrative narrative, part personal memoir, and it gets intensely personal. Each episode feels like it could be the best episode of the podcast and is an in-depth exploration of his own desirability, his shame, and his relationships. He even brings his microphone into the doctor’s office so we can hear the doctors’ absolutely insane attitudes toward fat people.

Murder on Sex Island

Jo Firestone has some free time (thanks to the writers’ strike), so she wrote a book called Murder on Sex Island , which you can order right now and also hear her read it to you on her podcast of the same name . A reality TV contestant goes missing, inspiring detective (and obsessive show fan) Louella Van Horn to go undercover on the show to find him, but she has a secret of her own to hide. Not only is it full of fun details, the plot is well thought out. I’d say this is a perfect bedtime story, but you’ll probably laugh too hard to fall asleep. If you love comedy and audiobooks, this is for you.

Magnificent jerk

Magnificent Jerk is Maya Lyn Sugarman’s audio memoir about the family secrets she discovers when her aunts drop a box of scripts into her lap. They tell her that her late uncle Galen was the leader of a Chinese gang; went to prison; was the author of these scripts; and one of them became a terrible 90’s movie called Crazy 6 starring Rob Lowe, Burt Reynolds and Ice-T. Through whispered conversations with her family and other gang members, and some digging, she tries to get to know the uncle she thought she understood. “Magnificent Jerk” mixes fact and fiction and closely follows Maya’s hunt for a complex man and the truth about her own family.

Exposed: The Columbia University Cover-up

Dr. Robert Hadden was a Columbia University obstetrician and gynecologist who sexually abused at least a dozen of his patients at Columbia over the course of approximately 25 years before journalists Lauren Bale and Bianca Fortis caught up with him to uncover his story. (When they found him, he was living a peaceful life in early retirement in New Jersey.) Bale and Fortis wrote an explosive article for ProPublica and dove even deeper into the book Exposed: The Cover-Up at Columbia University , hosted by Bale. This is a story about power and what happens when someone in a medical setting abuses it, as well as a look at the process of victims speaking out and coming together to fight for justice.

Hooked on Freddy

In 1987, in the British seaside town of Amble, a bottlenose dolphin named Freddy became a regular visitor to the harbor, upending the town. Freddie became a local celebrity. This worried Alan Cooper, an animal rights activist campaigning for the release of captive dolphins, who had been arguing with Peter Bloom, the owner of the nearby Flamingo Land dolphinarium. The podcast Hooked On Freddie talks about a specific incident where Cooper was swimming with Freddie and Bloom told the police that Cooper was “jacking off Freddie”, setting off tabloid rumors, a trial, and completely ruining Cooper’s reputation (even though he was found innocent). This story is told by Becky Milligan, a reporter who was there and remembers everything. This is probably the only dolphin sex scandal you’ll ever hear, and it’s definitely the best.

Tell the doctor more? Sheila

What “?” after “Doctor”—not a typo—in “Say More with Doctor?” Sheila , Sheila is not a doctor: she is Amy Poehler. (“For legal reasons, the word “Doctor?” must be pronounced in the form of a question.”) and “Say more with Doctor?” Sheila” is an improvised comedy show in which the Doctor? Sheila allows you to be a fly on the wall in her couples therapy sessions. Think: “Where do we start?” with zero expertise. Doctor? Sheila strives to improve the relationships between her clients, but only makes them worse. (In the first episode, she plays out an OJ-inspired “If You Did It” episode about cheating, resulting in “Beth” and “Ryan” revealing detailed accounts of the cheating they definitely committed.) Huge names like Fred Armisen , Kate Berlant, Rachel Dratch, John Earley, Tina Fey, Ana Gasteyer, Ilana Glazer, Abbi Jacobson, Jason Mantzoukas, Maya Rudolph and Paul Scheer play the couples.

Retrospectively

In Retrospect is an exciting new podcast that takes you back to iconic pop culture moments of the ’90s (and ’80s) to understand what they taught us about the world and women’s place in it. Emmy Award-winning journalist Susie Banikarim and New York Times editor Jessica Bennett tell us about salacious tabloid headlines, shady soap opera couples, and illicit relationships between students and teachers. These are the stories that Susie and Jessica experienced (and sometimes covered), and they will show us how far we have come and how far we have to go. Guests include Pamela Anderson, E. Jean Carroll and others. If you’re a fan of You’re Wrong…, you’re in for a treat.

Flula high fives

If you’re craving a light and funny sitcom, you’ll find it in Flula Makes Five . Actor, musician and comedian Flula Borg plays Flula Benker, a German techno DJ living in a house just purchased by the Roberts family. (He came with a house—they had no idea.) What was supposed to be a TV situation comedy was supposed to be a podcast situation comedy because Flula’s cousin Heinz, who was filming the video, forgot to take off the lens cap. So this is truly a sitcom for your ears. “Flula Makes Five” is filled with jokes and laughter and is unforgettable thanks to Flula, whose comedic style is uniquely funny and silly.

Have you heard George’s podcast?

George Mpanga, better known as “George the Poet,” is a London-born, Peabody Award-winning spoken word artist of Ugandan descent who has taken the podcast world by storm with his technically not-new show , Have You Heard the George Podcast , which combines music and storytelling? and fiction to paint a picture of George’s urban life in Britain. The film was dormant for two years, but George returned for the new season. The first episode is a moving and fairytale story about Ghana, the first African country to free itself from colonial rule, and Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana, who helped pave the way for Ghana’s independence.

Dossier

Christopher Wallace (also known as “The Notorious BIG” or “Biggie Smalls”) was 24 years old when he was sensationally gunned down on a Los Angeles street in the early morning hours of March 9, 1997. The first season of The File was about who killed him, and the new season is about who killed him. , starting October 23, is dedicated to covering up the causes of his death. Using never-before-seen, unredacted FBI documents, journalist Don Sikorski reveals shocking details about what the FBI knew all along, what evidence they were hiding, and how they thwarted an investigation that has frustrated fans and Biggie’s family for decades. The first season of The File was groundbreaking by exposing the underbelly of criminality within the LAPD, and the second season promises to continue to shake the foundations of the LAPD and the city of Los Angeles.

Cool

“Classy” debuted over the summer, but it’s new enough and good enough that I want you to know about it. Jonathan Menjivar was a blue-collar Latino boy who grew up in a blue-collar family and, as an adult, found himself on public radio among people from a variety of backgrounds. (Like, ahem, Terry Gross.) Classy is a podcast that lets us hear him grapple with the dissonance of living in a world of oysters and cashmere while remembering a past involving food stamps and factories. He asks himself: “Am I a class hole?” The episodes cover Jonathan’s life and background, as well as budget shopping and how the military preys on poor people. As with Weight For It, each episode of Classy feels like an impressive gem that could very well be the best of the series. It’s thoughtful, exploratory and personal, forcing us to think about how class shapes our views of the world and where we fit in it.

B. The Way Forward

In an era where the technology industry is often plagued by problems and controversies, B The Way Forward offers solutions to these problems. Brenda Darden Wilkerson dives deep into the heart of technology through thoughtful conversations with the pioneers and changemakers changing the landscape. B The Way Forward is a collection of essential, innovative conversations that serve as a call to action and empower listeners to immerse themselves in stories of hope, discover leaders who are driving change, and equip themselves with the tools to become active participants in that change. The first episode features Bridget Todd from There Are No Girls on the Internet, who will blow your mind with her thoughts on bias in tech and the resurgence of our digital storytelling.