The sheer number of podcasts being made right now, it can be hard figuring out where to start. If you hear about a great podcast people love, you might find it has a daunting number of episodes--which is especially worrisome if the podcast is fiction, meaning you have to start at the beginning and listen in order.
Luckily, 2019 gave us some fantastic new shows to listen to during the end of the year traveling and long commutes ahead. To make things easy, weve chronologically catalogued the best podcast releases of 2019 based on their first episode so you can check out the best of the best based on timeliness.
Premiere date: Jan. 2Genre: Serialized fiction, comedy
Gay Future is a six-part, comedy mini-series based on a recently discovered, unpublished YA novel by Mike Pence, the show purports. In a future where everyone is gay, the storys protagonist comes to a terrifying realization: hes straight, and its up to him to lead the straight rebellion. Gay Future is a fantastic work of satire, using its lightning-speed comedy and over-the-top performances and sound design to hammer in how truly buckwild Pences story is and, by proxy, how so much homophobic rhetoric is, too. Its a hilarious, zany rollercoaster that youll need to listen to repeatedly just to make sure you catch every joke as they zoom by.
Premiere date: Jan. 6Genre: Episodic fiction, musical, slice-of-life
Loveville High is the story of one high school prom from the perspective of different students, all told as a musical. Another mini-series, each of its nine episodes is a self-contained episode of one characters prom night. The podcast looks into the life and story of high schoolers from different backgrounds, and carves out a surprising amount of depth, using gorgeous songs, each within about 10 minutes. The performances are all portrayed by actual musical theatre professionals, which means you know youre going to get some astounding acting and singing.
Premiere date: Jan. 7Genre: Serialized fiction, actual play, comedy
A new show from Atypical Artists, the production collective that gave us The Bright Sessions, Arcs is an actual-play Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition podcast following adventurers Larkin, a young human wizard played by Lauren Shippen; Jackson, a half-giant who is big, round, and not very good at things played by Nathan Stanz; and Barri, a half-orc bard with mischievous gay energy played by Briggon Snow. DM Jordan Adika wrangles the shockingly chaotic party into a series of hijinks thats hilarious, but also masterfully crafted. Full sound design work and original music adds to the dynamic between the hosts, whose timing and performances prove theyre polished podcast professionals.
Premiere date: Jan. 21Genre: Serialized nonfiction, investigative journalism, mini series
The Dropout is the surreal, fascinating story of Elizabeth Holmes, the founder and former CEO of the health-care startup, Theranos. The docu-series is the perfect podcast follow-up to the dual Fyre documentaries, a similar narrative structure leading us through the windy path of a wealth-motivated manipulator who convinces others to, not only trust her, but invest millions of dollars in her half-baked company. The difference here is that Theranos wasnt a party for Instagram influencers, but a medical technology company that real patients relied on for medical procedures. This mini-series interviews people affected by Theranos in different ways, including the employees who came forward about the companys dangerous fraud.
Premiere date: Jan. 24Genre: Serialized fiction, drama, comedy, weird west
Caravan is the story of Samir, a queer Desi man who falls into a canyon while camping with his best friend only to wind up in a surreal, parallel world. Caravan blends genre at every turn: its as intimate and dramatic as it is goofy and hilarious, and the weird Wild West setting is filled with ghosts, demons, banshees, unicorns, and cowboys. The world is meticulously built, and creator Tau Zaman integrates their education in political science throughout. Beyond the adventure and coming-of-age story, the series probes the notion of people who wield power and how that power is used. A product of The Whisperforge, the studio behind audio fiction standouts like The Far Meridian and StarTripper!!, Caravan sounds incredible, offering an immersive audio experience.
Premiere date: Jan. 24thGenre: Serialized nonfiction, personal narrative, mini series
Julie Yip-Williams documented the process of preparing for death in her posthumous novel, The Unwinding of the Miracle, and in this podcast. Diagnosed with terminal colon cancer, Yip-Williams wanted to record all of her preparations for death, including recounting stories from her life, connecting with her young daughters, finding the truth behind secrets, and coming to accept that her life was ending. The podcast is a deeply emotional, moving, heart-wrenching story that reminds listeners that everything is fleeting, and we need to make most of all of our time alive.
Premiere date: Feb. 19thGenre: Serialized fiction, drama, horror, midwestern gothic
Unwell is a Midwestern Gothic story about a bristly, frustrated woman who returns to her small hometown to take care of her mother after an injury. Following the current tonal trend of contemplative, quiet, slow-build horror found in works like Hereditary or The Haunting of Hill House, Unwell finds most of its unsettling moments not through big reveals or noisy jumpscares but uncomfortable quiet and stillness. Theres something ominous happening in the town of Mt. Absalom, and dark history between protagonist Lily and her mother, Dot, but listeners will tread in discomfort before anything is revealed. There are some great jokes about the Midwest in its first episodes, but even they help paint the picture of how truly bizarre everything in the town can be.
Premiere date: Feb. 25Genre: Nonfiction episodic, conversation, culture
All My Relations is a conversation podcast hosted by Matika Wilbur and Dr. Adrienne Keene that focuses on the lives and cultures of Native American peoples. Native American peoples are some of the marginalized voices that rarely get discussed in conversations about race, and All My Relations aims to fill in those gaps with profound ruminations, but also a good amount of jokes. The dynamic between the hosts is contemplative but casual, easily weaving between serious topics, personal anecdotes, laughter, and tears.
Premiere date: March 22Genre: Nonfiction episodic, conversation, arts
Night Vale Presents most recent foray into nonfiction, Start with This, offers conversations between the Welcome to Night Vale creators about a specific aspect of the creative process. Aimed to help aspiring podcasters make their first podcast, the conversations are sure to be beneficial to anyone who wants to work on any creative project. For the first 20 minutes, the hosts discuss something like creative restrictions or the merits of collaboration. Then, they give the listener a related, interesting, and very specific prompt to write on. The listener is then invited to share their progress, work, and responses in a forum of other listeners.
Premiere date: May 30thGenre: Nonfiction episodic, deep dive
[Ed. note: Nice Try! is a project from Polygons sister site Curbed, but comes recommended independently by Wil.]
Hosted by Avery Trufelman of 99% Invisible and spinoff Articles of Interest, Nice Try!: Utopian is a look back at historys attempts at building utopias, ranging from a Third Reich airport to Disney World. Trufelman chronicles each utopian plot, and then the eventual collapse, interviewing experts and weaving together the narratives with elegant structure. Nice Try!: Utopian is a combination of journalism and creative nonfiction at its finest, focusing on both what the utopia says about how humans work and the granular details of what actually made it anything but a utopia. Trufelmans insights are sharp and exciting, connecting points to a greater web of how societies work.
Premiere date: June 17thGenre: Nonfiction episodic, deep dive
Theres something to be said about schadenfreude in 2019, and Spectacular Failures brings a very specific catharsis to the listener by asking, How could something with so much potential go so wrong? Host Lauren Ober examines some of the biggest failures in business, like Moviepass or Toys R Us, with a balance of sardonic humor in delivery and relative neutrality in writing its just that the facts are almost always hilarious. Without Ober at the helm, Spectacular Failures could be a standard deep-dive podcast educating the listener; with the hosts often incredulous tone, its usually as funny as it is informative.
Premiere date: Aug. 23rdGenre: Nonfiction episodic, mini series, history, personal narratives
1619 is the New York Times examination of how slavery shaped America, and still shapes it to this day, 400 years after men and women were first brought from Africa to what were then the English colonies. Hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones, each of the six episodes reveals how slavery informed the decisions and structures of the early United States, and how those decisions and structures remain today. 1619 doesnt exist to comfort or hold the listeners hand during tough moments: there are frank discussions of Abraham Lincolns explicit racism, the problems and built-in paradoxes with black land ownership, and the black musicians at the heart of essentially every piece of American music. Often, the stories of how slavery has affected the United States ties back to a personal narrative, showing how much the history of American slavery has impacted the country on every level: institutional, political, economic, cultural, and individual.
Premiere date: Sept. 16Genre: Serialized fiction, mystery, drama
From audio-drama veterans Lauren Shippen (The Bright Sessions, ARCS, The AM Archives) and John Dryden (Tumanbay, LifeAfter) and distributed by Radiotopia, Passenger List is a mysterious fiction podcast revolving around the disappearance of a plane on a transatlantic flight. Starring The Last Jedis Kelly Marie Tran as protagonist Kaitlin Le, Passenger List toys with the line between science fiction and conspiracy-theory thriller. But while the plot moves to raise stakes and ask more questions, Kaitlin Les experience as a woman grieving over her missing twin develops as the true focus. Shes arguably motivated to a fault, but definitely complicated, asking the listener to root for her while also questioning her methods and tactics.
Premiere date: Oct. 9thGenre: Serialized fiction, mini-series, realistic fiction, drama
Moonface is the story of Korean-American man, Paul, and his struggles to come out as gay to his mother. The problem isnt just because the act of coming out can be terrifying, especially with traditional parents; its also because he and his mother do not speak the same language, literally. Scored by pop songs, Moonface feels both like the indie coming-of-age movies of the early 2000s and quiet, intimate art films like LadyBird or Moonlight. Worth noting: the series isnt very not safe for work, so be sure to listen when you can comfortably and responsibly engage in something explicitly sexual.
Wil Williams writes, listens, and loves podcasts. She runs the website Wil Williams Writes, co-hosts the podcast Tuned In Dialed up, and has work featured in Discover Pods and Bello Collective. She is afraid of whales and suspicious of dolphins.
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Best podcasts of 2019: from true crime to nonfiction and comedy - Polygon
- Travel & Resources: HONG KONG - Gay Asia and... - Utopia - December 8th, 2016 [December 8th, 2016]
- DELHI / NEW DELHI: Massage and Spas - Utopia - December 8th, 2016 [December 8th, 2016]
- Utopia (book) - Wikipedia - December 8th, 2016 [December 8th, 2016]
- Who is authorized to bind your family business to contracts? - Lexology (registration) - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Meanwhile in Canada Things Are Just as Bad - New York Times - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Stellaris: Utopia expansion lets you craft megastructural ringworlds - PC Gamer - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- JME Will Play Himself In A New Movie About A Vegan Utopia - The FADER - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- 'Stellaris' Utopia DLC Gets First Trailer; Will Introduce New Buildings And Perks - iDigitalTimes.com - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Utopia Pipeline project to bring 300 temporary jobs to New Philadelphia - New Philadelphia Times Reporter - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- With violin in hand, Mark Menzies finds hope for the future in the past - Los Angeles Times - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- The village aiming to create a white utopia - BBC News - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Brooklyn's A/D/O Co-Working Space Is Building a Utopia for Creatives of All Kinds - Artsy - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- Revolution: Russian Art review from utopia to the gulag, via teacups - The Guardian - February 7th, 2017 [February 7th, 2017]
- A notable show BAMPFA's 'Hippie Modernism: The Struggle for Utopia' - Berkeleyside - February 9th, 2017 [February 9th, 2017]
- In praise of utopias, not dystopias: Salutin - Toronto Star - February 10th, 2017 [February 10th, 2017]
- British Airways Concorde 'Alpha Foxtrot' Arrives at New Bristol Home - AirlineGeeks.com (blog) - February 11th, 2017 [February 11th, 2017]
- The Bannon-Trump Arc of History | The American Spectator - American Spectator - February 13th, 2017 [February 13th, 2017]
- Plotting 'No-Place' in 'Utopia Neighborhood Club' - Seattle Weekly - February 15th, 2017 [February 15th, 2017]
- Bruno Ganz on New Film About Last Days of East Germany: 'This Is a Subject That Will Never Let Me Go' - Variety - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Utopia releases its next version of master data governance solution for enterprise asset management - SDTimes.com - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Drought-crazed utopia flushes away common sense - NewHampshire.com - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- New Barbarians: Inside Rolling Stones' Wild Seventies Spin-Off - RollingStone.com - February 16th, 2017 [February 16th, 2017]
- Katy Perry's New Music Video Might Just Be Her WILDEST Yet - TeenVogue.com - February 18th, 2017 [February 18th, 2017]
- Lenkom Theater: From Soviet utopia to post-modern dystopia - Russia Beyond the Headlines - February 20th, 2017 [February 20th, 2017]
- Utopia Opera Presents THE GRAND DUKE, 3/3-3/11 - Broadway World - February 21st, 2017 [February 21st, 2017]
- Chuck Huckelberry: Pima County sees the world as it is - Arizona Daily Star - February 21st, 2017 [February 21st, 2017]
- Mardi Gras brings on the fun - Tullahoma News and Guardian - February 22nd, 2017 [February 22nd, 2017]
- Anglea Henderson-Bentley: New take on Jack the Ripper an idea whose 'Time' has come - Huntington Herald Dispatch - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Knowledge can fight ignorance: New speakers series will shed light on Yemen - Detroit Metro Times - February 23rd, 2017 [February 23rd, 2017]
- Utopian sci-fi survival horror game, PAMELA, enters Steam Early Access on March 9th New Screenshots - DSOGaming (blog) - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- Reese Witherspoon on New Zealand: 'You can't capture it in pictures' - Newshub - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- $168000 headphones to go on display - The New Paper - February 24th, 2017 [February 24th, 2017]
- A peek inside the Downtown Project with Aimee Groth - Las Vegas Review-Journal - February 25th, 2017 [February 25th, 2017]
- Utopia is coming, with a basic income for all - The Times (subscription) - February 27th, 2017 [February 27th, 2017]
- Government shakeups and political unrest are coming to Stellaris in its Utopia expansion - PCGamesN - February 27th, 2017 [February 27th, 2017]
- The board hoard: your guide to the best new board games - The Guardian - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- Tempted To Move Out Of The U.S.? New Zealand Wants To Help ... - Forbes - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- New Utopia | Prometheism.net - Part 4 - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- Utopia expansion for Stellaris coming in April, new trailer - PC Invasion - PC Invasion (blog) - February 28th, 2017 [February 28th, 2017]
- THE SOUND OF MUSIC to Welcome New 'Georg von Trapp' on Tour in Hershey - Broadway World - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- At BAMPFA, 'Hippie Modernism' Proves the Fight for Utopia is Far from Over - KQED - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Watch brutal Xenomorph attack in new 'Alien: Covenant' trailer - CNET - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Stellaris: Utopia Path to Ascension release date trailer - Gameplanet - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Utopia Frozen Yogurt and Coffee House | Ellensburg, WA - March 1st, 2017 [March 1st, 2017]
- Stellaris Utopia Gameplay Expansion Out In April - Attack of the Fanboy - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- Dr. John to headline Utopia Fest in final year at Four Sisters Ranch ... - austin360 (blog) - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- JUSTIN JOHNSON: It's a TRAP! - SCNow - March 2nd, 2017 [March 2nd, 2017]
- Want utopia? Start with universal basic income and a 15-hour work week - Wired.co.uk - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- Extreme Channel 4 reality challenge Mutiny makes its sailors suffer - iNews - March 3rd, 2017 [March 3rd, 2017]
- Rutger Bregman: 'We could cut the working week by a third' - The Guardian - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- March 4, 2017 - EDP Foundation - Utopia/Dystopia / Hctor Zamora: Order and Progress - E-Flux - March 4th, 2017 [March 4th, 2017]
- Utopia for Realists and How We Can Get There by Rutger Bregman ... - The Guardian - March 6th, 2017 [March 6th, 2017]
- A taste of 'Utopia' - Otago Daily Times - March 6th, 2017 [March 6th, 2017]
- Father John Misty references Taylor Swift in new song, 'Total Entertainment Forever' - EW.com - March 6th, 2017 [March 6th, 2017]
- 'Time After Time' delivers Jack the Ripper to modern-day New York - The San Gabriel Valley Tribune - March 7th, 2017 [March 7th, 2017]
- Father John Misty Explained The Taylor Swift Sex Line In 'Total Entertainment Forever' - UPROXX - March 7th, 2017 [March 7th, 2017]
- Why everyone hates the GOP's new health plan - The Week Magazine - March 8th, 2017 [March 8th, 2017]
- Hello Cuba, Adios Utopia: Cuban Art in Texas - Observer - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- Why Canada will come to regret its embrace of refugees - New York Post - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- Utopia in the Time of Trump - lareviewofbooks - March 11th, 2017 [March 11th, 2017]
- Whole of It: 'Free Cake at the Top' - Scottsbluff Star Herald - March 12th, 2017 [March 12th, 2017]
- Portugal's MAAT could become the world's most exciting venue for art and architecture - The Architect's Newspaper - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Stellaris Utopia DLC Review - Paradox's spacefaring grand strategy ... - PC Invasion (blog) - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- The post-Brexit fantasy of a utopia of flammable sofas - New Statesman - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Why Open Borders Would Strengthen Our Economy | The Huffington ... - Huffington Post - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Best of the Week: Focal Utopia, Sonos Playbase, Sgt. Pepper reissue, new 4K Xbox and more - What Hi-Fi? - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Stellaris: Utopia review | PC Gamer - PC Gamer - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Utopia lost: Man wants Berrien 'town' on the map - Valdosta Daily Times - April 8th, 2017 [April 8th, 2017]
- Psych Ward: The Hulk - Marvel (press release) (registration) (blog) - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Men Are from Mars, Wonder Woman is Also from Mars - VICE - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- Jordie Bellaire: Vision Visionary - Marvel (press release) (registration) (blog) - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- The Dark Side of Globalization - American Spectator - June 6th, 2017 [June 6th, 2017]
- China's next 'city from scratch' called into question - Financial Times - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Wonder Woman's dueling origin stories, and their effect on the hero's feminism, explained - Vox - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Introduction: Open Utopia | The Open Utopia - June 7th, 2017 [June 7th, 2017]
- Paperback Row - New York Times - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- NEXUS pipeline revved and waiting - News - Times Reporter - New ... - New Philadelphia Times Reporter - June 8th, 2017 [June 8th, 2017]
- MAVI Museum of Visual Arts - E-Flux - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- World-famous author has found his writing utopia outdoors, under a tarp, in Davis - Sacramento Bee - June 9th, 2017 [June 9th, 2017]
- Let's break down the incredible Black Panther trailer - The Verge - June 10th, 2017 [June 10th, 2017]