Chasing life Podcast Seventh Season: Getting Older And How To Deal With It

With declining ratings, the firing of its CEO Chris Licht last week, the meddling of new, entitled owner David Zaslov, and the firing of some of CNN's best correspondents, you would assume that CNN is close to self-immolation.

However, amid all the chaos and confusion, a bright spot for CNN has been CNN Audio. The podcast network has performed well in the last two years. More importantly for those concerned with quality, CNN Audio has given listeners some true gems -- from The Assignment with Audie Cornish, The Axe Files with David Axelrod, The Prince Mixtape, and All There Is with Anderson Cooper.

I think what the people at CNN Audio have figured out about what content to deliver to what audience needs to be communicated to the people at CNN TV. CNN, the TV network, doesn't seem to be able to navigate the shark-infested political waters that exist between MSNBC and Fox News and its meaner, sillier cousins like Newsmax.

With documentaries flourishing on streaming TV and investigative reporting disappearing along with local print journalism, perhaps CNN could revive itself with a combination of impactful documentaries and hard-nosed investigative journalism. 

However, watching David Zaslov and his penchant for cutting costs to pay down debt at all costs to a network's reputation, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that Dr. Pimple Popper would launch a ten-part CNN documentary into blackheads and then, as a follow-up, whiteheads. Don't squeeze blackheads, people.

Despite the "red alert" status at CNN, a bright spot for CNN has been Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's chief medical correspondent. Gupta has been a consistent voice of scientific reason in the face of weirdos and wingnuts who deny science because it doesn't comport with their current political viewpoints. Witness former Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate and current GOP chair Kandiss Taylor who has recently advanced her conspiracy of globes. While claiming she's not a flat-earther, Taylor commented, "every store, you buy a globe, there's globes everywhere. Why?"

With globe antagonists around every corner, Gupta took a constant barrage of virulent criticism from anti-vaxxers, COVID conspiracy theorists, and anti-science advocates during the pandemic. Despite the poisonous nature of some of those attacks, Gupta remained steadfast and reasonable in his commitment to science-based treatments and support for vaccines.

Gupta's CNN podcast has been around for six seasons and consistently been one of its best.

This week, CNN Audio announced that "award-winning journalist and CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta will soon embark on a mission to explore the concept of getting older in the seventh season of his podcast, Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, premiering Tuesday, June 20."

We’re all getting older – every minute of every day – and there is nothing we can do to change that. Building upon decades of Dr. Gupta’s own reporting and the latest, cutting-edge research, he will explore how he and all of us – whether we are in our 20s, 50s or 80s – can get better at getting older and begin to look at aging in a new light. Dr. Gupta, now in his 50s, will be talking to experts, people defying the odds, and some of his closest friends and family to discover how we can optimize our health at any age.

“With such stigma surrounding aging, it is evident that society has a deeply entrenched fear of getting older,” says Dr. Gupta. “I hope that this new season of Chasing Life provides our listeners with key insights on the best ways to find beauty and joy in the inevitable.”

Dr. Sanjay Gupta is the Chief Medical Correspondent for CNN, a practicing neurosurgeon, and a multiple Emmy® Award winner. Since Gupta joined the network in 2001, he has covered some of the most important health stories in the United States and around the world.

Season seven of Chasing Life will debut new episodes every Tuesday and will be available to listen on CNN Audio or wherever you get your podcasts. 

After all, 70 is the new 50. 90 is the new 70. And 110 is the new...who are we kidding? You're still a goner.

You can listen to CNN Audio content at www.cnn.com/audio.