Tenderfoot TV Unveils Strong New Podcast Season

 With the writers -- and now the actors -- on strike, it looks increasingly like there will not be a new broadcast TV season this fall. 

Where will consumers of media find new content with these labor stoppages? 

 Podcasting and Tenderfoot TV to the rescue.

The Atlanta-based independent content production studio has announced today a slate of new investigative true-crime shows, powerful narratives, spinoffs, and new weekly talk shows for the remainder of 2023.

The lineup returns with series-charting brand franchises “Up and Vanished,” “To Live and Die in LA,” “Culpable” and “Radio Rental;” and includes a promising roster of new weekly series that represent Tenderfoot TV’s continuous emergence into talk format audio storytelling.

Leading the line-up of new series is Dear Alana, a gripping limited series hosted by Simon Kent Fung that explores the life and tragic death of devout youth Alana Chen, whose aspiration to become a nun led her to conversion therapy. The discovery of her extensive journals reveals her hidden struggles with her sexuality and faith. Simon, who shares a strikingly similar past, offers solace to Alana’s family and embarks on a quest to uncover the truth behind her fate, while confronting his own demons.

The dual-narrative podcast explores the psychological theories behind conversion therapy today, goes behind the scenes of an ascendant brand of American Catholicism sweeping college campuses now, and unearths the complicated boundary between earnest faith and spiritual manipulation, the promise of perfection and the price we pay to belong. The eight-episode podcast series is both an unraveling mystery, and a poignant spiritual memoir.

“Telling powerful and profound stories will always be at the center of what we create, and this slate embodies the repertoire of content that focus on new innovative ways to tell these stories from narrative storytelling to talk format,” said Tenderfoot TV CEO and co-founder, Donald Albright. “We’re excited to continue to diversify the content we’re covering, like the story of Alana Chen in Dear Alana, and give a voice and platform to the marginalized and forgotten.”

“Building on the success of our franchise series through spinoffs is going to allow us to connect to our listeners even more granularly,” said Payne Lindsey, founder of Tenderfoot TV. “Listeners can expect a lot of firsts with this year’s slate, including my first-ever talk show Talking to Death, which is a fresh new approach to covering true crime topics and discussions.”

 Full slate details can be found below:

Dear Alana, (August 2023): When Alana Chen died at the age of 24 in Boulder, she left behind two dozen journals chronicling a deep faith, love of fashion, and passion to become a nun. She also harbored a secret. At 14, she confessed to her priest that she was attracted to women. That priest convinced her not to tell her parents, and for seven years, Alana covertly sought pastoral counsel and conversion therapy. After being hospitalized for depression, she ended her life in 2019. When Simon Kent Fung learned of her story, he reached out to her family to offer comfort. His own life was shockingly similar: he too sought out conversion therapy for nearly a decade in his efforts to become a priest. As he discovers more about Alana’s brief life and their overlapping experiences, he’s compelled to understand the truth of what happened to her—and finally face what happened to him.

Another scandal for the Catholic church. Anyone shocked by that?

Talking to Death (October 2023): Payne Lindsey takes off his investigative hat for a new role as weekly host of his first true-crime talk show (that may or may not actually be about true crime). This weekly talk series, produced in partnership with iHeartMedia, is a conversational show where guests from all walks of life join Lindsey as he talks them to “death.” The new weekly series premiering in October delves into all things crime, life, mystery, and fun, taking listeners on a journey like no other.

I thought talking people to death was Joe Rogan's job.

Radio Rental (October 2023): Set inside the fictional world of Radio Rental, an 80’s video rental store run by an eccentric shopkeeper, Terry Carnation, who is played by Rainn Wilson, is back with 12 new episodes for its sixth installment in October. Averaging nearly one million downloads per episode since launching in 2019, this imaginative, cult classic-inspired horror brand blurs the lines of reality with a hybrid approach of cutting-edge documentary storytelling and a splash of scripted comedy. The series features first person accounts of real-life horror stories–from bizarre crimes to paranormal activity. 

Think of it as the X Files meets Blockbuster Video.

Radio Rental Presents…Rattled & Shook. Debuting now, a spinoff from the popular “Radio Rental” series, comes a new weekly variety style show covering all things creepy. Co-hosted by award-winning producer Meredith Stedman and horror buff Aprile Ruha, “Rattled & Shook” features spooky stories, horror themed games, and special guests, like “Radio Rental’s” Terry Carnation (played by Rainn Wilson), a guest interview in episode two. The weekly series comes off the heels of the successful franchise installments and will be produced in partnership with Audacy.

Think of it as Elvira meets the Game Show Network.

Up and Vanished Season four (November 2023): The hit franchise with over 450 million downloads across three seasons returns in November to investigate a new missing person’s case. Season one covered the disappearance of Georgia high school teacher Tara Grinstead, resulting in two arrests; Season two focused on the disappearance of young mother Kristal Reisinger from a remote mountain town in Colorado, a case that has since been reopened; and Season three investigated the North West Montana disappearance of Ashley Loring HeavyRunner, an indigenous woman who went missing from the Blackfeet Nation Indian Reservation in 2017. In Season four, host Payne Lindsey will take listeners on a journey to a new location, covering a mysterious disappearance in Alaska.

The high number of indigenous women gone missing with little or no formal investigative follow-up is disturbing.

The Estate (September 2023): What happens when a Mexican man, a Black man and an Italian man start a business in 1970's Stockton, CA? One of them ends up murdered, the other in jail, and the third is Alex Estrada’s dad. A serialized true-crime documentary podcast following host Alex Estrada as he tries to solve a family mystery: Was his dad involved in a murder? Equal parts murder mystery, political conspiracy and family memoir, “The Estate,” coming this September, is a co-production with Sonoro in partnership with Audacy, is an expansive and timely investigative series that gets to the heart of the many hot button issues affecting America’s Latinx and Black communities.

The Vanishing Point - an Up and Vanished Mini Series (September 2023): As an extension of the UAV franchise, “The Vanishing Point,” a five-part mini series hosted by Celisia Stanton (“Truer Crime”), focuses on a series of unsolved cases, all connected by a single location. In this first installment, the team travels to Hoopa, California to look into several cases of missing indigenous people from the Hoopa Valley Reservation, a small Northern California community with a disproportionate number of missing person’s cases.

Up and Vanished Weekly (September 2023): A spinoff of the long-form limited series, this new weekly series looks not only at past cold cases with a fresh perspective, but also dives into recent cases ripped from the headlines; featuring discussion, case details, interviews, and more. The “Up and Vanished” audience has been one of the most active in helping to bring attention to cold cases covered in the first three seasons of the franchise, many times leading to progress in the cases. “Up and Vanished Weekly” gives the audience an opportunity to impact new cases on a weekly basis, before they turn cold. The series is produced in partnership with Audacy.

To Live and Die in LA Mini Series (December 2023): Hosted by award-winning Rolling Stone journalist and bestselling author Neil Strauss, this series, with over 80 million downloads across two seasons, is returning for a new limited run. In season one, Strauss investigates the disappearance of aspiring Albanian Macedonian actress Adea Shabani. In season two, Strauss – along with his wife, Ingrid De La O, and his neighbors, Incubus guitarist Mike Einziger, and concert violinist Ann Marie Simpson – investigates the case of Elaine Park, a 20-year old aspiring actress and musician who vanished from Malibu in 2018. This miniseries will explore recent and cold cases that have plagued the Los Angeles area.

Culpable ‘Case Review’ Mini Season (August 2023): A new take on the hit true-crime series, host Dennis Cooper presents six new cases over six weeks, starting with a two-episode premiere covering the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of Andrew Thomas Wall. A co-production with Resonate Recordings in partnership with Audacy, “Culpable” explores unsettled cases, questioning the culpability of the individuals involved in these cases, and the injustices which have prevented their resolution. With 40 million franchise downloads, season one explores the case of Christian Andreacchio, a 21-year old from Meridian, Mississippi, whose death was ruled a suicide despite substantial evidence pointing to foul play. Season two investigates the case of Brittany Stykes, a 22-year old mother who was shot and killed while driving down Highway 68 in Brown County, Ohio.

Down Range (November 2023): Premiering timed to Veteran’s Day, straight from the front lines, this limited series is an immersive audio experience that highlights first-hand narratives of combat. Hosted by retired Navy Seal and actor, Remi Adeleke and retired Army Lieutenant Colonel Rich Choppa, this eight-episode series tells the stories of the American Special Forces. It highlights the men and women who dedicate their lives to defend our country, while shining a light on highly-emotional, first-person narratives of heroism and sacrifice. The series will tell stories such as those of former spy for U.S. Intelligence, Sergeant Major Hamody Jasim, who became one of America’s most valued assets in the fight against Al-Qaeda's and ISIS; Lieutenant Jason Redman, who received a dozen medals including the Bronze Star and Purple Heart after being wounded in Iraq in 2007; and Tu Lam, aka “Ronin,” an elite Special Forces Green Beret who is a playable character on Call of Duty Modern Warfare. The series is produced in partnership with Telegraph Creative.

Tenderfoot TV was founded by Atlanta director and independent filmmaker, Payne Lindsey, and music industry veteran, Donald Albright. The 2016 launch of the award-winning true-crime podcast, “Up and Vanished,” marked Tenderfoot’s entry into podcasting. The popular podcast became an international news story after influencing two arrests in a decade-old cold case and receiving over 450 million downloads across three seasons. 

This slate of new and returning podcasts offers listeners media to look forward to in the coming months. After all, the actor's strike has now pushed season five of Netflix's Stranger Things to 2026. By that time, the cast will be applying for Social Security.