What these shows share in common are superb hosting, a well-defined thematic premise, and they're run by women. Masculinity advocate Jordan Peterson might take this focus on women-driven podcasts as a deliberate exclusion of men, but nowadays, so many people invent grievances, I'll chance it.
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Double Take Podcast -- Your tour guide to streaming TV
I recommend the Double Take
podcast for people who want guidance on streaming TV shows. The
co-hosts are articulate, insightful, and engaging, and their reviews are
astute and carefully considered. In effect, this podcast can help you
find and recognize eye-worthy streaming TV shows.
Here's the marketing pitch from Double Take: "Not with anything life changing, but with your constant struggle to figure out what to watch on TV. Because there’s nothing worse than endlessly scrolling through all of your streaming service apps, right?"
"Join Jess Spoll and Jenni Cullen as they give their thoughts on new
streaming shows in the form of episode-by-episode reactions, reviews of
new shows, and more."
The podcast name, Double Take, is apparently a reference to the two women who provide reviews on TV shows.
Double Take began in July 2022 with several episodes about season two of Only Murders In The Building. It began to branch out with episodes like "Top 10 TV Shows And Movies For Fall" and "The Best Halloween TV Episodes."
Jess and Jenni comment: "We have always loved talking about TV together, and
then we started a newsletter in early 2022, Double Take, to review and
highlight new and upcoming series. We saw that there was a dearth of
female voices in movie and TV criticism, and in entertainment
podcasting, and wanted to bring a different perspective to the
landscape. We hope that the podcast evokes hanging out with your two
friends and chatting about TV."
I like the fact their show isn't a bunch of bros trying too hard to be funny with endless banter about their fantasy football teams in between brief discussions of Tulsa King.
It's smart
for the co-hosts to say at the beginning of each episode that the show
is about "their takes on all things TV." For first-time listeners, that
phrase informs new listeners about the subject of the show. Further, the
co-hosts avoid the trap of too much banter before diving into their TV
reviews.
In July 2024, Double Take won the Ear Worthy Independent podcast Award for Best TV Podcast.
I just listened to their November streaming guide show with Jess Spool off getting married, her twin, Sam, filled in admirably.
One observation here. We tend to think of podcasts as static once they begin releasing episodes. In reality, podcasts and podcast hosts change, grow, and typically improve as the hosts gain more experience.
That's happening with Double Take. Jess Spoll and Jenni Cullen are excellent hosts, but I went back and listened to a few episodes in 2022 and then in September and, not surprisingly, found that the co-hosts had gotten even better. Their cadence has improved and their ability to react to each other's observation has sharpened. Their wit and self-deprecating humor is more refined, and their TV criticism is more polished and penetrating.
Double Take provides a valuable service by guiding people through the morass of streaming shows and channels by helping them find shows that are worthy of their eyeball time. The co-hosts are engaging, knowledgeable, and have sensitive and sensible artistic taste. The co-hosts avoid the mean-spirited snark that some TV and movie review podcasts think makes them edgy and funny. They're not.
The
show is informative, fun, nimble-witted, and is definitely a great tour
guide through the baffling array of TV shows on the streaming
channels. They also have an excellent Substack.
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The Impostrix Podcast -- Battling racial toxicity through empowerment
One signal that
a podcast is ear worthy and worth its weight in words is that it defies
genre categorization. After listening to multiple episodes of the Impostrix podcast,
the show could be classified as a business podcast, a self-improvement
podcast, a career development podcast, an anti-racism podcast, a
psychology podcast, and a BIPOC podcast.
Amazingly,
creator and host Whitney Knox Lee has managed to brew up a podcast with
all of those genres and has excelled at every one of them.
I think Impostrix is so compelling because Ms
Knox Lee has focused on Imposter Syndrome as one major consequence of
centuries of chattel slavery, a century of exclusionary and vitriolic
laws like Jim Crow, and the continuing undeclared campaign against BIPOC
racial, cultural, and economic equality.
The Impostrix podcast just completed its third season. In fact, its season finale with somatic coach Jen Chau was one of my favorite episodes. I know that you're asking: What's a somatic coach? So did I. Knox-Lee and Chau answer that question in the episode. Simply put, a somatic coach helps clients develop a deeper connection with their bodies to support their growth and transformation.
During the episode, host and guest explore understanding somatic practices and their relevance in the workplace, The connection between bodily sensations and emotional responses, Navigating discomfort in race equity and anti-racism work, and The importance of practice in personal and professional growth.
As the host, Whitney Knox Lee excels as a storyteller, lecturer, interviewer, and mentor. Perhaps it's her legal training and experience. Ms. Knox Lee can explain complex historical, cultural, racial, and socioeconomic concepts so they are relatable to her listeners.
Her
skills as an interviewer and as a solo narrator are rare in the
podcasting world, where hosts tend to excel at only one of those skills.
In 2024, Whitney Knox Lee has been recognized for her achievements in podcasting. She won the Ear Worthy Independent podcast Awards for Best Society And Education podcast. She also won the Black Podcasting Award for Best Business podcast.
Check out the Impostrix podcast. While the target audience may be Black women, the intellectual vigor of creator / host Whitney Knox Lee makes the podcast compelling listening for anyone --race, gender, political affiliation -- with an open mind, a willingness to learn, and an eagerness to make life better for everyone.
As Whitney Knox Lee stresses many times on her podcast, "Be validated."
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Trailer Park -- The podcast trailer podcast
On the surface, Trailer Park appears to be a show for aspirational podcasters. I come at the show from a different view. It's a way to explore the creative process. Podcast trailers contain the hopes and dreams of new podcasters. Some want only to attract a small niche group who share their passion -- whether it's for bowling, video games, sewing, or even poop. Others dream of "millions of downloads" fame.
Trailers offer value to the podcaster because they force the creator to
communicate what's new, exciting, and ear worthy about the podcast.
Want to listen to a superb trailer? Try the trailer to Digital Folklore. It's immersive and creepy, and my lizard brain is craving more.
Given how integral trailers are to podcasts and podcast listeners, it's natural, and wildly creative, to develop a podcast that showcases trailers.
The premise of the show is simple: Submit a podcast trailer to the podcast to be reviewed on the podcast. Why would any aspirational or experienced podcaster do that? Simple. Feedback from professionals is critical to success. The creative process needs the oxygen of collective assessment to survive and thrive.
The podcast began in January 2023 and released an ambitious 38 episodes. The hosts were Arielle Nissenblatt and Tim Villegas. They made a good team and created a fun vibe in the midst of learning about a creative endeavor like producing a podcast trailer.
Arielle released a new episode last week, announcing new episodes of Trailer Park. In that episode, Arielle informed her listeners that her co-host Tim Villegas would not be returning because of other podcast commitments. As a solo act, Arielle will do a superb job. She's an excellent host -- she has three other podcasts! -- and she has a rhythmic flow to her voice and quick-time cadence that keeps listeners on their toes.
In that episode, Arielle mentioned that the show hadn't produced an episode since July and she mentioned podfade, which is a phenomenon when a podcast stops releasing new episodes, either gradually or suddenly, without warning. I don't think that's a fair self-criticism but perhaps it's a sign that show may perform better in a "Seasons" format instead of weekly.
Have an idea for a podcast? Create a trailer and submit it to Trailer Park and get direction and feedback from the pros.
I recommend this show to all listeners, not just podcasters. Again, the show serves as a beacon into the creative process. You don't have to be a podcaster to be fascinated by how people express their creativity. Finally, I enjoy assessing the trailers myself. Being the creator of three failed podcasts, I know how difficult it is to develop an audio show and then fine-tune a podcast to introduce it. I still recall the trailer for my second failed podcast, Make A Connection. It was so bad that several reviewers begged me not to make the actual podcast. I think they even started a subreddit against it!
Listen to Trailer Park. Arielle Nissenblatt is so good at whatever she does (That is somewhat annoying!) and being part of the assessment team to evaluate the creative decisions behind a podcast trailer is a fun and informative experience.
If you want to hear the trailer to Make A Connection, let me know. I must warn you. The whole thing is one big trigger warning.
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