I started listening to the programs this summer. Now that I’m back at school, the lead in the paint and the asbestos in the walls of the dorm rooms don’t allow my weak radio to pick up the station’s signal. So I listen to them on the internet on Real Audio. I listen to the current ones, and I’ve almost finished with the old shows listed as “Staff Favorites.” Instead of sifting through several years of old shows myself, I thought there might be a couple of specific programs some of the distinguished members of the board could recommend.
Let me know exactly when it was, or give me the time frame when you heard it and what the subject is (so I can run a search). I’m interested to see what everyone mentions. I haven’t heard anything I don’t like yet, so documentaries, stories, essays, and anything else would suit me fine.
My favorite TAL was when they followed around professional gamblers. There was a great segment about their betting on Rock-Paper-Scissors. The whole thing was interesting, about taking their kids with them, about how very few women gamble for a living. I think it was on around…March of this year. But that’s pretty much guesswork.
My favorite was when they broke format and spent the entire show telling one story: two boys found an abandoned house in the woods that had been left, full of stuff, exactly as the owners had lived in it. The mystery of the how and why of the house is explained through the show.
I’m not sure when it was. It might’ve been a Halloween episode; I’m not sure.
It’s hard to pick just one…but if I had to, there’s one show that I’ve listened to several times & have even played parts of for friends: Last Words…first broadcast October 23, 1998.
The theme of the show is (obviously), the last words people say before they die.
One of the segments features a man who has listened to thousands of hours of the black box recordings of the cockpits of crashing airplanes. He talks about what people say to each other as they realize that the plane is going down & they will die within a few minutes. Very chilling.
Another great segment in this show, is 45 people reading a piece called The Unknown Soldier. It’s a montage of the last thoughts of people before they die. Like: “I just wanted to watch TV while I took a bath”. Very cool…you’ll get a big kick out of this.
And the last segment of the show is a short story called Bullet in the Brain. A hilarious story about an obnoxious man who is shot in the head during a bank robbery & what thoughts go through his mind as the bullet whizzes through his brain. It’s funny & poigniant.
There are also a few other segments of the show on the same theme. It’s as close to a perfect TAL as you can get–moments of sadness, hilarity and depth. Give it a listen & let me know if you agree.
Glad to see that there are other fans of TAL around here. One of the most creative & entertaining works in media today.
I can’t pick one favorite – too many good episodes!
The one that comes to mind immediately, though, is the one called “24 Hours at the Golden Apple”. The producers spend 24 straight hours at an all-night diner in Chicago and talk to the people who come and go.
I’m also fond of “Hands on a Hardbody,” from “Something for Nothing”. This story was also made into a documentary film. It’s about one of those contests where a bunch of people stand with one hand touching a truck. Last one standing wins it.
And the show Fiasco! features one of the funniest segments ever – “Opening Night,” about one of the worst performances of “Peter Pan” ever staged. It’s a hilarious show; you might have already heard it, though, as it’s one of the staff’s favorites. (“Opening Night” appears on Lies, Sissies and Fiascos, the TAL CD that came out a few years ago.)
I haven’t heard that many, which makes it easy for me to pick some “favorites.”
I was blown away by the recent one about prisoners producing the play “Hamlet.” It was pretty interesting. I can see how someone might nominate such a prison program for a “Golden Fleece” award (“Murderers being taught shakespeare? What a waste!”) but I found it truly thought-provoking.
There was one about the cruelty of children where a fellow describes how he used to terrorize his brothers when his parents were away by telling them about werewolves and then banging on the doors and stuff. He really took it far and his little brothers about died of heart attacks. It’s the most awful sadistic thing but also funny.
Another prison one had a segment where they read a booklet that was written for new prisoners, helping them understand prison life–most especially gay relationships. Eye-popping.
Cranky, the one about the boy who terrorizes his little brothers was during the same episode that I mentioned earlier with the kids who wouldn’t save the man stuck in the well.
I forgot about that part, but it was so good!
I’ve been trying to play back the episodes from the website, but I can’t get them to work. Does anyone know what software I need?
NO! NO! You don’t need to pick just one! List as many as you can think of!
Mr. Frink, I listened to Last Words and really enjoyed it.
Morgainelf, I’ve heard the Santaland Diaries before, and I really liked that one. The “Cruelty of Children” episode was listed as one of the staff favorites and I listened to that one already. You need real audio to listen online. I think there’s a link on TAL’s website ( www.thislife.org ). The free edition works fine, though you kind of have to look for it on real audio’s site because they kind of try to trick you into getting the one that you have to pay for.
Cranky, I heard the one about the prisoners performing Hamlet about a month ago. If you haven’t heard very many you should check out the old editions on the site.
Interrobang, I’ll check some of those out. I was planning to listen to Fiasco! soon so I’ll move it up my list.
“Cruelty of Children” contains the man in the well story, but the kid terrorizing his brothers is from “Babysitting.”
“Babysitting” is pretty damn close to perfection if you ask me. The episode is chock-full of humor, horror, love, joy, sadness and regret all the way through. The acts are separated by several versions of the Mary Poppins tune, “The Perfect Nanny”, including The Simpson’s take.
I truly love this episode and make everyone I know listen to it.
“Superpowers” and “Notes From Camp” are also excellent.
“The Fix is In” is a little bit of a departure from the tone and format of TAL (it’s almost entirely about the ADM price-fixing investigation), but it’s a riveting and informative show.
My favorite act from this episode is the last one, about the kids who make up a fictitous family that they’re babysitting for so they can get out from under their mother’s thumb.
Transom.org’s discussion boards, by the way, feature episode-specific discussions. Not to discourage people from posting more here, of course.
