"S-Town is a new podcast from Serial and This American Life, hosted by Brian Reed, about a man named John who despises his Alabama town and decides to do something about it. He asks Brian to investigate the son of a wealthy family who’s allegedly been bragging that he got away with murder. But then someone else ends up dead, and the search for the truth leads to a nasty feud, a hunt for hidden treasure, and an unearthing of the mysteries of one man’s life.
Brian, a longtime This American Life producer, started reporting this story more than three years ago, when he got an email from John with the subject line “John B McLemore lives in Shittown Alabama.”
S-Town is part of Serial Productions, a production company from Serial and This American Life."
FUNNY TIMING because I was just gonna bump the podcast thread. Never been a podcast person but I got into Serial so I just started/finished another true crime one called In The Dark. It's about the infamous Jacob Wetterling kidnapping if anyone knows that story. The podcast was rlllly good
I was gonna ask if anyone had recommendations so I'll have to start this one soon
I'm only 20 minutes in but holy shit do I love John. He sounds like the teacher from South Park, the way his voice trails off at the end of sentences. But he seems SUPER bright too. I love hearing all the intelligent shit he talks about through his Alabama accent, it's so amusing
Not gonna use spoiler tags but I'll label what episode I'm talking about so don't read if you don't wanna know etc
EPISODE 1
That was enjoyable. I was starting to think that maybe John was fucking with him too before he started questioning it. I thought maybe the entire podcast would end up being about John instead or something, but then the end with the wife made it really fun, finally confirming that something did happen
I LOVE the theme music. Its got this cool 60's espionage vibe to it
Midway through. LOVED the bit about why John gets tattoos despite hating them. He comes from money so every time rent is up for the tattoo parlor he conveniently gets a huge piece done and saves the shot, sacrificing his skin to keep it afloat. How beautiful
Just got to the midway revelation that the kid didn't end up dying and that someone else DOES end up dying. Intriguing
Complete garbage chapter. So fucking pointless. They drug it on for like an hour when it all could have been done in 15 minutes. Nearly fell asleep during it.
NO. NOOOOO. That is so depressing. I started to think that Tyler was gonna be the one who died. It crossed my mind briefly that it could be John but I shrugged it off because he's very much the star so far. Jesus. My jaw dropped at the end
This is a perfect example of the power of a true crime podcast. The narrator knows what ends up happening so they can withhold things from you and hit you with it at the right time
This scenario is so rare. It's much heavier than the death of a fictional tv character, and other true crime stories don't really suffer the death of a major character partway through. POOR JOHN
Reallyyyy good, I was so into it. The mercury 'twist' in the last episode was pretty tragic
John was such a fascinating person. It was always a treat hearing his voice again post death episode. I don't think we heard him once in episode three during the fallout of his death, but then we hear him here and there starting from four til the end and I loved every second of it. I'm sad it's over but I rly loved it
Just finished this today. Absolute garbage. Would not recommend
Spoiler
+
YOU'RE FUCKING TELLING ME IT WAS MERCURY POISNING ALL ALONG? That shit is so predictable. What a shitty journalist. Making it sound like some fucking mystery/murder when there isn't shit to it. Really dishonest and deceptive reporting. Way worse than Serial. I can't believe I wasted my time listening to this shit. I want my 7 hours of my life back.
