3 Great Podcasts We Love

We’re always up for a great podcast! Here are a few that have caught our ear.

The Big Picture (The Ringer/Spotify)

Hosts Amanda Dobbins and Sean Fennessey have a consistent ability to contextualize movies within the time of their release. This might sound obvious, but you would never assume that thinking about The Dark Knight Rises from an Obama-era perspective is something you should be doing.

What further differentiates The Big Picture is the hosts’ ability to contextualize the experience of the podcast around their own lives. The Big Picture is not just a movie podcast, but a twice-a-week kickback with busy mom/celeb culture lover Dobbins and sports-obsessed Fennessey.

You get a real picture of the happily hectic lives of the hosts and their friends. Somehow, a review of a Paddington sequel works better in the context of Amanda taking her son to the AMC Americana, sandwiched between her day recording, attending screenings, and other day-to-day events.

Sean and Amanda taught me to contextualize movies; The Big Picture taught me to contextualize life.

You Must Remember This (Karina Longworth)

For the Hollywood-obsessed, Longworth does a smoky, gossipy dive into some of the forgotten figures from roughly the 20s to the 90s. Come for how John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, and Fritz Lang shaped the cultural landscape; stay for a critical look at feminism and porn culture through a modern lens. If you’re looking to live the mystifying movie scene of old Hollywood, You Must Remember This is a perfect guiding track.

Song Exploder  (Hrishikesh Hirway)

This one provides super-interesting deep dives into popular music, theme songs, and artists. Hirway, a composer for film and TV, also hosts a West Wing podcast, among other topics. His expertise and knowledge from talking to great artists over the years make him a reliable host.

Hirway brings on artists to literally blow up their music and break it down together. Song Exploder’s strength is in the size and variety of its catalogue. Running for over ten years, there’s every chance you’ll stumble on an episode with notable artists who are currently in your rotation.

Dive into current hits with Sabrina Carpenter, archival bits with John Lennon, and a lot more. For music fans of all stripes, this one’s a good supplementary listen.

-Michael Archer

Photo: public domain