From Narcos to Homer
Plus: a city in the sky
World Ending
Episode: "The Sky Is Falling" | Podcast: Zero Hours | 40m19s
Anthology fiction show with an eschatological flavour. It begins with an episode set in 1722, then each instalment jumps forward 99 years to tell the story of a possible apocalypse in a different century. One for Black Mirror fans. This episode is about a scientist living in a floating city in the year 2217 who is trying to convince a mysterious "agent of the hegemony" that he should be allowed to terminate his research for ethical reasons. The smart concept of this series is backed up by textured sound design and impressive acting (40m19s)
Bumble Bee
Episode: "The AV Club's List Of Obscure Simpsons Characters" | Podcast: Daily Comedy News: A Podcast About Comedians | 9m50s
Daily commentary podcast about comedy hosted by an aficionado of the genre. In this episode, he reads an article listing obscure characters from The Simpsons and provides his own thoughts on the choices. Entries of note include the bio for the "Inanimate Carbon Rod" who beats Homer to the coveted “Worker Of The Week” award and the Rich Texan, who is always on hand to wear a stetson and cheer on capitalism. Listening to this show is like tuning into a talk radio show with a highly specific niche (9m50s)
Border Crossing
Episode: "Real DEA Narcos — Javier Peña" | Podcast: Unstructured | 25m30s
Interview with Javier Peña, a special agent in the US Drug Enforcement Administration who was part of the manhunt for Medellín Cartel leader Pablo Escobar. He talks through his early law enforcement career as a deputy sheriff in Texas and how the boom in international cocaine smuggling in the late 1980s changed his working life utterly. He volunteered for a DEA post in Bogota, Colombia and lived a hair raisingly risky life investigating Escobar. His story is now the basis of the Netflix series Narcos (25m30s)
