{"id":5364,"date":"2013-07-14T02:45:55","date_gmt":"2013-07-14T06:45:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/?p=5364"},"modified":"2013-07-13T15:46:54","modified_gmt":"2013-07-13T19:46:54","slug":"tal-500-shows-later-and-going-strong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/2013\/07\/14\/tal-500-shows-later-and-going-strong\/","title":{"rendered":"TAL: 500 shows later and going strong"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Ira_bottle\"<\/a>Odds are, if you listen to public media via radio or podcast, you know what TAL stands for: This American Life, the show imagined and hosted by Ira Glass.<\/p>\n

Today at 11 am (and at 1 pm on Friday) we air the 500th episode of TAL, still attracting old and new listeners, still surprising us with stories from around the nation and the globe.<\/p>\n

Is it like a parent being asked which child they love the most when everyone asks Ira which shows of the 500 are his favorites? Apparently, Ira’s not scared.<\/p>\n

Ira Glass writes:<\/b><\/p>\n

With our 500th show approaching, people keep asking me about my favorite episodes over the years.\u00a0 Here\u2019s a short list.<\/p>\n

Some are listener favorites:<\/p>\n

Notes on Camp<\/b><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/109\/notes-on-camp<\/a><\/p>\n

Harper High School One and Two <\/b><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/487\/harper-high-school-part-one<\/a><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/488\/harper-high-school-part-two<\/a><\/p>\n

The Giant Pool of Money<\/b><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/355\/the-giant-pool-of-money<\/a><\/p>\n

Somewhere in the Arabian Sea<\/b> \u2013 I love how funny and human-sized everyone is in this show.\u00a0 It\u2019s a surprisingly funny show about the war on terror.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/206\/somewhere-in-the-arabian-sea<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Ira_list_of_show_titles_ideas_before_they_settled_on_TAL\"<\/a>

Ira’s list of show titles ideas before settling on This American Life.<\/p><\/div>\n

Switched at Birth<\/b> \u2013 the structure of this show \u2013 where the whole episode you wonder how a mom could know for decades she was raising the wrong baby and finally, she answers it in the end \u2013 is perfect.
\nhttp:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/360\/switched-at-birth<\/a><\/p>\n

Break-Up<\/b> \u2013 The standout story is Starlee Kine\u2019s essay on breakup songs, which includes an interview with Phil Collins that\u2019s so menschy and real, it changed how I saw him forever.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/339\/break-up?act=1<\/a><\/p>\n

Babysitting<\/b> \u2013 especially the interview with Myron Jones, which is the best interview I\u2019ve ever done, mainly because he had so much grace and humor talking about his past.\u00a0 Any question I could think of, he\u2019d come back with an amazing story, which is rare.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/175\/babysitting?act=3<\/a><\/p>\n

My Big Break<\/b> \u2013 David Segal takes a turn in the middle of this story that\u2019s one of my favorite reveals in any radio story ever.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/281\/my-big-break?act=1<\/a><\/p>\n

Harold Washington<\/b> \u2013 How can you go wrong when the central figure in your story is funny and cantankerous and bighearted and idealistic and utterly pragmatic and on top of all that, totally charismatic?\u00a0 If you don\u2019t know who Harold is, be prepared for a treat.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/84\/harold<\/a><\/p>\n

Heretics<\/b> \u2013 Carlton Pearson, like Harold, is someone they should make a movie about, for lots of the same reasons.\u00a0 An idealistic preacher whose idealism costs him pretty much everything: the church he runs, his reputation, his fortune, nearly his family.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/304\/heretics<\/a><\/p>\n

Some shows are favorites of mine for purely selfish reasons, because making those episodes meant something special to me.\u00a0 For instance, putting together the memorial show for David Rakoff, or visiting David Sedaris in Paris in 2000, or having my mom on our first episode in 1995 (she died in 2003), or playing old tapes of my dad as a radio deejay in his 20s, or visiting Georgia over and over getting to know people and trying to get them to speak on the record about a small town judge, or getting a chance to talk about marriage at the end of the Rumspringa relationship story in What I Did for Love, or going to Medieval Times with a Medieval scholar I really liked, who\u2019s since passed away, Michael Camille, or devoting an entire hour of radio to my own neighborhood diner.\u00a0 Those shows:<\/p>\n

Our Friend David<\/b><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/472\/our-friend-david<\/a><\/p>\n

Americans in Paris<\/b><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/165\/americans-in-paris<\/a><\/p>\n

Act One, What I Did For Love <\/b><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/457\/what-i-did-for-love?act=1<\/a><\/p>\n

Act Three, Medieval Times, Simulated Worlds<\/b><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/38\/simulated-worlds<\/a><\/p>\n

Act Two, Accidental Documentaries<\/b><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/14\/accidental-documentaries?act=2<\/a><\/p>\n

Very Tough Love<\/b><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/430\/very-tough-love<\/a><\/p>\n

24 Hours at the Golden Apple<\/b><\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/172\/24-hours-at-the-golden-apple<\/a><\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the Christmas and Commerce<\/b> show, which has David Sedaris\u2019s Santaland Diaries in it.\u00a0 That story \u2013 first on Morning Edition and then on This American Life \u2013 was his first time on the radio and our first time working together.\u00a0 Putting it on the radio changed my life as much as it changed his.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.thisamericanlife.org\/radio-archives\/episode\/47\/christmas-and-commerce<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Ira_couch\"<\/a>It\u2019s hard choosing favorite shows when you\u2019ve made so many.\u00a0 It\u2019s like, you love different episodes for different things.\u00a0 On our website we have lists of favorites, a short list of seven, a longer list of 62, and then \u2013 if that weren\u2019t enough \u2013 a third list of eleven very early shows.\u00a0 And sure, it\u2019s lame that we can\u2019t just come up with a succinct list of three.\u00a0 But when you\u2019re working on a show where the whole point is that you\u2019re only putting stuff on the air that you really really love, you end up with a lot of shows you feel very strongly about.<\/p>\n

– Ira<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Check out this link to a Slate interview <\/a>with Ira that includes three short videos of Ira on “The Art of Interviewing,” “500 and Counting,” and “Embracing Entertainment.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Odds are, if you listen to public media via radio or podcast, you know what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[5450,6239],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5364"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5364"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5378,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5364\/revisions\/5378"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/allin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}