Maybe you loved season 1 of Sarah Koenig’s Serial podcast, about the ongoing mystery behind the murder of Maryland teenager Hae Min Lee.
Maybe you hated season 2 of Sarah Koenig’s Serial podcast, about the disappearance of Army Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl in Afghanistan.
Unfortunately, you’d be wrong on both counts, if we may, for the moment, objectively rate your subjective position. Season 1 will be remembered mostly for Koenig’s ingenious reinvention of material previously left to the Forensic Files crowd; Season 2, a work of important and far-ranging journalism, has been unjustly disregarded as … not exciting.
We’ll see what comes next from Koenig in S-Town, a new, limited-run series co-produced by the Serial host, Serial co-producer Julie Snyder and Ira Glass, whose name, at this point, you should know. It sounds to us like a cross between a really good This American Life episode and early vintage Serial: hosted by Brian Reed, the show will travel to rural Alabama for the story, according to Rolling Stone, of “the son of wealthy man who allegedly boasted about getting away with murder.” Narrative twists, and more murder, ensue. Look for it on your radio, and online streaming devices, in March.
S-Town is just one of three longform radio shows to spring from Serial’s loins. Look for the Big Kahuna to return … at some point. Koenig has yet to confirm the subject for the show’s third season — though eyebrows were raised following her appearance at the Cleveland trial of Douglas Shine, accused of killing three men at a local barbershop.
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