This American Life: best episodes?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The month at the car dealership.

I don't listen to a ton of TAL but happened to hear this one and it was unforgettable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anatomy of Doubt. It won a Peabody award. Some parts were hard to listen to, but it was very good.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/581/anatomy-of-doubt

This story was also made into a series on Netflix, Unbelievable. It is also really good.

[Anonymous]

Jews for Jesus, for Just One Day. A very Jewish family decides to make Christmas for a Christian neighbor. (Second story in the linked episode.)

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/787/babys-first-christmas/act-two-9

[Anonymous]

The interstitial by the Christian Dad explaining what happened when he introduced his 4 yo to the story of why there is an MLK holiday. Gets me in the throat every time.

“Kid Logic,” starts at 13 mins in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anything appropriate for tweens?

TAL is a staple for our car drives up and down the east coast. Our children have listened to almost all of them. [/quote

Middle school dance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The interstitial by the Christian Dad explaining what happened when he introduced his 4 yo to the story of why there is an MLK holiday. Gets me in the throat every time.

“Kid Logic,” starts at 13 mins in.

Also the part of that episode about the kid who started hating babies after seeing The Lion King because her dad was dying.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The feather heist, which is insane.

One of the best. I recently got my college-age daughter to listen to it and she ended up doing down a rabbit hole about the whole world of feather collecting after hearing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jews for Jesus, for Just One Day. A very Jewish family decides to make Christmas for a Christian neighbor. (Second story in the linked episode.)

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/787/babys-first-christmas/act-two-9

This is part of a larger show called Just for Us that was on Broadway, but I think the TAL version is better. I played it for a group of Jewish high school students and the discussion we had afterwards was one of the best I've ever had in years working with teens.

[Anonymous]

I loved this one about fighting a bill with phone company MCI.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/253/the-middle-of-nowhere/act-two-0

On hold no-one can hear you scream.

[Anonymous]

The one about coincidences was really good.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/489/no-coincidence-no-story

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Jews for Jesus, for Just One Day. A very Jewish family decides to make Christmas for a Christian neighbor. (Second story in the linked episode.)

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/787/babys-first-christmas/act-two-9

This one is so good!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The one about coincidences was really good.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/489/no-coincidence-no-story

I really liked this. Thanks for the rec.

[Anonymous]

The alleged smartest kids at a poor high school kids visiting peers at ritzy $60k yr Fieldston (?) day school, which is I think where Seinfeld sent his kids.

Anyways, the poor kids said they felt like zoo animals. And then the producer looks them up like 10 years later and the alleged smartest poor girl was working at Whole Foods and she said she wasn’t smart, she was just the “smartest” at a low achieving high school full of dumb kids, basically.

[Anonymous]

The ep about college counselors helping inner city kids get full ride scholarships to really good schools. I want to say one girl was going to Williams for free and she quit or transferred out to go to a junior college nursing program to be back with her high school boyfriend!

Another male they featured quickly flunked out and was kicked out of college. But he still went back to his dorm after winter break and it sounded like they had him trespassed from campus. Going for free to an elite college and he said he didn’t bother going to class or buying books. He said he didn’t realize they had actually kicked him out. Crazy. He had a ex girlfriend from the same high school who also got a full ride to college but she took it seriously and graduated.