[ad_1]
While the ebbs and flows of the various coronavirus variants have wreaked havoc on movie and television production and release schedules, the podcast industry boomed in 2021. After all, you can make a podcast from the comfort of your own home as long as you know your way around some recording equipment. Every hit show has a companion podcast these days. Every politician and celebrity seems to have their own show. Some are striking multimillion dollar deals. Even fictional characters are getting in on the game: I am sorry to report that Carrie Bradshaw has a podcast now.
[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]
But good podcasts are awfully hard to produce, and good podcasts that are doing something innovative or unique are near-impossible to find. This year’s best podcasts challenged the status quo: Between laughs, Straightio Lab takes on traditional notions of sexuality and gender. Kara Swisher’s latest venture Sway illuminates the corridors of power and prods the people occupying those hallowed halls. And the excellent audio essays 9/12 and S***hole Country both reexamine the mythos of American exceptionalism.
Of all the podcasts on this list, the ones I returned to every week boasted ideal chemistry between interviewer and guest, host and co-host. Balancing out the ones that made us look at old news in new ways, they kept us distracted and contented with lighthearted debates about the best movies, face masks and pasta shapes of the year. Here are TIME’s 10 best podcasts of 2021.
10. Criticism Is Dead
So much pop culture analysis of late veers into either unabashed fandom or reflexive cynicism. Hosts Pelin Ksekin-Liu and Jenny G. Zhang take a more nuanced approach. In each episode they consider seemingly unrelated TV shows, movies or music they’ve been consuming and draw unlikely connections between what’s popular now. The Green Knight and The White Lotus, two notable summer releases, are a world apart (Arthurian legend and a ritzy Hawaiian resort, respectively),…
[ad_2]
Source : time
