Radio on the TV

It was a weekend pretty much defined by This American Life. Jude and I finally finished watching Season 1 of the TV series on DVD and today, on my last long run before the Half, I thought it might be interesting to listen to podcasts of the radio show to see if it'll be better than just random mixes of music of 2 hours. And it was. For the most part.

On the one hand, because you're listening to the stories so intently and because you somehow get emotionally invested in these people- as one invariably does every time you watch or listen to the show- your mind doesn't think about the pain and tedium of the run as much. But on the other, precisely because you're so focused on the pain and pleasures of these ordinary folk, and their simple, funny, poignant predicaments that could have so easily been yours, you find yourself wanting to laugh or even cry along, and that's hard to do when you're hot, sweaty and at Mile 7 of an 11-mile run. Like at the story of the mom who had to make a life-changing decision on behalf of her Down Syndrome daughter, or the dad whose six-year-old son wanted him to “pinky promise, to seriously and forever promise,” that he and his partner will always love each other and stay together. At so many points during the three shows I listened to, my body hurt from literally- as in physically- choking back tears or stifling laughter. All this while running.

I adore Ira Glass- me, and every other NPR-listening woman who wants him as their radio boyfriend. But really, the show- TV or radio- is about stories. Stories we tell ourselves, stories we have to tell other people. Or just stories we need to hear so we know we're not the only crazy, fallible, lovable, and human people out there. Two of our recent favorites and absolute must-listens, #328: What I Learned from Television and #339: Break-Up.

This American Life? Is that that show by those hipster know-it-alls who talk about how fascinating ordinary people are?
-Summer (Rachel Bilson), The O.C.