Popular podcast Serial is back! After breaking into mainstream culture with a season 1 of 12 episodes, Sarah Koenig and her team will try to solve another case and report about it on a podcast. This time, Serial will investigate the case of Bowe Bergdahl, a U.S. soldier who has been charged with “desertion with intent to shirk important or hazardous duty” and “misbehavior before the enemy by endangering the safety of a command, unit or place.”
There is a lot of blurry things around Bergdahl’s case as he was captured by the Taliban in 2009 and released five years later. While many celebrated his release, some started accusing Bergdahl, leading to military investigation.
As a reminder, Serial is one of the most successful podcasts to date, breaking the record of the fastest podcast ever to reach 5 million downloads on iTunes. If you’re listening to podcasts today, chances are you’ve already heard of Serial — or maybe you started listening to podcasts with Serial.
Last month, Pandora announced that it would stream the second season of Serial. But it looks like the episodes are also available on Serial’s website. You can also still use your favorite podcast player like with any other podcast.
Serial is an interesting podcast as it is a highly produced, NPR-style radio show. It started off as a spinoff of the radio program and podcast This American Life. This American Life has been a public radio show on WBEZ in Chicago for 20 years. It became an independent company in July 2015.
Serial’s success may have driven this decision, and you may expect other spinoff shows from This American Life. Now, let me block my calendar so that I can listen to this first episode…