I have not taken to podcast, to be honest. There is so much content to see, I feel like they are an interruption. However, over the past few weeks, I have stumbled upon a couple I’ve enjoyed. One of them being, The Plot Thickens from Turner Classic Movies with host Ben Mankiewicz. The first season has four full-length episodes about the acclaimed and later unsuccessful director, Peter Bogdanovich. He was, in the 1970s and 1980s, an acclaimed director known for films like, The Picture Show and Paper Moon. If you are not from that time or not a film geek, you may not know the story of this director’s bad break up with tinsel town.

The host, Mankiewicz does a fine job of telling this true-life story in a captivating way. For me it was surprisingly salacious. Involving an affair with his leading lady, Cybil Shepard that broke up his marriage to Polly- his set decorator and the mother of his two daughters.  The affair turned into a long-term relationship that lasted eight years. The two continued to work on screen as well in some of his flops.

To put this podcast together, Mankiewicz did five in-person interviews with Peter in a 1980s style way using a tape recorder. I’ll pause to allow the younger folks to google ‘tape recorder’. Peter talks about how he became fascinated with films and plays through his parents. Which led to him getting a job on an off-Broadway play at the tender age of twenty- two. It is there where he met his wife Polly whom he hired as a set decorator.

Anyway, I could go on and on about this podcast, but why when you could just watch it. As if the content alone isn’t sufficient a reason to watch, I like that Ben does not drag out the episodes. Some podcast shows are equivalent to Sunday sermons at a Black church; make no plans until after six. This one is considerate of your time. All the episodes are between half an hour to an hour. You won’t feel like a loser for spending your entire day listening to a podcast. If I’ve done a good job persuaded you to give it a listen, click the link below.