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‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

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Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#111

Post by derefr »

bearcobra wrote: post #73
blobbers wrote: post #17

'Serial' was the podcast that launched all podcasts. It was the defining podcast. It isn't that it was hyper monetized or incredibly financially successful; simply it showed that the audience was there. It has over 340 million listens as of 2018 . With this eviction of conviction, I suspect that number will be over a billion. It is fitting that it has come full circle and fulfilled the ultimate purpose of investigati…

This assertion has always been strange to me. This American Life was releasing their episodes as podcasts for something like 7 years before they decided to do Serial. Shows like Adam Corolla, WTF with Marc Maron, the BS Report, Joe Rogan Experience, etc were all very successful before Serial. Major media companies like NPR, CBC, BBC were releasing podcasts and dedicated podcast companies like TWiT.tv had existed for…

Serial didn't create the demand for podcasts — that had already existed, as you say — but it proved out that demand, in a way that made advertisers take notice; made it possible to commercialize podcasting; and so led to an explosion in the number of podcasts, because it was now a predictable media business model that the stodgier kinds of investor could get behind.

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#112

Post by asdfasgasdgasdg »

chasedehan wrote: post #91
asdfasgasdgasdg wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t remember whether Jay had an alibi. Did he? One question I always had is why he was not a suspect.

I’ve always had that as a question as well. I never remember hearing an alibi or why he wasn’t a suspect.

Then again, it is most often the boyfriend. I think when I initially listened to Serial I didn't realize that fact to quite the degree I know it now. That doesn't make him legally guilty, but it does seem to be the Bayesian center of likelihood.

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#113

Post by pengaru »

BurningFrog wrote: post #106
pengaru wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 'Serial' was the podcast that launched all podcasts. It feels like we were listening to This American Life in podcast form in the car for at least five years before Serial even existed. And Serial was being marketed on TAL during what I'd describe as TAL's slow decline from popularity, with Ira personally shilling for Serial and teasing the first entire episode on TAL, IIRC. If either of these were responsible for…

The difference is that TAL is a radio show that was also distributed as podcast. Serial was only a podcast.

Sure, except I never listened to TAL on the radio. We would download a bunch of the episodes into someone's mp3 player (later a phone) and listen to them in the car through a tape deck headphone adapter.

That's the era I lived through, the transition to mp3s and ipods becoming commonplace, and TLA was right there with us. They are called podcasts after all, this is pre-streaming parlance.

I don't think it's fair to be discredit TAL's role in the shift to podcasting just because they were a radio show first.

Serial basically arrived when everyone was streaming everything, that's pretty late in terms of podcasts. Serial didn't even exist in the era of iPods and Zens...

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#114

Post by caf »

scoofy wrote: post #92
yamtaddle wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a podcast, but there's also the Netflix mockumentary series "American Vandal".

American Vandal may be my favorite piece of satire ever made. It mocks true crime shows... by being an extremely good true crime show. It demonstrates well that it's not the content, but the presentation that makes it so compelling.

Well, not actually "true".

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#115

Post by caf »

wayne wrote: post #43
doitLP wrote: post #22

For a hilarious lampooning of true crime podcasts, check out The Onion’s podcast “A Very Fatal Murder”. Truly a great piece of satire: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-very-fatal-murder/id...

'Only Murders in the Building' starring Martin Short, Steve Martin, and Selena Gomez playing podcasters in a Hulu show is also amazing.

Only Murders in the Building is like American Vandal meets Agatha Christie.

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#116

Post by smt88 »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #74
robga wrote: post #11

Serial was blowout success, but flawed in many ways. For me, chief amongst these is not updating the podcast with new (and potentially exculpatory) information as it came to light over the years. What really progressed the case was the Undisclosed podcast [0]. Rabia Chaudry, a childhood friend of Adnan and an attorney, first took Adnan's story to Sarah Koenig, who documented it in the Serial podcast. But in Undisclos…

I was uneasy with "Serial". Too much obsession I thought with the accused, scant discussion of the murdered. It was just a sad, dark place I felt it was asking me to be a voyeur of. But, yeah, I guess I don't like "true crime" entertainment.

The victim's family refused to participate or provide anything for Serial to use, so they (respectfully) didn't dig up much else about her.

The producers of the podcast were very upfront about wanting to give airtime to understanding Lee as a person, but also not feeling like they had her family's blessing or other verifiable information to go on.

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#117

Post by skinnymuch »

orblivion wrote: post #51
robga wrote: post #11

Serial was blowout success, but flawed in many ways. For me, chief amongst these is not updating the podcast with new (and potentially exculpatory) information as it came to light over the years. What really progressed the case was the Undisclosed podcast [0]. Rabia Chaudry, a childhood friend of Adnan and an attorney, first took Adnan's story to Sarah Koenig, who documented it in the Serial podcast. But in Undisclos…

Wow, lucky kid that his case got this much attention. It can't be the only ambiguous case out there.

He's a 41 year old man now.

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#118

Post by LeonB »

geuis wrote: post #34
blobbers wrote: post #17

'Serial' was the podcast that launched all podcasts. It was the defining podcast. It isn't that it was hyper monetized or incredibly financially successful; simply it showed that the audience was there. It has over 340 million listens as of 2018 . With this eviction of conviction, I suspect that number will be over a billion. It is fitting that it has come full circle and fulfilled the ultimate purpose of investigati…

> 'Serial' was the podcast that launched all podcasts Sorry, but this statement is objectively wrong. Podcasts have existed for close to 20 years in the way we understand them today. Serial may have helped to popularize podcasts, but in no way was original.

They’re using hyperbole as a device. It’s not meant to be “literally” true.

Re: ‘Serial’ case: Adnan Syed released, conviction tossed

#119

Post by addicted »

JKCalhoun wrote: post #74
robga wrote: post #11

Serial was blowout success, but flawed in many ways. For me, chief amongst these is not updating the podcast with new (and potentially exculpatory) information as it came to light over the years. What really progressed the case was the Undisclosed podcast [0]. Rabia Chaudry, a childhood friend of Adnan and an attorney, first took Adnan's story to Sarah Koenig, who documented it in the Serial podcast. But in Undisclos…

I was uneasy with "Serial". Too much obsession I thought with the accused, scant discussion of the murdered. It was just a sad, dark place I felt it was asking me to be a voyeur of. But, yeah, I guess I don't like "true crime" entertainment.

With the caveat that I do not like/watch/listen to any true crime precisely because of the voyeuristic aspect of it (I’d much rather read, listen to or watch a fictional crime story), I don’t see it necessarily as a negative that a story didn’t get into the victim when the story is about the judicial system.

The victim’s story is absolutely minimal here, and in fact, using their background, etc is a key tool used by the prosecution to mislead the jury.

Whether the victim was a straight A student or a straight F student has absolutely no bearing on whether the accused killed them (unless the motive is jealousy over their grades or something like that), and yet, the prosecution will present the former (and the defense the latter) in fairly effective bids to manipulate the jury.

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