Pod Take of the Week

“I don’t want him to win for talking through a retainer.”

Listen: Pop Culture Happy Hour: 2019 Oscars Preview (8:14)

• That’s Glen Weldon, on the Best Actor nominee Rami Malek and his abundantly toothed performance as Freddie Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody.”

• My take: I’m rooting for “Black Panther.”

• Spoiler: It’s the only Best Picture nominee I’ve seen.

Go Deep

1) “Scott Street”

Listen: Song Exploder

• A 22-minute dive into the exquisite 5-minute, 5-second song.

• Fact: The acoustic guitar played in the song was formerly owned by Glen Campbell.

2) Inside the Trump International Hotel

Listen: Skullduggery

• A 1-hour, 2-minute deep dive into what’s really going on at President Trump’s D.C. hotel, with 1100 Pennsylvania’s Zach Everson and Rep. Don Beyer.

• “It’s kind of in your face, isn’t it?” says Michael Isikoff on the Kuwaiti embassy holding its national day celebration at the hotel for the third year in a row.

3) Lennon and McCartney

Listen: One Plus One

• The new Wondery podcast debuts with a six-part series on the main creative forces of the Beatles.

4) The Great Depression

Listen: American History Tellers

• The deep dive kicks off with a look at the October 29, 1929 stock market crash.

5) The Making of a “The Simpsons” Episode

Listen: Scriptnotes

• Exec producer Matt Selman walks through the three-year (!) process.

6) Love Hotels

Listen: The Trip

• The Roads & Kingdom pod talks about the Japanese phenomenon with Toko Sekiguchi.

7) Pavement

Listen: Political Beats

• A 2-hour, 29-minute deep dive into the ‘90s indie band.

• My take: I’m team “Box Elder.”

Notable New Podcasts

1) Crimes of Passion

• True crime alert! These are love stories that inevitably become crime stories.

2) Crime Beat

• True crime alert, continued: Season-long stories about specific crimes, with “interviews of criminal masterminds, some of their victims and the detectives trying to piece together what really happened.”

3) Should This Exist?

• Caterina Fake asks “creators of radical new technologies to set aside their business plan, and think through the human side” of things.

4) SmoshCast

• The comedy pod from Smosh covers current events, YouTube drama and ”unqualified and unsolicited advice.”

5) One Plus One

• Hosts Rico Gagliano and Faith Salie chronicle “the ups and downs of the world’s greatest and most dramatic collaborations.”

6) The Double Shift

• Host Katherine Goldstein examines “the real, three-dimensional stories of mothers” in a reported, narrative show.

7) National Parks Traveler

• Independent coverage of U.S. national parks.

8) Knuckleheads

• Former NBA players Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles interview “athletes, musicians and entertainers to get brutally honest about everything from current events to untold stories from the golden era of sports and culture.”

Guest Appearances By...

Amanpour, Christiane Stay Tuned with Preet

Bird, Brad Maltin on Movies

Bryant, Kobe Anna Faris is Unqualified

Charles, Larry Kickass News

Day, Felicia Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig

Diller, Barry Recode Decode

• Chairman of IAC and the Expedia Group says “Hollywood is now irrelevant.”

Duplass, Mark 10 Things That Scare Me

Fleck, Bela On Being

Flynn, Gillian Armchair Expert

Garber, Don Planet Futbol

• MLS Commissioner talks expansion, using data in soccer.

Goodwin, Doris Kearns TED Talks Daily

Grant, Richard E. Studio 360

Headland, Leslye The Gist

Holmes, Pete Pardon My Take

Holofcener, Nicole Bullseye

Khanna, Parag Kickass News

• Convo with author of “The Future Is Asian.”

Kotick, Bobby a16z Podcast

• Activision Blizzard CEO traces rise of video games from nerds to mainstream cultural phenomenon.

Kwan, Michelle Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness

Lipsyte, Sam Bookworm

Logic H3 Podcast

Mann, Michael The Adam Carolla Show

McCabe, Andrew Fresh Air

Moore, Mandy WTF with Marc Maron

• Moore speaks about her former marriage to Ryan Adams and his recently disclosed abuses.

Meyers, Seth Good One

Nancherla, Aparna 10 Things That Scare Me

Parton, Dolly The Dan Wootton Interview

Peretti, Chelsea Armchair Expert

Polgreen, Lydia Longform Podcast

Radcliffe, Daniel Off Camera with Sam Jones

Ratliff, Evan But That’s Another Story

Remnick, David TBD with Tina Brown

Steinberg, Leigh Nobody Told Me!

Warren, Elizabeth Pod Save America

Washburn, Abigail On Being

Wenders, Wim The Kitchen Sisters Present