Since most content today is interwoven with politics, it would be nice if a publicly funded organization like this could be apolitical. Informative yet irksome if you’re hoping to avoid the jabs at a particular political viewpoint.

No other podcast can compare.

Hmmm! Still hating America interviews.

One of if not the best. Thanks for sharing. PS. Love to Phil Collins.

Listening to this podcast helps remind me what an “American” life truly is. It calms my inner Chicken Little and reassures me that being “American” is and will continue to be a good thing. Don’t let fear win.

I’ll try to keep this as concise as I can (as someone with a tendency to ramble). Ira Glass and his team manage to take you on an emotional journey that often leads with laughing out loud. It then follows up with some heartwarming excerpt that gives you the fuzzy feelings inside. Inevitably you will be sobbing in the most cathartic way. Every episode ends with a hopeful note that even if they just shared the most tragic story you’ve heard in months, you’re left with a feeling that there is still some hope and redemption for humanity. As someone raised Christian and still practicing in a somewhat unconventional way, I can only compare this storytelling to the most lifegiving, inspiring sermons I’ve heard and this show never misses. It has no religious bent or anything of that sort, but it hits in a similar way that challenges and inspires the way that you will live your life. TLDR: This podcast will make your top 5 all time if you keep an open mind and appreciate excellent storytelling from people with decades of experience sharing stories.

This is a great show that really does show Americans back to themselves. I’m going to become of a member because of your stories on Palestinian struggle over the years and the recent one on the Jewish hostage. How do you manage to get it right when most of media get it so wrong? Thank you.

In the first 10 minutes, I’m hearing a gay man get offended because his family wants to know who the man in the family is. And then black women playing tricks on their dates, looking for ways to get offended Ope. And then a rip on Ron DeSantis. Y’all are miserable.

Saw all the Trumpers crying for truth and all that nonsense. Such snowflakes. Keep up the great reporting. You can tell you are hitting towards truth by how mad Trumpers are.

A top experience of content, time & time again. These ppl are born to make this content. Thank you for your hard work - you challenge and remind m e of important things in life. This podcast makes me a better person.

Long time IG listener but I’m disappointed by how precious the show has become and had lost its focus on good storytelling.

I love to listen to it I’m young and it does have quite a few cuss words but they do warn you before you listen so no complaints here!

This podcast is great and funny and you can’t help LOVING it. It’s also funny, interesting and has a new episode weekly. It’s the ultimate podcast because I ya just amazing. It totally deserves its awards. I LOVE SO MUCH.

I hope they went back for the turtle I couldn’t listen after hearing the pet turtle may have been abandoned

latest episode demonstrates the downfall since profits became the focus……..

It’s a very interesting show that talks about things that most shows don’t, it’s unique. But almost all of the episodes are subscriber only.

Glass is a world-class storyteller that is the very best thing about NPR.

Put all the good episodes behind a $9.99 behind a paywall because that worked so well for the newspaper industry dummies

I could not survive these years without it. It’s entertaining, informative, makes me laugh , makes me cry, puts me to sleep but glad to wake up. The previous review pretty much says it all. Thank you Ira & all. Please stick around to help us through the hard times so we can celebrate the return of something approaching normal—or at least something that isn’t so weird & scary & wears way too much make up.

As a multi-decade NPR supporter I feel TAL is simply putting too much squeeze on its listeners. Booo hiss to fees. Just wait for the Platinum subscriber level next year!

I loved your episode, The Narrator, but please call it what it is - it is not a war, it is a genocide; to use this euphemism is cowardly.

Ira, this has been a tough year for many of us so your episode Fiasco! caught me at a perfect time. It was so funny! Peter Pan, the squirrel story, the interview all just killed me. Thanks to you and your team for pulling these stories together! Happy new year!

hello readers. if you liked this episode whatsoever, please go listen to Heavyweight, a beautiful podcast, the best of the best, which focused on stories like this each and every episode, except the stories were told better, and with more humor, and more emotion, with an insane amount of effort and time put in by host Jonathan Goldstein (who you may have heard before already as he got his start on TAL years ago). Heavyweight was tragically discontinued, and it really bothers me to see This American Life now attempting a weak facsimile of the same formula. i see a lot of reviews here decrying the political bent TAL has recently taken, and if you want relief from that and to go back to hearing stories about people and laughing and crying about it, i absolutely IMPLORE you to check out Heavyweight. it will enrich your life a hundredfold and i’m NOT exaggerating

Interesting how all the negative reviews have disappeared. Recently there were a number of negative reviews, then poof, theyi’re gone!rI’m always suspect of businesses that only have 5 star reviews. Maybe This American Life can do a segment on this phenomena.

Why can’t I listen to the bleeped version of the show within the app? Forcing listeners to go to the website to hear the version without the potty mouth defeats the purpose of having the app.

Lilly Sullivan was just awful to her Mom.

I never know what each week will hold, but this show is always thoughtfully woven together. I continue to think back to shows from even a few years back. Well done TAL team.

I left my heart at the episode, The Narrator. That was the American Life seeing an 8 year old girl in Gaza.

Beyond disappointed that this podcast — which was one of my favorites for many years — has descended into pro-Gaza propaganda. I miss the old This American Life. Would not recommend this to anyone anymore.

“Progressively” tiring and pretentious. All the virtue signalling you’ll need in your lifetime and then some more. One more sheep in the herd.

After years of superb radio, TAL wrote the book on how to produce a podcast. Head and shoulders above the rest.

I love this show. I made it a goal to listen to all episodes years ago. I paid for the (very cheap) app to do so. The app regularly became unusable and would then start working again later on. Now it seems like it was abandoned for good and they are demanding $10 a month for something I already purchased (albeit at a very low one time fee, <$10). That would be ok if all episodes were on here, but lots of the old ones are not. Now I’m paying a lot but still need to listen to old ones on their website. I’m irritated.

TAL’s fall from grace irks me. I have fond memories of listening on my own and discussing the week’s episodes with my family. Naturally, a shift towards monetizing the show was coming but for months before the move to NYT, the show started to lose its shine and luster. A predictable swing left was certain to turn off audiences that didn’t align, but what was even more disappointing was the apparent laziness in creation. TAL is known for its unique and profound storytelling, and the show pounded the rock of political and war coverage when I’m sure most listeners would welcome a break. Even more discouraging is the recycled episodes. While it’s very hard to produce new content, each week, it seems like the show is slowly drifting away from its compelling and irreplaceable storytelling that draws you in each Sunday night unless you submit to the paywall they so desperately encourage you climb. Whatever the future holds, This American Life certainly has seen its best days yet is a few more low-frills shows away from a return to glory.

I’ve been listening to this podcast for 5 years, I absolutely love the episodes featuring individuals from Gaza, so heartbreaking necessary listens.

This American Life is so good!

I will been listening to this podcast since the beginning. I’ve truly enjoyed every single podcast, but now I can’t listen to it on Mondays when I normally used to because I don’t have the money. Shame on you. I’m so disappointed in This American Life. I understand that you need sponsorship, but what about us regular listeners who’ve been there forever and who have donated to NPR?

Very entertaining. I didn’t see that much left leaning episodes that the other reviews talk about. Love this podcast!!!

Defund NPR. I used to enjoy so many shows like this on NLR until they became left wing anti Trump propaganda. Regurgitating the same unsubstantiated nonsense and talking points all of MSM partakes in. January 20th and DOGE can’t come soon enough.

Good lord, how can anyone stand the smug liberal certainty of this show ? You've gone woke, and now Ira reports you're going broke. 4 years of Trump and 8 years of Vance ought to put this show in the trash heap where it belongs.

Horrible complete and utter nonsense by communist

The explicitly pro-Stop the Steal episode was a bit much, comparing them to the Venezuelan opposition disrespects the struggles of people living in a country with actual electoral fraud

Ira glass knows how to run a team of storytellers and keep the standard high. My only want is to make older episodes more accessible

that venezuela episode is just straight up paid propaganda you are a dullard if that didn’t make your skin crawl. gross.

Listen with care.

The red icon programs will play on Tesla, but the blue “subscriber only” content is grayed out and won’t play, even though I have paid for the subscription.

I started listening to TAL when I was a preadolescent in the 90’s. My dad and I would sometimes happen to catch it on Saturday, but if not always on Sunday for the rerun on our way home from church. So often we’d sit in the driveway listening, car turned off, unable to tear ourselves away. We were obsessed. When I was a teenager, we went to see Ira live in Concord, NH and I got to meet him. I was star struck, and so in love with the medium he and his team were evolving before our ears. Now I’m in my 40’s - been consuming these stories for 30+ years! So many stay with me, so many memories. When life partners came out, I knew I had to sign up even though I don’t normally for this sort of thing, but TAL feels like a narrative soundtrack to my entire life. So grateful for it and happy to hear its evolution to explore politics and the experiences of people other than native born white Americans. I agree with some of the other comments that you could try harder to set a place at the table for folks from conservative backgrounds. But mostly I’m just grateful you’re still around producing content. Thank you Ira and the rest of the team from the bottom of this American heart, and keep it up!! ❤️💙🤍

This used to be one of my favorite shows but I am not listening as much since they started the paid subscription. Just run advertising between each act like other series instead of trying to convince me to pay for episodes.

I paid for the upgraded, commercial-free version and linked my NYT account. Now the Apple IOS player (IOS 17.6.1) has all gone whack. My settings about what to keep, when to delete, etc are reset. Episodes I should see are not visible and cannot be found, etc. Come on TAL, I love your show but feel like you could have done better here.

NPR has done an amazing job in continuing to provide for us with This American Life. The thing about this show is that is made by incredible storytellers and journalists. It’s the very best American can and will offer and does not disappoint ever. I think it had a bit of a rocky start many years ago but now it is simply the best podcast out there. If you are looking for unbiased journalism, support this American life for as long as possible. No other podcast out there comes close to what these guys are doing. Absolutely amazing.

The show is great and one of my favorites. However I joined the annual subscription which cost $87.89 and it does nothing. I was able to listen to one “bonus content” show. Every time I try to listen to the “bonus content” a second time it keeps asking me to rejoin and pay again. And yes I’m logged in under my profile and yes it did show as a paid subscription in Apple subscriptions. Hate to say but it feels deceptive. And it’s hard to contact someone to have it looked into.