<\/p>\n
I am behind the times, my friends! When it comes to entertainment, I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the foggiest notion what the young h!psters are into these days. Just look at my Netflix queue; It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a miscellany of partially watched sitcoms and documentaries about North Korea. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have gotten onboard with the latest \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hip\u00e2\u20ac\u009d shows, but au contraire! What with the\u00c2\u00a0Walking Dead<\/i>s,\u00c2\u00a0Game of Thrones<\/i>,\u00c2\u00a0Sons of Boardwalk Anarchy<\/i>, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just too much to manage, yo! My life runs like a Rube Goldberg machine, so carving out time for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153my shows\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is rare. In other words, it takes a helluva lot for me to get reeled-in or obsessed with something, and when I do want to sit down and unplug, it better be riveting! I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m the guy that walked out of\u00c2\u00a0Hunger Games<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0like \u00e2\u20ac\u0153mehh.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d I just can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t justify buying into the hype when there are literally 37,582 shows that I am supposed to be obsessed with at any given time according to my friends. How ya\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll manage is beyond me. But, once I do find something I like, I take the plunge with hook, line, and sinker. My latest semi-addiction:\u00c2\u00a0Serial<\/i>.<\/p>\n
In case you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re unfamiliar, Serial<\/i> is a spinoff of the podcast,\u00c2\u00a0This American Life<\/i>. Journalist Sarah Koenig takes us on weekly adventures analyzing and dissecting the murder trial and subsequent conviction of Adnan Syed, who was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for murdering his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee. The case was presented as a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153crime of passion\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201c two lovers whose enchantment violated their families\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 norms. When Hae ended their relationship, Adnan brutally strangled her in the trunk of a car in a parking lot. How Shakespearian. But Koenig is skeptical. Each week, she reveals new kernels of info, conducts interviews, seeks legal advice, and heavily scrutinizes the prosecution\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s testimony to bring a new perspective to this case. It begs the question if Adnan is even guilty at all. If not him, then who is? Anyway, if you haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t listened to it, or only followed a few episodes, here is why you should \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and continue to \u00e2\u20ac\u201c listen to it, and why it, in all\u00c2\u00a0seriallyness<\/i>, is kind of a big deal!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SERIAL IS MAKING US THE JURY.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Serial<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0strings you along as a jury of public opinion. The stakes are nil for the listener, and the drudgery of courtroom legalese is freshly vetted to give you a plain and concise synopsis of what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s going on. Koenig\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s painstaking combing of endless papers, transcripts, and files gives us the key points, bit by bit, so we can attempt to reconstruct just what happened on that January day in 1999 when Adnan, allegedly, killed Hae. Each week, we as listeners are forced to remember these details, think about them in relation to other details, individual witness testimony, and decide what (and who) we believe. Naturally, almost every episode throws in some kind of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153WTF?!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d curveball. And that is the $#!+ that gets my insular cortex all in a fracas!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SERIAL IS CHANGING THE WAY WE DO STORYTELLING.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Unlike a traditional story or script, which has a definite conclusion and an omniscient author, we are very much in lockstep with Koenig on her journey to peel back the pages of Adnan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case. We aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t sure what reveal she will share with us, what new things she will find, and odds are \u00e2\u20ac\u201c she doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t either. This is largely unprecedented. The popularity of crime dramas, mystery shows, and whodunits<\/i> extends decades, but unlike the dramas of primetime,\u00c2\u00a0Serial<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0chronicles the living, breathing people directly involved in Syed\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s case in real-time. We ultimately don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know how each season will end and millions of listeners are all waiting with heavily bated breath!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
SERIAL IS UNPRECEDENTED.<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 People who knew both Adnan and Hae have come forward to share information with Koenig since listening to the podcast themselves. Two informants in particular gave compelling information that potentially shook up other witnesses\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 testimony and the timeline by which the state of Maryland used to convict Adnan. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s be clear\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6\u00c2\u00a0Serial<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is not the first public odyssey searching for a culprit, but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s probably the first to be so massively accessible, succinct, and digestible in its short time span. It doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t hurt that Koenig\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s voice is equally pleasant to listen to, either! The very fact that people who knew both Adnan and Hae \u00e2\u20ac\u201c people sometimes excluded from the trial \u00e2\u20ac\u201c have come forward to share information with Koenig has the potential to completely change everything.<\/p>\n
SO WHAT?<\/p>\n
\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve volleyed back and forth, ad nauseam, about whether or not Adnan is guilty. Ultimately, we will have to see what Koenig reveals. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s entirely possible that she will make some groundbreaking discovery that proves Adnan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s innocence. Or, she may find the exact opposite \u00e2\u20ac\u201c something that affirms his guilt. We just don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t know, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what makes it so darn exciting for us as listeners! Nevertheless, even a big reveal that changes everything won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t necessarily get Adnan off the hook. And as one legal expert pointed out, just proving his innocence falls short of actually finding the killer.<\/p>\n
Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s be clear that there are critics \u00e2\u20ac\u201c people who believe we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re capitalizing on the death of young woman and the incarceration of a man solely for a quick dopamine fix. Some argue that Koenig is getting too involved and she may be on a fishing expedition \u00e2\u20ac\u201c seeking and zeroing in on details she thinks can help prove Adnan\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s innocence. Even family members of Hae have come out publicly deriding the emotional rollercoaster the podcast has taken them on. Regardless of these criticisms, I think it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard to deny the far-reaching affect\u00c2\u00a0Serial\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>has had on reimagining storytelling and giving us another reason to get all giddy on Thursdays. So, if you want to get even more sucked into this sort of hype, you can find blogs, vlogs, and Reddit subthreads, and even other podcasts about this podcast (yes, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a thing)! Serially, <\/i>check it out!<\/i><\/p>\n Louis Bertenshaw<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am behind the times, my friends! When it comes to entertainment, I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t the foggiest notion what the young h!psters are into these days. Just look at my Netflix queue; It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a miscellany of partially watched sitcoms and documentaries about North Korea. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d have gotten onboard with the latest \u00e2\u20ac\u0153hip\u00e2\u20ac\u009d shows,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":4790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false},"categories":[418,244,107],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Are-you-Serial.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4789"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.hyogoajet.net\/hyogotimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Serial’s Website:<\/a><\/h6>\n
serialpodcast.org<\/a><\/h6>\n