This American Life: Radio, TV, at the Movies
I’ve listened to This American Life on NRP (or PRI, or whatever) here and there since I started obsessing over talk-radio back in the fall of 1999, but it wasn’t until their Showtime program began last spring that I really became a fan. Before that I don’t think I really “got it.†The pacing is such that you really have to give it some time before you get sucked in (not unlike a really great television show) and if the first story doesn’t happen to grab your attention during the dial can be awfully easy. But the series changed all that. Maybe it’s because I was already spending so much time parked in front of the television. Perhaps it was bound to happen. All I know is the storytelling was remarkable, the visual style felt unprecedented in its richness and by the time the six episode had aired I had become a vegetarian (which lasted through the summer).
So when some friends told me about a live This American Life stage show that would be put on in New York City and then broadcast live to movie theaters across the country, I felt that it was something I should certainly attend. I’ll tell you about it after the jump…
