History Podcast / Serial

Season Two began on 10 December 2015, and focuses on American soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured in Afghanistan in 2009 and was subsequently held by the Taliban for almost five years, before being part of a controversial prisoner swap. Season Three is planned to be released sometime in 2018.

Season Two began on 10 December 2015, and focuses on American soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured in Afghanistan in 2009 and was subsequently held by the Taliban for almost five years, before being part of a controversial prisoner swap.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Season One was original research and reporting in an attempt to solve a relatively unknown murder. Season Two was mostly a compilation of existing reports into a coherent narrative. Season Two didn't attract nearly as devoted a following.

** The other time he get's agitated is having to have his OldShame teenage behavior dredged up over and over, when everybody else get's to forget them.

* ForWantOfANail: Specific example invoked in the first trial. Adnan's lawyer is apparently doing well, then get's into a verbal altercation with the judge, who calls her a 'liar', which the jury hear, even though they shouldn't be able to. Mistrial declared, and everybody comes back weeks later for another trial.

* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: If you believe Adnan is innocent, then his story has real implications of this, as he couldn't have been named as the main suspect in the case if he hadn't had a girlfriend and smoked weed. In the last episode they say that even if he has been correctly found guilty, he's still unlucky.

* ConvictionByContradiction: Thoroughly avoided by the host. Every single thing that seemingly points to Adnan's guilt, or innocence, is turned inside out.

* ForWantOfANail: Specific example invoked in the first trial. Adnan's lawyer is apparently doing well, then get's into a verbal altercation with the judge, who calls her a 'liar', which the jury hear, even though they shouldn't be able to. Mistrial declared, and everybody comes back weeks later for another trial.
* GenreSavvy: Both the host, and the suspect. The IntrepidReporter trope (see below) and very existence of the podcast and it's increasing popularity are mentioned, and it's possible effect on the real-life participants. She also thinks that Adnan keeps his calls in the StrictlyProfessionalRelationship territory so as to not appear like the ManipulativeBastard.

* ClearTheirName: The general idea of the show. Was Adnan wrongfully convicted? Sarah Koenig initially became interested in the case because a family member of Adnan's family implored her to look into the case; she was soon sucked in and developed an obsession, culminating in the idea for the podcast. Throughout the course of the show, Koenig herself is never fully sure if Adnan is telling the truth or if she's just being played.

* UnreliableNarrator: [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]]. While many people have argued that anything Bowe Bergdahl says is unreliable because he is a traitor to them, this isn't what concerns Sarah. Having considered the evidence, she's more concerned with how closely Bowe's memory conforms to what actually happened, which she emphasizes after learning of Bowe's [[HollywoodPersonalityDisorders Schizotypal Personality Disorder diagnosis]]. Mark, Sarah's partner on Season 2, objects to this--though he knows the same things as her, he sees it as unfair to devalue Bowe's memory because of a diagnosis.

* CantGetAwayWithNuthin: If you believe Adnan is innocent, then his story has real implications of this, as he couldn't have been named as the main suspect in the case if he hadn't had a girlfriend and smoked weed.

* ConvictionByContradiction: Thoroughly avoided by the host. Every single thing that seemingly points the Adnan's guilt, or innocence, is turned inside out.

Season Two began on 10 December 2015, and will focus on American soldier Bowe Bergdahl, who was captured in Afghanistan in 2009 and was subsequently held by the Taliban for almost five years, before being part of a controversial prisoner swap.

By the time the twelfth and final episode of Season 1 was released on December 19, Serial had become [[http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/nov/18/serial-podcast-itunes-apple-downloads-streams the fastest podcast to hit 5 million downloads]], and was ranked in Apple's top 10 podcasts list globally. [[http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/10/24/serial_episode_5_route_talk_podcast_recap_discuss_and_debate_the_latest.html Slate.com]] and [[http://www.avclub.com/article/introducing-serial-serial-v-clubs-new-podcast-abou-211881 The AV Club]] both produced their own podcasts to simply discuss and break down the original podcast. ''Serial'', like ''This American Life'', is a production of [=WBEZ=] UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}.

** Also, if you believe Adnan is innocent, his parents get a heavy dose of this too - your son is dragged out of bed in the early hours of the morning to answer murder charges against the girl you tried to discourage him from seeing, the community turns against him (and to an extent against your religion) and you are forced to watch him be sentenced to life in a maximum security prison, while he insists he's innocent the entire time.

** The prosecutor Kevin Urick pulls a few questionable moves as well. He finds an attorney for Jay, which Koenig considers an unethical benefit to sway Jan's testimony, and begins shouting at Don when he doesn't portray Adnan as creepy enough in his testimony.

---> '''Adnan''': People keep saying, 'Oh, I don't think you did it because you're a nice guy'. And I'm like, 'Great, but that ''doesn't help me''.'"

** Also, if you believe Adnan is innocent, his parents get a heavy dose of this too - your son is dragged out of bed in the middle of the night to answer murder charges against the girl you tried to discourage him from seeing, the community turns against him (and to an extent against your religion) and you are forced to watch him be locked up in a high security prison for nearly 20 years, while he insists he's innocent the entire time.
* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Adnan's friend Stephanie, who is described as beautiful and athletic, is Jay's girlfriend at the time of Hae's murder.

* UnreliableNarrator: A running theme of the series.The murder happened almost 20 years ago, so many of the people are hazy on details, actively contradict each other or just can't remember what happened, including Adnan. The series also focuses a great deal on how much Jay's testimony changed between tellings.

* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: More like "Completely Undisguised Pilot"--Episode 1 of ''Serial'', "The Alibi", was aired as Episode 537 of ''This American Life'', with Ira Glass introducing it by saying saying, in essence, "Here's the first episode of this spinoff of ours, please subscribe."

* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: More like "Completely Undisguised Pilot"--Episode 1 of ''Serial'', "The Alibi", was aired as Episode 537 of ''This American Life'', with Ira Glass introducing it by saying saying, in essence "Here's the first episode of this spinoff of ours, download it."

* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: More like "Completely Undisguised Pilot"--Episode 1 of ''Serial'', "The Alibi", was aired under the same name as Episode 537 of ''This American Life'', with Ira Glass introducing it by saying saying, in essence "Here's the first episode of this spinoff of ours, download it."

* PoorlyDisguisedPilot: More like "Completely Undisguised Pilot"--Episode 1 of ''Serial'', "The Alibi", was aired under the same name as Episode 537 of ''This American Life'', with Ira Glass saying, in essence "Here's this spinoff of ours, download it."