History Radio / ThisAmericanLife

Indeed, starting in 2008, TAL started a continued partnership with NPR News, the ''Planet Money'' quasi-SpinOff podcast, consisting of NPR economics/politics reporters Adam Davidson, David Kestenbaum, Chana Joffe-Walt, and Jacob Goldstein, along with TAL regular Alex Blumberg talking about economics issues, ever since the Blumberg-Davidson ''TAL'' episode "The Giant Pool of Money" (basically the OriginStory of the financial crisis) proved to be a smash success. The ''Planet Money'' team, confusingly, also appears on actual NPR's ''Morning Edition'' and ''All Things Considered''.

In 2007, it became the first US public-radio series to SpinOff [[SoundToScreenAdaptation a show on a commercial TV network]], with an Emmy-winning {{Showtime}} version. After two seasons, the show was canceled by request of Glass and company, due to the difficult scheduling required to make both a TV show and a radio show simultaneously.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: A show this long-running is bound to have a lot. "20 Acts in 60 Minutes" and "Stories Pitched by Our Parents" are just a small sample.

Parodies include an article from ''Website/TheOnion'' [[http://www.theonion.com/content/news/this_american_life_completes here]], Creator/StephenColbert's [[http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/225499/april-22-2009/ira-glass interview with Glass]], a few episodes of the KasperHauser podcast ([[http://kasperhauser.com/podcasts/tal found here]]), the Creator/ChuckTingle erotic story ''This American Butt with Ira Ass'', and an ongoing series, This American Wife.

** ''RadioLab'' is starting to become more like TAL, now that it has correspondents and presents personal stories and anecdotes in addition to the science stories that made it famous.

Parodies include an article from ''Website/TheOnion'' [[http://www.theonion.com/content/news/this_american_life_completes here]], Creator/StephenColbert's [[http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/225499/april-22-2009/ira-glass interview with Glass]], a few episodes of the KasperHauser podcast ([[http://kasperhauser.com/podcasts/tal found here]]), and an ongoing series, This American Wife.

[[caption-width-right:350:This American Life host Ira Glass]]

* TheMovie: ''Unaccompanied Minors'', based on a non-fiction essay by Susan Burton that first appeared on the ''This American Life'' episode "Babysitting". It's the first film to come out of a first-refusal deal Creator/WarnerBros has for movies based off ''This American Life'' stories and essays.

Though often thought of as an Creator/{{NPR}} ''production'', it's actually distributed by its rival, Public Radio International. However, the show actually does air on many NPR member stations, as those stations are more often than not, also PRI affiliates. They have also done occasional {{Crossover}}s, in which NPR reporters like Chana Joffe-Walt present a story on TAL, which adds to the confusion. And of course, Glass himself is an NPR News veteran, having worked on ''Morning Edition'', ''All Things Considered'', and ''Talk of the Nation'' before he got his own show.

Though often thought of as an Creator/{{NPR}} ''production'', it's actually distributed by its rival, Publc Radio International. However, the show actually does air on many NPR member stations, as those stations are more often than not, also PRI affiliates. They have also done occasional {{Crossover}}s, in which NPR reporters like Chana Joffe-Walt present a story on TAL, which adds to the confusion. And of course, Glass himself is an NPR News veteran, having worked on ''Morning Edition'', ''All Things Considered'', and ''Talk of the Nation'' before he got his own show.

Parodies include an article from TheOnion [[http://www.theonion.com/content/news/this_american_life_completes here]], Creator/StephenColbert's [[http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/225499/april-22-2009/ira-glass interview with Glass]], a few episodes of the KasperHauser podcast ([[http://kasperhauser.com/podcasts/tal found here]]), and an ongoing series, This American Wife.

* FollowTheLeader: Several other [=PRI=] shows, such as ''To The Best of Our Knowledge'' and ''The Story'', follow a similar story model, and probably wouldn't exist without the success of ''This American Life''. Many stations air them back to back as well. The CBC series ''WireTap'' is arguably a SpinOff, as its produced and hosted by former TAL producer Jonathan Goldstein, and shares several staff writers.

* FollowTheLeader: Several other [=PRI=] shows, such as ''To The Best of Our Knowledge'' and ''The Story'', follow a similar story model, and probably wouldn't exist without the success of ''This American Life''. Many stations air them back to back as well. The CBC series [[WireTap WireTap]] is arguably a SpinOff, as its produced and hosted by former TAL producer Jonathan Goldstein, and shares several staff writers.

* FollowTheLeader: Several other [=PRI=] shows, such as ''To The Best of Our Knowledge'' and ''The Story'', follow a similar story model, and probably wouldn't exist without the success of ThisAmericanLife. Many stations air them back to back as well. The CBC series [[WireTap WireTap]] is arguably a SpinOff, as its produced and hosted by former TAL producer Jonathan Goldstein, and shares several staff writers.

* SpinOff: In 2014, TAL announced a new podcast series called ''Podcast/Serial'', hosted by long-time contributor Sarah Koenig, in which the format is altered so that a single story (beginning with The Case of Adnan Syed) is followed through multiple episodes, with the story told as a journey that the audience is following, learning things as the writers/producers/correspondents do.

Parodies include an article from TheOnion [[http://www.theonion.com/content/news/this_american_life_completes here]], StephenColbert's [[http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/225499/april-22-2009/ira-glass interview with Glass]], a few episodes of the KasperHauser podcast ([[http://kasperhauser.com/podcasts/tal found here]]), and an ongoing series, This American Wife.

* LamarckWasRight: Noted by David Rakoff in Episode 47: Christmas and Commerce, where Rakoff plays SigmundFreud and is quite good at psychology, despite not having any education in the field. He then notes that both of his parents were involved with psychology so it would only make sense that he would be good at asking people about their feelings.

''This American Life'' is a long-running (1995-present), award-winning weekly {{Documentary}} series on [[{{NPR}} American public radio]], hosted by Ira Glass. Produced by Chicago Public Radio, it's a unique take on radio journalism, with a hip, literary style.

* AmericanAccents: Ira Glass' Baltimorese aside, this show may have recorded every accent in the United States.

TAL also has presented a number of live shows throughout its history, and more recently, live digital-cinema broadcasts to movie theaters. These often serve as fundraisers for the radio show. The most recent of these included the live singing debut of JossWhedon.

* SpinOff: In 2014, TAL announced a new podcast series called ''Serial'', hosted by long-time contributor Sarah Koenig, in which the format is altered so that a single story (beginning with The Case of Adnan Syed) is followed through multiple episodes, with the story told as a journey that the audience is following, learning things as the writers/producers/correspondents do.

* SpinOff: In 2014, TAL announced a new podcast series called ''Serial'', in which the format is altered so that a single story (beginning with The Case of Adnan Syed) is followed through multiple episodes, with the story told as a journey that the audience is following, learning things as the writers/producers/correspondents do.

* SignatureStyle: Sometimes it seems like every reporter is deliberately trying to imitate Ira Glass' characteristic and highly idiosynchratic delivery, rising nearly to the level of StealthParody sometimes

It's also known for launching the careers of several popular writers, such Creator/SarahVowell and Creator/DavidSedaris, as well as featuring other notable recurring contributors, such as journalist David Rakoff[[note]]who has since passed away in June of 2013[[/note]] and comedian Mike Birbiglia.

Though often thought of as an Creator/{{NPR}} ''production'', it's actually distributed by its rival, PRI. However, the show actually does air on many NPR member stations, as those stations are more often than not, also PRI affiliates. They have also done occasional {{Crossover}}s, in which NPR reporters like Chana Joffe-Walt present a story on TAL, which adds to the confusion. And of course, Glass himself is an NPR News veteran, having worked on ''Morning Edition'', ''All Things Considered'', and ''Talk of the Nation'' before he got his own show.