Podcast FAQ

serial podcast summary

by Agnes Tillman Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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Serial, an intriguing, enthralling podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, tells the story of Hae Min Lee, a young, beautiful, high school senior who was murdered in 1999. Lee 's case, as Koenig and Schultz point out, has a few missing pieces of information that were never accounted for.

Full Answer

What is the Serial podcast?

Serial is a new podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial will follow one story – a true story – over the course of a whole… Read More The Section Header button breaks up song sections.

What is serial on Netflix about?

Serial is a new podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial will follow one story – a true story – over the course of a whole season. Season 1 of Serial centers around a girl named.

Will'serial'The podcast become'serial the TV show'?

Guardian News and Media Limited. Archived from the original on October 13, 2014. Retrieved October 12, 2014. ^ " ' Serial' the Podcast Will Now Become Serial the TV Show". Vulture, NYMag.com. Archived from the original on October 2, 2015. Retrieved October 1, 2015. ^ "New hope for inmate from Serial podcast". CBS News. February 9, 2015.

What are the companion podcasts to serial?

The popularity of Serial and the intrigue of the case it covered has spawned several companion podcasts, such as Crime Writers on Serial, The Serial Serial, and Undisclosed: The State vs. Adnan Syed, the latter produced by Rabia Chaudry.

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What is the story behind Serial?

Decades after the murder conviction of Adnan Syed, whose guilt or innocence became the subject of the wildly popular podcast "Serial," two former high school classmates have emerged, saying a key alibi witness would "make up a lie" to help his case.

What is Serial podcast season 1 about?

A high-school senior named Hae Min Lee disappeared one day after school in 1999, in Baltimore County, Maryland. A month later, her body was found in a city park. She'd been strangled. Her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested for the crime, and within a year, he was sentenced to life in prison.

What is the theme of Serial podcast?

Koenig has said that Serial is "about the basics: love and death and justice and truth. All these big, big things." She also has noted, "this is not an original idea. Maybe in podcast form it is, and trying to do it as a documentary story is really, really hard.

What happened in Serial podcast?

The "Serial" podcast popularized Syed's case in 2014, and two years later, he won a new trial in appeals. However, the state appealed that decision. In 2018, an appellate court upheld the ruling for a new trial, but a year later, Maryland's highest court sided with the state.

What is Serial podcast season 3 about?

Now, with season 3, "Serial" tells the stories of ordinary cases as they wind through the justice system in Cleveland. Producers said they chose Cleveland because they were given unusually free access to record inside courtrooms, judges' chambers, hallways and attorneys' offices.

Is the podcast Serial a true story?

'Serial' is the OG investigative true crime podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig. Created by Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder in 2013, “Serial” investigates compelling, true stories each season. As an OG true crime podcast, “Serial” has garnered a serious following.

Why is Serial podcast so popular?

1. It tells a story. Each episode of the Serial podcast is focused on one facet of the case and provides a clear story arc: beginning, middle, and end. Fans want to continue listening to find out what happens next.

Who is Rabia Why is she involved in the case Serial?

Rabia Chaudry is an attorney, advocate, and author of the New York Times bestselling book "Adnan's Story" and Executive Producer of a four-part HBO documentary "The Case Against Adnan Syed."

Is Serial the most popular podcast?

“Serial” has quickly become the most popular podcast in the history of the form.

What happened to Joshua from Serial?

Josh was arrested about 10 days later after he ran from police officers responding to a report of a man with a gun, records say. Josh did not have a gun on him, the records say. Josh's problems continued while he was being housed in Cuyahoga County's juvenile detention center.

How did Adnan and Hae break up?

Both of them, but especially Adnan Syed, were under special pressure at home, and the stress of that spilled over into their relationship. Eventually Hae broke up with Adnan.

Who was the murder victim in the first episode titled The alibi?

A high-school senior named Hae Min Lee disappeared one day after school in 1999, in Baltimore County, Maryland. A month later, her body was found in a city park. She'd been strangled. Her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was charged with murder, and within a year, he was sentenced to life in prison.

The Alibi

A potential alibi surfaces … and then disappears again, at the worst possible time for Adnan’s case.

The Breakup

Friends say Adnan was sad when Hae dumped him, but not crazy sad - normal sad. The prosecutors say he was rage-filled and vengeful. Which is it?

Leakin Park

Three weeks after Hae goes missing, a man discovers her body in the middle of a city forest. But his story is strange and his past is even stranger. Did he really just stumble on her by accident?

Inconsistencies

The detectives get a lead that opens the case up for them. They bring Jay in for questioning and he tells them the story of January 13th. But then, a few weeks later, his story changes.

Route Talk

Adnan once issued a challenge to Sarah: Recreate the state’s timeline of the murder by driving from Woodlawn High School to Best Buy in 21 minutes. It can’t be done, he said. So, we tried.

The Case Against Adnan Syed

Sarah weighs all the other circumstantial evidence prosecutors had against Adnan, including curious behavior, a dramatic note, and an unexplained mid-afternoon phone call.

The Opposite of the Prosecution

Sarah learned about another case with striking similarities to Adnan’s: a key witness, cell records, young people, drugs. So she called up the defense attorney on that case looking for insight, and got much more than she bargained for.

Who hosts serial podcast?

Serial is a new podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial will follow one story – a true story – over the course of a whole… Read More

Who produced serial?

Serial is produced by Julie Snyder, Dana Chivvis and me. Emily Condon is our production and operations manager. Ira Glass is our editorial advisor. Editing help from Nancy Updike. Fact checking by Karen Fragala-Smith. Special thanks to Lou Teddy, Jane Marie, Seth Lind, Alyse Bergerson and the entire staff of This American Life, and to my in laws Ethan Shire and Janet Leveen for putting me up in Baltimore so many times in the past year. Support for Serial comes from MailChimp, celebrating creativity, chaos, and teamwork since 2001. MailChimp. Send better email. Serial is a production of This American Life and WBEZ Chicago.

Why did Christina Gutierrez not use Asia McClain as an alibi witness?

The judge wrote in his opinion that Christina Gutierrez's decision not to use Asia McClain as an alibi witness was strategic. After all, Asia's original letters didn't specify an exact time. And Gutierrez could've reasonably concluded that Asia was offering to lie in order to help Adnan.

How long did Asia talk to Adnan?

Asia wrote out an affidavit on the spot. In it, she says she and Adnan spoke for about 15 to 20 minutes while she was waiting for her boyfriend to give her a ride. Quote, "We left around 2:40," unquote. Remember, Hae is supposed to be dead by 2:36. And then, the kicker-- "No attorney has ever contacted me about January 13, 1999 and the above information."

Was Asia bullied into writing that statement?

Here's Rabia again. She says it's not true that Asia was bullied into writing that statement 15 years ago. And she can't fathom why Asia would discredit her own statement like that.

Who is Jay in the story of Adnan?

He's the third person you need to remember in this crime story besides Hae and Adnan. Jay was a friend of Adnan's. They'd been in school together since middle school.

Did Adnan show Cristina Gutierrez letters?

So benefit of the doubt for a second-- maybe Adnan never actually showed the letters to Cristina Gutierrez, his attorney. Sure, he said he did, but who knows? Well, I know. Deep inside Gutierrez's notes on the case-- I have boxes and boxes of such stuff-- there's this in her handwriting. " Asia plus boyfriend saw him in library 2:15 to 3:15."

Who is the attorney in the access serial?

The episode’s other revealing moment is a plea deal negotiated by Radigan and defense attorney Craig Weintraub. The routine of the exchange is shocking, causing the obvious realization that attorneys must casually debate the number of years a person will spend in prison, jargon and all, on a daily basis. It’s the job-ness of it all that’s striking. Of course lawyers talk with the frankness of their TV procedural imitators, but the access Serial offers to that fact remains special.

What is the third season of S erial?

S erial ’s third season concludes with a two-part story about Cleveland’s juvenile justice system , the establishment Koenig tells us she originally thought would be outside the scope of her reporting. What leads her into the Ohio Department of Youth Services is the case of Joshua, charged with a series of crimes as a minor with the threat of an adult-sentencing extension for behavioral infractions. In the first half of the finale, Koenig begins to dismantle the conventional knowledge that ODYS has become a more humane institution after an overhaul that redirected many young people towards programs other than prison.

How long will Joshua be in prison?

And yet, for Joshua, there is no other option. For a crime he committed as an adolescent, he will spend nearly a decade in prison.

What is the peculiarity of Joshua's situation?

The peculiarity of Joshua’s situation is his cooperation with investigators, who consistently used him as an informant in cases involving members of Joshua’s former gang. That reputation of ratting made juvenile detention centers dangerous for Joshua, and exposes the holes in ODYS’s reforms: the remaining juvenile prisons have become even more unsafe. The regular attacks against Joshua, according to a number of Koenig’s interviewees, were overlooked and even facilitated by the prison guards.

Does serial have a mini profile?

Serial ’s mini-profiles of the different players inside any courthouse has been illuminating. Though each episode manages to some extent to be self-contained, the same players reappear across episodes, suggesting just how big, and maybe even coherent, this season’s story is. — J.G.

Who hosts serial podcast?

Serial is a new podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. Serial will follow one story – a true story – over the course of a whole… Read More

Who is the producer of Gauntlet so thrown?

Gauntlet so thrown, producer Dana Chivvis and I gave it a shot. We tried this drive, twice we tried in fact because, full disclosure, the first time we screwed it up. The second time, though, we were like a machine. So here we go. We’re at Woodlawn High School, Wednesday afternoon. After school announcements.

What does Adnan say on his phone?

The one where Adnan calls his own phone and says, “come and get me. I’m at Best Buy.” You can see it on the call log.

What time did Jay say they were burying the body?

As Chivvis says, "That sucks.". The bad luck of Jay's story and the cell-phone records roughly matching up from around six o'clock to around eight o'clock, the time when Jay said they were burying the body, and that Adnan has no memory of where he was during that time.

Was serial a nonfictional mystery?

Serial investigated an actual criminal case, and unlike in Sherlock Holmes stories or CSI, clues didn't conveniently lead to more telling clues which then conveniently led to an answer. This was a nonfictional mystery, and without any kind of linear narrative, all we're left to do is wonder.

What episode does Syed's mother talk about his Muslim heritage?

For much of Serial, Koenig made little note of how Syed's Pakistani and Muslim heritage may have affected his case. But in episode 10 , we heard from Syed's mother about how much she feels he was discriminated against. The Muslim community came together to support him, raising money for his defense. That should seem like a good thing, backing up the claim that he had good character. Instead, prosecutors used it against him, convincing the judge to deny him bail because they claimed the community might help him flee the country to Pakistan.

Why did Syed meet Wilds?

That's the reason Syed said he met up with Wilds in the middle of the school day, to go shopping for a birthday present for Stephanie. Then, Syed let Wilds take his car and his cell phone, while he went to school for the rest of the day.

Who is the host of the case against Adnan Syed?

Photo: Courtesy of HBO. As Serial host Sarah Koenig tells us herself in the first episode of the podcast, people's memories are unreliable. As HBO's The Case Against Adnan Syed brings his case and the Hae Min Lee murder mystery back into the public conversation this month, you might not remember everything you once did about what happened on Serial ...

Who is Syed's sister?

The show began at what felt like the end of Syed's story. His friend's sister, Rabia Chaudry, had contacted Koenig as a last-ditch effort to get media attention for what Chaudry saw as a failure of the justice system, as the Maryland courts repeatedly denied his attempts at appeal.

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