This Is Awful

Great pod

Well I found it, the worst true crime show ever! First off, there’s zero research, zero script. Which can work sometimes but these guys are not good at it. Stilted points, the woman’s sentences sound like she’s in pain! Secondly, the premise being less story and more opinion requires insight and these two are not the brightest or most informed. For example, in the JBR episode they’re heavily critical of the ‘casting JonBenet’ doc. and seem to have completely missed the point that it IS a social commentary on people’s relationship with true crime, media sensationalism, American’s association with fame being transferable etc. Instead they give out about the lack of a trigger warning saying that tells them the filmmakers have ‘morals’. Seems they’re oblivious to the fact that these warns are legally required for certain things. The lack of preparation of their opinions leads to lots of repetition or saying stuff that means nothing. Finally the attitude of both is that they’re smarter than the general masses and ‘totally over’ popular opinion. Which is kinda funny cause they don’t come across clever at all. Basically, it’s all just two ignorant narcissists giving first reaction opinions badly. Hard pass.

I enjoy this true crime pod. The hosts are very cute together. I see they haven’t uploaded in awhile so I hope they haven’t stopped

I’m bad at podcasts. I listen to an episode here and there when the subject is interesting, but more frequently I start an ep, listen for 10-15 minutes, then get annoyed for some reason — whether the host annoys me, or the way they tell stories is just frustrating, or I just get distracted and have no desire to return. This is never the case with This Is Awful. I look to it every week. Trevor and Ali are both brilliant and hilarious, and on top of that, they dive into root causes and delve into social justice issues and socioeconomic facts that lead to situations where awful crimes are perpetuated for obscene amounts of time. Their banter and pop culture references give the perfect lightness to offset the harsh details of the cases they discuss. Their mission of not commodifying the victims’ experiences but raising awareness is a refreshing take from the norm, and I admire the research Alison puts into every case. (As a journalist, it’s obvious when others don’t, and I’m less likely to invest my time in that lazy behavior.) As far as episodes go, The Women of Acres Homes two-parter is award worthy. (Is there an SPJ Awards for True Crime podcasts? Because these deserve one.)