Finding D.W.

Interesting premise. This is his first podcast and he talks a lot about how much he loves podcasting. So I wanted to give some honest feedback. For one, maybe do some market research beforehand even if it’s just a survey you blast out online. Because as a casual fan of Arthur, I’m not super interested in what the actors who played DW grew up to do. I’m more interested in what the voice acting experience was like to them. Also, the conversations are too casual. I think if you want to find out the similarities and differences between you and the other DWs, there should be structure. Maybe ask them all the same set of questions. A podcast interview isn’t the same as a casual conversation. I also think it’s strange to put some episodes up behind a paywall when even huge podcasts don’t really do that. But I most loved the episodes with people who worked as writers on Arthur. I do hope his podcasting career goes well in the future.

Must listen

Pink

I’m charmed by this new podcast, in which former D.W. voice Jason Szwimer tracks down the other actors who played Arthur’s little sister when they were approximately 8-10 year old boys. While he’s refreshingly honest that he wants to raise his profile by telling this story, he also sounds a little grandiose about the necessity of this “mission” in the first episode. At first my reaction was, “It’s a podcast, my dude, is it really that big of a deal?” But when Jason interviewed the first D.W., I started to get understand how important it might be to process this experience with the few other people who would truly understand it: how odd it must be to have done this notable thing, and literally be physically unable to replicate what you did. And there are other nuances I’m sure we’ll discover of having identified with this much-memed, much-loved and much-hated character at such a formative age. It’s also a really interesting glimpse into a certain stage of development and how people remember their childhoods — all the D.W.s have been around the same age and most only played the role for a couple years — I’m looking forward to how the conversations might shift as Jason hears from people who are less and less removed from that experience.