Lisa and Jules are joined this week by Maura Elliott of The Televoid to talk about Serial, the wildly popular spinoff podcast from This American Life. And, ooh, we've got big questions. What makes true crime such an enticing genre of infotainment? How do we feel about the show's deliberate construction of a narrative? Can you ever get to an objective truth? Why do we keep getting sucked into subreddits, blogs, and Murderpedia spirals? And how scary will the internet get when this story ends?

We're reversing our posting order this week and next so we don't interfere with your Serial-binging (or ours)! We'll be back later this week with a Bossy Short, and again next Tuesday with another special guest to talk about some of the thornier questions that have been raised around Serial.

Show Notes:

Listen to Serial @ iTunes - http://bit.ly/12GEsNZ
This American Life 507: Confessions @ Soundcloud - http://bit.ly/161hgfI
Read The Brain on Trial @ The Atlantic - http://theatln.tc/1s5zw1t
Buy The Devil in the White City @ Powell's - http://bit.ly/1zH4bBd
Buy The Suspicions of Mr Whicher @ Powell's - http://bit.ly/1w9liLa
Buy The Moonstone @ Powell's - http://bit.ly/1ucY9EA
Listen to Criminal @ iTunes - http://bit.ly/12GEDJc
Listen to Sword and Scale @ iTunes - http://bit.ly/12GEZj2
Read about the Maura Murray case @ Wikipedia - http://bit.ly/12GI0jm
James Renner's investigation blog - http://bit.ly/1314IDI
/r/serialpodcast @ Reddit - http://bit.ly/1zQHhr1