This American Life
(TAL
) is a weekly hour-long radio program produced by Chicago Public Radio and hosted by Ira Glass. It is distributed by Public Radio International on PRI affiliate stations and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays, memoirs, field recordings, short fiction, and found footage. The first episode aired on November 17, 1995, [1] under the show's original title, Your Radio Playhouse
.
A television program of the same name and basic structure of the radio program airs on the Showtime cable network, and features Ira Glass as the host and executive producer.
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THIS AMERICAN LIFE TICKETS
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Format
Each week's show loosely centers on a particular theme. The theme of the show is explored in several "acts", usually two to five. On occasion, an entire program will consist of a single act. A notable exception was the show "20 Acts in 60 Minutes", which broke the normal convention by presenting twenty acts in one hour. Each act is produced using a combination of staff and freelance contributors.
Content varies widely by episode, and stories are often told as first-person narratives. The mood of the show ranges from gloomy to ironic, from thought-provoking to humorous. The show often addresses current events, such as
Hurricane Katrina in "After the Flood". Listeners may be introduced to novel subjects and issues as well, since the program covers fringe groups within the USA as well as international matters. Often
This American Life
features stories which explore aspects of human nature, such as "Kid Logic", which presented pieces on reasoning of children.
The end credits of each show are read by Ira Glass, and include a sound clip extracted out of context from some portion of that show, which Glass humorously attributes to WBEZ general manager Torey Malatia. This is referred to as the "
Boss Burn" by dedicated fans of the show.
History
Radio
Ira Glass, the creator of
This American Life,
has served as producer and host since its November 17, 1995 debut. The show's first year was produced on a budget that was tight even by U.S. public radio standards: US$243,000 outfitted a studio, covered marketing costs, purchased satellite time, and paid for four full-time staffers and various freelance writers and reporters.
National
syndication began in June 1996 when
Public Radio International formed a distribution partnership with the program. It now airs on 509 PRI affiliate stations in the United States reaching an estimated 1.7 million listeners each week.
The show is also carried on
XM Satellite Radio over the Public Radio International block on the
XM Public Radio channel. The show is also consistently rated as the 1st or 2nd most downloaded podcast on
iTunes for each week.
Originally titled
Your Radio Playhouse,
the show's name was changed beginning with the March 21, 1996 episode. The reference to each segment of the show as an "act" is a holdover from its original "playhouse theme".
TAL
helped launch the literary careers of many including contributing editor
Sarah Vowell and essayists
David Rakoff and
David Sedaris.
Since the start of the TAL television show, however, the radio show has consisted primarily of reruns and preexisting content from other sources, such as The Moth.
Television
Discussions of a television adaptation of
TAL
date back to at least 1999.
[2]
In January 2006,
Showtime announced it had
greenlighted six episodes of a new series based on
TAL
.
[3] The announcement noted that each half-hour episode "will be hosted by Ira Glass and will explore a single theme or topic through the unique juxtaposition of first-person storytelling and whimsical narrative."
For budgetary reasons, Ira Glass and four of the radio show's producers left Chicago for New York, where Showtime is headquartered.
[4] In January 2007, it was announced that Glass had completed production on the show's first season, with the first episode set to premiere on March 22.
TAL
has a contract for a total of 30 shows over the next four years.
[5]
Writers for the show include
Chris Ware,
Ira Glass, and
Haruki Murakami.
Film
Stories from TAL have been used as the basis of movie scripts. In 2002 the show signed a six-figure deal with
Warner Bros. giving the studio two years of "first-look" rights to its hundreds of past and future stories.
[6] One film to have apparently emerged from the deal is
Unaccompanied Minors
, a
2006 film directed by
Paul Feig and reportedly based on "In The Event of An Emergency, Put Your Sister in an Upright Position" from "Babysitting".
[7] In June 2008,
Spike Lee bought the movie rights to
Ronald Mallett's memoir, whose story was featured in the episode "My Brilliant Plan".
[8]
Potential Warner Bros films:
[9]
- "Niagara", which explored the town of Niagara Falls, New York, after those who sought to exploit the tourism and hydroelectrical opportunities of the area left;
- Wonder Woman, from "Superpowers", the story of an adolescent who took steps to become the superhero she dreamed of being, well into adulthood;
- "Act V", about the last act of Hamlet as staged by inmates from a maximum security prison as part of Prison Performing Arts Adult Theatre Projects.
Paramount Pictures and
Broadway Video are in production on
Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill
, a film based on the
TAL
story in the episode "My Experimental Phase".
[10]
Live tours
This American Life
has taken the radio show on the road three times since 2000; material recorded on each of the three tours has been edited into an episode which aired on the radio shortly after the tour. Other episodes include segments recorded live.
- "Birthdays, Anniversaries and Milestones", recorded in December 2000 in Boston (Berklee Performance Center), New York, Chicago (Merle Reskin Theatre), and Los Angeles. Performers included Sarah Vowell, Russell Banks, David Rakoff, Ian Brown, and OK Go.
- "Lost in America", recorded in May 2003 in Boston, Washington, D.C., Portland, Denver, and Chicago. Performers included Sarah Vowell, Davy Rothbart, and Jonathan Goldstein. Jon Langford of the Mekons led the "Lost in America House Band" during the show.
- "What I Learned from Television", recorded in February and March, 2007 in New York City (February 26 at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center); Boston (February 27 at the Boston Opera House); Minneapolis (February 28 at the Orpheum Theatre); Chicago (March 1 at the Chicago Theatre); Seattle (March 7 at the Paramount Theatre); and Los Angeles (March 12 at Royce Hall, UCLA). Directed by Jane Feltes, performers on this tour included David Rakoff, Sarah Vowell, John Hodgman, Dan Savage, Jonathan Goldstein, and Chris Wilcha. In New York, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, and Minneapolis, Mates of State were the house band, while in Los Angeles, OK Go performed between acts.
- "Music Lessons", recorded at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco during the 1998 Public Radio Conference in San Francisco. Performers include Sarah Vowell, David Sedaris and Anne Lamott. Music includes elementary school students from the San Francisco Unified School District as well as "Eyes on the Sparrow" with Renola Garrison vocals and Anne Jefferson on piano.
- "Advice", recorded in 1999 in Seattle and at HBO's U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. Performers include Sarah Vowell, Dan Savage, and Cheryl Trykv with music from the Black Cat Orchestra.
Digital cinema
On May 1, 2008, This American Life was the first major public media program to use
Digital cinema, distributing a one hour long program titled "This American Life - Live!" to select cinemas. PRI originally conceived of the idea to serve stations around the country.
[11] This American Life Live! was presented exclusively in select theatres by
National CineMedia's (NCM) Fathom, in partnership with BY Experience and Chicago Public Radio, and in association with Public Radio International.
[12]
On April 23, 2009, This American Life broadcast a second theater event. This program is entitled , with a the episode title of Returning to the Scene of the Crime. Contributors included Mike Birbiglia, Dan Savage, David Rakoff, and Joss Whedon.
Podcast
From 1998-2005, American Life could be accessed online in two formats: A free
RealAudio stream available from the official show website, and an DRM encrypted download available through
Audible.com, which charged $4 per episode. In early 2006, the show began to offer
MP3 copies of each episode, which could be streamed from the show's website using a proprietary Flash player. While users were not given a direct link to the streaming MP3 files, it was possible for savvy users to save these files to their computer for later playing.
Since October 2006, This American Life has offered a free podcast feed to members of the public. Under this arrangement, each show is made available to podcast subscribers on the Monday following its national broadcast. After seven days, the link to the MP3 is removed from the podcast feed. Older shows can be streamed online via the show's website, or purchased from Apple's
iTunes store for $0.95 per episode.
Since the move to MP3 files in 2006, the show has relied on an extremely lightweight
Digital Rights Management system, based on
security through obscurity and legal threats. While the show episodes are removed from the podcast RSS feed after a week, they remain on This American Life's server, accessible to anyone who knows the predictable location.
[13] On at least three different occasions, Internet users have created their own unofficial podcast feeds,
deep linking to the MP3 files located on the This American Life webserver. In all three instances, the podcast feeds were removed from the Internet once representatives from Public Radio International contacted the individuals responsible for creating the feeds.
[14] [15] [16]
According to statements made during fund-drives, the show is downloaded by more than 400,000 people each week. These millions of downloads consume significant amounts of bandwidth, which costs the show $120,000 per year. This is $0.0057 per downloaded podcast. The show has inserted a number of requests for financial assistance into the beginning of podcast episodes, requesting help, in order to pay for the bandwidth costs. This American Life is burdened with these bandwidth costs due to a decision to host the popular MP3 files on its own servers.
Response
Early response to
This American Life
was largely positive. In 1998,
Mother Jones
magazine called the program "hip--as well as intensely literary and surprisingly irreverent."
[17]
Awards
WBEZ-FM received a
Peabody Award in 1996 and again in 2006 for
TAL
, for a show which "captures contemporary culture in fresh and inventive ways that mirror the diversity and eccentricities of its subjects" and "weav[es] original monologues, mini-dramas, original fiction, traditional radio documentaries and original radio dramas into an instructional and entertaining tapestry."
[18]
George Foster Peabody Award
- 2008 WBEZ-FM Chicago and National Public Radio, News Division for The Giant Pool of Money
- 2006 WBEZ-FM Chicago
- 1996 Ira Glass, Peter Clowney, Alix Spiegel, Nancy Updike, and Dolores Wilber, WBEZ-FM Chicago, for This American Life.
Third Coast International Audio Festival
- 2001 Susan Burton Best New Artist award
for act 1, Tornado Prom
from episode 186, "Prom".
- 2002 Jonathan Goldstein, Alex Blumberg and Ira Glass: Best Documentary Gold Award
for act 3, Yes, There is a Baby
from episode 175, "Babysitting".
- 2003, Susan Burton and Hyder Akbar, Best Documentary Silver Award
for episode 230, "Come Back to Afghanistan".
Livingston Award
- 2002 Alix Spiegel: National Reporting
for episode 204, "81 Words".
Scripps Howard Foundation
- 2004 Nancy Updike: Jack R. Howard Award
for episode 266, "I'm From the Private Sector and I'm Here to Help".
Edward R. Murrow Award
- 2005 Nancy Updike: for News Documentary
for episode 266, "I'm From the Private Sector and I'm Here to Help".
Dupont Award
- 2007 Alix Spiegel: for "Which One of These is Not Like the Others?" for episode 322, "Shouting Across the Divide".
New York Festivals Award
- 2007 Trey Kay & Lu Olkowski: "Best Human Interest Story" for act 2, "I'm Not a Doctor, but I Play One at the Holiday Inn" from episode 321, "Sink or Swim".
George Polk Award
- 2008 Alex Blumberg and Adam Davidson: "Best Radio Reporting" for episode 355 "The Giant Pool of Money [19]
In other media
This American Life
was referenced in the
television series The O.C.
, prompting the character Summer to respond,
"Is that that show by those hipster know-it-alls who talk about how fascinating ordinary people are?"
and, with a dismissive snort,
"Gawd!"
This reference was itself repeated in a segment of the 2007 Live Tour episode, when Glass, a self-confessed shameless fan of the teen soap opera, described his experience responding to the aforementioned line.
[20]
The Onion
, a parody newspaper, published a satirical story on April 20, 2007, entitled "
This American Life
Completes Documentation Of Liberal, Upper-Middle-Class Existence".
[21] The average age of
This American Life
listeners is 47.
[22]
Music
Episodes of TAL are accompanied by music, in the form of interludes between acts (credited in the episode guide for each show), and incidental background music during acts. Background music is typically not credited, but provides important thematic emphasis.
Some songs and artists that have played a role in TAL background music include the following.
Key themes
- "The Rules of Personal Space", "Many Different Hats", "The Beautiful People", "Lullaby Lost" from the album Extra: in the Background of a Dream
by Bobby Johnston
- "Catalog and Classify" from the album Tiger Banana
by Mark Robinson
- "Talisman" from the album Moon Safari
by Air
- "Highschool Lover", "Dirty Trip" and "Ghost Song" from the album The Virgin Suicides: Original Soundtrack
by Air
- "kt" from the album Haralambos
by Bexar Bexar
- "Whipping the Horse's Eyes" from the album Feast of Wire
by Calexico
- "So What" from the album Kind of Blue
by Miles Davis
- "Carpathian Ridge" and "Did You Know Him" from the album Donnie Darko: Original Soundtrack
by Michael Andrews
- "Midnight in a Perfect World" and "Stem/Long Stem" from the album Endtroducing
by DJ Shadow
- "Paul's Dance" from the album Penguin Cafe Orchestra
by Penguin Cafe Orchestra
- "Sketch" and "Perpetuum Mobile" from the album Signs of Life
by Penguin Cafe Orchestra
- "Kyoko's House: Stage Blood is not Enough" from the Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
soundtrack by Philip Glass
- "Metamorphosis I" and "Japura River" performed by Uakti
on the Philip Glass
album Aguas Da Amazonia
- "Still Dre" from the album 2001 Instrumental
by Dr. Dre
- "Namaste" and "Groove Holmes" from the album Check Your Head
by The Beastie Boys
- "Flight of the Cosmic Hippo" from the album Flight of the Cosmic Hippo
by Bela Fleck and the Flecktones
- "The Chase" by Portastatic
- "Viva Tirado, Pt. 1" from the album "Viva El Chicano!" by El Chicano
- "Big Calm" from the album "Big Calm" by Morcheeba
- "Rumble" by Link Wray
- "Evil vs. Good" from the album The Ghost of Fashion by Clem Snide
- "Get Your Truck" from the album Flirt: Original Soundtrack
by Hal Hartley
- "Yèkèrmo Sèw (A Man of Experience and Wisdom)" by The Ethiopiques
- "Indie Rock Spock Ears" by Dianogah
Recurring themes
- "Alone in Kyoto" from the albums Lost in Translation: Original Soundtrack
and "Talkie Walkie" by Air (band)
- "Bathing Blossom" from the album Secretary: Original Soundtrack
by Angelo Badalamenti
- "Untitled III (Remix)" from the album Even My Sure Things Fall Through
by Calexico
- "Strange Bath", "Cubes", "You Learn", and "Coincidences" from the album I ? Huckabees: Original Soundtrack
by Jon Brion
- "Theme" and "Phone Call" from the album Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: Original Soundtrack
by Jon Brion
- "The Beast" from the album Mulholland Drive: Original Soundtrack
by Milt Buckner
- "Dreams" and "Lux Aeterna" from the album Requiem for a Dream: Original Soundtrack
by Clint Mansell, as performed by Kronos Quartet
- "All that you give" from the album Every Day
by Cinematic Orchestra
- "Drunken Tune" from the album Man with a Movie Camera
by Cinematic Orchestra
- "Diabolus" from the album Motion
by Cinematic Orchestra.
- "Numbers 1-4" and "Telephone and Rubber Band" from the album Penguin Cafe Orchestra
by Penguin Cafe Orchestra
- "Penguin Cafe Single" from the album Music from the Penguin Cafe
by Penguin Cafe Orchestra
- "Music For A Found Harmonium" from the album Broadcasting from Home
by Penguin Cafe Orchestra
- "A Grand Love Theme", "The Bootleggers" and "Alone Again So" from the album A Grand Love Story
by Kid Loco
- "Buried at Sea" from the album One Step Ahead of the Spider
by MC 900 Ft. Jesus
- "Scrapping and Yelling" by Mark Mothersbaugh from the album Royal Tenenbaums: Original Soundtrack
- "Turquoise Hexagon Sun" from the album Music Has the Right to Children
by Boards of Canada
- "Laura's Theme" from the album Brick: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
by Nathan Johnson
- "Sleepless" from the album Distance
by Marconi Union
- "Green Arrow" from the album I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One
by Yo La Tengo
- "Peter and Sylvie" from the album Me and You and Everyone We Know (Original Score)
by Michael Andrews
- "Coffaro's Theme" from the album Bill Frisell Quartet
by Bill Frisell
- "Dogs We Thought We Knew" from the album "Music for the radio program This American Life" by The Scott Fields Ensemble
- "Strange People Live Next Door" from the album "Music for the radio program This American Life" by The Scott Fields Ensemble
- "Deep Blue Day" from the album Apollo: Atmospheres and Soundtracks
by Brian Eno
- "Autopilot" from the album The Problem With Me
by Seam
- "Acolyte of the Flux" from the album Angels In America (Music From The HBO Film)
by Thomas Newman
- "6 Ghosts I", "12 Ghosts II" and "13 Ghosts II" from the album Ghosts I–IV
by Nine Inch Nails
- "Wally, Egon, & Modells in The Studio" from the album Music for Egon Schiele
by Rachel's
- "Tenuous Gears" from the album Micalavera
by Damiak
- "Shatter" from the album Exile in Guyville
by Liz Phair
- "Christmas Steps" from the album Come On Die Young
by Mogwai
- "Day Trip" from the album Chomp Samba
by Amon Tobin
Other media
Some of the show's episodes are accompanied by multimedia downloads available on
This American Life
s website. One notable mention is a remake of the
Elton John song "
Rocket Man" that was produced for episode 223, "Classifieds", and released as an
MP3. The song was performed by a "one day band" composed of musicians looking for work in the classifieds. The band, consisting of various performers (one played a
Theremin), met and practiced for only one day before recording the song.
Three 2-disc
CD sets collecting some of the producers' favorite acts have been released:
Lies, Sissies, and Fiascoes: The Best of This American Life
was released on May 4, 1999;
Crimebusters + Crossed Wires: Stories from This American Life
was released on November 11, 2003; and
Stories of Hope and Fear
was released on November 7, 2006.
A 32-page
comic book,
Radio: An Illustrated Guide
(ISBN 0-9679671-0-4), documents how an episode of TAL is put together. It was drawn by
cartoonist Jessica Abel, written by Abel and Glass, and first published in 1999.
Staff
Current production staff
Host
Senior Producer
|
Producers
- Alex Blumberg
- Jane Feltes
- Sarah Koenig
- Lisa Pollak
- Robyn Semien
- Alissa Shipp
- Nancy Updike
|
Contributing editors
- Susan Burton
- Jonathan Goldstein
- Jack Hitt
- Sarah Vowell
|
Production Manager
Music Supervisor
Music Consultant
Web Manager
Intern
|
Other contributors
- Jay Allison
- Shalom Auslander
- Scott Carrier
- Dan Collison
- Adam Davidson
- "Dishwasher" Pete Jordan
- Jeff Dorchen
- Susan Drury
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- Erin Einhorn
- Mike Birbiglia
- John Hodgman
- Kevin Kelly
- Starlee Kine
- Alex Kotlowitz
- Chuck Klosterman
- Jon Langford
- Michael Lewis
- Sandra Tsing Loh
- Ian Lynam
|
- Brett Martin
- Mortified
- Heather O'Neill
- Beau O'Reilly
- David Rakoff
- Jon Ronson
- Davy Rothbart
- Dan Savage
|
- David Sedaris
- David Segal
- Curtis Sittenfeld
- Karen Sosnoski
- Julia Sweeney
- Cheryl Trykv
- David Wilcox
|
References
- This American Life: the television show!
- A weeklong electronic journal
- Showtime greenlights TV Adaptation of This American Life
- A Chicago Radio Hit Moves to New York, and TV
- Going Coastal
- This American Life negotiates 'first-look' deal with Warner Bros.
- Six Minutes of Paul Feig's Unaccompanied Minors
- Lee To Make Movie About Black "Time Traveler"
- Hollywood finds kernels for movies in This American Life
- {{imdb title|id=0424920|title=Curly Oxide and Vic Thrill}}
- Current.org | Popcorn available with this Ira Glass show, 2008
- PRI.ORG | This American Life - Live!
- New location for This American Life Mp3s
- Unofficial This American Life Podcast is no More
- A takedown request from This American Life
- An Emotional Blackmail Takedown: Remove The Podcast, Or We Shoot This Puppy
- Cox, Ana Marie; Dionis, Joanna (September/October 1998), . "Ira Glass radio turn-on". ''Mother Jones''. ''23'' (5):83
- Peabody Award Archive of Winners
- http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/nyregion/17polk.html
- Episode 328: What I Learned From Television | This American Life
- This American Life Completes Documentation Of Liberal, Upper-Middle-Class Existence, The Onion - America's Finest News Source
- Something in the Air