428: The Devil on Trial

Mike and Mina Block were married for 54 years. Friends, family, and neighbors all thought they had the perfect marriage. But then Minna died suddenly, and three months later Mike was married to his former secretary. Suddenly everyone realized that nothing in the Block home had been what it seemed to be. LOOKING FOR MORE TCO? Binge our 40+ bonus episodes via Patreon! When you join our Patreon fam, you not only support us, you also INSTANTLY get our entire catalog of bonus episodes, including our episode-by-episode coverage of "SERIAL," "THE JINX," "THE STAIRCASE," and "MAKING A MURDERER." You also get our interviews with Asia McClain (Adnan Syed's alibi witness), Rabia Chaudry, "Tower" director Keith Maitland, all of our mini-episodes, extended outtakes, AND full bonus episodes covering "Madonna: Truth or Dare" and "The Queen of Versailles." AND IT'S ALL COMMERCIAL FREE! Join here! WANT TO SEE US LIVE? Go Here for information and tickets to our upcoming live events like our February live shows or our Pride show in June! LOOKING FOR OUR ADVERTISERS / PROMO CODES? Go Here! We now have a whole page of our site for you to check out and GET. THOSE. DISCOUNTS! THIS WEEK'S PALATE CLEANSER is from the new musical "Pretty Woman."Based on the movie. You should all go see it ASAP. Patrick's bestie is in it. But also, it's amazing. "Anywhere But Here" is sung by the utterly other-worldly Samantha Barks

22 Jan 20191h 4min

Seinfeld mocked it. Letterman ranked it in his top ten list. And more than fifteen years later, its infamy continues. Everyone knows the McDonald's coffee case. It has been routinely cited as an example of how citizens have taken advantage of America's legal system, but is that a fair rendition of the facts? Hot Coffee reveals what really happened to Stella Liebeck, the Albuquerque woman who spilled coffee on herself and sued McDonald's, while exploring how and why the case garnered so much media attention, who funded the effort, and to what end. This week's palate cleanser: Doctor's Orders from the musical Catch Me if You Can.

15 Jan 201956min

In the summer of 1977, Jim Jones, leader of The Peoples Temple, moved nearly 1,000 of his followers to a plot of land in Guyana, South America. Less than a year later, on November 18, 1978, 908 of the followers died after drinking Kool-Aid laced with poison. Was it murder or suicide? And what had made all of these people follow Jones to their deaths? LOOKING FOR MORE TCO? Binge our 40+ bonus episodes via Patreon! When you join our Patreon fam, you not only support us, you also INSTANTLY get our entire catalog of bonus episodes, including our episode-by-episode coverage of "SERIAL," "THE JINX," and "THE STAIRCASE." You also get our interviews with Asia McClain (Adnan Syed's alibi witness), Rabia Chaudry, "Tower" director Keith Maitland, all of our mini-episodes, extended outtakes, AND full bonus episodes covering "Madonna: Truth or Dare" and "The Queen of Versailles." AND IT'S ALL COMMERCIAL FREE! Join here! Want to see us LIVE? Go Here for information and tickets to our upcoming live events like our February live shows or our Pride show in June!  Looking for our Advertisers / Promo Codes? Go Here! We now have a whole page of our site for you to check out and GET. THOSE. DISCOUNTS!

8 Jan 201958min

BEWARE THE SLENDERMAN tells the story of the internet's elusive Boogeyman and two 12-year-old girls who would kill for him. Morgan Geyser and Anissa Weier lured their best friend into the woods, stabbed her 19 times, then set out on an odyssey to meet the tall and faceless man known online as Slenderman. Shot over 18 months with heartbreaking access to the families of the would-be murderers, the film plunges deep down the rabbit hole of their crime, a Boogeyman. and our society's most impressionable consumers of media. The entrance to the internet can quickly lead us to its dark basement, within just a matter of clicks. How much do we hold children responsible for what they find there? LOOKING TO JOIN THE PATREON FAM FOR ALLLLLLLLL THAT BONUS CONTENT? GO HERE! COME SEE US LIVE IN NYC ON FEBRUARY 9TH! Click here for tickets! Looking for our Advertisers / Promo Codes? Go Here! We now have a whole page of our site for you to check out and GET. THOSE. DISCOUNTS!

1 Jan 201948min

On November 22, 1963, John F. Kennedy, President of the United States, was assassinated in broad daylight in front of hundreds of people--at least 55 of whom were filming or taking pictures. And yet we still don't know what happened. Lee Harvey Oswald was the prime suspect. But then he too was killed in the middle of the day in front of almost 100 people.  Was it a lone gunman? The CIA? Fidel Castro? And will we every know the truth? We have some thoughts..... This week's Palate Cleanser is from the 2004 Broadway Cast Recording of "Assassins" and features Neil Patrick Harris and Dennis O'Hare.

18 Dec 201857min

On October 17, 1974, 12 year old Jan Broberg was kidnapped by her next door neighbor and parents’ best friend—a man they all loving called “B.” B, unbeknownst to them, was a pedophile who had become obsessed with Jan and would stop at nothing to have her. This story is so full of of jaw-dropping twists, you really do have to hear it to believe it.  OOH! It's important to note that Jan today is alive and well (and looking like a million bucks). She is one of the major story tellers here, and goddamn is she a force to be reckoned with.

11 Dec 201857min

EVERYONE BE COOL, KATHLEEN ZELNER IS IN THE HOUSE!!! Before she became a household name with her work on the Steven Avery case in season 2 of "Making A Murderer," Kathleen Zelner used her brilliant, no-nonsense bad-assery to exonerate Ryan Ferguson. Ferguson had been convicted in 2005 at the age of 19 of a murder he didn't commit. There was no physical evidence, the "eye witnesses" were unreliable to say the least, and Ferguson was failed by an incompetent lawyer. AND. KATHLEEN. ZELNER. IS. NOT. HERE. FOR. IT.  Come for Zelner, but stay for Ryan's dad who's a super adorable Inspector Gadget type who learns how to use google and get on the online in an obsessive attempt to save his son.

4 Dec 201856min

In 2015, NYC Police Officer Gilberto Valle was convicted of conspiring to kidnap and eat young women. YES YOU READ THAT RIGHT: KIDNAP AND EAT. Valle argued it was all a fantasy; the prosecution's narrative convinced jurors otherwise. Valle was facing a possible life sentence when filmmaker Erin Lee Carr began visiting him in prison to make this film. There’s no way around it, you guys, this one is full of garbage—the cannibal cop himself (CANNIBAL COP, YOU GUYS), his enabling parents, and the filmmaker who never really tries to understand WHY and/or HOW Valle came to be the way he is. But don’t worry, there’s lots of good New York Post headlines….and one fabulous glamor shot. LOOKING FOR MORE TCO? Binge our 40+ bonus episodes via Patreon! When you join our Patreon fam, you not only support us, you also INSTANTLY get our entire catalog of bonus episodes, including our episode-by-episode coverage of "SERIAL," "THE JINX," and "THE STAIRCASE." You also get our interviews with Asia McClain (Adnan Syed's alibi witness), Rabia Chaudry, "Tower" director Keith Maitland, all of our mini-episodes, extended outtakes, AND full bonus episodes covering "Madonna: Truth or Dare" and "The Queen of Versailles." AND IT'S ALL COMMERCIAL FREE! Join here! Want to see us LIVE? Go Here for information and tickets to our upcoming live events like our February live shows or our Pride show in June! Looking for our Advertisers / Promo Codes? Go Here! We now have a whole page of our site for you to check out and GET. THOSE. DISCOUNTS!

27 Nov 201854min