Winner of a Peabody Award and downloaded by the millions, the podcast "Serial" has emerged as a cultural sensation. "We were so shocked that this happened," said host and co-producer Sarah Koenig, who will appear at the UB Center for the Arts on Monday at 7:30 p.m.
"It's a look behind the scenes, a bit, in how we came up with the show, and how to make it," said Koenig in explaining what the audience will experience at Monday's appearance.
"We have slides. We play tape. Some tape that was in the show, some that wasn't," said Koenig, who was named one of "The 100 Most Influential People" for 2015 by TIME Magazine.
Monday's program will also address "some of the stuff that happened along the way that we were not prepared for at all."
Like the show's uncanny success. According to Apple, "Serial" reached five million downloads faster than any other podcast. That number has now exceeded 179 million downloads.
"Serial" recently released the final episode of its second season, which documented the many twists and turns in the story of Bowe Bergdahl, the captured soldier whose release was secured through the controversial release of five Taliban leaders from the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
Season one grabbed attention with a detailed look at the case of Adnan Syed, who was convicted in the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend. The podcast's reporting raised several questions about the case involving Syed, who was a Baltimore high school student at the time of his arrest.
"Everyone on all sides seemed to be doing their job," Koenig acknowledged of the defense and prosecution in the case.
"It's just a bunch of small things that pile up. And to me, I have to say, that was a bit more chilling to realize about our justice system. That everything can look right yet the result be so questionable."
Koenig spent nearly a year reporting on the Syed case before the first episode of "Serial" aired. That reporting continued as the episodes went public.
After such an intense review, does she have faith in the fairness of the criminal justice system?
"I think the lesson: stay away. If there's anyway to stay away, stay away."
The details, the plot twists, the interviewing, the production values, all contribute to the excellence of "Serial." Listeners shouldn't be surprised how consuming it is for the show's staff, and its host.
"While we're in production, I'm really sunk in it. It's very hard to think about anything else. Yeah, I'm thinking about it at night while I'm sleeping. While I'm not sleeping. When I wake up in the morning," Koenig said.
"It's kind of awful," she said with a chuckle.
Humor is also a trademark of the production with the host engaging in the occasional laugh with her interview subjects.
"If you fake it (humor), then, that would be terrible," said Koenig, who shared a playful sense of humor and gracious demeanor during our 20-minute chat.
"Sometimes, I'm saying something silly (to an interviewee), but sometimes the person you don't expect...either (has) a gallows humor about something or dark humor or finds some other thing funny out of the blue."
"It's always delightful to me. I feel like, especially in really difficult stories or really dense stories, it's kind of a relief to everybody. To me and the interviewee, but also I think for the audience."
Judging by its size, the "Serial" audience seems to agree.
