Movies and TV shows that feature podcasters

For many, podcast listening began as an avenue for true crime consumption. “Only Murders in the Building” is a fun Hulu comedy built upon that phenomenon. Iconic comedic duo Steve Martin and Martin Short join forces alongside Selena Gomez, bringing the flair of another generation. The trio all live in the same building, and all love true crime podcasts, so when a mysterious death occurs in said building, they decide to start their own podcast.

In the original run of “Sex and the City,” Carrie Bradshaw had a job writing a newspaper column that clearly showed nobody who worked on the show had any idea how writing for a paper actually works. When the show rebooted with “And Just Like That…” the era of successful newspaper columnists had passed. Now, Carrie has a podcast, one that shows that nobody who works on the show has any idea how having a podcast actually works.

“The podcast sitcom.” That’s what “Alex, Inc.” was. Zach Braff, looking for a follow-up to his huge sitcom success on “Scrubs,” stars as the titular Alex. A radio journalist, he leaves the industry to start his own podcast company. This time around, a podcast-centered sitcom didn’t work. “Alex Inc.” was canceled after 10 episodes.

Speaking of sitcom stars, Kaley Cuoco has had a couple of marginal successes since “The Big Bang Theory,” but she’s looking for her first major hit. “Based on a True Story” is less a sitcom and more a comedic thriller, not unlike “Only Murders.” In fact, this is also a show about a big true crime fan who starts her own podcast after a murder occurs within the parameters of her life. If we didn’t know any better, we’d call the Peacock show something of a ripoff of Hulu’s hit show, only with a worse cast.

David Gordon Green’s reboot of the “Halloween” franchise (such a major reboot it literally wiped out everything aside from John Carpenter’s iconic first film) is a mixed bag at best. The two sequels can be quite sweaty in spots. “Halloween,” though, mostly works. Jamie Lee Curtis back as Laurie Strode plays a part in that. In this world, Michael Myers has been institutionalized since the events of “Halloween.” Inexplicably, two true crime podcasters get access to Myers in the psych hospital. Unsurprisingly, it doesn’t work out too well for them.

B.J. Novak hasn’t done a ton of significant note since “The Office,” but he hasn’t needed to. Dude made a ton of cash off that show and came from a well-off family to begin with, so he’s free to pick and choose. Mostly, Novak has engaged in smaller, self-driven projects, such as 2022’s “Vengeance.” He wrote, directed, and starred in the dark comedy about a New York journalist who decides to try to get to the bottom of a death down in Texas, and decides to document it on a podcast for good measure.

There are three things, and only three things, that “Godzilla vs. Kong” delivered, but they alone justify the movie’s existence. One, Godzilla and Kong fight. Two, Rebecca Hall says, “Kong bows to no one.” And three, Kyle Chandler tells his daughter, played by Millie Bobby Brown, “That podcast is filling your head with garbage.” By the way, that podcast is done by Bernie, a conspiracy theorist/whistleblower played by Brian Tyree Henry.

Look, in the “kid Ghostbusters” continuation of “Ghostbusters,” there is a character straight-up called Podcast. It’s one of the eye-rolling things in this eye-rolling movie. Of course, Podcast would return in “Frozen Empire,” alongside Bill Murray and Dan Aykroyd. Not returning: Any goodwill for this franchise. Say what you will about the female-led “Ghostbusters” reboot (like, for example, it’s a totally fine B- comedy that did not deserve one-third of the commotion it got), but it didn’t give us any of the silly nonsense these two movies did.

Apparently, when Billy Eichner isn’t yelling at strangers on the street about Meryl Streep (which is admittedly what he does best), he just doesn’t have the same oomph. “Bros,” a studio romantic comedy centered on two gay men, flopped at the box office, even with solid critical acclaim. Alas, the era of the blockbuster romantic comedy effectively ended before “Bros” arrived. Eichner’s Bobby is the host of a podcast called “The Eleventh Brick at Stonewall.” Maybe a “Billy on the Street” movie would work?

There was a bit of Oscar buzz about “C’mon C’mon.” Mike Mills movies have gotten nominations, and wins, in the past, and it also stars Joaquin Phoenix. In the end, the movie was kind of a blip, though those who say it largely enjoyed the movie. Phoenix plays a radio journalist turned, yes, podcaster, who is traveling around interviewing kids about their lives and the future.

Marc Maron was a standup, and occasional actor, for many years, but he was one of the first people to reshape their career with a successful podcast. “WTF with Marc Maron” became one of the first big podcasts, and it really picked up Maron’s career. So much so, he even got his own IFC sitcom where Maron plays a version of himself. It was basically his own “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” Impressive for a guy who, all these years later, still isn’t a good interviewer.

There’s a lot of “Serial” in “Truth Be Told,” which makes sense given that it was the first podcast many people listened to, and it was a true phenomenon. “Serial” made Sarah Koenig a celebrity. Well, what if the work that made you famous may have also led to the wrong person being convicted? That’s at the center of Apple TV+’s “Truth Be Told.” Octavia Spencer plays a podcaster who became famous uncovering a murder case, but she revisits it when she starts to wonder if the wrong man, played by Aaron Paul, took the blame.

No, not “Scream” the movie. Remember when MTV had a “Scream” TV show? It lasted for three seasons. Noah Foster is the “horror expert” in the world of the “Scream” TV series. In the second series, he also starts a podcast about the murders that occurred in town.

Polarizing though he may be, Ricky Gervais was at the forefront of podcasting. Once upon a time, he, Stephen Merchant, and Karl Pilkington were in the Guinness Book of World Records due to the success of their podcast. Eventually, the podcast was adapted into an animated TV show. Snippets from the podcast were animated mostly Pilkington’s bizarre riffs and ideas.

Podcast-centered TV shows remain in the zeitgeist. Now, Netflix is in the mix with “Bodkin.” The comedic thriller stars Will Forte as a podcaster who heads to Ireland to get in touch with his family roots. At the same time, he works on a cold case with an Irish investigative reporter.