Two podcasts you should listen to this week

Do you love podcasts, but don’t know how to find new shows? Are you new to podcasts, and don't know where to start?

Welcome to “Thanks for Listening” — a new column about the absolute best podcast episodes to listen to this week according to two producers at KUOW who make podcasts for a living. Every Monday, we'll both suggest a podcast that we really enjoy listening to and tell you why we like it.

You’ll hear about shows that span (and overlap) a variety of topics and genres: investigative journalism, fiction, food, feminism, comedy, history, true crime, mental health, Harry Potter, and much more.

So kick back and enjoy the first tastes of Spring with this week's picks.

Clare’s Pick: In The Dark

Suggested episode: Start from the beginning!

Length: About 50 minutes

Listen While: On a contemplative walk

Brainpower needed: 4 /5

In The Dark might be the best investigative reporting podcast out there. This week, I’m listening to updates to Season Two, which follows the case of Curtis Flowers. Flowers is a black man from Mississippi who has been tried for the same set of murders six times. He maintains that he's innocent, but the prosecutor for the case keeps trying him.

The team of reporters behind In The Dark don't just tell the story of Flowers' case — they also investigate the prosecution, uncovering new information about witnesses, the prosecutor and even other potential suspects.

I love this podcast because of its reporting chops and breathtaking storytelling. It isn’t a light listen — get ready to think a lot about injustice and institutional racism! — but it’s an incredible listening experience that will leave you thinking for weeks. Season one follows a different crime, this time a kidnapping in St. Joseph, Minnesota, and is equally fascinating.

Caroline’s pick: The Rewatchables

Suggested episode: ‘Forgetting Sarah Marshall’

Length: 1 hour 16 minutes

Listen while: Doing chores around the apartment, booking your trip to Hawaii

Brain power required: 1/5

The Rewatchables is a chatty, loosely formatted podcast that dedicates an hour or more to celebrating a movie with high replay value. Hosted by Bill Simmons and featuring a rotating set of film enthusiasts, I listen to almost every episode they produce, but when I saw they were doing an episode on the 2008 Judd Apatow film Forgetting Sarah Marshall, it felt special.

Forgetting Sarah Marshall is one of my all-time favorite movies. Not because it is a masterpiece, but when I think about films that always cheer me up when I’m in a sour mood, it's the first film that comes to mind.

The absurdly great cast, the gorgeous Hawaiian backdrop, the Dracula musical, the fake crime show, Paul Rudd—there’s not much more you could ask for in a comedy.

This episode gets granular about the movie itself, the careers of the various cast members, fun facts about the movie (did you know it was originally written as a drama, and the jokes were added later?)—but also about Hawaii and the bizarre emotional experience of going to a beautiful place when you feel empty. My favorite way to listen to this podcast is to rewatch the movie before listening. Think of it as a pop culture book club for introverts.

Runner up: Racist Sandwich, “Erasing Black Barbecue w/ Johnny Walker, Adrian Miller, Daniel Vaughn, and Brent & Juan Reaves”—this episode came out in September, but was just nominated for a James Beard Award. It’s a great look at Texas barbecue, and who gets the accolades.