{"podcast":{"title":"Culture Gabfest","slug":"culture-gabfest-830145","podcast_index_feed_id":830145,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/69612bcd1f21449d6dec2ccb","website_url":"https://slate.com/podcasts/culture-gabfest","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/69612bcd1f21449d6dec2ccb/show-cover.jpg","author":"Slate Audio","episode_count":870,"summary":"New York Times critic Dwight Garner says “The Slate Culture Gabfest is one of the highlights of my week.” The award-winning Culturefest features critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner debating the week in culture, from highbrow to pop. For more of Slate’s culture podcasts, check out the Slate Culture feed. Get more Culture Gabfest with Slate Plus! Join to unlock weekly bonus episodes—plus ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from our show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or visit slate.com/cultureplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/culture-gabfest-830145"},"episode":{"title":"You’re My Obsession Edition","slug":"you-re-my-obsession-edition","published_at":"2026-05-20T07:10:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/culture-gabfest-830145/you-re-my-obsession-edition","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/culture-gabfest-830145","url":"https://shows.acast.com/culture-gabfest/episodes/youre-my-obsession-edition","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/69612bcd1f21449d6dec2ccb/e/6a0cade74c1aeb32e719508c/media.mp3","summary":"This week, we’ve got an all-guest-host panel with Gabfest faves Isaac Butler, Sam Adams, and June Thomas guiding the discourse… straight to hell. In this case, hell is the romantic relationships depicted in the buzzy indie horror Obsession . This rom-com/horror mashup—marking Curry Barker’s impressive feature directorial debut—deals with questions of codependency and consent. But the real question: is Obsession worth the online obsession?  Next, they turn their gaze to the spooky titular island of Widow’s Bay and discuss the new series starring Matthew Rhys in another horror/comedy genre experiment. Finally, they debate whether most kids’ books are “crud?” Or really, is the recent online furor over comments in children’s book creator Mac Barnett’s new book Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children merited? In a bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, the gang gather over the topic of book clubs. Endorsements June: Get In: The Inside Story of Labor Under Starmer by Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, a detailed and readable analysis of Keir Starmer's unlikely rise to power. Sam : The latest film of indie, animated short auteur Don Hertzfeldt \" Paper Trail .\"   Isaac : The novel The Oppermanns , a family saga by Lion Feuchtwanger written in real time during Hitler’s rise . (And, as a bonus peek into Feuchtwanger's post-war milieu, check out Salka Viertel’s autobiography The Kindness of Strangers . ) -- Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com .  Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required. Hosted…","meta_description":"This week, we’ve got an all-guest-host panel with Gabfest faves Isaac Butler, Sam Adams, and June Thomas guiding the discourse… straight to hell. In this…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3322,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/culture-gabfest-830145/episodes/you-re-my-obsession-edition/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/culture-gabfest-830145/you-re-my-obsession-edition.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}