{"podcast":{"title":"This American Life","slug":"this-american-life-7814501","podcast_index_feed_id":7814501,"rss_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/show/6951904/episodes/feed","website_url":"https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/this-american-life--6951904","image_url":"https://d3wo5wojvuv7l.cloudfront.net/t_rss_itunes_square_1400/images.spreaker.com/original/a8cc3fda8587d4c2f0051724d6c96553.jpg","author":"Wicoto","episode_count":31,"summary":"This American Life: The Full Visual Archive First-person stories and investigative journalism that capture the essence of the American experience. From quirky subcultures to high-stakes political dramas, we bring you the stories that shape our nation. 🌍 SEE THE STORIES: Access the original documents, historical photos, and witness profiles for each episode by following the link in our descriptions. 👇 The journey continues here : https://goo.su/XwNQm","last_synced_at":"2026-07-27T02:19:38.723220+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501"},"episode":{"title":"884: The Idiot","slug":"884-the-idiot","published_at":"2026-03-29T22:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501/884-the-idiot","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501","url":"https://www.spreaker.com/episode/884-the-idiot--71324426","audio_url":"https://api.spreaker.com/download/episode/71324426/default.mp3","summary":"M. Gessen returns to our show with a true-crime story that takes place entirely within their own family. This story comes to us from the producers at Serial Productions—who invented the true-crime podcast more than a decade ago—and from The New York Times. Visit thisamericanlife.org/lifepartners to sign up for our premium subscription. Act One: M Gessen tells Ira Glass about the surprising events that prompted them to begin reporting on their own family for their new podcast, The Idiot. They play the first episode of the series. (14 minutes) Act Two: Ira Glass and M Gessen continue to talk through the story of M’s cousin, Allen Gessen. They play more clips from the podcast, and we finally hear about the big, shocking thing that snapped their family apart. (20 minutes) Act Three: M Gessen tells Ira Glass about Allen’s trial, and we hear a recording of his conversation with the undercover agent. (21 minutes) Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org This American Life privacy policy. Learn more about sponsor message choices. 🎬 SEE THE STORY UNFOLD: Want to see the original photos, documents, and the faces behind this week's acts? 👇 View the visual archive for this episode here: https://goo.su/XwNQm (Updated for each story)","meta_description":"M. Gessen returns to our show with a true-crime story that takes place entirely within their own family. This story comes to us from the producers at Seri…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3479,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/this-american-life-7814501/episodes/884-the-idiot/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/this-american-life-7814501/884-the-idiot.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}