Finding D.W. stokes even more Arthur-related nostalgia, as if the Twitter memes weren’t enough

Finding D.W.

EPISODE 2

The best part about audio nonfiction is how it is not only allowed, but encouraged, to investigate small things. In the greater entertainment landscape, a series entirely focused on the actors who voiced Dora Winifred “D.W.” Read on the TV show Arthur over the years might seem like small potatoes, but turning over this pebble reveals a complex and endearing web of individuals whose lives were forever changed by the opportunity. Finding D.W. is a project of Jason Szwimer, the third actor to voice D.W. in a line of eight performers, and he’s setting out to meet and interview the other seven to find out whether their experiences mirrored his own. Most people don’t know that, after The Simpsons, Arthur is the longest-running animated series on TV, with 24 seasons and counting. And fewer still might know that D.W., sassy younger sister to Arthur and older sister to baby Kate, was always voiced by boys—a choice made by the series’ casting director in order to infuse D.W. with a brassy, tomboy sensibility. This episode, Szwimer speaks with that very casting director, Debra Toffan, who explains that the girls who first read for the part back in the 1990s simply sounded too sweet, whereas boys brought Marc Brown’s creations off the page and onto the screen with slightly more frenetic line readings. [Marnie Shure]

I Know What Scares You

An Eerie Premonition

Skepticism and sensible chuckles go hand-in-hand in the new series I Know What Scares You, in which a panel of experts demystify their special guest’s inexplicable experiences. In this inaugural episode, the panel, which includes Skeptoid’s Brian Dunning, invites actor Robert Llewellyn (Red Dwarf) to share one of the spookiest moments of his life. Llewellyn explains that he had an incredibly violent dream that involved a good friend, just 24 hours before that same friend died. While Llewellyn doesn’t claim the gift of premonition, he does believe that this occurrence has to mean something. The panel helpfully reassures him that it means absolutely nothing and that dreaming of a friend or colleague so close to their death is really just a numbers game. They maintain that if you know enough people, all of whom will die someday, this sort of thing is just bound to happen. In addition to these one-on-one skeptic readings, the team also covers paranormal news items like the story of a woman who is being ghosted by her alien lover. While they present several psychological explanations for these claims, they ultimately decide that if this were really happening, the alien could probably do better. [Anthony D Herrera]

The Plot Thickens
The War Zone

For this second season of Turner Classic Movies’ tea-spilling podcast, the show goes back to that insane time Brian De Palma tried—and failed—to make a proper film adaptation of The Bonfire Of The Vanities, Tom Wolfe’s literary ’80s blockbuster. Despite having Tom Hanks, Bruce Willis, and Melanie Griffith as its stars, it became the first big flop of the ’90s. Former Wall Street Journal critic (and Sarah Vowell soundalike) Julie Salamon, who covered it all for her 1991 book The Devil’s Candy, pulls out her archives of recorded interviews and narrates this wild journey. This episode has De Palma and company trying to start production on The Bonfire Of The Vanities in New York. This means scouting locations, finding a proper courtroom for all the courtroom scenes, and assuring people in the Bronx (who were still sore about the borough’s portrayal in the book) that the movie won’t make it look like a criminal wasteland. They also get bumrushed by socialites looking to play bit roles in party scenes. Since we’re at the halfway point of this season, expect things to get wilder than that. [Craig D. Lindsey]

The STS Guys
Tiny Target & the Big Lebowski

In the most recent episode, Nate, Scott, Larry, and Jeremy start things off with a Fourth of July debrief, covering the nuances of unincorporated land and firework regulations. The hosts—four friends, each with a specific area of interest—provide four unique perspectives on the wide world of pop culture: Jeremy is the comics expert, Scott is well versed in video games, Larry is the podcast pro, and Nate is a DC fan and established action figure photographer. As a weekly podcast, The STS Guys is able to dive deep into the day-to-day details of real life, such as buying cars, lending DVDs, and deconstructing PlayStations, allowing listeners to feel like part of the intimate repartee. The organic flow of conversation leads seamlessly from collectibles, to movies, to upcoming conventions, and ultimately to a chat about Marvel’s latest big screen MCU flick, Black Widow. At this point not all of the hosts have had a chance to see the movie yet, so a more in-depth discussion will be forthcoming. There’s always next week. [Jose Nateras]