The Bingey List: Bingeworthy's Top 23 shows for 2023
Carefully tracked, noted and measured, the inaugural Bingey List aims to highlight the best shows of the narrative podcast world and shine a light on an amazing body of work
In the growing AirTable that I use to keep track of all the shows that I listened to this year, tagging and categorizing them in a multitude of ways, I can confirm that I listened to more than 50 different series. Honestly, I lost count. But the data doesn’t lie.
Over the course of listening, I acknowledged trends, both in what I was listening to, and my listening habits generally. Many lessons learned and notes taken.
This list represents the best of what I was able to discover. By now it’s basically impossible to actually listen to everything that’s out there; but even as I look at the list objectively, I can see it’s a very good cross section of the industry, in terms of genre, production companies, narrator types styles and approaches. The data did show me gaps, and I plan to address these next year.
A couple of notes: First, I only consider series that are narrator-driven, serialized and multi-episodic, published from July 2022 - December 2023. They have to be non-fiction (or at the margins creative non-fiction). Second, I will only consider it if I listened to everything (usually even the bonus episodes). Third, I used a rubric that I made to rate and categorize the shows to make sure this was not purely subjective; sometimes that scoring system showed me surprises.
Lastly, whether or show lands on this list or not, thank you to all the creators in this industry who dare to continue to make narrative series. I have loved listening and learning, laughing and crying, feeling both joy and sorrow. It’s rough waters out there. It takes an inordinate amount of work to make these kinds of series; the output is greatly outsized by the input. Stay calm, and carry on.
There many reasons why each of these series made the list. For each series, I’ll give just one reason.
1 - The 13th Step
Why it made tops the list:
This series defines what good journalism is, and then, how to do it well.
Produced by: NHPR
Reported/Hosted by Lauren Chooljian
Series Length: 5 hours + bonus eps
2 - Stolen Season 2: Surviving St. Michael’s
Why it made the list:
This series made Truth and Reconciliation water cooler chat.
Produced by: Spotify
Reported/Hosted by: Connie Walker
Series Length: 5 hours, 45 min
3- Constellation Prize: Nightwalking
Why it made the list:
It’s just not like anything else I’ve ever listened to.
Produced: Believer Magazine
Written/Hosted by: Bianca Giaever
Series Length: 2 hours
4 - Sold A Story
Why it made the list:
Because it managed to make a story about the education system into a true crime yarn.
Produced: APM Reports
Reported/Hosted by: Emily Hanford
Series Length: 4 hours + bonus episodes
5 - The Coldest Case in Laramie
Why it made the list:
Kim Barker made me laugh, cry, smile and gush in the same episode.
Produced: Serial/NYTimes
Reported/Hosted by: Kim Barker
Series Length: 4 hours
6 - We Were Three
Why it made the list:
The first story that managed to make sense of Covid for me.
Produced: Serial/NYTimes
Reported/Hosted by: Nancy Updike
Series Length: 4 hours
7 - Love, Janessa
Why it made the list:
I fell in love with the narration voice and character of Hannah Àjàlá. She’s fresh, distinctive and wonderful.
Produced: BBC/CBC with Antica
Reported/Hosted by: Hannah Àjàlá
Series Length: 4 hours
8 - Bone Valley
Why it made the list:
This series has the actual potential to change lives.
Producer: Lava for Good / iHeart
Reported/Hosted by: Gilbert King and Kelsey Decker
Series Length: 9 hours + Bonus episodes
9 - Believable: The Coco Berthmann Story
Why it made the list:
The junction between salacious journalism and ethical journalism is clearly defined here.
Produced by: Dear Media
Reported/Hosted by: Sara Ganim with Karen Given
Series Length: 9 hours + bonus episodes
10 - The Retrievals
Why it made the list:
This series made me physically feel things as I listened.
Produced: Serial/NYTimes
Reported/Hosted by: Susan Burton
Series Length: 3 hours 50 minutes
11 - You Didn’t See Nothin
Why it made the list:
The fact that this story got made is evidence that people can and do change; and in so doing proves that podcasts are an integral part of our cultural landscape.
Produced: USG Audio / Invisible Institute
Reported/Hosted by: Yohance Lacour
Series Length: 3 hours, 45 minutes
12 - The Magnificent Jerk
Why it made the list:
It’s a family story that’s about something much bigger than just one family.
Produced: Apple Original
Written/Hosted by: Maya Lin Sugarman
Series Length: 4 hours, 30 minutes
13 - Dreamtown: The Story of Adelanto
Why it made the list:
This story is so bonkers, it has to be real. You just can’t make this stuff up.
Produced by: Crooked
Reported/Hosted by: David Weinberg
Series Length: 5 hours
14 - In Her Defence
Why it made the list:
It tells a story, but then opens it wide to make it a public conversation.
Produced: The Globe and Mail
Reported/Hosted by: Jana Pruden
Series Length: 4 hours, 30 minutes
15 - Expectant
Why it made the list:
When I realized that it was actually (partly) fiction and not (all) fact, I realized it had been totally assumed and consumed by it.
Produced: Independent
Created/ Hosted by: Pippa Johnstone
Series Length: 1 hour 30 minutes
16 - The Newfoundlander
Why it made the list:
I thought it was going to zig, and then it zagged. In a big way.
Produced by: Canadaland
Reported/Hosted by: Justin Brake
Series Length: 2 hours
17 - Foretold
Why it made the list:
It skillfully uncovered the life story of someone who lives amongst us, but we don’t see her.
Produced by: LA Times
Reported/Hosted by: Faith Pinho
Series Length: 6 hours, 30 minutes
18 - Mandela: The Lost Tapes
Why it made the list:
Because don’t you dream of finding a box like this in your basement?
Produced by: Audible
Written/Narrated by: Richard Stengel
Series Length: 6 hours, 15 minutes
19 - The Girlfriends
Why it made the list:
I came for the story, I stayed for the music!
Produced by: Novel / iHeart
Reported/Hosted by: Carole Fisher
Series Length: 6 hours, 30 minutes
20 - The Havana Syndrome
Why it made the list:
Finding this series after Vice World News basically imploded was like discovering the lost island of Atlantis.
Produced by: Vice World News
Reported/Narrated by: Jon Lee Anderson and Adam Entous
Series Length: 5 hours, 25 minutes
21 - Sandcastles
Why it made the list:
I truly never imagined that I could care this much about an unruly band of surfers from Malibu. Only regret was that this was not published one year later, when the concept of wildfires went mainstream.
Produced by: Independent / Wave Maker Media
Reported/Hosted by: Adriana Cargill
Series Length: 4 hours, 35 minutes
22 - Weight For It
Why it made the list:
Dear Ronald, we have almost nothing in common, but somehow I felt seen and heard by your story. It showed me that you don’t have to “be” anyone to connect to a story.
Produced by: Radiotopia / Ronald Young Jr
Created/ Narrated by: Ronald Young Jr
Series Length: 5 hours
23 - Wild Boys
Why it made the list:
This was perhaps the very very first series I listened to when I dreamt up this Bingeworthy idea and started to plan it out. It still holds up, 50 series later.
Produced by: Sony Music / Campside Media
Reported/Narrated by: Sam Mullins
Series length: 5 hours, 20 minutes
LOVE THIS
These are great.
I think I listened to 90% of those and agree with 90% of those.
Will go through this in January and hear what I've been missing out on.