Serial: The Case Against Adnan Syed
Serial is a series of podcasts exploring a suspenseful story, as long as it takes to tell the story. First released in October 2014, it is a spinoff of the radio program, This American Life.
Sarah Koenig created and hosts the series, which is co-produced by Koenig and Julie Snyder, both veteran producers of This American Life. The topic of season one is an investigation into a 1999 Baltimore murder. Koenig has said, Serial is “about the basics: love and death and justice and truth. All these big, big things.”
The series explores the story of Adnan Syed, who may or may not have been wrongly convicted in 1999 of killing Hae Min Lee, Syed’s ex-girlfriend who was a senior at Baltimore County’s Woodlawn High School. She disappeared in January 1999.
Serial’s investigative team follows up on long-dormant leads, re-checks alibis, and questions assumptions. Host Koenig has revealed that she doesn’t know how the story, which is still airing episodes, will end.
The first episode describes the immigrant communities of the two protaganists in this real life drama.
Hat tip to Karen Charney for telling me about Serial.
KJ