[themolecularman]

I dislike this story in journalism and podcasts too. I listen to a lot of true crime podcasts:

> Before Y was murdered, they lived in X. X is a quiet town, the type of place where you don't need to lock your doors. Y has a happy upbringing collecting flowers along the river at...

Like we get it, this is the first half of every 1-hour long true-crime podcast. Also quite often the first half of every long-form article.

[mkwarman]

I don't mind it as much in true crime podcasts when it's done well. Totally agree that the generic "it was a peaceful town where nobody locked their doors blah blah blah" can get old quickly. But hearing about the unique lives of the victims in murder cases can definitely add to the story. And in podcasts more focused on the investigative side (ex. Someone Knows Something) knowing the background info can even be critical to solving the puzzle so to speak.

[gadabout]

Agree, also podcasts in that genre are often more about "story telling" (which requires - dun duh dun - backstory), but articles do not.

I do not mind 5 minutes of backstory on a 60 minute podcast. I do mind 2 minutes of backstory on a 5 minute read.

[Olumde]

Oh gosh I hate this about wondery business wars[0]. Very informative but also very annoying when they conjure up complete/narrated conversations between people e.g. a tech CEO and an investor or customer. This happens a LOT in the show.

I'm like, "you weren't there man!!!"

PS: I'm not the only one who thinks wondery shows are "overproduced" https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueCrimePodcasts/comments/byk8ix/d...

[0] https://wondery.com/shows/business-wars/