If you liked ‘Archivo 81’, do not miss these other 10 series based on podcasts

The recently released Netflix series ‘Archive 81’ brings back the pleasures of analog terror, but if you liked this far from nostalgic story with videotapes and found footage in its core plot, you will surely be interested in the fruitful example of television series based on successful podcasts. ‘Archivo 81’ was inspired by one created by Marc Sollinger and Daniel Powell in 2016, and at the moment, these audio pieces to listen to how and when the consumer wants, have a competitor to beat on the radio or ‘ become a supplement to it. excellent plot material for fiction series, many of them in the fantasy or horror genre, or ‘true crime’ documentaries.

Anthology series on werewolves, body eaters, haunted houses, vampirism, devil dolls and various delicacies from the world of the occult, ‘Myths and legends (Lore)’ takes the exciting (and very successful) podcast as a starting point of the same name created in 2015 by Aaron Mahnke, also in charge of its transfer to the world of images. The series, which has two seasons of six episodes each, combines documentary and dramatized scenes to tell terrifying stories of horror, superstition and death that really happened and that somehow became part of the folkloric heritage of horror legends Available on Prime Video.

The first fiction 100% inspired by a podcast is surely, and with ‘Archivo 81’, the most brilliant translation of the only sound universe into the audiovisual one. in his first season screenwriters Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg brilliantly conveyed their self-titled audio drama, but what really left my jaw open was the formal styling exercise around the conspiracy thriller performed by its director, Sam Smail (‘Mr. Robot’). That story of a social assistance (Julia Roberts) who helped veterans, or something, integrate into civilian life would make way for a less glamorous second season, certainly unnecessary, with Janelle Monáe. Available on Prime Video.

On Valentine’s Day 2018, Netflix aired the first season of an addictive ‘true crime’ that tells the (very) morbid true story of a cheating man and the woman whose life he ruined. The guy (Eric Bana) was a fake doctor, as charismatic as he was crazy; she (Connie Britton) was an interior designer as successful in her work as she was unhappily in love. The incredible account of everything that happened after that was explained by journalist Christopher Goffard in a series of articles and, later, in a successful ‘Los Angeles Times’ podcast. ‘Dirty John’ will make way for a second season focused on the real case of millionaires Dan and Betty Broderick (Christian Slater and Amanda Peet), though no longer inspired by any podcast.. Available on Netlix.

Mark Zuckerberg launched Facebook Watch in 2017, a (free) platform with which he tried unsuccessfully to compete with YouTube and Netflix. Not only was it a great video store, it also became a content generator, as this enthralling puzzle series inspired by the self-titled podcast created by Zack Akers and Skip Bronkie. In it, Jessica Biel plays a radio journalist who is obsessed with finding out what happened in rural Limetown 15 years ago, when 326 people disappeared without a trace at a neurological research center. As due to ‘The X Files’ as ‘Ghoulish Frequency (Pontypool’), the series was directed by Rebecca Thomas, responsible for four episodes of ‘File 81’. Unfortunately, it did not reach the levels of success of the original audio drama and was canceled after its first season. Available on Facebook Watch (with Spanish captions).

Protagonist of ‘Serial’ podcast, Adnan Masud Syed was sentenced in 1999 to life in prison for the murder of his ex-girlfriend, the South Korean Hae Min Lee, although his trial was revised on several occasions precisely because of the appearance of this audio drama, presented by Sarah Koenig in 2014 , and another produced by one of Adnan’s lawyers, ‘Undisclosed: the State against Adnan Syed’. It’s the raw material on which this four-episode true crime classic is based that reconstructs the whole affair, from the couple’s high school relationship to some elements that have come to light in recent years. Available on HBO Max.

The fans of ‘Dark’ received this Danish fiction with open arms when they sensed that behind the plot of missing young people, timelines and Nordic prudence could be something similar to the complicated and existential time travels of their beloved Jonas and Martha. There was indeed something, but it was not the same, nor was it intended. based on the ‘Equinox 1985’ podcast created by Tea Lindeburg, also a writer for the series, ‘Equinox’ is less philosophical science fiction than a Nordic ‘thriller’ with hints of pagan rural horror, based on the story of a young radio host whose sister and classmates disappeared without a trace 20 years ago , and one day he receives the enigmatic message on the air that all of them today live in an alternative reality. Available on Netflix

‘The Duncan Trusell family hour’ is a podcast created by actor and television writer Duncan Trusell, who has already worked with Pendleton Ward on the animated series ‘Adventure Time’ (2010-2018). Both developed ‘The Midnight Gospel’ from the podcast in 2020. This is another animated series, with eight short episodes, that translates the language of audio drama into a peculiarly animated visual. Clancy, a ‘spacecaster’ (or ‘podcaster’ of space), has eight encounters with as many inhabitants of the planets included in a simulator. Each interview is based on a proper posting by Trusell, which Clancy pronounces. Available on Netflix.

Direct adaptation to the mini-series format of a hit podcast from the Wondery Network owned by Amazon, which analyzes the case of American neurosurgeon Christopher Duntsch, nicknamed Doctor Death. The podcast started in August 2018 and a year later it was already available in Spanish. In the series created by Patrick Macmanus, Joshua Jackson (‘Fringe’, ‘The Affair’) plays the diabolical doctor who turned 33 of his patients into mutilated bodies or corpses. He is currently serving a life sentence. Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin are the doctors who discover his macabre experiments and unmask him. Available on Rakuten TV and Starz Play.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Ceb0TpriEY

Two comedians and old friends of ‘Saturday night live’, Steve Martin and Martin Short, play with Selena Gomez in this intriguing comedy in which three neighbors of a building obsessed with ‘real crime’ podcasts decide to create their own and investigate the murder of a building tenant. All the neighbors are suspicious, as in an Agatha Christie story, and the victim announces to the camera that he will be killed 12 hours later. The series is the brainchild of Martin and John Hoffman, and includes appearances by Tina Fey, Nathan Lane, Jimmy Fallon and Sting, the building’s star tenant. Available on Disney +.

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Two actors in a state of grace, Paul Ruud and Will Ferrell, born comedians who know how to be dramatic whenever they want, play a psychiatrist and his patient. Isaac Herschkopf treated OJ Simpson, among others celebrities, and his influence on Martin Markowitz was such that he eventually disinherited his sister and made the psychiatrist president of his private foundation. The incident alerted one of Markowitz’s neighbors, journalist Joe Nocera, who produced a successful podcast on the subject in 2019. The series is based on this podcast and takes its same disturbing title, that of ‘The Shrinkage of the House Next Door’. Available on Apple TV +.