''Mystery Show'' is a Gimlet Media podcast hosted by

Starlee Kine Starlee Kine (born April 8, 1975) is an American public radio producer and writer. She was the creator and host of the podcast ''Mystery Show'', which was done in production with Gimlet Media. Her work has been featured on ''This American Life'' ...

that ran for one season in 2015. In each episode, Kine solves a minor mystery which cannot be solved with search engines alone. It was declared the best new podcast of 2015 by

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

. Mysteries tackled by the show include the closing of a video rental store and the origins of a peculiar custom belt buckle. During the investigations, Kine frequently veers from the original topic, asking subjects about more personal and philosophical matters. In October 2016, Kine announced though a Medium post and the show's Facebook page that she was no longer working at Gimlet Media and that the network would not be producing a second season of ''Mystery Show''.

Episodes

Reception

Apple named ''Mystery Show'' the Best New Podcast of 2015 in their year-end awards. Episode 3 of Season 1, "Belt Buckle", was ranked #1 on '' The Atlantic''s list of the top 50 podcast episodes of 2015, with their summary stating that "the episode is unrelenting in its playfulness and joy, but a sense of profundity lies just beneath the surface, bobbing up in the final minutes, when you won't be sure whether to grin or weep". The show has continued to garner acclaim over the years despite not publishing new episodes since 2015; in 2021, '' The New York Times'' praised the show as “utterly captivating” and in 2022, '' The Guardian'' described the series as a “podcast classic”.

Hiatus

After the conclusion of Season 1, no new episodes were released. A January update posted to the show's Facebook page stated that Season 2 was "in the works". In October 2016, Kine published an update to Medium and to the ''Mystery Show'' Facebook page saying that she had been let go from Gimlet Media in April 2016, during the early stages of Season 2's production. The same day, Gimlet published a blog post stating that ''Mystery'' Show was "unsustainable to produce and publish on a consistent basis, and therefore Gimlet will no longer produce new episodes of ''Mystery Show''. We are in discussions with Starlee to reach an agreement where she may produce ''Mystery Show'' independently of Gimlet."

References

External links

* at Gimlet Media {{Gimlet Media , state=collapsed Audio podcasts 2015 podcast debuts Gimlet Media Gimlet Media podcasts 2015 podcast endings American podcasts