Three Superb “Driveway Moment” Podcasts: The Moment, Mystery Show, and You Must Remember This

While we wait for “Serial” to start up again, here are three podcasts so enthralling you may find yourself taking the long way home so you can keep listening, or just sit in the car on the driveway because you need to know what happens next.

The Moment with Brian Koppelman: Koppelman is a screenwriter, but mostly he is a great conversationalist who is really interested in the key decision points in our lives. His interviews with accomplished people about the highs and lows of their careers are candid, generous, deep, and illuminating. Some of the best include Lewis Black, Debbie Gibson, Tim Ferriss, and Jon Acuff.

Mystery Show Starlee Kine (who was a wonderful guest on The Moment) is like one of those old movie gumshoes who sits in an office waiting for someone to hire them to solve a mystery. These days, pretty much everything can be researched on the internet. But Kine investigates mysteries that go beyond a Google search and, even better, she brings us along as she follows the clues. The mystery of why Britney Spears was photographed holding a book that pretty much nobody bought is of some interest (mostly to the author, who was the “client” for this one), but what makes the episode is a conversation Kine has with the guy on the 800 number for people who bought VIP tickets for a meet and greet with Spears before her performance. My favorite is the one about the belt buckle with a toaster on it — a toaster that has little slices of bread that actually pop up.

You Must Remember This Karina Longworth (founder of Cinematical.com, former film critic for LA Weekly) writes, narrates, records and edits these stories about Hollywood history. She calls her work “creative nonfiction,” and each episode is deeply researched and mesmerizingly presented. She has a 12-part series on the Manson family, and episodes about John Wayne, Walt Disney, Van Johnson, and many more.