''A Very Fatal Murder'' is a
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
produced by the satirical publication ''
The Onion
''The Onion'' is an American digital media company and newspaper organization that publishes satirical articles on international, national, and local news. The company is based in Chicago but originated as a weekly print publication on August 2 ...
''. A parody of
true crime
True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events.
The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 per ...
podcasts, ''A Very Fatal Murder'' is hosted by fictional New York City reporter David Pascall, who travels to the small town Bluff Springs, Nebraska to investigate the murder of prom queen Hayley Price.
Pascall is voiced by David Sidorov, who also wrote for the podcast. The podcast premiered on January 23, 2018 and consists of 7 episodes. Season 2 was released in its entirety on May 11, 2019.
Production
''A Very Fatal Murder'' satirizes popular true crime podcasts such as ''
Serial'', ''
S-Town
''S-Town'' is an American investigative journalism podcast hosted by Brian Reed and created by the producers of '' Serial'' and ''This American Life''. All seven chapters were released on March 28, 2017. The podcast was downloaded a record-breaki ...
'', and ''
My Favorite Murder
''My Favorite Murder'' is a weekly true crime comedy podcast hosted by American comedians Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. The first episode was released in January 2016. The podcast debuted at #25 on the iTunes podcast charts and peaked at ...
''. According to head writer Katy Yeiser, the podcast is not meant as a take down of any particular podcast, but rather an ode to the genre.
Synopsis
The podcast follows fictional investigative reporter David Pascall (voiced by David Sidorov) who is searching for the perfect murder to create an award-winning podcast about. He is assisted by ETHL (the Extremely Timely Homicide Locator), an MIT-created computer programmed to find "the most interesting, violent, culturally relevant murder cases in America".
Episodes
Season 1
Season 2
Reception
The podcast received mostly positive reviews, and was largely praised for attacking true-crime tropes such as the "hot dead girl" and the romanticization of small-town America.
Awards
References
External links
Onion Public Radio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Very Fatal Murder, A
2018 podcast debuts
Audio podcasts
Crime podcasts
Comedy podcasts
The Onion
American podcasts
2018 podcast endings