"This American Life": Back on Showtime (and Live in Theaters) by Popular Demand

amp160The popular radio show This American Life was born and is still produced in Chicago Hosted by Ira Glass it was first presented on WBEZ Chicagoamp8217s NPR affiliate in 1995 By 1996 it was being distributed nationally More than 500 public radio stations across the country now carry the show as well as XM Satellite It39s also on MySpace Facebook and YouTubeamp160A weekly audience of more than 17 million listeners heart true stories of real people told on This American Life Every show has a theme with several amp160vignettes are built around that theme The themes chosen and the freedom given to the writers and performers allow the show to go in any direction Itamp8217s reality radio stories told to Glass and to us by those who really lived or are living them amp160One of the first stories I remember hearing centered on a 24hour diner here in Chicago The host sat in the diner and spoke to the people there There were homeless people there to buy a meal with change they had begged for young teenage girls from the suburbs there to meet up with someone they chatted with on the Internet and so on A recent show related the story of a young wife who was held hostage with her children for weeks by an amp8220associateamp8221 of her absent husband who was waiting for him to return with some money he was owed The story of how she managed and eventually got herself out of this situation was a tale of grit courage luck and smarts Sometimes the stories are funny sometimes bizarre sometimes touching sometimes chilling They are always compelling amp160Showtime came to Ira Glass in 2002 with the idea of creating a TV version of This American Lifeamp160The team had a hard time figuring out how to turn this unique radio show into a TV show effectively and for a while the idea was put on hold Last year the TAL team and Showtime figured out how to get it done amp160This American Lifeamp8217s second season on Showtime begins May 4 To introduce Season 2 host Glass is presenting This American Life Live this Thursday night May 1 in a live format from the Skirball Center on the New York University campus It will be broadcast digitally and live in HD to theaters across the country amp160In 2007 Glass and the team did a tour of live soldout shows But the amp8220live digital event beamed to theatersamp8221 idea was a new one so the TAL team did a poll on their website to ask fans what they thought More than 20000 fans said theyamp8217d love to see the show in theaters and so the idea became a reality amp160A list of theaters presenting the live event as well as a link to buy tickets can be found at wwwFathomeventscom You can also check out both the radio and TV versions of This American Life on their website wwwthislifeorg where you can listen to podcasts view previews of the upcoming season and more amp160This is REAL reality programming real Americans at their best their worst their funniest their most tragic Give it a listen or a look I guarantee once you start you wonamp8217t be able to stop amp160amp160

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"This American Life": Back on Showtime (and Live in Theaters) by Popular Demand

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MAREN YESKA

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Click to Make Your 2025 Contribution to Support the MediaVillage Education Foundation

"This American Life": Back on Showtime (and Live in Theaters) by Popular Demand

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MAREN YESKA

Empowering Women in Media: Insights from Industry Leaders (Video) - By E.B. Moss

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