I'm Natalie Moore. I fell in love with soap operas when I was just five years old, and I still

watch them. Their television's longest scripted series and have zero reruns. Now let me tell you,

soap operas aren't just some silly art form. They are significant. In this season of making,

Stories Without End from WB EZ Chicago.

Join me as I share how the genre began, their social impact, and why these stories endure.

Listen, wherever you get your podcast.

From WBEZ Chicago, this is Nerdette.

I'm Greta Johnson, and I cannot believe I am actually saying this,

but 2020 is almost over. The end is near. It's been a super fucking weird year. I don't have to tell you that. But we still thought it would be worthwhile to check in with some critics about some

of the best stuff of 2020. Up first is podcast expert Nick Kwa. Nick, hey. Hello,

it is the end. But it's a good end. It's like this is the apocalypse we've been waiting for, right?

Yes. Like it's the end of the movie Melancholia, but my arms are wide open and I'm chill.

So how weird was it for you to think about the best stuff of this year, given just how

weird the year was?

I, okay, it was pretty weird.

In large part, because I, moving through the year, did not expect that it would be

this hard to compile this of best podcasts.

Like, I thought, oh, you know, everybody's freaked out about COVID.

There's like, there's just fewer emotional relationships I thought that I formed with enough shows.

But when I was going through the process, turns out, no, this year has caused me to be very emotional.

And therefore, I had a lot of shows that I really loved.

And it was really hard to build a top 10 list.

...