Audiences were charmed by “Free Willy,” the 1993 movie about a captive orca returning to the wild. But when the world learned the real whale was wasting away in a Mexican amusement park, scientists and activists united in a project to re-introduce Keiko to the open ocean, just like his on-screen counterpart.

NOTE: We are reviewing the entirety of The Good Whale, although some of it is still behind a payway via The New York Times. (It is being released weekly on public platforms)

But learning the skills to fend for himself in the sea proved difficult for an orca who grew up in an aquarium, not in a killer whale pod. Meanwhile, as the public waited for a cinematic conclusion, disagreement grew about how best to help Keiko and whether his lifelong reliance on humans made it impossible for him to return to the ocean.

From Serial Productions and The New York Times comes “The Good Whale.” Host Daniel Alarcón recounts the ambitious, multinational experiment to rewild the famous orca, as well as the scientific and ethical struggles around the effort. The series also includes a controversial creative choice: presenting Keiko’s unseen journey through the ocean in the form of a musical number.

OUR SPOILER FREE REVIEWS OF "THE GOOD WHALE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 10 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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The Garvey sisters gather to celebrate Grace’s wedding to Ian, a man far more loving than her dead first husband, John Paul. But Roger is struggling with his guilt of helping Grace get rid of The Prick and making it look like an accident. After an unexpected turn, Eva and her sisters struggle with a pushy neighbor, an unexplained absence, and a possible blackmail scheme. As the Garveys dig themselves deeper into a hole, the Garda re-examine John Paul’s untimely death and the sisters’ connection to it.

The second season of the Emmy-nominated “Bad Sisters” from Apple TV+ finds Eva, Bibi, Becka, and Ursula trying to cover up more crimes and confront their own family turmoil. The dark comedy explores how far people will go to protect the ones they love.

OUR SPOILER FREE REVIEWS OF "BAD SISTERS" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: Can do it with my eyes closed.

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Jared Akron seemed to be living the perfect life: a newlywed with a new house and twins on the way. But as the due date approached, that life started to unravel. Their home was destroyed in a fire. Then, kept from the delivery room by COVID protocols, his wife Kristy texted that the babies were gravely ill. As he tried to put their lives back together, Jared realized he overlooked some red flags about the pregnancy and his social media-obsessed wife. Were the calamities  around them caused by bad luck - or by someone close to him?

From iHeartMedia, Audio Up, and Just Sweep Press Productions comes the podcast “The Unborn.” Host Trisha LaFache talks with Jared and his loved ones about his tale of illusion, deception, and psychosis.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE UNBORN" BEGIN IN THE FINAL 11 MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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After she quits Scotland Yard, detective Millie Black takes a post in her native Jamaica to confront her troubled past. She tries to reconnect with Hibiscus, the sibling who for years she thought was dead, but is now living on the margins as a trans sex worker. Millie works the case of a missing child who may be connected to a powerful family. The investigation takes a turn when a British detective turns up in Kingston with an interest in a lead suspect.

Tamara Lawrence and Joe Dempsie star in the HBO Original “Get Millie Black.” The crime thriller follows the detective haunted by unsolved cases and unresolved trauma as she navigates the gritty parts of Jamaica tourists don’t see.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "GET MILLIE BLACK" BEGIN IN THE FINAL TEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: ding dong dog.

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There was something for everyone on the TV in 2024. We saw documentaries that revealed intimate aspects of the justice system. And there were some that challenged viewers to decide what is fact and what is fiction. But there were also shows that made us laugh…and more than one that made us cry. But which TV shows and documentaries truly stood out? Here are the crime writers; top ten lists for the best TV of 2024.

Lara Bricker:

1. JUSTICE, USA
2. The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping
3. Bad Monkey
4. True Detective: Night County
5. Daughters
6. Say Nothing
7. The Diplomat season 2
8. Only Murders in the Building season 4
9. Ren Faire
10. They Called Him Mostly Harmless

Toby Ball:

1. The Program: Cons, Cults and Kidnapping
2. Say Nothing
3. Ripley
4. Woman of the Hour
5. The Diplomat season 2
6. Baby Reindeer
7. Fight Night: The Million Dollar Heist
8. Only Murders in the Building season 4
9. The Stanford Prison Experiment
10. Tell Them You Love Me

Kevin Flynn:

1. Daughters
2. Baby Reindeer
3. Ripley
4. Say Nothing
5. The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping
6. JUSTICE, USA
7. Ren Faire
8. Woman of the Hour
9. The Truth vs. Alex Jones
10. American Nightmare

Rebecca Lavoie:

1. The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping
2. The Jinx: Part Two
3. The Diplomat season 2
4. Say Nothing
5. Baby Reindeer
6. The Perfect Couple
7. Ripley
8. Daughters
9. Only Murders in the Building season 4
10. Woman of the Hour

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2024 was an exceptionally strong year for podcasts. There were multiple investigative series, fascinating retrospectives of the history you thought you knew, and even some light-hearted fare that was quirky and entertaining. But which titles truly stood out?  Here are our top ten selections for 2024.

Lara Bricker:

1. In the Dark season 3
2. Stolen: Trouble in Sweetwater
3. Beyond All Repair
4. Hysterical
5. Hush
6. The Runaway Princesses
7. On Our Watch: New Folsom
8. Cover Up: The Anthrax Threat
9. Murder on Music Row
10. Varnamtown

Toby Ball:

1. In the Dark season 3
2. Murder on Music Row
3. On Our Watch: New Folsom
4. Stolen: Trouble in Sweetwater
5. Fallen Angels
6. Slow Burn: Gays against Briggs
7. Radical
8. Hysterical
9. The Vanishing Point
10. The Man Who Calculated Death

Kevin Flynn:

1. Beyond All Repair
2. Hysterical
3. Murder in Boston 
4. In the Dark season 3
5. Murder on Music Row
6. Hush
7. Varnamtown
8. Backfired: The Vaping Wars
9. Fallen Angels
10. Broomgate: A Curling Scandal

Rebecca Lavoie:

1. Beyond All Repair  
2. In the Dark season 3  
3. Hysterical  
4. Murder in Boston
5. Stolen: Trouble in Sweetwater  
6. On Our Watch: New Folsom  
7. Hush  
8. Broomgate: A Curling Scandal  
9. The Man Who Calculated Death  
10. Backfired: The Vaping Wars 

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Sap farmer Ruth Landry is deeply in debt and faces losing her property to the Quebec Maple Association. Her friend Mike hatches a million dollar scheme with a security guard to rip off the association. They plan on stealing barrels of syrup from the warehouse and selling it themselves. Plans for the heist become more ambitious, but a murder connected to the conspirators threatens to complicate the operation. And if Mike’s mob bosses find out what he’s up to, the trio will have more to worry about than the police. 

Margo Martindale stars in “The Sticky” from Prime. Inspired by the Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist, the comedy-thriller mixes “Ocean's Eleven” with “Fargo.” Can this unlikely trio syphon millions of dollars in syrup and land a sweet deal?

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE STICKY" BEGIN IN THE FINAL TEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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By day, Kevin Curtis was a janitor at a Mississippi hospital. By night, he was an Elvis impersonator, performing with his brother - who was also an Elvis impersonator. But after seeing something disturbing in the morgue, Kevin became consumed with conspiracies about illegal organ harvesting rings. Fueled by his paranoia, Kevin damaged personal relationships and crossed swords with powerful people in Tupelo. Then in 2013, when ricin-laced letters were sent to Kevin’s enemies - as well as the President - authorities homed in on him. Was the scheme the Elvis impersonator’s attempt to foil the body parts cabal once and for all…or was it a conspiracy to get rid of him?

From the directors of “Wild Wild Country” comes Netflix’s “The Kings of Tupelo.” Filled with its twists and turns, and extensive access to the story’s colorful cast of characters, the series explores how one man’s obsession could leave a whole town - and the White House - all shook up.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE KINGS OF TUPELO" BEGIN IN THE FINAL TEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE

In Crime of the Week: Old love, new love.

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In 1974, Karen Silkwood wanted to blow the whistle on the nuclear fuel plant she worked at. Armed with documentation about insufficient safety measures, radiation leaks, and unaccounted plutonium, Silkwood drove to meet an investigative reporter. But on her way, she was killed when her car went off the road - an accident some believed was caused by the powerful company hoping to silence her.

Though police said they believed Silkwood fell asleep at the wheel, the mysterious nature of her crash continues to fascinate the public and haunt her family. But now, two reporters who’ve spent decades covering the story believe they’ve discovered newly-revealed evidence that could shed light on what happened on State Highway 47.

In “Radioactive: The Karen Silkwood Mystery” from ABC Audio and Standing Bear Entertainment, hosts Bob Sands and Mike Boettcher break down the story and use modern techniques to analyze the wreck for evidence her car was run off the road. They also reveal long-hidden audiotapes about those who may be responsible for the death of nuclear power’s most famous whistleblower. 

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "RADIOACTIVE" BEGIN IN THE FINAL TEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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Thirty years after his involvement in the shooting of a cop, Todd Scott prepares for his sixth parole hearing and a chance to demonstrate his rehabilitation. Convicted at age 14 for killing another teen and a baby, Chad Campbell faces the parole board for the ninth time to argue for his release. But their lawyers fear the board will only ever consider one factor: the heinous nature of their original offenses. Because they can never go back and change the crime, they believe the inmates have no hope of ever receiving parole, despite their exemplary prison records and expressions of remorse.

The HBO Original documentary “Nature of the Crime” takes us into the closed-door interviews with those seeking parole in New York. It explores how, for certain inmates convicted of high profile crimes, the hearings are foregone conclusions because of public pressure and the desires of politically-appointed board members to appear tough on crime. It also highlights a Connecticut program that focuses on the emotional growth of offenders who were juveniles when they committed their crimes.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "NATURE OF THE CRIME" BEGIN IN THE FINAL ELEVEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

In Crime of the Week: Santa's little Elphabas.

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Her mother’s dying wish was that her daughter complete her memoir about her childhood in Nazi Germany. That’s how reporter Suzanne Rico learned a secret about her grandfather. Years before Robert Lusser was an American rocket designer, he was the German engineer who invented the V-1 flying bombs that rained down on London. 

Suzanne’s grandmother was killed when Allied planes dropped bombs on their secluded farmhouse, a revenge attack her elderly aunts believe was targeting Lusser. Suzanne and her sister headed to Germany to make sense of their family history, investigate the 1945 bombing, and confront the legacy of a grandfather who played such a deadly role in the Third Reich.

“The Man Who Calculated Death” from Discount Sushi and Novel is part family memoir, part historical puzzle. We follow Suzanne’s journey to uncover the mystery of her grandmother’s death. And as she unearths more of her grandfather’s story, she ponders what responsibly her family bears today for the horror of Lusser’s flying bomb.

OUR SPOILER-FREE REVIEWS OF "THE MAN WHO CALCULATED DEATH" BEGIN IN THE FINAL TEN MINUTES OF THE EPISODE.

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