I subscribed to the original podcast format. This is a completely new podcast and completely disappointing. It’s uninteresting and lacks the depth and creativity it once had. If you want to make a new podcast, make a new podcast - using the same name and rebranding doesn't keep listeners.

Miss the old format and essays. There’s enough content out there already centered around celebrity interviews.

What a disappointment. Anna destroyed a once really poignant podcast. I really could care less about her life and her annoying interviews. The initial format of the show was perfect. The constant rebranding as time went on made the show not better but worse. I realized once I became more fixated on Anna’s constant “Mmhhmmm”’s during interviews than the actual story itself…it was time to unfollow.

More essays. Less celebrities, please. It was wonderful before the change. I’m not here to listen to celebrity promotion.

What happened to the focus on the stories? I don't want to hear celebviews. Please go back to old format.

What happened to the Modern Love essays? Are we just doing celebrity interviews now? Very disappointing!

I decided to give Modern Love a listen after mostly listening to The Daily and the other NYT political shows. I’m a sucker for the subject and feeling of love. And just had to give it a listen, the poems read by the guests are so heartwarming and heartbreaking but they center around love and how it comes in many forms. Definitely recommend it for all who have given love and lost love.

Why are the essays not the main focus? They should he an afterthought of the episode.

change can be good, but this is no longer Modern Love. it’s not even close. you’ve let Anna turn this into a podcast about her. nearly every episode now begins with a story or experience about Anna. even her questions come across as self indulgent. here’s a person who truly loves hearing herself talk and interject her own life into everything. Anna manages to Zelig herself into nearly every essay. The essays should live on their own. Please, please leave your life and ego out of other peoples experiences and their essays. i just can’t listen anymore.

Boycott all NYT products due to Genocidal Lies

This is the best show ever!

This podcast used to be one of my favorites but they keep changing the format and it’s not getting better. I like that they have brought back full essays, but it makes no sense that the essay comes after the author interview. Edit: Please stop saying “mmmmm” in response to everything.

I used to love this podcast and look forward to new episodes, but have been disappointed by the newer format and the pieces chosen. It is now like week-old leftovers-fine, but definitely not as good. Why is the interview always dropped before the actual article reading? Did we run out of actors who like this podcast for performative readings? Too much unnecessary narrative by new host, and just overall saddened by the turn of format

This episode neglected to mention the elephant in the room. Dave is autistic and is no more of a issue in the marriage to be solved, than Kristen. Yes, Dave branched out and found his own set of interests. So? Still, they are two married people, one autistic and one allistic . The autism is the story, not the numerous years of speaking engagements and a book that was written. The fact that the autism was glossed over missed the entire point.

I absolutely love this podcast. Such a refreshing relief from true crime and politics. Thanks Anna!

I used to love this podcast and still enjoy pieces of it… but the new format does not work for me. I don’t think the interviews are very good and hate having the story and conversation in different episodes.

I just listened to the first episode of the new season and kept waiting for at least a little snippet of the author’s essay to be shared, but it never happened. This has become a boring podcast interviewing life stories. Why the format change when the original essay would describe the stories so beautifully? I barely listened last season and will most likely unsubscribe this season. Please listen to your audience requests.

Why did they ruin it with this new weird format??

This used to be such a wonderful podcast. I miss the old format and host.

This new format isn’t working. I tried on numerous occasions to give it a chance. I miss Meghna, the soothing piano intro and the engaging format of the old podcast. This new interpretation feels self-indulgent and, with all due respect, quite boring. The original Modern Love was absolutely perfect. Such a shame.

Please stop the madness. We just want to hear the essay first and then the discussion with the author. We don’t need to know Anna’s life story. The focus should be back on the author or what is the point?

I have listened to Modern since its inception. I have always enjoyed the essays but I always loved hearing the author’s discuss their stories too. I am enjoying the new format. Please continue to bring these wonderful stories to life.

Cannot get enough of this podcast. Well done! The most recent “I married my subway crush” needs to be done for the streaming version. On HBO. What a beautiful story. It reminded me of “on serpentine road with the top down” starring Minnie Driver - maybe she could play Zoe Fishman……

I love this show. I agree with another reviewer that it is better to have the essay read first and then the author commentary. Even though I still love this podcast, I do not know what the prior format was changed…at all. I love the stories being read by a voice actor and then having in the SAME episode the author and sometimes the subject talking to the host.

Not a fan of this new form of conversational podcast, bring back the old style of high quality & pre-recorded audio so we can enjoy the story better!

I love modern love, both the podcast and the written stories. I have been a fan for many years and the stories always made me cry and choke up. They were both beautiful and emotional. In the last year things have shifted, the narratives have become less interesting and sometime a bit boring. Hope you get your voice back.

Anna Jones has officially won me over! She’s a brilliant interviewer and finds ways to connect with and relate to her guests. Not keen on the new meta ads though…it really disrupts the tone and flow of the episodes which I always felt was so skillfully managed. If you must have ads, can you offer an ad-free version of this podcast to Times subscribers?

I do not enjoy the current format of this show. The only workaround I’ve figured out is to wait until both of a story’s episodes are released, and listen to them “backwards” so I get the essay first, and the discussion second. It’s still not great, because the discussions are recorded with the awareness that the listener has not heard the essay yet. We’ll see how long it takes before I tire of this and unsubscribe.

Anna’s presentation style these past two years have seemed to miss the whole point of the stories. Myself and mother listened to them religiously for love. Additionally, the host’s new hyper-fixation on a long winded discussion and leading questions distracts and takes away from the whole point. Please bring back voice actors also for the reading of the stories.

Hi there everyone. I know a lot of you are bombed out about the shows format changing. There is a solution it’s best to wait for the “Authors Read” of the essay . Then listen to the authors interview which comes before the authors read of said essay. I hope this helps I know we all love the old way however I will say the passion behind the essays has not changed.

Please release the essays first. It’s so much harder to connect to the interview portion episode (which is great), but it would be so much more meaningful if it was done AFTER the essay.

What made modern love so special and different was the stories that were told through the essays that were read. I always appreciated the interviews at the end, but the new format, which is just a discussion of people’s issues, is not nearly as enjoyable to listen to. Please reconsider the new format- as I, and I presume others, will be looking for other podcasts that tell the beautiful stories that I modern love are used to share in such a compelling and relatable way.

I love the Modern Love column and the podcast and have been a listener for years. I like the new format (though I miss Daniel Jones) but would rather hear the essay read first, and then have the conversation with the writer. I just think that makes more sense. Even if you want to continue to do two episodes, great. But post the essay first and then the interview.

I love the interview with the authors but I wish we had a full essay read and after that an episode interviewing the author. We don’t really know what’s going on if we haven’t read the full essay.

I love that y’all added back the reading of the full-length original stories to each episode. I REALLY missed them. I didn’t care for the two-episode version with the interview and reading separate. Keep everything together!

I miss the full story reads. I don’t mind the interviews, but maybe release them the next day instead.

At least the show is making its way back to the old format. But having the authors read the essays is not always the best. There’s a reason there are professional voice actors. Also in this last episode Anna Martin came off as so holier than thou about the wilderness camp. It was so hard to listen to this poor father who gave his life and savings and even his son was understanding yet he was being pressed by this privileged woman who doesn’t have children try to use him for her moral posturing. Yikes.

I have listened to several episodes and like them. However , I stopped the “kept woman” about half way through. The story felt like a cut and paste from some fairy tale. The subject was not believable and the host did little to challenge. I am curious if this was her first interracial relationship. I doubt it and I and guessing she dates non Asians more than Asians and while on its own it is not an issue at all but to stress this loss of culture and connection seems like she wants to have it both ways and the host was all too willing to assist. I like the other episodes and maybe this one was a bit too close to home for all.

This podcast used to be about the beautiful essays and now it’s a therapy session between the author and Anna who consistently interrupts with “mmm.” If you’re going to do an interview—stop interrupting! I like that they’ve started doing the essay read, but they’re very inconsistent and either don’t post it, or wait until Friday. Really disappointed with the NYT especially since they request our feedback every episode, yet do nothing.

Really miss the old format.

This is my favorite podcast, because it shares so many stories from different people and perspectives. I love the new format where we get to hear Ana talk with the essay author, and she asks more questions and dives deeper with them. Ana has a way of connecting and understanding her guests in such a meaningful way. Then, I really enjoy hearing the full essay read from the author. I wish I had time to read every article, but listening to it while I’m working is the perfect fit for me. Xo!

Anna is a great interviewer. But the point of the modern love stories are the stories themselves. I miss when they were read aloud, and perhaps there was a short interview afterwards. These little snippets of stories followed by chatting are just not enough.

I was always excited on Wednesdays because I was going to listen to one of my favorite podcasts. I loved listening to the essay and then listen to the discussion with the writer. But now I need to wait til Friday to listen to the essay. Please go back to the original podcast order. I am sure I ‘m not the only person that is asking for it. I prefer this order: essay and then discussion. Thank you.

I used to love this podcast because I enjoyed hearing the essays read out loud. I wish they would return to that format, and then I will once again listen to every episode!

These stories used to be refreshing and often surprising perspectives on love but now I usually skip this podcast when it shows up in my feed. The stories have now become too boring and seem to fit a more narrow and conventional view of romantic love. And the interviews with the authors and analysis of the stories which comprise half the podcast make whole thing overdone. Sorry to see yet another jewel of a podcast grow stale.

I am regularly left speechless, in tears, silently exploring deep emotions. Thank you for this podcast. It reminds me of what really matters.

SO glad they brought back reading the stories!! While I enjoy the discussions with the authors, I got into this podcast because I enjoyed hearing the original essays so much! And Anna Martin is the perfect host for the show, unlike the previous host, it seems like Anna really enjoys every convo she has with the authors. Anna really brought some heart back to the Modern Love podcast!

Normally I would give a 5-star review and hope to again. Agree with previous review from “Far Away Fan.” Please ditch the interview-only episodes and go back to previous show format. These are long and repetitive! Takes away from actual enjoyment of listening the story as it’s written. T. Please go back to old format! Thank you!

Why they changed my very favorite podcast I do not know, but at last I heard an author read her story about being a single lawyer and then falling in love. The next podcast was an interview with the author and it was better. Why they just won’t go back to the way it used to be, I cannot fathom.

Modern Love was at the top of my podcasts for a very, very long time, but I’m very sad that the format of the episodes has changed. Now, it feels closer to what most other episodes are-a conversation between people-versus being able to get lost in the story as someone read the essay. Just haven’t been able to get into the episodes like I used to. Oct. 15 UPDATE: I still miss the old format. I appreciate that they’re now at least having the author read the essay; however, it doesn’t make sense to me that they do the interview FIRST, and then the “author read” episode. Having the interview first kind of spoils the essay. Yes, I could just play the episodes in the order I want, but sometimes I’m driving and would be nice if they just played in that order themselves.