Absolutely riveting. Ben did a fantastic job interviewing Peter. And the clips from interviews Peter did with Hitchcock, Howard Hawks, Fonda, Wayne and Stewart were so interesting. And Peter’s knowledge of Hollywood is amazing.

The latest season of John Ford has been great! I hope another season is in the works. Wish you continued success!

…for more seasons. High quality production, top host, and interesting stories! Please keep it up.

Ben Mankiewicz is a fantastic podcast host, both for this and for Talking Pictures. The research for this show is fantastic, and the framework of investigation also engaging. Just finished the latest series on John Ford and loved it. Looking forward to what the next season will be!

If you care about filmmaking and it’s history this is absolutely the best show. Thanks Ben and TCM. All 5 seasons have been an absolute joy!

This pod cast does a great job and is wonderfully entertaining. What it needs is visuals. Because it’s … about a visual medium. I’d love to see a documentary done like this.

My new favorite podcast!!!!

I have listened to every season of The Plot Thickens and this season was the absolute best. The stories and biography of the greatest director in film history were fantastic, interesting and entertaining. Thanks and keep up the great work.

Thank you so much! I re-listened to every episode at least three times. Only because I want to hear it again! I love the detail, the interviews, the audio, snippets, and clips. Simply amazing!

So many unknowns about John Ford told in this podcast. I grew up watching his westerns & loved them. Thank you for presenting this Ben.

I have listened to “The Plot Thickens” since season one, and every season has been informative and a delight for lovers of cinema history. I think the latest installment has been the best yet. I will listen to it again and eagerly await what comes next.

I have been listening to this series since it premiered. Loved them all. But the John Ford series was just exceptional. The interviews from people who knew and worked with him, the personal information , the background of both the man and the movies. From his childhood, through his introduction to movies to military experience to his classic movies and the details of their productions and to his end. Sad but expected. I knew most of this history and still loved getting new details. Would have loved to heard new details about him standing up to Cecil B. Demille. (Look up that story) But there is only so much time. This podcast is great and looking forward to season 6.

And that says a lot. A great portrait of the greatest American director and a very complicated man. Great work by the TCM team to assemble this amazing audio collage.

I’m not a film buff, but have so enjoyed all seasons of this podcast. Keep up the great work!

Decoding John Ford was the most moving series I’ve heard. It may as well be titled ‘Decoding Humanity’

To previous reviewer I am unsure of your context but although Red River is John Wayne’s best performance it is a Howard Hawks film, not Ford.

Love the podcast, but it’s a bit mystifying that Red River is never mentioned when discussing John Wayne’s performance in The Searchers.

It’s 4:00 am in SC and I’m in tears listening to this episode on D day.

There is simply no other podcast that compares to The Plot Thickens. The content, writing and production are next level superb and Ben Mankiewicz has no equal as host/narrator. As cinematic as any motion picture, TPT is surely Oscar worthy.

TCM is my favorite channel; I adore movies from the 40’s and 50’s. Even though this podcast is not about a director from that era Ben Mankiewicz presents a compelling narrative of Bogdanovich’s life and, BONUS! he is still with us to be interviewed, as is Cybill Shepard. I should have waited for them all to drop because now I have to wait for another week to hear the next episode. Ben, keep up the great work. I love this. I can’t wait to see who you choose for your next podcast series.

Yet another wonderful installment in this ongoing series, but I have to object to the script in episode one when referring to Ford’s actions kidnapping a crew member’s baby and risking that child’s life as “reckless and irresponsible,” a description that could equally apply to a teenager speeding. Ford’s actions were morally reprehensible folks, regardless of his legendary status. Let’s not whitewash the man’s risking an innocent child’s life just to get a cool movie shot.

But please pronounce the dad’s county of origin as GALL-way….We’re Irish….We often don’t make sense!

Earlier this year I saw that Ben was doing another foray into talking about films, though I don’t recall where. Due to some of the obstacles TCM has had to navigate the last few years I worried The Plot Thickens was no more. Between Lucille Ball, Peter Bogdanovich, Pam Grier, and the story behind Bonfire of the Vanities, the quality, depth and wonderfully produced podcasts have illuminated and inspired me. I am so thrilled to see it and tackling another director: John Ford - one if the all time greats. With lots of appearances by John Wayne (love him or hate him he was bigger than life and interesting), Katherine Hepburn, James Stewart, Henry Fonda and I am sure more. Simply Thank You for this!

Excellent job.

Thoroughly enjoying the podcast. Listening to the interviews from the original recording. Superb.

Well-researched, produced, and edited. I’m hoping for another season. The material is exceptional, and Ben Mankeniewicz is the most professional host.

Love the podcast but when does the 5th season debut?

But I’m not getting any younger. Please bring new seasons out quicker.

The Plot Thickens is my favorite podcast. I’m having withdrawals. The way you lay out each person and the pacing makes for a fascinating storytelling journey. I hope season 5 will come out soon!

Thank you for giving this amazing actor and inspiring woman this season!! Loved Pam forever but hearing her insights is a true gift. I hope her days are lovely—-she put a lot of beauty and brilliance in the world.

great pod, love film and these interviews but the pacing is awfully slow. too many breaks and they are not for ads but to remind us to goto the website for this podcast?!? it would be like a telephone operator interrupting the call to point you to a yellow-pages phone book. maybe tcm isn't aware but in this digital medium you can place a show url link in the podcast and it gets published in the creative with audio. too slow, stick to the interesting interviews.

I have listened to all the seasons and loved them all. I have had different levels of knowledge regarding the subjects of the four different seasons. I have learned something from each season.

This podcast was informative and entertaining. I enjoyed it so much that I bought Julie Salamon’s book The Devil’s Candy. Julie did a great job hosting the podcast. Well done!

On my other regular podcasts when a new episode is loaded the new entry is clearly marked “Today”. When the Plot Thickens drops into my library with a new episode and I click on it I can never tell where the new entry is. Can this be fixed? Thx

Pam Grier did it all back in the late 60’s and early 70’s. A terrific actress - reference “Jackie Brown”, among others. But man those Coffi and Foxy Brown are incredibly dated and basically pretty much terrible films. Sorry Ben, but what were thinking..

I never really dug Lucille Ball (I’m aware of the amazingthings she has done) but these podcasts really made me appreciate her much more. Really interesting.

I have listened to all of the seasons since the beginning and I thoroughly enjoyed all of them. The Pam Grier season has been my favorite so far. I love the interviews and the background information given in all of the seasons. Keep up the good work and I am looking forward to the next season.

What’s next?

While I’ve listened to all seasons of The Plot Thickens, I didn’t have as much initial interest in the Pam Grier story. So it took me a few months to get to this one. My apologies. Not only is this the best of The Plot Thickens but it’s by far my favorite podcast of all time. 1. Her journey is incredible. She’s the real life Zelig or Forest Gump in the way that she was part of and present at seminal times in popular culture. Fellini, John Lennon, Freddie Prinze, Gloria Steinem, Richard Pryor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,Jimi Hendrix, and Sly Stallone to name but a few. 2. The story is told beautifully. Ben Mankiewicz who has the DNA to understand all things Movies, has been a great host from the start but he’s grown into a pro at the top of his games. His gentle yet probing questions and his ability to put different eras into their proper context is extraordinary. 3. The production team has outdone themselves and are now the benchmark by which I will measure all others. The sounds, the placement of the interview inserts and the pacing are unparalleled. 4. The discussion of blaxploitation movies and it’s resonance in the black and white communities is thoughtful, honest and as complicated as indeed it is. The bonus episode with Jacqueline Stewart is absolutely as good as taking film classes at UCLA which I actually did. 5. Quentin Tarantino’s interview is the frosting on an already delicious cake. His joyful fanboy admiration of Pam is balanced by his nuanced evaluation of her as an actor and a figure of popular imagination. 6. But in the end it’s Pam herself who is the biggest revelation. After 7+ hours , I just wanted more. So I watched Jackie Brown last night and will watch Coffey before the week is out. Kudos to all! Bravo!! Encore!!! Thank you Victor L

Thank you for airing this icon, Pam Greer. I always wanted to know what happened to her. Interesting life.

I’ve always liked Pam Grier…..now I love Pam Grier! I pray my 2 teenage daughters end up as courageous and genuine as Pam. Well done Ben…

Heard about the podcast on TikTok like some of the other comments I’ve read, and boy was it worth the listen!! You guys gained a new listener with this one. Just finished this season and think I’ll head on over to the previous ones. Keep up the good work!!

Heard about this podcast on tik tok -and the young lady said -you guys have to listen to Pam Grier -season 4….she was not wrong -was a great listen.

Fabulous interview with a fabulous actress. What an interesting life & career. More people need to know Pam Grier and her work. Hopefully this podcast does just that!

Her strength shines through in every episode , that narrates an interesting life and interactions with celebrities , who at the time were just hanging around. Love her humility and steadfastness in narrating often painful memories .

Love these shows! Top notch!

This show is a podcasting gold standard on every level: fascinating subject, prestige media-level production, digestibly-sized episodes, a host who understands the job, and shockingly few/brief advertisements. Pam Grier‘s has lived an extraordinary life and has extraordinary stories to share across her career and her general perspective on the human experience. Thank you to all involved in this program.

This is the best podcast about movies (and TV in the case of Lucy). Main reason is that there are many episodes on the same topic, which results in fewer podcasts overall, but increases the quality tremendously.

This is an amazing, surprising wonder of storytelling about an inspiring, talented woman.

I love the movies, and am old enough to be in TCM’s wheelhouse. I wish I didn’t like this so much, but they have done a great job with Lucy, and particularly with the under-appreciated Pam Grier. Can’t wait for the next one.