The ‘Pluribus’ Trailer

Dive Deeper

Further Listening: Pluribus: Vince Gilligan and Rhea Seehorn on Individuality, Happiness, and Letting the Audience Decide

“In hindsight, I probably thought to myself, ‘If everyone on Earth is happy, then our main character probably should not be,'” Gilligan says of creating Carol. “I mean, that’s just Drama 101.”

Where to Listen to We Disrupt This Broadcast: PeabodyAwards.com

Rhea Seehorn’s Peabody Conversation about ‘Pluribus’

“Whatever your interpretation is, the show really assumes the intelligence of the audience in a way that what you’re bringing to it is part of the story,” Seehorn says. “I didn’t think it was just happenstance that many journalists that I spoke to said, ‘It has to be about AI,’ and I said, ‘Because that is a threat to you right now.'”

Where to Watch: PeabodyAwards.com

Starred Review: In ‘Pluribus,’ isolation is the price of a frictionless life

Like Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, which blend darkness with humor, “Pluribus, too, is a brutal watch as Carol finds herself deep in grief, walking through empty buildings, driving deserted neighborhoods, experiencing the arid desolation of a frictionless life,” Linda Holmes writes for NPR. “But the collaboration between Gilligan and Seehorn also is built on how funny she is, how perfectly suited to both his willingness to plumb deep wells of sadness and the playfulness that made him an ideal collaborator with Bob Odenkirk.”

Where to Read: NPR

How It Happened: ‘Pluribus’ Is a Singular Vision of a Tedious Utopia

“I think about ‘Brave New World,’” Seehorn tells The New York Times in this behind-the-scenes set visit. “I think about even ‘Fahrenheit 451’ and Neil Postman’s essays in his book ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death,’ when he talks about the real threat is that we would come to love our oppressors instead of revolting—that everybody was just happy.”

Where to Read: The New York Times

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‘ICE Sweeps Georgia’

This social video series by the Atlanta Journal Constitution documents the effects of an immigration-enforcement sweep on communities and individuals in Georgia, garnering 2.8 million views online. Through intimate vertical video, body camera footage, and firsthand accounts, it shows the human-level impact of the actions on the families of the detained and documents wrongful arrests of U.S. citizens. What began with stories of a Trump-voting family whose son was detained and a Georgia-born man wrongfully arrested as an “unauthorized alien” evolved into a portrait of federal power colliding with local lives, published in the same year the newsroom ended its 157-year print run.

Where to Watch: TikTok

‘Cleared by Fire’

In 2005, a squad of U.S. Marines in Iraq encountered an I.E.D. that killed one soldier and injured two others. For the next few hours, Marines killed 24 Iraqis in the surrounding area, all of them civilians—men, women, and children. This New Yorker interactive investigation, along with the publication’s podcast In the Dark, reveals how U.S. government inquiries into the incident failed and probes what really happened that day in Haditha despite many contradictory accounts. Drawing on hundreds of sources, the documentary uses meticulous reporting and 3D reconstruction to examine the killings in cinematic detail, unravel contradictions, and pursue the truth.

Where to Watch: NewYorker.com

‘South of Midnight’

The game South of Midnight follows Hazel, a young woman searching for her missing mother after a hurricane hits their town of Prospero, Louisiana. On her journey, she encounters mythical creatures and folklore from Southern culture while she faces generational trauma and grief in the wake of the disaster. The 12-hour action-adventure game itself features combat sequences and puzzle-solving as Hazel uses her magical weaving abilities to stop evil spirits, and an authentic blues, bluegrass, and gospel soundtrack.

Where to Play: Compulsion Games

‘Investigating War Crimes in Gaza’

In this feature-length investigation, Al Jazeera composes a clear and damning record of Israeli war crimes—by simply editing together photos and videos posted online by Israeli soldiers themselves. In its database of thousands of videos, photos, and social media posts, the news organization has, when possible, identified the posters and those who appear as they destroy entire neighborhoods, loot, and kill. This material is supplemented by the stories of Palestinian journalists, human rights workers, and residents in Gaza, as well as evidence of Western governments’ complicity in the conflict.

Where to Watch: YouTube

‘Carbon Cowboys: Stories of Soil Health and Farmer Wealth’

This 11-part online documentary video series shows how farmers are grazing cattle in ways similar to how bison herds once grazed the Great Plains of North America, a technique that results in some of the world’s richest soils. The accompanying website organizes the videos by state on an interactive map and explains in simple, accessible terms how the process works and why it’s effective. As a whole, the work offers explanations and solutions to promote the environmentally friendly practice from a group that says “it doesn’t even care if you believe in climate change,” making it a model for practical, nonpartisan action.    

Where to Watch: CarbonCowboys.org

‘Education in Ruins: Gaza’s Children on Losing their Right to Learn’

This CNN multimedia piece features children in Gaza reflecting on the loss of their prime education years to war as their schools are bombed and their educational system decimated by the widespread local destruction. Videos, maps, and photos show the children who are trying to learn despite the carnage, without internet or even electricity. “UNICEF estimated that 13% of teachers in Gaza had been killed or injured as of August 2024,” the report says. “Education, although vital, is inevitably further down the list of priorities for Gazans than ensuring their health, sustenance and shelter.”

Where to Read: CNN.com

‘Consume Me’

Consume Me takes players inside the life of a teenage girl as she struggles with body image and diet culture. It follows Jenny into her senior year of high school as she navigates homework, chores, a boyfriend, college applications, and an obsession with her appearance and weight. Developed by an indie team led by Jenny Jiao Hsia, the game simulates routine tasks like exercising, applying makeup, and walking the dog, presenting meals as Tetris-like challenges that weigh calorie counts and rules against internal and external pressures.  

Where to Play: Apple App Store

One family. One attack. 132 names. A Gaza investigation.

The last three years of Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza have brought a steady stream of reports of carnage, making it hard to pay attention to its devastating effects on a human level. This multimedia NPR investigation concentrates on one incident: an Israeli airstrike in northern Gaza that killed 132 people from one extended family. Through videos, photos, interviews, and interactive family trees, NPR demonstrates the profound loss suffered by the Abu Naser family, which owned and lived in an apartment building in the targeted area.

Where to Read: NPR.org

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‘Vietnam: The War That Changed America’

Five decades after the fall of Saigon marked the end of the Vietnam War, this six-episode documentary series offers an unflinching look at the conflict’s emotional, psychological, social, and political ramifications on America. Through emotional reunions and rarely seen footage, personal war stories with echoing ramifications, accounts of social unrest back home, and remembrances of medical personnel and soldiers’ spouses, it paints a thorough portrait of the lifelong effects of any war, especially one this fraught.

Where to Watch: Apple TV

The Trailer for ‘Vietnam: The War That Changed America’

Revisiting the Vietnam War 50 years later with those who lived it.

‘Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer’

In this eight-part investigative podcast, declassified materials and firsthand accounts illuminate the anthrax attacks that gripped the United States with terror in the weeks after 9/11. Taking a true-crime approach, the series reminds us of a huge news story that has been reduced to a footnote, examining the eight-year botched FBI investigation and answering the question: Who was actually responsible? (Yes, there is an answer, and a reason many of us didn’t pay attention to at the time.)

Where to Listen: CBC

‘Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time’

Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time tells the stories of disaster, evacuation, tragedy, violence, resilience, and rebuilding in New Orleans with the hindsight of 20 years after the devastating storm. It begins by going back to just before the storm struck, then walks through the chaos, destruction, and aftermath. Directed by Tracy A. Curry, it does not shy away from pointing out all that went wrong, and the important lessons that have remained largely ignored. As critic Robert Lloyd wrote in the Los Angeles Times, “Curry finds her own way through mountains of material in the series that is at once highly compelling and difficult to watch, though I suggest you do.”

Where to Watch: National Geographic

‘The White House Effect’

This documentary film reveals that 30 years ago, there was a chance to stop global warming. It goes back to a time before climate change was a partisan issue, reminding us that such a thing was even possible. Entirely through archival footage, it shows how the climate crisis began with a political battle within the George H.W. Bush administration and changed the fate of the world. An infuriating retelling of history with implications stretching to today and into the future.

Where to Watch: Netflix

Further Watching: Forbes Interview with ‘The White House Effect’ Filmmakers

The filmmakers share how they sifted through thousands of archival pieces and newly uncovered White House documents to bring this telling of a pivotal historical moment to life.

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