A Very Fatal Murder
A Very Fatal Murder is a podcast produced by the satirical publication The Onion.[1] A parody of true crime podcasts, A Very Fatal Murder is hosted by fictional New York City reporter David Pascall, who travels to the small town Bluff Springs, Nebraska to investigate the murder of prom queen Hayley Price.[2] Pascall is voiced by David Sidorov, who also wrote for the podcast. The podcast premiered on January 23, 2018 and consists of 7 episodes.[3] Season 2 was released in its entirety on May 11, 2019.[4]
| A Very Fatal Murder | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Presentation | |
| Hosted by | David Pascall (voiced by David Sidorov) |
| Genre | Satire, True Crime, Comedy |
| Directed by | Ryan Nantoli and Fran Hoepfner |
| Language | English |
| Production | |
| No. of seasons | 2 |
| No. of episodes | 18 |
| Publication | |
| Original release | January 23, 2018 – present |
| Provider | The Onion |
| Website | https://www.theonion.com/c/a-very-fatal-murder |
Production
A Very Fatal Murder satirizes popular true crime podcasts such as Serial, S-Town, and My Favorite Murder. According to head writer Katy Yeiser, the podcast is not meant as a take down of any particular podcast, but rather an ode to the genre.[5]
Synopsis
The podcast follows fictional investigative reporter David Pascall (voiced by David Sidorov) in search of the perfect murder to create an award-winning podcast about. He is assisted by ETHL (the Extremely Timely Homicide Locator), an MIT-created computer programmed to find "the most interesting, violent, culturally relevant murder cases in America".[6]
Episodes
| # | Title | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Episode 1: A Perfect Murder" | January 23, 2018 | |
| 2 | "Episode 2: What I Know And What I Don’t Know Yet" | February 12, 2018 | |
| 3 | "Episode 3: Calloway Day" | February 16, 2018 | |
| 4 | "Episode 4: The Official Story" | February 23, 2018 | |
| 5 | "Episode 5, Part 1: Did My Police Department Miss Something?" | March 2, 2018 | |
| 6 | "Episode 5, Part 2: Did My Police Department Miss Something?" | March 7, 2018 | |
| 7 | "Episode 6: The Game Changer" | March 9, 2018 | |
| 8 | "This Is a Very Fatal Murder" | May 2, 2019 | |
| A "live show" recording of the court sessions. | |||
Reception
The podcast received mostly positive reviews, and was largely praised for attacking true-crime tropes such as the "hot dead girl" and the romanticization of small-town America.[2][6]
References
- Greene, Steve (8 February 2018). "'A Very Fatal Murder': Even the Fake Ads Are Hilarious in The Onion's True Crime Podcast Parody". indiewire.com. Indie Wire. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
- Quah, Nicholas (6 February 2018). "The Onion's New Podcast Is a Loony True-Crime Parody". vulture.com. Vulture. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
- A Very Fatal Murder episode list
- "Luminary. A new way to podcast". luminarypodcasts.com. Retrieved 2019-06-08.
- Cornish, Audie (5 April 2018). "True Crime, Fake Homicide: The Onion's 'A Very Fatal Murder' Podcast". npr.org. National Public Radio. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
- Verdier, Hannah (20 February 2018). "Could A Very Fatal Murder kill off the true-crime podcast?". theguardian.com. The Guardian. Retrieved 17 December 2018.