Datei Datum Inhalt Dauer 8 1996-01-03 New Year Stories that reflect back on 1995. 01:03:42 9 1996-01-10 Julia Sweeney When comedienne Julia Sweeney and her brother both got cancer, she decided to tell the story the best way she knew how: in a comedy club. It might seem like a strange choice, but what resulted is halfway between standup comedy and true-life diary entries. 00:59:03 10 1996-01-17 Double Lives People living their lives, just like the rest of us. Plus an extra life. 00:59:17 11 1996-01-24 Enemies A story of a friendship between two adolescent boys that was destroyed through the manipulative acts of one of them. 01:00:26 12 1996-01-31 Animals Stories about the animalness of animals, the irreducible ways in which they are not human. 00:59:14 13 1996-02-07 Love Explorations of the dream of true love ... and the difficulties with achieving and maintaining that dream. 00:59:07 14 1996-02-21 Accidental Documentaries What unites these stories on the surface is that they're all made from old tapes, recordings found in attics and thrift stores. What unites them under that surface — and not far under it — is that they all end up being stories about fathers and the legacies that fathers leave their children 00:59:00 15 1996-02-28 Dawn Writer Jack Hitt goes on a search for a mysterious neighbor from his childhood in Charleston, South Carolina, and stumbles onto an epic story of the Old South, the New South, gender confusion, Chihuahuas, and changing values in American journalism. 00:59:05 16 1996-03-14 Economy Stories of politics, the economy, and the big picture. 00:59:05 17 1996-03-21 Name Change / No Theme Our first show as This American Life. 00:59:04 18 1996-03-28 Liars April first is the one day of the year when we're allowed to enjoy deceiving others. But April Fools' Day is for amateur deceivers. The real pros are the people who can't control their lying, who lie without even knowing what the truth is. 00:59:04 19 1996-04-12 Rich Guys Men who had comfortable, decent lives, yet decided to do something wild and eccentric with their lives instead. 00:59:12 20 1996-04-19 From A Distance Stories of hero worship, of people admiring someone from afar, and trying to get closer to them. 00:59:06 21 1996-04-26 Factions A show about something most people have gone through. Friends get together to start a business, start a church, do political action together. And after a while, they start fighting and split up. We hear three true stories. 00:58:59 22 1996-05-03 Adult Children Stories of the difficult relationships between parents and their grown children, including two long stories from Sandra Tsing Loh about her father. 00:59:07 23 1996-05-10 Drama Bug Stories of the people who fall for a life in the theater. 00:59:02 24 1966-05-24 Teenaged Girls Stories of girls who have to figure out how they're going to act when the ground rules are constantly shifting. 00:59:07 25 1996-06-07 BasketballA set of documentary stories, radio essays and monologues about basketball, the Chicago Bulls, and their grip on Chicagoans' hearts and lives during the NBA Playoffs. 00:59:05 26 1996-06-14 Father's Day '96 Ira's own father Barry Glass co-hosts this special father's day edition of the show. 00:59:04 27 1996-06-21 The Cruelty of Children Stories about kids being mean to each other... including a mysterious handbook for bullies, a surprising experiment conducted by a teacher who wants to make kids be nice, and a story of youthful backstabbing told by David Sedaris. 00:59:01 28 1996-07-12 Detectives Writer David Sedaris recalls the days when his mother and sister played armchair detective — until a very odd crime wave hit within their own home. Plus, host Ira Glass goes out on surveillance with a real-life private eye. 00:59:00 29 1996-07-19 Bob Dole Unusual perspectives on the presumptive Republican nominee. 00:59:08 30 1996-07-26 Obsession Stories of obsession and compulsion. What happens when a little idea starts to control you. Co-hosted by Paul Tough. 00:59:14 31 1996-08-09 When You Talk About Music Stories of people whose lives are transformed by music. 00:59:07 32 1996-08-16 Republican Convention Unusual stories about day-to-day life at the Republican Convention. 00:59:03 33 1996-08-23 A Night at the Wiener Circle Host Ira Glass spent a Saturday night — from 9:00 p.m. until dawn the next morning — at one of the most frenetic, joyous, efficient, angry, boisterous hot dog stands in the nation: Chicago's own Wiener Circle. 00:59:53 34 1996-08-30 Democratic Convention Unusual stories from the 1996 Democratic Convention in Chicago, with scenes and moments not documented elsewhere. 00:59:07 35 1996-09-06 Fall Clearance Sale Evocative, funny, emotional stories collected over the last few months that haven't fit into any of our regular "theme" shows. 00:59:09 36 1996-09-20 Letters Host Ira Glass and playwright David Hauptschein took out advertisements in Chicago inviting people to come to a small theater with letters they've received, sent or found. 00:59:06 37 1996-09-27 The Job That Takes Over Your Life Radio producer Scott Carrier quit his job at a low moment in his life. His wife left him and took the kids. And he got a job interviewing schizophrenics for some medical researchers. After doing it a while, he began to wonder if he was a schizophrenic himself. And more stories. 00:59:07 38 1996-10-11 Simulated Worlds Simulated worlds, Civil war reenactments, wax museums, simulated coal mines, fake ethnic restaurants, an ersatz Medieval castle and other re-created worlds that thrive all across America. (4 minutes) 00:59:06 39 1996-10-25 Halloween This week: A show for Halloween. Stories of things that are supposed to be scary, but aren't. 00:59:09 40 1996-11-01 Lessons Stories from acclaimed storyteller Spalding Gray and others. 00:59:17 41 1996-11-08 Politics More stories of the election you can't hear anywhere else. 00:59:05 42 1996-11-15 Get Over It! Three stories of people trying to forget the past and move on. 00:59:08 43 1996.11-22 Faustian Bargains Inspired by a spate of new Chicago stage adaptations of the Faust story, This American Life brings you stories of people who made a deal with the devil. 00:59:01 44 1996-11-29 Poultry Slam 1996 In the midst of the five biggest poultry-consumption weeks of the year—the five weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when Americans consume one-fourth of all the turkey they eat in a year—This American Life presents stories about turkeys, chickens, ducks, and fowl of all kinds. 01:00:35 45 1996-12-06 Media Fringe Four stories about people struggling at the fringes of our nation's media/music/infotainment industry. 00:59:00 46 1996-12-13 Sissies Though being gay no longer has much of a stigma in some parts of the country, being a sissy still does — even among gay men. In this show we have a number of surprising and unusual stories of sissies, their families, and why people still get so upset about them. 00:59:05 47 1996-12-20 Christmas and Commerce Stories about the intersection of Christmas and retail, including David Sedaris's story "Santaland Diaries," which was first broadcast on NPR's Morning Edition many years ago in a much shorter version. 00:59:20