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The late-night show is a staple of network television—maybe even one that has held on past its era. Still, that doesn’t mean The Late Show with Stephen Colbert had to end like this.

Guest: Adam Conover, comedian and host of the Factually! podcast.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.
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This week, we’ve got an all-guest-host panel with Gabfest faves Isaac Butler, Sam Adams, and June Thomas guiding the discourse… straight to hell. In this case, hell is the romantic relationships depicted in the buzzy indie horror Obsession. This rom-com/horror mashup—marking Curry Barker’s impressive feature directorial debut—deals with questions of codependency and consent. But the real question: is Obsession worth the online obsession?

Next, they turn their gaze to the spooky titular island of Widow’s Bay and discuss the new series starring Matthew Rhys in another horror/comedy genre experiment. Finally, they debate whether most kids’ books are “crud?” Or really, is the recent online furor over comments in children’s book creator Mac Barnett’s new book Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children merited?

In a bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, the gang gather over the topic of book clubs.

Endorsements

June: Get In: The Inside Story of Labor Under Starmer by Patrick Maguire and Gabriel Pogrund, a detailed and readable analysis of Keir Starmer's unlikely rise to power.

Sam: The latest film of indie, animated short auteur Don Hertzfeldt "Paper Trail."

Isaac: The novel The Oppermanns, a family saga by Lion Feuchtwanger written in real time during Hitler’s rise. (And, as a bonus peek into Feuchtwanger's post-war milieu, check out Salka Viertel’s autobiography The Kindness of Strangers.)

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Email us your thoughts at [email protected].

Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.

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When Justice Antonin Scalia died in February of 2016, the Supreme Court appeared to be headed for a 5-4 liberal majority. Instead, a staggering blockade by Senate Republicans and a shocking electoral upset helped steal a seat and clear the way for today’s conservative supermajority. In our second episode, we examine Neil Gorsuch’s politically fraught path to power and his time on the bench so far, including the unpredictability that has made him the high court’s wild card.

Want more Slow Burn? Join Slate Plus to binge every episode of Becoming Justice Gorsuch—and every season of Slow Burn, including Becoming Justice Thomas. You’ll also enjoy ad-free listening to all of your favorite Slate podcasts. Visit slate.com/slowburnplus to get access wherever you listen.

Season 11 of Slow Burn was written and reported by Susan Matthews. It was produced by Sophie Summergrad and Joel Meyer. It was edited by Mia Lobel, Hillary Frey, and Evan Chung. Original music and sound design by Hannis Brown. Mia Lobel is the executive producer of Slate Podcasts.

Our legal editor is Mark Joseph Stern. Special thanks to Dahlia Lithwick, Sara Burningham, and Patrick Fort. Episode artwork by Natalie Matthews-Ramo.
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Like the palm tree, the Everglades, Disney World, and the “Florida Man,” the orange is a classic symbol of the Sunshine State. But maybe not for much longer. Production has declined to catastrophic levels, a decrease of more than 95% in less than 25 years. It’s a produce murder mystery—and Decoder Ring is tagging along with reporter Alex Sammon to crack the case. The suspects include insects, hurricanes, mortgage-backed securities, and the American habit of not reckoning with enormous, load-bearing flaws until it’s way too late.

In this episode, you’ll hear from Alex, a feature writer at Slate, who visited Florida to check on the orange and write about its demise. You’ll also hear from Gary Mormino, Florida lover, expert, and professor emeritus of Florida Studies at the University of South Florida.

This episode was produced by Katie Shepherd and Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. It was edited by Josh Levin. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin and Max Freedman. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at [email protected] or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.

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Sources for This Episode
Hamilton, Alissa. Squeezed: What You Don't Know about Orange Juice, Yale University Press, 2010.
Hussey, Scott D. “The Sunshine State's Golden Fruit: Florida And The Orange,1930-1960,” USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Apr. 2, 2010.
McPhee, John. Oranges, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1967.
Mormino, Gary. “The enduring but endangered symbol of Florida,” The Gainesville Sun, Apr. 3, 2016.
Sammon, Alex. “Who Killed The Florida Orange?” Slate, Apr. 20, 2026.
Walkey, Will and Amory Sivertson. “The fall of Florida citrus,” On Point, Aug. 19, 2025
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On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by writer and comedian Matt Buechele to talk about how the etiquette around phones is shifting, with previously phone-free spaces now welcoming them into the room. In almost all cases, this makes the experience worse for everyone else, but rather than rebelling, people are starting to accept this as a fact of life. Enough! Let Kate watch Hokum in peace!

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.
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