Reviews

It took me longer than I’d like to admit to really appreciate this show for what it is (2 and a half seasons and then a re-listen of season 1). But once I finally came around, it became one of my all time favorites. The story is unique, the setting surreal and whimsical, the format fresh and constantly changing. The characters are complex and messy in a way you can’t help but love, the questions it asks about community are important and thought-provoking, and all of the writing is impeccable, from the twisting structure of the countless plot and character arcs intertwining with each other, down to the rhythm of the narration and scenes. I appreciate the way the show addresses more sensitive themes, such as grief, addiction, misogyny, racism, and systematic oppression. It delves into all of these topics respectfully and artfully, while keeping an uplifting and hopeful tone. It is not a show that’s interested in making its characters suffer, only in showing the problems that exist in their lives, and how they confront them. The action picks up a lot in season two, and I love all of the twists and turns that brings, but I will always have a soft spot for the season one monologues. They are breathtaking. I am about two days of quarantine away from starting to memorize some of them. I don’t even have anyone I want to recite them to—it’s just a way to keep them with me. This show is special to me. It intrigues me, and it comforts me, and most of all it inspires me to be better—a better friend, a better community member, and a better person.

I'm still only in the second season but I really adore this show! I wasn't so sure at the beginning and took a break from it but after meeting the creators at Podtales I gave it another go and I'm SO glad I did! Seriously, such an amazingly written and acted show. Also, I don't know why the guinea pigs are there but I love them.

At first I was just drawn in by the connections to Boston like the jokes about Dunkins/Market basket/etc because I’m a Bostonian and it was fun to relate, but the more I listened to the show the more invested I got. The writing is amazing and the story is really unique and interesting. I get slightly annoyed sometimes because I think some of the characters need to get over themselves, but it might just be written like that purposely. Anyways my main point is that this show is incredible and I’m so glad I started listening to it.

This show is a hard one to explain to people but one I keep recommending! The world of Greater Boston is a treat that you must partake in.

As I saw mentioned in another review, it was hard to tell from the first episode as to how intriguing a story this tells. I’m a native Bostonian as well and really appreciate all the references and local callbacks in the show. The best part? How the Someday Cafe lives on in this podcast while the actual cafe is about 15 years dead. Glad I’m not alone in its adoration.

I’ll admit that I wasn’t sure sure about this after checking out the first episode. But if you give this a go, you won’t be disappointed! it’s one of those RARE shows that sticks in your brain.

Holy crap, this is amazing. Just binged season 1, and episode 11, the “liberation” segment, was one of the most gorgeously written and performed pieces I’ve ever heard. Thanks to the entire team - it’s something that will stick with me.

I just started listening and I have to say, I am totally hooked. The surrealistic alternative Boston of this podcast and its inhabitants are weird, wild, and endearing. A lot of fun to listen to!

I love this podcast SO much. I grew up in NJ right outside NYC and moved to the NC triangle area a couple of years ago, and I really just got oneshot by missing "subway network" and big northeastern city nostalgia. I MISS TRAINS SO BAD. But really, Greater Boston is so good. My friend (ACTUALLY a former Boston area guy, compatriot in train-missing) talked it up enough that when I was checking out the audio drama format (I'm... new to it) I decided to check it out. I was incredibly charmed from the very first episode. The upbeat, cheery tone and all the weirdnesses that just get breezed through by the narration was just Perfect to me. And now, having listened to all three seasons in just over a week, I am leaving this review to say I love it all. Greater Boston is absolutely hilarious, astonishingly well-paced, and really interpersonally complex and moving. I'm so glad to have listened to it and I'm so looking forward to keeping up with it when it returns. Thank you for the great stories!

This was a slow burn for me but now I'm totally hooked. Love the mild surrealism, the interesting character overlaps, it's a fun show.

I may be biased as a resident of real-life Greater Boston, but this take on alternate universe Greater Boston is just delightful. What starts out as a fun little thought experiment about what would happen if the Red Line tried to succeed turns into an amazingly bonkers adventure featuring divination, Atlantis, cheese robots, all with an undercurrent of social justice. I can’t recommend this enough.

I love this show. Every character, no matter how repugnant, has depth and vulnerability and humor and sparks of brilliance. The writing is just...so good—they ways the stories and characters weave into and around each other. It builds this tactile world and city, makes you feel like you know the city. Like if you visited for the first time it would somehow feel like home and that these people would be your friends and neighbors. Honestly this show is a gift

Greater Boston is not only impressive in its story, with each seemingly independent plot line painstakingly intertwined with the others, it commands the medium. This is a story that must, MUST be listened to--the sound design doesn't just lend itself to sense of place but makes the settings seem to be characters of their own. This show's personality grows with each episode, and I can't wait to hear the next one.

I've been looking for a good fiction podcast, and constantly come up against weak writing, but Greater Boston is amazing. The characters are charming, the writing always resolves itself, the dialogue is witty, and you always get the feeling it's aspiring to be even better than the previous episode every time it drops, on every axis. I can't recommend it enough.

It only got weirder. But what’s wrong with that? Love this show.

I liked this podcast immediately, but it took a while for me to LOVE it. But when it updates, it's one of the highlights of my week, now. Love, love, love!

I was hooked from the very first episode. The writing, acting, and production are all excellent. I have binged listened to all the episodes so far and can't wait to find out where they take this story next. I listen to a lot of podcasts and this one really stands out.

I was skeptical after the first episode, but I quickly fell in after that. Quirky, funny, sweet, and endearing, this saga manages to make the unusual premise around which it’s built (the secession of Boston’s Red Line train route to become an autonomous city) feel important and in this increasingly angry world. It’s character development is second to none and it’s production value is top notch. The team behind this will go far!

The storytelling is near poetic. The narration weaves in beautifully and the characters are deep and intriguing. I adore it.

Magical realism at its finest. This podcast manages to balance earnest political discourse with submarine voyages to hidden cities. I'd say it's a roller coaster of a show, but that may be too soon.

GREATER BOSTON, for me, represents the current high-water mark for Audio Drama. It dares to have an expansive, diverse cast of characters. When I say "characters," I'm not talking about one joke half-ideas like you might encounter in some TV situation comedies, but truly complex people who you may love or revile with all of the heart you save for the real world. You rarely enounter characters like these outside of great novels. The situations, while often fanciful or absurd, still remain rooted in the events we face in the reality. The GREATER BOSTON version of the Red Line seems like a real place you could actually visit and experience. It is a place that I think of often and a place that I hope to revisit. You will not only want to tell your friends about this show, you will want to sit and listen with them, and watch their face as they react. It's *that* good.

The writing contained within this show is top notch, as is the sound design and everything else that comes with it. This is an Audio Drama that is well worth your time.

This podcast takes a few episodes to start connecting pieces, but it’s really interesting and rewarding when it does. It’s more subtle than the average audio drama and is well written, humorous, and links the characters to each other in rewarding ways.

This is such a fun and dynamic show, and I love the way each character’s storylines are intertwined! The characters are out there and the story is over the top, but it’s all done with a chill and down to earth feel that is VERY Boston. This writing is fantastic!