Expect the term “binge listen” to find its way into the pop-culture zeitgeist.
WARNING: This story contains spoilers aboutS-Town.
If you have yet to listen to all the episodes, read at your own risk.
Credit: Andrea Morales
It wasnt strategic, it was more editorial, executive producer Julie Snyder tells EW of the all-episode drop.
It felt like a novel and you dont have to wait a week to read a novel.
Seeing as the shows main focus suddenly changed, what made you decide to go forward with this story?
We [didnt know] if this was a story for a really long time.
It was like, We are interested, we are not bored.
We dont know what this is or what form its going to take.
We dont know whats real about these claims but theres something interesting here.
When John [committed suicide], thats when we assessed it…
There seemed to be things happening in the aftermath of his suicide to the people in his life.
We didnt know what form it would take but we were just following our instinct and our gut.
Theres a story in here somehow.
we dont do soundbites, we let people talk, we capture them three-dimensionally.
To me, its really part of the DNA of what were trying to do on our stories.
The second anything would feel like a stereotype, thats totally uninteresting to me.
On top of it being bad to do, I think its uninteresting and boring.
Youll understand why we called itShtownwhen you hear the other options, which are terrible.
There was The Vulgar Horologist, which sounds like a terrible paperback youd buy at the airport.
Then there was one morning where I was like, I have it, this is it!
I was so excited, and I brought it into the office and everyone was like thats terrible.
It was the exact opposite, it was just confirming this isShtown.
The idea of Shtown had driven some of Johns best friends away from him.
Were not naming it to be provocative about the town, I hope thats clear in the story.
Its a worldview, its Johns frame of mind, its a way of seeing things.
And it can refer to much more than Woodstock, and it does.
Its the town through his eyes.
That was really meaningful.
I did make a run at make it in his spirit.
I feel like he infuses the whole thing, even with the writing.
I kind of tried to get that spirit into my writing.
He kind of led the way in terms of the tone and language of the show.
Youve got people talking about nipple piercings juxtaposed with beautiful music.
That whole spirit of the show, I hope he would appreciate.
I dont have plans.
I lean towards not doing anything more with it, I lean toward letting this be the story.
I really like the ending so it feels weird to me that I would make another ending.
