The Daily: The Quarantine Season

April 17, 2020

By Lisa Tobin

The New York Times

You may have noticed some unexpected programming on your Daily feed lately.

A few weekends ago, for example, we brought you a story … about sea monkeys. On a recent Friday, we turned to the writer George Saunders for wisdom. The Friday before, the music critic Jody Rosen took us through the playlist of his apartment-bound day. Even earlier, Taffy Brodesser-Akner revisited her experience profiling Tom Hanks, before he became the Rock Hudson of this moment — our first celebrity with coronavirus. And just this morning, at the end of our interview with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, you heard the glitchy sounds of Kevin Roose beginning his journey down into the more unexplored recesses of the internet.

What’s that all about, in the middle of one of the most significant news stories of our lives?

We are, of course, more committed now than ever to bringing you the most important journalism of this moment. We have been working to cover the pandemic from dozens of different angles each morning on The Daily. But we also strongly believe that people need more than virus news right now.

We need comfort, insights, laughter, music, friendship, literature, escape. We need nourishment, stories, connection, one another. And so what you’ve been hearing on The Daily is a sampling of a whole new slate of audio programming that we’ve started to roll out. We’re calling it “The Quarantine Season.” These projects were each born from this crisis, and while each speaks to it in different ways, we hope together they add up to a balm for this moment.

Here’s a rundown of the season, all of which you can listen to wherever you get your podcasts.

Rabbit Hole

The New York Times

From the team that brought you Caliphate. Our tech columnist Kevin Roose has spent the last few years reporting on the internet and what it’s doing to society. Now, as we’re all more attached to our screens than ever before, follow him down the rabbit hole as he explores YouTube’s powerful algorithm, the internet celebrities shaping the views of their millions of young followers, and where it’s all headed. The first episode of this narrative series arrived yesterday, and new episodes will be released every Thursday.

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Sugar Calling

Have you missed Dear Sugar? Cheryl Strayed’s legendary advice-giving has been on hiatus. But she’s back, just when you need her most. In Sugar Calling, she’s dialing up some of the most prolific writers of our time — George Saunders, Margaret Atwood, Amy Tan, at home and in self-quarantine — to ask them what they’re thinking about, what they’re reading, what wisdom they have to offer us right now. New episodes are released on Wednesdays.

Still Processing

Wesley Morris and Jenna Wortham, culture writers at The Times, are back with a new season that embraces the lo-fi — taking comfort in each other and talking from their living rooms about what they’re watching, listening to and building routines around. Last week, for example, they dove into “Tiger King” and how it’s become an internet sensation.

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A Bit of Relief

Every Friday afternoon on The Daily feed, we’re sharing something to help everyone take a deep breath and relax at the end of these long, worrying weeks. The Times’s executive editor reading from C.S. Lewis’s “On Living in an Atomic Age.” A young TV writer learning to cook over FaceTime with her grandmother. A guide to making the perfect cup of tea with a side of toast. Small comforts. We’re compiling these episodes into a Spotify playlist, so follow along

The Sunday Read

Every Sunday morning on The Daily feed, we’re sharing some of our favorite magazine stories and long-form journalism from around The Times, read aloud. Intimate essays. Gripping capers. Fascinating profiles. The perfect weekend stories to escape to while making breakfast, walking the dog or just sitting on the couch. We’re compiling these episodes into a Spotify playlist, so follow along.

Together Apart

And! Finally —

The Times’s Styles desk has partnered with our friends at Magnificent Noise to bring you their new show, Together Apart. Priya Parker, author of “The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters” is an expert on how to bring meaning into dinner parties, weddings, conferences and funerals. So what happens when we can’t spend time together? Priya’s series explores how to stay connected in isolation, and how to throw a Seder over Zoom. New episodes are released on Wednesdays.

So that’s it for now. We hope you’ll find some joy and relief in listening.

— Lisa Tobin, executive producer, NYT Audio

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