In my second blog post installment of Reply All, I chose the episode, “Rainbow Pug” as I was drawn in by exactly how a colorful pug could possibly become an internet problem in the “Supper Tech Support” episode. Contrary to my initial belief of what this episode might look like, “Rainbow Pug” was a heavy and bittersweet podcast about how Jade Davis lost her dog to the internet—or as the host PJ Vogt dramatically put it, how her dog was pugnapped by the internet. Schneider the pug suddenly develops an ulcer in his eye and needs incredibly expensive and immediate medical attention that Jade and her family are able to provide due to the overwhelming treatment costs. Unfortunately, their backup plan to give him up to a local pug rescue shelter suddenly becomes their actual plan with one single signature agreeing to terms and conditions they did not agree with. As a result, most of the podcast episode tries to figure out exactly how this pugnapping happened and how poor communication can snowball problems to become larger than they need to be.
This podcast episode was largely driven by the conflict between two parties: Jade and the rescue shelter representatives. Although listeners eventually hear the rescue’s side of the argument and their logical reasoning for the seemingly unfair actions that they took in Jade’s perspective, the narrative is structured in a way that drops listeners into the middle of the story. The podcast then backtracks to develop Jade and Schneider’s relationship in order to reinforce Jade’s desperation to get her dog back. Throughout the story detailing Jade’s process of losing her pug, the pace is very quick which helps to draw in and keep listeners attached to the story while mimicking Jade’s experience as she suddenly loses control of the situation and events get worse on their own. However, as we begin to learn more about the rescue center and arrive at the present, the pace slows as listeners are suddenly forced to debate whether or not Jade unfairly lost Schneider or if she is asking for a dog that she unknowingly but fairly gave up. As a result, the deliberate choice of initially introducing Jade’s side of the story and then expanding to other perspectives builds the story based off of the confusing miscommunication that occurred to force listeners to question for themselves who is truly in the right.
Unlike the previous episode I listened to, the first half only has one host: PJ and the other host, Alex Goldman, takes over the second half of the podcast. As a result, PJ plays the role of a more traditional podcast or radio host that narrates and represents Jade’s part of the story whereas Alex assumes a more active role in tracking down the rescue center to understand their point of view on the situation. All throughout, PJ acts as an empathetic yet more lighthearted interviewer. As Jade retells her story, she brings a substantial amount of heavy emotion. However, as Reply All tends to have a lighter tone overall, PJ occasionally interjects Jade’s interview with light jokes that brighten the tone and reconnects listeners by breaking up the pace. For example, as podcast listeners were trying to understand the situation as PJ interviewed Jade, he echoes listeners’ doubts with comments such as “it can’t be that Cruella de Vil runs the pug rescue” to interject fun and light commentary that doesn’t take away or distract from the story itself. Rather, PJ keeps the podcast more engaging as he uses these brief moments to recap on important aspects and brings it back from the past to the more present interview. On the other hand, Alex becomes the moderator in a situation created by a lack of communication which I found very effective and refreshing. He is tasked through the second half of the podcast to figure out exactly why the rescue center responded to Jade the way they did. As a result, as he tries to collect information to explain to Jade why she can’t get her dog back, he also drives the story by filling in the gaps created by miscommunication.
Additionally, this episode is driven by many points of views, but as having too many voices would become too confusing and would take away from the podcast rather than add to it, PJ, Alex, and Jade recap and speak for different people. For example, PJ speaks for Jade’s husband and helps listeners understand his point of view to maintain a semblance of dialogue between Jade and her husband. By doing so, listeners are explicitly reminded that PJ is summarizing what Jake did through his point of view rather than Jade’s point of view of her husband’s actions. As a result, this still allows listeners to understand how other people in the story played a role without overcomplicating and confusing a variety of important but less major perspectives. Similarly, as a large part of the communication between Jade and the pug rescue shelter take place via email, Jade reads off snippets of the emails throughout the narration which was engaging. Although I was surprised that PJ who plays the narrator didn’t read the emails, I eventually found that by having Jade read them, listeners were put in the shoes of Jade as she wrote and received these emails.
Overall, the slightly different narrative structure driven by two hosts in different sections, a heavier tone, and multiple points of views creates an engaging podcast that force listeners to question whether the problem initially presented is the entire story or if better communication completely changes the point of view.
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This podcast and especially this episode sound extremely interesting. The first thing that drew me in is when you said that essentially it starts off by dropping you into the middle of the story. I think that that could be a very effective way of making the listener think from the beginning since they want to immediately figure out what could be happening in the conflict between the two parties. You also mentioned that it then goes back to explain the relationship and backstory of Jade and your dog which makes the listener empathize straight away with Jade and makes the listeners even more concerned for Jade and her dog.
Another thing that I like that you mentioned is that there are two narrators and that they split the episode up in two. For me personally, I tend to get a little bit lost when two people are talking at the same time. I like how you mentioned that one narrator mainly talks in the first half and has a specific role, talking about Jade and her situation, and in the second half the other narrator takes over and talks about the rescue shelter. I think that that is a very interesting way of narrating but a super effective way since the reader does not get lost when two people are talking and that both of the narrators have two very different roles that they play to enhance the story telling.
This episode sounds like a super interesting one and one that I am drawn to listen to, and I enjoyed how you were able to explain the differences and similarities of this episode with the one before it.
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Hey Carrie!
This sounds like a fun episode. Like you mention a few times, I think it’s interesting the hosts offer listeners perspectives from both Jade and the rescue shelter on Schneider’s “pugnapping.” Even if this isn’t a Sherlock story, it doesn’t hurt to inject a little mystery into a story here and there. I especially like the choice Alex and PJ took to divide their roles—almost like a “good cop, bad cop,” but here it’s “fun cop, boring cop.” Alex’s investigations are important, of course, but I’m sure listeners appreciate the contrast between PJ and Alex’s roles in the narrative.
In the podcast I’m listening to, S-Town, the host, Brian Reed, also keeps interviews pretty lighthearted. A good host can make a pretty normal interview fun to listen to, adding jokes and playing off the interviewee and so on. I can guess that PJ plays a similar role with Jade, helping make an interview with a “normal person” more interesting. As a listener, I appreciate the levity to break up long discussions. Little jokes help me stay engaged to the story.
Oh, another technique S-Town uses with interviews is intercutting them with narration, which keeps interviews condensed to the most interesting bits. I kind of wonder if Reply All does this too, or just uses really slick editing.
You also mention the reading-off of emails Jade wrote to the rescue shelter, which can only help add more narrative texture to podcast storytelling. It would’ve been nice if PJ could cut in a few phone calls with the shelter or something, but emails are good enough if that wasn’t an option. I trend I’m seeing with podcasts is that they use a lot of different audio sources and narration techniques—reporting, or musing, or conversing—to keep thing interesting.
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