Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera

At a time when we’re debating where policing is going, we’re going to tell you where the police came from. Guided by Peabody award-winning host Chenjerai Kumanyika, Empire City will provide the first accessible narrative history of the American police and its place in popular culture. Who are the police? And why were police departments created in the first place? To find answers, we’re going to tell the origin story of the largest police force in the world: The NYPD. We begin in the late 1800’s at a moment when the entire police force was on trial. It’s the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the NYPD, and it all plays out like a high stakes courtroom drama. What follows is the action-packed account of how the NYPD got to this point and what happened next. It involves Black abolitionists fighting slave patrols in the courts of Gotham; two rival police forces duking it out for power at City Hall; the origins of the true crime genre; and how the NYPD spread their tactics worldwide.

Listen to Empire City wherever you get your podcasts: Wondery.fm/Empire_City.

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Hysterical investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in upstate New York. What is causing their sudden, often violent symptoms? Is there something in the water or inside the school? Or is it “all in their head?” The series examines the outbreak in LeRoy, NY, believed by some to be the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials. In his search for answers, Dan Taberski (9/12, Missing Richard Simmons, Running from Cops) explores other seemingly inexplicable events of the last few years – CIA officers being crippled with nausea and vertigo; cops OD'ing from exposure to fentanyl – and discovers they’re far more connected than we realize.

From Wondery and Pineapple Street Studios, this 7-part series forces us to grapple with the mysteries of our own minds, and reckon with a contagion that we thought was long dead, but may be the defining disorder of our time.

Follow Hysterical on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge all episodes of Hysterical early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery+ at wondery.fm/Hysterical_FD.

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Nancy Brophy fills her novels with romantic betrayals and murder. It’s a far cry from her quiet life in the suburbs, where she and her chef husband, Dan, are living out their golden years. But when Dan is shot dead, Nancy finds herself at the center of a murder case that could be ripped from the pages of her novels.

From Wondery, this is a story about what happens when the line blurs between fiction and reality. 

Listen to Happily Never After: Dan & Nancy on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial by visiting Wondery.fm/HNA_DN now. 

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Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived. We know the six wives of Henry the eighth as pawns in his hunt for a son. But their lives were so much more than just being the king’s wives. 

Each episode of Wondery’s podcast Even the Royals pulls back the curtain on royal families, past and present, from all over the world, to show you the darker side of what it means to be royalty. 

This is just a preview of Even the Royals. Listen to the full episode wherever you get your podcasts, or at wondery.fm/eventheroyals.

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Self-confessed sports geeks Elis James and Colin Murray are here to serve up the juiciest tales from the world of sports – think epic rivalries, scrappy underdogs, and the wildest comebacks and you’re in the right ballpark. Thought you knew the story? Think again. From top-secret training sessions to dressing room dust-ups, join Colin & Elis as they dive into the greatest sporting stories of all time (and probably get a yellow card for simulation). Blood? Sweat? Tears? Sport has it all. And that’s why we love it.

Listen to Everything To Play For on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can binge episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/everything-to-play-for now.

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When Frank Farian first laid eyes on Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, he saw everything he wasn’t. They were handsome, young, and Black. But Frank had something they didn’t. He had power.

So, Frank offered them a devil’s bargain. Almost overnight, Milli Vanilli’s debut album went five times platinum and scored a Grammy nomination. But when the lie at the center of their success started to unravel, Rob and Fab would discover the hard way the difference between star power and real power.

From Wondery, Blame It on the Fame is a story about the lie that shot to #1 and what it cost to tell the truth. Hosted by Amanda Seales.

Listen early and ad-free exclusively on Wondery+: Wondery.fm/BIOTF_MV

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In the first episode of Harsh Reality, a TV executive heard a pitch for the juiciest reality dating game show ever. Filmed in sun-drenched Ibiza, the show would feature six gorgeous men competing for the beautiful Miriam Rivera. Sounds like a dream, right? But as was often the case in the era of “cruel reality TV,” the producers insisted on a shocking twist.

If you want to hear the rest of Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera, you can binge the rest of this six-part series exclusively on Wondery Plus.

On Wondery Plus, you can listen to all your favorite podcasts early and ad-free. With a library featuring over 50 #1 Apple Podcast hits and 45,000 binge worthy episodes, there’s something for everyone.

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When a TV exec hears a pitch for a dating game show with a twist she’s sold. But from the very beginning Miriam must risk everything for the show to succeed. 

For this story Wondery has partnered with Translash Media, the trans journalism and personal narrative project that is committed to telling Trans Stories to save Trans lives. Visit www.translash.org to learn more about Translash.

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It was supposed to be a reality show with a twist. In a sun-drenched villa in Ibiza, six hot guys compete for a cash prize and for the love of the beautiful and mysterious Miriam. It’s meant to be her big break: the moment she becomes the superstar she was born to be. But this is the era of “cruel reality TV” and the show producers have a different goal: they want to surprise the men with the fact that Miriam is trans. A new six-episode investigative series from Wondery, the makers of The Shrink Next Door and The Apology Line, and from Novel, HARSH REALITY is the story about love, lies, reality TV and a woman before her time: Miriam Rivera. Written by Agnes Borinsky and hosted by Trace Lysette.

You can binge all episodes of Harsh Reality: The Story of Miriam Rivera exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

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