This week we dive in to two format-smashing shows: one the up-ends the conventions of podcast storytelling, and one that challenges the concept of story telling itself.

The panel examines "Crimetown." This podcast from Gimlet sounds like nothing we've heard before. Are they setting a new bar for the traditional first-person investigative podcast or are they creating a completely new genre?

Also, the crime writers give their take on HBO's dizzying & dazzling "Westworld." Was the western-tinged sci-fi series about man's inhumanity, a study on free will, or a contemplation of on the power of story? Or just a bunch of cowboys shooting and having sex with robots?

Plus, Toby checks his Amazon Christmas list (is your gift on it?). We'll hear from a listener who offers her two cents on the Justin Ross Harris verdict (and then we offer her ours).

The Crime of the Week looks at the War on Christmas...by beavers.

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This show was recorded in The Caitlin Rogers Project Studio. Click to find out more.

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