Settle in with Theroux for Grounded
Louis Theroux has turned to podcasting during this lockdown and launched Grounded, a new interview series for the BBC.
Louis Theroux, arguably the most popular documentary-maker working today, has turned to podcasting during this lockdown and launched Grounded, a new interview series for the BBC.
There’s no denying the thrill in hearing “Hello, I’m Louis Theroux” in that familiar, clipped English accent as Grounded opens. For those who have hoovered up Theroux’s extensive television catalogue, it’s like a voicemail from an old friend.
The first (and, at the time of writing, only) episode features Jon Ronson, an English author and documentary-maker whose career has often paralleled Theroux’s. The two talk about their own work, conspiracy theorists and life in lockdown. The appeal here is the sense of sitting in on a private conversation. Things feel loose, unscripted and organic. But pulling off this approach is trickier than it seems, and this conversation drifts from freewheeling to wheels-off entirely at times as Theroux loses his train of thought and scrambles for the next topic.
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Perhaps it would have been easier to kick things off with a guest Theroux had a stronger relationship with. Things certainly should get smoother as the series goes along, and the host comes to grips with a new medium. This first episode is at its most interesting when Theroux and Ronson focus on their careers profiling difficult subjects, and provide something of a director’s commentary on various productions. These stretches are less reliant on patter, and built around the wild experiences and extensive research you can only gain from a life dedicated to covering the weirder side of the world. It’s hard not to feel a little sympathetic for Theroux. His style of documentary storytelling has always felt aligned with (and influential on) many of the most popular modes of podcast production, so the idea of him dipping into the medium has been keenly anticipated for many years. Now he’s making his debut in circumstances that make even simple interview programs difficult to execute, and render his reliable boots-on-the-ground techniques totally impossible.
Listen to Grounded on your favourite podcasting app.