No, you didn't miss a scoop about a Serenity sequel or that long-rumored Buffy movie finally getting made. Mr. Whedon will appear in a special live simulcast performance of Chicago Public Radio's This American Life on April 23.

The program will beam into 400 movie screens nationwide and will feature TAL host, and Buffy fan, Ira Glass and guests sharing stories connected by a central theme, "Return to the Scene of the Crime." The simulcast will feature show regulars Dan Savage, Starlee Kine, Mike Birbiglia, David Rakoff and Dave Hill along with Dollhouse producer Whedon who will deliver a "special musical performance."

When you make a living online and a big part of your job is to spend the entire day surfing around a hundred web sites, you begin to think that you've seen everything there is to see on the web. At least the good stuff. But sometimes you come across a site that makes you smile and say to yourself, "this is great!"

That's what I thought when I found the Sound of Young America podcast.

Some very cool news for fans of This American Life, the Showtime version of the long-running public radio mainstay. The first season of the series is now available on iTunes for $1.99 per episode (six episodes total) or $10.99 for the whole season. You can also download the radio version for free, just in case you didn't know.

I'll admit I didn't get into This American Life, the radio series or the TV program, until recently after hearing for many years how compelling and well-made it is. Those people were right, and it's become a permanent fixture on both my Tivo and my iPod. If they made a This American Life pamphlet, I would subscribe to that, too.

First I thought this would be a summer filled with possibly watching one or two summer series, and then catching up on the growing stack of books in my "to be read" pile ... but somehow it's morphed into the "DVR + TV shows on DVD Summer of Rock " *fanfare*. It's actually not that dramatic, but I like to stick fanfare in whenever I can. Theme songs are one thing, but fanfare can pepper mundane events with joy. "Here's your latte, sir." *fanfare* See what I mean?

Despite all the rave reviews and my own personal adoration for This American Life, I did not subscribe to Showtime so I could see the televised version of the PBS radio program. But Showtime is crafty. The network has posted this week's premiere episode of This American Life online (for free!) and now I am in love with it. I never thought that This American Life needed pictures to go with its stories, but the story of Chance the bull seems like it would be lost without video.

Take a look at the premiere and tell me what you think. I like it, but I still think I'm too cheap to get Showtime. I keep hoping they'll all be available on iTunes.

(By the way, if you are a fan of This American Life, you'll probably get a kick out of this parody by San Francisco sketch comedy group, Kasper Hauser. Their Ira Glass impression is dead-on.)

[Via Pop Candy]

As we've previously reported, This American Life is coming to Showtime, and we were lucky enough to get a look at the first four episodes. It's no secret that I had high hopes for this show, and was all set to have them crushed, trampled, and stomped upon. However, I'm happy to report that that my hopes are still intact, at least after having seen four episodes. There's still room for my hopes to be smashed into a million crystalline fragments down the road.

First off, if you've never heard an episode of This American Life, it's high time that you head to iTunes and subscribe to their podcast. It's one of the best radio shows I've ever heard, and presents stories from Americans that you'll never hear anywhere else. It's pure documentary work where the hosts and interviewers don't overshadow the subjects, and features as much humor as it does touching drama. A real gem on the radio dial, and it's a labor of love on Public Radio International, which is more famous for its content, and not for the fortunes they pay their hosts.

I am getting Showtime.

When I read that This American Life was coming to television, I was cautiously optimistic. Ira Glass and crew do such a terrific job telling stories with audio that I admit I was worried about video taking away some of the intimacy. After watching this trailer (it's also embedded after the jump) I was blown away. It looks as beautiful as This American Life sounds. Apparently the producers of the television show found photographers and editors who think the way This American Life is produced. Just like the radio broadcast, the camera shots are from unusual angles. It's pretty much the opposite of anything you'd see on MTV.

This American Life premieres on Showtime on March 22.

When I was a kid growing up, public radio meant two things: boring, and more boring. I'm not sure when the exact moment was where I did a complete turnaround and started liking it, but I know it was at some point college. I stumbled across ambient music on Musical Starstreams, reveled in the extreme beauty and weirdness of Joe Frank's various shows, waxed nostalgic for an age I wasn't even alive in during A Prairie Home Companion, and learned about the world from the synonymous-with-coffee voice of Bob Edwards on Morning Edition (after 30 years on NPR, he was shitcanned and sent packing. He now has his own show on XM Radio, take that NPR!).