Backroomcastingcouch 23 05 01 Melanie Pinky Swe Work May 2026

When history comes knocking, you have to figure out what to do.

One car dealership tries to make its monthly quota: 129 cars. It is way more chaotic than we expected.

What’s in the box? What’s in the $%&ing box?!?

Behind closed doors with two families.  

The pitfalls of making snap judgments about others.

We watch someone trying to score a win in a game whose rules are being made up as she plays. 

Three stories about the strange power inanimate objects can hold over us.

What happens when people create alternate versions of themselves and release them into the wild?

The story of Harold Washington and the white backlash that ensued when he became Chicago's first Black mayor.

Judges describe the dismantling of our immigration court system from the inside.

Things are different on college campuses this year. We see inside the drama, with students and staff.

Small human plans that run into much larger obstacles.

Israel has intensified restrictions on West Bank Palestinians while global attention focused on Gaza.

The story of the most commonly performed surgery, and what goes terribly wrong with it.

People on a mission to achieve their goals before their window of opportunity closes.

Trump froze U.S. foreign aid and dismantled USAID. We examine the agency’s impact and hear from people trying to navigate this chaotic moment.

Conversations across a divide: People who are outside a war zone check in with family, friends, and strangers inside.

A show about people who are suddenly confronted with who they are.

People immersed in chaos try to solve for what it all adds up to.

A couple devises a strategy to get their daughter's killer prosecuted and to get attention for other Native families. 

Artifacts and exhibits of this particular moment we are living through.

Sometimes, life’s biggest mysteries require one very specific person to answer them.

Unnecessary and outrageous lies that make you wonder — why lie about that in the first place?

Zach Mack and his dad try to mend a rift between them in a very unusual way. 

People stuck in a loop, trying to find their way out.

People living in that in-between moment before everything changes. 

People try a radical approach to solving their problems.

The tiny thing that unravels your world.

Banias is an 8-year-old kid living in Gaza. And she has a story to tell — many stories, in fact.

How do you count almost 12 million votes if you’re not the government?

A colossal effort to un-tame a whale and send him back to the ocean.

We talk to people who helped make Trump's victory happen and some who are looking to what’s next.

A wee flame, flickering in the dark.

Thirteen parole board members decide whether or not one man should be released from prison.

Abbas Alawieh, a leader in the Uncommitted movement, grapples with how to get his voters the thing they want.

Chen Almog-Goldstein tells the story of life as a hostage in Gaza.

One kid comes to America as an exchange student and commits herself to the senior year experience.

People trying and struggling to see what another person sees. 

We spend a few days at the Iowa State Fair.

When the best—and perhaps only—way to say something is to write it down.

In a crisis, when all logic suggests that you get away from the dangerous thing, how will you respond?

People rethinking some of the most important relationships in their lives.

Boen Wang goes back to a day that changed the course of his family's story.

In Rafah, Yousef is out of options and faces his toughest move yet.

Trump has a plan for his second term: retribution. We check in with the people who’ve crossed him.

People tethered to one particular other person, whether they want to be or not.

How they organize the chaos of the world, for good and for bad.

The trial for the men accused of orchestrating the September 11 terrorist attacks still hasn’t started yet. 

Majid believed that if he could testify in court about what happened to him at a CIA black site, he would be given a break. Was he right?

People taking it upon themselves to solve the tiny, overlooked crimes of the world.