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The Plot Thickens

The Plot Thickens

TCM & Novel

Our fifth season is Decoding John Ford, a seven-episode series about cinema's most mysterious auteur. Using scores of never-before-heard archival interviews, host Ben Mankiewicz strips back John Ford's self-spun mythology to reveal his brilliance behind the camera – alongside the often ugly, uncomfortable truths about his life and movies, asking whether we can ever truly separate art from the artist. Decoding John Ford starts June 6.
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Top 10 The Plot Thickens Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Plot Thickens episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Plot Thickens for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Plot Thickens episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

The Plot Thickens - Hollywood

Hollywood

The Plot Thickens

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10/26/21 • 48 min

For her first movie role, Lucy wears a flesh-toned bodysuit and waist-length blonde wig while chained to a rock. But her clowning on set gets her noticed, and she begins to land larger and larger parts. Soon she signs with RKO Pictures where she's mentored by Ginger Rogers’ demanding and powerful mother, Lela. She also meets a young Cuban musician, the man who would become her closest partner both on and off the screen.

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3 Listeners

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1 Comment

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The Plot Thickens - I Love Lucy

I Love Lucy

The Plot Thickens

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11/16/21 • 52 min

With a TV deal from CBS, Desi assembles a ragtag team of collaborators to make a new kind of program, one that would rewrite the rules of television. And they do it while hiding Lucy’s newest surprise: after ten years of trying, she’s about to have a baby. The result is the biggest hit in TV history, one that showcases Lucy's fearlessness and comic timing, and she becomes beloved by millions of fans from coast to coast.

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3 Listeners

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The Plot Thickens - Desi

Desi

The Plot Thickens

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11/02/21 • 46 min

Forced from his native Cuba by violent revolution, 17-year-old Desi Arnaz is a stranger in a strange land. Armed with an appetite for girls and gambling, Desi sparks a dance craze in the nightclubs of Miami and sweet-talks his way into New York society. After a syphilis scare threatens his Broadway debut, his ambition leads him to Hollywood, where his head is turned by an older actress named Lucy.

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3 Listeners

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The Plot Thickens - The End of Desilu

The End of Desilu

The Plot Thickens

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11/30/21 • 55 min

Lucy and Desi's studio expands as they buy the RKO lot and produce new shows under the Desilu banner. The strain of running an empire takes its toll, and Desi falls further into gambling, drinking and philandering as a refuge from work. Lucy doubles down on her career, but after shooting a tearful final episode of her signature TV show, her marriage reaches its breaking point.

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3 Listeners

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The Plot Thickens - Lighting the Fire

Lighting the Fire

The Plot Thickens

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06/29/21 • 49 min

One decision could make or break The Bonfire of the Vanities: who will play the female lead? It comes down to two actresses – established, expensive Melanie Griffith or an unknown, alluring 19 year-old named Uma Thurman. Suddenly the producer, Peter Guber, vanishes from the scene, departing both the movie and the studio in a whirl of bad publicity.

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3 Listeners

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The Plot Thickens - The Devil’s Candy Bonus Episode
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08/24/21 • 45 min

Author Julie Salamon joins TCM Host Alicia Malone for a revealing interview about what you didn’t hear during our second season of The Plot Thickens.

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3 Listeners

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The Plot Thickens - Jamestown

Jamestown

The Plot Thickens

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10/12/21 • 48 min

In a small town in New York, young Lucille Ball becomes enamored with showbiz after watching vaudeville acts and silent movies at the amusement park near her home. As a teenager, she falls for a handsome 21-year-old bootlegger, and is promptly shipped off to drama school in New York City. But Lucy soon returns home as a life-altering tragedy threatens to tear apart her family.

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2 Listeners

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The Plot Thickens - Reaching for the Stars – and Paying the Price
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07/06/21 • 42 min

As Tom Hanks researches his role, nobody recognizes how wrong he is for the part. There's more immediate pushback against the casting of Bruce Willis, since his part was written as British. But the hardest decision comes when the director insists that a Jewish judge be played by a Black actor, to soften the film’s racial tensions.

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2 Listeners

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The Plot Thickens - The Best Movie We Ever Made
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08/03/21 • 43 min

With production now in Los Angeles, Brian De Palma feels the pressure from prying studio executives – and from Bruce Willis, who starts directing other actors on how to be funnier. De Palma gets some much-needed encouragement from his friend Steven Spielberg, who is an old pro at playing the Hollywood game. Then, as post-production ramps up, studio heads see a first cut and love the film, though they have no idea how to market it.

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The Plot Thickens - Introducing The Devil's Candy
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06/09/21 • 5 min

A blockbuster book, an all-star cast... what could possibly go wrong? For our second season, we're telling the inside story of The Bonfire of the Vanities, a movie that was supposed to be a hit – but wasn't. Come with us onto the closed set and hear actual recordings of Brian De Palma, Tom Hanks, Melanie Griffith and others, to find out how a highly-anticipated film became a cautionary tale for the ages.

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2 Listeners

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1 Comment

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FAQ

How many episodes does The Plot Thickens have?

The Plot Thickens currently has 62 episodes available.

What topics does The Plot Thickens cover?

The podcast is about Film History, Podcasts and Tv & Film.

What is the most popular episode on The Plot Thickens?

The episode title 'I Love Lucy' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on The Plot Thickens?

The average episode length on The Plot Thickens is 38 minutes.

How often are episodes of The Plot Thickens released?

Episodes of The Plot Thickens are typically released every 7 days.

When was the first episode of The Plot Thickens?

The first episode of The Plot Thickens was released on Mar 26, 2020.

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