…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.

I’ve been a convert since moving to Chicagoland 7 years ago. What is it about this hour-long program that keeps me in my car with the radio on long after reaching my destination? Certainly a huge appeal for its many fans is the ability of TAL’s host, Ira Glass, to tell a compelling story. Each week Glass aranges a few stories under one common theme. A few weeks back it was Cat and Mouse and the stories included a first-person account of the border patrolling Minutemen in California, a piece of fiction by David Sedaris, a confession by a Washington Post reporter who can’t find the perfect couch, and the tale of a grafitti artist and the NYPD.

More than the creative themes pulling together the stories, it’s Glass’ ability to find the compelling and aweful among the normal and mundane. Glass, along with his many contributors, are genuinely fascinated by the stories they tell. From the TAL website,

There are funny moments and emotional moments and – hopefully – moments where the people in the story say interesting, surprising things about it all. It has to be surprising. It has to be fun.

Interesting, surprising, fun, and sometimes sad. And somehow, these stories connect. While This Americal Life may not exactlly be my life, sometimes it seems pretty damn close.

So here’s the question. Will the channel that brought us The L Word, Fat Actress, and Queer as Folk be able to translate TAL from radio to television? Will the stories that evoked so much on Public Radio do the same on premium cable? Tune in this Thursday to find out.

Update: Check out the entire first episode on Showtime's site .

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