Apple Podcasts Picks ‘Hysterical’ As Its 2024 Show Of The Year.

Dan Taberski’s seven-episode limited-run series Hysterical has been named Show of the Year by Apple Podcasts. The award is given each year to honor a show that demonstrates quality and innovation in podcasting. The series, produced by Wondery and Audacy’s Pineapple Street Studios, investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in upstate New York. It was released in July, and quickly rose to No. 1 on the Apple Podcasts charts. By year-end, Hysterical ranked as the ninth most popular new show of the year on Apple Podcasts.

Hysterical investigates a mysterious illness that spreads among a group of high school girls in Le Roy, NY in 2011 and 2012. It is believed by some to be the most severe case of mass hysteria since the Salem Witch Trials. Taberski says he was compelled to pursue this story when news of “Havana syndrome” — a mysterious illness impacting thousands of diplomats and hardened CIA agents around the world — started to spring up in the media. The two stories led to the common search for whether the government employees were also suffering from a hysterical illness.

“A lot of people still think it was an attack from some sort of microwave weapon,” Taberski says of the Havana syndrome news. “The media was pontificating about it, and they were interviewing all these people who were suffering from it, but everybody was really afraid to say, ‘What if it’s all in your head?’ So I thought it would be interesting to pair that story in Le Roy with what was happening to these diplomats and CIA officers to show that it can happen to anybody.”

Taberski — who earlier worked on podcasts including 9/12, Missing Richard Simmons, and Running from Cops — says podcasting has allowed him to do things that his earlier work in TV and film doesn’t.

“In podcasting, you have the ability to engage with the story and wrestle with it, to show that process of trying to understand it better, and work with the people who are part of the story. You can’t really do that anywhere else but in podcasting,” Taberski says.

“In narrative podcasting, the process of figuring it out is part of the conversations, part of what we cut together, and part of the whole thing,” he continues. “You’re not just telling it, and the listener can actually see that process. I just don’t know of a format where you can do that besides podcasting.”

Limited-run series like Hysterical have become less common as production companies embrace the always-on format for its better return-on-investment business model. But Taberski says in a Q&A with Apple Podcasts that limited-run series can still get produced, but it requires a level of commitment from the producers themselves.

“What sells is when you walk into a room and people can feel like, “Oh, this guy’s gonna make this no matter what. This guy’s gonna make this if he has to do it on his phone,” he says. “As the host, writer, and producer, it’s your voice; you need to be the one pushing it forward. So, asking people to love your idea always feels a little wrong to me. It just needs to be something that you are really compelled to make.”

Taberski was able to bring Wondery and Audacy onboard as partners for Hysterical. Jenna Weiss-Berman, Audacy’s Executive VP of Podcasts at Audacy, credits his ability to tap into the listeners’ “zeitgeist” with a combination of humor, insight and a breeziness. “Dan Taberski has continually been at the forefront of podcast documentary, and with Hysterical, he is operating at the top of his game,” she says.

Marshall Lewy, Wondery’s Chief Content Officer, agrees.

“Dan is a breakthrough storyteller and a true podcast auteur — he has a singular ability to present questions, and with his own unique approach, he will leave you completely enraptured and ready to go down the rabbit hole with him,” Lewy says. “Investigative limited series like Hysterical give listeners an opportunity to dive into complex, real-world stories that have no easy answers and take audiences on a journey. There’s no one better than Dan at this.”

Taberski doesn’t say what his next project will be but tells Apple Podcasts that as he decides whether to approach a project the number of questions that come up helps dictate his level of interest. 

“If the questions dry up pretty quickly, you kind of know it’s not worth it,” he says. “But, if the more time you spend with it, the more unsure you are, the more questions you have, the more doors it opens, the more things there are to wrestle with — that I think the listener would be interested to wrestle with as well — that’s when I get really into it.”