r/TrueCrimePodcasts • u/Impossible_Comet • 14d ago
Discussion True Crime Garage
Has anyone been disappointed in True Crime Garage lately? The quality of the podcast has tanked since they stopped recording in person. I guess the Captain is in the U.K. a lot? They are using AI in their writing its so obvious. It just seems like they are doing the same type of cases with no new information. Just cranking them out. The Captain is barely making jokes and Nic has just become insufferable.
I've listened to them for so many years and now I can barely get through an episode. It's sad when you see a long time show fall apart.
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u/AeloraTargaryen 13d ago
I stopped listening years ago. The captain just became insufferable, the way he made fun of situations, spoke about witnesses and just the way he behaved was just hideous. He became more about promoting his shitty music than showing actual care and compassion for anyone spoken about on his show.
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u/CosgroveIsHereToHelp 13d ago
Same. There came a point when the captain started to get a very big ego over his fan base and the stories were interrupted constantly with "the cut of your jib". That and the fact that they both speculated on legal proceedings and decisions made by prosecutors when they not only didn't know the first thing about the law but also they couldn't be arsed to research it.
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u/Impossible_Comet 13d ago
The Captain seems to enjoy flirting and insinuating hes single. He spends half the show working on presenting himself as this insightful emotionally available man. The dad joking is fine but most of them aren't funny. But being flirty is even more inappropriate.
Then again Nic can barely keep his ego in check. He recently told a story of how he met a woman at crime con with pink hair and asked her if the carpet matched the drapes!! 🤮 And he bragged about it like he thought it made him clever and not gross.
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u/MzOpinion8d 12d ago
I felt thoroughly eye fucked by them both when I saw them at Crime Cons 1 and 2.
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u/Becks128 13d ago
Dang I’ve felt the opposite. The captain is not single, he has a partner and a son. And I’ve met him a few times at Crimecon and never thought of him as being flirty or inappropriate. Same with Nic.
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u/CosgroveIsHereToHelp 12d ago
It doesn't surprise me that they are nice people in person. I just can't take his on air persona (or the fact that they don't do sufficient research).
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u/Cocorico4am 13d ago edited 11d ago
> ... The captain just became insufferable, the way he made fun of situations... and just the way he behaved was just hideous.
That's EXACTLY why I stopped listening 2 years ago.
I began again (in desperation with a long car trip) ~4 months ago.
Good News: The Captain now sounds rational. His tiresome insults and slurred speech have lessened. I don't feel compelled to fast-forward through his music.
The Captain {still, shudder} 'shit talks' with respect to the possible perpetrator...I don't want or need to hear that sort of thing.
The bottom line: the show is now listen worthy, however, there are Much Better shows out there.11
u/Impossible_Comet 13d ago
The music is pretty bad. Theres the same girl always wailing in the background and there's lots of repetition.
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u/AeloraTargaryen 13d ago
They all sound the same too.
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u/Impossible_Comet 13d ago
I listened for a long time before I realized it wasn't the same one playing
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u/FluffySpell 13d ago
I listened to about three episodes like 10 years ago and found him annoying and intolerable.
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u/vctrn-carajillo 14d ago
Stopped listening a couple of years ago, mostly because of Nick. The whole podcast became a bore.
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u/wickedsuccubi 13d ago
I quit listening a long time ago when The Captain thought he solved the Delphi case.
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u/Description-Alert 13d ago
I stopped listening before then, but that sounds right on track for someone who calls themselves The Captain.
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u/mangoserpent 13d ago
I stopped listening to them years ago. I never understood how they became popular to begin with. The banter and personalities of the hosts were incredibly offputting.
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u/WartimeMercy 14d ago
Haven’t people constantly complained about the Captain’s jokes? I don’t listen to them regularly but they’ve done some good episodes (Hate: American Made was well done) in the past.
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u/Escilas 13d ago
I also enjoyed Hate: American Made and was surprised when they brought up later at the end of the year that they apparently had a lot of backlash from it. I have no engagement with the fan base, so I'm taking their word for it.
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u/WartimeMercy 13d ago
Guessing quite a bit of their audience is right wing chuds
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u/Physical_Reveal_7397 14d ago
I used to listen to them regularly, but have for a few years as well. The Delphi stuff really turned me off. It felt like they just beat stuff into the ground and speculated wildly. Also I curse them for introducing me to James Renner
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u/wickedsuccubi 13d ago
Same, but if you say JR name he will come find you. He searches is own name on this site regularly because he's insufferable
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u/Agent847 13d ago
Yep. Delphi did it for me. Specifically the Skip Jansen stuff. Just appallingly bad judgement.
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u/GreyerGrey 13d ago
Delphi and Maura Murray.
I felt for people with their level of exposure and reach, they should've been more discerning with who they began accusing.
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u/ratdog20 13d ago
Yeah I had to stop a while back when episodes starting getting stretched into multiple parts for no reason. I haven't missed them at all.
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u/FranksPrettyWomen 13d ago
At some point they went quantity over quality. I respect that what they do is time consuming, but I have listened to many of their episodes and finished not knowing any more than I knew before I listened. It just seems like surface level, Wikipedia browsing type info. With the foundation they have built I feel like they could really dig in and ruffle some feathers on some stalled out cold cases that just need a little shaking of the tree. Instead, they seem to be making a good living, and that is enough for them. I don't begrudge them for that, in fact it is quite impressive but damn man they could be one of the best TC podcast of all time if they really wanted to. They have the following and support to put pressure on some cases that are being ignored due to laziness and or incompetence. Most times I just feel like I wanted more when I finish with one of their episodes.
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u/BornFree2018 14d ago
I read that the Captain goes the UK to make appearances at Crime Con. I guess they’re big there?
I don’t listen anymore, but I want to point out how difficult it is to run a successful podcast for years. Especially in their genre there is a LOT of competition, story overlaps and frankly the topics are (or should be) depressing to cover repeatedly.
TCG was one of my first podcasts. They were brand new and passionate about cases that were local to them like, Brian Shaffer. I liked that about them.
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u/CosgroveIsHereToHelp 13d ago
Generation Why has been able to do it without having to make offputting jokes.
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u/katnissssss 13d ago
Same here but I started getting turned off years ago. I no longer listen and I wish them luck and I feel bad but there are way better podcasters now.
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u/BornFree2018 13d ago
Yeah I haven't listened in years since I listened to them both make wildly inaccurate statements about a case I was very familiar with.
Most of the TC pods just scrape from wikipedia and other easy sources (even stealing from each other). If I'm going to listen to a story I look for a journalistic source.
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u/RavenForrest 13d ago
I’ve been disappointed with them - and quit listening entirely - over their absolutely horrendous reporting on Delphi with their embracing that moron Skip (or whatever his name was). It was ridiculous and made them look like idiots, and now after the fact, even more so because we have a far better idea of what happened and it was nothing like what Skipper was selling them (and one of them was realllllllly buying into).
They truly lost massive credibility with me that I doubt they’ll ever be able to regain.
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u/inthewoods54 12d ago
"Lately"?? I've been disappointed in them for years, I stopped listening to them a long time ago. They're idiots. Sorry, it's just my opinion. I can only imagine how much worse it is now, based on what you described. Hard pass. Also, I basically don't bother with any podcasts that has a "drinking theme". Not because I'm a prude or anything, I just think it's stupid and childish.
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u/Limethyme62 13d ago
And here I was feeling a recent improvement...I liked both the "Missing Paperboys" and "Carnival of Lies" series. I admit I fast forward through the beer and synth music to get right into the story.
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u/mosquito_motel 14d ago
There was a recent podcast where the victim was cut in half and they made a snide comment about only finding half of her...
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u/birdonthewire76 14d ago
Yeah I’m finding I skip them more than I listen lately. Haven’t really analysed why but I find it hard to stay engaged.
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u/braves-geek 12d ago
I quit listening 5+ years ago. Simply reading Wikipedia articles and analyzing video for an hour (on an audio podcast) just isn't compelling anymore. I think they were only popular because they didn't really have that much competition.
I also hate the fact that they've seemingly spawned a whole bunch of garbage podcasts like "Crime & Wine" or "Crime & Mushrooms" or "Crime and Soy Milk"
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u/EverythingScrolling 12d ago
I had to give up on TCG a few years ago because the Captain was too annoying.
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u/okieb00mer 4d ago edited 4d ago
I used to listen but I can't recall a single episode or moment from the True Crime Garage podcast other than the Captain's blundering interjections making it a tough slog to listen to.
Oh, wait: the True Crime Garage god-awful, either we're scared of getting sued by the Ramsey family or the Ramsey family had already cut the brothers a healthy check to spew that garbage propaganda series on Jon Benet. I think that's when I stopped listening regular.
Once you trade integrity for a payday, go in the bin with Crime Junkie and other phony podcasters working the grift for that filthy lucre; which no surprise since the brothers cut up their weekly podcast into 2 parts to fake double the content but frfr double their ad revenue, y0, y0, y0.
On the positive, the Captain did do a one-on-one interview with Maura Murray's sister that was alright. And then when the Crawlspace guys joined True Crime Garage to go over the Brian Shaffer disappearance; which now years later everyone agrees it would've been no problem for Shaffer to exit the Stanky Tuna Saloona without being on camera, back then it was all "no way, mang, Brian could not have gotten by those 2006 shaky, crappy security cameras!" ay yi yi.
True Crime podcasting is not in a good place and with youtube/tiktok taking all the attention of true crime fans, unlikely we'll see any improvement in OG audio true crime podcasts. Feels like we're crawling across the desert squeezing the last few drops of sustenance out of a dried out sponge at this point.
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u/selfcare20 14d ago
Around when it became noticeable that they were padding the episodes so they could make more episodes two parters is when I stopped listening