Amazing brave guests Great format on how you do your interviews Keep doing what your doing and I'll keep listening and supporting

If the documentary The Vietnam War continues to haunt and conflict you, please avoid this podcast. Host Alyssa Rosenberg’s follow-on reflections and commentary about the epic documentary are self-important, trite, distracting, biased, and irrelevant.

I tried speeding it up to 1.5x whenever she spoke, but it didn’t solve the issue.

1 Star reviews clearly have their own agendas.

I thoroughly enjoyed the PBS documentary and I find this just as good.

I loved the PBS series, and was looking forward to listening to this. It has great info, and is edited well. The host’s vocal fry just kills it for me.

Anyone who gave this a one-star for no other reason than the “vocal fry” should absolutely be banned from reviewing anything. Ever. Get over it. Even if you don’t like the voice (I love her voice, btw), this was an incredibly well-done podcast! Really enjoyed the interviews. This is a perfect compliment to one of the best war documentaries ever created. Amazing job!!!

Ken Burns total focus was on people who were trying to get attention and recognition they hungered for. They found they were not going to get it from people back home. They found that to get the 15 minutes of fame, they so longed for after returning was to protest the war! John Kerry being the prime example!

I like the documentary a lot better than the podcast. It was a lot more fare in the documentary Made very neutral showing both sides of the argument in horrible war. Than I thought it would be. The podcast brought out the left leaning views of the producers Ken Burns and the host. He is a great documentary maker that doesn’t bring his personal views into it. Unlike some of the news organizations, left and right

The reporter narrating the series is obviously knowledgeble, and she asks good questions that elicit raw and emotional responses from many of the principals that she interviews, but personally I find her "valley girl" delivery both annoying and distracting.

I’m sorry to be callous, but I just can’t get past the vocal fry in the host’s voice. I don’t understand why she couldn’t take the producer’s seat and let a broadcast professional do the talking.

I loved the PBS documentary and was eager to follow up with this podcast, but I just can’t stand the vocal fry. It is a shame because the reporter is very knowledgeable otherwise.

Terrible sounds!

Loved it was a really good!

This podcast is top-notch. It explores the different views-Soldiers, anti-war folks, nurses. Really well done!! Worth listening to and watching.

I got thru the firstr 3 podcasts but the vocal fry got to be too grating to listen to. It's too bad because the questions are good and the series is important.

This podcast adds a good amount of insight into the process the PBS Vietnam War documentary went through during production. Not necessarily meant to be listened to on its own to learn more about the history of the war, but that wasn’t the intended purpose of the podcast.

Alyssa is an excellent interviewer. Considering that she did not grow up during the war or after it, her questions are thoughtful as well as thought provoking. I love listening to the interviews with Ken Burns and Lynn Novik and getting the inside story on how they obtained their facts and materials as well as the insiders version of that tumultuous and game changing time in our history.

Podcast follows up each episode of the Burns/Novick documentary with additional questions for Burns and Novick or asks historians for their personal opinion on a subject the episode covered. I found the question-answer sessions to be interesting and to give me more insight into the TV episode.

Burns great, ridiculous vocal fry narrator awful...impossible to listen to.

Terrific behind the scenes look at Ken Burns's and Lynn Novick's The Vietnam War. Worth your time.

I’m loving the TV series (which I’m watching on the PBS website) and this podcast does a great job at answering some of my own production questions, particularly involving the filmmakers’ own reactions to what they learned, and in describing the whole process of how they were able to find and secure interview subjects. After a typically intense two hour episode, this makes for some very reflective listening on what I’ve just watched.

I found Alyssa Rosenberg's interviews w/ Ken Burns and Lynn Novick and others to add a great deal to the experience of watching the incredible "Vietnam War" series. The comments she elicits from both Burns and Novick provided added context for the decisions they made about what events to cover, which individuals to interview, and how to present this complext set of facts and details to a public that either grew up with the war or who never had to live through it, but only vaguely knew it was a difficult time for America at large. Excellent backstory to an incredible PBS series.

Making a documentary is based on a series of choices on how to approach the subject, making an intimate balanced examination of why this war is so inseared into the American identity. This helpful podcast leads me to understand the choices the Producers took to present their series viewpoints. The weakest segment is the first episode because the Producers tried to pack too much information into the allotted time. The first segment of this podcast talked with Fredrik Logevall, author of 'Embers of War' that gives a more detailed orderly explanation of what led America into the War. I feel sorry for those who are missing the great content because they cannot get past the host's vocal intonations.

Excellent content, thoughtful discussions, and a fantastic if not required supplement to the incredible series, but for the Love of God, I am begging you, please knock off the vocal fry Allysa!!! It is insufferable. Yes, yes, this makes me an old fart and even though your case is mild, it is quite frequent and I can't take it. It is a silly yet curable affectation that detracts from your being taken seriously. You are obviously a smart person. Work on sounding like one. When you speak with more volume, you are fine. When you drop low, the fry comes in and you sound like a disaffected teen. I'm in your head now whteher you like it or not. Trust me, this is for your own good. EDIT: I see I am far from alone. Myraid 1 star reviews on vocal fry. Thank god, there is hope! EDIT: No there is not. She is on Twitter in complete denile. Followers are calling us complainers sexist.

Wasn’t sure at first but ended loving this podcast before even before I’ve seen the show. Wetted my appetite for it though. Just haven’t had the time.

I endured because of the content. The vocal fry was like fingers on a blackboard. A little speech therapy could have improved Alyssa Rosenbergs delivery a lot.

I enjoy the format of this show, which is essentially an interview of the producers and other contributors. The content gives me perspective both on the war and also on the series. It feels sort of like I am sitting in a room with Ken Burns et al. chatting with them about their thoughts about the series. I am really looking forward to seeing The American War now that I have listened to the podcast.

All of the episodes in this podcast provide interviews with Ken Burns and Lyn Novick, as well as some of the historical consultants to the series. Just listened to episode 6, which focuses on the photograph (and NBC video) of the execution of Nguyễn Văn Lém by Gen. Nguyễn Ngọc Loan. Powerful! Great podacast! Thanks!

I very much enjoyed your series on the American War. Listening to you dig deeper by asking such probing questions only added to my enjoyment of the Documentary Loved the Podcast and loyal subscriber to the Washington Post. Keep up the good work

This podcast helped me understand and absorb the documentary with additional insights. Sad to see so many superficial reviews attacking the narrator.

If you watch the series by Ken Burns and lynn Novick, then do NOT listen to this podcast. The content sounds like a middle school student discovering history for the first time. If you want a more professional and well-reserched podcat, try "LBJ's War" by the University of Texas at Austin. I'm surprised ken Burn's valabale time was wasted on such an amateur podcast.

I was and infantry platoon leader and company commander in Vietnam. The strongest focus needed to be on the how we avoid permitting politicians to make the same mistakes and self-serving decisions in subsequent conflicts. You did well highlighting those decisions for Vietnam, But I wish we had then extended those mistakes to Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen and North Korea.

This is sad, I was looking forward to listening to Ken burns talk about his documentary. But like so many others the vocal fry of the host is eating into my brain. Wish I hadn't downloaded all the episodes before listening.

Couldn’t finish the first podcast. Vocal Fry for daaaaaayyyyyyys.

The American War podcast transcripts can be found on WaPo site for people like me who find content interesting but cannot overcome distracting vocal style.

Excellent content from the documentary filmmakers and interviewees. A good companion piece to the PBS series. However, the host is so annoying and detracts from the entire experience. She is constantly sharing her perspective, making herself part of the story.

Like so many podcasts as of late, I love the content but the hosts have zero voice training and the upspeak (and in the case of this podcast) the vocal fry makes it difficult for me to listen to. Hopefully reporters who plan to be on podcasts will see a voice coach.

For those whinning about the "vocal fry" - As a combat Veteran, 101st Air Borne, Phu Bai, RVN, your critism sounds like a bunch of whinners who haven't the slightest understanding of the significant of both the TV show and this assessment of it. Buck Up and listen straight through and think every minute of those is lived and died while you're focused on your own self centered interest.

I liked the content, and the brevity. It's nice to hear a little more background about the episodes. But, as many others have mentioned, the vocal fry and frequent up-speak of the host are really grating.

Great access to the filmmakers Including Lynn Novick who is clearly an equal partner but gets a second billing to Ken Burns. They discuss what got in, what was left out and how issues were framed. Great stuff. All the reviewers focusing on “vocal fry”- hate women much?

About the production of the documentary and the motivation and perspective of Burns and Novick. I really appreciate the producers answering questions about the process. The journalist and I are of a similar generation and we share an interest in the Vietnam War era. Like her, I thought I knew about the war but the documentary is showing me I didn't know much. Listening to this additional commentary let's me dive deeper.

Vocal fry is annoying without a doubt. And I urge the interviewer to seek out voice therapy if she wishes to continue her media career. That being said, the Podcast adds to the movie. Doesn't just rehash the episode. Excellent work here. Interviews with Ken Burns are insightful.

Many have mentioned the vocal fry already -- I also the background guitar-noodling to be incredibly annoying. And more importantly, the comments/questions of the host do not do justice to the material and her interviewees. Post podcasts still amateurish compated to NYtimes and Slate productions.

This podcast gives insight into the way the documentary was filmed, soldiers were chosen, the story was told.

I want to like this show. I do. And I really appreciate the insights from Lynne and Ken, but I wish the host would just get out of the way! She's so self-important and scripted and stiff that it makes it hard to listen to the insights she's able to elicit. (And I say this as a millennial woman who has also been a podcast host.)

The host, Alyssa Rosenberg's horribly phrased questions and "valley girl" grating voice ruins this podcast. Talking over and interrupting Ken Burns with her worthless personal comments are inexcusable.

I am really enjoying the documentary and I do love the back story interviews BUT I sooo struggle with the narrators voice. It takes away from the seriousness of the topic when it sounds like a bugle gum high schooler is asking the questions. I wish I could change the voice on this. Because the rest of this is so good, I’m hanging in there... painfully.

While the audio isn’t always the clearest, the host asks a number of questions I’ve had myself about how Burns and Novick made the finished product.

This is a great companion episodes to The great series on PBS. I like getting more behind the scenes conversation on the interviews and people who were part of it.