The MGM-owned premium cable channel EPIX announced on Sunday that they have given a greenlight to Slow Burn, a television adaptation of the popular Slate podcast created by Leon Neyfakh and Andrew Parsons. The six-episode docuseries, like the first season of the Slow Burn podcast, will focus on the Watergate scandal and the downfall of the Nixon administration. EPIX president Michael Wright couldn’t be happier:
With Slow Burn, Leon Neyfakh took a profound and compelling journey through some of the most unforgettable times in political history. As huge fans of the podcast, we’re thrilled to work with our partners at Slate, Left/Right and, of course, Leon, to further explore what he so brilliantly brought to the fore.
Since it launched in November of 2017, Slow Burn has become one of Slate’s most popular podcasts, most recently winning Best Podcast at the first iHeartRadio Podcast Awards. Neyfakh and Parsons have since left Slate to start independent podcast studio Prologue Projects, where Neyfakh is developing Fiasco, a podcast whose first season will focus on the 2000 presidential election.
The television version of Slow Burn will be produced by Slate and Left/Right, the studio behind Showtime’s television adaptation of This American Life. It will be executive produced by Neyfakh; Dan Check, Gabriel Roth, and Julia Turner for Slate; and Ken Druckerman and Banks Tarver for Left/Right. And they’ll have a little help from the most powerful man in the world: Although he will not be credited, President Donald Trump is expected to work tirelessly between now and Slow Burn’s premiere to make sure interest in stories about presidents getting kicked out of office stays at a fever pitch.
