I used to listen to Planet Money, but it’s devolved over the same dumbed-down drivel that dominates NPR these days:

“Money has always been used to buy goods, but did you know you can also use it to buy services? Here’s some pop culture reference comparison to fake a narrative.”

I think the show started suffering when NPR turned every show into a podcast; it removes the ability to cater to a more focused audience because you have to waste half the show doing background.

I’m glad I’m not alone thinking this. 10 years ago it was the best of the best. Now it tries way to hard to be cute and “engaging.”

I think media types decided everything needed to be like Vox Explainers, so now everything sounds like it’s designed for primary school students.

Completely agree. More or Less and Business Daily (both BBC) have replaced Planet Money for me in the last few years.

I think that's a bit unfair - I think they're taking a very dry, boring subject and trying to make it engaging and interesting to a wider audience. They are sometimes going to err on the side of too generic, but most of the actual stories are still quite interesting, at least to me, who is coming into economic stuff very late in life and has very little grounding.