B.K. Will is a "Cultural Obscurist", someone who studies lost and overlooked art. The narrative is written as an investigative podcast created by her about her investigation into Cam Candor, the pseudonym of a podcast creator who produced literally hundreds of different podcasts, starting in the 2000s but never making more than a pilot episode of each, before disappearing from the public eye in late 2020. As the podcast goes on, we learn more about the entertainment climate in the near future in which B.K. makes the podcast and it becomes clear that there are greater forces at play.
The first season was released in 2021. The podcast is part of the Fable & Folly Network.
Tropes
- Alan Smithee: In-Universe; episode 4, "An Alan Smithee-type Situation", reveals that some podcast creators would take podcasts they made and were unhappy with and release them as a Cam Candor podcast in order to take their name off of it, like how movie directors used to release movies under the name Alan Smithee if they wanted to disown it.
- Anachronism Stew: Cam Candor's podcasts tend to play fast and loose with technology and production style relative to when the podcast is supposed to take place.
- Mr. Fezziwhig Talks Crumpets is set in Victorian Britain, but is framed as a radio show the main character runs - even though radios where obviously not available at the time.note
- Bedminster, despite taking place in the early 2020s, is produced as a 1940s-style Soap Opera, featuring the same kind of over-dramatic acting and organ music typical of the time. In the story, Ivanka even gets a message via telegram, wondering who even sends telegrams anymore.
- As Himself: Some real life podcasters appear as themselves in episode 4, specifically Shannon Perry, creator of Oz 9, Sean Howard, creator of Civilized, and David S. Dear, a voice actor on Civilized.
- Creator Thumbprint: Martina reveals to B.K. that all Cam Candor podcasts that were actually made by them use the same, specific sound at some point in the episode, usually for scene transitions: a cymbal followed by a snare hit.
- Cryptic Background Reference: Episode 2 alludes to the 2024 U.S. presidential election being so hellish that nobody even paid attention to the massive entertainment company mergers that took place, but no details are given in Season 1.
- The Ditz: In Bedminster, Eric Trump is characterized as a total dunce who keeps thinking Ivanka is Trump's first wife instead of his daughter and serves as Ivanka's personal chauffeur/henchman.
- Driving Question: In case the title didn't give it away, the identity and fate of the mysterious Cam Candor.
- Ethnic Menial Labor: In Bedminster, the Trumps have a Hispanic housekeeper named Rosa.
- Gender-Blender Name: The "Cam" in "Cam Candor" is equally possible as a male or female name; because of this, B.K. refers to Candor using gender-neutral pronouns.
- Genre Mashup: Candor's podcasts tend to mix genres in strange ways: Mr. Fezziwhig Talks Crumpets is a combined Victorian-style comedy of manners and murder mystery told as a radio talk show, and there is a mention of a deep-sea New Age thriller called Shaman Sharks of the South Pacific.
- It's Not Porn, It's Art: When discussing Cam Candor's erotic drama Filthy Nuns of the Holy Roman Empire, B.K. meets with Missy Abstract, an associate professor who teaches a feminist theory class that includes Candor and holds them up as a major figure in fourth wave feminism, seeing Filthy Nuns as a bold feminist manifesto. Martina Terkle, on the other hand, calls it porn, but likes it as much as any of Candor's other podcasts.
- Loony Fan: Martina Terkle, the president of a Cam Candor fan club who worships Candor as an unappreciated genius. Every time B.K. talks to her, she has expanded the club to cover more and more of the U.S. (due to increased interest brought on by B.K.'s podcast), eventually declaring herself "Comandante".
- Mafiya: In Episode 5, "Oligarchs and Cucumbers", B.K.'s investigation takes her to Oligarch's, a caviar bar frequented by members of a Russian crime syndicate.
- Megacorp: The unnamed company that has completely monopolized entertainment in the time the podcast is made; it even owns the podcast network that produces B.K.'s podcast.
- The podcast also references real-life mega-corporations, like Amazon, Google and Apple, and features a timeline where all of those companies acquired or were acquired by each other, and the unnamed company then acquiring the last one standing, leading to the Great Indie Podcast Purge of 2025, where the company produced countless podcasts starring Dax Shepard and almost every indie podcast were driven into the dirt.
- No Name Given: For some reason, the huge company that now seems to produce almost all entertainment is never named in the podcast; when it's mentioned, its redacted as "[bleep] Corp.", and the podcast show notes call it "Redacted Corp.".
- Recurring Element: As B.K. starts to notice, many of Cam Candor's podcasts feature some sort of severed finger.
- Show Within a Show: We hear samples of many of the Cam Candor podcasts that are discussed in the podcast:
- Mr. Fezziwhig Talks Crumpets, a combination of a Victorian comedy of manners and Murder Mystery.
- Bedminster, a Telenovela-style Soap Opera about Ivanka Trump and her conflict with Melania.
- Filthy Nuns of the Holy Roman Empire, an erotic drama set in a monastery.
- Pincher, a Romantic Comedy about a kleptomaniac.
- Dante's Tenth Circle, about a scummy financial advisor who gets sent to the new tenth circle of Hell, made for the new and worst of humanity.
- Uncivilized, a dark comedy sci-fi podcast not created by Cam Candor, but by Civilized's Sean Howard, about a queer former juggler who starts a marketing agency on a desolate planet. The cast of Civilized star in the clip we hear.
- Cucumber Facts, a binaural podcast where a narrator just reads fun facts about cucumber; it seems to have been made as a sleeping aid.
- Red MacGuffin, a Noir-style detective story.
- A Siri-ous Soap Opera, a dramedy about the personal lives of Siri virtual assistants written by Candor and performed entirely by synthesized voices of various Siri settings.
- 20 Minutes into the Future: B.K. buys the drive containing the Cam Candor podcasts in 2033, and the official show notes say the podcast is made in 2035. As it progresses, we are gradually filled in on some of the events that happened between then and the present. Also, on podcast platforms, the podcast's copyright tag is dated 2035.
- Wham Line: In episode 6, the last episode of season 1, the response B.K. gets when she calls the phone number on the thumb drive with Candor's last known message:"Good evening, you've reached the global offices of Redacted Corp. How may I direct your call?"
