The Sunshine Place - Podcast Rankings and reviews

The story of Synanon is so complex that it would be hard to tell over 20 episodes, and that Sari was able to tell a comprehensive story in 8 is amazing! The first hand accounts, including her own, really enriched the podcast.

This podcast is a personal origin story I didn’t know well, the whole podcast was so helpful for me in putting pieces together. A program (cult) born of Synanon, called Cedu which would umbrella a few “therapeutic” schools was referenced in the last video, and is where I ended up in 1989. I never knew how to talk about it, I’m impressed that the people interviewed could put their experiences in words at all. I’ve been recommending this podcast to close friends, it’s the only way I know to share anything close to my experience.

I love listening to podcasts about cults. This one has lots of first hand knowledge and interviews that really show what it was like to be in the cult and how peoples views changed. Top notch!

I’m a connoisseur of podcasts about cults and can tell you this is one of the better ones. The archival material is expertly put together in a riveting tale of utopia gone bad. The scope and breadth of the project is immense. I love the recreation of Chuck’s voice - his power of personality and dangerous ideas really come through. Great listening. Thank you!

Big names are behind this podcast. And that’s about the only thing this has going for it. If you enjoy disoriented timelines, random and Unfinished character plots and fabricated tape recordings to make things sound old then this is for you. All stories are based off of first hand s encounters with no facts to back them up. Overall just not worth your time. Many other well put together podcasts series to listen to. I’d put this at the bottom of anyone’s list

The show had potential but I was put off by the repeated use of the phrases “dope fiend” and “drug addict”. I get that this was the 1960s vocabulary but it just sounds dated and stigmatized. If they used at least some person-centered language like “person who uses drugs” or “people with a heroin addiction” I would have kept listening.