The Chaos of Caring for Aging Parents: This Week’s Best Podcasts | TV and radio

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So your parents are old

Behind the irreverent title, Vanessa Grigoriadis draws on first-hand experience in this show about the exhausting and often confusing experience of caring for an elderly parent. Her first guest was Lisa Gibbons, an American talk show host who created a center for caregivers. Although her story is unique — complete with a stint on Celebrity Apprentice — it offers comfort and practical advice to those who find themselves in a similar situation. Hannah J. Davis
Widely available, weekly episodes

Threshold

Can we eliminate HIV, TB and malaria in our lifetime? More than two million people die from these diseases every year, but with funding cuts and changing priorities, their numbers may actually rise. This essential new foreign policy series hosted by Henri Bonsault talks with experts to find out the truth. Holly Richardson
Widely available, weekly episodes

Lime

Avery Trufelman’s engaging essays have long been hailed as one of fashion’s smartest podcasts (where else can you find a deep dive into both pointe shoes and prison uniforms?) This occasional show keeps the bar high, as Trufelman looks at how military gear inspired the high-end outerwear we now wear to buy milk. HJD
Widely available, weekly episodes

Conversations with ghosts

Arriving just in time for Halloween, from the creators of the podcast and Netflix hit Archive 81, this new series fuses horror and memoir-style fantasy into something that feels like a treat for ghosts. Shrine steward Mal Fleming is tasked with encouraging the ghosts to pass by; It is, say its creators, “more like an exercise in compassion than exorcism.” HJD
Widely available, weekly episodes

History Podcast: The House at No. 48

Peter Easton’s children were unable to fully understand their father’s accent, and after his death his son Anthony discovered a German birth certificate in his possession. Charlie Northcutt unravels a tangled tale alongside Anthony, as they discover the fate of the Eisner family, whose lives were turned upside down by the Holocaust. HJD
Widely available, weekly episodes