It's Ira Glass! In all his shiny, pixellated, downloadable goodness.

Dude.

Episodes of the "This American Life" TV series are now available from iTunes.

DUDE!

Last September, at a public radio conference, I got a chance to see a preview of the series--most of what turned out to be the pilot episode of the show. Then, just before the show debuted, I saw a couple other episodes on a promotional DVD the producers sent out. But I never saw the full run of the series. Much as I love the radio show, I'm not a Showtime subscriber, and I didn't think a six-episode run justified ponying up the full cost of a subscription. Plus, I'm pretty sure I was working on a show at the time--which means I probably wouldn't have benn home to watch, anyway.

Nevertheless, based on what little I've seen of the TV series, it looks to be every bit as good as the radio show. The choice of stories is just as careful, the narrative style is the same, and so on. I don't know that the show broke ground in terms of using the craft of video production to tell stories, but it's safe to say that the show is twice as smart and curious about the world as anything else that's out there on the television dial.

That being the case, you should definitely go buy all six episodes. Now. At two bucks a pop, you'll get the whole run for slightly more than a download of "Zoolander." Which do you think you're more likely to watch without wanting to suddenly dash your iPod to bits against the nearest wall?

Thought so.

[Off-topic, I know, but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that Showtime has picked up "TAL" for ten more episodes. If so, that's great news--I might even break down and subscribe. But I wonder when (or even IF) the TV episodes will be available on DVD. Again, the safest bet is to fire up the credit card and get them while they're hot.]