Political anger and quiet stories, side by side.
Alyssa Milano and co-host Ben Jackson talk politics without hiding their anger. They cheer Democrats who turn Trump's own tactics against him and criticize party talking points they hear as robotic. Their Story Not Sorry series takes a different tone, setting submitted essays and fiction on finding meaning in a time of strife beside interviews with the writers.
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Alyssa Milano: Sorry Not Sorry has two distinct sides. One is political conversation between Alyssa Milano and her co-host, Ben Jackson, and it is openly partisan. The other is Story Not Sorry, a seasonal series that sets submitted writing beside interviews with the people who wrote it. The political episodes feel personal and move quickly. The redistricting conversation starts with small talk about summer slipping away and kids going back to school, then turns to Texas and California. There, the hosts enjoy watching Gavin Newsom turn Trump's tactics against him. They argue that 'when they go low, we go high' has run its course. The stakes, they say, go beyond elections to the erasure of history and of trans rights. Their own side does not escape criticism. In one exchange they call Democratic messaging robotic and say it belittles protesters, marchers and people showing up at ICE detention centers. A news roundup finds Alyssa Milano back from time with family at Lake Tahoe before the talk turns to religious freedom, doublethink and the normalization of abuse. Guests bring reporting and research. Alice Driver, author of The Life and Death of the American Worker, discusses meatpacking, where immigration, labor, and health and safety meet, through the stories of Tyson Food employees in Arkansas. The conversation covers the toll of repeating one motion over and over through a shift. It also covers the contrast she draws between corporate staff sent home during COVID and the workers in the plants. Ben Jackson can hold the floor alone as well. In 'Fascism and Trump's Own Words - Part 1' he explains that he once avoided the word fascist as rhetorically ineffective, and why he has since changed his mind. He signs off with 'class is dismissed'. Story Not Sorry takes the heat down. Writers submitted fiction and essays on the theme of finding meaning in a time of strife, and each piece is followed by a conversation with its author. Ben Jackson contributes a piece of his own, 'My Soul Doth Magnify The Lord'. Kate Tell, a writer and poet based in Hoboken, New Jersey, brings 'Cat Person', an essay written while her cat was very sick. With the hosts, she describes it as bracing for a loss she could not prevent and questions the anxious belief that enough preparation can stop what is coming. She has since lost that cat and her father, and she says working through the anticipation first helped her with what followed. The closing lines sum up the show's outlook: hope as a discipline that has to be practiced, and storytelling as the way the truth gets passed on. For the political side, start with 'Texas and California Redistricting'. For the quieter side, start with Kate Tell and 'Cat Person'.
Made for: Suits a listener who wants openly anti-Trump political talk with real feeling behind it and who would also welcome personal essays and conversations with writers about grief and meaning.
What sets it apart: It pairs blunt partisan conversation with Story Not Sorry, a seasonal series of submitted essays and fiction, each followed by an interview with its author. A redistricting argument and a reflection on grief can share the same feed.
Sorry Not Sorry tackles social, political and cultural issues from the perspective of unapologetic guests while highlighting activists doing amazing things throughout the country.
Adoption ads geofenced around abortion clinics may change how casually you say "just choose adoption."
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A tender reflection on how imagining a pet's death can feel like bracing for the fall.
Anticipatory grief quietly shapes this episode as Kate Tell faces the coming death of her 13-year-old cat before it arrives. Her essay stays close to the small, telling memories of a pet carried through childhood, including an ill-fated leash attempt, while the conversation…
An atheist's choral encounter becomes a searching meditation on holiness, art, and meaning in a time of strife.
Alyssa Milano returns after a two-month hiatus with Story Not Sorry, a seasonal Sorry Not Sorry series built around fiction and essays about finding meaning in a time of strife.
A blunt, uneasy discussion of redistricting, democratic standards, and the cost of fighting back without losing moral clarity.
Texas and California redistricting becomes a test of political honesty in a charged single-episode review of strategy, power, and democratic limits.
A clear, urgent conversation links meatpacking labor, COVID risk, immigration, and the food families depend on.
Meatpacking gives the episode its clearest way into immigration, labor, and health and safety. Alyssa Milano's conversation with Alyssa Driver follows Tyson Foods employees in Arkansas through repetitive line work, the physical strain of 40,000 to 100,000 motions in an…
A Lake Tahoe reset leads into a pointed conversation about how abuse gets normalized in public life.
Alyssa Milano's roundup begins with a reset in Lake Tahoe, where time outside with her children and Dave gives the episode its personal footing.
Ukraine explained through war, history, and survival.
Ukrainian memory, culture, and wartime witness.
Iran war talk, moon missions and the weather, unscripted
Alyssa Milano introduces a discussion on historical activism and social justice with co-host Ben Jackson, touching on racism, the newsboys strike, and the suffragette movement.
Alyssa Milano and Ben Jackson talk with writer-poet Kate Tell about "Cat Person," a short essay on anticipating a cat’s death while living with anxiety and panic disorder.
Alyssa Milano returns to Sorry Not Sorry with Story Not Sorry, using Ben Jackson's essay My Soul Doth Magnify the Lord to frame a conversation about finding meaning in strife.
Alyssa Milano and Ben Jackson spend this Sorry Not Sorry episode on Texas redistricting, California's ballot-measure response, and whether Democrats should fight Republicans by using the same hardball tactics.
Alice Driver says Tyson Foods had $53 billion in sales last year, 120,000 employees nationwide, and 21 facilities in Arkansas, where the company is deeply tied to local life.
Alyssa Milano's August 2025 roundup moves from a five-week Lake Tahoe reset into a long political argument about activism, aging, and protecting children.
Ben Jackson hosts Alyssa Milano: Sorry Not Sorry in an analysis of Donald Trump and Trumpism through Umberto Eco’s 1991 essay “Ur-Fascism.” The episode covers Eco’s first seven characteristics, including the cult of tradition, rejection of modernism, action for action’s sake, and disagreement treated as treason.
Alyssa Milano revisits conversations about the Equal Rights Amendment, including its ratification by 38 states and the unresolved deadline blocking publication.
Ben Jackson hosts an episode of Alyssa Milano: Sorry Not Sorry about Donald Trump’s past relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and demands for the Epstein files.
Alyssa Milano and Ben Jackson revisit conversations with Misha Collins, Amitav Ghosh, Heather Matarazzo, and Kim Raver about creativity, activism, identity, and professional collaboration.
Alyssa Milano: Sorry Not Sorry revisits conversations with Andre Perry, Todd Wolfson, Alia Dastagir, and Jamia Wilson around revolutionary ways of thinking near Bastille Day 2025.
Alyssa Milano and Ben Jackson review June 2025 events including U.S.
Ben Jackson hosts Eliza Orlins, a Manhattan public defender of 15 years, and Hassan Ahmad, an immigration attorney with more than 20 years of practice, on protests, ICE enforcement, and due process.
Alyssa Milano and Ben Jackson interview political scientist Barbara F.
Alyssa Milano and Ben Jackson interview UCSF sociologist Gretchen Sisson about her book Relinquished and the gap between adoption's public image and mothers' reported experiences.
Alyssa Milano discusses racism, historical protests, and the suffragette movement, then introduces a live episode with co-host Ben Jackson.
Alyssa Milano reflects on 2024 by revisiting a favorite episode with author Kate Mann discussing her book on fatphobia and the Me Too movement.
The host discusses the history of Thanksgiving and Sarah Josepha Hale's campaign to make it a national holiday, drawing parallels to current political divisions.
Alyssa Milano interviews war correspondent Arwa Damon about reporting from conflict zones and her humanitarian work.