A 1937 robot drama that still hears the strain between efficiency and human life.
Project Audion sends R.U.R. back to the 1920 source of the word robot, and the 1937 CBS half-hour version gives the drama a tight, urgent shape.

A weekly repertory of audio drama.
Monday Matinee gathers audio drama from across the Mutual Audio Network, moving between thriller recreations, serialized showcases, live-stage comedy, and literary adaptations. Its rhythm is brisk and theatrical, with each installment acting like a programmed matinee bill.
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Monday Matinee behaves like a weekly repertory bill for audio fiction. It opens the door, names the program, and gets out of the way. The feed moves across suspense, detective work, science fiction, comedy, western storytelling, and modern anthology showcases. Some entries recreate famous broadcasts with careful period texture. Others present contemporary series through the Sonic Society, where the tone may be stranger, darker, or more serial-minded. The pacing is brisk. Scenes arrive already in motion, and exposition often comes through argument, banter, panic, or a sharply drawn narrator. A Ray Bradbury suspense story can place a small Illinois town under threat. Johnny Dollar can turn an insurance case into a final accounting of lies, radio messages, and a boat that was not what it seemed. Project Audion brings older scripts back through distributed live performance, including R.U.R. with its anxious argument about robots, labor, and human control. Special to Hollywood adds another kind of pressure, trapping Hollywood types inside a storm and their own opportunism. The comic side is not an afterthought. Pelican Players' Burns and Gracie recreation leans on timing, reversals, and political jokes that stay rooted in radio-stage rhythm. The show also uses weekly roundup episodes, where upcoming features are presented almost like front-page items. That gives the feed a practical curator's shape. It is not trying to sound intimate or confessional. It sounds assembled, announced, and performed. The best moments come when the format trusts actors and scripts to do the explaining. For listeners drawn to classic radio drama but still curious about newer audio fiction, Monday Matinee offers a broad, busy bench. It is a dependable sampler for stories that prefer voices, timing, and imagination over visual spectacle.
Made for: Best for listeners who like classic radio form, performed fiction, anthology storytelling, and compact theatrical worlds. It also suits audio-drama fans who want variety without committing to one long serial.
What sets it apart: Its strength is the programmed mix: recreated suspense, vintage comedy, detective drama, modern showcases, and live remote revivals all share the same matinee frame. Few feeds make classic-radio craft and current audio fiction feel so adjacent.
Monday Matinee is a weekly series taken from the Mutual Audio Network Podcast Network. Every day Monday Matinee provides great stories of audio drama and audio fiction from the modern audio drama movement. Drama, Old Time Radio Recreations, Classic Adaptations of Literature and Stage, Live Performances, and Variety Shows. It's all part of the Monday Matinee!
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Monday Matinee connects classic broadcast technique with contemporary audio fiction through sharply contrasted, performance-led productions.
Monday Matinee works like a rotating playhouse, presenting full-cast fiction alongside affectionate recreations of classic radio drama. Its range is unusually clear in practice: a hallucinatory search for a missing psychiatrist can share the bill with R.U.R., while another…
Like channel-surfing through a radio theater, only you land on killer robots and Gracie Allen.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A 1937 robot drama that still hears the strain between efficiency and human life.
Project Audion sends R.U.R. back to the 1920 source of the word robot, and the 1937 CBS half-hour version gives the drama a tight, urgent shape.
A missing psychiatrist sends Charlie and Amber into a bright, uneasy chase.
The Imperfection follows Charlie and Amber through a missing-psychiatrist setup that keeps the story restless and unsettled. Their disorder is framed as a constant stream of hallucinations, and the episode works best when it moves quickly from uncertainty to action.
A storm-bound flight and a body headed to the coast give this old radio drama a hard edge.
Special to Hollywood sends a chartered plane from Chicago toward Hollywood, with Larry Groby's narration laying out the storm and the tension before the action moves into the cabin.
A brisk Burns and Allen set piece with sharp timing and easy charm.
This Pelican Players outing leans on a spring 1940 Burns and Allen setup: George works a crossword in the living room while Gracie brings gossip, college chatter, and her usual gift for turning every answer into a punch line. The best thing here is the timing.
A storm, a locked car, and a woman at the window give this old-time radio drama a sharp, uneasy charge.
Walter Basser's On a Country Road turns a roadside pause in a brewing storm into a compact spell of melodrama. Dorothy and David remain trapped in the car while a woman circles outside in the dark, a barking dog slices through the night, and lightning keeps the window alive with…



Dice, divine mysteries, and the trouble with good intentions.



This episode features the Pelican Players production of the classic radio drama 'On a Country Road'.
This episode of 'Writing the West' features stories and poems by Rick Steber, read by Michael Messner and friends.
Monday Matinee presents Sonic Society Season 18 episode 777, featuring Jackie the Ripper, a serialized comedy-drama set around the Whitechapel murder investigation.
Project Audion's fifth episode on Monday Matinee recreates a 1948 My Favorite Husband script starring Lucille Ball as Liz and Richard Denning as George Cougat.
Jack Ward and David Ault frame the hour with The Imperfection.
Project Audion recreates Columbia Radio Workshop's 1937 half-hour version of R.U.R.
Monday matinees open on the Mutual Audio Network with a PG notice.
This episode announces the continuation of Season 18 of The Sonic Society with Episode 762 featuring the audio drama series about Byron, including new episodes of Crucible and content from the Pelican Players.
This episode presents the classic radio drama 'On a Country Road' about a murderer on the loose during a storm, exploring how fear builds in suspenseful situations.
This episode follows Henry Hill's journey from his Willamette Valley homestead to the California gold mines, detailing his adventures with a salvaged ship and mining efforts.
This episode features the first two episodes of Eric Busby's new season 'Crucible' from The Byron Chronicles, focusing on the character Byron's mysterious memory loss.
An Italian immigrant named Luigi writes a humorous letter to his mother in Italy, describing his observations about Americans' obsession with sports and games.
This episode features three segments: an apocalyptic audio drama starring Rami Malek, a classic radio comedy remake about Italian immigrants, and a collection of Western stories and poems.
Pete Lutz opens the program and introduces Pelican Players Radio Theatre’s G-rated take on George Burns and Gracie Allen.
This episode presents the classic Dragnet Christmas story 'Big Little Jesus Man' where detectives investigate the theft of an infant Jesus statue from a church on Christmas Eve.
This episode is a holiday sampler featuring highlights from classic radio Christmas stories, including selections from various radio programs and a performance of A Radio Christmas Carol.
The host shares a personal story about their large family's early Christmas celebration in a church basement, highlighting family members and joyful traditions.
Host Jack Ward introduces a Christmas-themed audio drama series called 'St.