This American Life

Series premiere. Three stories of people who set out to make their dreams come true, but were snapped back to reality by unpleasant outcomes.

Season 1. Several subjects attempt to will themselves to effect positive change in their lives, including a first-time screenwriter, a 13-year-old girl, and a widow, with mixed results.

Season 1. Segments that focus on the role of cameramen include an animated short from award-winning cartoonist Chris Ware ("Jimmy Corrigan") and a young filmmaker who sets out to document his alcoholic stepfather.

Season 1. People try to get closer to God through pictures as a group of people gather every month in the Mojave Desert hoping to take God's photo, and an artist serves dinner to his Jesus model, his atheist girlfriend, and her religious father.

Season 1. Four segments that explore the cost of stubbornness, including a man who refuses to acknowledge some important events in his wife's life; a politician who attempts to win an election without ever lying.

Season 1 finale. Innovation yields surprising results for pig researchers who create fresh problems with every one solved, hot dog vendors whose new business practices unleash raw human emotions, and scientists who discover how to erase memories.