Here are a couple of simple yet very effective tips for working with your podcast list in iTunes. Every podcast in your list has the standard Mac disclosure triangle to the left of its title; click the triangle and the list expands to show episodes within that podcast. But you probably already knew that. So here’s the hint. Two hints, actually.
First, if you hold down the Command key when clicking any one podcast’s triangle, then every podcast in your list will expand to show their individual episodes. Another command-click, and they’ll all collapse again. Second, if you have ever removed any episodes from the list (just highlight one and hit delete to remove it), you can retrieve the full episode list by Option-clicking on the disclosure triangle. The podcast will then query the server and download the information for any missing episodes.
You can even combine these two tips—hold down Command and Option and then click a disclosure triangle. Every podcast in the list will expand, and all missing episode details will be downloaded again. Note that this will download episode information even for podcasts that you aren’t presently subscribed to.