playing a podcast in i tunes with OS 10.8.5 I have put a podcast in my podcasts folder in i-tunes media.   How do I get i-tunes to see it so that I can play the podcast
You can press CMD+O and choose it from that folder directly in iTunes.

The easiest way to add stuff generally to iTunes I think is to drag and drop your podcast/music file/folder on the itunes icon.