Hi Javaliga! Thanks very much for your reply. I did go through and unpair, erase and setup the Apple Watch from the backup, yet still the Apple Podcast app crashes. I've paired down the amount of podcasts that I listen to, but that doesn't seem to make any difference. It still crashes. It can control apple podcasts playing through "On iPhone", but when accessing directly through the 'Library" to "Latest Episodes" via cellular connection streaming podcasts directly from the watch it crashes, every time, even after going through the unpair/erase/setup. Again, it can control the iPhone podcast app via the Apple Watch interface, but as far as streaming directly from the watch, it crashes.
From searching online, others have said Apple Podcast app just doesn't work on the Apple Watch, and that's exactly my experience as well. Most people who are having this issue download another podcast app and use that instead -- but it would be really nice to use the actual Apple Podcast app. If anyone has any other ideas on how to fix this let me know!