Q: playing podcasts in oder

I would put them on a playlist in iTunes.  Sort them using the Date Added column in playlist, or however you want so that they are in desired order.  Sync playlist to iPod.  If you need more details about how to sync a playlist with podcast episodes to an iPod, please post back.

On iPod, the Shuffle setting needs to be set to Off.  Play podcasts from the playlist.

I wouldn't call it a "work-around."  The purpose of a playlists is to create a list of items (not just songs) that can be played in random order or any specified order.  That's what you are doing with your podcast episodes.  You're using iTunes and your iPod, "as designed." 

You should look at using smart playlists, to completely automate the process.  You can create a smart playlist from the Plus sign at the bottom of playlist sidebar.  The goal is to create a smart playlist that automatically shows all unplayed episodes of a particular podcast in order of date added.  The rules and settings for this smart playlist are -

Match all of the following rules:

- Album is [name of podcast]     <- Note: Podcast episodes use the Album field for podcast name.

- Plays is 0    <- That's the number zero, meaning it's unplayed.

- Media Kind is Podcasts.     <- In case you happen to have a music album with same name.

Live updating checkbox needs to be checked.

NOTE:  You can Edit Smart Playlist after it is initially created.

In the playlist, show it by Episode List (using control at upper right corner of iTunes window), so that you have a plain list with columns.  Make Date Added column visible, if it's not already, and use it to sort the list.  When a podcast episode is played (to the end), its Plays becomes 1, and the episode is removed from the smart playlist automatically.  The play can be in iTunes or on the iPod (syncing updates play count from iPod to iTunes library).

Create a smart playlist like this one for each podcast you want on iPod.  On the iPod's Podcast settings screen (where you select podcast and episodes to sync), at the bottom, there is a list for Include Episodes from Playlists.  Select your smart playlists with podcasts there.  You don't need select anything else on this screen (unless you want to add other podcasts that are not part of the smart playlists).  Click Apply.  Going forward, you don't have to come back to this screen.  The smart playlists update automatically when new episodes are downloaded, and iTunes syncs changes to iPod the next time you connect it (or click Sync if already connected).

If you know how to use Smart Playlists in iTunes, you are an iTunes "power user." 

Smart playlists are already enabled.  Some of the playlists already there in iTunes, like Recently Added and 80's Music, are smart playlists.  The ones with a "gear" symbol are smart playlists.  You can right-click one of them and Edit Smart Playlist, to see their rules.

We're discussing podcasts, so select your Podcasts library in iTunes (click the button for Podcasts near the left end of horizontal bar).  Near the middle of horizontal bar, click Playlists.  The sidebar with playlists appears along left side of window.  At the bottom of the sidebar, click the Plus sign, and select New Smart Playlist (or from menu bar File -> New...).  After completing the setup window for the smart playlist, it appears in the sidebar along with your existing smart playlists, where you can name it.  Right-click it and Edit Smart Playlist, if you need to change its rules or settings.

That applies to how the podcast episodes appear and play in iTunes.  What happens when you set it in a particular way, and sync to iPod?  The iPod's onboard software has not been updated in a long time, so it may not make a difference.  The playlist method works, because the iPod's software understands playlists.

You really can't sort them by release date, not without a work around, because the "sort by" pull-down menu does not have podcast-specific release date as an option, You can natively sort by other criteria.

There are work-arounds that copy the release date to another field that you can use for sorting. Another option is the delete all of the episodes ( which could be a hundreds !) , download all of them in the desired order, and then sort by "date added" .