Where are my podcasts?

I turned on a podcast in itunes and it prompted me to download icloud on my computer. Same accounts all across the board, as far as I know. I sign in with the same info. Now there are NO podcasts (I subscribe to many) on the left hand side of the screen. And I can't figure out how to make the list appear or even the option for the list? Why should this be so hard and WHY did it change my info? ...ok, off to calm down 😠