Episodes

  • Best Of: 'Joker' Director Todd Phillips / Actor Uzo Aduba

    Best Of: 'Joker' Director Todd Phillips / Actor Uzo Aduba
    Sep 28 2024
    Todd Phillips, the director and co-writer of the new musical sequel to Joker, shares what it was like to direct Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga in a singing, dancing, very dark adaptation of the DC character.

    And actor Uzo Aduba, best-known for her role as "Crazy Eyes" on Orange is the New Black and HBO's In Treatment, has written a new memoir that pays homage to her mother, a Nigerian immigrant who raised her family in a nearly all-white Massachusetts suburb.

    Also, David Bianculli reviews the new Disney+/Marvel series Agatha All Along, a spinoff of the series WandaVision.


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    49 mins
  • Celebrating 25 Years Of 'The West Wing'

    Celebrating 25 Years Of 'The West Wing'
    Sep 27 2024
    25 years ago, the TV series The West Wing premiered. It was a behind-the-scenes look at a fictional White House. We revisit our interviews with show creator/writer Aaron Sorkin, and actors Allison Janney, who played C.J., and John Spencer, who played Leo McGarry. They talk about the show's signature walk-and-talk and the quippy, rapid-fire style of dialogue.

    Also, Justin Chang reviews Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis.

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    47 mins
  • Could 'Uncommitted' Voters Sway The Election?

    Could 'Uncommitted' Voters Sway The Election?
    Sep 26 2024
    New Yorker writer Andrew Marantz describes Michigan's uncommitted, thousands of pro-Palestinian, anti-war protest voters who say they won't support Kamala Harris unless she changes her policy on Israel.

    Also, Kevin Whitehead shares an appreciation of jazz pianist Bud Powell, for his centennial. And film critic Justin Chang reflects on two new movies that examine the extremes of self-improvement: The Substance and A Different Man.

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    46 mins
  • Above All, Uzo Aduba Is Her Mother's Daughter

    Above All, Uzo Aduba Is Her Mother's Daughter
    Sep 25 2024
    Orange Is the New Black actor Uzo Aduba grew up the daughter of Nigerian immigrants in a predominantly white Massachusetts suburb. She looks back on her late mother's influence in the memoir, The Road Is Good.

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    45 mins
  • The Inside Story of Trump, Russia, and the Mueller Investigation

    The Inside Story of Trump, Russia, and the Mueller Investigation
    Sep 24 2024
    Mueller deputy Aaron Zebley looks back on the investigation of Trump's ties to Russia and explains why his team didn't indict the president in 2017. Zebley is the co-author of Interference.

    David Bianculli reviews WandaVision spin-off, Agatha All Along on Disney+.

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    45 mins
  • Why 'Joker' Director Todd Phillips Came Back For A Sequel

    Why 'Joker' Director Todd Phillips Came Back For A Sequel
    Sep 23 2024
    After his 2019 hit Joker, Todd Phillips knew he wanted to do more with the character. Joker: Folie à Deux picks up two years after the original, and features singing by Joaquin Phoenix and Lady Gaga. The director spoke with Terry Gross about his collaboration with Phoenix, how he got into filmmaking, and casting Gaga.

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    45 mins
  • Best Of: Connie Chung / Demi Moore

    Best Of: Connie Chung / Demi Moore
    Sep 21 2024
    Pioneering television journalist Connie Chung gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what it took for her to climb to the top in the male-dominated field of TV news. Her new memoir is Connie.

    Also, we talk with Demi Moore about her new horror film The Substance, in which she plays an aging actress who loses her job hosting a workout show because her boss thinks she's too old and not hot enough.

    John Powers reviews the new documentary ¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!

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    48 mins
  • A Satire Of the Sunshine State

    A Satire Of the Sunshine State
    Sep 20 2024
    Florida's population has quintupled since writer Carl Hiaasen grew up near Fort Lauderdale in the '50s. As a former Miami Herald columnist and novelist, Hiaasen railed against, and made fun of, politicians and developers who he said were covering the state with concrete, and the tourists and retirees who just kept coming. Hiaasen's 2013 novel, Bad Monkey, a wacky murder mystery set in Key West COMMA is now a television series streaming on Apple TV +, starring Vince Vaughn.

    Also, we remember revered jazz historian, archivist and critic Dan Morgenstern, who died earlier this month. Critic-at-Large John Powers reviews Kate Atkinson's latest mystery novel, and TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new HBO series, The Penguin.

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    46 mins