Arts
'The Strain' And 'Extant' Play On Fears Of Forces Out Of Our Control
This week, two new TV series begin in the threats-from-nowhere genre: Extant on CBS and The Strain on FX. The better of the two, The Strain, about a disease outbreak, is effectively creepy.
In 'Little Engine That Could,' Some See An Early Feminist Hero
Was "I think I can" the grandmother of "lean in?" Some readers see the plucky locomotive as a parable about working women, but in some versions of the story the protagonist was male.
'Violette' Evokes Exasperating Self-Pity, A Trait The French Like
The film Violette is a fictionalized portrait of Violette Leduc, the trailblazing French novelist who was considered difficult. The strangely gripping movie captures a key moment in feminist history.
Richard Dreyfuss' Kids Revisit 'Jaws,' Conclude It Makes No Sense
Emily and Ben Dreyfuss recently reviewed the film in which their dad plays a biologist hunting a shark. In addition to finding it totally ridiculous, they realized there's a lot they misremembered.
Post-Apocalyptic World Falls Flat In 'California'
California tells the story of a couple who, when they learn they are having a baby, leave their solitary refuge in a forest for a Utopian community in post-apocalyptic America.
Couple Revives Lost Moroccan Fig Liquor, One Bottle At A Time
Jews have made mahia, a spirit made with fermented figs, in Morocco for centuries, but the tradition has all but died out. A New York couple aims to reintroduce the drink that once connected a nation.
'Fresh Air' Remembers Screenwriter Paul Mazursky
Mazursky wrote such films as Next Stop, Greenwich Village; An Unmarried Woman; and Down and Out in Beverly Hills. He died last week at the age of 84. He talked with Terry Gross in 1991 and 1999.
'Fresh Air' Remembers Actor Meshach Taylor
Taylor was best known for his role as Anthony Bouvier on the TV sitcom Designing Women. Taylor's other TV series included Buffalo Bill and Dave's World. He chatted with Terry Gross in 1990.