Pop Culture

Laura Linney and Alan Alda star in The Big C, now in its fourth season on Showtime. Linney took on the role not long before her own father died of cancer.

Arts

Linney Mines 'The Big C' For Serious Laughs

3:20pm May 06, 2013

On Showtime's dark comedy series, Laura Linney plays a terminally ill cancer patient. The actress's own father died from lung cancer while the series was being made; her mother was a cancer nurse when Linney was young. These experiences, she says, inform her performance.

Queue Listen Now

Barbra Streisand is Joyce Brewster in The Guilt Trip. The multitalented performer has won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony — a feat achieved by fewer than a dozen artists.

Arts

'Guilt Trip': Streisand On Songs, Film And Family

8:04am May 06, 2013

Singer, actor, writer, director and producer Barbra Streisand plays a well-meaning if overbearing Jewish mom in The Guilt Trip. The star says her own mother both encouraged her talents and was jealous of them.

Queue Listen Now

When illustrator Ralph Steadman accepted an assignment with writer Hunter S. Thompson at the Kentucky Derby, he never imagined the weekend that would ensue. Here, Steadman depicts the race's winner, a colt named Dust Commander.

A 'Decadent And Depraved' Derby With Hunter S. Thompson

6:27pm May 04, 2013

by NPR Staff

Illustrator Ralph Steadman had never heard of Hunter S. Thompson before he flew to Churchill Downs on assignment to cover the Kentucky Derby. But after an unforgettable, booze-ridden weekend with the writer, Steadman's life was never the same.

Queue Listen Now

Window Dressing: Tony Stark's ongoing Iron Man research involves more than one suit of self-assembling armor.

Arts

In 'Iron Man 3,' A Metalhead Gets The Blues

6:07pm May 02, 2013

by Bob Mondello

Wiseacre billionaire Tony Stark, uncharacteristically anxious since the events of 2012's The Avengers, must face down a domestic terrorist without backup from his buddies in the latest installment of the Marvel franchise.

Queue Listen Now

Retta as office manager Donna Meagle on NBC's Parks and Recreation.

To Avoid Or To Embrace? How Actors Navigate Stereotypes

2:26pm May 01, 2013

by Priska Neely

Stereotyping in films and TV is as old as Hollywood itself. For some, portraying a stereotypical character — the ditzy blonde or angry black man — is a foot in the door to the acting world. For others, it is a path that can be limiting and repetitive.

Queue Listen Now

Politics & Government

The Strategy Of Putting Politics On TV

2:25pm May 01, 2013

The last couple of years have seen a proliferation of politically-themed television, including Scandal, Veep and House of Cards. Reporter, columnist and TV analyst Jonathan Alter talks about his new political satire Alpha House, and what's changed in how entertainment television does politics.

Queue Listen Now

New episodes of All My Children will be airing on Hulu starting Monday.

Arts

Two Daytime Soaps Return, But Will Fans Follow Online?

3:15pm April 29, 2013

by Craig LeMoult

When ABC canceled the daytime soaps All My Children and One Life to Live in 2011, millions of fans suddenly found themselves left without their daily guilty pleasure. Both shows are relaunching Monday, but they won't be on any TV channel — the soaps are going online.

Queue Listen Now

Marc Maron, whose latest book is Attempting Normal, is also the author of The Jerusalem Syndrome: My Life As a Reluctant Messiah.

Books
Arts

Marc Maron: A Life Fueled By 'Panic And Dread'

2:15pm April 29, 2013

The comedian turned his life around when he started "WTF with Marc Maron" out of his garage in 2009. He has parlayed the popularity of the podcast into a new television show called Maron, based on his life, as well as a new memoir.

Queue Listen Now

Health & Safety

Anti-Drug PSAs: Do They Work?

6:38pm April 28, 2013

by NPR News

The U.S. has spent millions of dollars since the 1980s on anti-drug ads. But research shows that some of these older public service announcements might be counterproductive. Now that the ads are shifting to reach teens who want to rebel, new studies show they may actually be more effective.

Queue Listen Now

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner was also a writer and producer on The Sopranos for a time.

Arts

Matthew Weiner On 'Mad Men' And Meaning

1:37pm April 25, 2013

The creator of the acclaimed AMC series talks about his protagonist — Don Draper — as an aging existentialist looking for meaning in a chaotic world. He says the show's sixth season, set in 1968, is situated in that historical moment for a reason: to reflect a traumatic passage in Don's life.

Queue Listen Now