Pop Culture

Richard (Mark McKinney) and Sanjay (Colm Feore) get up close and personal in the zany backstage comedy Slings and Arrows.

Arts

Home Video Review: 'Slings And Arrows'

7:16am January 18, 2013

by Bob Mondello

If you're not a drama nerd, you might think the Canadian backstage comedy Slings and Arrows isn't for you. But film critic Bob Mondello says just one episode may be enough to change your mind.

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Woman Behind 'Dear Abby' Guided Readers Through Personal Crises

6:10pm January 17, 2013

by Neda Ulaby

Pauline Phillips, better known as the columnist "Dear Abby," died Wednesday at the age of 94.

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John Mackey is co-CEO and co-founder of Whole Foods Market and co-founder of the nonprofit Conscious Capitalism, Inc.

Whole Foods Founder John Mackey On Fascism And 'Conscious Capitalism'

3:51pm January 17, 2013

by April Fulton

The outspoken Whole Foods founder tells us why he hates "Obamacare" and why we have trouble cutting the sugar, fat and salt out of our diets. But now he's told CBS he used a poor choice of words when referring to the health law as fascism.

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Lena Dunham's series Girls, which follows the lives of a group of young women in New York City, returns to HBO this month.

Arts

Season Two Brings Changes For 'Girls'

3:25pm January 11, 2013

by David Bianculli

The second season of the HBO series premieres this month, and Fresh Air critic David Bianculli says "these young women — these girls — really are changing and growing and adapting to tough life in the big city."

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Girls has been compared to Sex and the City. The characters, played by (from left) Allison Williams, Jemima Kirke, Lena Dunham and Zosia Mamet, navigate the ups and downs of life in New York City.

Arts

Lena Dunham Addresses Criticism Aimed At 'Girls'

3:25pm January 11, 2013

The creator and star of HBO's new series Girls addresses the backlash against the show, which follows four 20-somethings as they navigate the ups and downs of life in New York City. The second season premieres January 13.

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Living Single (1993-1998) featured four young, black, professional women in New York — including Queen Latifah as the ambitious head of a small magazine.

Arts

'Living' In Color, Long Before 'Girls'

1:14pm January 11, 2013

by Karen Grigsby Bates

HBO's series Girls has been criticized for not being diverse enough. Long before Girls, two shows — Living Single and Girlfriends — featured professional African-American women. But the creator of Girlfriends says times have changed, and the shows she now produces have more multicultural casts to reflect changing demographics.

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Jim Carter as Mr. Carson in Downton Abbey. The third season premiered on PBS Sunday.

Julian Fellowes On The Rules Of 'Downton'

1:23pm January 07, 2013

On the hit Masterpiece Theater series, the social rules the characters have always known are changing as the world events of the 20th century unfold. The series' creator, Julian Fellowes, says his relatives who lived through that era inspired his lasting interest in class.

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'The Americans': Looking Back On The Cold War 'Fondly'

9:59am January 05, 2013

Guest host Linda Wertheimer interviews Joe Weisberg, the writer for the new FX show The Americans about KGB spies living in the United States during the Cold War.

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Social changes, romantic intrigues and financial crises grip the English country estate in the third season of Downton Abbey, starting Sunday on PBS. Shirley MacLaine joins the cast as Cora's wealthy American mother, Martha Levinson.

Arts

'Downton' Returns With Aristocratic Class And Clash

2:16pm January 03, 2013

by David Bianculli

On Sunday, the PBS anthology series Masterpiece Classic begins its third season of Downton Abbey, the British period drama that has taken England — and America — by storm.

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W. Kamau Bell's new FX weekly series Totally Biased mixes standup, sketches and interviews.

Arts

'Totally Biased' Comic On Race, Politics And Audience

10:05am January 02, 2013

Comic W. Kamau Bell's show, produced by Chris Rock, mixes standup, sketches and interviews. Bell tells Fresh Air about the origins of his political humor and why it's important for him to have a multiracial audience.

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