Television

Anchor Chris Hayes will host a new MSNBC weeknight show beginning April 1.

Arts

Chris Hayes: From 'Up' In The Morning To 'All In' At Night

2:09pm March 27, 2013

After hosting his Sunday morning show on MSNBC for the past year and a half, Hayes is making the move to a weeknight news show that premieres April 1. At 34, Hayes will be the youngest prime-time anchor on any of the major cable news channels.

Queue Listen Now

Pam Thatcher and her family ultimately moved into her mother's two-bedroom apartment because they couldn't make rent.

'American Winter' Families Struggle To Survive Fall From Middle Class

9:57am March 26, 2013

by Karen Grigsby Bates

Diedre Melson, John Cox and Pam Thatcher are college-educated parents who once considered themselves part of the middle class. Then the Great Recession hit. A new HBO documentary shows their families desperately trying to make ends meet.

Queue Listen Now

Helen Mirren and Al Pacino star in the new HBO film Phil Spector, which was written and directed by David Mamet.

Arts

You Can't Trust HBO's 'Phil Spector,' But You Can Enjoy It

2:37pm March 21, 2013

by David Bianculli

David Mamet, the writer and director of the new HBO movie Phil Spector starring Al Pacino and Helen Mirren, includes a disclaimer at the beginning of the film: While the movie might be based on the controversial music producer, "This is a work of fiction. It's not 'based on a true story.' "

Queue Listen Now

A new documentary about Philip Roth premieres on PBS next week as part of a slew of celebrations in honor of the novelist's 80th birthday.

Books
Arts

A Measured Look At Roth As The Writer Turns 80

2:11pm March 19, 2013

by John Powers

The celebration of Philip Roth's career reaches its peak in a new documentary — Philip Roth Unmasked — that will screen on PBS next week as part of the American Masters series. There's no doubt that Roth is a master, and not just an American one, but the film tiptoes around the novelist's dark ferocity.

Queue Listen Now

Elisabeth Moss (right) and Thomas Wright star in Jane Campion's new series Top of the Lake.

Arts

Two New TV Dramas Look Below The Surface

1:56pm March 18, 2013

by David Bianculli

Jane Campion directs a new Sundance Channel miniseries, Top of the Lake, about a young New Zealand detective played by Mad Men's Elisabeth Moss. Meanwhile, producers from Lost and Friday Night Lights team up to create a prequel to Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, called Bates Motel.

Queue Listen Now

Linguist Geoff Nunberg finds that in the film Lincoln, screenwriter Tony Kushner oscillates between old and modern meanings of "equality."

Arts

Historical Vocab: When We Get It Wrong, Does It Matter?

7:12pm February 26, 2013

by Geoff Nunberg

We're living in an age obsessed with authenticity, says linguist Geoff Nunberg, but we often choose to nitpick the wrong details. Whether it's Downton Abbey, Mad Men, Lincoln or Argo, Nunberg argues, a historical novel or screenplay should give us a translation, not a transcription.

Queue Listen Now

Adele performs the theme song to "Skyfall."

Arts

The Oscars Broadcast, Zooming Way Past Cheeky To Land Squarely On Crass

4:36pm February 25, 2013

by Linda Holmes

Seth MacFarlane hosted the 85th Academy Awards which Monkey See's Linda Holmes says was one of the worst hosting performances in Oscar history. Jokes about women just kept coming. His sexist jokes were in poor taste, sure, but if they'd been funny, nobody would have cared.

Aereo allows users to connect to a distant antenna — a tiny device that acts like an old set of rabbit ears — and watch broadcast TV channels on their computer, tablet or smartphone. Currently the service is available only in New York City, and it's e

Arts
Economy

Amid Lawsuits, Aereo Brings Broadcast TV To The Internet

5:52am February 21, 2013

by NPR Staff

Backed by broadcasting powerhouse Barry Diller, a new service picks up broadcast TV signals and makes them available over the Web — and the TV networks don't like that one bit. Currently available only in New York City, Aereo is planning to expand ... if it makes it through the legal challenges.

Queue Listen Now

Wooden angels memorialize the victims of Adam Lanza's shooting spree in Newtown, Conn., last December. An upcoming Frontline documentary seeks to provide new details about Lanza and his mother, Nancy.

National

The 27th Victim: Nancy Lanza Is Subject Of 'Frontline' Documentary

8:13pm February 15, 2013

The documentary Raising Adam Lanza seeks a more complete view of Nancy Lanza and her son, a young man who was described as smart and awkward as a teen — and who later killed 27 people in Newtown, Conn. The documentary is built on the work of PBS Frontline and The Hartford Courant.

Queue Listen Now

The TV Bad Guys We Can't Help But Love

2:37pm February 07, 2013

FX's new series The Americans is centered around two undercover KGB spies posing as a married couple in Northern Virginia during the Reagan administration. Washington Post TV critic Hank Stuever says this show's characters are just one example of television bad guys that audiences love.

Queue Listen Now