Terry Gross

Norris plays DEA agent Hank Schrader in the AMC series about a chemistry teacher turned meth cook. "He's a good cop, he just hasn't put the pieces together yet," Norris says.

We listen back to excerpts of interviews with the acerbic writer, who died Tuesday at 86. Vidal authored the historical novels Burr and Lincoln, wrote plays and provocative essays, ran for office twice — and lost — and frequently appeared on TV talk shows.

New Yorker writer Ryan Lizza profiles Rep. Paul Ryan from Wisconsin, whose radical alternatives to President Obama's economic policies have helped shape the GOP as it enters the final stage of the 2012 presidential campaign.