Woody Harrelson

Actor Woody Harrelson has played a happy-go-lucky bartender on the TV series Cheers, a serial killer in Natural Born Killers and an Army officer assigned the task of delivering death notices to families of fallen soldiers in The Messenger. He discusses his career and the characters with Fresh Air contributor Dave Davies.

This month Woody Harrelson stars plays Capt. Tony Stone in a new movie about the costs of war. His character notifies the families of fallen soldiers. Harrelson's performance is already generating Oscar chatter.

This month Woody Harrelson stars in a powerful new movie about the costs of war. He plays Capt. Tony Stone, a veteran of the Army's Casualty Notification service, charged with the task of notifying the families of fallen soldiers. The film opens Nov. 13, but Harrelson's performance is already generating Oscar chatter.

Fresh Air TV critic David Bianculli says two new miniseries this week are worth special mention — and couldn't be more different. The Spoils Of Babylon is a miniseries soap-opera spoof on IFC; True Detective looks like the best HBO drama since The Wire.