Both Game of Thrones and The Killing drew a lot of attention during their first seasons, and both are back Sunday night to start a second year -- one hoping to build on the momentum from some positive late-season buzz, the other hoping to overcome some negative buzz from last year's cliffhanger.
Banjo player Earl Scruggs, who helped shape the sound of American bluegrass music, died Wednesday. He was 88 years old. Fresh Air remembers Scruggs with excerpts from an interview.
McCartney recently released a collection of standards -- songs he heard while growing up in Liverpool. He talks about several of those songs, and his own songwriting, from his home studio.
Bessie and Boris Thomashefsky were mega-stars in the Yiddish theater world. Their story is told in a new documentary, written and conducted by heir grandson, Michael Tilson Thomas. He also serves as music director of San Francisco Symphony and artistic director of the New World Symphony.
For years, former sports agent Josh Luchs provided money and other benefits to college athletes, in clear violation of NCAA and NFL Players Association rules. He comes clean in a new memoir, Illegal Procedure.
The popular MSNBC host talks about her start in broadcasting, her life and her new book Drift: The Unmooring of American Military Power, in which she argues that America's national defense has become disconnected from public oversight.
Matthew Weiner offers his thoughts on Sunday night's Season 5 premiere, the character development of Don Draper, and what may be in store for the staff of Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.
The AMC series Mad Men -- winner of the Best Drama Series Emmy for each of its four seasons to date -- returns March 25 after a 17-month hiatus. TV critic David Bianculli determines whether it was worth the wait?
Murdoch's Scandal, a new Frontline documentary, examines allegations of phone hacking and bribery that brought down Rupert Murdoch's tabloid News of the World. Criminal and parliamentary investigations are now underway in the U.K., and dozens of journalists and top executives have been arrested.
Suzanne Collins' best-seller about a televised killing tournament has come to the big screen, with a cast that includes Jennifer Lawrence, Lenny Kravitz and Stanley Tucci.
Some companies are helping their employees become more creative and increasing their productivity, says science writer Jonah Lehrer in his new book, Imagine.
The 1993 documentary The War Room, which offered a verity look behind the scenes of Bill Clinton's 1992 presidential campaign, has just been released on Criterion Blue-ray and DVD. Critic-at-large John Powers explains why the film was revelatory -- and why it could never be made today.
In his latest book, Pakistan on the Brink, journalist Ahmed Rashid writes that he fears Pakistan is on the verge of a "meltdown." Rashid explains some of the challenges facing the country, as well as the complicated relationship both Pakistan and Afghanistan have with the United States.
South African trumpeter and band leader Hugh Masakela has released more than 30 albums since his American debut in 1961. The concept behind his latest album, Jabulani, is deceptively simple. It's a collection of South African wedding songs with Masakela remembers vividly from his youth.
Science writer Dick Teresi and transplant surgeon Richard Freeman discuss the ethics of transplant surgery and how doctors determine the point between life and death.
If you want to know anything about America's greatest city, you've got to be willing to get grimy, says critic Maureen Corrigan. Two new books about New York -- a novel and a narrative history -- do more than put up with filth, they positively wallow in it.
Film critic David Edelstein reviews the new comedy Casa de mi Padre, starring Will Ferrell. It's a Spanish-language American film created in the style of a telenovela.
The team behind the documentary Planet Earth have teamed up again to explore the coldest, most isolated places on Earth. TV critic David Bianculli says watching Frozen Plant "captures images of so much majesty, artistry, and clarity, it's almost ridiculous."
For five seasons, actress Sonja Sohn played Detective Shakima "Kima" Greggs on the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire, which chronicled life — and death — on Baltimore's toughest streets. When the series ended, Sohn stayed in Baltimore -- to help young people straighten out their lives.
