The original Veronica Mars premiered on television 15 years ago, which, in TV terms, was a whole different era. David Milch's HBO series Deadwood, which just reunited its cast for a fabulous TV movie, premiered that year. So did two major hits for ABC, Lost and Desperate Housewives. And 2004 also brought us the premiere of NBC's The Apprentice.
James Lapine worked with Stephen Sondheim on Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods and Passion. In Putting it Together, he draws on interviews with Sondheim and members of the cast and crew.
The third episode of Succession's fourth and final season ripped away the show's center in a brilliant and unexpected move. If you haven't seen it yet, it's time to catch up.
Eric Dolphy's creativity was exploding early in 1964, and he was finding more players who could keep up. Out to Lunch is free and focused, dissonant and catchy, wide open and swinging all at once.
Gambian attorney Fatou Bensouda is the deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which deals with genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The court's first case concerns crimes involving child soldiers. She has served as Attorney General, Secretary of State and Minister of Justice for The Gambia. She is also an authority on gender and violent crimes against women.
Ronstadt's new memoir, Feels Like Home, is an exploration of the food and culture of her Mexican roots. In 2013, she spoke about the health concerns that caused her to end her musical career early.
Rock historian Ed Ward profiles songwriter Doc Pomus, the Brooklyn-born blues singer and songwriter who died in 1991. Born Jerome Solon Felder, he survived a childhood case of polio and went on to write hits for Ray Charles and Elvis Presley, among others. His songs include "Lonely Avenue," "Viva Las Vegas" and "Save the Last Dance for Me."
Bandleader and pianist Eddie Palmieri. Through his first band, La Perfecta, labeled "the band with the crazy roaring elephants," Palmieri was credited with originating Latin jazz's trombone sound in New York during the sixties. With the release of "Palmas," (Elektra), many critics feel that this respected 58-year old innovator will finally get the exposure and respect that his sound has long merited. Palmieri's lobbying over the past year culminated in the announcement of a new Grammy Award category for Afro-Carribbean Jazz.
Television producer Steven Bochco. He is, arguably, one of the most influential creative people in television. With shows like "Hill Street Blues" and "L.A.Law," Bochco can claim credit for a whole TV genre: intensely realistic dramas that use an ensemble cast and multiple, interweaving plots that quickly cut back and forth. Those programs helped make NBC the top network and the perceived leader for innovative programming.
While some reviewers think River's Edge could become the Blue Valentine of 1987, film critic Stephen Schiff says the film suffers from a weak message and poor casting.
Impresario Joseph Papp helped launch Broadway hits like A Chorus Line and The Pirates of Penzance, and founded the New York Shakespeare Festival. He talks about the political aspects of theater casting, production, and criticism.
Critic-at-Large Laurie Stone previews a 5-hour NBC miniseries on the 1913 hanging of a Jewish factory manager in Atlanta, Georgia following the murder a 13-year-old employee of the factory. The case hinged on racial hatred, in this case the prevailing enmity toward Jews, and Laurie praises the production's exploration of how racial divisions have been exploited for political effect. The miniseries is titled "The Murder of Mary Phagan."
Belli's first novel, "The Inhabited Woman," is about a young architect whose body becomes inhabited by the soul of an Indian woman from the time of the Conquistadors. The soul urges the young woman to abandon her privileged lifestyle and join an underground movement against the dictatorship. Belli is from an affluent Nicaraguan family. She studied English and advertising abroad before returning to Nicaragua and joining the Sandinistas and playing a role in the overthrow of Nicaragua's dictator Somoza.
Historian and author Douglas Brinkley teaches at Tulane University and was displaced by Hurricane Katrina. He has since returned to New Orleans and begun to document the catastrophe by gathering oral histories -- he hopes to collect as many as 20,000 -- for a book, tentatively titled The Great Deluge.
In the United States, Leigh's best known for his more recent films "Life is Sweet" "High Hopes" and "Naked." But he's been making movies for British television and theatre for nearly 30 years. His social-realist comedies depict British working class life. He begins work on his films without a script, piecing them together from improvisations with his cast. His latest is "Secrets & Lies."
