Segments by Date

TV critic DAVID BIANCULLI reviews “Life on Earth: Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure,” a special celebrating Sir David Attenborough’s contributions to the history of nature documentaries. It premiered May 6 on PBS. Attenborough turned 100 May 8th.

Ann Marie Baldonado interviews Will Sharpe who stars in the new limited series "Amadeus"

David Bianculli reviewed "This Is A Gardening Show."

Film critic JUSTIN CHANG reviews Silent Friend, a century-spanning film about humanity’s relationship with the plant world.

Enter Me

Producer JEFFREY SELLER. He produced Rent with his business partner. Seller's own company produced Hamilton. He also was a producer of Lin Manuel Miranda’s first musical, In the Heights – as well as the satirical adult puppet musical, Avenue Q, and the revival of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, starring Josh Groban. Seller grew up without much money in a neighborhood outside Detroit that was nicknamed Cardboard Village, because the houses were so cheap and shoddy. Seller is the author of the memoir Theater Kid.

TV critic DAVID BIANCULLI reviews the latest adaptation of William Golding's classic novel Lord of the Flies. It's the first adaptation for television and it is presented by Netflix and the BBC.

(1.) Journalist GEORGE PACKER is a staff writer at The Atlantic. His new article is titled The Venture-Capital Populist: How David Sacks and the New Tech Right went Full Maga and Captured Washington.” He writes about how and why many Silicon Valley leaders have become identified with the Right, with President Donald Trump and MAGA. These tech billionaires are now often referred to as oligarchs, because of their money, power, and access to the White House. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

Legal scholar KIMBERLE WILLIAMS CRENSHAW. She coined the expressions: critical race theory and intersectionality. She wanted those expressions to help describe racial and gender discrimination in America. Her new memoir is called Backtalker: An American Memoir. (INTERVIEW BY TONYA MOSLEY) (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

(1.) Scottish writer DOUGLAS STUART. His debut novel Shuggie Bain won the Booker Prize in 2020. His other novel is Young Mungo. His latest, John of John, is about a son dealing with the weight of his father’s expectations on a remote Scottish island. Both father and son are concealing their sexualities. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW)

Critic-at-large JOHN POWERS reviews The Devil Wears Prada, 2 starring Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep.

We remember conductor, composer and musician MICHAEL TILSON THOMAS. He was a longtime music director of The San Francisco Symphony, known for his innovation, his ability to translate classical music for the general public, and for fostering contemporary music. He founded the New World Symphony for young players. He got his musical inheritance from his grandparents, who were stars of the Yiddish theatre. Tilson died last week at age 81. He had battled brain cancer since 2022. (THESE INTERVIEWS ARE REBROADCAST. THEY ORIGINALLY AIRED ON SEPTEMBER 27, 1995 and MARCH 28, 2012.)

Book critic MAUREEN CORRIGAN recommends three new novels: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke, American Fantasy by Emma Straub, and Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel.

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Writer, actor, and comedian RICHARD GADD. His Netflix series Baby Reindeer became a phenomenon in 2024, a story about a struggling comedian, a stalker who wouldn't let go, and a sexual assault he'd kept hidden for years. The show won six Emmys. His new HBO series called Half Man, about two boys who become brothers when their mothers fall in love, and who spend the next thirty years trying to survive each other. (INTERVIEW BY TONYA MOSLEY)
(THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW).

New Yorker writer Elizabeth Kolbert says EPA chief Lee Zeldin has rescinded regulations, cut or eliminated departments and terminated the jobs of many scientists. Trump calls Zeldin "our secret weapon."

Terry Gross interviews singer songwriter, guitarist and multi-instrumentalist ST. VINCENT, also known as Annie Clark. (REBROADCAST)

Tonya Mosley interviews Harvard professor NAMWALI SERPELL. Her new book, On Morrison, is a close reading of Toni Morrison's entire body of work, eleven novels, the criticism, plays, and poetry

Critic at large JOHN POWERS reviews the new Netflix series Jo Nesbo's Detective Hole. It's based on a character who is the hero of a series of international bestsellers by the Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbo (Yo NES-buh) Harry Hole (HAR-eh ho-leh) is a tortured Oslo police detective.

Terry Gross interviews actor Amanda Peet.