The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, once on NBC, has found new life on the Lifetime network. TV critic David Bianculli says the performance of star Blair Brown is reason enough to tune in.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead reviews neo-bop drummer Ralph Peterson's first album as a bandleader. Whitehead praises Peterson's dynamic and energetic approach, particularly in how he backs soloists -- all of whom shine.
Schell rose to prominence for his 1982 book Fate of the Earth, about nuclear disarmament. A former staffer at the New Yorker, he has a new book called Observing the Nixon Years, about the precarious position the United States was in during the Vietnam War.
26-year-old Daniel Waters wrote the new black comedy Heathers, about high school cliques and teenage suicide. He joins Fresh Air to discuss the thinking behind his macabre satire.
The drag artist, also known as Lipsynka, has a new one-person show in which he mimes the lyrics to women pop stars and fame-obsessed divas. Critic-at-large Laurie Stone calls the performance lovely and purposefully crude.
In 1934, twenty-one-year old Philby became a spy for the Soviet Union. British journalist Phillip Knightley conducted several interview with him, which became the basis for his biography, called The Master Spy.
Rock critic Ken Tucker says the music coming out of Los Angeles today has come a long way from the soft rock sound of the 1970s. But no one style dominates the city -- there's some good pop and rock, but Tucker is most excited by rap artists from Compton.
Stahl hosts the CBS show Face the Nation. She joins Fresh Air to discuss President Reagan's tightly-controlled engagement with the media, the sometimes vindictive nature of past administrations, and how she conducts effective interviews.
Film critic Stephen Schiff says that Louis Malle's Murmur of the Heart was overshadowed by the string of exceptional movies also released in 1971. The film is shocking in its sexuality and subtlety.
Cellist Janet Horvath suffered from tendinitis, which was caused by overzealous practicing. Now fully recovered, she works to call attention to the numerous playing-related ailments and injuries professional musicians of all kinds are subject to.
Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz reviews a new collection of recordings by the African American singer Marian Anderson, a contralto known for her masterful rendition of art songs and spirituals.
Rock historian Ed Ward says its time we give bubblegum pop another listen. In contrast to the bombastic concept albums of the 1970s that were released at the same time, these one-off songs were catchy and accessible, and helped expand rock and roll's fanbase.
Kingston wrote two dreamlike memoirs before publishing a novel, Tripmaster Monkey. The story follows a Chinese American grad student in the 1960s who is as influenced by Chinese literature as he is Beat culture. Book critic John Leonard calls it brilliant.
The avant-garde artist has a retrospective exhibition at the Whitney Museum in New York City. Growing up, she divided her time between the United States and Japan, before and during World War II. Her marriage to John Lennon made her a celebrity, but overshadowed her own work.
Jazz critic Kevin Whitehead says that tenor saxophonist Benny Carter, now 81, has preferred to work behind the scenes, often allowing his collaborators to take the spotlight on his recordings. But Carter's newest album, My Kind of Trouble, puts him front and center where he belongs.
TV critic David Bianculli reviews the network's latest pilots, including a ghastly sitcom, a thirtysomething ripoff, and a magical hour from the Muppet's creator.
Film mogul Samuel Goldwyn's son gave permission to A. Scott Berg to write the movie producer's biography. Berg says the elder Goldwyn entered the United States illegally, and later built himself by working at a glove factory before helping develop the studio system.
Critic Ken Tucker reviews the home video release of The Great Ziegfeld, a biopic about the famed impresario. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture, an honor Tucker says was undeserved. Yet the film is fun, despite some slow moments, and paints a clear picture of a bygone era of of Hollywood.
