Television

Tom Fontana is executive producer and writer of HBO's Oz, the realistic drama about life in an experimental unit of a maximum-security prison. Fontana also created Homicide: Life on the Street and the 1980s hospital drama, St. Elsewhere. The new DVD box set Homicide: Life on the Street collects the show's first two seasons, and includes special features.

Walon Green is one of the executive producers of Dragnet, the remake of the 1950s crime drama set in Los Angeles. The new show revives the fictional detectives Joe Friday and Frank Smith. Green is a veteran producer and writer of other police dramas including Hill Street Blues, NYPD Blue, as well as the dramas ER and Law & Order. Green also wrote the screenplay for the classic Warner Bros. western The Wild Bunch, directed by Sam Peckinpah. He also wrote the screenplay for a more recent western, The Hi-Lo Country.

He's the creator and producer of NBC's new series Mr. Sterling, about a freshman senator on Capitol Hill. O'Donnell was a writer and producer for the first two seasons of NBC's The West Wing. Before his television career, O'Donnell was in politics himself. He was Democratic chief of staff of the United States Senate Committee on Finance from 1993 to 1995. Prior to that he was senior advisor to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan D-NY from 1989 to 1992. Currently O'Donnell is also senior political analyst for MSNBC.

Composer Alf Clausen, the man behind the music of The Simpsons. This interview first aired May 14, 1997.

Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons, talks with TV critic David Bianculli about the series. TV's longest-running animated series broadcasts its 300th episode Feb. 16, 2003. The Simpsons were first featured during episodes of The Tracey Ullman Show, then earned their own prime-time series in 1990. This interview first aired April 22, 1998.

He stars as maverick cop Vic Mackey in the FX channel drama series The Shield. Last year, in the first year of the series, Chiklis won an Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Now it's year two. The Shield is a major departure from the sunnier roles Chiklis had in his past TV shows, The Commish and Daddio.

Chuck Barris is the creator of "The Dating Game," "The Newlywed Game," and "The Gong Show." He also composed the themes for each show. The new film "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is based on Barris' 1980 autobiography in which he claims - while he was creating game shows - he was also a CIA assasin. "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind" is George Clooney's directorial debut. (REBROADCAST from 1/28/86)

They are the creators of the original TV reality show An American Family. The 1973 PBS series followed the Loud Family. The new film Lance Loud! A Death In An American Family premieres on PBS January 6, 2003 at 9 p.m.

Lewis Gould is a professor of American History at the University of Texas at Austin. He’s edited the new book, “Watching Television Come of Age” (University of Texas Press) a collection of the New York Times reviews by his father, Jack Gould who covered TV for the Times from 1947 until 1972. Jack Gould died in 1993.

His popular show Mister Rogers' Neighborhood was the longest-running program on public television. It ran 33 years and ended its run in 2001. Rogers is the author of the new book, The Mister Rogers Parenting Book: Helping to Understand Your Young Child. (Running Press). Earlier this year, Rogers was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor the nation can bestow.