Television

Creator and executive producer of the HBO hit series “The Sopranos,” David Chase. The show has just completed its second season and experienced the death of one of its cast members, Nancy Marchand.

From the American Movie Classics cable channel, Vice President for scheduling, Pat Davis. And from The Turner Classic Movie channel, Vice President of programming, Charlie Tabesh. They’ll discuss their work scheduling and acquiring classic films to be shown on cable TV.

Actress Amy Sedaris. She’s the star of the comedy series “Strangers With Candy” that airs Monday and Saturday nights on Comedy Central. Sedaris plays Jerri Blank, a 47-year old ex-con, ex-prostitute lesbian high school freshman. She’s the sister of David Sedaris, a humor writer who has been on Fresh Air several times. Amy and David have produced and written several plays together, including the 1996 Obie award winning “One Woman Shoe.”

Fresh Air TV Critic David Bianculli talks with Joss Whedon (Joss is pronounced like “Floss,” Whedon is WE-den). He’s the creator of the movie and TV series “Buffy The Vampire Slayer.” He is executive producer of “Buffy” and co-executive producer of the Buffy Spin-off “Angel.” Whedon also writes for both shows. Before working on Buffy, Whedon wrote for the TV series “Roseanne.” He also writes screenplays. He has worked on the scripts for such films as Alien Resurrection, Twister, Toy Story, Speed, and this summer’s X-Men. (THIS INTERVIEW CONTINUES INTO THE SECOND HALF OF THE SHOW.)

Actor, writer, director and producer Peter Berg. He is the creator and executive producer of the new controversial ABC series Wonderland. The show is set in a mental hospital. Some call it the most accurate portrayal of the mentally ill on network television, while some mental health organizations say that the series further stigmatizes mental patients. As an actor, Peter Berg has started on the TV show Chicago Hope, and has appeared in movies like The Last seduction, Copland, and the Great White Hype.

Actor John Spencer. He plays Leo McGarry, the Chief of Staff to the President in the tv series "The West Wing." The show, set in the Whitehouse, and concerning a fictional democratic President and his staff has just won a prestigious George Peabody award. In this first season of the show, Spencer's character has had to deal with his former alcoholism becoming a matter of public scrutiny. Spencder previously was a regular on "L.A. Law" and began his career on "The Patty Duke Show."

Attorney and former Deputy Commissioner of Baseball, Stephen Greenberg. He’ll discuss his father, legendary baseball player Hank Greenberg, who faced bigotry in the 1930s and 40s as America’s first Jewish baseball star. Greenberg played first base and outfield for the Detroit Tigers from 1933-46 and for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1947. And he helped the Tigers win the pennant four times. There’s a new documentary about him, “The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg” (by Aviva Kempner).

Actor Michael Imperioli. He currently stars as Christopher In the HBO series "The Sopranos" and wrote one of this season's episodes. He's also appeared In five Spike Lee films, and starred In, co-wrote and executive produced Lee's latest film "Summer of Sam." Imperioli also appeared In the films "Goodfellas," "Malcolm X," "Clockers," and "Household Saints."

Executive producer of the TV show "Frasier", Christopher Lloyd. The show made Its debut In 1993 and since then has won many awards Including the Peabody. The new book, "The Frasier Scripts" collects 15 of the staff's favorite shows (Newmarket Press).

Writer Alan Ball. His first feature film screenplay was for this year's critically acclaimed movie, "American Beauty." He's also creator, head writer, and executive producer of the new TV comedy "Oh Grow Up." Previously, Ball wrote for the TV shows "Grace Under Fire," and "Cybill."