Television

Since 1999, Mariska Hargitay has played a police detective specializing in sex crimes on the NBC drama, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit.

Since 1999, Mariska Hargitay has played a police detective specializing in sex crimes on the NBC drama, Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. Earlier this year, she won the Golden Globe for best actress in a dramatic series.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the premiere of the new season of Lost. The ABC series about a group of castaways on an island is going into its second season.

Host and Fresh Air TV critic David Bianculli comments on television programming in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews a new DVD box set of The Dick Cavett Show: Rock Icons. It's a compilation of interviews and performances on the late-night talk show by some of the leading musicians of the 1960s and '70s, including Mick Jagger, Janis Joplin and Stevie Wonder.

Television critic David Bianculli reviews the HBO series Six Feet Under. The series finale will air Sunday. Bianculli will talk about the show, which premiered on the cable network in 2001.

Actor, writer and producer Jonathan Katz stars in Hopeless Pictures as psychiatrist Jonathan Katz. The Peabody Award winner also co-created and starred in Comedy Central's animated series Dr. Katz: Professional Therapist.

A new animated comedy series, Hopeless Pictures centers on a dysfunctional Hollywood indie film studio. Actor Bob Balaban writes, directs and produces the show, which will debut on the Independent Film Channel August 19.

Bill Maher, host of HBO's Real Time With Bill Maher, has a new book, New Rules: Polite Musings of a Timid Observer. It's a compilation of satiric segments from the show, in which he takes aim at everything from cell phones and fast food to politics.

Lorne Michaels is the creator and long-time executive producer of Saturday Night Live, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year.