Television

Actress Annie Potts. She's becoming familiar to audiences for her role in TV's "Designing Women." But before that, she was cast often as quirky, off-the-wall characters in films like "Ghostbusters" and "Pretty in Pink."

Television Critic David Bianculli reviews "The Wonder Years," a new ABC series. The show is an extended flashback to 1968 and the junior high school days of Daniel Stern ("Diner" and "Breaking Away"), the show's narrator, and Fred Savage ("The Princess Bride"), who plays Stern as he was in 1968.

Television Critic David Bianculli turns historian and tries to determine the precise moment that "Moonlighting" began it's fall.

Critic-at-Large Laurie Stone looks back at television's coverage of the women's figure skating competition at the Winter Olympics in Calgary.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews "Rock of Life," by Rick Springfield and "Til My Heart Stops," by Lisa Hartman, two TV stars trying to make the rock charts. Springfield plays a doctor on the daytime soap "General Hospital;" Hartman is a cast member of the evening soap "Knot's Landing."

Film critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Hairspray," the latest film by director and writer John Waters. "Hairspray," a satire of the teen dance shows of the early 60s, follows a long line of wildly eccentric films like "Polyester," "Pink Flamingos," and "Female Trouble." The cast includes Divine, Debbie Harry, Pia Zadora and Sonny Bono.

Television Critic David Bianculli shares his favorite current TV themes, the music that helps establish a show's identity before anything happens on the screen.

Ken Tucker reviews "TV's Best Adventures of Superman," the home video cassette of the popular "Adventures of Superman" series that starred George Reeves. The release coincides with the 50th anniversary of Superman's creation as a comic-strip character by two Ohio teenagers.

Edward James Olmos. He plays Lt. Castillo in the popular television series "Miami Vice" and is now starring in a soon-to-be released film "Stand and Deliver." Olmos also starred in the films "Zoot Suit" and "The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez" and "Blade Runner."

The actor Divine. He's now starring in John Waters' new film "Hairspray." Divine is known for his roles as freaky, obese, gaudy women. He's become a pop star in Europe.

Television Critic David Bianculli talks about the effect video cassette recorders have had on the way his kids watch TV.

Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews "Repercussions," the British documentary series on African and Afro-American music. One segment features American jazz drummer Max Roach; another highlights the Los Angeles rhythm-and-blues scene and "highlife" musicians from Ghana. The series is now available on home video.

Television Critic David Bianculli previews the HBO spoof of political campaigns, "Tanner 88: The Dark Horse." Unlike earlier fabricated campaigns like "Pat Paulsen for President," "Tanner 88" takes its politics seriously. The script is written by "Doonesbury" cartoonist Garry Trudeau, and the direction is by Robert Altman.

Rock Critic Ken Tucker. It's another in the continuing series of interviews with Fresh Air's contributors. Ken tells us how a frustrated college poet found himself in crowded clubs listening to punk bands and being paid for it.

Part II of an interview with filmmaker and writer John Waters.

Television Critic David Bianculli previews "The Man Who Shot John Lennon," the "Frontline" documentary on Mark David Chapman. The program relies on audiotaped psychiatric interviews with Chapman, and on a close analysis of the novel The Catcher in the Rye, which Chapman followed as though it were a script for Lennon's murder.

The first part of a two-part interview with filmmaker and writer John Waters. His new film - "Hairspray" - follows a long line of wildly eccentric films like "Polyester," "Pink Flamingos," and "Female Trouble." Like those films, the setting for "Hairspray" is Baltimore. The cast includes Divine, Debbie Harry, Pia Zadora and Sonny Bono.

Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews the No Speak record series, all-instrumental albums brought out by the producer Miles Copeland. The artists are Pete Haycock, formerly of the Climax Blues Band, William Orbit, Stewart Copeland, guitarist for the Police and the group Wishbone Ash.

Television Critic David Bianculli previews the 20th anniversary reunion of "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour." While the show features some clips from the original programs, it is composed mostly of updated skits featuring comics from including Steve Martin, Leigh French and Pat Paulson. The musicians include Glenn Campbell, John Hartford, Jennifer Warnes and Mason Williams.

Ken Tucker reviews the home video release of "The Adventures of Tintin," a European comic strip that featured a boy reporter accompanied by a wire-haired terrier. The strip, which first appeared in 1929, captivated children and adults alike, winning the praise of Winston Churchill and Charles DeGaulle. In 1962, the strip was made into animated cartoons by the American producer Charles Shows.