Television

TV critic David Bianculli on the new Bravo cable makeover show, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. NBC will broadcast an episode of the show tonight.

Fashion journalists Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine are hosts of the BBC show What Not to Wear which gives advice to women on what not to wear/what to wear if one has, for instance, big arms, flabby tummy, thick legs, etc. Their book, What Not To Wear is available now in paperback.

TV critic David Bianculli previews Dead Like Me the new series on Showtime Cable that begins Friday, June 27. It's about a group of characters who died with unresolved issues and have to work them out in the after life.

He was the Weekend Update anchor on Saturday Night Live from 1998 to 2000, and was known for his satirical coverage of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. He's now starring in Comedy Central's Tough Crowd with Colin Quinn.

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.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the series finale of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and the season finale of 24.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new nature documentary miniseries by Sir David Attenborough. Life of Mammals is in ten parts and begins tonight on the Discovery Channel.

Former New York Times Balkans Bureau Chief and Middle East Bureau Chief Chris Hedges. He's covered war zones in Central America, the Middle East, and the Balkans for over 20 years. He'll talk about the mindset of being at war. Hedges is also the author of the book, War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. (Public Affairs).

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.

TV critic David Bianculli on some of the newer reality-TV shows, such as Married by America and Joe Millionaire.

He died of stomach cancer on February 27, 2003, at the age of 74. His popular show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, was the longest-running program on public television. It ended in 2001 after 33 years on the air. Last year, Rogers was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor the nation can bestow. This interview first aired November 13, 2002.

We present an earlier interview with Fred Rogers. Terry Gross spoke with him in 1985, when Fresh Air was not yet a national show.

TV critic David Bianculli reflects on the career of the late Fred Rogers.

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.

Stand-up comic David Cross co-created the 1995 HBO cult hit Mr. Show (an amalgam of live sketch video pieces and occasional animation). He also wrote for the short-lived Ben Stiller Show. One reviewer writes of his act, "foul mouthed and razor sharp, doesn't shy away from vicious social criticism and outright political dissent."

TV critic David Bianculli reviews The Simple Life, the Fox reality show starring heiress and general party girl Paris Hilton. The Simple Life premieres tonight at 8:30 p.m.

TV critic David Bianculli reviews two new series: ABC's Dragnet, and NBC's Kingpin. Both premiere Sunday.

TV critic David Bianculli considers the glut of reality shows.