Bill Cosby, Still Himself After All These Years
Marking 50 years in show business, the actor and comedian talks about ADD, what his wife is really like and a child's death.
Pop Culture
How Live TV Helped America Mourn The Loss Of JFK
Critic David Bianculli remembers watching the original news coverage of Kennedy's assassination — four days of unprecedented television — when he was 10 years old. He recalls how from that point on, TV, not radio, was the dominant medium for breaking news.
After 50 Years, Regeneration Keeps 'Doctor Who' Current
Not counting a 16-year break the British science-fiction TV series took around the 1990s, Doctor Who is celebrating its 50th anniversary on Saturday. There's a special in 3D that's going to be simulcast in 75 countries, and the BBC has made a movie about the history of Doctor Who.
For Key And Peele, Biracial Roots Bestow Special Comedic 'Power'
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele each have a white mother and black father, and a lot of the jokes on their Comedy Central show are about race. Peele tells Fresh Air that their backgrounds allow them to do characters others would feel uncomfortable doing.
How Writer Doris Lessing Didn't Want To Be Remembered
Author Doris Lessing died Sunday at the age of 94. Lessing won the 2007 Nobel Prize for literature for a life's work which included around 40 books and collections of essays and memoirs. Her book, The Golden Notebook, has been called the first feminist novel — a characterization Lessing rejected as "stupid."
Amazon Opens An Entertainment Door With 'Alpha House'
The online retailer is premiering its first original show — a comedy about four senators bunking together in D.C. NPR's Eric Deggans says the series, which stars John Goodman, isn't quite the sharp comedy you might expect from creator Garry Trudeau.
Comcast Deal Puts New Minority-Run Channels In Play
The conglomerate is launching new networks — targeted at diverse audiences and run by Sean Combs, Magic Johnson and Robert Rodriguez — to satisfy an agreement made with the FCC when the company merged with NBCUniversal.
Blockbuster Fades Out, But Some Zombie Stores Will Live On
Dish Network announced this week that it will shutter the 300 or so remaining Blockbuster stores it owns across the country. But in some places, dozens of the video stores will have an unlikely afterlife.
Vince Giordano: The Fresh Air Interview
Giordano has been obsessed with 1920s jazz since he first heard it on his grandparents' Victrola. His band the Nighthawks performs the music heard on the HBO series Boardwalk Empire.
Medicinal Laughs: Could 'Daily Show' Sour Millennials On ACA?
Jon Stewart's news-driven comedy show has mined many a joke from the Affordable Care Act's rocky rollout. NPR TV critic Eric Deggans spoke with All Things Considered's Audie Cornish about whether the mockery could have a real impact on younger viewers' responses to the health care law.