Television

In Chad Hodge's new Fox series, Secret Service agent Ethan Burke (Matt Dillon) travels to Wayward Pines, Idaho, in search of two missing federal agents.

Arts

TV Thriller 'Wayward Pines' Offers Suspense — And An Ending

8:56pm May 17, 2015

by NPR Staff

Chad Hodge, the creator of the 10-episode limited series, promises that it won't leave viewers hanging. "One thing that I really wanted to do with this show is not cheat you as a viewer," he says.

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Watching Joan (Christina Hendricks, left) and Peggy (Elisabeth Moss) navigate the sexism of a 1960s ad agency is part of what has kept audiences hooked on Mad Men.

Arts

'Mad Men' Writer: Show's Female Characters Aren't Thinking About Feminism

10:44am May 17, 2015

by NPR Staff

"They're very much in their own lives," says Semi Chellas, who is also the show's co-executive producer. The AMC period drama ends its seventh and final season on Sunday.

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Matthew Weiner and Ask Me Another host Ophira Eisenberg.

Arts

Matthew Weiner: No Longer Linda's Loser Husband

6:22am May 17, 2015

Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner joins us in Santa Barbara, Calif., to talk screenwriting, life before success, and his secret past as a Jeopardy! champion.

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Queen Latifah plays blues singer Bessie Smith in the HBO movie Bessie.

In HBO's 'Bessie,' Queen Latifah Stars As Empress Of The Blues

7:16pm May 16, 2015

by NPR Staff

It took Queen Latifah more than 20 years to bring the life of pioneering blues singer Bessie Smith to the screen. "Inhabiting her has inhabited me," she says.

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Network's Fall TV Shows Embrace Diverse Casts

7:57am May 15, 2015

by Eric Deggans

The TV industry was in New York to present its new lineup to advertisers. We examine whether the networks have doubled down on diversity after the success of shows like Empire and Jane the Virgin.

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Economy

TV Networks Count On Reborn Old Shows To Bring In Ad Dollars

10:13pm May 14, 2015

Network officials are gathered in New York this week to present their new fall lineups to advertisers. Renee Montagne talks to Kim Masters, of The Hollywood Reporter and host of KCRW's The Business.

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David Letterman, seen here snapping a selfie with his replacement Stephen Colbert, will step down next week as host of the Late Show.

Arts

David Letterman's Top 10 Late-Night Memories (Well, Not Really)

5:05pm May 14, 2015

by Eric Deggans

No one has been a late-night TV host longer than David Letterman, who retires Wednesday after 33 years. Here's what he told TV Critic Eric Deggans about leaving the Ed Sullivan Theater one last time.

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Fox Announces 'American Idol' To End After 15 Seasons

8:12am May 12, 2015

Ahead of its fall programming presentation to advertisers, Fox announced Monday that the 15th season of American Idol, which will begin in January 2016, will be the last.

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Ryan Seacrest (from left), Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban

Arts

The End Of 'American Idol'

2:23pm May 11, 2015

by Linda Holmes

Fox announced today that the 15th season of American Idol will be the end of the road for what was once the biggest show on TV.

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Sir David Attenborough at the Beijing Museum of Natural History with fossil of Juramaia, as featured in the Smithsonian Channel series Rise of Animals: Triumph of the Vertebrates.

Science

In 'Rise Of Animals,' Sir David Attenborough Tells Story Of Vertebrates

1:23pm May 11, 2015

by NPR Staff

The 89-year-old British naturalist's two-part special explores fossil evidence on how evolution moved past bugs and worms and trilobites, and how the Chinese are helping fill gaps in that knowledge.

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