Television

Dominic West and Helena Bonham Carter star as Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Burton and Taylor, a new made-for-TV movie from BBC America.

Arts

A Peek Into The Private Lives Of 'Burton And Taylor'

4:20pm October 16, 2013

by David Bianculli

A new made-for-TV movie from BBC America dramatizes one particular period in the intertwined lives of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Critic David Bianculli says less is more, and the film's narrow biographic focus is one of its strengths.

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Rossellini is joining biologists in questioning conventional wisdom about mothers' interactions with their young.

Arts

Isabella Rossellini, Getting Animal Again With 'Mammas'

5:06pm October 06, 2013

by Pat Dowell

The star of Blue Velvet follows up her Webby-winning Green Porno series with another cheeky look at animal behavior. In Mammas, she channels mothers of many a species, challenges the belief that mothers are universally self-sacrificing — and eats an offspring or three.

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Andrew Hamblin preaches while holding a snake above his head, LaFollette, Tenn.

Snake-Handling Preachers Open Up About 'Takin' Up Serpents'

5:35pm October 04, 2013

by John Burnett

Pastor Jamie Coots says his Pentecostal church is really not that different from other churches. "We sing, we preach, we testify, take up offerings, pray for the sick, everything like everybody else does. Just, every once in a while, snakes are handled," he says.

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Bryan Cranston (left) starred as chemistry teacher turned meth dealer Walter White, and Aaron Paul played former student and drug-dealing co-conspirator Jesse Pinkman in AMC's Breaking Bad, which wrapped up its fifth and final season on Sunday.

Arts

'Breaking Bad' Writers: 'This Is It; There's No More'

3:05pm October 03, 2013

The AMC show about a high school chemistry teacher turned meth dealer ended its fifth and final season on Sunday. Writers Peter Gould and Thomas Schnauz say there was "absolute sadness" in the writers' room as they put the last plot points into place.

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Michael Sheen and Lizzy Caplan portray pioneering sex researchers William Masters and Virginia Johnson in a new Showtime series.

Arts

'Masters Of Sex' Get Unmasterful Treatment On Showtime

3:34pm September 26, 2013

by John Powers

The series follows the stories of science pioneers William Masters and Virginia Johnson, who helped bring sexuality into the light. Critic John Powers says it clearly aspires to be "the Mad Men of sex" -- but falls short in both its eye for detail and its retrograde portrayals of sex.

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Kate (Malin Akerman) pitches in alongside husband Pete (Bradley Whitford) on her stepson's soccer practice in ABC's Trophy Wife.

Arts

'Trophy Wife' Is More Than Just A Pretty Face On ABC

7:05pm September 24, 2013

by Neda Ulaby

The show's self-professed feminist creators wanted to take on a type generally scorned in popular culture. It's a favorite among critics, but one reviewer worries it will suffer from the Cougar Town effect — good show, terrible name.

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Capt. Ray Holt (Andre Braugher, right) leads detectives Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and Amy Santiago (Melissa Fumero) on a police stakeout in Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Arts

TV Trips Into Fall, But These Days Who Knows Where To Look?

3:52pm September 24, 2013

by David Bianculli

TV critic David Bianculli points to Brooklyn Nine-Nine, starring Andy Samberg, and The Blacklist, starring James Spader, as shows to watch this season. Other debuts, like The Michael J. Fox Show and The Crazy Ones, show plenty of potential.

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Small-Screen Stars Honored At Emmy Awards

3:00pm September 24, 2013

Breaking Bad, AMC's soon-to-end tale of Walter White's descent into depravity, won the Emmy Award for best drama. Also, ABC's madcap Modern Family won its fourth Emmy Award in a row as best comedy series.

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Michonne (Danai Gurira) and Rick (Andrew Lincoln), in between curses on AMC's The Walking Dead.

Arts

What The $@** Is Up On Cable These Days?

7:11pm September 10, 2013

by Neda Ulaby

NPR's Neda Ulaby looks into "soft-profanity creep" — and other dynamics informing the state of the, er, art — when it comes to drama series on basic cable.

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Arts

Seth Meyers' Prime-Time Political Parody

10:36am September 05, 2013

For Fresh Air's Late Night week, we listen back to a 2008 interview with Seth Meyers, head writer at Saturday Night Live, and the co-anchor of Weekend Update. Meyers will be taking over from Jimmy Fallon on Late Night, now that Fallon is moving to The Tonight Show. A longer version of this interview was originally broadcast on Oct. 29, 2008.

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