Television

Henry Louis Gates reveals celebrities' family history in 'Finding Your Roots'

5:25pm February 04, 2023

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. about the forthcoming episode of Finding Your Roots which features actor Joe Manganiello discovering he is of African descent.

Connie Britton plays Dee Dee, a wealthy woman who has lost her husband, in Dear Edward.

Arts

'Dear Edward' tugs — and tugs, and tugs — at your heartstrings

5:00am February 04, 2023

by Linda Holmes

If you enjoyed having a good cry over This Is Us, then Dear Edward, about the aftermath of a plane crash, is for you. But it's a Very Sad Show and your heartstrings should know what they're in for.

Pedro Pascal plays Joel Miller in The Last of Us.

Books
Arts

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend viewing

5:01pm February 03, 2023

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: The Last of Us, The Looney Tunes Show and Ice Merchants.

National

How 'The Last Of Us' makes an old plot line feel fresh

5:00pm February 03, 2023

Zombie plot lines have been around for decades. So how do you make a dystopian T.V. show sound new? Here's how "The Last Of Us" pulled it off.

Ill-informed TV correspondent Philomena Cunk (Diane Morgan) travels around the world in Cunk on Earth.

Arts

Clunky title aside, 'Cunk on Earth' is a mockumentary with cult classic potential

1:33pm February 03, 2023

by David Bianculli

An ill-informed TV correspondent travels the world — with hilarious results — in Netflix's new oddball show. Diane Morgan's delivery is deliciously dry, and her improv skills are formidable.

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Phil McGraw, pictured here at a 2016 premiere, plans to end his long-running daytime TV show to take on a new prime-time partnership.

Phil McGraw, America's TV shrink, plans to end 'Dr. Phil' after 21 seasons

11:19am February 01, 2023

by Emily Olson

CBS Media Ventures announced it would stop producing new episodes of Dr. Phil after the 2023 season. The show's host plans to expand his following with a new "prime-time partnership."

Music & Culture

HBO's 'The Last of Us' revives Linda Ronstadt's hit 'Long Long Time'

6:25am February 01, 2023

It may have been a while since you heard the 1970s hit. "Long Long Time" was used three times in The Last of Us episode. An hour after the show aired, Spotify reported streams increased by 4,900%.

Luke Tennie and Jason Segel star in Apple TV's Shrinking.

Arts

'Shrinking' gets great work from a great cast

2:55pm January 31, 2023

by Linda Holmes

The new comedy series Shrinking shares some DNA with Ted Lasso. But it's a smaller-scale piece with one of the strongest across-the-board casts that's been assembled in recent memory.

Arts

A therapist stumbles on a whole new way to treat patients in 'Shrinking'

1:36pm January 31, 2023

by David Bianculli

Jason Segel and Harrison Ford play therapists who're sometimes too honest with their patients — and not honest enough with themselves — in this winning new Apple TV+ comedy series.

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Libby (Lizzy Caplan), the narrator of Fleishman is in Trouble, is a stay-at-home mom who begins to question all of her life choices.

Arts

'Fleishman Is in Trouble' is a Trojan horse for women's stories, says Lizzy Caplan

1:36pm January 31, 2023

by Ann Marie Baldonado

Caplan started out on Freaks and Geeks and now plays the narrator of Fleishman Is in Trouble. She says Fleishman seems like a story about a man going through a divorce, but it turns into much more.

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