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PBS Swings and Misses with Its New TV Documentary Series

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new three part series on PBS, "Signal to Noise: Life with Television." It's the kind of thing that should have excited him -- but ultimately made him ill.

03:35
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Other segments from the episode on July 11, 1996

Fresh Air with Terry Gross, July 11, 1996: Interview with David Mamet; Review of the television show "Signal to Noise: Life with Television," Interview with Mart Crowley; Commentary on techno music.
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21:30

David Mamet's "Remembrances" of Being a Young Writer

The essayist, poet and playwright's new book, "Make-Believe Town," is a selection of essays about everything from theater to politics to Judaism. His work has been called opinionated, forceful, original and always surprising. Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize for his play "Glengarry Glen Ross" and has written and directed several motion pictures.

Interview
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13:31

Playwright Mart Crowley on Homosexuality and Self-Hatred

Crowley's works were recently re-published in a book, "3 Plays by Mart Crowley" (Alyson Publications). "The Boys in the Band" (1968), is the classic portrait of a gay artist living in New York and was one of the first plays to break the taboo on the portrayal of homosexuality. A revival of "The Boys in the Band" opened in June and the film version is being featured at the Philadelphia International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival this summer.

Interview
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07:16

The History of Techno Music

Rock historian Ed Ward tells us about the music genre known as techno -- a style with roots in black American music, but that took off in Europe.

Commentary

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10:12

David Bianculli: The Interview.

Fresh Air's Television Critic David Bianculli. Bianculli has worked as television critic at several metropolitan papers, including The Akron Beacon Journal, The Fort Lauderdale News and The Philadelphia Inquirer. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone and the Washington Journalism Review. He is currently the television critic for The New York Post.

Interview
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03:59

Morton Downey, Jr.'s Show Doesn't Raise the Level of Discussion.

Television Critic David Bianculli previews "The Morton Downey Jr. Show," a new talk show that's the equivalent of shock radio. Downey's guests range from representatives of Planned Parenthood to the Ku Klux Klan. But it's the frenzy of audience, and Downey's abuse of both guests and audience, that makes the show unique.

Review

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52:30

Daughter of Warhol star looks back on a bohemian childhood in the Chelsea Hotel

Alexandra Auder's mother, Viva, was one of Andy Warhol's muses. Growing up in Warhol's orbit meant Auder's childhood was an unusual one. For several years, Viva, Auder and Auder's younger half-sister, Gaby Hoffmann, lived in the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan. It was was famous for having been home to Leonard Cohen, Dylan Thomas, Virgil Thomson, and Bob Dylan, among others.

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43:04

This fake 'Jury Duty' really put James Marsden's improv chops on trial

In the series Jury Duty, a solar contractor named Ronald Gladden has agreed to participate in what he believes is a documentary about the experience of being a juror--but what Ronald doesn't know is that the whole thing is fake.

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