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07:13

'Primrose': 44 Years Later, Still Sharp As Thumbtacks.

Evening Primrose, Stephen Sondheim's made-for-TV musical about a poet and the girl he discovers living after hours in a department store hasn't been been televised since its 1966 premiere. David Bianculli says the musical, out Tuesday on DVD for the first time, showcases Sondheim's "early brilliance."

Review
05:46

A Modern 'Sherlock' Is More Than Elementary.

On Oct. 24, a TV drama featuring a modernized Sherlock Holmes is set to debut on the PBS series Masterpiece Mystery. David Bianculli says the newest incarnation of the iconic detective is "terrific and inspired."

Review
04:48

'To The End' A Solemn Exploration Of Israeli Identity.

David Grossman began working on his novel To the End of the Land while his son Uri was in the Israeli Army. He hoped it would protect him. It didn't. Uri was killed, and Grossman's fiction explores the fragility of families, nations and life itself.

Review
45:12

Jason Schwartzman, 'Bored' And Loving It.

After starring in movies like Rushmore and The Darjeeling Limited, Jason Schwartzman decided to move to TV. He talks about playing a novelist moonlighting as a private detective on HBO's Bored to Death -- and details what it was like to work with Wes Anderson on several films.

Interview
42:37

Pixar's People, At Play With Ideas In 'Toy Story 3.'

The third and final installment of the Toy Story trilogy turned out to have some deep themes: death, abandonment, loss. One inspiration: an incident in which director Lee Unkrich accidentally threw out his wife's toys. Both Unkrich and screenwriter Michael Arndt join Terry Gross to talk about the trilogy, due on DVD Nov. 2.

07:09

Liking Bruno Mars Just The Way He Is.

Bruno Mars is a 25-year-old singer, songwriter and producer who's worked on hit singles for numerous hip-hop and soul artists. Rock critic Ken Tucker says Mars' new album, Doo-Wops and Hooligans, is "an impressive, varied and intense experience."

Review
06:56

Dwight Twilley's 'Green Blimp': Blissful, Emotive Pop.

The Dwight Twilley Band scored its biggest hit, "I'm on Fire," in 1975, and then struggled for years to achieve stardom that never arrived. Now the band's lead singer, Twilley, is back. Rock critic Ken Tucker reviews his new album Green Blimp, which also features vocals by Susan Cowsill.

Review
05:24

A 'Hereafter' Where Matt Damon Sees Dead People.

Clint Eastwood's latest film is a supernatural drama about a factory worker with the ability to communicate with the dead. Critic David Edelstein says the film is too contrived to tell us anything enlightening about how to live in the shadow of death.

Review
27:20

Vijay Iyer: Self-Taught Jazz Pianist Goes 'Solo.'

A jazz pianist and bandleader, Iyer is one of the most critically acclaimed musicians of the past decade. He also has a masters in physics. Here, he explains why he decided to switch to a full-time career as a jazz musician, and describes what influenced his latest album, Solo.

Interview
21:19

Philip Roth: On Writing, Aging And 'Nemesis.'

Roth, who has been writing novels for more than a half-century, explains how he comes up with his ideas — and why he continues to write every day. In his latest work, Nemesis, he imagines a fictional polio outbreak set in his hometown of Newark, N.J., during the 1940s.

Interview
42:43

Glenn Beck: Drawing On 1950s Extremism?

In the Oct. 18 issue of The New Yorker, historian Sean Wilentz argues that the rhetoric expressed by both Glenn Beck and the Tea Party is nothing new -- and is rooted in an extremist ideology that has been around since the Cold War.

Interview
07:18

Remembering 'La Stupenda': Opera Singer Joan Sutherland.

From the late 1950s up until her last stage appearance in 1990, Australian soprano Dame Joan Sutherland was one of the world's most admired and celebrated opera stars. She died Sunday at age 83. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz looks back at the life and work of the singer known as "La Stupenda."

Obituary
05:28

Narratives Of Grief Fill Krauss' 'Great House.'

Novelist Nicole Krauss artfully weaves disparate stories of love and loss into a devastating examination of the weight of memory on those left behind. Four narrators are connected by an antique desk separated from its original owner during the Holocaust.

Review

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