December 25, 2012
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David Bianculli Says 2012 Brought No New TV Favorites
()Fresh Air's television critic says there weren't any new shows this year that wowed him and that all the shows he watched and loved this year were ones that have been on for at least a season. His No. 1 favorite remains Breaking Bad.
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Recent Interviews
Television
HBO's 'Enlightened' Take On Modern Meditation
![Laura Dern and series creator Mike White, shown together on the set of Enlightened, first worked together on White's 2007 film Year of the Dog.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121225123647im_/http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/12/20/enlightened08-6694db0956a12ca4c2b09dbc6b500838f0dd1b0a-s1.jpg)
December 21, 2012 Laura Dern is Amy Jellicoe, a health and beauty executive who returns from a post-meltdown retreat to pick up the pieces of her broken life in the HBO series Enlightened. Series creator Mike White talks about the tone of the show, and whether it's possible for people to really change.
Politics
Assault-Style Weapons In The Civilian Market
![According to Tom Diaz of the Violence Policy Center, more people in the United States die every year from gun-related incidents than have been killed in all terrorist attacks worldwide since the 1960s.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121225123647im_/http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/12/20/istock_000012370862medium-b82607a5e66412ffdf42ec9fc02fd724429856eb-s1.jpg)
December 20, 2012 Senior analyst for the Violence Policy Center Tom Diaz says one of the weapons found at the site of the Newtown, Conn., shooting was a variant of a type of gun developed for troops in Vietnam.
Movie Interviews
'Not Fade': Rock 'N' Roll, Here To Stay
![Director David Chase and Executive Producer and Music Supervisor Steve Van Zandt on the set of Not Fade Away.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121225123647im_/http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/12/11/chaseandvanzandt-9a4b6ca4f6b7e5f8bd92d6b96f57b0499d3be2bd-s1.jpg)
December 19, 2012 In his new film, Sopranos creator David Chase tells a coming-of-age story about Jersey boys in the 1960s who dream of riding the wave of the British invasion all the way to stardom. Chase teams up with Steven Van Zandt — of the E Street Band and The Sopranos — to make the movie's music rock.
Movie Interviews
'Unchained' Admiration Between Actor And Director
![Christoph Waltz (right, with Jamie Foxx) stars in Quentin Tarantino's new film Django Unchained.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121225123647im_/http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/12/12/du-ac-000105_lg-cc8331f76bfe3c469f2f66e9cd1c64cf5e964b2e-s1.jpg)
December 18, 2012 Austrian actor Christoph Waltz won an Oscar for his portrayal of Nazi Jew hunter Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds. Teamed up with Tarantino again in Django Unchained, he says Tarantino's writing and the rhythm of the language speaks to him as a performer.
Movie Interviews
'Guilt Trip': Streisand On Songs, Films And Family
![Barbra Streisand is Joyce Brewster in The Guilt Trip. The multitalented performer has won an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and a Tony — a feat achieved by fewer than a dozen artists.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121225123647im_/http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/12/11/mmc-06325r-9b1034265283c1db5550c8096538071601d0a3b5-s1.jpg)
December 17, 2012 In her new movie, singer, actor, writer, director and producer Barbra Streisand plays a well-meaning if overbearing Jewish mom. The star says her own mother both encouraged her talents and was jealous of them.
Recent Reviews And Commentaries
Commentary
Forget YOLO: Why 'Big Data' Should Be The Word Of The Year
![Tape with binary code close-up. Shallow DOF. Blue tone.](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/web/20121225123647im_/http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2012/12/20/istock_000005325530medium-e3e514a6cbacd0179201fe03a3406781cf208261-s1.jpg)
December 20, 2012 "Big Data" had just as much to do with President Obama's victory as phrases like "Etch A Sketch" and "47 percent," says linguist Geoff Nunberg. Big Data is also behind anxieties about intrusions on our privacy, whether from the government's anti-terrorist data sweeps or the ads that track us on the Web.