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Pop Culture

Sunday

Analysis

Analysis

Expectations of Privacy in the Information Age

Take a moment to list all of the personal information you voluntarily gave out this year. So, how much privacy do you really have? Scholars James Rule and Kathryn Montgomery join Liane Hansen to mark the year's end with a conversation about privacy — how we define it, how we safeguard it and how new generations view it.

Expectations of Privacy in the Information Age

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Saturday

Media

Letterman Decides Late Shows Must Go On

David Letterman's production company, World Wide Pants, cut a deal with the Writers Guild of America on Friday that would allow The Late Show with David Letterman and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson to return to the air with their writers.

Letterman Decides Late Shows Must Go On

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Friday

Culture

'Fresh Air' Reflects: Actress Nancy Cartwright

Fresh Air

Our weeklong retrospective of the year's most entertaining interviews continues with Nancy Cartwright. You've probably heard her work, but you may not have known it was her. She's the voice of Bart Simpson.

'Fresh Air' Reflects: Actress Nancy Cartwright

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Media

'The Wire' to Focus on Baltimore Newspaper

The final season of the HBO series The Wire, which dramatizes how real-world institutions and leaders repeatedly failed the people of Baltimore, gets under way Jan. 6. Creator David Simon is turning his critical eye on journalism, namely The Baltimore Sun.

'The Wire' to Focus on Baltimore Newspaper

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Wednesday

Culture

The Latest Laughs from 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'

Fresh Air

Executive producer and actor Jeff Garlin and actress Susie Essman discuss the hit HBO comedy series. Garlin plays Larry David's affable best friend and agent. Essman plays Garlin's wife — with a no-nonsense attitude and a foul mouth. This interview originally aired on Sept. 6, 2007.

The Latest Laughs from 'Curb Your Enthusiasm'

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Culture

The Starring Roles of Steve Carell

Fresh Air

Carell, best known for his role in NBC's "The Office," talks about his recent film, Dan in Real Life. Carell also starred in The 40 Year Old Virgin and Little Miss Sunshine. He rose to fame on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show." This interview originally aired on Oct. 24, 2007.

The Starring Roles of Steve Carell

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The Evolution of the Blog

Blogs Become Serious Business

Blogs matter more than ever — to political candidates, to a colonel managing a war, to human-rights advocates trying to deliver their message. Two experts discuss the growing impact of blogs.

Blogs Become Serious Business

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Tuesday

Day to Day

Song About Wild Christmas Displays Goes Wild

Judy Pancoast, a children's songwriter and entertainer, talks about a Christmas song she wrote that is gaining popularity online. The song describes the crazy house that is covered with thousands of blinking lights, reindeer, inflatable snowmen and a Santa Claus that says, "Ho, ho, ho!"

Song About Wild Christmas Displays Goes Wild

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Business

Writers Expected to Picket Awards Shows

The big Hollywood awards shows — the Golden Globes and the Oscars — are coming soon. Striking screenwriters have already said they won't allow writers to script the Globes and that they will picket. It may be the same for the Oscars, too. Guild members are wondering whether actors and directors will cross the picket lines.

Writers Expected to Picket Awards Shows

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Monday

Cell Phones: Talking, Texting . . . and Tuning In?

Cell Phones Do Double Duty in India

In India, people use cell phones for more than just talking and texting — they're entertainment tools, as well. Partly because broadband Internet access isn't widely available for computers, Indians use their cell phones to download and share music and watch videos — especially swapping MP3s and watching musical numbers from Bollywood movies.

Cell Phones Do Double Duty in India

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Opinion

Diversions

Toys that Withstand the Test of Time

Every year, we hear all about the hot toy to give — but how many of those hot items actually become a child's favorite toy? To find out, we asked a number of our NPR colleagues to tell us about their favorite childhood plaything. No Cabbage Patch Kids, no Tickle Me Elmos, and no Xboxes are mentioned.

Toys that Withstand the Test of Time

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On Television

The Best Television Programs of 2007

Fresh Air

David Bianculli, Fresh Air TV critic, shares his picks for the best television of 2007 and says he's looking forward to the 2008 seasons of ABC's Lost and HBO's The Wire. Bianculli is the author of Teleliteracy and Television's 500 Biggest Hits, Misses, and Events.

The Best Television Programs of 2007

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Culture

Top 10 Cultural Trends of 2007

Fresh Air

John Powers, Fresh Air critic at large, weighs in on the trends of 2007: political campaigns, Iraq movies failing at the box office, HBO's The Sopranos, stories about hitting the road, the TMZing of America, jocks gone wild, hip sentimentality, the nightly ideological news, atheist chic and the writers strike.

Top 10 Cultural Trends of 2007

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Get Hip or Die Trying

The nonprofit Goodwill is reinventing itself in Washington, D.C., as a fashionable place to buy clothes, complete with a blogger who plucks the best deals from the shelves. A special BPP video report looks at the challenge of balancing a mission to help the struggling poor with a campaign to draw in the affluent hip.

Get Hip or Die Trying

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Friday

Girls and Moms Respond to Teen Star's Pregnancy

Tween star Jamie-Lynn Spears announced this week that she is pregnant. The 16-year-old is the star of Nickelodeon's Zoey 101 and the younger sister of pop singer Britney Spears, and she plans to keep the baby. What are girls and their moms making of the news? Denise Restauri, founder of AllyKatzz — a social networking Web site for girls ages 10 to 15 — and mother of a 14-year-old girl, says girls have had mixed reactions to the news. Restauri talks with Melissa Block.

Girls and Moms Respond to Teen Star's Pregnancy

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