Pop Culture : NPR

Phil Ramone in New York in 1997. Ken Weingart/Getty Images hide caption

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Music Producer Phil Ramone Dies At 79

March 30, 2013 • Ramone worked with top artists to create some of the most unforgettable music of our era. He had been hospitalized in February with an aortic aneurysm.

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Pop Culture Happy Hour: Moody Mysteries And More Punching Bags

March 29, 2013 • On this week's show, we take on television's latest cloudy mystery and give a spirited defense to some of our favorite pop culture punching bags.

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Jim Fallon: What Does The Mind Of A Killer Look Like?

Jim Fallon's work analyzing the brains of psychopaths lead to a surprising personal discovery. Michael Brands/TED / Michael Brands hide caption

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Michael Brands/TED / Michael Brands

Jim Fallon: What Does The Mind Of A Killer Look Like?

March 28, 2013 • Neuroscientist Jim Fallon uses brain scans and genetic analysis to uncover the wiring in the nature (and nurture) of murderers.

Jim Fallon: What Does The Mind Of A Killer Look Like?

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Philip Zimbardo: Why Do Good People Do Bad Things?

Philip Zimbardo explains his infamous Stanford Prison experiment at a TED conference. Andrew Heavens/Courtesy of TED hide caption

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Andrew Heavens/Courtesy of TED

Philip Zimbardo: Why Do Good People Do Bad Things?

March 28, 2013 • Philip Zimbardo knows how easy it is for nice people to turn bad. In this TED talk, Zimbardo explores the nature of evil and how easy it is to be a hero.

Philip Zimbardo: Why Do Good People Do Bad Things?

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The Good News Is That We Know 'Idol' Is Really Live Now

March 28, 2013 • A particularly meandering performance of "I Can't Help Myself" left a sour taste from Motown Night.

Chris Hayes: From 'Up' In The Morning To 'All In' At Night

Anchor Chris Hayes will host a new MSNBC weeknight show beginning April 1. Virginia Sherwood/MSNBC hide caption

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Virginia Sherwood/MSNBC

Chris Hayes: From 'Up' In The Morning To 'All In' At Night

Fresh Air

March 26, 2013 • After hosting his Sunday morning show on MSNBC for the past year and a half, Hayes is making the move to a weeknight news show that premieres April 1. At 34, Hayes will be the youngest prime-time anchor on any of the major cable news channels.

Chris Hayes: From 'Up' In The Morning To 'All In' At Night

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Tweaks, Retooling, And When To Give Up: A Tale Of Two Singing Shows

Adam Levine, Shakira, Usher, and Blake Shelton make up the adjusted judging panel on NBC's The Voice. Adam Taylor/NBC hide caption

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Adam Taylor/NBC

Tweaks, Retooling, And When To Give Up: A Tale Of Two Singing Shows

March 26, 2013 • The Voice returns tonight with two new coaches, while The X Factor will return in the fall minus three familiar faces. But only one of the shows is in trouble.

How Ellen DeGeneres Helped Change The Conversation About Gays

Ellen DeGeneres during a taping of The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2011 in Burbank, Calif. Michael Rozman/Warner Bros./AP hide caption

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Michael Rozman/Warner Bros./AP

Same-Sex Marriage And The Supreme Court

How Ellen DeGeneres Helped Change The Conversation About Gays

March 25, 2013 • In 1997, DeGeneres chose a very public forum — her television sitcom — to announce, "I'm gay." The entertainer's career has tracked the seismic shift in public opinion on gays and same-sex marriage.

How Ellen DeGeneres Helped Change The Conversation About Gays

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Sandwich Monday: The McCamembert

March 25, 2013 • For this week's Sandwich Monday, we sample the McCamembert. It's what you get when you're a French person who walks into a McDonald's, which is weird, because we figured what you'd get is deported.

How And Why The Hollywood Star Machine Made 'Gods Like Us'

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iStockphoto.com

How And Why The Hollywood Star Machine Made 'Gods Like Us'

Fresh Air

March 25, 2013 • In a new book about movie stardom and fame, Boston Globe film critic Ty Burr looks at the evolving history of the relationship between movie stars and the people who love them, and at how changing technology influences the kinds of stars the public wants.

How And Why The Hollywood Star Machine Made 'Gods Like Us'

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Drawing Artistic Inspiration From C-SPAN's Talking Heads

(Left to right) Sketches of Henry Kissinger, Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama Courtesy of Michael McCutcheon hide caption

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Courtesy of Michael McCutcheon

Drawing Artistic Inspiration From C-SPAN's Talking Heads

March 22, 2013 • Michael McCutcheon draws sketches of C-SPAN's morning guests and posts them on his website. The 73-year-old retiree says he isn't particularly interested in the guests, but simply does it to occupy his morning hours.

Drawing Artistic Inspiration From C-SPAN's Talking Heads

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Pop Culture Happy Hour: Kickstarter TV And Comedy Contests

March 22, 2013 • On this week's show, we talk about how crowdfunding might affect the future of television and how it does or doesn't make sense to send comedies into the ring to duke it out.

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Not Doing So 'Boffo,' 'Daily Variety' Drops Print Edition

Print versions of Daily Variety, like this one from 2003, will no longer be available on L.A. newsstands. Variety will continue online and in a print weekly, but the daily print edition is being dropped. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption

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Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Movies

Not Doing So 'Boffo,' 'Daily Variety' Drops Print Edition

March 22, 2013 • Showbiz info is everywhere now, making it harder to sustain Hollywood's slang-filled must-read as a daily print publication. The magazine printed its last daily this week but will continue online and in a weekly edition. Cultural historian Neil Gabler explains why this shift is significant.

Not Doing So 'Boffo,' 'Daily Variety' Drops Print Edition

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Here We Go Again: Leno, Fallon, And Why The Late-Night Wars Are So Boring

Jay Leno and Jimmy Fallon pose in the press room during the Golden Globe Awards in January. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption

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Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

The Two-Way

'Tonight Show' Reportedly Moving To New York In 2014 With Fallon As Host

March 20, 2013 • Jimmy Fallon is on track to replace Jay Leno as host of The Tonight Show on NBC in 2014, according to reports in The New York Times and The Hollywood Reporter.

'Tonight Show' Reportedly Moving To New York In 2014 With Fallon As Host

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Saturday March 30, 2013

Friday March 29, 2013

Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour

Thursday March 28, 2013

Jim Fallon: What Does The Mind Of A Killer Look Like?

Philip Zimbardo: Why Do Good People Do Bad Things?

Tuesday March 26, 2013

Fresh Air

Chris Hayes: From 'Up' In The Morning To 'All In' At Night

Monday March 25, 2013

How Ellen DeGeneres Helped Change The Conversation About Gays

Fresh Air

How And Why The Hollywood Star Machine Made 'Gods Like Us'

Friday March 22, 2013

Drawing Artistic Inspiration From C-SPAN's Talking Heads

Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour

Not Doing So 'Boffo,' 'Daily Variety' Drops Print Edition

Thursday March 21, 2013

Wednesday March 20, 2013

'Tonight Show' Reportedly Moving To New York In 2014 With Fallon As Host