The Frame

Musicians Inara George and Eleni Mandell host an occasional performance and conversation series with songwriters of all genres composing music around a common theme; is R. Kelly still getting paid?; TV composer Kurt Farquhar was once homeless.

The veteran R&B singer finds the soul in classics such as "It AIn't Me Babe" and "Mama, You Been On My Mind" on her latest album, "Things Have Changed"; Emma Thompson went public with her decision to pull out of a movie produced by the company that recently hired a disgraced former Pixar executive.

There were surprises ("Green Book"! Olivia Colman!) and some history was made (Hannah Beachler, Ruth Carter). John Horn recaps the show with film critic Claudia Puig and L.A. Times film reporter Jen Yamato.

John Horn and Rebecca Keegan of The Hollywood Reporter co-host the hour-long special, which features interviews with many nominees, including Glenn Close, Rami Malek, Spike Lee and Rachel Weisz.

Bo Burnham's script won a top award from the Writers Guild, but it wasn't nominated for an Oscar; there's now an algorithm that writes movie scripts; Anthony Wilson's album of songs and photographs.

Twenty years after its premiere, the musical based on E.L. Doctorow's novel gets an elaborate revival at the Pasadena Playhouse; unpacking the Jussie Smollett story; what to expect (and not to expect) at the Academy Awards this weekend.

The prolific photographer talks about the survey that chronicles 50 years of documenting pop culture and politics; Hollywood Reporter TV critic Daniel Fienberg on the state of television.

In 1993, Lorena Bobbitt became famous for cutting off her husband's penis, but a new Amazon docu-series reveals the more complicated story; how the Oscar-nominated sound editors of "First Man" conveyed the anxiety of space flight; the Hollywood guilds spread awards love.

Barry Jenkins talks about his adaptation of James Baldwin's novel, and composer Nicholas Britell explains and demonstrates how he created the film's score.

The singer/songwriter is part of country music royalty, but her politics are out of the Nashville mainstream; the documentary about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, "RBG," is up for an Academy Award.

As part of NPR's "A Nation Engaged," project we look at America's changing role as the world's leading exporter of pop culture; David Schwartz writes wacky music for Maria Bamford’s wacky show, “Lady Dynamite”; a San Francisco theater company wrestles with the use of "yellowface" makeup for "The Mikado"

Actress Tika Sumpter was also a producer on "Southside with You," the film about The First Couple's first date; this weekend's Telluride Film Festival once again features Oscar-hopefuls; Melora Marshall takes on an acting marathon every weekend at Theatricum Botanicum.

Matt and Ross Duffer are the brothers behind the hit Netflix show, "Stranger Things"; as part of our Cops on TV series, professor Kathleen Donovan connects the dots between TV dramas and our attitudes about police; there's a new battlefront in the fight for subscribers between Apple and Spotify.

"Complete Unknown," starring Rachel Weisz, is Joshua Marston's third film, but his first in English; in a new epsiode of "Song Exploder," Andra Day dissects "Forever Mine"; more people than ever are canceling pay TV services, and that has networks worried.

Fede Alvarez directed the thriller "Don't Breathe" with a $10 million budget and it grossed $26 million in its opening weekend; Kamala Lopez's documentary explains why women in the U.S. don't have equal protection under the law; Mexican singer Juan Gabriel died suddenly in L.A. at the age of 66.

Sam Esmail originally wrote "Mr. Robot" as a screenplay, but he realized it would work better as a TV series. The first season nabbed six Emmy nominations, including for Best Drama; Julia Holter's music is a blend of experimental compositions and indie pop.

"BoJack Horseman" creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg reveals how Hollywood awards culture led to the story arc for his show's third season; how Markees Christmas got his unexpected break as the lead in "Morris from America" after making a web series with his Big Brother mentor; are there too many mega music festivals?

Richard Tanne's film, "Southside with You," imagines the first date between Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson; "South Park" turns 20 with an interactive exhibit at the Paley Center for Media; Spanish-language TV powerhouse Univision has been buying popular English-language websites.

Jazz great Herbie Hancock has been a boundless musical explorer and now he's working with L.A. producer Flying Lotus; a U.S. District Court has ruled in favor of the Norton Simon Museum in a case involving ownership of 16th Century paintings of Adam and Eve; the Pokemon Go! craze seems to be waning.

As a fledgling screenwriter, Stephen Chin traveled to war-torn Iraq and lived to tell some of his stories in "War Dogs"; Cubans get current TV programming from the U.S. and other countries illicitly, but openly, through a home-delivery service; Paramount's woes continue with its big budget remake of a famous period film.

The filmmaker's new documentary is a look at how almost all aspects of our lives are somehow intertwined with the Internet; NBC's TV ratings for the Olympics are down, but online streaming is way up; indie director So Yong Kim's latest is "Lovesong."

The actress is both in front of and behind the camera for “A Tale of Love and Darkness”; author James Andrew Miller goes behind the scenes in “Powerhouse: The Untold Story of Hollywood’s Creative Artists Agency”; a guerrilla arts group erected nude statues of Donald Trump in several cities.