The Frame

The singer/songwriter wrote his Grammy-nominated album, "American Utopia," prior to our recent political discord, but he remains determined to find the silver lining in society; studio executives are talking the talk but not walking the walk when it comes to hiring women directors.

Kit Steinkellner talks about creating the Facebook Watch series about a widow dealing with her husband's unexpected death; the 2019 Coachella headliners include Childish Gambino(!) and Ariana Grande(?); Janelle Monáe breaks down a song from her Grammy-nominated album, "Dirty Computer"

The stage director made history with "The Lifespan of a Fact" by assembling the first all-female design team for a Broadway show; Netflix has pulled an episode of Hasan Minhaj's "Patriot Act" from its service in Saudi Arabia after a protest from the Saudi government; Mary Gauthier's "Rifles and Rosary Beads" has a Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album.

The former Monty Python member revisits his life and career in the memoir, "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life: A Sortabiography"; Luciana Souza puts Leonard Cohen poems to music.

José James pays tribute to singer/songwriter Bill Withers with his new album "Lean on Me."

Alfonso Cuarón reveals the intense process of mining his own memory, and those of his siblings and childhood nanny, to recreate their shared story for the screen in "Roma."

Rosamund Pike reveals how she channeled the late war reporter Marie Colvin in the film "A Private War."

Afghan-American artist Ariana Delawari documents the process of recording an album of music in her family's homeland; Max Baca of the band Texmaniacs on covering the Woody Guthrie song "Deportee"; Boz Scaggs still sings the blues.

We bring you some of our favorite interviews from the year — covering television, movies, music and the arts. Guests include Tessa Thompson, Riz Ahmed, Lena Waithe and Hannah Gadsby.

John C. Reilly joins "Stan & Ollie" director Jon S. Baird to talk about making a movie about the legendary comedic duo Laurel and Hardy. Then, Joanna Kulig stars in "Cold War," Poland's official submission for Oscar which is also the story of filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski's parents.

At 82, Michael Caine plays the lead in 'Youth' but for the most part he considers himself retired; Roy Orbison's son releases his dad's 1969 lost album 'One Of The Lonely Ones'; The Oscar short list for documentaries is out and Sundance is the big winner.

Alan Yang says the Netflix series he created with Aziz Ansari was sparked by their shared experiences as millennials and second-generation Americans; Hollywood power brokers have ideas for improving the standing of women in the entertainment industry; the Sundance festival will include the directing debut of actress Clea Duvall.

Young Jean Lee's play, "Straight White Men," is an examination of privilege that provokes and challenges audiences; movie theater owners are getting creative about selling "Star Wars" merchandise and concessions; Lorely Rodriguez, aka Empress Of, is getting raves for her debut album.

Spike Lee's latest provocation likens the level of gun violence in Chicago to a war zone; Rooney Mara's performance in "Carol" adds to her already impressive list of credits; the beloved "Charlie Brown" holiday special, now in its 50th year, wasn't originally embraced by network executives.

Eddie Redmayne, last year’s best actor Oscar winner for “The Theory of Everything,” talks about portraying a trans-woman in “The Danish Girl”; Latin Grammy-winner Natalia Lafourcade deconstructs her song, “Hasta La Raíz”; This year's Independent Spirit Award winners will likely differ a lot from the Oscars.

As producer of the "Hunger Games" movies and a former studio executive, Nina Jacobson has a platform to demand gender equality in Hollywood; Pixar president Ed Catmull has helped build the studio into the empire it is today.

Ryan Coogler grew up watching the "Rocky" movies, and now he's director and co-writer of the spin-off, "Creed"; How "Toy Story" saved a struggling special effects firm called Pixar; "The Hunting Ground" inspires the question: can journalism and advocacy co-exist in documentaries?

Todd Haynes has directed several films with women as protagonists and his latest is “Carol,” which stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara; MADtv debuted 20 years ago and managed to stay on the air for 14 seasons; a club owner considers L.A. nightlife after the Paris attacks.

Series creator Kurt Sutter is disappointed but not bitter about the cancellation of "The Bastard Executioner"; it's been 20 years since MADtv set out to be the west coast version of "Saturday Night Live"; "The Hunting Ground" examines sexual assaults on college campuses.

Writer-producer John McNamara and director Jay Roach talk about the struggle to make "Trumbo," about the 1940s Hollywood blacklist victim; Nancy Tartaglione, international editor for Deadline.com, on the importance of cinema in France; Rashard Bradshaw, aka Cakes da Killa, is a loud and proud gay rapper.

The Marvel comics character Jessica Jones has a dark backstory, which is what inspired producer Melissa Rosenberg to create a TV series about her; in the documentary "Song of Lahore," a group of Pakistani musicians use a jazz standard and You Tube to find a global audience; Pandora will enter the on-demand music streaming business.

After taping an episode in Cuba earlier this year, Conan O'Brien travels to Armenia with his assistant, who gets to visit her family's homeland; the terrorist attacks in Paris have caused two networks to postpone sensitive episodes, and several bands have canceled European dates.