The Frame

After the 2016 Presidential election, the singer/songwriter took a cross-country train trip and then wrote a song cycle of character sketches and personal reflections; Taylor Swift's recording contract is about to expire, giving her a world of options; Boots Riley's "Sorry to Bother You" is one of the year's biggest critical hits.

Director Chris Weitz's film 'Operation Finale' tells the amazing story of the capture of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann; fans begin to pay their respects to the Aretha Franklin at the Museum of African American History in Detroit; and Cuban jazz pianist Dayramir Gonzalez is a rising star.

Breaking down the scene between Michelle Yeoh and her would be daughter-in-law, Constance Wu; documentary filmmaker Steve James spent a year inside a Chicago high school for the series, “America to Me”; remembering playwright and screenwriter Neil Simon, who died at the age of 91.

The former "Gilmore Girls" co-star has an Emmy nomination for her role in the dystopian world of "The Handmaid's Tale"; Harvey Weinstein's legal woes seem to be mounting; Aneesh Chaganty, director and co-writer of the film, "Searching," has created a hyper-modern day thriller.

On Today's Show:

The co-star and Emmy nominee says she isn't daunted by challenges being faced by the cast; ever seen James Corden and friends performing a musical on the streets outside CBS on Fairfax? That's the work of Emmy-nominated choreographer Chloe Arnold.

The Emmy-nominated director of "Atlanta" talks about his collaborations with Donald Glover, his love of the Coen brothers and how the show set out to accurately portray life in urban Georgia; in the documentary, "What Haunts Us," Paige Goldberg Tolmach examines multiple suicides at her prep school alma mater; director Jesse Peretz and actor Chris O'Dowd talk about their movie, "Juliet, Naked."

Sarah Paulson has a lead actress Emmy nomination for "American Horror Story: Cult" — the seventh season of the anthology series; Bing Liu's videos of his skateboarding pals turned into the intimate documentary, "Minding the Gap."

Wayne Kramer, guitarist and leader of the Detroit rock band MC5, discusses his new memoir, "The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5, and My Life of Impossibilities"; Amazon is in the running to buy Landmark Theatres.

The iconic singer has died at the age of 76. We hear from her longtime bass player, Chuck Rainey; why has a documentary about her landmark 1972 performance at a Baptist church in Los Angeles never been released?; Daphne Brooks, a professor of African American Studies and Theater Studies at Yale University on the transcendent power of Aretha's voice.

"Small Mouth Sounds" was inspired by the playwright's experience at a three-day silent retreat; the bro-centric Spike TV channel is re-branded as The Paramount Network; composer Gabriel Kahane took a cross-country train trip and the result was a song cycle about Trump-era America.

Matt Ingebretson and Jake Weisman's "Corporate" is a workplace comedy that heads into some very bleak territory; Rachel Morrison was behind the camera for "Mudbound" and "Black Panther"; Harvey and Bob Weinstein are reportedly pushing for their former studio, Miramax, to buy The Weinstein Co.

"Saturday Church" is a coming-of-age film inspired by LGBTQ teens who Cardasis met at his mother's church; Sundance organizers are taking steps to protect festival attendees from inappropriate behavior; Ruby Ibarra draws from her Filipino-American roots.

When Laurie Metcalf agreed to “Lady Bird,” she had no idea the film would become so popular; James Franco is the latest Hollywood figure to face accusations of improper behavior; Johnny Cash's landmark show at Folsom Prison included a fateful meeting with an inmate.

Greta Gerwig, Jordan Peele, Guillermo del Toro and Christopher Nolan are among the nominees for the Directors Guild Awards, which often predict the Oscars; then Mark Mangini and Theo Green created the soundscape for the "Blade Runner" sequel.

Writer/producer Kenya Barris just launched “grown-ish,” a spinoff of “black-ish” that centers around that show’s oldest child; Linda Perhacs left her music career behind when her 1970 debut album failed to catch on with audiences. Now her career is revived, with two new albums in the past few years.

"Foxtrot" director Samuel Maoz's film is about the cycle of trauma that he says permeates Israeli society; does awards campaigning seem a little trivial in the age of “Time’s Up”?; beat maker Tokimonsta talks about incorporating traditional sounds from her Korean heritage into her decidedly hip music.

Nicole Kidman ("Big Little Lies") was one of the Golden Globe winners who thanked dialect coach Liz Himelstein from the stage; men's voices were noticeably silent from the #MeToo chorus at the Globes; John Horn reports from the Palm Springs fest where foreign films rule.

Musician and composer Jon Brion's latest challenge was writing the score to Greta Gerwig's "Lady Bird"; TV producers and network chiefs are touting their shows for the new year; artists respond to the first year of the Trump presidency in a show at Glendale's Brand Library.

The Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena reopens with a show that examines how Mexican artists influenced their Chinese counterparts; researchers from FiveThirtyEight have new ways to examine the representation of women in movies; Alex Heffes scored a day in the life of the planet for a BBC documentary.

Mark Bridges created the gorgeous '50s-era dresses in Paul Thomas Anderson's film about an exacting fashion designer; Ava DuVernay is one of the prominent filmmakers involved with the "Time's Up" initiative; artist Zachary Aronson uses fire to create his work.

Barbara Broccoli has worked for 22 years to make "Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool"; prominent women in Hollywood launch an anti-harassment initiative; a big music publishing company sued Spotify for $1.6 billion.