The Frame

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul are on a roll: they wrote song lyrics for "La La Land" and the music and lyrics for the Broadway hit, "Dear Evan Hansen"; more than 3,500 companies are debuting their futuristic products at the annual, massive technology trade show.

Actor and documentary filmmaker Fisher Stevens jumped at the chance to make a documentary about the iconic showbiz mother-and-daughter, Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher; Sorting through the Jan/Feb TV premieres and comebacks to watch for in 2017 with TV critic Whitney Friedlander.

"Hidden Figures" writer Allison Schroeder (who was just nominated for a Writer's Guild award) tells us why she was the right person to co-write the film “Hidden Figures”; In the film “A Monster Calls,” director J.A. Bayona talks about how families might view his dark and personal coming-of-age story; Elliott Smith’s landmark 1997 album, “Either/Or,” gets a 20th anniversary re-issue.

Clay Tarver is a writer and co-executive producer for HBO’s “Silicon Valley," but he recently reunited with his bandmates in the group Chavez to record their first new music in 20 years; there may be a more diverse roster of actor and actress nominees for the Academy Awards this year, but that doesn’t mean #OscarsSoWhite is a thing of the past, says April Reign, the writer and activist who coined the hashtag.

It's our last Frame episode of 2016! From Beyonce's "Lemonade" to Chance The Rapper's "Coloring Book," we look back at the year in music with MTV Executive Editor Alex Pappademas; Also, we revisit one of our favorite musician interviews of the year, soul singer/songwriter Aloe Blacc, who describes himself as an "artivist," someone who blends art with activism.

The singing voice of Debbie Reynolds echoes throughout the show today as we honor the actress who died yesterday; Los Angeles Times culture writer Carolina Miranda picks some of 2016's most impactful moments in culture; playwright Jon Robin Baitz challenged himself in 2016 to write a play responding to Donald Trump's candidacy and get it up before the election. He did that. Now what?

For our wrap up of the best in TV, Margaret Lyons of the New York Times talks with us about the most overrated, underrated and heavily debated shows of 2016; Among the most lauded performances on TV this year was Sarah Paulson as Marcia Clark in the FX mini-series "The People v. O.J. Simpson." Paulson discusses how Clark had been scrutinized by the media and much of America during the trial.

Carrie Fisher imbued the role of Princess Leia with an assertiveness that set the tone for the future Star Wars heroines; Fisher was also the columnist of "Advice from the Dark Side" which ran in The Guardian; New York Times co-chief film critic Manohla Dargis joins John Horn to talk about some of the top film stories of the year.

The popular British singer-songwriter died from heart failure at the age of 53; Kristen Anderson-Lopez is working on a stage musical version of "Frozen," but for now she has another show on Broadway, "In Transit."

David Oyelowo is extremely selective about the roles he chooses to play, and also the kinds of parts he wants to avoid; the Presidential Inauguration Committee has gotten more nays than ayes from singers and bands.

The director's new film continues his focus on characters struggling to come to terms with themselves; why are 1930s-era murals in San Francisco causing a fuss today?; revisiting our chat with Emmy-nominee Samantha Bee.

His father is Bobby McFerrin and he has a brother and sister who also are singers. Taylor has been making music for some time now, but he's never sung on an album — until now; gay characters are featured on a telenovela for the first time; the story behind "Blinded by the Light."

An Associated Press exposé details decades of alleged sexual harassment by the renown opera singer and conductor; the documentary “Cold Case Hammarskjöld” turned into a whodunnit; how did a little-known L.A. band end up opening for The Rolling Stones?

One of the few major music festivals in the U.S. that is not organized by a giant company, Outside Lands took over Golden Gate Park this weekend; Universal Pictures scraps "The Hunt," an R-rated satire in which elites hunt "deplorables" for sport.

In "Escape At Dannemora," director Ben Stiller goes inside a prison to tell the story of the inmates who broke out; comedian and SNL writer Julio Torres prefers humor about ordinary objects to politics; Geena Davis hopes her research institute and a new documentary will convince Hollywood the value of creating film and TV with a diverse cast of women and girls.

The offbeat comedian talks about his path from immigrant to "SNL" writer to star of an HBO stand-up special; Rolling Stone writer Elias Leight on the continuing practice of payola in the radio industry; an episode of Song Exploder with Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein of Sleater-Kinney.

Geena Davis is executive producer of the new documentary that explores the status of women in the film industry; David Rubin, the newly-elected president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; rock musician Ty Segall.

Nanfu Wang's documentary is a personal look at China’s former one child policy, which continues to reverberate there; The Emmy Awards will go without a host; on the 20th anniversary of "Eyes Wide Shut," a look at how its composer was chosen.

The wrongly-convicted former athlete and director Tom Shadyac discuss the path to making the movie; we revisit the documentary, "Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am," following her death; Bruce Lee's family is unhappy about his depiction in "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood."

Barak Goodman's documentary, “Woodstock: Three Days that Defined a Generation,” asks: Why did 400,000 young people trek across the country for a festival in the middle of nowhere?; music historian Andy Zax helped restore every Woodstock performance for a 38-disc boxed set; filmmaker Sam Jones on the influence of documentary director D.A. Pennebaker.

Today's show: The creators of "Sherman's Showcase" discuss the comedy and music in their sketch show. We discuss the portrayal of Bruce Lee in Tarantino's new film. Why Patricia Arquette wanted to co-star in "Otherhood." Then Indie duo The Bird and The Bee make a tribute album of Van Halen covers.

Actress Patricia Arquette, writer/director Cindy Chupack and producer Cathy Schulman talk about their new film and how middle-aged women are portrayed in Hollywood; has hip-hop reached a turning point in its inclusivity of black, gay artists?