The Frame

Rankine, whose poetry has examined everyday racism in America, and Wolfe, whose music addresses issues of the American worker, were both named MacArthur Foundation fellows; as the Fall TV season launches, we visit with producer Betsy Beers at Shondaland, one of the most successful companies in the industry.

Diavolo Dance Theatre is reinventing modern dance by combing architecture and wildly physical choreography; media critics have been piling on NBC for going soft on the GOP nominee, and now late night host Samantha Bee has joined the fray; Richard Nelson keeps his election-themed plays current by writing until the last minute.

The new documentary, “The Lovers and the Despot,” tells the true story of what happened in 1978 when Kim Jong-il ordered the kidnapping of a filmmaking couple from South Korea to jumpstart North Korea's movie industry; William Bell has revived the classic Stax sound; a new report shows that the music business is actually making money in the streaming age.

Playwright and performer Lucy Alibar draws on her Southern childhood for “Throw Me on the Burnpile and Light Me Up"; Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, who won a writing Emmy for "Master of None," talk about their approach to diversity; the Toronto International Film Festival kicked off a lot of Academy Award talk.

Kent McCord of the 1960-70s TV cop show, "Adam-12," which was produced in partnership with the LAPD. McCord says a show about cops who aren't "edgy" wouldn't sell in today's TV business; In advance of TV's big awards night, we discuss what goes into an Emmy campaign, and how valuable is a nomination or a win in this era of "too much TV"?

Cheo Hodari Coker, creator and showrunner of the Netflix series "Luke Cage," unpacks the idea of building a show around a superhero who also happens to be a "bullet-proof black man" in a hoodie; Can Pandora and Amazon be the next disruptors in the streaming music space? They hope so.

The documentary "Audrie & Daisy" examines the sexual assault and cyber-shaming of two teen girls; with its third album, the band Local Natives remains entrenched in Silver Lake's indie rock scene; a group of songwriters is challenging the Dept. of Justice's control over royalty rates.

How do unconscious biases affect hiring practices in Hollywood? To dig deeper into this issue, Cathy Schulman (Oscar-winning producer/Women In Film) and Judith Williams (Global Head of Diversity at Dropbox) put Frame host John Horn to the test as if he's a studio executive; In 2005 Jackie Lopez co-founded the hip hop troupe "Versa Style" to teach kids not only how to dance but the cultural history behind hip hop.

"Kicks" filmmakers discuss how being outsiders who didn't fit society's views of manhood fueled the making of their lyrical coming-of-age drama; A new documentary explores why Brad Bird's 1999 animated film "The Iron Giant" was a critical darling, but a box office bomb; Inside Nate Parker's "The Birth of a Nation" press conference at TIFF; Can you scream like Nicholas Cage?

Every August, cultural festivals take over the Scottish city of Edinburgh with thousands of performances taking place day and night. This year The Frame host John Horn immersed himself in shows and brings an audio postcard of his creative excursion; TV reporter Whitney Friedlander joins us to preview some new and returning television shows that are worthy of our time and DVR space this fall.

Jenny Lewis has played Coachella with her previous bands, but she’s there this year as a solo artist; the Alvin Ailey dance troupe shows middle schoolers how to turn emotion into motion (pictured); talking shop with two acclaimed narrators of audio books, llyana Kadushin and Kevin T. Collins; and a farewell to R&B singer Percy Sledge.

The Coachella music festival brought tens of thousands of music fans out to the desert for three days of fun in the sun; Trevor Noah performs in the U.S. for the first time since being named host of “The Daily Show”; Kristen Schaal's career gets a boost from her first co-starring role on a major network (pictured).

Netflix debuts the latest adaptation of Marvel Comics' "Daredevil" (pictured); women singers are not allowed to perform solo in Iran, which is partly why Delaram Kamareh came to the U.S.; the audience for electronic dance music is widely diverse, but that's not the case for the genre's DJs and producers.

"Made Men" creator Matthew Weiner (pictured, holding Emmy Award) is saying a long goodbye to his landmark series; Lauren Bon, the artist behind Metabolic Studio, looks at water and the drought through a creative lens; HBO's "Veep" is back, and so is Tony Hale as the president's personal assistant.

Whether you're attending Coachella or following via YouTube or Sirius, you need to know who's playing and when; director Jay Chandrasekhar used a crowd sourcing campaign to fund 'Super Troopers 2'; Judith Hill (pictured) goes from backup singer to releasing her debut solo album with a little help from Prince.

On the 100th anniversary of her birth, we revisit a 1948 performance by Billie Holiday (pictured) at the Shrine Auditorium; the band Night Terrors of 1927 is a Coachella Music Festival newbie; writer/director Alex Garland explores artificial intelligence in the new film, "Ex Machina."

WonderCon turned the Anaheim Convention Center into pop culture nirvana over the weekend; the hip-hop old schoolers from De La Soul (pictured) are in the studio with an album financed by their fans; getting the new TV show “American Odyssey” on the air was an odyssey unto itself.

Tips on which "Mad Men" episodes to watch before the series begins its swan song (pictured); the landmark exhibition by Chinese dissident artist Ai Wei Wei is in its last month on Alcatraz Island; animal trainer Teresa Ann Miller talks about casting and wrangling 250 dogs for the new movie, “White God"

Comic book editor Janelle Asselin is reviving the romance genre in a new magazine anthology (pictured); L.A. stage actors are voting on contract changes that would pay them more, but could result in fewer roles; 'Game of Thrones' novelist George R.R. Martin drops an excerpt from his next book. (Spoiler alert!)

Director Bob Yari (pictured, far left) recently shot the first American feature film in Cuba in more than 50 years; 2015 is already shaping up as perhaps the best year for hip-hop music ever; Amber Tamblyn's third book of poetry is about young actresses who died tragically.

Should Trevor Noah’s Tweets cost him his job as the new host of "The Daily Show"?; “Furious 7” director James Wan (pictured at left, with Vin Diesel) reveals why he needed to finish the film after the death of actor Paul Walker; The Los Angeles Philharmonic completes its tour of Asia, jet lag and all.

Comedy Central drops a surprise by announcing Trevor Noah (pictured) will replace Jon Stewart; young musicians from L.A. and Fukushima get to work with Gustavo Dudamel; Dreamworks gets a much-needed hit with "Home"; transgender actors are in demand during TV pilot season.