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.

Now that "Game of Thrones" is over (and many viewers are over it), HBO and other networks are looking for The Next Big Thing; Andrew Bird's latest album is cleverly titled, "My Finest Work Yet"; rapper Little Simz explores the "Grey Area."

The popular HBO series concludes this Sunday, but can it possibly go out on a high note?; Megan Mullally and Stephanie Hunt talk and perform as their musical altar egos, Nancy and Beth.

The comedian was the victim of a rumor that his wife had left him, so he wrote an entire album of heartbreak songs inspired by his non-existent divorce; Amy Lemisch talks about her long tenure as head of the California Film Commission.

Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine co-created and co-star in the Hulu series that finds all the awkwardness and humor in being a young teen; broadcast and cable networks continue to pitch their Fall schedules to advertisers in New York City.

The singer, who has roots in both Mexico and the U.S., has a new album that takes on issues of the day; TV networks are laying out their fall plans for advertisers and the press; a new KPCC series reunites artists with the high school teachers who influenced them.

KPCC's newest podcast, "Tell Them, I Am," profiles Muslims from various walks of life who defy stereotypes about Islam and its followers; comedian Ramy Youssef has a new series on Hulu; the Japanese pop-punk band, Chai.

Actress D'Arcy Carden has become a fan favorite on the popular NBC series, but her success didn't come overnight; a preview of the Cannes Film Festival.

The Tony Award-winning actor and playwright has an ambitious podcast musical titled “Anthem: Homunculus”; Disney's $400 million bet on Vice Media is coming up dry; Anita Sarkeesian is out to halt harmful depictions of LGBTQ characters in video gaming.

The anniversary festival is up in the air as the promoter and his one-time backer are at odds; Max Joseph made a film that's a paean to bookstores and reading; Song Exploder deconstructs a song from The Cranberries' final album.

"Gay of Thrones" is the hilarious Funny or Die web series that recaps each episode of the HBO hit; Georgia's governor signed an abortion bill that might impact film and TV production in the state; the singer who goes by Cimafunk is known as "the Cuban James Brown."

The Korean boy band performed two shows to loud audiences, cementing its place in the global pop music world; filmmaker Mike Mills made an unlikely collaboration with the band, The National; the Write Girl program gives teen girls a boost.

Latinos go the movies in numbers that far surpass their percentage of the U.S. population. So why don't studios cater more to that audience?; the HBO documentary, "At the Heart of Gold," looks at the U.S. gymnastics sexual abuse scandal; creating a soundtrack for "Conversations With a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes."