Pop Culture Confidential

Twenty-five years ago Buzz Bissinger went in search of the Friday night lights – to chronicle the high school football ritual that can bring together a small American town. The result of this journey that took him to Odessa, Texas became the New York Times bestseller “Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream”, a book that would later be adapted into both a movie and TV show of the same nam...

Guest: Priyanka Chopra This week we interview one of the world’s biggest movie stars. She acts, she sings, she dances, and as an FBI agent in the new ABC drama “Quantico” she kicks some serious butt! Priyanka Chopra, the Bollywood superstar has over 50 films on her resume, and is now taking Hollywood by storm – and making history by being the first South Asian woman to headline a US network drama....

Guest: Kevin Baillie Even a death-defying high-wire artist has to start somewhere. As a boy, Philippe Petit dreamt of performing daring feats for dazzled crowds. As an adult, his life’s ambition came true when on August 7, 1974, he successfully walked between the Twin Towers, 110 floors up with no harness or net! Our guest Kevin Baillie’s journey also reads much like a film script. By the age of s...

In the 1970s, there wasn’t a Hollywood agent more successful than Sue Mengers. Her client roster read like a who’s who of the hottest actors and directors of the time: Barbra Streisand, Gene Hackman, Ryan O’Neal, Ali MacGraw, Diana Ross, Michael Caine, Candice Bergen, Jacqueline Bisset, Mike Nichols, Peter Bogdanovich, and a glittering marquee of many other high- profile performers. Author Brian K...

Black Mass, starring Johnny Depp and directed by Scott Cooper, tells the terrifying story of real-life Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger who kept Boston in his grip for decades. After 16 years on the run he was finally arrested in 2011 and found guilty of federal racketeering, extortion, conspiracy and involvement in 11 murders. Former Boston Globe reporter Dick Lehr was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in...

Guest: Debra Birnbaum, Variety With the Emmy’s just over a week away, we share our thoughts on the nominations, the gala, the snubs, surprises and of course – PREDICTIONS! Our expert guide is Debra Birnbaum who is the executive editor, TV for Variety! She also covers the Emmy Awards, producing 13 special issues highlighting the Emmy contenders. She knows her Emmys! Learn more about your ad choices...

Guest: Jenny Jaffe Funny, fearless and passionate are just a few of the words that describe Jenny Jaffe, comedy writer and founder of Project UROK - a nonprofit organization that is creating honest and frank videos for teenagers who are struggling with mental health issues, made by people who have been there before. Their message - You are not alone, you are okay! These include actor and writer Wi...

Guest: Ellen Lewis The iconic performances in Goodfellas, Scent of a Woman, Forrest Gump, The Devil Wears Prada, Wolf of Wall Street and close to 70 other films have one thing in common - renowned casting director Ellen Lewis. While the director and screenwriter create a films world, it is the casting directors job to fill this world with just the right mix of actors to create exhilarating onscree...

Guest: Lisa Belkin Race, community and politics – topics just as relevant today as they were in 1988 when Mayor Wasicsko fought an aggressive battle to set in motion a housing desegregation plan for the city of Yonkers, New York. These dramatic real-life events are the inspiration behind the new HBO miniseries Show Me A Hero, written by The Wire creator David Simon, directed by Oscar winner Paul H...

As correspondent on The Daily Show or on HBOs hit series The Brink, Aasif Mandvi is tackling bigotry and Islamophobia one show at a time. In this portrait of his life and career he shares the immigrant journey that brought him eventually to New York, the importance of The Daily Show and the unique opportunity he has today to change the perception of Muslims with his Funny or Die parody series Hala...

It’s the TV season mid-year mark and we round up Spring’s biggest hits and misses! From the unbelievable finale of The Jinx, to the electricity of Empire - and looking forward - will True Detective season two live up the acclaimed first season? Time Magazine’s James Poniewozik gives us the lay of the TV land. And it's never to early to start predicting the Oscars! Sasha Stone, arguably the best Os...

Our Town, the critically acclaimed debut novel by author Kevin McEnroe, begins in the Golden Age of Hollywood and is a fictionalized account of his grandmother actress Joanna Moore - her life, passions, addictions and ultimate self-destruction. Kevin McEnroe, son of tennis legend John McEnroe and actress Tatum O’Neal, talks to Pop Culture Confidential about his book, how writing it was a very pers...

Episode 5: Groundbreakers & Side Splitters by Pop Culture Confidential Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guests: Mary McNamara & Joe Toplyn After 6,028 episodes and nearly 20,000 guests, on May 20th, 2015 David Letterman will host his last night of "Late Show with David Letterman" on CBS. We believed that this momentous occasion deserved a show all of its own. This David Letterman special dives into his 30+ year career and the moments that have made it so influential for pop culture. Learn more a...

Guests: Rob Feng & Henrik Bastin Whether it’s from Westeros or Stockholm, all roads can lead to Hollywood. In this episode we discuss Game of Thrones, The Comedians, Bosch and much more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We dive into the intersection of politics and pop culture - from Saturday Night Live, to the White House Correspondence Dinner. Guests: Allison Silverman & Ian Crouch. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exploring the Church of Scientology’s reaction to the revealing new documentary ‘Going Clear’ and diving head first into the world of sex, drugs and classic music of ‘Mozart in the Jungle’. Guests: In this episode we speak with Kim Masters, Editor-at-Large of the Hollywood Reporter and host of KCRW's The Business, to get insights into how the Church of Scientology is reacting to the controversial...