David Bianculli

The British comedian's latest project is an animated series on HBO, developed from his wildly successful podcast, The Ricky Gervais Show. He talks to David Bianculli about the new show -- and explains what it was like to create the award-winning sitcom The Office.

Temple Grandin is one of the world's greatest animal behaviorists. She is also autistic — and has put that to work for her. Grandin has written several books on animals, including Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior. This weekend, HBO will premiere a made-for-TV movie based on her life.

Late-night television is at war ... with itself. The Tonight Show's Conan O'Brien has drawn a line at 11:35 p.m. and says that he won't cross it — not for Jay Leno and not for NBC.

The economy may have hit the broadcast business hard, but TV critic David Bianculli says the future is looking bright — for cable, anyway. He joins Terry Gross to talk about the best and the worst television of '09 and what we can look forward to in '10.

Terry Gilliam's new film, The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, is another entry into his long line of dream-like films. But it's also the final performance of the late Heath Ledger. Gilliam joins host Terry Gross to talk about the personal and professional challenges of creative filmmaking.

After a lifetime of acting, the 84-year-old Hal Holbrook is still racking up new accomplishments. Last year, he received his first Oscar nomination for best supporting actor for his performance in Into The Wild. This year, he stars in a new film, That Evening Sun.

In the late 1960s, Tommy and Dick Smothers challenged those who tried to tame their wildly popular show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. TV critic David Bianculli joins host Terry Gross to talk about the legendary comedy duo who tackled political issues and censorship.

Animal stage trainer Bill Berloni has 30 years' worth of experience training dogs, pigs, rats, cats and lambs for Broadway productions and Hollywood films.

Joss Whedon's new television show, Dollhouse, follows a group of young women and men who have volunteered to have their personalities and memories erased.

The year in television started with a bust — or to be more precise, a writer's strike — but Fresh Air's TV critic says there were plenty of TiVo-worthy programs in 2008. Prominent among them: AMC's Mad Men.