Dr. George Gerbner is the Dean of the Annenberg School of Communication at the University of Pennsylvania. Gerber and his colleagues Larry Gross, Michael Morgan, Nancy Signorielli, and sometimes Stewart Hoover have published many studies of television and its impact on society. The studies have been widely published and influential. Gerber believes that television distorts reality, and Americans, who watch a large amount of t.v. programming, are having their views on reality distorted by the medium.
Chuck Barris is the creator and producer of over a dozen television game shows, including "The Gong Show," "The Newlywed Game," and "The Dating Game." He gained his reputation as the "manic" host of "The Gong Show."
Trumpeter Gregory Davis is a member of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. The band was founded to play at funerals and other events in New Orleans. The group mixes traditional New Orleans jazz with funk and bebop. (Interview By Danny Miller)
Gay icon and writer Quentin Crisp. Crisp is known for his autobiography "The Naked Civil Servant." The memoir recounts the social price Crisp paid for being an out and effeminate gay man. Crisp counters his critics with politeness, which is the subject of his new book "Manners from Heaven."
Bishop Desmond Tutu is one of the leading figures of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa. Tutu delivers a talk at the University of Pennsylvania.
Photographer John Phillips has documented events such as the Nazi invasion of Austria, European high society, and the Jews and Arabs in Palestine before and after the establishment of Israel as an overseas correspondent for Life magazine. Phillips was born in Algeria, grew up in France, and moved to London as a young man. Phillips has collected over 500 of his photographs and written text to create his own "photo-biography," "It Happened in Our Lifetime." (INTERVIEW BY DANNY MILLER)
Gary Graffman is a piano virtuoso who recently lost control of his right hand due to an injury incurred while playing years earlier. Before his injury, Graffman was known for his interpretation of Romantic composers. Graffman is currently learning and performing piano concertos for the left hand, teaching, and focusing on his art collecting hobby. Graffman also wrote a memoir "I Really Should Be Practicing."
Composer Steve Reich is known as a prominent "minimalist." Reich joins the show to discuss that term, his own career and influences, and whether he is the "safe" avant-garde composer.
Albert Race Sample's autobiography "Racehoss: Big Emma's Boy" describe his experiences growing up as the son of a black prostitute and gambler and one of her white clients. Sample later ended up in "Retrieve" a unit of the Texas Prison System, which Race describes as sadistic.
Michael Bennett won a Pulitzer Prize for the musical "A Chorus Line," which he conceived, choreographed, and directed. He, himself, began his career as a Broadway dancer before choreographing musicals such as "Promises, Promises," "Company," and "Follies." Bennett's latest show is "Dreamgirls."
Tom and Dick Smothers are known as the "Smothers Brothers," a musical comedy duo that began by satirizing the folk acts of their day. Their popularity in the 1960s led to a Sunday night variety show. The show, with its topical content, often clashed with censors, and in 1969, the brothers were fired. The Smothers Brothers reunited in 1980.
Artie Shaw is a legendary big bandleader and clarinetist. His band was one of the most popular of the 1940s. Since then Shaw has written books, worked as a film producer, and retired from playing. in 1980 he organized a new band to play his works and arrangements.
Merce Cunningham is an influential choreographer and dancer. He began studying tap as a child before moving on to modern dance, and he joined the Martha Graham Company in 1939. He eventually formed his own company in 1953, and his work has rejected certain dance conventions such as story, emotion, and choreographing to coincide to the music. Cunningham often works with composer John Cage as well as modern artists. Cunningham says he is interested in movement for its own sake.
Humorist, writer, and storyteller Garrison Keillor is the host of the radio show "A Prairie Home Companion," which is inspired by the Grand Ol' Opry and takes place in the fictional place of Lake Woebegone, Minnesota. His latest book is "Lake Woebegone Days."
Writer and novelist Edmund White's books include "States of Desire: Travels Through Gay America," "The Joy of Gay Sex," and "A Boy's Own Story." White's work often candidly discusses gay life. White moved from the Midwest to New York where he was active in the Gay Liberation Movement, and now lives in Paris. His latest novel, "Caracole," is about a young, heterosexual male.
Charlie Haden is one of the foremost bass players in contemporary jazz. In the 1950s Haden was a part of the first Ornette Coleman Quartet, which was the center of a jazz revolution. He has been involved with both avant-garde and mainstream jazz ever since. In the 1960s he formed the Liberation Music Orchestra, whose pointed political references were controversial. Haden re-formed the Orchestra in 1983 and their latest album is "The Ballad of the Fallen." Haden also plays with the band Old and New Dreams, made-up of Coleman alumni.
Cy Coleman started his career as a jazz pianist and club owner before moving on to writing pop songs that were recorded by artists such as Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett. Coleman then started composing Broadway musicals, including "Sweet Charity." Coleman now produces and owns a music publishing company.
Phil Donahue started his eponymous television talk show in 1967 in Dayton, Ohio. Today, it is the most popular talk show on daytime t.v. The show includes celebrity interviews, but also tackles controversial social issues, and heavily involves its audience. Donahue's latest book is "The Human Animal," which surveys what experts have to say about human nature, and is a companion to a t.v. series of the same name. Donahue joins the show to discuss his career, his conversion from a chauvinist to a feminist, and being a single parent.
Playwright, actor, and screenwriter Wallace Shawn wants his theater work to be shocking and confrontational, but he is best known for the 1981 film he wrote, "My Dinner with Andre." Shawn's latest play is "Aunt Dan and Lemon."
