Segments by Date

Comedian Yakov Smirnoff. He arrived in the U.S. from the Soviet Union 10 years ago with $100 in his pocket. Today he is a leading comic who has appeared in movies and had his own syndicated TV show called "What A Country."

Father Niall O'Brien. He has worked for over 20 years as a missionary priest in the Philippines. He was imprisoned by the Marcos regime because he helped the poor to start self-reliant Christian communities. He continues his work in the Philippines under the Aquino government.

Rock historian Ed Ward profiles The Stooges, A Detroit group that was pioneered punk, even before the famed British punk bands.

Ed McBain (also known as Evan Hunter), prolific writer of detective fiction, best known for his "87th Precinct" series of police procedurals and mystery novels. His most recent novel is titled Tricks. McBain writes in other genres under different pseudonyms.

Classical Music Critic Lloyd Schwartz will review the new Angel recording of Gustav Mahler's 8th Symphony, conducted by Klaus Tennstedt.

Art Spiegelman and Françoise Mouly, creators of Raw, an adult comic magazine filled with original and sophisticated graphics.

Book Critic John Leonard reviews Belfast Diary, the non-fiction account of the civil war that has flared through Northern Ireland. The author is Chicago journalist John Conroy.

Language Commentator Geoffrey Nunberg discusses the overuse of the superlatives "world-class" and "serious."

Ricky Jay, one of the world's great sleight-of-hand artists, a scholar of the unusual, curator of the Mulholland Library of Conjuring and the Allied Arts, an actor and author of Learned Pigs and Fireproof Women.

Film Critic Leonard Maltin. Some TV viewers know him for his segments on "Entertainment Tonight," but he is perhaps as well known for his reference book Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide.

Television Critic David Bianculli previews the HBO concert special of Billy Joel's recent performances in Leningrad.

Jazz Critic Kevin Whitehead reviews "Days Aweigh," the new album by singer Cassandra Wilson.

James Conaway, author of The Kingdom in the Country, which looks at the wide expanse of public lands in the West and how the myths of the west - cowboys, gunslingers, gold miners - are enduring.

Folk singer Bill Staines will perform two songs that reflect on the change in seasons.

Critic-at-Large Laurie Stone looks at the new sexism as typified in the female leads in the films "Fatal Attraction," "The Big Easy" and "Baby Boom," three of the most successful fall films.

Don Novello, a.k.a Father Guido Sarducci, the Vatican gossip columnist of "Saturday Night Live" fame.

Cousin Brucie, one of the leading top-40 DJs in New York City in the early 60s when AM radio was king and New York radio set the national tastes in pop music.

Rock Critic Ken Tucker will review "All Fired Up," the new release from country-rock musician Bobby Lee Springfield.

Anne d'Harnoncourt, director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and an expert on Marcel Duchamp, the French artist, whose 100th birthday the museum is now celebrating.

Film Critic Stephen Schiff reviews "Baby Boom," starring Diane Keaton and Sam Shepard.