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Television critic Andrew Wallenstein reviews the new reality show The Real Housewives of Orange County which premieres on the cable network Bravo Tuesday night. Wallenstein says the show, featuring rich "ladies of leisure," has potential as a guilty pleasure.

A new show that has opened in South Korea, Yodok Story, takes on an unlikely topic for a musical: prison camps in Stalinist North Korea. The director and choreographer are North Korean -- and both were once prisoners in the vast gulag system that holds an estimated 200,000 people.

Slate contributor Seth Stevenson dissects a new Gap ad the company developed to explain upcoming store renovations in certain cities. Stevenson says the company missed an opportunity to poke fun at its image troubles by using a big-budget, well-directed ad.

Sisters Lynn and Vanessa Redgrave have a new film The White Countess -- the first feature film they've ever appeared in together. They discuss how their relationship as sisters has helped them through years of performing on stage and screen.

A scene depicting a teenage sex party on the CBS program Without a Trace has prompted the Federal Communications Commission to levy more than $3 million in fines against the television network. Madeleine Brand talks with Lawrence O'Donnell, writer and producer for the NBC series The West Wing, about how FCC fines are affecting the creative community in Hollywood.

The film Syriana depicts the inner workings of the global oil industry, weaving together stories of Arab royalty, CIA agents, ruthless businessmen and terrorists. Madeleine Brand speaks with Syriana writer and director Stephen Gaghan about his complicated expose, which opens in theaters across the nation on Friday.

The "Freedom Convoy" began last month as a caravan of truck drivers who planned to drive to Ottawa to voice their opposition to the Canadian government's cross-border vaccine mandate.

John Malkovich is more than just a big-screen baddie -- and he's more than just an actor. He talks about being misunderstood as a performer and about his dual role as actor and producer in his latest film, the black comedy Art School Confidential.

Slate contributor Seth Stevenson grades the new ad campaign from Dunkin' Donuts which promotes a world fueled by Dunkin' Donuts coffee.

A group of filmmakers who oppose the Smithsonian Museum's plan to produce TV programs with Showtime Networks asks that the terms of the deal be made public. The Smithsonian has said the details are proprietary. Under the agreement, the joint venture has the right of first refusal to commercial documentaries that rely heavily on Smithsonian collections or staff. But the impact on even non-commercial filmmakers is unclear.

A new project will explore how HIV prevention and treatment can better meet the needs of Black women in Orange County.

Brenda Berkman joined the all-male New York Fire Department in 1982 after winning a federal sex discrimination lawsuit. Now her fight and those of other female firefighters is the subject of a new PBS documentary, Taking the Heat.

At the turn of the century, some called San Francisco the Paris of the West. The 1906 earthquake leveled most of the city's theaters and artists' haunts. But the arts community rebounded to lead the city's recovery.

Over the last decade Atlanta has become a mecca for black Americans and it serves as the backdrop for a new movie, ATL. Director Chris Robinson tells Ed Gordon about the coming-of-age tale, and why he set his first feature film in the city known as "Hotlanta."

Just about every successful rock band seems to have a side project these days. This month, an unlikely spinoff of the jam trio Medeski, Martin and Wood arrives -- a family affair known as the Wood Brothers. The duo's first CD is called Ways Not To Lose.

Filmmaker Varun Khanna's new film tells the story of an immigrant Egyptian family as it struggles to keep traditions from its homeland while embracing American culture. Khanna discusses the film with Farai Chideya.

Television critic Andrew Wallenstein previews NBC's new drama Book of Daniel, centering on the travails of a pill-popping Episcopal priest and his family. The show features a revolving cast of quirky characters and highly irreverent humor that's already sparked protests from religious groups.

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Charlie Sexton burst out of Texas in 1985 with the hit, "Beat's so Lonely." He spent the next two decades working with veteran musicians such as the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards and Ron Wood and Bob Dylan. Sexton's latest CD is titled "Cruel and Gentle Things."

Slate columnist Seth Stevenson reviews the new television ad campaign for the luxury car company Jaguar. The TV spots feature well-dressed, "gorgeous" people in exotic locations -- and just a hint of elitism that targets middle-aged men looking to attract younger women.

Farai Chideya talks to the director of The Death of Kevin Carter, an Oscar-nominated documentary about the life, work and suicide of a Pulitzer-prize winning South African photojournalist haunted by an image of a starving child.

Madea's Family Reunion grossed more than $30 million in its opening weekend at the box office. The movie's writer, director and co-star, Tyler Perry, talks with Ed Gordon about the lure of his main character, an outspoken black woman.

The Academic Film Archive is working with the Library of Congress to make a worldwide database of all the old educational movies it can find. And in St. Louis, in an effort to preserve these classic 16-mm movies, a group is holding monthly screenings of films like The Living Soil, which was produced by Shell Oil Company in the 1960s to extol the virtues of pesticides. Matt Sepic of member station KWMU reports.

The documentary follows three African-American students who get the opportunity to attend an academically rigorous school in Kenya designed to give them a path out of the violence and poverty of inner-city Baltimore.

Reporter Adolfo Guzman Lopez continues his profile of the art and life of African-American artist William Pajaud. His vibrant watercolors celebrates the people and jazz scene of his native New Orleans.

After Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans theaters were shuttered, jazz clubs went silent and museums and galleries were locked up. The city's artists scattered across the country. They are starting to return but are finding that making art in New Orleans is a different experience.