Bullseye with Jesse Thorn

Today's guests from the AV Club are TV Editor Todd VanDerWerff and Assistant Editor Erik Adams. They drop by to discuss their TV picks for the Fall season from Showtimes 'Homeland' to NBCs 'Up All Night' running through the hits and misses with Host Jesse Thorn.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The legendary funk bassist joins us to talk about creating the persona of Bootsy, playing music with two very different band leaders, James Brown and George Clinton, and more.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

The Long Winters' frontman, John Roderick, talks to us about the song that changed his life: ZZ Top's Gimme All Your Lovin'.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

For Jonathan Coulton, success as a musician has come with recording music himself, releasing individual songs online one-at-a-time, and even selling his catalog on a USB drive. So in a way, his new album Artificial Heart is a terrifying turn to the traditional, and a creative risk. It was produced with They Might Be Giants' John Flansburgh in a studio with a full band, the old-fashioned way. Jonathan and John talk to us about that process.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

John Hodgman guest hosts this interview with astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson. Dr. Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium, but the layperson likely knows him as the host of Star Talk Radio and the PBS program Nova ScienceNOW. His upcoming projects include a new version of the TV series Cosmos — originally hosted by Carl Sagan — and a new book titled Space Chronicles. He talks to us about how money for space exploration stacks up to other spending, his personal space travel dreams, and more. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

John Hodgman guest hosts an interview with the fantasy, science fiction and horror author George R. R. Martin. Martin is the author of the very popular series known as "A Song of Ice and Fire", which has recently been adapted for the HBO show "Game of Thrones". He joins us to talk about creating a fantasy universe, (very) involved fans, and more.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Is cultural innovation at risk when we indulge in retromania? Music critic Simon Reynolds joins us to talk about why songs today are more unimaginative when we have unprecedented access to decades' worth of past music, the loop of re-creating old sounds, and more. His new book is Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to its Own Past.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Nicolas Winding Refn is the Danish director of the new film "Drive", starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan. Refn had a very specific vision for the film, which included trance-like music and throwbacks to the aesthetics of films of his childhood. "Drive" won Refn the Best Director award at this year's Cannes Film Festival.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Robert Popper is a British comedy writer behind projects like the BBC mock educational series "Look Around You" with Peter Serafinowicz and the new BBC America series "Friday Night Dinner". He's also an accomplished prankster. We'll talk to him about regressing to childhood in the company of your siblings and parents, the construction of some of his favorite comedy bits, and more.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

Paul Scheer, an actor and comedian behind shows like Adult Swim's NTSF:SD:SUV:: and MTV's Human Giant, talks to us about low budgets, when parody comes from a place of love, and more.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy