Our TV critic David Bianculli and film critic Justin Chang sit down with Terry Gross to share their favorites of the year. Also, Vulture writer Nick Quah shares some of his favorite podcasts of 2020.

2020 In TV, Film & Podcasts

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Viet Thanh Nguyen's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Sympathizer has been adapted into a series on HBO/MAX. It's set in Vietnam during the last days of the war, and in LA, just after. The narrator becomes a consultant to a Hollywood film about the war. The novel is written from a Vietnamese perspective. "It's my revenge on Francis Ford Coppola, my revenge on Hollywood, to try to get Americans to understand that Vietnam is a country and not a war," he told Terry Gross in 2016. Nguyen's family fled their village in South Vietnam in 1975, when it was taken over by the North. 

Also, David Bianculli reviews Let It Be, the Beatles film restored and rereleased after being shelved for more than 50 years.


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'The Sympathizer' Author Viet Thanh Nguyen

We remember painter and sculptor Frank Stella, whose early work was considered revolutionary. He died last week at age 87. Stella became famous and controversial in the 1950s for his "black paintings," which were a stark contrast to the abstract expressionism of the time, and made him one of the fathers of minimalism. 

Later, we'll feature an interview with one of the most influential early rock and roll guitarists, Duane Eddy. He also died last week. 

Book critic Maureen Corrigan reviews Long Island, Colm Tóibín's new sequel to his bestselling novel Brooklyn. 

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Remembering Minimalist Painter Frank Stella

#BlackLivesMatter. #OscarsSoWhite. #ICantBreathe. Filmmaker Prentice Penny's docuseries about Black Twitter celebrates the voices and movements that impacted politics and culture. Penny was also the showrunner of the HBO series Insecure. 

Also, John Powers reviews the four-part series Shardlake, based on C.J. Sansom's first novel in a series about a crime-solving lawyer in 16th-century England.

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A People's History Of Black Twitter

Griner spent nearly 300 days incarcerated in Russia after authorities at the Moscow airport found two nearly empty cartridges of cannabis in her luggage. The WNBA star spoke with Terry Gross about the dehumanizing prison conditions, her release, and return to the court. Griner, who is 6'9", says she felt like a zoo animal in prison. "The guards would literally come open up the little peep hole, look in, and then I would hear them laughing." Her new memoir is Coming Home.

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WNBA Star Brittney Griner Imprisonment & Release

Climate journalist Zoë Schlanger explains the fascinating science behind how plants learn, communicate, and adapt to survive. She says plants can store memories, trick animals into not eating them, and even send alarm calls to other plants.  Her new book is called The Light Eaters. 

TV critic David Bianculli reviews the new Netflix series A Man in Full, starring Jeff Daniels and Diane Lane.

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2020 In TV, Film & Podcasts

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