Next Question with Katie Couric

Melanie Lynskey is known as “the nicest person in Hollywood.” But today, she’s taking the gloves off. The star of the Showtime smash “Yellowjackets”, Melanie channels her dark side by playing complicated, uncompromising characters. In this episode, she reveals to Katie the decades of pain she experienced as she failed to attain Hollywood’s standards of beauty. It wasn’t until she decided not to play that game that she actually got what she wanted: success on her terms. And she’s not sorry for it. 

This episode contains references to disordered eating that may be triggering to people with or in recovery from eating disorders.

 

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On Season 7 of Next Question, Katie’s talking all about resilience. Together with some amazing guests, she brings you a survival guide to help you get better at loving the body you have, figuring out our modern media landscape, talking to your teenager, finding the real keys to happiness… and so much more.

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The Pulitzer Prize-winning authors of Unscripted, James B. Stewart and Rachel Abrams, tell the story behind their explosive new book, which hits shelves this week. The jaw-dropping drama of billionaire Sumner Redstone, once the controller of a vast entertainment empire, is a chilling tale of a sexually aggressive, power-hungry man who competed ruthlessly with everyone — including his own daughter.  

Want to be a know it all? Subscribe to Wake Up Call, our jam-packed newsletter. Monday through Saturday, we break down the top news stories of the day, answer your pressing questions, and scour the internet for the best entertainment tidbits, streaming recommendations, recipes, and health and wellness tips. To sign up, go to katiecouric.com, or click here.

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Bryan Cranston joins Katie Couric to talk about the surprise second season of his Showtime drama, “Your Honor,” premiering Sunday, Jan. 15, 2023. If you haven’t seen the first season, the story, about the lengths parents go to for their kids, seemed pretty well wrapped up. Bryan talks about why he wanted to return to this tormented character and the ways in which he still draws from Walter White. Bryan also shares advice for people just starting out in the often crazy movie business, and confides in Katie about his own plans for when he’ll call it quits. 

Listeners: This is the last episode of the regular Fall 2022 season of Next Question with Katie Couric. The podcast will take a brief hiatus and return March 23. But don’t stray too far! Katie will be sharing some live events and special bonus episodes right here in the Next Question feed. For more, go to KatieCouric.com and sign up for Katie’s daily morning newsletter, Wake Up Call.

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Quinta Brunson is having an incredible year. She and her ABC sitcom, Abbott Elementary, are racking up some serious awards and breaking ratings records. She single-handedly revived the dying network sitcom. The Hollywood Reporter named her Comedy Star of the Year. And she just played Oprah in ‘Weird: The Al Yankovic Story,’ which came out the same month Quinta was interviewed by Oprah herself. How does Quinta deal with it all? On this episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie and Quinta talk about the blur of success, the making of ‘Abbott,’ the real-life inspiration of her characters, her early years in Philly, why she loved her twenties, and so much more.

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Mike White is the creator of HBO’s pandemic hit, The White Lotus. In its second season, which is about to wrap, the anthology series follows a group of wealthy vacationers and local workers at a stunning resort in Sicily. But before the lux world of The White Lotus, Mike White spent his time on the periphery, creating offbeat characters in movies like ‘Chuck and Buck,’ ‘The Year of the Dog,’ ‘The Good Girl,’ and ‘School of Rock.’ He has also had a few notorious and fairly successful stints on reality tv shows like Survivor and The Amazing Race. What does all of that have to do with the success of The White Lotus? Come find out on this episode of Next Question with Katie Couric! You can stream The White Lotus on HBO Max. The final episode of the second season airs Sunday, Dec. 11.

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On this episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, Part 2 of our parenting deep-dive, Katie shares her conversation with clinical psychologist and parenting guru, Dr. Becky Kennedy. After exploring the historical, political, and cultural factors that make parenting today so impossible, Katie and Dr. Becky talk about the need to equip parents with support and training, just like you would any other critical job. “Parenting is the hardest and most important job in the world and it’s a job we have 24/7 for a lot of years,” Dr. Becky tells Katie. “And most jobs in this country that we value, that we think are important, we prioritize the people in those jobs getting training and resources. And parenting is the opposite. We’re like, just take this baby home from the hospital and we’re given nothing.” Dr. Becky shares her unique parenting philosophy, why she’s filling such a need at this moment, how to navigate screentime as people and parents, and so much more. Find out more about Dr. Becky Kennedy’s parenting support network, as well as her podcasts and her book, Good Inside: The Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be,” at GoodInside.com. 

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Whether you are a parent, know one, or have been paying any attention at all, you’ll know that the pandemic was a breaking point for caregivers and mothers in particular. “Moms are the shock absorbers of society,” says New York Times journalist Jessica Grose. “Everyone realized that when things fell apart, moms were just expected to be there to pick up the pieces.” Well, moms have had enough. But are our policies, workplaces, and cultural norms progressing fast enough to give modern mothers — and fathers — the support they need? On this two-part episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie explores the impossibilities of modern parenthood with two experts who have been living it and writing about it: journalist Jessica Grose and clinical psychologist (and “millennial parenting whisper”) Dr. Becky Kennedy. Jessica’s new book, “Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood,” which is out Dec. 6, dismantles 200 years of unrealistic parenting expectations to empower all those who might be struggling out there. Jessica and Katie talk about that historical context, as well as solutions that are already being put into place, and how and where moms are finding reprieve. Finally, Dr. Becky talks about creating a safe space for parents to seek advice, support, and feel seen. 

Find out more:

• Screaming on the Inside: The Unsustainability of American Motherhood, by Jessica Grose
• Jessica Grose on parenting at the New York Times
• Good Inside: The Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be, by Dr. Becky Kennedy
• Good Inside, Dr. Becky Kennedy’s membership-based parenting community
• Reshma Saujani on why there’s no better time to redesign the workplace for women [Next Question with Katie Couric]

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On this episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie explores the subject of happiness. Because as a culture, we seem to be obsessed with achieving it. Just look to higher ed. Some of the most elite universities tout courses on happiness — the science of it, the value of it, the history and future of it. But the search for happiness has also seeped into our regular podcast consumption and our must-watch TV shows. So what’s the deal? Why is happiness the carrot dangling just outside of our reach? And what defines happiness anyway? To find out, Katie talks with one of those aforementioned happiness scholars, Arthur C. Brooks, whose most recent book is called “From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life.”

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Five years ago, on Oct. 5, 2017, the New York Times published an article written by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey. The headline read: “Harvey Weinstein Paid Off Sexual Harassment Accusers for Decades.” Fueled by the Hollywood stars in the story, Jodi and Megan’s reporting made the Me Too movement — started by Tarana Burke in 2006 — go viral. Now the reporters and their incredible investigation are the subjects of a feature film called “She Said,” which is based on the eponymous book they co-wrote in 2019. The movie stars Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan and not only focuses on the personal lives of the reporters and how they got the story no one else could, but also the lives of their sources — the regular women whose careers were cut short and lives altered because of Weinstein’s torment. “They wanted to break into the industry,” Megan tells Katie, “and instead they experienced attacks and harassment and abuse and to see in this movie the toll that has taken on their lives so many years later. I mean, it wrote them out of the industry.” On this episode of Next Question with Katie Couric, Katie and the New York Times reporters talk about the bizarre experience of seeing their lives unfold on screen, the power of journalism, the comfort of the newsroom, and the lasting impacts of Me Too.

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