The Plot Thickens

By TCM

TV & Film

What's The Plot Thickens about?

For our fourth season, we're bringing you the story of Pam Grier as only she can tell it. Her overnight stardom, her iconic roles, her fights against the system. It’s a story of bravery, both onscreen and off. It’s a story about race in Hollywood and race in America. And it’s a story about how real life is a lot messier than the movies. Pam Grier joins host Ben Mankiewicz for the new season of The Plot Thickens, starting October 25.

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Bonus Episode: Donald Bogle...

02.07.2023

Film scholars Racquel Gates and Donald Bogle detail the rise and fall of Blaxploitation, and how Pam Grier transcended the genre and stayed iconic for decades afterwards. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Plot Thickens episodes:

02.07.2023 Bonus Episode: Donald Bogle and Racquel Gates Film scholars Racquel Gates and Donald Bogle detail the rise and fall of Blaxploitation, and how Pam Grier transcended the genre and stayed iconic for decades afterwards. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
01.24.2023 Bonus Episode: Bob Minor & Jadie David Legendary stunt performers Jadie David and Bob Minor go in-depth about their most dangerous stunts, working with Pam Grier, and breaking through as Black stuntpeople in the early 70s. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
01.10.2023 Bonus Episode: Jacqueline Stewart Ben Mankiewicz speaks to TCM host and Director and President of The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Jacqueline Stewart about Pam Grier's star image, the legacy of Blaxploitation, and meeting Pam at the TCM Classic Film Festival. See omnystudio.com/listener for ...
12.13.2022 Bonus Episode: Quentin Tarantino More from Ben Mankiewicz’s interview with Quentin Tarantino, who speaks about making Jackie Brown, enjoying Blaxploitation, and first seeing Pam when he was an impressionable 10 year-old boy. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
12.06.2022 Ms. Jackie Brown After receiving a devastating diagnosis, Pam leaves Hollywood and heads home to Colorado. But she’s lured back into the spotlight when the hottest director in Hollywood gives her the role of a lifetime. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
11.29.2022 I’m Gonna Die For Paul Newman Pam finds love on a movie set when she’s cast opposite superstar comedian Richard Pryor. She sets out to change Richard’s self-destructive ways, and succeeds – for a little while. She then immerses herself in a difficult new role, a ...
11.22.2022 Looking Good As the Blaxploitation craze comes to an end, Pam fights for better roles and hobnobs with the biggest names in showbiz. She meets the love of her life, a hot young comedian named Freddie Prinze -- whose personal demons lead ...
11.18.2022 Bonus: Pam Grier in Italy Pam is almost killed when a horse goes wild on the set of a gladiator movie. But instead of losing her life, she meets a new friend, who just happens to be one of the most famous filmmakers in the ...
11.15.2022 The Queen of Blaxploitation Pam’s career hits new heights as Black-themed movies take the country by storm. She stars in four low-budget films in the span of one year, including two bonafide hits: Coffy and Foxy Brown. Yet her celebrity is tied to controversy, ...
11.08.2022 An Actor Prepares Pam heads to the Philippines to star in a pair of “women in prison” movies, where she endures volatile weather, skimpy costumes, and cobra encounters. She studies acting and learns everything she can about filmmaking, and her raw talent is ...
11.01.2022 I'm Not From Here Newly arrived in Los Angeles, Pam learns underground filmmaking at UCLA and sings backup for some of the biggest musical acts of the 60s. She also has her first serious romance, with a towering basketball phenom named Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Then, ...
10.25.2022 The Black West Growing up in Colorado, young Pam Grier endures racism and trauma, but finds solace in horses and the beautiful countryside. As a teen, she visits Los Angeles for the first time, and gets caught in the middle of the historic ...
10.04.2022 Season 4 Trailer: Here Comes Pam This is the story of Pam Grier as only she can tell it. Her sudden stardom, her iconic roles, her fights against the system. It’s a story of bravery, both onscreen and off. It’s a story about race in Hollywood ...
07.26.2022 From Revisionist History: Star Struck We’re sharing a bonus episode from our friends at Revisionist History, Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast about things misunderstood and overlooked. This season, Malcolm’s obsessed with experiments – natural experiments, scientific experiments, thought experiments. In this episode, Malcolm explores a legendary Hollywood ...
02.01.2022 Bonus Episode: J.K. Simmons Ben Mankiewicz speaks with the Oscar-winning actor about playing William Frawley in Being the Ricardos, and how Frawley's tumultuous relationship with Vivian Vance informed the characters of Fred and Ethel Mertz. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
01.25.2022 Bonus Episode: Carol Burnett, Kate Flannery and Kate Micucci Ben Mankiewicz speaks to three celebrity fans about how they were influenced by Lucille Ball, Lucy’s incredible talent for physical comedy, and why I Love Lucy is still beloved today. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
01.11.2022 Bonus Episode: Aaron Sorkin Ben Mankiewicz speaks to Aaron Sorkin, the writer-director of Being the Ricardos, about what drew him to Lucy’s story, Lucy and Desi’s intense relationship, and the danger they faced when HUAC thought Lucy was a communist. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ...
12.21.2021 Bonus Episode: Lucie Arnaz More from Ben Mankiewicz's fascinating interview with Lucie Arnaz, who speaks about working with her mom, growing up on the RKO studio lot, and what made I Love Lucy special. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
12.14.2021 Twilight Lucy sinks into a depression after the failure of her newest show and becomes a reclusive, fiercely competitive backgammon player. Yet she's still revered, and following a memorable final appearance at the Academy Awards, her heart gives out. As the ...
12.07.2021 Boss Lady Escaping Hollywood after her split, Lucy heads east for a chance to star on Broadway. There she meets a new man, a Borscht Belt comedian with a bad toupee and even worse business sense. The new couple returns to Hollywood ...
11.30.2021 The End of Desilu Lucy and Desi's studio expands as they buy the RKO lot and produce new shows under the Desilu banner. The strain of running an empire takes its toll, and Desi falls further into gambling, drinking and philandering as a refuge ...
11.23.2021 Red Scare At the height of Lucy’s popularity, the government kicks off a political investigation that threatens to ruin her career. Why had Lucy registered as a communist 20 years earlier? On the verge of her being blacklisted, Desi goes on the ...
11.16.2021 I Love Lucy With a TV deal from CBS, Desi assembles a ragtag team of collaborators to make a new kind of program, one that would rewrite the rules of television. And they do it while hiding Lucy’s newest surprise: after ten years ...
11.09.2021 Desilu From the start, Lucy and Desi fight as fiercely as they love. After a spur-of-the-moment elopement, the newlyweds buy a small ranch north of Hollywood and call it “Desilu.” They suffer miscarriages and career setbacks, which causes Desi to take ...
11.02.2021 Desi Forced from his native Cuba by violent revolution, 17-year-old Desi Arnaz is a stranger in a strange land. Armed with an appetite for girls and gambling, Desi sparks a dance craze in the nightclubs of Miami and sweet-talks his way ...
10.26.2021 Hollywood For her first movie role, Lucy wears a flesh-toned bodysuit and waist-length blonde wig while chained to a rock. But her clowning on set gets her noticed, and she begins to land larger and larger parts. Soon she signs with ...
10.19.2021 New York City Lucy heads back to Broadway where she meets her first girlboss: fashion baroness Hattie Carnegie, who hires Lucy to model coats and dresses for New York high society. But a mysterious ailment sends Lucy home to Jamestown, followed by a ...
10.12.2021 Jamestown In a small town in New York, young Lucille Ball becomes enamored with showbiz after watching vaudeville acts and silent movies at the amusement park near her home. As a teenager, she falls for a handsome 21-year-old bootlegger, and is ...
09.07.2021 Season 3 Trailer: Lucy From her early years as a model to her triumphant takeover of television, this is the story of Lucille Ball, as never heard before. Join host Ben Mankiewicz as he delves into the private world of America’s funniest redhead and ...
08.24.2021 The Devil’s Candy Bonus Episode Author Julie Salamon joins TCM Host Alicia Malone for a revealing interview about what you didn’t hear during our second season of The Plot Thickens. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
08.10.2021 You’ve Got to be a Genius to Make a Movie This Bad The Bonfire of the Vanities tanks with both critics and the moviegoing public. Brian De Palma leads the autopsy, trying to understand how all these smart people made all the wrong decisions. The only upside is for Julie Salamon, whose ...
08.03.2021 The Best Movie We Ever Made With production now in Los Angeles, Brian De Palma feels the pressure from prying studio executives – and from Bruce Willis, who starts directing other actors on how to be funnier. De Palma gets some much-needed encouragement from his friend ...
07.27.2021 Hollywood Heat As production moves to Los Angeles, the specter of sexism clouds the movie. Rumors swirl among the crew about Melanie Griffith’s plastic surgery, Kim Cattrall's weight loss, and an affair between actress Beth Broderick and director Brian De Palma. See ...
07.20.2021 Wire Without a Net The cast shows its true colors: some are easygoing and relatable, but not Bruce Willis. The New York shoot spirals over budget as the courtroom scene can only be shot at night, and the film’s entire opening is scrapped in ...
07.13.2021 The War Zone Shooting hasn't even started and the movie is already under attack. Detailed leaks and star outbursts are reported daily by a hungry press. Bit parts, courtroom locations, snippets of dialogue, even a single shot of a plane landing at JFK ...
07.06.2021 Reaching for the Stars – and Paying the Price As Tom Hanks researches his role, nobody recognizes how wrong he is for the part. There's more immediate pushback against the casting of Bruce Willis, since his part was written as British. But the hardest decision comes when the director ...
06.29.2021 Lighting the Fire One decision could make or break The Bonfire of the Vanities: who will play the female lead? It comes down to two actresses – established, expensive Melanie Griffith or an unknown, alluring 19 year-old named Uma Thurman. Suddenly the producer, ...
06.09.2021 Introducing The Devil's Candy A blockbuster book, an all-star cast... what could possibly go wrong? For our second season, we're telling the inside story of The Bonfire of the Vanities, a movie that was supposed to be a hit – but wasn't. Come with ...
05.05.2021 The Plot Thickens Returns This Summer We've got two new seasons coming your way in 2021, and the first is dropping soon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
11.02.2020 The Plot Thickens Virtual Event TCM host Alicia Malone hosts a conversation with Peter Bogdanovich and Ben Mankiewicz, who share memorable stories and answer questions from listeners about Season 1 of The Plot Thickens. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
07.14.2020 Henry Fonda, John Wayne and James Stewart Highlights from Peter Bogdanovich’s interviews with three of Hollywood’s biggest movie stars, who talk about the unique challenges of working with director and legendary curmudgeon John Ford. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
06.30.2020 Alfred Hitchcock Peter Bogdanovich sits down with one of his filmmaking heroes, Alfred Hitchcock, for a wide-ranging conversation about Psycho, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Rear Window and more. Plus, Hitchcock shares stories about being arrested as a child, appearing in his own ...
06.16.2020 Howard Hawks For our first bonus episode, Peter Bogdanovich interviews director Howard Hawks in the Palm Springs desert in April 1972. Hawks tells Peter how he got started in showbiz and provides insight into many of his best movies, including Rio Bravo, ...
06.02.2020 I’m Still Peter Bogdanovich Grief-stricken for years, Peter finally goes back behind the camera and ends up shooting one of his most popular films. But he sues the studio before the movie is released, further endangering his career. While trying to recover, Peter once ...
05.26.2020 Dorothy Alone for the first time, Peter finds love in an unexpected place: the Playboy Mansion. His passionate romance with Playmate Dorothy Stratten ignites his creativity, culminating in his best movie in years. But Peter’s life is forever changed by a ...
05.19.2020 Bogdanovich, The Misunderstood Feeling betrayed, Orson Welles humiliates Peter on national television. So Peter heads overseas to shoot a daring new movie, filming in secret to evade government censors. While his career starts to recover, he embarks on an affair with his new ...
05.12.2020 Babe Ruth Just Bunted Following The Last Picture Show, Peter directs two more major hits, What’s Up, Doc? and Paper Moon. But then his wife leaves him, and his next three movies are high-profile flops. As his relationship with Cybill is splashed across the ...
05.05.2020 Cybill Peter challenges himself to film an “unfilmmable” book and creates one of the seminal movies of the 1970s: The Last Picture Show. His actors win Academy Awards and the accolades pour in, including comparisons to Orson Welles himself. But Peter ...
04.28.2020 Target: Hollywood Peter meets Polly Platt, his closest creative collaborator – and soon, his young wife. The newlyweds drive across the country to break into the movie business, starting with a low-budget directing gig for Roger Corman. And Peter finally encounters Orson ...
04.28.2020 Bugs A young film buff named Peter Bogdanovich grows up in New York, learning to obsess over the movies the way his father obsesses over art. With his sights set on acting, Peter lies his way into the most prestigious acting ...

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