Nigel Lythgoe is a TV producer, choreographer, dancer and show creator who is best known for executive producing "American Idol" during many years of its highly successful 15-season run on Fox. He also created (with Simon Fuller) and is the executive producer of "So You Think You Can Dance" on Fox. During this podcast, Nigel discusses his life and career including his childhood in Wallasey, England and the early years of his career. He also reveals what it was like to develop and produce "American Idol" and "So You Think You Can Dance." And then his son Kris Lythgoe joins us to discuss their live stage productions of a centuries-old English holiday tradition known as panto and happening in the U.S. as the "Lythgoe Family Panto," family friendly theater productions happening at venues in Southern California, Tennessee and North Carolina. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Andrew D. Bernstein is the longtime official photographer of the Los Angeles Lakers and senior NBA photographer. His photos are paired with Kobe Bryant's commentary in the new book "The Mamba Mentality: How I Play." During this podcast, Andrew discusses 20 years of photographing Kobe Bryant, specific photos in the book, and his career as one of only two photographers ever inducted into the NBA's Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Frank Buckley Interviews, Frank shares clips from some of KTLA's other podcast offerings from Spoken Dreams, The News Director's Office, and California Cooking. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Luke Davies is an Oscar-nominated screenwriter, novelist and poet best known for the award-winning 2016 film "Lion" and for the novel "Candy: A Novel of Love and Addiction" based at least in part on his own experiences as a heroin addict in the 1980s. Luke is the co-writer of the new film "Beautiful Boy" based on the true-life stories of David and Nic Sheff and David's efforts to save his son Nic's life after he becomes addicted to crystal meth. During this podcast, Luke reveals why he almost turned down "Beautiful Boy," and how his own struggles with addiction as a young man helped to inform the writing of the screenplay. He also discusses his next project as an executive producer and writer on George Clooney's production of  "Catch-22" set to air as a mini-series on Hulu. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/thefrankbuckleyinterviews. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sera Gamble is a TV writer and producer who is the co-creator and executive producer/showrunner of Lifetime's "You" and Syfy's "The Magicians." She is one of only a few women in Hollywood who are in charge of two TV shows. During this podcast, Sera discusses her career from "baby writer" to showrunner, her responsibilities as a female showrunner in the era of the Me Too movement, and her process when it comes to writing and producing two popular TV shows. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Gene Simmons is co-founder of the rock band KISS which has been performing and recording for 45 years. KISS has earned more gold albums (30) than any American band in history. In 2019, the band goes on tour in what it's calling the "End of the Road" farewell tour. Gene is also a prolific entrepreneur and co-founding partner of Rock and Brews restaurants. There are more than three-thousand KISS licensed products including a collaboration with Hello Kitty to market KISS-Hello Kitty merchandise in 90 countries. During this podcast, Gene discusses his life and career, his love of America, his respect for military and first responders, his entrepreneurial spirit, and the upcoming farewell tour. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ali Noorani is the executive director of the non-partisan National Immigration Forum which describes itself as bringing together "moderate and conservative faith, law enforcement and business leaders...in support of practical and common sense immigration, citizenship and integration policies." Ali is also the author of the book "There Goes the Neighborhood: How Communities Overcome Prejudice and Meet the Challenge of American immigration." During this podcast, Ali discusses his search for nuance in the immigration debate with more than 50 interviews conducted for his book with leaders in faith communities, law enforcement, business, and immigration among others. He also talks about what he calls the "exhausted majority" in the immigration debate, his views on what can be done to achieve comprehensive immigration reform, and how one town in Iowa decided to make it a community effort to welcome immigrants and how that turned out for the town. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Victoria Arlen is an on-air personality at ESPN, a gold and silver medalist from the London Paralympics, and a survivor who was in a vegetative state for nearly four years as a child "locked" in her own body unable to speak, move, eat or communicate with the people around her. During this podcast, Victoria reveals what it was like as she emerged from the vegetative state and was eventually able to communicate to family members that she was conscious and aware of her surroundings despite being unable to move. She also discusses her long road to recovery, her faith and family, her triumph at the London 2012 Paralympic Games, and her zest for life. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Doris Kearns Goodwin is a presidential historian and Pulitzer Prize winning author. Her new book "Leadership in Turbulent Times" profiles Presidents Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. During this podcast, Doris discusses the human qualities that all of these presidents possessed, she reveals personal experiences she had working with President Johnson, and she explains how the title of her new book and the histories of the presidents she profiles are relevant to our times today. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Nate Boyer is a former U.S Army Green Beret and Iraq and Afghanistan veteran and former football player who in 2016 convinced then San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick to kneel during his national anthem protests instead of sitting after Nate wrote an open letter to Kaepernick in the Army Times. Nate is also co-founder of Merging Vets and Players, a non-profit created for combat veterans and former professional athletes to support each other as they transition from active duty and/or professional sports to new chapters in their lives. Nate was a five-year player for the University of Texas Longhorns who made the team after completing his active duty military service. He was also briefly signed to the Seattle Seahawks as a long-snapper. During this podcast, Nate reveals how he ended up standing alongside Kaepernick on the field as the quarterback kneeled for the first time, and he discusses what's happened since that day. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/frankbuckleyinterviews. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.