The Colin McEnroe Show

Last week, President Obama twittered a list of "memorable songs" from his administration. The list was, let's just say, not necessarily well received. Vaguely relatedly: Incoming secretary of state nominee Antony Blinken… has his own "wonk rock" tunes up on Spotify? And: The Liberator is a sort of animated, four-part Netflix miniseries that tells the story of the 157th Infantry in World War II. Some other stuff that happened this week, give or take: Fred Hills, Editor of Nabokov and Many Others, Dies at 85A longtime editor at Simon & Schuster, he brought to market both commercial hits and literary prizewinners and edited more than 50 New York Times best sellers. David Maas, Half of 'Quick Change' Magic Act, Dies of COVID-19Mr. Maas and his wife, who performed lightning-fast costume changes, often appeared on television and were a halftime fixture at N.B.A. and college basketball arenas. Conan O'Brien's Nightly Late-Night Show to End Its Run in 2021 Here's The Deal, Folks: A POTUS Impression Is Harder Than It Looks Baby Yoda Canceled Amid Accusations of GenocideLast week's egg-eating episode of The Mandalorian has led to a disturbance in the Force. For real. Howard Stern: If Trump starts a TV network, it'll fail within a year The Art That Defied the Last Four, Terrible YearsMy mind has slipped anxiously off books and movies since 2016. But as the credits roll on 2020, I'm ready to look back. George Clooney When We Need Him MostThe actor, director, and GQ Icon of the Year is the one thing we can all agree on -- at a time when we can’t agree on anything. Jason Isaacs: 'I'd like to apologise to anyone who met me before I was 30 -- I was a drug addict' David Fincher's Impossible EyeWith 'Mank,' America's most famously exacting director tackles the movie he's been waiting his entire career to make. 98 Million TikTok Followers Can't Be WrongHow a 16-year-old from suburban Connecticut became the most famous teen in America Helicopter pilot finds 'strange' monolith in remote part of UtahState employee spotted mysterious metal structure amid red rocks while counting bighorn sheep John Boyega Had A "Transparent, Honest" Phone Call With Kathleen Kennedy After 'Star Wars' Race Comments Columbus-Free Wooster Square Takes Shape Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and Dua Lipa Dominate 2021 Grammy NominationsThe major categories include some surprising, lesser-known names and notable absences as a Recording Academy in transition plans its pandemic awards show. 'Chappelle's Show' Removed From Netflix at Dave Chappelle's Request The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century (So Far)Chameleons or beauties, star turns or character roles -- these are the performers who have outshone all others on the big screen in the last 20 years. GUESTS: Lucy Gellman - Editor of The Arts Paper and host of WNHH radio's Kitchen Sync Rich Hollant - Principal at CO:LAB, founder of Free Center, and commissioner on cultural affairs for the city of Hartford Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As we were preparing for our show on underdogs, I kept saying that we shouldn't overlook the fact that, often, to be an underdog in the first place, you have to be relatively bad at the thing you're an underdog about. The more we talked about it, the more I found myself making the case that losers and losing are fascinating. And they are. There's a whole podcast about political candidates who lost. We romanticize losers in movies and TV and songs and stories. And think just about the phrase "lovable losers." In a culture where we focus seemingly entirely on the positive half of the zero sum, where we endlessly exalt WINNING, it's kind of interesting that we love the losers too, isn't it? This hour, a long look at losers and losing. GUESTS: Jason Cherkis - Political reporter for The Huffington Post and the co-host of Candidate Confessional Josh Keefe - An investigative reporter at the Bangor Daily News; in a piece for Slate's Sports Nut, he claimed that he was the worst high school quarterback ever Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College Brian Slattery - Arts editor for the New Haven Independent and a producer at WNHH radio Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Betsy Kaplan contributed to this show, which originally aired August 1, 2016.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We're almost three weeks past Election Day. Yet, President Trump and his evolving legal team continue to spew conspiracy theories intended to delegitimize the voting process, sow confusion, and delay the transition of power to incoming President-elect Joe Biden.  Meanwhile, most Senate Republicans remain silent and Trump's most fervent supporters ignore our post-election reality in favor of conspiracy theories that run unchecked on platforms like Parler.  Lastly, is it too late to cancel Thanksgiving? Many people are already traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday despite CDC pleas to please stay home.  GUESTS: James Surowiecki is a journalist who has written about business and finance for The New Yorker and Slate. He now writes a business column for Marker on Medium. He's the author of The Wisdom of Crowds (@jamessurowiecki) Tina Nguyen reports on the White House for Politico (@tina_nguyen) James Hamblin is a staff writer at The Atlantic. He is preventive medicine physician and a lecturer at Yale School of Public Health. He's the co-host of the podcast "Social Distance," and author of Clean: The New Science of Skin. (@jameshamblin) Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A hard-boiled private eye, a glamorous blond, and a hapless drifter all sit at a bar on the seamy side of town. It's night, the streets are wet, the shadows are long. They each nurse a drink to the notes of a mournful saxophone and a lonely piano. Smoke from the cigarettes swirls in the darkness. We all know classic noir when we see it and hear it and read it; yet, we don't really know how to define the dark plots that expose humanity in all its moral ambiguity and loneliness. Noir arrived in America with German emigres escaping the Nazis and fit well with the bleakness of Americans reeling from a depression, two world wars, and, later, the threat of nuclear annihilation. It continues to resonate and has transposed its style across genres. ​ This hour, a deeper look at noir -- then and now. GUESTS: Amy Bloom - A novelist and the editor of New Haven Noir Colin Harrison - The author, most recently, of You Belong To Me Sheri Chinen Biesen - Professor of film history at Rowan University and the author of Blackout: World War II and the Origins of Film Noir and Music in the Shadows: Noir Musical Films Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Kevin MacDermott, Jonathan McNicol, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show, which originally aired January 24, 2018.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many of the poll results that drove headlines this election season missed the mark, even after pollsters spent the previous four years correcting for the errors of 2016. They shouldn't feel too bad. Even George Gallup got it wrong. But Gallup had it easier. Almost ninety percent of people answered polls in his day. Today, about six percent of people answer polls - and the ones that do tend to have more social trust in other people and institutions. Pollsters will be dissecting the hits and misses in their predictions for some time. Could it be that not enough people participate any longer for them to get a diverse enough sample of viewpoints to reflect our political reality? Should we consider whether polls advance or hinder democracy?  We talk about the history and current state of polling, including how pollsters misread the Latino vote. GUESTS: David Shor is an independent data analyst who formerly worked for the 2012 Obama campaign and Civis Analytics. (@davidshor) David Greenberg is a professor of History, and of Journalism & Media Studies at Rutgers University, and a contributing editor to Politico Magazine. He is currently working on a biography of the late congressman John Lewis. (@republicofspin) Arelis Hernandez covers the U.S. Southern border, immigration, and Texas for The Washington Post (arelisrhdz) Join the conversation on Facebook and TwitterSupport the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jeopardy! has been part of the fabric of American TV, in a couple different forms and across a couple different breaks, since 1964. It is the longest-running nationally-televised game show in U.S. television history. At the 2015 Emmys, John Oliver quipped, "The sun could burn out, humanity could flee to another galaxy, time as we know it could cease to exist, but Alex Trebek will still be there scolding librarians from Ames, Iowa, to answer in the form of a question." Except, of course, Alex Trebek died last week. And before that, Jeopardy!'s long-time executive producer and its long-time contestant coordinator both left at the end of last season. So what's in store for this quiz show institution? GUESTS: Sherri Cohen - Former Jeopardy! contestant Claire McNear - Staff writer at The Ringer and the author of Answers in the Form of Questions: A Definitive History and Insider's Guide to Jeopardy! Carolyn Paine - An actress, comedian, and dancer, and founder, director, and choreographer of CONNetic Dance Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The number of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 is rising in almost every state. America averaged over 100,000 new cases every day over the last seven days and 1,000 deaths every day over the same period. The positivity rate is more than 50 percent in some states, straining hospital systems and front line staff. Have we normalized the pandemic to the point where we're no longer taking it seriously enough?  Also this hour: President Trump will no longer be protected from federal and state prosecution for questionable business and tax dealings when he exits the office of the presidency. There are also several civil lawsuits, including from two women who have filed separate civil suits for defamation after he denied their allegations of sexual assault. How legally vulnerable is President Trump? GUESTS: Dr. Angela Rasmussen is a virologist and an affiliate at the Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security. She’s a contributor to Slate (@angie_rasmussen)  Ross Garber is a lawyer specializing in political investigations and impeachment and a legal analyst for CNN. He teaches at Tulane Law School. (@rossgarber) Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

t's been eight days since Election Day. It's been four days since Joe Biden was projected to become President-elect Joe Biden. But we've still got the secretary of state saying, "There will be a smooth transition to a second Trump administration." We've still got any number of lawsuits flailing their way through the courts in various states. Are we really going to reject democratic elections to soothe Trump's ego? And: The Washington Post's Pulitzer-winning nonfiction book critic takes a look at the Trump years through the lens of all the Trump books. GUESTS: Philip Bump - A correspondent for The Washington Post based in New York Jeannie Suk Gersen - A contributing writer to The New Yorker and a professor at Harvard Law School Carlos Lozada - The nonfiction book critic of The Washington Post and the author of What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe and Cat Pastor contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Benedict Arnold's reputation as a traitor instead of a skilled warrior and confidante of George Washington has become accepted history in the minds of many Americans living hundreds of years removed from our founding. But that's too simple a story.   The Revolution was a chaotic time. Congress was in constant battle with the military and feelings ran high over whether power should reside in the states or the federal government. The war took a toll on the men who fought this bloody and protracted war. Leadership was often ineffective, greed was rampant, and militias fought without pay, few provisions, and little training. Family farms  were looted and destroyed,  the economy collapsed, and the Native Americans usually fought for the British.  Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country, fighting against friends and former comrades. He was impetuous and quick to anger. He also fought valiantly for the Revolution, often turning the tide toward America in decisive battles. Yet, he got little respect, less pay, and was a target of a politicized Congress. Is it time to take another look at Benedict Arnold and the Revolution that birthed America?   GUESTS: Nathaniel Philbrick - Author of In the Heart of the Sea; Mayflower; and Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution Eric Lehman - Professor of English and Director of the Creative Writing Program at University of Bridgeport; author of Homegrown Terror: Benedict Arnold and the Burning of New London Brad Meltzer - Author of The Inner Circle; The Book of Fate; and The House of Secrets Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Chion Wolf, and Greg Hill contributed to this show.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The world has an Alex Trebek-shaped hole in it. Which raises a question: Who should fill said hole? Billie Eilish has a new single out this week, which got The Nose thinking about her now-in-limbo James Bond theme song, which got The Nose thinking about James Bond theme songs in general. And: Ted Lasso is a half-hour comedy series on AppleTV+. It stars Jason Sudeikis as the title character, and it's based on a character Sudeikis developed in 2013 for a series of promos for NBC Sports's Premier League coverage, of all things. GUESTS: Jim Chapdelaine - An Emmy-winning musician, producer, composer, and recording engineer, and a patient advocate for people with rare cancers Irene Papoulis - Teaches writing at Trinity College Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.