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Verse and Voice
Enjoy a collection of poetry and other word artistry curated by WNPR.

The Nose Is Done With American Idol

Connecticut Public Radio | By Colin McEnroe,
Jonathan McNicol
Published April 8, 2016 at 9:07 AM EDT
Chuck Kramer
/
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And after 15 seasons and 555 episodes and more than 345 Billboard chart toppers, "American Idol" is done with us. Love it or hate it, the show changed the American television business, the American reality television business, the American music business. It gave us Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Clarkson and Ryan Seacrest. And it gave us Taylor Hicks and William Hung. And Ryan Seacrest. We unpack the whole thing, the good and the bad.

And then: The first "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" teaser trailer came out yesterday, and there's a certain contingent that's excited to see such an accomplished actress as Felicity Jones in a Star Wars picture (there's another contingent that's much less excited). But that got us to thinking: Is it actually good that every serious actor on the planet apparently has to bow down to comic book and sci-fri franchises? I mean, would we've wanted Ingrid Bergman to make an X-Men movie?

And finally: Both Gay Talese (84) and Calvin Trillin (80) got themselves in some trouble this week with some maybe tone-deaf words. And so we wonder, without apologizing for them too much, how much can we expect somebody to keep up with the exact pace of changing sensibilities? Can any of us guarantee that, in our 80s, we won't seem obnoxiously old school in our attitude toward robots being allowed to adopt human children or something?

Further assigned reading:

GUESTS:

  • Rebecca Castellani - Scholar of modern literature
  • Taneisha Duggan - Producing associate at TheaterWorks
  • Kate Rushin - Poet, writer, and educator

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter.

Colin McEnroe, Greg Hill, and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.
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The Nose
Colin McEnroe
Colin McEnroe is a radio host, newspaper columnist, magazine writer, author, playwright, lecturer, moderator, college instructor and occasional singer. Colin can be reached at colin@ctpublic.org.
See stories by Colin McEnroe
Jonathan McNicol
Jonathan is a producer for ‘The Colin McEnroe Show.’ His work has been heard nationally on NPR and locally on Connecticut Public’s talk shows and news magazines. He’s as likely to host a podcast on minor league baseball as he is to cover a presidential debate almost by accident. Jonathan can be reached at jmcnicol@ctpublic.org.
See stories by Jonathan McNicol

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SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

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