It’s commonly said now that we’re living in a golden age of television, but try telling that to executives at the Big Four networks. The buzzy shows you love to talk about are on cable, while CBS, ABC, NBC, and Fox are all wrapping up one of their worst seasons on record. Many successful shows ...

Studio 360 came to the writer Aimee Bender with a commission for a short story on a giant topic: the Big Bang. Before she started writing, Bender decided to bone up on her science: she spoke with Nick Warner, a professor of physics, astronomy, and mathematics at the University of Southern California ...

How well do you know Lucy?  Here are the answers to our quiz.

This weekend, in honor of Lucille Ball's 100th birthday, we're rebroadcasting our American Icons hour about how I Love Lucy wrote the rules of American TV.   You and everyone on the planet knows all about Lucy, right? Are you sure?

On Monday, we started our Week of Lucy with a pop quiz. Here are the answers:

Lucille Ball knew however big the star, TV was a writer’s medium.  There was just no time for lots of takes to figure it out.  Every gesture, every glance, and every step was written into the script – and that’s the way Lucy wanted it.

Pity the television writer. If 30 Rock is to be believed (and why wouldn’t it be?), TV writers are creatures fueled by bad food and the always-looming deadline. Every week, a new show must be written and it must be funny…or funny enough. For I Love Lucy, three to five people churned out a whopping 39 scripts a year.  How many didn’t make the cut?  Writer Bob Schillersaid, “Nothing was ever wasted. It was like a slaughterhouse.”

Long before US Weekly had us guessing if Angelina Jolie was pregnant, not pregnant, insane, evil, sainted … there was Confidential Magazine, a scandal rag big in the 1950s that was hell-bent on exposing Hollywood’s dirt.

Mindy Kaling -- writer, producer, and star of The Office -- grew up thinking that I Love Lucy was “square … one of the many black and white things that people keep telling you is so great and then you watch it and you’re just sort of bored and annoyed by it.”

You and everyone on the planet (and perhaps in outer space) know all about I Love Lucy, right — are you sure?  Take our quiz.

Chimamanda Adichie is an award-winning Nigerian author whose writing has brought Nigerian history to global audiences. She explains the role Achebe has played in her work, and what it is like being compared to such an eminent figure. Produced by David Krasnow and

It’s been spinning for over a hundred years but, as James Buzard explains, some people still aren't comfortable with it. Where it stops, nobody knows. Produced by Chloe Plaunt.

Like Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adichie is an award-winning Nigerian author whose writing has brought her country's history to global audiences. She tells Kurt why Achebe has played such a large role in her work. Produced by Studio 360's David Krasnow and