Jonathan McNicol

1 week ago | ctpublic.org | Jonathan McNicol

Published May 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM EDT There are thought to be about 17 million living flies for every human alive on Earth. They’re predators and parasites and pests, but they’re pollinators too. They help us solve crimes, heal wounds, and understand genetics and evolution. And they literally help at least one artist paint his paintings. Also this hour: A look at David Cronenberg’s 1986 remake of, you guessed it: The Fly.

2 weeks ago | ctpublic.org | Jonathan McNicol

Published May 23, 2025 at 1:00 PM EDT Listen live Friday at 1 p.m.President Trump has instructed his administration to work toward rebuilding and reopening the notorious maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island. But why? One theory has it that it’s because the Clint Eastwood movie Escape from Alcatraz aired on South Florida’s PBS station, Mar-a-Lago’s PBS station, on the day the president announced the plan.

2 weeks ago | ctpublic.org | Jonathan McNicol

Published May 21, 2025 at 1:00 PM EDT We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to Tolkien’s potential Lord of the Rings sequel, planned Flag Day protests, parasocial relationships, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, former Vice President Kamala Devi Harris, Annie Lennox* … Anything.

3 weeks ago | ctpublic.org | Jonathan McNicol

Published May 16, 2025 at 1:00 PM EDT Writer and critic Spencer Kornhaber just published a similarly-titled piece in The Atlantic: “Is This the Worst-Ever Era of American Pop Culture?”According to Betteridge’s law of headlines, the answer to both versions of that question is just, plain, “No.” And maybe it is. Maybe even probably it is. But maybe it’s more complicated than that, too. This hour, we wonder just how bad things actually have gotten with our popular culture.

3 weeks ago | ctpublic.org | Jonathan McNicol

Published May 12, 2025 at 1:00 PM EDT We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to Colin’s constant laughter (or not) and his nearly life-threatening reaction to Weekend Update on last week’s SNL, The Kennedy Center Honors, Robert F.