the gross

Not one of the great interview-based shows, "Fresh Air" nevertheless delivers fairly consistent entertainment on a daily basis.

Occasionally, the interviews, even with unfamiliar guests, merit attention. Yesterday's interview with Lloyd Schwartz, who was discussing the work of the poet Elizabeth Bishop, was truly intriguing. Bishop's poems were read with care by Mr. Schwartz, and, even if the poems were well-known, his readings made them seem new again, and still fresh.

More often, unfortunately, the show trades in the basest of interviewing techniques: biographical equivalency ("This song is about divorce, did you just get divorced when you wrote it?").

Sometimes the interviews are just awful. An example of the depths to which the show can sink came when Terri Gross asked Chiwetel Ejiofor what he was wearing while filming a certain scene in Kinky Boots. The enlightening answer: a green dress with sequins! (Link)