It's Been a Minute Folgen

If you ask people to describe Christine Baranski, one word rises to the top: sophisticated. That's no accident; the actress has spent a lifetime refining her image and her craft.For the past 13 years, Baranski has played Diane Lockhart, a savvy and assertive attorney on the CBS television series The Good Wife and its spin-off The Good Fight. And just like her character, Baranski is a trailblazer herself. With women making up only 3% of major TV characters 60 and over, she's carved out a path for other actresses to follow.In this episode, host Brittany Luse talks with Baranski about The Good Fight for women in Hollywood.Follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin or email us at ibam@npr.org. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Spooky season is upon us, so we decided to sink our teeth into the world of vampires. Host Brittany Luse kicks off the conversation with Kendra R. Parker, who teaches a class at Georgia Southern University about Black vampires in film and literature. They talk about the racial and sexual politics of vampire narratives and why humans continue to find vampire stories compelling.Then Brittany sits down with Jacob Anderson, star of the AMC reboot of Interview with the Vampire. The two get into the shaky ethics of vampirism and the trauma of immortality. Follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin or email us at ibam@npr.org. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Every fall, with the same regularity as birds flying south, Spirit Halloween materializes in locations across the country. The superstore sells all manner of trappings for spooky season, including costumes, props and décor. It boasts about 1,400 pop-ups nationwide, and often takes over temporary leases in malls where a big-box retailer struggled to stay open. This penchant for swooping in on failing businesses has led many consumers to see the company as a kind of Grim Reaper of retail – and turned the store into an internet meme. This week, host Brittany Luse sits down with Planet Money's Kenny Malone to dive into the origin story of Spirit Halloween, and what the store's success says about the economy and the future of retail. You can follow us on Twitter @NPRItsBeenAMin or email us at ibam@npr.org. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy