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Fresh Air critic Kevin Whitehead reviews two albums by Thelonious Monk jazz competition winners: Melissa Aldana and Joshua Redman.

Fresh Air producer John Sheehan discusses The Radio Adventures of Eleanor Amplified, a new comic podcast for kids featuring an intrepid radio reporter who foils plots and outwits crafty villains.

Actor and writer Ricky Gervais is best known as creator and star of the British TV comedy The Office, which was adapted into a U.S. hit starring Steve Carrell. Gervais also stars in Extras, which airs in the U.S. on HBO, and writes the Flanimals children's books.

Fresh Air TV critic David Bianculli reviews DVD collections of British TV shows, including a few series that have never before been televised in the U.S. Highlights include Fortysomething, a six-part comedy series starring Hugh Laurie, and Helen Mirren at the BBC.

One of the founding members of the kung-fu-meets-hip-hop group the Wu-Tang Clan, The RZA also has written film scores, including those for Kill Bill and Ghost Dog, and a book called The Wu Tang Manual. (This interview originally aired March 7, 2005.)

Fresh Air's rock critic reviews The Con, the fifth album from Canadian twins Tegan and Sara Quin. Their music has been heard in a number of American TV shows, including Grey's Anatomy, The L Word and Medium.

Following up on their platinum debut album, Into the Rush, the sister act Aly & AJ serves up Insomniatic, an album heavy on the teen-relationship tunes. Fresh Air's rock critic reviews the latest from the sisters Michalka.

Fresh Air film critic David Edelstein reviews the clunky but stirring melodrama Rendition, about an Egypt-born U.S. resident who gets detained by the CIA and shipped off to be tortured in an unnamed North African country. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Omar Metwally and Meryl Streep.

John Powers, Fresh Air critic at large, weighs in on the trends of 2007: political campaigns, Iraq movies failing at the box office, HBO's The Sopranos, stories about hitting the road, the TMZing of America, jocks gone wild, hip sentimentality, the nightly ideological news, atheist chic and the writers strike.

David Bianculli, Fresh Air TV critic, shares his picks for the best television of 2007 and says he's looking forward to the 2008 seasons of ABC's Lost and HBO's The Wire. Bianculli is the author of Teleliteracy and Television's 500 Biggest Hits, Misses, and Events.