Dust cloud approaching, Boise City, Oklahoma, April 15, 1935
The iconic photos from the southern plains states during the Great Depression say it all: the haunted eyes of weary mothers, children with their faces wrapped against the choking dust and families piling their belongings into trucks and heading to California.
In the two-part documentary The Dust Bowl, filmmaker Ken Burns (The Civil War, Baseball, Prohibition) focuses on the nearly decade-long drought that, coupled with unsustainable farming techniques, destroyed millions of acres in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico.
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Morena Baccarin
If Homeland's Morena Baccarin were a lesser actress, Jessica — the betrayed wife of Al Qaeda operative-turned-double-agent Nicholas Brody (Damian Lewis) — would be a forgettable obstacle in the way of Brody's passionate bond with CIA agent Carrie Mathison (Claire Danes). But Baccarin plays what she calls her "incredibly emotionally layered character" with moving subtlety and fierceness. "She's got some brass knuckles this season," says Baccarin, 33, who also doesn't hold back when it comes to opening up. Here's what you need to know about her.
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Chris Noth and Julianna Margulies
Chris Noth is pumped for the upcoming election. "I love politics!" he crows a few weeks before the presidential showdown. But today he's talking about a fictional Democratic gubernatorial primary in the great state of Illinois — and it's a juicy one. After all, Noth's candidate on the CBS drama The Good Wife, Cook County State's Attorney Peter Florrick, has been known to get a little dirt on his hands. Not to mention a little lipstick on his collar.
"I'm...
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Gabby Douglas and Candice Accola
Olympic all-around gymnastics champion Gabby Douglas saw another dream come true: She landed a cameo on The Vampire Diaries, the CW drama she gave a shout-out to after snagging two gold medals last summer. Douglas appears on...
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Damian Lewis and Claire Danes
Carrie Mathison is finally in the driver's seat. In a scene for an upcoming episode of Showtime's Emmy-winning hit Homeland, the bipolar former C.I.A. agent — played by the mesmerizing Claire Danes — is gripping the wheel with such ferocious intensity, you'd think she's doing 120 even though the car is parked. In the passenger seat is...
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Taylor Kinney and Jesse Spencer
House's Jesse Spencer trades in his scrubs and The Vampire Diaries werewolf Taylor Kinney declaws to play firefighters in exec producer Dick Wolf's new drama Chicago Fire. Here, the calendar-ready stars tell us what makes life in Firehouse 51 so hot.
TV Guide Magazine: Jesse, after eight seasons on House, how does it feel to ditch the medical jargon for firefighting derring-do?
Spencer: House was a great show, but very...
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Steel Magnolias
No-nonsense mother of three M'Lynn Eatenton (Queen Latifah) is hosting a joyful Christmas bash in her Louisiana home when she gets some hard-to-hear news: Her diabetic, newlywed daughter Shelby (Condola Rashad) is pregnant, a condition that she might not survive. Thankfully, M'Lynn is not alone: Her friends wrap her in a cocoon of love and support. Sound familiar?
Yep, the loving, lippy ladies of...
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Alan Ball
After five deliriously bloody seasons, True Blood's creator and showrunner Alan Ball is departing. (He's currently exec producing the "noir" thriller Banshee for Cinemax). But first, Ball answers some finale burning questions — and offers some thoughts on next season.
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Nina Dobrev
Is someone trying to keep Mystic Falls safe from bloodsucker-to-be Elena or are her loved ones trying to protect her from danger?
Either way, it looks like the locked-up baby vamp isn't feeding anytime soon. "She doesn't want to eat people, so she's hungry — and moody," warns The Vampire Diaries' Nina Dobrev.
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Ato Essandoh, Tom Weston-Jones and Kyle Schmid
New York City in 1864 was no place for a wimp. In BBC America's Copper, the latest collaboration from Oz and Homicide vets Tom Fontana and Barry Levinson, the Civil War-era town is a boiling stew of impoverished immigrants, uptown power brokers, vicious gangs, freed slaves and Confederate spies.
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