Terry Gross

Op and Ed, two adorable donut-shaped animals - flummels - accidentally time-travel from 1835 to modern-day Shanghai. There they discover traffic, trans fats, and worst of all, that flummels are now extinct. It's up to this bumbling pair to save themselves and their species...and, just maybe, change the course of history.

Suffering from a severe case of depression, toy company CEO Walter Black begins using a beaver hand puppet to help him open up to his family. With his father seemingly going insane, adolescent son Porter pushes for his parents to get a divorce.

The city has been taken over by a vicious, Mob-connected teenage gang and their deadly leader, a mysterious Martial Arts master known only as Sonny. In desperation the Mayor and Police Commissioner hire karate expert and mercenary vengeance fighter, J.D. McKay, to save their ravaged city. McKay eliminates the ruthless thugs with pin-point precision until there is only one left... Sonny... McKay's boyhood friend turned killer. They were boyhood friends. Now they are enemies. One is destroying the city... The other has been hired to stop him.

It features all sorts of things that are way too visual to be on the radio: dance, animation, illustration, an interactive musical performance, photographs, a short film, and David Sedaris in clown makeup. Along with Sedaris, there are stories by the now-famous Tig Notaro, Glynn Washington, Ryan Knighton and David Rakoff. Lots of the stories are funny. David Rakoff's is particularly touching. He talks about the abilities he’s lost during his fight with cancer, and then, gracefully, beautifully, does a solo dance onstage. It was the last story Rakoff ever wrote for the radio show. He died three months later, in August. OK Go provides music. Monica Bill Barnes & Company dance. Ira Glass tells a story using things he normally can't: photos. Mike Birbiglia casts Terry Gross in a surprising, hilarious little movie.

Hosted by Bette Midler, enjoy a musical tribute to the man who wrote some of the most enduring songs in American popular music. Lyricist Hal David and composer Burt Bacharach dominated the pop-music charts in the 1960s and early ’70s, crafting dozens of timeless Top 40 hits.