Keri Russell is back on TV. The former Felicity star, along with Matthew Rhys, portray a Russian spy couple living in suburban D.C. on the new FX series, The Americans.

The breakout HBO comedy Girls returns this Sunday for its second season, so we speak with the show's music supervisor Manish Raval about his work on the series, and about as the new Girls Soundtrack Vol. 1 compilation.

Alan Sepinwall, television critic and author of The Revolution Was Televised: The Cops, Crooks, Slingers and Slayers Who Changed TV Drama Forever, looks at new ways of watching television and how they have transformed how we think of the "idiot box."

Still, a closer look at the Showtime series "Homeland" has some social critics wondering: is the show really so nuanced and layered? Or is it yet another show that relies on the shorthand of us and them; American and foreigner; sane and insane?

Set in the 1960s, the AMC series "Mad Men," created by Matthew Weiner, documents the dramas of that turbulent decade through the personal, everyday lives of its characters. October 14, 2012 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis, a historical event that serves as the backdrop to Mad Men's season two finale, "Meditations in an Emergency," which Weiner co-wrote and directed.

In the era of Glee and Smash, musical TV shows are seemingly all over the airwaves. But when shows that are usually dialogue-filled -- like Psych or Grey's Anatomy -- break format and go "musical" for just one episode, the results can be mixed. Soundcheck bullpen contributor, Faith Salie, and Eric Deggans, media critic for the Tampa Bay Times, join us to talk about when shows turn in their scripts for sheet music.

What are your favorite shows that have done a "musical" episode? Which shows could use one to shake things up? Tell us in the comments section.

Many TV watchers were upset this week with NBC's insistence on showing much of their Olympic coverage on a tape delay. The network didn't help matters by spoiling events they hadn't yet screened. Time Magazine TV Critic James Ponowozik explains why NBC refuses to offer the most anticipated events live.

Cable subscribers are paying for the shows they watch — and many they don't watch, too. 'À la carte' pricing could change all that.

"Girls," written by and starring Lena Dunham, was initially the subject of overwhelming praise for telling the story of twenty-something New York females in a new way. But in the two weeks since the series premiered, "Girls" went from being praised to being the object of overwhelming vitriol. From the blogosphere to the New York Times, critics have asked: Why does this show, which takes place in Brooklyn, New York in 2012, have an entirely white cast? Russell Robinson is professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley and the author of a study on race, ethnicity and gender casting in Hollywood. Melissa Silverstein is the editor of Women and Hollywood and the artistic director of the Athena Film Festival.

From Oprah to Piers Morgan, the world loves a good talk show. And if the multiple seasons of Celebrity Apprentice have taught us anything, audiences also love reality TV shows featuring pseudo celebrities. Yesterday, a program premiered that’s a tiny bit of both. Entitled "The World Today," the new talk show is hosted by Julian Assange, the man most famous for founding WikiLeaks. Alessandra Stanley, television critic for The New York Times, watched the first episode of "The World Today." She shares her thoughts on whether Assange might be the next Ellen, or just another candidate for Celebrity Big Brother.

The glossy world of "Sex and the City" may never have been real, but it seems further from the truth than ever before. Recent college graduates who once flocked to New York for jobs in finance, publishing and the arts are finding themselves making lattes and babysitting to make ends meet. Until now, these once-privileged young men and women were missing from TV. Filmmaker Lena Dunham has set out to change that with her new show, "Girls."

Have you ever looked at a stop light, a slice of pizza, or the hot air coming out of your hair dryer, and wondered: What and who went into making this? A new four-part PBS series called “America Revealed” delves into this question; scaling back from small everyday items to give viewers a big picture view of how America functions. Along the way, it doesn’t just unveil the secrets of how stuff is made; it also tells a story of America’s history and people. The series is hosted by Yul Kwon, an attorney, businessman, and technology expert, who you might also recognize as the 2006 winner of the reality show “Survivor.”

Don Cornelius, the creator of "Soul Train," died Wednesday of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He began his career as a journalist who wrote passionately about the civil rights movement.  After noticing the lack of African American music on popular television, he created the Chicago-based show "Soul Train" in 1970 to showcase the funky blending of gospel and R&B that is soul music. It quickly gained an audience and went into syndication nationally a year later. Celeste Headlee looks back on why "Soul Train" was groundbreaking and reflects on the may ways that Cornelius' legacy lives on. 

"All-American Muslim," a new reality TV show premiering on TLC this Sunday, takes a close-up view at what it is like to be Muslim in America through the lives of five ordinary Muslim families in Dearborn, Michigan — a city known informally as "America's Muslim Capital." Newlyweds Nader and Nawal Aoude are one of the couples featured on the show, and discuss what it was like to let cameras into their lives.

"Sesame Street" has introduced the children of the world to a number of neighbors over the years, from Oscar the Grouch to Linda, the deaf librarian, to Maria and Louis, who spoke English and Spanish with equal proficiency. But what viewers may not realize is that "Sesame Street" also introduced them to an undocumented immigrant. His name was Carlo, on both the show, and in real life. Carlo the character was a teenager who worked in Mr. Hooper's store for five seasons.

Today, it is easier than ever to create and consume video, with billions of computers, TVs, and cell phones providing the world with access to the medium.  This should be good news for television news, but according to veteran TV journalist Dave Marash American TV news is actually using less and less video.  Brooke spoke with Marash about why American TV news is capping its lens.

For years, network television news has seen a steady decline in viewership.  But new Nielsen ratings show an increase in audience numbers for the first time in a decade.  Brooke spoke to NewsLab Executive Director Deborah Potter about the new signs of life for network TV news.

One explanation that's been given for the increase in network news viewership is the variety of choices now available among the three major newscasts.  Brooke spoke with Andrew Tyndall, who monitors the nightly newscasts of ABC, NBC and CBS on the Tyndall Report website.  He says the days of the interchangeable newscast are over.

Ludwig van Beethoven - "Symphony No. 9 Mvt. 2, Scherzo"

"It's true," actor Jason Bateman tweeted on Sunday. "We will do 10 episodes and the movie. Probably shoot them all together next summer for a release in early '13. VERY excited!" Bateman was on stage at The New Yorker Festival for a reunion with the cast and creator of "Arrested Development," the much-loved, short-lived sitcom that aired on FOX for three seasons from 2003 to 2006. Mitchell Hurwitz, the show's creator, used the occasion to announce that a long rumored "Arrested Development" movie is in the works, as well as limited-run series telling the story of where the characters have been for the last few years. Dave Itzkoff, culture reporter for The New York Times, was in the audience and reports on the latest.