The Culture Gabfest, "Gray Ladies" Edition

Listen to Slate's show about Todd Haynes' new miniseries Mildred Pierce, the death of actress Elizabeth Taylor, and the launch of the New York Times' paywall.

Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 132 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens and Julia Turner by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:

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In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner discuss Todd Haynes' new HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce starring Kate Winslet, the death of leading lady Elizabeth Taylor, and the launch of the New York Times' new paywall.

Here are some links to the things we discussed this week:

The official website of Todd Haynes' HBO miniseries Mildred Pierce.
The original 1941 novel of the same name by James M. Cain.
Michael Curtiz's 1945 film adaptation of Mildred Pierce starring Joan Crawford.
Troy Patterson's review of Haynes' Mildred Pierce in Slate.
Previous Todd Haynes dramas Far From Heaven and Safe.
The death of actress Elizabeth Taylor.
Dana's obituary for Elizabeth Taylor and her legendary appetites in Slate.
Simon Doonan's Slate appreciation of Elizabeth Taylor's delightful vulgarity.
Taylor's performances in National Velvet, BUtterfield 8, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
The Golden Age of classical Hollywood and the death of the studio system.
The New York Times' announcement of their new paywall.
Further details of the paywall in the Times' FAQ.
Analysis of the paywall from Reuters columnist Felix Salmon and Slate columnist Jack Shafer.
Previously abandoned Times paywall TimesSelect.
Slate's 1998 paywall experiment.
Paywall workarounds @FreeNYT and NYTClean.

The Culture Gabfest weekly endorsements:

Dana's pick: Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger's 2010 biography Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century.
Julia's pick: The game Set (which you can play online).
Steve's pick: Aberdeen's 2002 album Homesick and Happy to Be Here.

Outro: "Clouds Like These" by Aberdeen.

You can email us at .

This podcast was produced by Jesse Baker. Our intern is Forrest Wickman.

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