Terry Gross

Law & Order is the longest running drama on network television. After more than 300 shows, and 13 years, the "ripped from the headlines" half cop/half law show is still going strong. It's also inspired two other series: Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Law & Order: Criminal Intent. There's a new photography book of the show's fictional crime scenes and a new DVD of the show's first season.

He's starring in the new film The Singing Detective, based on the Dennis Potter PBS mini-series. He received an Academy Award nomination and won the British Academy Award for best actor, for his performance in the title role of Chaplin. He starred in Wonder Boys, Two Girls and a Guy, Natural Born Killers and The Pick-Up Artist. He also made his primetime television debut on Ally McBeal. Now in recovery, Downey has struggled with drug addiction for years.

Jon Katz is the author of the book, The New Work of Dogs: Tending to Life, Love, and Family It's about how attached many of us have become to our dogs, treating them more like family members and human surrogates than pets.

She stars in the new film Wonderland. Set in 1980s Hollywood, it's about a mysterious mass murder that took place on Wonderland Avenue. Porn star John Holmes was involved somehow, but the crime was never solved. Kudrow plays Holmes' wife in the film. Kudrow is best known for her role on the popular NBC sitcom Friends, now in its 10th season. She also appeared in the films Romy and Michele's High School Reunion and Analyze This.

The Complete Far Side 1980-1994 hits stores this week. It's a two-volume hardcover set that includes every Far Side cartoon ever syndicated. The Far Side thrived for 14 years and appeared in more than 1,900 newspapers worldwide. Larson has published more than 20 books featuring his cartoons. In 1994, Larson completed his first animated film Gary Larson's Tales from the Far Side. His second animated film, Gary Larson's Tales From the Far Side II, has appeared at the Telluride Film Festival. He lives in Seattle.

Parsons examines the science of cooking in his book How to Read a French Fry: And Other Stories of Intriguing Kitchen Science. It's just out in paperback.

Steinfels is a former senior religion correspondent for The New York Times. He now writes the Beliefs column for the paper. Steinfels is the author of the new book, A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Roman Catholic Church in America.

A talk with foreign correspondent Elizabeth Rubin. Rubin writes for The New York Times Magazine, The New Republic and The Atlantic Monthly. She has reported from Afghanistan, the Middle East and Iraq.

Co-founders Larry Page And Sergey Brin discuss the history and workings of Google.