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Texas Monthly Talks was a thirty-minute
interview show on
public television networks across the state of
Texas hosted by
Evan Smith , then Editor Emeritus of
Texas Monthly magazine. Produced by
Dateline NBC veteran
Lynn Boswell , the show addressed contemporary issues in Texas politics, business and culture. Premiering in February 2003, the show was an original production of
KLRU-TV , the
PBS station serving
Austin and
Central Texas . In 2010 the series was succeeded by Overheard , with the same format, host and producer; the renaming was necessary because Smith had resigned his position at the magazine and had become Editor in Chief of the
Texas Tribune .
[1]
On Texas Monthly Talks Smith regularly interviewed public figures from Austin and around Texas, such as
Bill Powers , the president of the
University of Texas at Austin , mayors
Bill White of Houston,
Tom Leppert of Dallas, and Texas Governor
Rick Perry . His guests also included notables in national politics, such as presidential candidates
Howard Dean ,
John Kerry ,
Bill Bradley ,
John McCain ,
Joe Biden ,
Mike Huckabee ,
Bill Richardson ,
Hillary Clinton , and
John Edwards ; in business, such as
Southwest Airlines co-founder
Herb Kelleher and
Whole Foods Market CEO
John Mackey ; in the media, such as
New York Times columnists
Maureen Dowd and
Frank Rich and newscasters
Jim Lehrer ,
Walter Cronkite ,
Dan Rather ,
Bob Schieffer , and
Tom Brokaw ; and in entertainment, such as directors
Francis Ford Coppola ,
John Sayles , and
David Lynch , singers
Ted Nugent and
Billy Gibbons , novelist
Salman Rushdie , and actresses
Lauren Bacall ,
Lily Tomlin , and
Debra Winger .
In 2006 the show won a
Lone Star Emmy Award for interview program.
[2] In 2009 an episode with
Billy Bob Thornton won a Lone Star Emmy for arts or entertainment program.
[3]
Mike Leach , head football coach of the Texas Tech University Red Raiders
E. J. Dionne , columnist and author
Francisco Cigarroa , Chancellor of the University of Texas System
Madeleine Albright , former U.S. Secretary of State
Buzz Aldrin , former astronaut
Taylor Branch , author
Gail Collins , New York Times columnist
Jane Smiley , novelist
Richard Linklater , director
Morley Safer , broadcast journalist
Michael Williams , Texas Railroad Commissioner and Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate
Augie Garrido , University of Texas baseball coach
Jon Meacham , editor of Newsweek
David Brancaccio , host of Now on PBS
Julian Castro , mayor of San Antonio
Mark Halperin and
John Heilemann , authors
Tim Matheson , actor
Thomas Haden Church , actor
Jake Silverstein , author and editor of Texas Monthly
Cecile Richards , president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Frank Deford , sportswriter
Arianna Huffington , founder of The Huffington Post
Anna Deavere Smith , actress and playwright
The Right Rev. Andrew C. Doyle, the Ninth Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Texas
Gwen Ifill , journalist
Sally Ride , astronaut
Matthew McConaughey , actor
Lily Tomlin , comedian
Rick Noriega , state representative and 2008 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate
John Cornyn , U.S. Senator from Texas
Boone Pickens , energy magnate
Rick Riordan , author
Susan Orlean , author
Roy Blount Jr. , author
Mark McKinnon ,
Matthew Dowd , and
Douglas Brinkley , pundits
Tom Kite , golfer
John Sharp , former Texas comptroller and Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate
Jerry Patterson , Texas Land Commissioner
David Dewhurst , Lieutenant Governor of Texas
Joe Straus , Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives
Carl Hiaasen , author
Abraham Verghese , author
Bryan Burrough , author
Roy Spence , advertising executive
John Mendelsohn , president of M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Billy Bob Thornton , actor
Mary Ellen Mark , photographer
Dee Dee Myers , former White House press secretary
Douglas Brinkley , author and historian
Sonny Rollins , musician
Jody Conradt , college basketball coach
Jeffrey Toobin , author and CNN commentator
Lance Armstrong , athlete
Tina Brown , author and editor
Robert Draper , author
Mark Halperin , ABC News political analyst
Clayton Williams , oilman and 1990 Republican gubernatorial candidate
Bill Richardson , Governor of New Mexico and 2008 Democratic presidential candidate
Ethan Hawke , actor
Carly Fiorina , former CEO and chairman of the board of Hewlett-Packard
Bill White , mayor of Houston
Carl Bernstein , author
Mike Huckabee , former Governor of Arkansas and 2008 Republican presidential candidate
Burton Tansky , president and CEO, The Neiman Marcus Group
Jim Lehrer , broadcast journalist
Francis Ford Coppola , director
Silvestre Reyes , U.S. Congressman from El Paso and Chair of the House Select Committee on Intelligence
Bud Shrake , novelist
John Sayles , director
Jeff Daniels , actor
Bob Dole , former U.S. Senator from Kansas and 1996 Republican presidential candidate
Tom Daschle , former U.S. Senator from South Dakota and former Senate Democratic leader
Hillary Clinton , U.S. Senator from New York and 2008 Democratic presidential candidate
Tom Leppert , mayor of Dallas
Elsa Murano , president of Texas A&M University
Debra Winger , actress
Billy Gibbons , musician
Don McLeroy , chairman of the State Board of Education
Lyle Lovett , musician
Mack Brown , head coach of the University of Texas Longhorns
James Baker , former secretary of state
Rick Perry , Governor of Texas
Chris Bell , Democratic gubernatorial candidate
Al Franken , radio personality and author
Carole Keeton Strayhorn , Independent gubernatorial candidate
Tom Brokaw , broadcast journalist
Kinky Friedman , Independent gubernatorial candidate
Gregory Curtis, author and former editor of
Texas Monthly
Judith Ivey , actress
Dorothy Bush Koch , presidential kin/author
John Kerry , U.S. Senator from Massachusetts and 2004 Democratic party nominee for president
Lawrence Wright , author
Gore Vidal , author
Margaret Spellings , U.S. Secretary of Education
Pete Laney , former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives
Steven Weinberg , Nobel Prize-winning physicist
David Lynch , director
Tom Vilsack , former governor of Iowa and 2008 Democratic presidential candidate
Ray Suarez , broadcast journalist
Tom Craddick , Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives
John Edwards , former U.S. Senator from North Carolina and 2008 Democratic presidential candidate
Calvin Trillin , author
Betty Buckley , actress
Ted Nugent , musician
Bob Schieffer , broadcast journalist
Bill Bradley , former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
Christopher Hitchens , author
Michael Beschloss , historian
Norman Pearlstine , former editor in chief of Time Inc.
Dan Rather , broadcast journalist
Larry Faulkner , outgoing president of the University of Texas at Austin
Mark Halperin , head of ABC News Political Unit
Karen Olsson and Nate Blakeslee, authors/journalists
Bruce Babbitt , former governor of Arizona and 1988 Democratic presidential candidate
Wallace Jefferson , Chief Justice of the Texas Supreme Court
Greg Abbott , Attorney General of Texas
Maureen Dowd , columnist
John McCain , U.S. Senator from Arizona
John Cornyn , U.S. Senator from Texas
Ralph Neas , head of People for the American Way
Dick DeGuerin , attorney
Louis Sachar , novelist
Bill Powers , incoming president of the University of Texas at Austin
Ana Marie Cox , blogger
Frank Rich , columnist
Doris Kearns Goodwin , historian
Joe Biden , U.S. Senator from Delaware
Salman Rushdie , novelist
Elizabeth Crook, novelist
Walter Cronkite , broadcast journalist
Paul Begala , political strategist/broadcast journalist
Stephen Harrigan , novelist
Jack S. Blanton , philanthropist
Jane Fonda , actress
Kris Kristofferson , singer and actor
Karenna Gore Schiff , author
Dave Hickey , critic
Tom Craddick , Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives
Joel Osteen , preacher
Liz Carpenter , former presidential press secretary
Matthew Dowd , political strategist
Robert MacNeil , broadcast journalist
Kinky Friedman , 2006 candidate for Texas governor
John Shelby Spong , former Episcopal Bishop of Newark
Jack Valenti , former LBJ aide/former head of the Motion Picture Association of America
Lauren Bacall , actress
Billy Joe Shaver , singer
Al Franken , radio personality and author
Ruth Reichl , editor of Gourmet magazine
Anita Perry , first lady of Texas
Liz Smith , gossip columnist
Ronnie Earle , Travis County District Attorney
Linda Ellerbee , broadcast journalist
Isabel Allende , novelist
Joaquin Jackson, former Texas Ranger
William Broyles Jr. , screenwriter
Jim Lehrer , broadcast journalist
Kay Bailey Hutchison , U.S. Senator from Texas
Ben Crenshaw , professional golfer
Ben Barnes , former speaker of the Texas House and former lieutenant governor of Texas
Mark Yudof , chancellor of the University of Texas System
Will Wynn , Mayor of Austin
Joe Jamail , attorney
Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb, daughters of Lyndon B. Johnson
Gloria Feldt , then president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America
John Mackey , CEO of Whole Foods Market
Ralph Nader , activist and perennial presidential candidate
Darrell Royal , former head coach of the Texas Longhorns
Sarah Bird , novelist
Joaquin Castro and Julian Castro, state representative and councilmember from San Antonio, respectively
Anna Quindlen , columnist
Carole Keeton Strayhorn , Texas comptroller
Donald Evans , U.S. Commerce Secretary
Bruce Sterling , novelist
Julie Speed, artist
Jim Hightower , syndicated columnist
Bob Edwards , radio personality
Helen Thomas , White House reporter/columnist
Larry Flynt , pornographer
Harry Benson , photographer
Ray Benson , singer
Arianna Huffington , author/blogger
Kitty Kelley , biographer
P. J. O'Rourke , author/humorist
Kirbyjon Caldwell, preacher
Catherine Crier , author/broadcast journalist
Seymour Hersh , journalist
Oscar Casares, novelist
Peter Bogdanovich , director
Sherron Watkins , Enron whistleblower
Bill Bradley , former U.S. Senator from New Jersey
Anna Deavere Smith , playwright
Carole Keeton Strayhorn , Comptroller of Texas
Richard Holbrooke , diplomat
David Dewhurst , Lieutenant Governor of Texas
Robert Caro , historian
Mack Brown , head coach of the University of Texas Longhorns
Michael Dell , computer mogul
Shawn Colvin , singer
Gwen Ifill , host of Washington Week in Review
Howard Dean , 2004 presidential candidate
Kinky Friedman , singer and mystery writer
Sarah Weddington , attorney and pro-choice activist
Sidney Blumenthal , author and former aide to Bill Clinton
Henry Cisneros , former mayor of San Antonio and former HUD Secretary
The Flatlanders (Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, and Butch Hancock), singers
Pat Green , singer
Ann Richards , former governor of Texas
Laura Miller , Mayor of Dallas
Herb Kelleher , co-founder of Southwest Airlines
Tim McCanlies , director
Susan Combs, Agriculture Commissioner of Texas
Molly Ivins , syndicated columnist
Mark McKinnon , political strategist/media guru
Peter Marzio, director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Nellie Connally , former first lady of Texas
Jerry Hall , model and actress
Richard Linklater , director
Norman Lear , TV producer