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On Thursday, Friends airs its last episode. The long-running Frasier is also winding to a close. Both shows have been keys to NBC's success and the network has been looking for replacements for years. But there hasn't been a breakout sitcom on any network hit since Will and Grace had its debut six seasons back. Some even say that sitcoms have lost their appeal. Two sitcom veterans -- Paul Reiser and Jim Burrows -- are trying to prove that the traditional sitcom lives. NPR's Kim Masters reports.

The band Modest Mouse has released their first album in four years. The group often referred to as the perfect indie-rock band suddenly finds itself enjoying pop success that had eluded it for 10 years. Mikel Jollett has a review of their new CD, Good News for People who Love Bad News.

Jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall's latest CD is called The Girl In The Other Room. The release is a departure from her past work, bypassing interpretations of jazz standards in favor of songs written by Krall and her husband, Elvis Costello. Tom Moon has a review of the album, released March 27 by Verve records.

Conjuring images of America's founding fathers — Washington, Adams, Franklin — is easy. But less is known about the women who helped build a new nation. In a new book, Founding Mothers, NPR News Analyst Cokie Roberts examines the lives and contributions of Revolutionary wives and lesser-known women of the era. Roberts speaks with NPR's Renee Montagne.

The new film The Girl Next Door appears to be a typical teen comedy with an adult twist: what happens when a stunning former porn star moves in next door to a lucky high school senior. Some critics find its attempt to make the world of pornography seem mainstream disturbing. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.

In February 1860, Abraham Lincoln, an unknown lawyer from the West with no formal education, delivered a speech before a New York audience that transformed him into a serious presidential contender. A new book re-examines the Cooper Union speech credited with propelling Lincoln to the White House. NPR's Robert Siegel talks with scholar Harold Holzer about his new book, Lincoln at Cooper Union: The Speech That Made Abraham Lincoln President.

Brazilian writer Paulo Coelho is a household name in most parts of the world. His new novel, Eleven Minutes, was a global best seller last year -- everywhere but the United States. Now Coelho is setting his sights on the American literary market, which remains stubbornly indifferent to foreign best sellers. NPR's Martin Kaste reports.

In the latest episode of the series "What Are You Listening To?" California teenager Lexi Sanborn helps us travel to distant lands, picking eclectic music from Japan and Germany.

The body of actor and writer Spalding Gray was pulled out of New York's East River Sunday, two months after he was first reported missing. He was 62. Best known for a 1987 movie based on his monologue Swimming to Cambodia, Gray inspired a whole generation of performers with his groundbreaking confessional, humorous and disarming storytelling. NPR's Bob Edwards has a remembrance.

The new documentary Mayor of the Sunset Strip looks at the life of Los Angeles disc jockey Rodney Bingenheimer, who helped introduce such artists as David Bowie, the Sex Pistols and Nirvana. Director George Hickenlooper considers his subject the personification of America's obsession with fame. Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan has a review.