Listen to Culture Gabfest No. 323 with Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner with the audio player below.

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This week, Slate Plus listeners will hear Wesley Morris join the critics to discuss a pressing question (an offshoot of the Mike Nichols discussion): Has Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? aged well?

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This week on the Slate Culture Gabfest, Grantland’s Wesley Morris joins the critics to discuss the allegations of sexual assault against Bill Cosby and the cultural fallout of an icon’s downfall. Next, in celebration of his remarkable career, each Gabfester has chosen a Mike Nichols movie to rewatch and consider anew: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Heartburn, and Charlie Wilson’s War. Is there a classic period for Nichols, or was his versatility his professional signature? Finally, a new tradition—Thanksgiving thankfulness. What are the critics grateful for from 2014? Spoiler alert: They’re ambivalent. Oh, and happy birthday, Julia!

Links to some of the things we discussed this week follow:

• Wesley Morris’ discussion of Bill Cosby with Rembert Browne on Grantland.
• Mark Whitaker’s biography of Cosby.
• Ta-Nehisi Coates on his relationship to Cosby in the Atlantic.
• People’s 2006 roundup of allegations against Cosby.
• The upcoming movie about Martin Luther King Jr., Selma.
• A Different World.
• Hannibal Buress’ bit on Cosby.
• Nathan Heller on Nichols and May for The New Yorker.
• Dana Stevens’ piece about Nichols’ theory of three types of scene for Slate.
• Tennessee Williams’ play A Streetcar Named Desire.
• Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
• Nora Ephron’s book Heartburn.
• Mike Nichols’ filmography.
• Bruce Bawer’s essay about the early ’60s in the Wilson Quarterly.
• The Mindy Project.
• The Today in Tabs newsletter.
• The Strange Career of Jim Crow, by C. Vann Woodward.
• The abridged edition of Robert Skidelsky’s biography of John Maynard Keynes.
• The Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature.
• Deyrolle, in Paris.

Endorsements:

Steve: The manga Attack on Titan.

Dana: The unreleased Alicia Keys song, We Are Here.

Julia: “So in Love,” by Curtis Mayfield.

Wesley: Japanese sock company Chup.

Outro: “Gratitude,” by Earth, Wind, and Fire

You can email us at culturefest@slate.com.

This podcast was produced by Ann Hepperman. Our intern is Josephine Livingstone.

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