A Hollywood dog, the first family and Gary Oldman on Fresh Air

Posting will be light this week as I’ll be busy hosting Fresh Air while Terry Gross takes a well-deserved winter break.

Monday’s interview is with writer Susan Orlean, whose new book – trust me, this is really interesting – is about Rin Tin Tin. You may know of the 1950’s TV series, but Orlean will tell you about the original Rin Tin Tin who was the biggest star in Hollywood in the 1920’s and very nearly won the Oscar for Best Actor. And it gets better. The book is called Rin Tin Tin – The Life and the Legend.

Tuesday, it’s New York Times Washington correspondent Jodi Kantor, who’s written a much-talked about book on marriage and White House life of the first family. It’s called The Obamas. There’s fascinating stuff here.

Later in the week, I’ll have actor Gary Oldman. He scared the willies out of me 20 years ago as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and may now finally get an Oscar nomination for the lead role in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I’ll ask him about both.

We’ll also hear from New Yorker writer John Seabrook about You Tube’s plans to post professionally-produced video channels, and Matthew Aid, a self-taught historian of the U.S. intelliegence community.

You can hear Fresh Air at 3 and 7 on WHYY in Philadelphia. If you’re listening outside the Philadelphia area, find a station here. And you can always learn more about the shows, listen and get podcasts here.