I have a bone to pick with the interviews on Fresh Air.

March 18, 2026. Day .

I'm listening to Fresh Air, with a replacement host today, and for some reason he's letting me articulate what I sometimes don't like about Terry Gross's interview style, because he's doing it too.

He's interviewing an author, ostensibly about his most recent book, I thought, but he asks a lot of questions based on emotional states he (the interviewer) ascribes to the interviewee, based on how the interviewer thinks certain life events should make the interviewee feel. In this case he asks author Francis Spufford if having lived a childhood with a terminally ill sister made him feel "benignly neglected" as a child. And the answer was no; the answer was good, much more detailed than the question required, but I don't like how the question is trying to lead the interviewee. Just ask how it felt, if you want to know, instead of asking "did it feel like this?" or "Did your feelings match up with how I would expect them to be?"

Terry did this to Harrison Ford the other day, asking him (I'm paraphrasing) if he felt shame about the time in his career when he had to do carpentry work to supplement his income. Again, the answer was no. But it left you with the thought that Terry Gross thinks maybe he should feel shame about that, or that Terry Gross would feel shame if she had to do that.

I also think their tv-and-movie reviewer David Chang is kind of pretentious and overdone, but it might be because he reminds me of a Greek Orthodox priest I worked with at a bookstore. I liked this priest-who-had-a-side-hustle a lot, good co-worker, but whenever he spoke it was like he was speaking from a pulpit. When David Chang tells you a movie is good, it sounds like he's saying it's a sure-fire Best Picture winner. Sometimes I think he's praising a movie, only for the review to turn out to be a pan.

Anyway, it's Fresh Air. It's still pretty good. It's still a radio show I leave on if I tune in unless it's a subject I really don't have the time for.

notes Fresh Air (NPR show) Terry Gross interviewing style Harrison Ford Francis Spufford David Chang movie reviews