Saturday Review - 09/01/2010

Tom Sutcliffe is joined by architect Amanda Levete, columnist David Aaronovitch and poet Paul Farley to discuss the cultural highlights of the week - featuring a post-apocalyptic survival tale, President Obama's America and a story of obsessive, unrequited love. The Road is a film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's stark, Pulitzer Prize-winning, novel. Set in America in the aftermath of an unnamed catastrophe, it follows the trudging progress of a father and his 10-year-old son as they trek south in a desperate search for warmth and food. But the way ahead is fraught with danger and provisions are few and far between. The new novel by Orhan Pamuk, the winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Literature, tells the story of Kemal, the son of one of Istanbul's richest families who is engaged to wealthy Sibel. But Kemal has an obsessive love for Fusun, a poor shop girl and distant relation, which is set to disrupt all their lives. Following his series The American Future: A History, historian Simon Schama returns with Obama's America, two films considering the daunting challenges facing the president both on the world stage and at home, including tackling a reeling economy. Having first explored the twin pillars that sustained 'the American Century', Schama now seeks an understanding of what is at stake for the future. This month Sky 1 celebrates 20 years of one of television's most famous and flawed families, The Simpsons. In three programmes we meet cast members, learn how each episode is put together and why the family was painted yellow, and explore the worldwide impact of the series.