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Politicians aren't the only ones doing a song and dance this election season. Iowa-born playwright Robert John Ford has written a musical comedy that pokes fun at the Iowa Caucuses and there's an adaptation in the works for the New Hampshire Primary.

There's an intriguing notion about the roots of rock 'n' roll nestled in this lackadaisical John Sayles opus, though it's pursued with more charm than energy. Smart performances from a strong cast can only go so far to make the slackly paced story sing.

Todd Haynes' quasi-biopic assigns six Dylanesque personae to his cast; some do outright imitations, while others offer symbolic takes. Meanwhile the director cycles through his own stylistic personae.

Fresh Air's critic at large tells us why he loves the high-fashion challenge, a reality-TV staple now in its fourth season on cable's Bravo channel.

Marshall Herskovitz and Ed Zwick, creators of Thirtysomething and executive producers of My So-Called Life, are making news again with a new series. It's called Quarterlife, and it's airing not on TV, but in short, six-to-an-hour episodes on the Web. Some pundits are touting it as an alternative for audiences during the ongoing Hollywood writers' strike. Critic David Bianculli, who's working on the Web himself now at TVWorthWatching.com, has a review.

Jerry Seinfeld's animated comedy centers on an amusing honeybee who talks a lot about nothing, then quits work — whereupon the world gets dreary until he starts up again. It's a fairly personal vision — and a bit of a drone.

American Gangster, a film based on the life of Harlem drug lord Frank Lucas, hits movie screens this weekend starring Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington. This week's Next Big Thing looks at pop culture's fascination with black gangsters through the years. Mark Rowland, producer of a new BET series on gangsters of color, is joined by filmmaker Marc Levin to discuss America's fascination.

Matthew Diffee contributes regularly to the cartoonists' bible, The New Yorker. But that magazine gets more than 500 submissions a week — and publishes only 20 cartoons in each issue. Diffee's new book, featuring his work and that of other New Yorker regulars, is The Rejection Collection, Vol. 2: The Cream of the Crap.

Miss Navajo is a documentary about a pageant that honors not only beauty, but also knowledge of the language and culture of the Navajo Nation. The film is set to air within the PBS series Independent Lens. Billy Luther, who directed the film, and his mother Sarah Luther, who formerly held the Miss Navajo title, discuss what the pageant means within American Indian cultures.

The film I'm Not There features six different actors portraying Bob Dylan. On Tuesday, the soundtrack for the film is released and it features a wide variety of musicians interpreting Dylan songs.