tavis: good evening from los angeles. i'm tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with tony-winning actress phylicia rashad. after becoming one of tv's most beloved matriarches on "the cosby show," she's gone on to tremendous success on broadway and film. and starting this weekend, you can catch her and an all-star cast in the new tyler perry project "for colored girls." the film is based on the award-winning play that first opened on broadway back in 1976. we're glad you've joined us. a conversation with phylicia rashad coming up right now. >> he needs extra help with his reading. >> i'm james. >> yes. >> is everyone making a difference? >> thank you. >> you help it matter. >> nationwide insurance supports "tavis smiley," with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join travis in removing obstacles one at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by cribbses to your pbs -- contributions to your pbs station, by viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet television.] captioned by the national cap

tavis: how cool is that. think of all of the people in this town that are hoping to one day have their rainn moment. you get a chance not only to be the guy, but to play these characters that are not so far removed from who you really are. what is it like to be in that zone? >> it is a blessing. i just want to become a better and better actor. i just wanted to work. i found this sweet spot of these kinds of characters that are right in my wheel house. i am blessed. tavis: what is it about the "the office"that works and seems to connect to the audience? >> that is a great question. it is a hard thing to put your finger on. anytime you have a show business creation, it is alchemy. they try to recreate it. why did "france" -- "friends" work? they were not able to recreate that. i think it is about how specific it is. it is not a very broad show. it is about what you put in your mug, how you tie your tie. tavis: for the two or three americans who have not seen "the office" -- >> it is always on an airplane. tavis

tavis: good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. so your regulars on oprah's hit show and then barbara walters calls to offer you your own show, but it fizzles, and then your husband divorces you via email and your daughter dies of a rare form of colon cancer in your arms on christmas day. but then you lose your company, your house, and more. so what happens next? tonight "new york times" best-selling author iyanla vazant answer that is question and more as we discuss her new text, "peace from broken pieces." we're glad you've joined us, a candid conversation with iyanla vazant coming up right now. >> all i know is his name is james and he needs extra help with his reading. james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributi

tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, our conversation with former u.s. secretary of state condoleezza rice. following her role as national security advisor and america's top democrat under president bush, she has returned to stanford. this week she is out with her new memoir about her early years called." we are glad that you have joined us. our conversation with dr. condoleezza rice, coming up now. -- this week she is out with her new memoir about her early years called "extraordinary, ordinary people." >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i'm james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and answer, nationwide insurance is happy to help tavis improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possib

tavis: good evening. i'm tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with actor robert duvall. it is has been 30 years since his film debut in "to kill a mockingbird." he's being discussed for another cad by award. if he gets the prize for best actor, it will come on the heels of his 80th birthday. a conversation with robert duvall, coming until right for you. tavis: i tell you, i'm hoppered to welcome robert duvall. the legendry actor turning if so many brilliant performances. it is easy to understand why he's a six-time oscar nominee. he's taking home the prize for his role in "tender mercies." he's an oscar nominee in his new film "get low." >> i want to be there. >> you will be. >> i want to be there now. >> you want to be at your funeral alive? >> yes, sir. >> but -- you can't have a funeral if you're not -- you know, deceased. hold on now, it is a detail. we can look at it. pretty big detail. >> you want to have a funeral party while you're aleve so you can go. alive so you can go. >> yes or no? >> yes. >> we need to make a list of who mr. bush wants to invite. >> sit dow

tavis: for more information on today's show, visit "tavis smiley" at pbs.org.is: join me next time for our conversation for a conversation with -- for a conversation with jeffrey wright out. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley with every question and every answer, we are proud to join the tavis to improve literacy and to remove obstacles to economic empowerment one obstacle at a time. >> and by contributions to a pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org--

tavis: good evening in. los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. first up, a conversation with former u.n. ambassador and civil rights icon andrew young. the former atlanta mayor has written a new book based on conversations with his godson. the project is call walked walk. also tonight, pulitzer prize winning george dohrmann and his expose on youth basketball. he pulls back the curtain on the often troubling way we treat young athletes with an acclaimed new book called "play their hearts out." we're glad you've joined us. >>>> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. tavis and nationwide insurance, working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economical empowerment that comes with it. >> nation is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: andrew young is the former u.s. ambassador to the united nat

say -- tavis: 3 hours. a lot of talk. >> i find it so easy. as i get older, it is much quicker in the gunfight. it is like "gunsmoke." all of a sudden it is getting, upper in the holster. i started plunging on tv. it is a little hiccup. when i get in stand-up, i go back to the basic mode and and a killer out there. in the interviews, i am a little fancier than i used to be. tavis: you still like the stand up? >> it is action. something can go wrong. everybody is sitting down on the floor. if it is never going to go wrong, you might as well be teaching the chop shop. i like the fact that you can't go kind of wrong. tavis: i want to close on something i said earlier, because now it is going wrong and i am stumbling. i want to get to something i said earlier. >> it is wmds! tavis: i want to close by saying something i loved about you. it is very difficult to empower an audience with information and entertainment at the same time. you do that very thing. >> that is sweet of you. at the end of the day if you sta

tavis: it's more than a stake. this is a system of exploitation. >> yes, there's no way of getting around that. most of the coaches are white, especially the prominent ones and they take advantage of youth, a lot of the inner city kids, work them through the system and make as much money off them as i can. tavis: why does this paradigm still exist, these white coaches taking advantage of these black kids? >> no one controls this world. there's no ncaa that can step in and apply their rules. it's really this lawless society. if you're a guy like the man character in my book, joe kelly, you can wake up one day, recruit the best players and profit off this. as coaches tell me, who none can stop me. no rules apply. tavis: why can anyone like joe kelly do this? how does this process work and how these guys start these teams. >> there's sort of this cherry outfit. it's a shoe defeat nike, adidas, rebach. they'll offer a shoe deal to a coach who can offer the best kids. kids as young as 13 were being sought after by the s

tavis: i and cap the smiley. per se, a conversation with the 39th president of the united states, jimmy carter, who kept a daily diary, the subject of his latest bestseller. earlier today, he sent a formal letter to the chinese government asking for the release of this year's nobel peace prize winner. we are glad to join us for a conversation with former president jimmy carter. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. with every question and answer, nationwide is proud to join in working to improve financial literacy, and remove the obstacles to economic empowerment, one conversation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public television] tavis: always honored to welcome former president jimmy carter. he just celebrated his 86th

tavis: good evening, from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. first up tonight, a conversation with veteran journalist and "rolling stone" contributor, matt taibbi, and the connection between wall street and washington. he draws a line between the politics between the financial system. the book is called "griftopia." and jeffrey wright joins us from new york in advance of the broadway debut of "a free man of color." matt taibbi and jeffrey wright coming up right now. >> all i know is his name is james and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference, you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance proudly supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment one conversation at a time. >> and by contributions from your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: matt taibbi is a contributing author for "rolling stone." his latest book is called "g

tavis smiley. a look at two major developing stories worldwide. the latest release of secret u.s. documents by wikileaks and the escalating tension with north korea. reaction and analysis on both fronts from josh rogin, who covers security issues for "foreign policy" magazine. ron isley is here. he was honored for 50 years in the music business. you can pick up a copy of his solo product, "mr. i". we are glad you have joined us. josh rogin and "mr. i" now. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i am james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference -- >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and remove obstacles to economic empowerment, one conversation at a time. >> nationwide is on your side >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. [captioning made possible by kcet public televis

tavis:f the things you could have covered, why the stacks vault? >> good question. i suppose, why not? it was originally our manager's idea bob brown and we thought good idea, a little apprehensive at first. the idea was not to do the ones everyone knows, but to go deeper in the catalog and find songs that other people hadn't maybe heard and capture them faithfully. we did it in memphis. we really had a labor of love for us. it was fun. >> is there stuff in the vault that even for hughie lewis and the news, you found untouchable? >> sure. otis redding tune was the hardest. we did "just one more day." what are you going to do, what otis tune, how you going to pull that off? we chose this one. interestingly we cut live, for the most part, nine pieces. we had a five piece horn section. they gave us "studio b" with a horn section and the other five in a. we had a video feed from the drummer. we cut nine pieces live. that tune "just one more day" which was the otis redding tune we cut in one comp

tavis: yeah. the argument, since you raised it, and for those who are probably asking the same question, who said that, and why is that becoming an issue. when you have a historic moment like we are in now, with a black man in the white house as president, that cuts both ways. it's inspiring for a whole lot of people. a lot of us celebrate the fact that it happened. but it also gives the critics ammunition,. if a black man can be president, we don't need to be using any kind of government resources, focusing any attention on stuff just for women, or just for african-americans, or just for hispanics, and that's where that pushback starts to come. >> that's where we as people as citizens of this great nation need to say, wait a minute. i mean, when do we, the people, begin to think for ourselves? when do we begin to read what's written on the page and understand the implications and the intentions behind it? when do we do that? until we do, we're just going to be led to the left and led to the right

tavis: good evening from los angeles, i'm tavis smiley. tonight a conversation with former c.i.a. officer valerie plame wilson and her husband, ambassador joseph wilson. when valerie plame was outed as a u.s. spy, it set off an international controversy that reached high into the bush white house in 2007. valerie plame published a bestseller about the ordeal called "fair game." on november 5 the movie by the same name opens in theaters across the country. we're glad you've joined us. the conversation with former c.i.a. agent valerie plame wilson and ambassador joe wilson coming up right now. >> all i know is his name is james, and he needs extra help with his reading. >> i'm james. >> yes. >> to everyone making a difference. >> thank you. >> you help us all live better. >> nationwide insurance supports tavis smiley. with every question and every answer, nationwide insurance is proud to join tavis in working to improve financial literacy and improve obstacles to empowerment one nation at a time. nationwide is on your side. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers li

tavis: i thought it was interesting.le we are on best as you interpret what happened last night, do the american people think what they have gotten from obama the first two years is his personal agenda which he would continue to do had he not gotten the shellacking? or do they see this as a response to the emergency situation? >> i am with you there. there was fear about what his agenda was. let's not forget wherever obama might have been about aspects of what took place during that emergency period, there were other people who like it just fine as a policy. there was a lot of different things being done with that stimulus money when you start applying it to banks and insurance companies. it is hard to slice the ham, but i do think the public -- democra fairly large slice had begun to see this as indistinguishable. this was what his marker was going to be. there was no reason to think as long as there is a democratic congress to think that would stop. i am not sure i could have argued against all of that. i think that wa