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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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Roger Ebert was 'Mayor of Movie Criticville'
It was only yesterday that Roger Ebert announced he was taking what he called a "leave of presence" because his cancer had returned. On Thursday, his longtime newspaper "The Chicago Sun-Times" reported that he has died at the age of 70.
The critic that so many of us joined "At the Movies" over the years was originally diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2002. A year later, Ebert found out he had a tumor in his salivary gland. The Pulitzer Prize winner lost his jaw, and the disease also robbed him of his voice. But he continued to review movies right up until his last moments.
Ebert was a lovely writer with an almost religious belief in film, and a unique ability to turn a phrase. He could be whimsical, he could be angry, but he was always a must-read.
"Roger was kind of the 'Mayor of Movie Criticville,'" said David Edelstein, film critic for New York Magazine. "He really was very close to a politician insofar as he took his public role very seriously."
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Obama flubs gun used in Sandy Hook
At a no-cameras-allowed Democratic fundraiser in San Francisco, President Obama misstated the kind of weapon used in the Sandy Hook shooting.
Advocating for stricter gun control on Wednesday night, the president said, "It is possible for us to create common sense gun safety measures that respect the traditions of gun ownership in this country, and hunters and sportsmen, but also make sure we don't have another 20 children in a classroom gunned down by a semiautomatic weapon - by a fully automatic weapon in that case, sadly."
That is not correct; a semiautomatic weapon was used in the Sandy Hook attack, not a fully automatic weapon.
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On the set of 'Mad Men'
It has been a long ten months since we left Don Draper at the bar. But this Sunday, millions will return to the offices of Sterling Cooper Draper Price for the season six premiere of "Mad Men" on AMC.
Series creator Matthew Weiner invited "The Lead" to come early. We got a behind-the-scenes look at the incredibly detailed office of Don Draper, and the set. The team behind "Mad Men" meticulously researches every vintage detail of Don Draper's environment. It can get a little crazy. Inside a market research report for Samsonite were detailed memos, and a job sheet.
"Growing up and watching people on TV and movies, actors, pick up suitcases to leave and seeing that they were empty, and I always thought, like, the actors can tell they're empty. And they know they're not going anywhere," said Weiner. "Maybe because I'm not an actor, and I don't know how they use their imagination to create three dimensional space, I wanted the set to be detailed, always."
The details matter. Since it premiered in 2007, "Mad Men" has received 15 Emmy awards and four Golden Globes. It also changed the game for AMC, paving the way for the high-brow scripted series that are now taking over cable TV.
HBO originally passed on the show, but it was the HBO series Weiner previously wrote for that he cited as a model for "Mad Men."
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How big are North Korea's nukes?
North Korea has moved a missile into position for launch, and CNN's Tom Foreman walks us through how the situation could escalate.
Military intelligence says the missile has been moved into position somewhere along a 250-mile stretch along the country's eastern coast. We do not know where the missile is, but U.S. intelligence is fairly certain of what kind of weapon it is, likely a bare bones-type of missile called a Musadan, believed to have evolved from a type of Russian submarine missile. The Iranians, who trade arms with the North Koreans, are also believed to have these.
Musadan missiles are believed to be reliable, but vary in size, measuring anywhere from 39 to 62 feet in length. It can carry a payload, essentially a bomb, of 2.6 tons. The missile is either a nuclear warhead, which is unlikely given North Korea's nuclear program, or a high explosive warhead.
How far can the missile go? Click on the video above to find out.
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Web exclusive: Mad Men creator says criticism of Romney was based on facts
"Mad Men" creator Matthew Weiner says the George Romney criticism early in the fifth season is based on actual events. One of the show's characters, Henry Francis, is a political operative working for New York City Mayor John Lindsay.
In a phone call, Francis vetoes the idea of Lindsay traveling to Michigan, "because Romney is a clown and I don't want him standing next to him."
The year is 1966.
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