Here Be Monsters is a show that invites you to explore fear and the unknown.

I saw her face change. I saw her see where I'd pulled my hair out.

Psychological warfare was always considered kind of an oddity, something done by freaks.

On the count of three, we're literally going to step out of our body.

Step out.

You can find Here Be Monsters Now at KCRW.com or wherever you get your podcasts.

From KCRW and KCRW.com, I'm Michael Schneider of Indie Wire and Variety,, filling in for Kim Masters, and this is the business.

We'll often sacrifice big dramatic moments on the altar of what feels to us true for the characters,

and just hope that that has long-term dividends for the show, and I think for this one it has.

Writer producer Joel Fields believes one of the reasons he and creator Joe Weisberg

works so well together on the Americans is their shared pull toward truth over drama.

Their creative vision is so in line, they could practically complete each other's sentences.

But before embarking on the now Emmy-nominated FX spy series, the two had never before met.

Weisberg and Fields tell us how a blind date of sorts led to one of the most critically acclaimed shows on cable.

But first, on the Hollywood news banter, the pressure's on Brad Gray at Viacom's troubled Paramount Pictures.

Stay tuned. It's the business from KCRW. I am joined by my partner in banter,

Matt Bellany of the Hollywood Reporter. Hello, Matt. Hi there. So Matt, now that the Viacom drama is over,

we know who's running the conglomerate. Philippe Dumont is out. Sherry Redstone and her troops are now fully in

control, which means we can focus on the properties inside Viacom, most of which have their own

troubles. We've talked a lot about the Viacom cable networks, but Paramount, the studio, has its own

issues right now. Yeah, I mean, you saw with Ben Hur, which cost about $100 million, just a complete flop, opening

it to about $11 million.

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