Chat With Ken Burns, R.L. Stine, See Run DMC

Ken Burns is the one of the few people able to gain national fame for making documentaries. It helps that instead of making ones about, say, Christo or R. Crumb, he chooses topics like the Civil War and baseball. A Ken Burns documentary means spending an evening with lots of slow zooms into grainy photos and voice-overs by Garrison Keillor -- not exactly a Jackie Chan movie, but it has a lot of quiet pleasures to offer. Chat with him this Friday on usatoday.com at 2 p.m. EST, 1 p.m. CST, 12 noon MST, 11 a.m. PST.

You all remember "Big Brother," the CBS show in which a group of people willingly underwent cruel confinement for the privilege of having their every word and action be broadcast all over the country. Well, one of the stalwarts was Curtis Kun, whose status as "the dull one" apparently fit the agenda of the house's voting viewers. But he's not so dull that he's going to pass up the chance to move in with the cute-as-a-button Brittany. He'll be chatting this Friday on aonline.com at 3 p.m. EST, 2 p.m. CST, 1 p.m. MST, 12 noon PST. Registration required.

"'Goosebumps' Books: Catalyst For Kids' Reading or Demonic Influence"? That's the title of my article in which I ask whether "Goosebumps" books are a catalyst for kids' reading or a demonic influence. It was much better-received than my previous article, "'Goosebumps' Books: Fact or Fiction?," in which I proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that "Goosebumps" books are works of fiction. If you don't believe me, you can ask R.L. Stine, the creator and writer of the popular kids' series, this Friday on freezone.com at 7 p.m. EST, 6 p.m. CST, 5 p.m. MST, 4 p.m. PST.

This Ben Chaplin seems nice enough. He got to be in a movie with Janeane Garofalo and Uma Thurman, "The Truth About Cats and Dogs," and now he gets to be in a movie with Winona Ryder, "Lost Souls." Besides a twinge of jealousy, I got nothing against him. He was also in "The Thin Red Line," but there weren't any cool women in that one, so who cares? Chat with Ben this Friday on yahoo.com at 6 p.m. EST, 5 p.m. CST, 4 p.m. MST, 3 p.m. PST.

"He's the big bad wolf in your neighborhood -- not BAD meaning BAD but BAD meaning GOOD!" That's what I should have made my yearbook quote. It's from Run DMC classic "Peter Piper," which ranks right up there with "King of Rock," "Walk This Way," "My Adidas," etc., etc. among the rap supergroup's best. See perhaps the greatest rap group in history perform their hits live this Friday on rollingstone.com at 8 p.m. EST, 7 p.m. CST, 5 p.m. PST.