Pop Culture Happy Hour
Get obsessed with us. Five days a week, Pop Culture Happy Hour serves you recommendations and commentary on the buzziest movies, TV, music, books, videogames and more. Join arts journalists Linda Holmes, Glen Weldon, Stephen Thompson, and Aisha Harris - plus a rotating cast of guest pop culture aficionados. The Happy Hour team leaves room at the table for exploring a range of reactions and opinions on every bit of the pop universe. From lowbrow to highbrow to the stuff in between, they take it all with a shot of cheer. Make your happy hour even happier with Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus! Your subscription supports the podcast and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/happyhour
Episodes
June 8, 2023 • 7 mins
It's summer, and if you've maybe thought about taking a road trip, you're gonna need road-trip music. You might need a pick-me-up, a sing-along, or something for when you need a break from podcasts. Today we're recommending three songs to blast on your next road trip.
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June 7, 2023 • 23 mins
The new film Past Lives follows Nora (Greta Lee), a writer who lives in New York with her husband, and meets up again with a man she knew long ago as a girl in South Korea. Written and directed by Celine Song, the movie is an emotional study of how Nora tries to understand both the path she took and the many paths she didn't.
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June 6, 2023 • 8 mins
Love stories are close to many of our hearts. We want to swoon, maybe laugh and cry, we want that romance. Today we're recommending great books for people who love love stories.
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June 2, 2023 • 28 mins
The new animated film Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is the sequel to the Oscar-winning Into The Spider-Verse. It continues the story of Miles Morales (Shameik Moore), as he battles a new villain, The Spot (Jason Schwartzman). The stakes grow as Miles and Gwen Stacy (Hailee Steinfeld) face greater conflicts as they traverse the multiverse.
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June 1, 2023 • 14 mins
You Hurt My Feelings is the latest film from the writer and director Nicole Holofcener. It stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a writer who discovers that her husband (Tobias Menzies) doesn't like her new book. She's rattled so hard that it threatens her marriage. The supporting cast also includes Michaela Watkins, Arian Moayed, and Owen Teague.
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May 31, 2023 • 21 mins
The HBO series Barry ended on Sunday. Throughout its run, the dark comedy brought a delicate tonal balance to Bill Hader's hitman-turned-actor. Its sharp take on Hollywood was funny, but it never let us forget that Barry was a violent sociopath. Barry's final season made choices so surprising and emotionally brutal that everything that came before it looked almost light and frothy.
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May 30, 2023 • 20 mins
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the latest, and fastest-selling game in Nintendo's beloved franchise. Many critics and gamers are declaring it not only the best game of the year, but maybe the best game, period.
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May 29, 2023 • 25 mins
The series finale of HBO's Succession was truly a meal fit for a king. Backs were stabbed, alliances were realigned, and a new CEO of the media conglomerate Waystar Royco was crowned. How did the squabbling Roy siblings shake out in the fight to control their family's dynasty?
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May 26, 2023 • 21 mins
The Little Mermaid is Disney's latest property to receive the live-action remake treatment. While some scenes match the original film, there are changes. Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote several new songs for the film. And it stars Halle Bailey as Ariel and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula. The film is directed by Rob Marshall and is in theaters now.
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May 25, 2023 • 20 mins
The word "icon" is thrown around a lot these days, but Tina Turner was the epitome of that and more. The legendary pop star died today at the age of 83, leaving behind an indelible legacy that spanned decades across the music world, the stage, and the screen. We talk about her life and career, including her hits "River Deep, Mountain High," "Proud Mary," and "What's Love Got To Do With It."
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May 24, 2023 • 25 mins
In the Disney+ show American Born Chinese, Jin is an insecure Chinese-American kid just trying to get through high school when he befriends the new kid in town, Wei-Chen. Wei-Chen is actually a god on a divine quest, and he drags Jin along with him. And the two come to realize they're more alike than they ever imagined.
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Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
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May 23, 2023 • 16 mins
The Netflix series XO, Kitty is a spinoff of the hit YA book and movie franchise, To All the Boys I've Loved Before. Anna Cathcart returns as Kitty Song Covey, a teenager with a penchant for matchmaking. The show is a mash-up of genres, including rom-coms, Korean dramas, and coming-of-age tales.
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May 19, 2023 • 27 mins
More than 20 years into the Fast & Furious franchise, the saga keeps roaring on with the latest installment, Fast X. With a star-studded cast including Vin Diesel and Jason Momoa and many more, the film has plenty of absurd action sequences and logic-defying stunts that have become a trademark. But after all this time, does the magic of fast cars, backyard BBQs and family persist?
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May 18, 2023 • 20 mins
In the charming Amazon Freevee sitcom Primo, Rafa is a typical 16-year-old kid navigating life with the help of his enterprising mom and five very colorful uncles. The show was created by journalist and podcaster Shea Serrano and is executive produced by Mike Schur (The Good Place, Parks & Recreation). So unsurprisingly, there's no shortage of pop culture references, silly situations, and a heartfelt moment or two.
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May 17, 2023 • 21 mins
The Fast & The Furious debuted as a scruffy car-culture movie, and it was a hit. The franchise, fronted by Vin Diesel, has become a blockbuster machine. In anticipation of Fast X, we're encoring our episode about the legacy of the Fast & Furious franchise.
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May 16, 2023 • 13 mins
Book Club: The Next Chapter is a sequel that reunites four legendary actresses: Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, and Mary Steenburgen. In this iteration, the ladies jet-set to Italy. It's a light-hearted, very silly romp with a meet-cute, an old paramour, lost luggage, and multiple jokes about meatballs.
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May 12, 2023 • 28 mins
Today we offer up a guide to some of the most exciting movies, TV, and music you can check out this summer.
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Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
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May 11, 2023 • 7 mins
Books can take you anywhere. Across oceans, across borders, to places you may have never seen. And those books are some of the ones that we treasure the most. Today we're recommending great books that take you around the world.
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May 10, 2023 • 24 mins
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Barry, and Succession will conclude this month, and it's not easy to end a TV series. So we decided to debate: what is the greatest TV finale of all time?
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Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
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May 9, 2023 • 24 mins
After two seasons of Bridgerton, Netflix is ready for a spin-off. The new series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story dives into the past as it explores the monarch's long marriage to King George III, the way her racial identity affects her experience and her country, and her early relationship with her dear friend Lady Agatha Danbury. It both is and is not like the Bridgerton we know.
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