Pop Culture Happy Hour
Episodes
Scarpetta
17 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the Prime Video series Scarpetta, Nicole Kidman plays a tough, smart medical examiner whose latest murder case is entangled with a much earlier one...
Our 2026 Oscars Recap
16 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
At the Oscars, One Battle After Another took home six awards including best picture, Michael B. Jordan won for lead actor in Sinners, and the telecast...
2026 Oscars Guide and What's Making Us Happy
13 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We've watched all the nominees in the major categories for the Oscars including Sinners, One Battle After Another, Hamnet, and Marty Supreme. So we’...
What Makes A Great Cast?
12 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This year, there's finally an Oscar being awarded for casting. The nominees are the casting directors for Sinners, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle A...
Harry Styles Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.
11 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Harry Styles just released his new album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. It’s his fourth solo album since leaving the boy band One Direction...
Hoppers
09 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In Disney and Pixar’s delightful new film Hoppers, a young woman (Piper Curda) learns a beloved glade is under threat from the town’s slimy mayor ...
The Bride! and What's Making Us Happy
06 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Bride! goes way beyond a simple tale of literature’s most famous reanimated corpses. Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Jessie Buckley a...
Love Story
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
John F. Kennedy Jr. was an object of public fixation his entire life, and he’s now the subject of the FX series Love Story. It focuses on Kennedy’...
The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins
03 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The new comedy series The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins stars Tracy Morgan as a disgraced former football star and Daniel Radcliffe as a documentary...
Industry
02 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
HBO’s addictive drama Industry has never been afraid to wade in the muck, and the fourth season and finale was especially messy. The paths of frenem...
Scream 7 and What's Making Us Happy
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The OG Scream Queen Neve Campbell returns. Scream 7 re-centers the franchise back on Sidney Prescott. She has a new life, a family, and lots of bagga...
Our Favorite Movies On Tubi
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The streaming service Tubi has become a repository for a wild assortment of movies, TV shows, and original properties. They’re all free to watch, pr...
The Traitors
25 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Peacock reality show The Traitors has become weekly appointment television, as the always impeccably dressed Alan Cumming presides over an unfrien...
Paradise
23 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In Hulu's twisty drama series Paradise, Sterling K. Brown plays a Secret Service agent caught up in a web of intrigue after the president of the Unite...
Winter Olympics and What’s Making Us Happy
20 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Winter Olympics are well underway, and we’ve got thoughts from an avid Olympics watcher and a reporter who’s covering the games in Italy. Whet...
America’s Next Top Model
19 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
America’s Next Top Model has been rewatched in the years since its 2003 premiere, and its handling of race, body image, and other issues has been l...
How To Get To Heaven From Belfast
17 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Netflix’s How To Get To Heaven From Belfast is the new series from the creator of the beloved show Derry Girls. It follows three very messy longtime...
Pillion
16 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In Pillion, a.k.a. the “gay BDSM biker movie,” a meek young man named Colin (Harry Melling) meets a handsome, broody biker played by Alexander Ska...
“Wuthering Heights” and What’s Making Us Happy
13 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the new film “Wuthering Heights,” Margot Robbie stars as headstrong and horny Cathy, and Jacob Elordi as brooding and horny Heathcliff. Their l...
Best Book to Movie Adaptations
12 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What’s your favorite movie that started life as a book? And what makes for a great book to film adaptation, anyway? We’ve got some examples of bel...
The Pop Culture Hill I’ll Die On
10 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We've all got that one argument we're always making: that non-negotiable stance, that immutable truth we're sticking to no matter what. Today, we're r...
Bad Bunny Super Bowl Halftime Show
09 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
At the Super Bowl halftime show, Bad Bunny put on an endlessly rewatchable performance. It featured Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, and a real wedding. But i...
Charli xcx, The Moment And What’s Making Us Happy
06 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Remember Brat Summer? Charli xcx has turned the aftermath of her mainstream success into a movie called The Moment. It’s a hyperpop faux documentar...
Wonder Man
04 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Marvel’s new Disney+ series Wonder Man is a sensible buddy comedy where Yahya Abdul-Mateen II plays a down-on-his-luck actor (with incredible superp...
2026 Sundance Film Festival: Best Movies
03 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
We watched a ton of movies and we’re recommending some of the best things we saw at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. This includes a thrilling ...
2026 Grammys Recap
02 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This year’s Grammy Awards featured historic wins for Bad Bunny and Kendrick Lamar, performances from Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, and occasional cha...
Send Help and What’s Making Us Happy
30 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In the new comic horror film Send Help, Rachel McAdams finds out the answer to the age-old hypothetical, “what if you were stranded on a desert isla...
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy
29 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Star Trek fans are finally getting something they’ve wanted for a long time, and it doesn’t disappoint. The new series Star Trek: Starfleet Academ...
The Beauty
27 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Beauty stars familiar faces from the Ryan Murphy universe, including Evan Peters, as well as new collaborators like Ashton Kutcher. In the show, a...
A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms
26 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The HBO series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms may be set in the same fantasy world as Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, but it’s a small, gro...
‘One Battle After Another’ is revolutionary — and revelatory
23 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
One Battle After Another earned 13 Oscar nominations - including best picture, best director and a lead actor nomination for Leonardo DiCaprio. In the...
2026 Oscar Nominations
22 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This year’s Oscars nominations are here, and we’re unpacking record-breaking nominations for Sinners, plus nominations for One Battle After Anothe...
Watch This: It Was Just An Accident
21 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The Iranian film It Was Just an Accident enters Oscars season with the wind at its back. It won the top prize at Cannes, a raft of other awards and ha...
The Rip
20 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck share the screen again in new Netflix film, The Rip. Similar to the pulpy, midbudget cop movies we used to get, The Rip is ...
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple and What’s Making Us Happy
16 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
28 Years Later: The Bone Temple picks up where 28 Years Later left off – in a world of zombie-like infecteds and vigilantes that turn out to be a...
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials
15 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The new Netflix series Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials centers on lesser known mystery solving protagonist Lady Eileen Brent (Mia McKenna-Bruce). It’...
Hijack
14 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Idris Elba is in full action hero mode in the Apple TV series Hijack. He stars as a corporate business negotiator onboard an airplane that is taken ho...
Our Dream TV Crossovers
13 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
There have been many TV crossovers over the years, but it’s a tricky balance to get right — for every mashup that feels organic, there are plenty ...
People We Meet On Vacation and What's Making Us Happy
09 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
The new Netflix rom-com People We Meet On Vacation is about best friends Poppy (Emily Bader) and Alex (Tom Blyth) who have gone on annual trips togeth...
Sabrina Carpenter and the Embarrassing Truth of Dating Men
08 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
What's it like to date a man? Ask Sabrina Carpenter, Olivia Dean, or your friends, and you might hear it's a struggle. Today we’re bringing you an e...
No Other Choice
07 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
No Other Choice is a new bleak comedy about a man (Lee Byung-hun) at a crossroads. After losing his job at a paper company, he resorts to desperate, u...
Stranger Things
06 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
After five seasons and almost ten years, the saga of Netflix’s Stranger Things has reached its end. In a two-hour finale, we found out what happened...
2026 Resolutions and What’s Making Us Happy
02 Jan 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Hope springs eternal, and that is nowhere more true than in the realm of New Year’s Resolutions. Today, we give ourselves goals for 2026. And becaus...
2026 Pop Culture Predictions
31 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What does 2026 have in store for pop culture? Today, we’re back for another year of pop culture predictions. We’ll touch on A.I., the future of Ru...
2025 Best Video Games
30 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re anything like us, you spend a fair amount of your screen time playing video games. Whether you like combat, horror, or peacefully going ov...
2025 Books We Love
29 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
NPR’s Books We Love is a roundup of the best books from the past year, sorted and tagged to help you find exactly what you’re looking for. This ye...
Anaconda
26 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The new Anaconda movie is a meta reimaging in which Jack Black and Paul Rudd play aspiring filmmakers who attempt to make… a meta reimagining of Ana...
Marty Supreme and What’s Making Us Happy
24 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The new movie Marty Supreme asks, can Timothée Chalamet play a supremely annoying character and still keep us interested from beginning to end? He st...
Best Christmas Gift I Ever Received
23 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
What's the best Christmas gift you ever received? You probably didn't have to think about it; you knew it in your bones. Today, in this encore episode...
The Housemaid
22 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The twisty thriller The Housemaid stars Sydney Sweeney as a newly hired live-in housekeeper to Amanda Seyfried’s wealthy housewife. Both women have ...
Avatar: Fire And Ash and What’s Making Us Happy
19 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Avatar: Fire and Ash, James Cameron’s saga continues in a visually stunning movie full of epic battles, uneasy alliances, human assimilation, and...
Heated Rivalry
18 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The new show Heated Rivalry is a very sexy and very queer hockey romance streaming on HBO Max–and it’s a phenomenon. It follows archrival players ...
Fallout
17 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Fallout is based on a hugely successful video game series known for blending a sardonic, very dark comedic sensibility, and violence. The series is se...
Great Movies We Missed
16 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Every year, we like to take a moment to look back and spotlight a few favorite films we didn’t have time to talk about. Today, we're making recommen...
Mailbag: The Movies We Walked Out Of
14 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Aisha and Stephen answer a mailbag question! Send in your own questions at [email protected], and we may answer it in a future bonus episode.This usually w...
Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery And What’s Making Us Happy
12 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Netflix’s Wake Up Dead Man is the third installment in the Knives Out franchise. Daniel Craig returns as detective Benoit Blanc -- with a cast of su...
Jay Kelly
10 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Netflix’s Jay Kelly, George Clooney plays the aging movie star Jay Kelly. His longtime manager (Adam Sander) and publicist (Laura Dern) struggle ...
The Worst Christmas Movies
09 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
‘Tis the season you’ll find plenty of good holiday movies – films that can be counted upon to deliver warmth and cheer. And bad holiday movies? ...
The Abandons
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Netflix’s The Abandons, Gillian Anderson and Lena Headey play two steely matriarchs that face off on the American frontier. But don’t let the s...
Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and What’s Making Us Happy
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the new film Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, Josh Hutcherson returns as the protagonist trying to survive in a haunted children’s restaurant called ...
2025 Pop Culture Favorites
04 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s been a great year for TV, movies, and music. And we are highlighting some of the best, including KPop Demon Hunters, Sinners, and Severance. We...
Rereading Pride & Prejudice
02 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This year, readers around the world are celebrating Jane Austen’s 250th birthday. Today we’ve got an episode of NPR’s Books We’ve Loved where ...
Hamnet
01 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Hamnet tells the fictionalized account of the lives of William Shakespeare and his wife, played by Paul Mescal and Jessie Buckley. They fall in love, ...
All’s Fair And What’s Making Us Happy
28 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Ryan Murphy’s latest show All’s Fair centers on an all-female law firm led by Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts, and Niecy Nash-Betts. The high-powered ...
Zootopia 2
26 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Disney’s Zootopia grossed over a billion dollars worldwide. Now our heroes return in the sequel Zootopia 2. Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick W...
Sentimental Value
25 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The new movie Sentimental Value is one of the great films about absentee dads who reappear in their kids’ lives. Stellan Skarsgård plays a renowned...
All Her Fault
24 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The entertaining Peacock series All Her Fault begins with a cute kid, an Emmy winner, and a mystery. Sarah Snook plays a mother who goes to pick up he...
Wicked: For Good And What’s Making Us Happy
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Wicked was a smash hit that earned Oscar nominations for Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo–but that was only the first half of the story. Wicked: For ...
A Man On The Inside
20 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The charming Netflix sitcom A Man on the Inside stars Ted Danson as a lonely widower who’s hired by a private investigator to live undercover in a s...
The Beast In Me
18 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the new Netflix series The Beast In Me, a writer played by Claire Danes struggles to find the topic of her next book – until a nefarious real est...
Now You See Me: Now You Don't
17 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Now You See Me: Now You Don’t, the magical Four Horsemen – played by Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco and Isla Fisher – reunite ...
The Running Man And What's Making Us Happy
14 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Running Man is a new dystopian thriller starring Glen Powell as a man so desperate for money to care for his family that he volunteers to run for ...
Death By Lightning
13 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Netflix’s Death by Lightning pits President James Garfield (Michael Shannon) against Charles Guiteau (Matthew McFadyen), the disgruntled would-be po...
Pluribus
11 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The new and highly anticipated Apple TV series Pluribus, from Vince Gilligan (Breaking Bad), asks a simple question: What if a proud misanthrope sudde...
Predator: Badlands
10 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Predator: Badlands is the latest film about an alien race that hunts things using all sorts of space-gadgets. It’s told from the Predator’s perspe...
Frankenstein And What's Making Us Happy
07 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein is a new reimagining of Mary Shelly’s classic gothic horror tale about a misunderstood monster who’s abandoned...
I Love LA
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rachel Sennott’s next project, the HBO series I Love LA, has finally arrived. And like plenty of shows before it, it’s about young people trying t...
Hedda
04 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the new film Hedda, Tessa Thompson plays a woman bored with her dull husband, and who devilishly manipulates the affections of everyone in her orbi...
IT: Welcome To Derry
03 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In new HBO prequel series IT: Welcome to Derry, we return to the clown who keeps on giving. Based on the Stephen King novel and a prequel to the films...
Bugonia And What’s Making Us Happy
31 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Bugonia stars Emma Stone as a high-powered CEO who’s kidnapped by conspiracy theorists, one of whom is played by Jesse Plemons. The conflict grows m...
If I Had Legs I'd Kick You
29 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Rose Byrne shows off her dramatic chops in the new movie If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, where she plays a therapist shouldering all the responsibility ...
Halloween Songs
28 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Who's the Mariah Carey of Halloween? Every year we hear many familiar Halloween songs – from the Ghostbusters theme to “Thriller” to “Monster ...
Blue Moon
27 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the new movie Blue Moon, Ethan Hawke plays songwriter Lorenz Hart, who is having maybe the worst night of his life. His long term collaborator Rich...
Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere And What’s Making Us Happy
24 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the new film Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, the currently red-hot actor Jeremy Allen White plays the eternally red-hot rock star, Bruce Spri...
Nobody Wants This
23 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the Netflix series Nobody Wants This, Kristen Bell plays an agnostic podcaster, who meets a rabbi, played by Adam Brody. They like each other immed...
The Reality TV Show I'd Like To Judge
22 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
When you watch a competitive reality show, you might think about how you'd win. But maybe you think about a much more powerful role for yourself: the ...
Good Fortune
21 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In Good Fortune, Keanu Reeves plays a doofy, well-meaning guardian angel named Gabriel who gets a little too involved in the life of a gig worker name...
Black Phone 2 And What’s Making Us Happy
17 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Grabbers gonna grab, even from beyond the grave. In Black Phone 2, Ethan Hawke returns from the dead as the serial killer who hides behind a demonic m...
Roofman
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the new movie Roofman, Channing Tatum and Kirsten Dunst ooze with their signature charm and chemistry. Tatum plays an exceptionally savvy military ...
After the Hunt
14 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the new movie After The Hunt, Julia Roberts plays a Yale professor who finds herself in a hard place when one of her star students (Ayo Edebiri) ma...
Kiss of the Spider Woman
13 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Jennifer Lopez stars in the new film adaptation of Kiss of the Spider Woman. Set in an Argentine prison, one man (Tonatiuh) tells his cellmate (Diego ...
TRON: Ares And What's Making Us Happy
10 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
TRON: Ares is the third film in the franchise, and this time flips the script: Instead of humans entering the digital world, this movie sees human-sha...
Most Overused Songs In Movies
09 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Some great songs are so overused in movies, they’ve become cliches. Everyone’s mileage is bound to vary, but we’re rounding up a few songs we lo...
The Lost Bus
07 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the new movie The Lost Bus, Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrera play a bus driver and a teacher who have to transport more than 20 kids to safe...
Taylor Swift The Life Of A Showgirl
06 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Taylor Swift just dropped her new album The Life Of A Showgirl. It touches on her relationship with fiancé Travis Kelce while reflecting on fame, nor...
The Smashing Machine And What's Making Us Happy
03 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Emily Blunt star in the new sports biopic The Smashing Machine. Johnson plays Mark Kerr, a UFC champion who is reeling f...
Brokeback Mountain
02 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This year marks 20 years since Brokeback Mountain hit theaters. The film starred Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two sheep herders who fall in lov...
The Lowdown
30 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Lowdown is a great new FX series starring Ethan Hawke as a freelance investigative reporter with a knack for sticking his nose where it doesn’t ...
Wayward
29 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In the new Netflix series Wayward, Toni Collette plays a deeply creepy woman who runs a facility that promises to fix troubled teens. A cop (Mae Marti...
One Battle After Another And What's Making Us Happy
26 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
One Battle After Another is an action-thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Teyana Taylor and Sean Penn. DiCaprio plays a washed up ex-revolutionary se...