Pop Culture Happy Hour
Episodes
Longlegs is a (satanic) panic
15 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
They're calling it the scariest movie of the year. The new horror film Longlegs follows FBI special agent Lee Harker (Mika Monroe) tracking a serial k...
Fly Me to the Moon and what's making us happy
12 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The cheeky new romantic dramedy Fly Me to the Moon stars Scarlett Johansson as a NASA publicist at the height of the space race. She must stage a top-...
Three great sports documentaries
11 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sports aren't just games. They're intertwined with epic stories about struggle, human behavior, historic greatness and grand emotions. In other words,...
Despicable Me 4 serves up 90 minutes of bankable mayhem
10 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Despicable Me 4 is the latest film in an animation franchise that made household names of reformed supervillain Gru (Steve Carrell) and his army of na...
How we entertain and amuse ourselves on a road trip
08 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's summer, so we're talking all about road trips. Should you blast music that's familiar or unfamiliar? What makes for a good road trip audiobook? W...
MaXXXine and what's making us happy
05 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new movie MaXXXine stars Mia Goth as an adult-film actress who gets her big break in Hollywood, only to be revisited by horrors from her past. Set...
Bowen Yang thinks being present is overrated
04 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Pop Culture Happy Hour team is off today, so we're bringing you an episode of the NPR podcast Wild Card with Rachel Martin. This episode is an int...
Megan Thee Stallion sheds her skin on Megan
03 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
A lot has happened to rapper Megan Thee Stallion over the last couple of years including a highly publicized trial after being shot by a former friend...
Yes, chef: The Bear has a lot going on in its third season
02 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Bear just returned for its third season and it's still one of the most stressful and most interesting shows on TV. Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and ...
In A Quiet Place: Day One, Lupita Nyong'o makes silence golden
01 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the post-apocalyptic world of A Quiet Place, aliens kill anyone who makes a sound, forcing humans into a near-silent existence. The new movie A Qui...
Kinds of Kindness and what's making us happy
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kinds of Kindness is a weird, dark, and bleak film. It's directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (Poor Things) and it re-teams him with Emma Stone and Willem Daf...
Lily Gladstone's Fancy Dance is a road trip worth taking
27 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new film Fancy Dance offers something all-too-rare on screen: contemporary Indigenous perspectives, front and center. Lily Gladstone plays a woman...
Will they or won't they? Unpacking TV's eternal question
25 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Jim and Pam. Mulder and Scully. Janine and Gregory. Carmy and Sydney. Meredith and McDreamy. You know how it goes: two television characters with obv...
Is Star Wars' The Acolyte a force to be reckoned with?
24 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new Disney+ Star Wars series The Acolyte is a murder mystery. Someone is killing great Jedi masters, and while we learn the killer's identity earl...
Thelma And What's Making Us Happy
21 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Financial scams are an unfortunate phenomenon, but what happens when a fraudster messes with the wrong grandma? The very fun action-comedy Thelma imag...
HBO's Fantasmas is new and different and uniquely itself
20 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The brilliant and idiosyncratic new HBO series Fantasmas has a simple plot. Creator and star Julio Torres searches New York City for an earring he los...
Bridgerton closes out a crowded third season
18 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The second half of Bridgerton's latest season just dropped on Netflix, and naturally the course of true love continues to not run smoothly. Colin Brid...
It's getting hot. So what's sweatiest movie ever made?
17 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Whether they're lightly perspiring, gently glowing, or soaked through from sweltering, people in the movies sweat a lot. But what movie has had peopl...
Inside Out 2 And What's Making Us Happy
14 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Pixar's Inside Out introduced us to the core emotions inside an 11-year-old girl named Riley. We met Joy (Amy Poehler), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), and A...
Jake Gyllenhaal's Presumed Innocent updates a legal thriller
13 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Presumed Innocent was a blockbuster legal thriller as a novel, and then a hit movie starring Harrison Ford. Now, Apple TV+ brings back the story of th...
Our favorite graduation moments in pop culture
11 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This is the time of year when so many students graduate. Whether it's graduation episodes of our favorite TV series, high school songs, or movies abou...
Am I OK? is a coming-out movie for adults
10 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Am I OK? is a about what happens when you finally come to accept your sexuality much later in life than many do. It stars Dakota Johnson and Sonoya Mi...
Hit Man And What's Making Us Happy
07 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Netflix's entertaining dark comedy Hit Man is not about a hired killer. It's about a guy who pretends to be a hired killer. Director Richard Linklater...
Doctor Who is enlivened by its new Black, openly queer star
06 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The venerable British science fiction series Doctor Who is back with a new season. Ncuti Gatwa — who is Black and openly queer — brings a vibrant ...
Clipped recreates an embarrassing NBA scandal
05 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new FX limited series Clipped tells the story of Donald Sterling, the then-owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, who was outed as a racist. Sterling'...
Looking back at The Sopranos, the godfather of prestige TV
04 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Sopranos changed television. The HBO series was centered on mobster Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a deeply flawed male antihero. That then- inn...
Welcome to Pop Culture Happy Hour
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Get obsessed with us. Four days a week, Pop Culture Happy Hour serves you recommendations and commentary on the buzziest movies, TV, music, books, vid...
Best Fictional Bands And What's Making Us Happy
31 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Sometimes, our favorite musical artists are too good to be true because they're sprung from the imaginations of Hollywood screenwriters. But what make...
We Are Lady Parts rocks with bracing honesty and nuance
29 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Peacock series We Are Lady Parts is a bold and very funny comedy about an up-and-coming London punk band called Lady Parts. The members of Lady Pa...
Terrible but bingeable TV shows
28 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
What is it about a show that turns you into a bitter-ender, that keeps you dutifully watching every last episode, long after the train has jumped the ...
Why Chris Pine gave up on being perfect
27 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we are bringing you an episode of a new NPR podcast hosted by our pal Rachel Martin. It's called Wild Card, and it's a new interview show where...
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga And What's Making Us Happy
24 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is packed with bone-crunching practical stunts and lots of gnarly, diesel-powered chase scenes. It also shows a commitment to ...
Does The Sympathizer worthily adapt its acclaimed book?
23 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's rare to find a series with such an impeccable pedigree as HBO's The Sympathizer. It's based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, co-created by aute...
Does IF capture the magic of its Pixar inspiration?
22 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the new movie IF, a 12-year-old girl (Cailey Fleming) discovers she can see other people's imaginary friends. It stars Ryan Reynolds, and directed ...
The sexy sex is back in Bridgerton's new season
20 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The Netflix series Bridgerton is back, as gossipy and over-the-top as ever. Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and her crush on childhood best ...
Back To Black And What's Making Us Happy
17 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new music biopic Back to Black chronicles the life of singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse. The film stars Marisa Abela, and follows Winehouse as she r...
Babes gives us a funny (and gross) portrait of parenthood
16 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new movie Babes stars Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buteau as longtime best friends who've made very different life choices. It's also about the inher...
Looking to the past and future of Black Twitter
15 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For years, Black Twitter was the watering hole. It was where we could pop off jokes about Olivia and Fitz on Scandal. It's also where you could call o...
I Saw the TV Glow is weird and transfixing
14 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
I Saw the TV Glow is a strange and pleasantly unsettling new film from writer and director Jane Schoenbrun. It's about two teenagers (Justice Smith an...
Sink your teeth into Interview with the Vampire
13 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If you're familiar with Interview with the Vampire — because you read the Anne Rice novel or you saw the 1994 movie — the AMC series has some surp...
Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes And What's Making Us Happy
10 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes follows Noa (Owen Teague), an extraordinary chimpanzee whose clan is enslaved by a mercenary ape king named Proximus...
The Drake-Kendrick Lamar Beef
09 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
2024 seems destined to go down as the Year of Pop Culture Grievances. Megan vs. Nicki. Beyoncé vs. Nashville. But above all: Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake...
Dua Lipa's Radical Optimism
08 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The British singer Dua Lipa has become one of the world's biggest pop stars. Now, she's back with Radical Optimism, a sort of concept record about mov...
Unfrosted
07 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new Netflix film Unfrosted tells a fanciful invented version of the Pop-Tart's origin. The film was directed and co-written by Jerry Seinfeld, who...
Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show
06 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, the comedian doubles down on the uncomfortable intimacy of his stand up special Rothaniel, where he came out public...
The Fall Guy And What's Making Us Happy
03 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the entertaining new film The Fall Guy, Ryan Gosling plays a down-on-his-luck stunt performer who gets a big new opportunity to get his career on t...
The Idea Of You
02 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new movie The Idea Of You tells the story of a boy band star (Nicholas Galitzine) who falls in love with an older divorced mother (Anne Hathaway)....
Baby Reindeer
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new Netflix series Baby Reindeer has a lot of people talking, including us. It tells the haunting semi-autobiographical story of a man (Richard Ga...
Summer Guide
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Today, we're offering up a guide to spotlight some of the movies, TV, and music we are most excited about this summer.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy H...
Dead Boy Detectives
29 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new show Dead Boy Detectives is a spinoff of Neil Gaiman's beloved series The Sandman – both the comic and the Netflix series. It's about a pair...
Challengers And What's Making Us Happy
26 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The terrific new film Challengers is about being intense about tennis, sex, and competition. Directed by Luca Guadagnino, the film stars Zendaya as Ta...
What Makes A Good Sex Scene?
25 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
It's easy to notice when a sex scene is bad. But what makes a sex scene good? Today, we are recommending films with good sex scenes, including Bound, ...
Mary & George
24 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the new Starz series Mary & George, Julianne Moore plays a low-born, scheming woman who recognizes that her handsome son George (Nicolas Galitztine...
Taylor Swift's The Tortured Poets Department
22 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Taylor Swift dropped an epic new album that spans two hours — and two high-profile breakups. The Tortured Poets Department delves deeply into two of...
Fallout And What's Making Us Happy
19 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new show Fallout is based on a hugely successful video game series known for its sardonic, very dark comedic sensibility, and its violence. It's s...
Hot Ones And Conan O'Brien
18 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Hot Ones is the YouTube show where famous people answer questions while eating increasingly hot chicken wings. Hosted by Sean Evans, the series is a p...
X-Men '97
16 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For millions of kids, the popular 1990s X-Men animated series served as a gateway drug into the world of the X-Men and comics in general. Now, the new...
Books We Love: Love And Romance
15 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
NPR's Books We Love is a roundup of favorite books of the year, sorted and tagged to help you find exactly what you're looking for. From the meet cute...
Civil War And What's Making Us Happy
12 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new film Civil War depicts a contemporary America torn apart by a military conflict between the federal government and an alliance of secessionist...
Girls State
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new Apple TV+ documentary Girls State asks: how would high school girls do things if they were in charge? The film is a follow-up to 2020's Boys S...
Shōgun
10 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The sweeping historical epic has roared back with Shōgun. The FX miniseries takes place beginning in 1600, in a fictionalized but historically inspir...
A Guide To Stephen King
09 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Stephen King is one of the most successful living writers. He's written more than 50 books that have sold hundreds of millions of copies. And his work...
Monkey Man And What's Making Us Happy
05 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new action film Monkey Man is Dev Patel's film – he serves as star, director, and co-writer. He plays a young man whose village was destroyed an...
Ripley
04 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Tom Ripley is back — and still can't be trusted. The character — created by novelist Patricia Highsmith — was made indelible by Matt Damon i...
Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter
02 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Throw on those boots with the spurs, grab your cowboy hat, and saddle up that horse, because Beyoncé's highly anticipated album, Cowboy Carter is her...
The Movies Of 1999
01 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Movies had a big year in 1999. Today, we're going back 25 years to talk about some of the most interesting movies released in 1999 — including Drop ...
Godzilla x Kong, Godzilla Minus One And What's Making Us Happy
29 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Godzilla has been around for 70 years and recently won his first Oscar. The beloved 2023 Japanese production Godzilla Minus One won an Oscar for visua...
3 Body Problem
28 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the new Netflix sci-fi series 3 Body Problem, a killing during the Chinese Cultural Revolution sparks a chain of events that puts humanity at risk....
Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV
26 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new docuseries Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV examines the working environment of the young stars who fueled Nickelodeon's rise. The serie...
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire
25 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire is the latest entry in the blockbuster action-comedy franchise. This time, the crew has set up shop in New York, and, with...
Road House And What's Making Us Happy
22 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The 1989 movie Road House starred Patrick Swayze as a no-nonsense bouncer who saves a honky-tonk bar from a local toughs. Now, in the new remake, Jake...
Immaculate
21 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the new movie Immaculate, Sydney Sweeney plays Cecelia, an American woman who joins a convent in Italy. But after she arrives, she encounters stran...
Romantic Comedy Guide: Irish Wish, Anyone But You, Upgraded
19 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
If there is a spot in your heart-shaped like a rom-com, we've got some good news for you. You can stream a few playful love stories from your couch, w...
Problemista
18 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the very funny and gently surreal new film Problemista, Julio Torres plays Alejandro, a young man from El Salvador scraping by in New York City as ...
Love Lies Bleeding And What's Making Us Happy
15 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The movie Love Lies Bleeding is a fun and weird erotic thriller. It's set in the late 1980s and stars Kristen Stewart as a brooding gym manager who fa...
Girls5eva
14 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The bingeable comedy series Girls5eva is a silly parody of the music industry. It's about four down-on-their-luck members of a 90s girl group who reun...
Kung Fu Panda 4
13 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kung Fu Panda 4 is the latest movie in the popular and surprisingly thoughtful animated film franchise. Jack Black returns to voice Po, a gigantic, ad...
Love Is Blind
12 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Netflix's Love is Blind is like a bad relationship that's hard to give up. We've had doubts. We've had fights. And now, in its sixth season, we just c...
Our 2024 Oscars Recap
11 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
At this year's Oscars, Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer won in most of the major categories, including best picture and best director. It was also a bi...
2024 Oscars Preview And What's Making Us Happy
08 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Will it be Oppenheimer? Will it be Barbie? Or will it be some other story entirely? It's time to get down to business, because the Oscars are upon us....
2024 Oscars Guide: Documentary Feature
07 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This year's Oscar nominees for outstanding documentary feature are really strong entries that are available on streaming now. They also happen to be p...
Couple To Throuple
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Most dating shows have two things in common: They are terrible and they are watchable. That dynamic continues on Peacock's new dating show Couple to T...
2024 Oscars Guide: International Feature
05 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This year's crop of Oscar nominees for the best international feature adopt vastly different approaches to tell their disparate stories. There's a cou...
2024 Oscars Guide: Original Song
04 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This year's Oscar nominees for best original song are headlined by two songs from Barbie: one from Billie Eilish, and the other from Ryan Gosling. But...
Dune: Part Two And What's Making Us Happy
01 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Dune: Part Two is a sweeping, soaring space epic and this year's first big movie. Starring Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya, and directed by Denis Ville...
Wendy Williams
28 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new and unsettling Lifetime docuseries Where Is Wendy Williams? documents the former daytime talk show host as she struggled with alcohol addictio...
Avatar: The Last Airbender
27 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender is regarded as a classic. Now, it's gotten a live-action adaptation on Netflix. The series tells the st...
Oppenheimer
26 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Oppenheimer tells the story of the brilliant physicist (Cillian Murphy) who oversaw the construction of the first atomic bomb. It goes on to chart the...
Drive-Away Dolls And What's Making Us Happy
23 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The movie Drive-Away Dolls is a shaggy comedy about a couple of lesbian friends (Margaret Qualley and Geraldine Viswanathan) who take a road trip and ...
Jennifer Lopez's This Is Me... Now
22 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The wait to learn more about Jennifer Lopez's love life is finally over. The singer and actress has released a new film on Prime Video called This Is ...
Madame Web
20 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Madame Web, the latest Spider-Man-adjacent film that stakes out its own corner of the Spider-Verse. Dakota Johnson plays a New York paramedic who sees...
True Detective: Night Country
19 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
HBO/Max's True Detective: Night Country is the fourth season of the murder mystery anthology series. It's a bit of a welcome departure, with new showr...
Feud And What's Making Us Happy
16 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Feud: Capote Vs. the Swans is the latest reimagining of historical events produced by Ryan Murphy. The series follows famed author Truman Capote (play...
Platonic Love In Pop Culture
14 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
There have been countless romantic movies and TV shows — and a virtually infinite number of ways to watch people fall in love. But we're here to cel...
Abbott Elementary
13 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The fantastic ABC series Abbott Elementary is a workplace sitcom set at a severely underfunded Philadelphia public school. It's a giant hit, and it's ...
2024 Super Bowl, Plus Beyoncé's New Singles
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
This year's Super Bowl featured an exciting game in which the Kansas City Chiefs beat San Francisco 49ers. It also featured an attention-grabbing half...
Lisa Frankenstein And What's Making Us Happy
09 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In the new '80s horror comedy Lisa Frankenstein, an introverted teen (Kathryn Newton) finds comfort in visiting the grave of a young Victorian bachelo...
Mr. & Mrs. Smith
07 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
On Prime Video's fun new spy show Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Donald Glover and Maya Erskine play spies going undercover as a married couple. The show is part t...
Expats
06 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
The new Prime Video series Expats fits quite neatly into the recent work done by its star, Nicole Kidman. She plays a rich woman who is one of three A...
2024 Grammys Recap
05 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Every night is a big night for Taylor Swift. But this year's Grammy night proved especially big: Swift won album of the year for Midnights and announc...