Trying to keep up with the latest in pop culture? We’ve got you covered. The Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast helps you find the best new binge-worthy tv shows, movies, music, and videogames.
Join hosts Linda Holmes, Aisha Harris, Stephen Thompson, and Glen Weldon four episodes a week - plus a rotating cast of guest pop culture enthusiasts. It’s your fix for reviews, recommendations, and recaps of the pop culture everyone is talking about. From lowbrow reality TV to Oscar-winning movies to the stuff in between, we take it all with a shot of cheer. On the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, we watch everything so that you never miss anything.
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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 has landed on a lot of top ten lists. The movie bears out those accolades. Directed by Jafar Panahi, it’s a tense, volatile, often darkly funny movie about what happens when a former political prisoner runs into a man he’s almost convinced is the one who tortured him and other prisoners. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/n...
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck share the screen again in new Netflix film, The Rip . Similar to the pulpy, mid-budget cop movies we used to get, The Rip is about a team of cops who are trying to take a huge stash of money from a drug cartel. But that work is not only dangerous, but also complicated as they encounter more money than they expected. The cast also includes Steven Yeun, Teyana Taylor, and Kyle Chandler. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture See pcm.a...
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 murderous cult. Ralph Fiennes returns as Dr. Kelson, who makes an unlikely friend in his medical refuge slash memorial site slash bone temple. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
The panel delves into "Agatha Christie's Seven Dials," a new Netflix series starring Mia McKenna-Bruce as Lady Eileen Brent. While some praise its thoughtful adaptation and charming elements, others critique its genre pivots, pacing, and the original novel's thin mystery. The discussion weighs the show's potential to launch an Agatha Christie universe against its execution, highlighting its strong cast and production value but questioning its overall narrative coherence.
The panel delves into the Apple TV+ series Hijack, starring Idris Elba as a corporate negotiator on a hijacked flight. They discuss the show's ability to maintain tension with constant plot twists, its subversive approach to character motivations, and Elba's compelling, controlled performance. While critiquing some of the less engaging ground-based subplots and the show's sillier elements, the hosts ultimately find it a highly enjoyable and smartly constructed summer thriller.
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 more that amount to little other than weird stunts. So we decided to dream up the ultimate TV crossovers: Gilmore Girls and Nashville , Abbott Elementary and The Leftovers , Only Murders in the Building and Brooklyn Nine-Nine , and The Bear and Happy Endings . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsor...
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 together since meeting in college. But there's always been something between them that's not quite platonic, and reconnecting at a wedding just might bring it to the surface. Based on the beloved Emily Henry novel, the movie’s got travel, banter, and even kissing in the rain. But does it capture the charm of the book? Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Let...
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 episode of NPR’s It’s Been a Minute . Host Brittany Luse and NPR Music Editor Hazel Cills break down a phenomenon called “heteropessimism.” See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
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, unhinged measures to get a new job. He tracks down the other candidates and eliminates the competition, one by one. Directed by Park Chan-wook ( Oldboy , The Handmaiden ), it’s filled with great performances and truly masterful action set pieces. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture See pcm.adswizz.com for info...
NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour panel dissects the ending of Netflix's Stranger Things after five seasons. Critics praise the ensemble cast and visual spectacle but express disappointment over the repetitive and increasingly outlandish storyline, particularly highlighting plot holes, wasted characters like Linda Hamilton, and the convoluted lore involving the Abyss. They scrutinize the ambiguous ending for Eleven and the excessively long, fan-service-driven epilogue, suggesting the show struggled to provide a satisfying conclusion while managing its expansive narrative.
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 because we believe in accountability, we’ll tell you how well we stuck to our resolutions for 2025. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
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 RuPaul’s Drag Race , and what’s to come for the Law & Order Universe. Plus, we check in on our prognosticating for 2025 and see how things worked out. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
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 over archival research, NPR’s roundup of best games of 2025 is a helpful guide to find something that’s just right for you. Today we’re talking about some of the best video games featured including Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 , Hades II , Silent Hill f , Butcher’s Creek and The Roottrees Are Dead . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collecti...
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 year we’ve got hundreds of book recommendations, so today, we’re highlighting some of our favorites – including Actress of a Certain Age by Jeff Hiller, The Ten Year Affair by Erin Somers, and Cannon by Lee Lai. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship prefere...
The new Anaconda movie is a meta reimagining in which Jack Black and Paul Rudd play aspiring filmmakers who attempt to make… a meta reimagining of Anaconda . It’s not quite a reboot, it’s not quite a sequel, and it’s played for laughs. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
The new movie Marty Supreme asks, can Timothée Chalamet play a supremely annoying character and still keep us interested from beginning to end? He stars as a working-class heel aiming to become a table tennis champion in the 1950s and features an eclectic supporting cast that includes Gwyneth Paltrow and Tyler, the Creator. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
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, we're talking about the actual, tangible gift you found waiting for you under the tree and still think about it from time to time. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
This episode delves into Paul Feig's new twisty psychological thriller, The Housemaid, starring Sydney Sweeney and Amanda Seyfried. The hosts celebrate its high camp, dark humor, and the joy of experiencing such a film with an audience, drawing comparisons to 90s thrillers. They also discuss the nuanced performances of its lead actresses and their respective career trajectories.
The panel dives into 'Avatar: Fire and Ash,' James Cameron's visually stunning sequel, exploring its epic battles and ambitious storytelling. While some praise its immersive spectacle and filmmaking craft, others critique its pacing, repetitive plot points, and narrative flaws like the 'white savior' trope. The episode concludes with the hosts sharing their personal pop culture recommendations for the week.
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 Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) as they carry on a clandestine affair off the ice. And since it’s based on a whole series of interconnected romance novels by Rachel Reid, it may be with us for a very long time. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to ma...
Fallout is based on a hugely successful video game series known for blending a sardonic, very dark comedic sensibility, and violence. The series is set in the game's post-apocalyptic world – an America divided into factions wrestling for control of an irradiated wasteland. When the hopeful Lucy (Ella Purnell) steps out of the comfortable life she's known in an underground vault, the world she's confronted with is harsh, brutal, merciless – and kinda funny. Fallout just returned for a second seas...
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 recommendations for great movies we missed in 2025 including The Secret Agent , Come See Me In the Good Light , Cactus Pears , and 100 Nights of Hero . Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsor...
Aisha and Stephen answer a mailbag question! Send in your own questions at pcch@npr.org, and we may answer it in a future bonus episode. This usually would be a bonus episode just for Pop Culture Happy Hour+ supporters, but this being the season of giving, we're sharing this one with everyone! To hear more bonus content like this every month and to support NPR and public radio, sign up for Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and ...
This episode features a comprehensive review of Netflix's "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery," highlighting its darker, more emotionally resonant tone and the standout performance of Josh O'Connor as Father Judd. The hosts discuss the film's nuanced exploration of faith and anger, its intricate plot construction, and key casting choices. Additionally, the episode concludes with the hosts sharing various cultural recommendations, including music and a board game.
In Netflix’s Jay Kelly , George Clooney plays the aging movie star Jay Kelly. His longtime manager (Adam Sander) and publicist (Laura Dern) struggle to manage Jay on a trip through Europe as he deals with the difficult relationship he has with his two grown daughters. From director and co-writer Noah Baumbach, the film is an exploration of regret and missed opportunities. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our col...
‘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? They can be fun in their own way. So we’re debating: what’s the worst Christmas movie of all time? We’ll talk about Love Actually , Jingle All The Way , I Believe In Santa , and Scrooge & Marley . Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal da...
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 spurs and cowboy hats fool you. At its heart, the new Western series is a sudsy nighttime soap. But is that a good thing? See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
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 Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. The creepy animatronic robots remain, and the sequel adds fresh lore and extends the action beyond the original abandoned restaurant. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture The first-ever NPR Pod Club Awards are coming up, and YOU get to crown the winner of the People’s Choice Award. Vote for...
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’ll also talk about some things you might have missed. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy...
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 Linda Holmes, Andrew Limbong and B.A. Parker discuss Austen’s seminal novel Pride & Prejudice. The trio weighs in on how the romance genre continues to reference the book’s “enemies to lovers” story – and why the tale’s leads Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Darcy still make us and laugh and swoon even today. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collecti...
