Pop Culture Happy Hour Pop Culture Happy Hour

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 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.

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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 phenomenon. And Conan O'Brien is its most recent high achiever, and possibly the best guest ever. What exactly makes a good Hot Ones guest?

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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 Disney+ series X-Men '97 picks up right where the original ended. But changes are also taking place: secrets get revealed, the team roster gets shuffled, and characters meet shocking fates. What hasn't changed is everything fans expect from the X-Men: big fights, big powers, and lots of mutant melodrama.

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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 cutes to the happy endings and through all the ups and downs in between, we're recommending great books for people who love love and romance.

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The new film Civil War depicts a contemporary America torn apart by a military conflict between the federal government and an alliance of secessionist states. Directed by Alex Garland (Ex Machina), the film follows a small band of journalists led by Kirsten Dunst's jaded war photographer. They embark on a harrowing journey to the heart of the conflict, encountering brutality and bloodshed along the way.

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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 State, and this time, follows an annual high school program that gives hundreds of girls a chance to create a mock government, complete with elections and a Supreme Court. It was made during the 2022 session, which ended days before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and the case is very much on the minds of the girls in the program.

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