618 episodes

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

Pop Culture Happy Hour Pop Culture Happy Hour

    • TV & Film
    • 4.5 • 10.1K Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

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

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

    Terrible but bingeable TV shows

    Terrible but bingeable TV shows

    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 tracks? Even when you know it's not good, but, for you anyway, it's just good enough to muddle through, all the way to the finale? Today, we're talking about terrible but bingeable TV shows.

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    • 23 min
    Why Chris Pine gave up on being perfect

    Why Chris Pine gave up on being perfect

    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 the game controls the conversation. Each week, the guest chooses questions at random — about the memories, insights, and beliefs that have shaped their lives. This episode is an interview with the actor Pop Culture Happy Hour listeners voted as their favorite Chris — Chris Pine.

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    • 25 min
    Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga And What's Making Us Happy

    Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga And What's Making Us Happy

    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 worldbuilding that grapples with themes of feminism, environmentalism, and humanity. Directed by George Miller, the prequel film tells the story of a Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy), who was taken from her home as a girl, raised to be a warrior in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and now seeks revenge on an evil warlord (Chris Hemsworth).

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    • 25 min
    Does The Sympathizer worthily adapt its acclaimed book?

    Does The Sympathizer worthily adapt its acclaimed book?

    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 auteur director Park Chan-wook, and features Robert Downey, Jr. in four supporting roles. Set during and after the Vietnam war, the series follows a man (Hoa Xuande) juggling a position with the South Vietnamese military and one as a spy for the North Vietnamese. But is it a worthy adaptation?

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    • 17 min
    Does IF capture the magic of its Pixar inspiration?

    Does IF capture the magic of its Pixar inspiration?

    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 by John Krasinski. It mixes the real world and animation, but does it capture the heart of the Pixar movies that inspired it?

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    • 14 min
    The sexy sex is back in Bridgerton's new season

    The sexy sex is back in Bridgerton's new season

    The Netflix series Bridgerton is back, as gossipy and over-the-top as ever. Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and her crush on childhood best friend Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) take center-stage. When Penelope is determined to find a husband, Colin wants to help her and they start spending extra time together. But where will this lead? Well, you know the answer to that. It's all about the journey, and the clothes, and the nudity, and obviously, the Queen's hair.

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    • 21 min

Customer Reviews

4.5 out of 5
10.1K Ratings

10.1K Ratings

tb1891666 ,

The ads are getting very long

I get it, NPR is bleeding money and needs the ad sales. But the length of ads at the beginning is just comically long at this point. It feels like an ad show with some pop culture shows tucked towards the end

weespesh ,

What the prior reviewers 👇 said about the Baby Teindeer take

Much more I could say here, but these other folks who wrote in got it covered. I found Baby Reindeer strikingly honest. It resonated with similar experiences of abuse and sexuality (related and separately) in my life and lives around me. To suggest Donny was dating or leading on his abuser, even that the abuser was gay (he identifies out loud as pansexual during the show), or that Donny’s confusion post-assault is implying gay contagion — felt like very simplistic, borderline incorrect reads of a show that is not at all simple. Despite the hosts’ claims of not wanting to police sexuality, this episode perpetuates a tired narrative that bi or questioning folks are betraying the queer cause. And assuming that Jessica Gunning won’t get opportunities because she’s fat is an insult to the live wire of talent she brings to this show. Baby Reindeer is a story about the author’s self-hatred. The hosts seem to miss that and need it to be About queerness or About body size; I loved that those features, like they are in so much of real life, were just details in that story. And like a lot of real life, the story is messy.

This has been the most popular show on Netflix for weeks. Please have more than two people review it.

@ssskyler ,

Re: baby reindeer

Wow. Reviewer of baby reindeer is incapable of looking at this incredibly moving story objectively— instead he is only interested in placing himself at the center of the narrative — as the sole victim. Also admitting you were on your phone while watching it and missing things? And this is your job?

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