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Pop Culture Happy Hour 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.
Pop Culture Happy Hour

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PCHH 2021
NPR

Pop Culture Happy Hour

From NPR

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.

Most Recent Episodes

Remembering Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim in 2005. Getty Images hide caption

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Getty Images

Remembering Stephen Sondheim

Stephen Sondheim, the most influential composer in modern Broadway history, died on Friday at the age of 91. He wrote music and lyrics for Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods, Sunday In The Park With George, Company, and more. Sondheim won eight Tony Awards, eight Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. And along the way, he made work so beloved that it's been produced again and again around the world, and influenced other Broadway composers like Lin Manuel-Miranda and Jonathan Larson.

Remembering Stephen Sondheim

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NPR's Book of the Day: Chris Hadfield and Anthony Horowitz
Mulholland Books/Orion Publishing

NPR's Book of the Day: Chris Hadfield and Anthony Horowitz

In this episode of NPR's Book of the Day podcast, we're spotlighting two thrillers. First, astronaut Chris Hadfield talked with former NPR host Lulu Garcia-Navarro about his novel The Apollo Murders, which is set in the 70's around, you guessed it, the Apollo missions. Then, a 2015 interview with NPR's Robert Siegel and author Anthony Horowitz about his James Bond novel Trigger Mortis, and what it's like giving a classic a 21st century twist.

NPR's Book of the Day: Chris Hadfield and Anthony Horowitz

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House of Gucci is a spicy meatball

Adam Driver, Jared Leto, and Lady Gaga in Ridley Scott's House of Gucci. MGM hide caption

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MGM

House of Gucci is a spicy meatball

Ridley Scott's House of Gucci is a whole lot of movie. Adam Driver plays the wealthy Mauritzio Gucci, and Lady Gaga plays his wife Patrizia. Al Pacino and Jared Leto play Mauritzio's uncle and cousin, who eventually battle Mauritzio for control of the Gucci empire. It's got fashion, it's got tragedy, and it's got terrible accents.

House of Gucci is a spicy meatball

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King Richard is Will Smith at his Oscar-iest

Aunjanue Ellis, Mikayla Bartholomew, Will Smith, Saniyya Sidney, Demi Singleton and Danielle Lawson in King Richard. Warner Bros. hide caption

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Warner Bros.

King Richard is Will Smith at his Oscar-iest

King Richard is a sports movie about the early days of superstar tennis champions Venus and Serena Williams. But, as its title suggests, the film focuses on their demanding and ambitious father, Richard Williams. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green, the movie stars Will Smith as a man who'll do anything to get his daughters from Compton to Wimbledon.

King Richard is Will Smith at his Oscar-iest

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Will you dig 'Cowboy Bebop'? Anime-be so, anime-be no

John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, and Daniella Pineda in Netflix's Cowboy Bebop. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

Will you dig 'Cowboy Bebop'? Anime-be so, anime-be no

The new Netflix series Cowboy Bebop is a live-action remake of the wildly popular Japanese anime about bounty hunters in a neo-noir future. Stylish and satirical, violent and cynical, the show is a bold mashup of genres – western, crime, science-fiction, buddy comedy, melodrama, thriller, and martial arts. It stars John Cho, Mustafa Shakir, and Daniella Pineda as bounty hunters with dark pasts. But does the series hold up to the original?

Will you dig 'Cowboy Bebop'? Anime-be so, anime-be no

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Ghostbusters: Afterlife - Who you gonna call? And should you?

Actors Mckenna Grace and Logan Kim in a scene from Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Sony hide caption

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Sony

Ghostbusters: Afterlife - Who you gonna call? And should you?

Ghostbusters: Afterlife reconnects with the original timeline of the Ghostbusters films from the 80s while introducing a bunch of new characters. Carrie Coon, Mckenna Grace, and Finn Wolfhard play a family who teams up with Paul Rudd to fight a new supernatural threat. The movie is directed by Jason Reitman — son of Ivan Reitman, who directed the first two Ghostbuster films.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife - Who you gonna call? And should you?

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Celebrating Petra Mayer's legacy and the joy she brought to NPR
NPR

Celebrating Petra Mayer's legacy and the joy she brought to NPR

There's no good way to share terrible news. Pop Culture Happy Hour panelist and NPR Books editor Petra Mayer died suddenly on Saturday of what is believed to be a pulmonary embolism. We take some time to remember our friend and colleague, and revisit some of our favorite episodes featuring Petra.

Celebrating Petra Mayer's legacy and the joy she brought to NPR

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Silk Sonic is the opposite of sexy, but still fun

Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars comprise the R&B superduo Silk Sonic. Atlantic Records hide caption

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Atlantic Records

Silk Sonic is the opposite of sexy, but still fun

Silk Sonic is a new musical showcase for two familiar faces: Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak. Their soulful collaborations started trickling out this past March, when the duo released the single "Leave The Door Open." Now they've dropped the album An Evening With Silk Sonic, which features classic funk and soul updated for the present day.

Silk Sonic is the opposite of sexy, but still fun

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In 'Below Deck,' life on a yacht meets reality TV

Captain Sandy Yawn leads the crew on Below Deck Mediterranean. Bravo hide caption

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Bravo

In 'Below Deck,' life on a yacht meets reality TV

If you've always wondered what it would be like to see the world while making espresso martinis for the super-rich, you might already be watching the Below Deck franchise. For the past eight years, the Bravo reality series and its many spinoffs have been showing viewers the world of deckhands and chefs, housekeeping and party planning, as young hot people work on luxury yachts chartered by people who have too much money.

In 'Below Deck,' life on a yacht meets reality TV

Listen · 26:13
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Thank you for the music, ABBA

Björn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and Benny Andersson of ABBA. ABBA's new album Voyage is out now. Courtesy of the artist hide caption

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Courtesy of the artist

Thank you for the music, ABBA

Earlier this month, ABBA released a new album called Voyage. It's the Swedish pop sensation's first set of new material in 40 years. Voyage gives us a perfect excuse to talk about all things ABBA: the massive sales, the jukebox musical Mamma Mia!, the endless hiatus, and — of course — those classic songs.

Thank you for the music, ABBA

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