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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.

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

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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.

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

Most Recent Episodes

The bonds are strong on 'Better Things,' and so is our love for this show

Mikey Madison, Pamela Adlon, Hannah Riley, and Olivia Edward in a scene from Better Things. FX hide caption

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FX

The bonds are strong on 'Better Things,' and so is our love for this show

On the FX series Better Things, Pamela Adlon plays Sam Fox, a working actor in L.A. and a single mother to her three children. Sam and her family deal with many familiar pangs of life, like aging and puberty, in ways that are funny, profound, and sometimes cosmic. The semi-autobiographical show was co-created by Adlon, and after five seasons, it's coming to a close.

The bonds are strong on 'Better Things,' and so is our love for this show

Listen · 20:23
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'Starstruck' is a meet-cute with fame

Nikesh Patel and Rose Matafeo star in the HBO Max series Starstruck. HBO Max hide caption

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HBO Max

'Starstruck' is a meet-cute with fame

It might sound like fun to date a glamorous movie star, but in reality, it would probably get very messy. That's the premise of HBO Max's Starstruck, created by and starring New Zealand comedian Rose Matafeo. The romantic comedy series is complicated, funny and charming — treating fame as the isolating pain in the neck it often can be. It's a great weekend binge watch, and just returned for a second season. In this encore episode, we discuss the first season.

'Starstruck' is a meet-cute with fame

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Our 2022 Grammys Recap

Olivia Rodrigo accepts the best pop vocal album Grammy. Getty Images for The Recording Academy hide caption

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Getty Images for The Recording Academy

Our 2022 Grammys Recap

Last night's Grammys featured wins for Olivia Rodrigo, Silk Sonic, Jon Batiste, and more. Plus we got a lavish stage show with performances from BTS, Lady Gaga, and many others.

Our 2022 Grammys Recap

Listen · 24:31
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Michelle Yeoh gets multidimensional in 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'

Stephanie Hsu, Michelle Yeoh, and Ke Huy Quan in Everything Everywhere All At Once, the latest film directed by the Daniels. A24 hide caption

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A24

Michelle Yeoh gets multidimensional in 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'

Everything Everywhere All At Once is the kind of movie that lives up to its title. It's a zany and profound sci-fi action comedy set in multiple dimensions, bursting with ideas about the pursuit of happiness, familial duty and the meaning of life. It stars Michelle Yeoh as a businesswoman whose world is turned upside down the day her family attempts to file their taxes. Forced to confront her life choices, she clashes with her daughter, her husband and a cranky IRS inspector in the weirdest of ways.

Michelle Yeoh gets multidimensional in 'Everything Everywhere All At Once'

Listen · 28:44
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Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum have big fun in 'The Lost City'

Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum in a scene from The Lost City. Paramount Pictures hide caption

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Paramount Pictures

Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum have big fun in 'The Lost City'

In the new film The Lost City Sandra Bullock plays a romance novelist who is kidnapped by a duplicitous billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) looking for the real-life lost treasure referenced in her writing. Her cover model (Channing Tatum) embarks on a bumbling quest through the jungle and save her.

Sandra Bullock and Channing Tatum have big fun in 'The Lost City'

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'Bridgerton' is back, but will you still swoon?

Simone Ashley and Jonathan Bailey star in the second season of Bridgerton. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

'Bridgerton' is back, but will you still swoon?

The Netflix series Bridgerton is back for a second season. And now, Anthony Bridgerton (Jonathan Bailey) is having his story told with the addition of a new love interest, played by Simone Ashley. Based on a series of Regency romance novels by Julia Quinn, there's still high drama, scandalous gossip and elaborate period costumes that sometimes take over entire scenes. So what's different, what's the same and how do Daphne and her duke figure into this season?

'Bridgerton' is back, but will you still swoon?

Listen · 22:55
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Emotions are working overtime in the 'Big Mouth' spinoff 'Human Resources'

Maria Bamford as Tito the Anxiety Mosquito, James III as Cat Stevens, Chris O'Dowd as Flanny the Love Bug, John Gemberling as Tyler the Hormone Monster, David Thewlis as Shame Wizard, Maya Rudolph as Connie the Hormone Monstress, Rosie Perez as Petra the Ambition Goblin, Aidy Bryant as Emmy the Love Bug, and Maria Bamford as Depression Kitty in Human Resources. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

Emotions are working overtime in the 'Big Mouth' spinoff 'Human Resources'

The Netflix animated series Human Resources is a spinoff of the filthy and funny Big Mouth. The series takes place in an office where the creatures that embody human emotions work, including Hormone Monsters voiced by co-creator Nick Kroll and Maya Rudolph. The show centers on a Love Bug voiced by Aidy Bryant. And there are plenty of other new faces, including a Logic Rock voiced by Randall Park and an Ambition Gremlin voiced by Rosie Perez. We also spend some time with Aidy Bryant's human client, a new mother named Becca, voiced by Ali Wong.

Emotions are working overtime in the 'Big Mouth' spinoff 'Human Resources'

Listen · 13:19
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Our 2022 Oscars Recap

Will Smith tearfully accepts a best actor Oscar for his role in King Richard. Earlier in the ceremony Smith slapped Chris Rock onstage. Getty Images hide caption

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Getty Images

Our 2022 Oscars Recap

The 2022 Oscars included a best picture win for CODA, plus awards for Jessica Chastain, Dune, Encanto, and Jane Campion. But the proceedings were overshadowed when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock. Later in the ceremony, Smith won a best actor Oscar for his role in King Richard.

Our 2022 Oscars Recap

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2022 Oscars Preview: Who will win and who should win
AFP via Getty Images

2022 Oscars Preview: Who will win and who should win

The 2022 Oscars are finally upon us. There are always two big questions as we approach the Oscars: Who will win, and who should win. Today, we're offering up a guide to this year's nominations to try to help you win your Oscar pool and see some terrific movies at the same time.

2022 Oscars Preview: Who will win and who should win

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A marriage that's a shell of its former self struggles in 'Deep Water'

Ana de Armas and Ben Affleck star in the Hulu erotic thriller Deep Water. 20th Century Studios hide caption

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20th Century Studios

A marriage that's a shell of its former self struggles in 'Deep Water'

The new Hulu thriller Deep Water is about unhappily married couple Vic and Melinda, played by Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas. Melinda is involved with other men, and when those other men start to run into some bad luck, suspicion falls on Vic. Directed by erotic thriller king Adrian Lyne, Deep Water delves into the specifics of this particular marriage, the intersection of sex and violence, and one man's lonely devotion to his collection of snails.

A marriage that's a shell of its former self struggles in 'Deep Water'

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