Accessibility links
Pop Culture Happy Hour Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pop Culture Happy HourPop Culture Happy Hour

Pop culture in high spirits
2022 Books We Love: Staff Picks
Chelsea Conrad

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

2022 Books We Love: Staff Picks

Books We Love is a yearly labor of love here at NPR. Every year, the Books We Love team solicits recommendations from NPR staff and book critics and culls through them, creating an interactive reading guide you can use to find the perfect book for you or someone you love. Today, we're talking staff picks.

2022 Books We Love: Staff Picks

Listen · 10:42
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1139932585/1140706719" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'Sort Of' is back and still great

Bilal Baig as Sabi in the first season of Sort Of. HBO Max hide caption

toggle caption
HBO Max

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Sort Of' is back and still great

The HBO Max series Sort Of follows Sabi, played by Bilal Baig, a gender-fluid millennial in Toronto trying to figure their life out. They're the child of Pakistani parents, they've got a loser boyfriend, they work at a queer bookstore/bar and they're a nanny to a troubled professional couple with a couple of troubled kids. It's a slyly innovative show that makes for a great Saturday afternoon binge. The series recently returned for a second season, so we thought it would be a good time to revisit our conversation about the first season.

'Sort Of' is back and still great

Listen · 19:49
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1140146457/1140178805" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend listening, viewing and reading

Steve Lacy performs at The Fillmore Silver Spring in Maryland on Oct. 15, 2022. Kyle Gustafson/The Washington Post/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Kyle Gustafson/The Washington Post/Getty Images

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend listening, viewing and reading

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: Midwest Modern Twitter account, Unclear and Present Danger podcast, Gemini Rights and more.

'The Fabelmans' is Steven Spielberg's love letter to his family, and the movies

Paul Dano, Mateo Zoryan Francis-DeFord, and Michelle Williams in a scene from The Fabelmans. Merie Weismiller Wallace/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment hide caption

toggle caption
Merie Weismiller Wallace/Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'The Fabelmans' is Steven Spielberg's love letter to his family, and the movies

The Fabelmans is Steven Spielberg's semi-autobiographical and deeply personal film about a Jewish American boy who dreams of making movies. Growing up he learns to tell stories through his 8mm camera while life-altering events within his family's household significantly affect how he views the world. The cast includes Michelle Williams, Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, and Judd Hirsch.

'The Fabelmans' is Steven Spielberg's love letter to his family, and the movies

Listen · 30:06
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1136847479/1139916351" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
'Strange World' journeys to the center of an animated earth

The Clade family in Disney's Strange World. Disney hide caption

toggle caption
Disney

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Strange World' journeys to the center of an animated earth

In Disney's new animated adventure Strange World, a family gets lost in a mysterious land underground. It's a story about discovery and intergenerational conflict — with a cast that includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Gabrielle Union, Jaboukie Young-White, and Dennis Quaid.

'Strange World' journeys to the center of an animated earth

Listen · 14:53
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1136107713/1139889010" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Does 'Disenchanted' find the fairy tale magic?

Amy Adams returns as Giselle in Disenchanted on Disney Plus. Disney Enterprises, Inc. hide caption

toggle caption
Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Does 'Disenchanted' find the fairy tale magic?

The Disney Plus movie Disenchanted brings back Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey and James Marsden in the continuing story of a cartoon princess making a life in the real world. A follow-up to 2007's Enchanted, it has more songs, gags and conflicts between fairytale life and reality that animated, so to speak, the original.

Does 'Disenchanted' find the fairy tale magic?

Listen · 15:53
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1139668805/1139671631" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
They're in love and they eat people, in 'Bones and All'

Timothée Chalamet as Lee and Taylor Russell as Maren in Bones and All. Yannis Drakoulidis/Metro Goldwyn Mayer hide caption

toggle caption
Yannis Drakoulidis/Metro Goldwyn Mayer

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

They're in love and they eat people, in 'Bones and All'

Luca Guadagnino's weirdly beautiful romance Bones and All is a familiar road trip tale of young, angsty lovers drifting from state to state against the backdrop of breathtaking wide-open vistas. But the kicker is that the couple, played by Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell, are — wait for it — cannibals. And they're on the lookout for their next feeding. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour

They're in love and they eat people, in 'Bones and All'

Listen · 15:47
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1137691111/1139491392" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Is 'Wednesday' creepy, kooky, mysterious or ooky enough?

Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in Wednesday. NETFLIX hide caption

toggle caption
NETFLIX

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Is 'Wednesday' creepy, kooky, mysterious or ooky enough?

The Netflix series Wednesday breaks the beloved Addams Family character Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) out of her home environment and into the gloomy, gothy Nevermore Academy. It's the alma mater of parents Gomez (Luis Guzmán) and Morticia Addams (Catherine Zeta-Jones). As Wednesday navigates her new environment she's drawn into the investigation of a series of grisly murders. The show was created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville) with Tim Burton directing half of the episodes

Is 'Wednesday' creepy, kooky, mysterious or ooky enough?

Listen · 14:38
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1135768062/1138616255" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Were you raised by Ricki Lake?

Ricki Lake attends the Stand Up For Pits Foundation Comedy Night at the Hollywood Improv. Amanda Edwards/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Amanda Edwards/Getty Images

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Were you raised by Ricki Lake?

The Pop Culture Happy Hour team is off today, so we're bringing you an excerpt of the podcast Raised By Ricki. If you were a fan of Ricki Lake's talk show back in the '90s, this is the podcast for you. Ricki is back, and each week she's breaking down all the historic moments from her hit talk show with her co-host Kalen Allen. Part re-watch podcast, part cultural retrospective, Raised by Ricki features conversations with John Waters, Andy Cohen, Sally Jessy Raphael, and many more. In this excerpt, Ricki sits down with writer and podcast host Tracy Clayton. Tracy watched Ricki Lake every day after school, and talks about what makes the show so unforgettable, the importance of seeing Black representation on-screen, and how Ricki influenced her own career in media.

Were you raised by Ricki Lake?

Listen · 33:39
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1138609775/1138762213" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Latinos in Hollywood

America Ferrera (clockwise from top left), Eva Longoria, Rosie Perez, Ivette Rodriguez, Rosario Dawson and Christy Haubegger are using their platforms to promote empowerment and representation. Mike Gallegos for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Mike Gallegos for NPR

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Latinos in Hollywood

The Pop Culture Happy Hour team is off today, so we're bringing you a story from Mandalit del Barco's radio series about Latinos in Hollywood. Latinos have been a part of Hollywood since the days of silent movies, but they continue to be underrepresented in front of and behind the camera. For example, there aren't many Latina actresses in leading movie roles-- fewer than two percent, according to USC's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. And those who do make it also multitask as directors, producers, and activists.

Latinos in Hollywood

Listen · 8:05
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1136840073/1138619898" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Point, Blanc: 'Glass Onion' brings together a big cast to solve another murder

Edward Norton as Miles, Madelyn Cline as Whiskey, and Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. John Wilson/Netflix hide caption

toggle caption
John Wilson/Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Point, Blanc: 'Glass Onion' brings together a big cast to solve another murder

What has a murder mystery, a big cast of stars, some amazing fashion, and the deep blue waters of Greece? The eagerly awaited Glass Onion, the follow-up to the 2019 Oscar-nominated comedy Knives Out. Daniel Craig returns as brilliant detective Benoit Blanc and this time, he's trying to solve a murder that involves a tech billionaire and his glamorous but sketchy friends.

Point, Blanc: 'Glass Onion' brings together a big cast to solve another murder

Listen · 21:07
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1136107292/1138633782" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
On Lohan! On Ferrell! On Food Network hosts! It's Christmas movie time

Lindsay Lohan and Chord Overstreet star in Netflix's Falling for Christmas. Scott Everett White/Netflix hide caption

toggle caption
Scott Everett White/Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

On Lohan! On Ferrell! On Food Network hosts! It's Christmas movie time

It's that time of year again, when many cable outlets and streaming services put on their holiday best. That's right, it's holiday movie season, and we're diving in. From the splashy musical Spirited featuring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds to a big comeback for Lindsay Lohan, we're dipping a toe in some of the highest-profile movies of this season.

On Lohan! On Ferrell! On Food Network hosts! It's Christmas movie time

Listen · 16:30
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1137814792/1138247429" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Screening Ourselves: The art and archive of feeling unseen on screen

Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple, Marlon Brando in The Godfather, Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. Mark Harris for NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Mark Harris for NPR

Screening Ourselves: The art and archive of feeling unseen on screen

The debates over on-screen representation and filmmaking's blind spots predate digital outrage. The new podcast Screening Ourselves digs into three Hollywood classics, The Godfather, The Color Purple and Basic Instinct, and how they each portrayed, and ignited, historically misrepresented groups.

Songs for cleaning the bathroom

Cleaning the bathroom requires two things: a mop and some really good tunes. Angela Hsieh/NPR hide caption

toggle caption
Angela Hsieh/NPR

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Songs for cleaning the bathroom

Maybe you've got guests coming over for the holidays. Maybe an onslaught of news has kept you glued to the couch or hiding under your covers. Either way, you need to clean the bathroom, and you need a playlist. In this encore episode, we're recommending three songs for cleaning the bathroom.

Songs for cleaning the bathroom

Listen · 5:59
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1137240671/1137680637" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Revisiting 'The Color Purple' wars
Mark Harris for NPR

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Revisiting 'The Color Purple' wars

In the final chapter of our special documentary series Screening Ourselves, host Aisha Harris recounts the debates ignited by Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple. The 1985 film is remembered as a fan-favorite centering Black women's lives, but the acclaimed adaptation of Alice Walker's novel was received quite differently among female viewers and male viewers.

Revisiting 'The Color Purple' wars

Listen · 46:33
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1135090797/1137807388" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend listening, viewing and reading

Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams and Raul Julia as Gomez Addams in Addams Family Values. Paramount Pictures/Cinematic Collection/Alamy Stock Photo hide caption

toggle caption
Paramount Pictures/Cinematic Collection/Alamy Stock Photo

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend listening, viewing and reading

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: Dawnlands: A Novel, Addams Family Values, Wind of Change and Turnstile.

'She Said' is a movie about journalism that knows whose story to tell

Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan depict reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey in She Said. JoJo Whilden/Universal Pictures hide caption

toggle caption
JoJo Whilden/Universal Pictures

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'She Said' is a movie about journalism that knows whose story to tell

The film She Said is about the New York Times investigation of movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Zoe Kazan plays Jodi Kantor and Carey Mulligan plays Megan Twohey. Their reporting on Weinstein's sexual misconduct and assault allegations contributed greatly to the #MeToo movement, and helped lead to criminal charges that sent Weinstein to prison. The film was directed by Maria Schrader and written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz and is in theaters now.

'She Said' is a movie about journalism that knows whose story to tell

Listen · 29:54
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1135777854/1137536837" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
The wide open spaces (and soapy tropes) of 'Yellowstone'

Kevin Costner as John Dutton in Yellowstone Paramount Pictures hide caption

toggle caption
Paramount Pictures

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

The wide open spaces (and soapy tropes) of 'Yellowstone'

Even if you don't watch the TV show Yellowstone, there's a good chance you know people who do. The very popular western is entering its fifth season, it's already got multiple spin-offs planned, and it's not slowing down. Kevin Costner plays the patriarch of the Dutton family, and their story and sprawling ranch is one of television's biggest current success stories.

The wide open spaces (and soapy tropes) of 'Yellowstone'

Listen · 24:15
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1135768475/1137110606" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Donald Glover seems mad at us, but we (mostly) embrace 'Atlanta' anyway

Donald Glover, Zazie Beetz and Brian Tyree Henry star in Atlanta. Guy D'Alema/FX hide caption

toggle caption
Guy D'Alema/FX

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Donald Glover seems mad at us, but we (mostly) embrace 'Atlanta' anyway

When the FX series Atlanta arrived six years ago, it was unlike anything else on TV. It depicted its namesake city as a surreal landscape rich with offbeat characters. And it turned its creator and star Donald Glover from a niche comedic actor and rapper into an A-list Hollywood auteur. Atlanta recently concluded its fourth and final season, and it remained dark and weird until the very end. But did it go out on top?

Donald Glover seems mad at us, but we (mostly) embrace 'Atlanta' anyway

Listen · 25:27
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1136784019/1136918504" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
On 'The Crown', you can't spell divorce without Di

Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki star in The Crown Keith Bernstein hide caption

toggle caption
Keith Bernstein

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

On 'The Crown', you can't spell divorce without Di

In the latest season of Netflix's The Crown, a new cast steps into the roles of Queen Elizabeth II and her family just in time for the 1990s – and a series of scandals growing out of the bitter separation and divorce of Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki). The world around the royal family undergoes sweeping changes while Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton) strives, in her own stolid way, to hold on to privacy, tradition, and duty.

On 'The Crown', you can't spell divorce without Di

Listen · 20:25
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1133970060/1136593086" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Browse archive or search npr.org