Accessibility links
Pop Culture Happy Hour Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pop-Culture News And Analysis From NPR
Does Netflix's 'Rebecca' Live Up To Its Predecessors?

Lily James plays Mrs. de Winter, and Armie Hammer plays Maxim de Winter in the new Netflix version of Rebecca. Kerry Brown/Netflix hide caption

toggle caption
Kerry Brown/Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Does Netflix's 'Rebecca' Live Up To Its Predecessors?

You may know Rebecca as a 1938 novel by Daphne du Maurier. You might know it as a 1940 adaptation directed by Alfred Hitchcock that won Best Picture. But if you've always wanted a version with Armie Hammer playing the role once occupied by Laurence Olivier, Netflix is on it. The new Rebecca stars Lily James as a woman who becomes the second wife of Maxim de Winter, played by Hammer. When she gets to his massive estate, she finds it occupied by his housekeeper, played here by Kristin Scott Thomas. It's also haunted by the memory of his first wife. Her name was Rebecca.

Does Netflix's 'Rebecca' Live Up To Its Predecessors?

Listen · 25:52
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/926129965/926734735" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'American Utopia': David Byrne's Coming To My House, Via HBO

American Utopia, directed by Spike Lee, captures a filmed performance of David Byrne's acclaimed Broadway production. David Lee/HBO hide caption

toggle caption
David Lee/HBO

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'American Utopia': David Byrne's Coming To My House, Via HBO

David Byrne and Spike Lee. Two artists with very defined, very distinct, and yet very different, sensibilities — but when you put them together, it works. The theatrical concert film David Byrne's American Utopia, now streaming on HBO Max, is a career-spanning celebration of Byrne's music, both with Talking Heads and his solo work. Director Spike Lee shoots the stage of Broadway's Hudson Theater from a host of angles to capture the exuberant, rollicking — yet rigorously choreographed energy — of Byrne and his fellow barefoot, silver-gray-suited performers.

'American Utopia': David Byrne's Coming To My House, Via HBO

Listen · 17:12
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/924012336/925849191" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Pop Culture Happy Hour Goes Daily

Like many of you, the Pop Culture Happy Hour team is socially distancing at home. And we are watching more TV shows and movies than ever before. So that's one of the reasons we are going to start coming to you five days a week. We'll talk about great movies, television, books, music and videogames. So make sure to join us starting Monday, October 26th when Pop Culture Happy Hour goes daily.

Pop Culture Happy Hour Goes Daily

Listen · 1:23
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/923230981/923595202" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Aaron Sorkin Goes Back To The Courtroom In 'The Trial Of The Chicago 7'

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Ben Shenkman, Mark Rylance, Eddie Redmayne and Alex Sharp in The Trial Of The Chicago 7. Nico Tavernise/Netflix hide caption

toggle caption
Nico Tavernise/Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Aaron Sorkin Goes Back To The Courtroom In 'The Trial Of The Chicago 7'

Writer-director Aaron Sorkin knows his way around a courtroom drama: He wrote the screenplay for A Few Good Men nearly 30 years ago. Now, he's written and directed The Trial of the Chicago 7. The new movie dramatizes the trial of a far-flung group of anti-Vietnam War activists, including Abbie Hoffman, Tom Hayden and Bobby Seale, who were each charged with inciting violence at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

Aaron Sorkin Goes Back To The Courtroom In 'The Trial Of The Chicago 7'

Listen · 23:00
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/923451069/924103529" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Is 'The Good Lord Bird' A White Savior Story, or Something Different?

Joshua Caleb Johnson as Onion and Ethan Hawke as John Brown in The Good Lord Bird. William Gray/Showtime hide caption

toggle caption
William Gray/Showtime

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Is 'The Good Lord Bird' A White Savior Story, or Something Different?

Ethan Hawke plays the abolitionist John Brown in the new series The Good Lord Bird, which traces the events leading up to the 1859 raid on Harpers Ferry. Told from the point of view of a fictional Black teenager nicknamed "Onion," the series has plenty of drama. But it's also a dark comedy about following a leader who's extremely passionate and wildly unpredictable.

Is 'The Good Lord Bird' A White Savior Story, or Something Different?

Listen · 19:50
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/923259914/923439861" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Enjoying Radha Blank's Sweet 'Forty-Year-Old Version'

In her directorial debut film The Forty-Year-Old Version, Radha Blank plays "Radha," a struggling playwright who decides to become a rapper. Jeong Park/Netflix hide caption

toggle caption
Jeong Park/Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Enjoying Radha Blank's Sweet 'Forty-Year-Old Version'

In the wonderful new film The Forty-Year-Old Version, playwright Radha Blank plays a variation on herself. In it, the fictional Radha, frustrated by a stall in her theater career, finds a new passion: she becomes a rapper. The Forty-Year-Old Version won the dramatic directing award at Sundance, and now it's on Netflix. It's about getting older, getting honest, and, yes, finding yourself.

Enjoying Radha Blank's Sweet 'Forty-Year-Old Version'

Listen · 23:09
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/920708247/921591803" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Latinx Songs That Helped Shape The Decade

J Balvin, Cardi B and Bad Bunny perform onstage during the 2018 American Music Awards. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images For dcp) Kevin Winter/Getty Images For dcp hide caption

toggle caption
Kevin Winter/Getty Images For dcp

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Latinx Songs That Helped Shape The Decade

Latinx music has experienced a huge boom in the last 10 years. We've seen the rise of global superstars like Bad Bunny and J Balvin. We've seen Shakira and Jennifer Lopez take over this year's Super Bowl halftime show. And, of course, we've seen the chart domination of "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee. The decade has also produced countless musical discoveries across the Latin world. And the whole time, our pals at NPR Music's Alt.Latino have been there to guide us through it all.

Latinx Songs That Helped Shape The Decade

Listen · 18:17
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/920377323/920705485" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'The Boys In The Band': Historical Artifact Or Cursed Relic?

Jim Parsons, Robin De Jesus, Michael Benjamin Washington, and Andrew Rannells star in the new Netflix adaptation of The Boys in the Band. Scott Everett White/Netflix hide caption

toggle caption
Scott Everett White/Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'The Boys In The Band': Historical Artifact Or Cursed Relic?

Fifty two years ago, Mart Crowley's The Boys in the Band debuted off-Broadway. The structure was simple, and not unfamiliar to anyone who'd seen a play before: Over the course of an evening, characters gather, get drunk and turn on one another. The groundbreaking difference was that it was a group of gay men doing all that gathering and drinking and lashing out. Now, a new Netflix film adapts the recent Tony-winning revival of the play.

'The Boys In The Band': Historical Artifact Or Cursed Relic?

Listen · 26:45
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/919118781/919132896" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
'The Legend Of Korra' Is Fire (And Air And Earth And Water)

Bolin, Korra, and Mako are three of the heroes in the Nickelodeon series The Legend of Korra. Nickelodeon hide caption

toggle caption
Nickelodeon

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'The Legend Of Korra' Is Fire (And Air And Earth And Water)

The Legend of Korra is a sequel to the hugely popular animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender. It takes place 70 years later, in a darker, more industrialized world where bending the elements is commonplace. Korra is now the Avatar, and she's everything her predecessor Aang wasn't. She's a confident, headstrong teenage girl much more comfortable with combat than with the spiritual aspect of her role.

'The Legend Of Korra' Is Fire (And Air And Earth And Water)

Listen · 22:14
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/916552890/918237093" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
NPR's Fall TV Preview: 23 Suggestions For What To Watch Next

(Clockwise from upper left) Joshua Caleb Johnson in The Good Lord Bird, Rafe Spall in The Salisbury Poisonings, Whoopi Goldberg in The Stand, Nicole Kidman in The Undoing, Joseph Gordon-Levitt in The Trial of the Chicago 7 and Amelie Smith in The Haunting of Bly Manor William Gray/Showtime, James Pardon/Dancing Ledge/BBC ONE/AMC, James Minchin/CBS, Niko Tavernise/HBO, Niko Tavernise/Netflix, Eiki Schroter/Netflix hide caption

toggle caption
William Gray/Showtime, James Pardon/Dancing Ledge/BBC ONE/AMC, James Minchin/CBS, Niko Tavernise/HBO, Niko Tavernise/Netflix, Eiki Schroter/Netflix

Review

NPR's Fall TV Preview: 23 Suggestions For What To Watch Next

It feels like a minor miracle that there are so many high-quality shows coming to the small screen this season. Four NPR critics share their picks to keep you entertained during a challenging year.

'Enola Holmes': Sherlock's Little Sister Gets On His Case

Millie Bobby Brown stars in Enola Holmes, the new Netflix film based on the book series by Nancy Springer. Netflix hide caption

toggle caption
Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Enola Holmes': Sherlock's Little Sister Gets On His Case

The new, bright and breezy Netflix movie Enola Holmes stars Millie Bobby Brown as the 16-year-old sister of Sherlock Holmes. She sets out on an adventure when her eccentric mother (Helena Bonham Carter) goes missing. It also features Sam Claflin as her stuffy brother Mycroft, Louis Partridge as a romantic interest, and Henry Cavill as Sherlock.

'Enola Holmes': Sherlock's Little Sister Gets On His Case

  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/914139731/916506884" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
In The Lively 'Enola Holmes,' Sherlock's Little Sister Goes Sleuthing

"The train's afoot!": (L to R) Sherlock (Henry Cavill) and Mycroft (Sam Claflin) literally look down on their younger sister Enola (Millie Bobby Brown) in Netflix's Enola Holmes. Alex Bailey/Legendary/Netflix hide caption

toggle caption
Alex Bailey/Legendary/Netflix

Review

In The Lively 'Enola Holmes,' Sherlock's Little Sister Goes Sleuthing

This bright and breezy Netflix adaptation of a YA novel finds Millie Bobby Brown starring as the brilliant, fourth-wall-busting little sister of Sherlock Holmes.

Our 2020 Emmys Recap

Daniel Levy, pictured here, picked up four Emmys for his work on the series Schitt's Creek. ABC hide caption

toggle caption
ABC

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Our 2020 Emmys Recap

It was not your usual Emmy Awards ceremony. Because of the pandemic, there was no crowd, and host Jimmy Kimmel worked mostly alone. People accepted their awards from home. But surprisingly enough, it turned out pretty well. Schitt's Creek, Watchmen, and Succession all had big nights. And it was kind of fun to watch people dressed up in their own living rooms.

Our 2020 Emmys Recap

Listen · 17:45
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/914363781/915182300" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
The Emmys Pull Off A Good Show As 'Schitt's Creek' And 'Watchmen' Shine

Eugene Levy accepts his award for lead actor in a comedy series for Schitt's Creek as his son (and creative partner) Dan Levy looks on at Sunday night's Emmy Awards. ABC via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
ABC via Getty Images

Review

The Emmys Pull Off A Good Show As 'Schitt's Creek' And 'Watchmen' Shine

Sunday night's Emmy Awards, which featured neither a large crowd nor a red carpet, managed to achieve a charming intimacy as Watchmen, Schitt's Creek and Succession all won major awards.

Browse archive or search npr.org