Pop Culture Happy Hour
Get obsessed with us. Four 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.
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Tv & Film
Music Commentary
Film Reviews
Books
Arts
News
After Shows
Entertainment News
Tv Reviews
Music
- Update frequency
- every day
- Average duration
- 20 minutes
- Episodes
- 348
- Years Active
- 2024 - 2025
Reality TV, Romance, And Race
Some people may flinch at the genre of reality TV – it's full of tropes and manipulative editing and ridiculous premises. It's been referred to as a funhouse mirror of our culture. But it can reflect…
00:34:10 |
Mon 02 Sep 2024
Afraid And What's Making Us Happy
The new movie Afraid is latest in the well-established genre of "the computer is alive" stories. John Cho plays a dad who has a chance to try out a very advanced AI system at his home — and it does a…
00:22:07 |
Fri 30 Aug 2024
The Crow
In the new film The Crow, Bill Skarsgård plays a man who gets brutally murdered alongside his soulmate (FKA twigs). He returns to life as an unstoppable figure of vengeance, hunting down their killer…
00:16:12 |
Thu 29 Aug 2024
Sabrina Carpenter's Album Short N' Sweet
Sabrina Carpenter has had two of the year's biggest hits with "Espresso" and "Please Please Please." Now, she's released a new full-length album called Short n' Sweet, which serves up more catchy sil…
00:18:11 |
Wed 28 Aug 2024
When Celebrities Portray Themselves
It's practically a tradition for famous people to portray a really offbeat version of themselves in TV and movies. The latest season of Only Murders in the Building features Eugene Levy, Zach Galifia…
00:19:43 |
Tue 27 Aug 2024
Blink Twice And What's Making Us Happy
In the new psychological thriller Blink Twice, Naomi Ackie plays a woman who is invited to the private island of a tech billionaire, played by Channing Tatum. He's recently re-entered public life aft…
00:25:34 |
Fri 23 Aug 2024
The Reality TV Shows We'd Actually Win
Part of the fun of reality TV is putting yourself in the shoes of the people you're watching. Maybe you'd make a great Real Housewife. Maybe you could win The Amazing Race. Maybe you could even win t…
00:16:52 |
Wed 21 Aug 2024
Bad Monkey
In the new Apple TV+ series Bad Monkey, a fishing boat in the Florida Keys pulls in a human arm, and a suspended detective is the only one who can crack the case. Created by Bill Lawrence (Ted Lasso)…
00:17:53 |
Tue 20 Aug 2024
Physical Media We Still Treasure
The vinyl record, the CD, the DVD, the VHS tape — even the paper book has been the subject of debate and concern over its future. But we haven't given up our collections just yet. Today, we're revisi…
00:14:52 |
Mon 19 Aug 2024
Alien: Romulus And What's Making Us Happy
Alien: Romulus is the latest entry in the venerable Alien sci-fi/horror film franchise, and it leans hard into the horror. The new movie stars Cailee Spaeney as one of a young crew of space miners, a…
00:18:43 |
Fri 16 Aug 2024
Didi
The movie Didi is a vibrant coming-of-age dramedy and was a Sundance film festival favorite. It stars Izaac Wang as a 13-year-old just trying to survive the awkwardness of puberty as a Taiwanese-Amer…
00:14:48 |
Thu 15 Aug 2024
$#@*! Profanity In Pop Culture
We've got dirty words on the brain, and we're chatting about the use and functions of profanity in entertainment. In this encore episode from 2013, we cover everything from Anchorman to South Park to…
00:16:04 |
Wed 14 Aug 2024
Hunter Schafer's Movie Cuckoo
In the new, stylishly odd horror film Cuckoo, Hunter Schafer plays an American teenager who reluctantly moves with her family to a mysterious resort in the German Alps. Her rebellious spirit clashes …
00:16:04 |
Mon 12 Aug 2024
It Ends With Us and what's making us happy
The 2016 Colleen Hoover novel It Ends With Us was a massive bestseller. And now that book is a movie. Blake Lively stars as Lily Bloom, a woman who falls for a hot neurosurgeon played by Justin Baldo…
00:28:22 |
Fri 09 Aug 2024
Three great fiction audiobooks
It's summer, and whether you're taking a trip – or simply staying out of the heat with the AC running – there's nothing like relaxing with a good audiobook. So in this encore episode, we are recommen…
00:07:27 |
Thu 08 Aug 2024
Here's why we love the Olympics
There is nothing better for the summer doldrums than a blast of Olympic glory. For a couple of weeks this summer, athletes are showing us how they flip, run, swim, climb, and paddle and even breakdan…
00:24:29 |
Tue 06 Aug 2024
Colman Domingo's Sing Sing is a rare empathetic prison drama
The moving drama Sing Sing stars Colman Domingo as the leader of a tight-knit theatre ensemble within one of the most notorious maximum-security prisons in the United States. Most of the cast are alu…
00:17:22 |
Mon 05 Aug 2024
Trap and what's making us happy
M. Night Shyamalan's new thriller Trap stars Josh Hartnett as a father attending a pop concert with his teenage daughter. But all is not as it appears. It quickly turns out that the entire concert i…
00:25:22 |
Fri 02 Aug 2024
House Of The Dragon season 2 makes it Rhaen(yra)
The second season of HBO's House of the Dragon is almost over. The war between two rival factions of the Targaryen dynasty is fully underway, complete with stealth missions, palace intrigue, battle s…
00:22:56 |
Thu 01 Aug 2024
Time Bandits maps contemporary vibes over a cult classic
The dryly funny new Apple TV+ series Time Bandits reimagines the 1981 Terry Gilliam film of the same name. A squad of inept thieves — including their sort-of leader, played by Lisa Kudrow — have stol…
00:21:43 |
Wed 31 Jul 2024
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