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PODCAST

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Trying to keep up with the latest in pop culture? We’ve got you covered. The Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast helps you find the best new binge-worthy tv shows, movies, music, and videogames.Join hosts Linda Holmes, Aisha Harris, Stephen Thompson, and Glen Weldon four episodes a week - plus a rotating cast of guest pop culture enthusiasts. It’s your fix for reviews, recommendations, and recaps of the pop culture everyone is talking about. From lowbrow reality TV to Oscar-winning movies to the stuff in

tv & film film reviews

All Episodes

22:43

Scream 7 and What's Making Us Happy

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2026/02/27

The OG Scream Queen Neve Campbell returns. Scream 7 re-centers the franchise back on Sidney Prescott. She has a new life, a family, and lots of baggage. You know the drill: Someone dressing up as the masked slasher Ghostface comes for her, her family and friends. There’s lots of stabbing and murder and so many red herrings it’s practically a smorgasbord.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureTo manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See

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16:30

Our Favorite Movies On Tubi

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2026/02/26

The streaming service Tubi has become a repository for a wild assortment of movies, TV shows, and original properties. They’re all free to watch, provided you’re willing to sit through some ads. So we asked some Tubi-philes to recommend some great movies that you can find on the service: Hundreds of Beavers, Color Out of Space, Petey Wheatstraw, and Mambo Italiano.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureLearn more about sponsor message choices:

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19:06

Winter Olympics and What’s Making Us Happy

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2026/02/20

The Winter Olympics are well underway, and we’ve got thoughts from an avid Olympics watcher and a reporter who’s covering the games in Italy. Whether it’s butt on the couch or feet on the ground – we’ve got you covered.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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27:11

America’s Next Top Model

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2026/02/19

America’s Next Top Model has been rewatched in the years since its 2003 premiere, and its handling of race, body image, and other issues has been loudly and heavily criticized. A new Netflix docuseries Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model interviews the major players including Tyra Banks, J. Alexander, Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker. And it doesn’t let Tyra off easy. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour Learn more about sponsor message choices:

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24:38

Bad Bunny Super Bowl Halftime Show

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2026/02/09

At the Super Bowl halftime show, Bad Bunny put on an endlessly rewatchable performance. It featured Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, and a real wedding. But it didn’t shy away from this political moment, and Bad Bunny’s place in the culture wars.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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21:46

Star Trek: Starfleet Academy

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2026/01/29

Star Trek fans are finally getting something they’ve wanted for a long time, and it doesn’t disappoint. The new series Star Trek: Starfleet Academy takes place at the college attended by kids who want to become officers in Starfleet. It stars Holly Hunter as the school’s chancellor, Paul Giamatti as a recurring bad guy, and a roster of hot young cadets who have classes to attend and lessons to learn.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhourLearn more about sponsor message

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20:24

The Beauty

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2026/01/27

The Beauty stars familiar faces from the Ryan Murphy universe, including Evan Peters, as well as new collaborators like Ashton Kutcher. In the show, a genetic biotech serum has been engineered to transform people into ridiculously good-looking supermodels. But there’s at least one problem: Eventually, those supermodels are dying suddenly, horrifically and spectacularly. Is it astute commentary, crass exploitation, or maybe a bit of both? Well, it’s definitely a Ryan Murphy production, through and

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19:19

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2026/01/26

The HBO series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms may be set in the same fantasy world as Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, but it’s a small, grounded story – a kind of medieval buddy comedy. It follows a sweet but dim knight (Peter Claffey) and his wise-beyond-his-years young squire (Dexter Sol Ansell) trying to make their way in a tough world. A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is based on a series of novellas by George R.R. Martin.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at

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24:13

One Battle After Another and What’s Making Us Happy

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2026/01/23

One Battle After Another earned 13 Oscar nominations - including best picture, best director and a lead actor nomination for Leonardo DiCaprio. In the action-thriller, DiCaprio plays a washed up ex-revolutionary searching for his missing daughter while raging against the machine. In this case, the machine is unabashedly racist, xenophobic, and corrupt. Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the ensemble also includes Sean Penn, Teyana Taylor and Benicio del Toro. Today, we’re revisiting our episode about

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21:57

People We Meet On Vacation and What's Making Us Happy

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2026/01/09

The new Netflix rom-com People We Meet On Vacation is about best friends Poppy (Emily Bader) and Alex (Tom Blyth) who have gone on annual trips together since meeting in college. But there's always been something between them that's not quite platonic, and reconnecting at a wedding just might bring it to the surface. Based on the beloved Emily Henry novel, the movie’s got travel, banter, and even kissing in the rain. But does it capture the charm of the book?Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on

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16:35

No Other Choice

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2026/01/07

No Other Choice is a new bleak comedy about a man (Lee Byung-hun) at a crossroads. After losing his job at a paper company, he resorts to desperate, unhinged measures to get a new job. He tracks down the other candidates and eliminates the competition, one by one. Directed by Park Chan-wook (Oldboy, The Handmaiden), it’s filled with great performances and truly masterful action set pieces.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureLearn more about sponsor message

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22:06

Stranger Things

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2026/01/06

After five seasons and almost ten years, the saga of Netflix’s Stranger Things has reached its end. In a two-hour finale, we found out what happened to our heroes (including Millie Bobby Brown and Finn Wolfhard) when they set out to battle the forces of evil. The final season had new faces and new revelations, along with moments of friendship and conflict among the folks we've known and loved since the night Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) first disappeared. But did it stick the landing?To access bonus

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20:37

Anaconda

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2025/12/26

The new Anaconda movie is a meta reimaging in which Jack Black and Paul Rudd play aspiring filmmakers who attempt to make… a meta reimagining of Anaconda. It’s not quite a reboot, it’s not quite a sequel, and it’s played for laughs.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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23:18

Marty Supreme and What’s Making Us Happy

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2025/12/24

The new movie Marty Supreme asks, can Timothée Chalamet play a supremely annoying character and still keep us interested from beginning to end? He stars as a working-class heel aiming to become a table tennis champion in the 1950s and features an eclectic supporting cast that includes Gwyneth Paltrow and Tyler, the Creator. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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21:51

Best Christmas Gift I Ever Received

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2025/12/23

What's the best Christmas gift you ever received? You probably didn't have to think about it; you knew it in your bones. Today, in this encore episode, we're talking about the actual, tangible gift you found waiting for you under the tree and still think about it from time to time.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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21:32

The Housemaid

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2025/12/22

The twisty thriller The Housemaid stars Sydney Sweeney as a newly hired live-in housekeeper to Amanda Seyfried’s wealthy housewife. Both women have dark secrets, and their dynamic goes downhill real fast. It’s directed by Paul Feig of Bridesmaids and A Simple Favor, so you know it’s going to be a bizarre, fun ride.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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20:55

Heated Rivalry

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2025/12/18

The new show Heated Rivalry is a very sexy and very queer hockey romance streaming on HBO Max–and it’s a phenomenon. It follows archrival players Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie) as they carry on a clandestine affair off the ice. And since it’s based on a whole series of interconnected romance novels by Rachel Reid, it may be with us for a very long time.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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18:43

Fallout

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2025/12/17

Fallout is based on a hugely successful video game series known for blending a sardonic, very dark comedic sensibility, and violence. The series is set in the game's post-apocalyptic world – an America divided into factions wrestling for control of an irradiated wasteland. When the hopeful Lucy (Ella Purnell) steps out of the comfortable life she's known in an underground vault, the world she's confronted with is harsh, brutal, merciless – and kinda funny. Fallout just returned for a second season

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19:04

Great Movies We Missed

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2025/12/16

Every year, we like to take a moment to look back and spotlight a few favorite films we didn’t have time to talk about. Today, we're making recommendations for great movies we missed in 2025 including The Secret Agent, Come See Me In the Good Light, Cactus Pears, and 100 Nights of Hero.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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14:55

Mailbag: The Movies We Walked Out Of

Pop Culture Happy Hour ·

2025/12/14

Aisha and Stephen answer a mailbag question! Send in your own questions at pcch@npr.org, and we may answer it in a future bonus episode.This usually would be a bonus episode just for Pop Culture Happy Hour+ supporters, but this being the season of giving, we're sharing this one with everyone! To hear more bonus content like this every month and to support NPR and public radio, sign up for Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happyLearn more about sponsor message choices:

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