Pop Culture Happy Hour

NPR

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.<br><br><em>Make your happy hour even happier with Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus! Your subscription supports the podcast and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. </em><em>Learn more at </em><em>plus.npr.org/</em><em>happyhour</em>

  • 52 minutes 28 seconds
    2026 Oscars Guide and What's Making Us Happy
    We've watched all the nominees in the major categories for the Oscars including Sinners, One Battle After Another, Hamnet, and Marty Supreme. So we’ve got opinions about what will win and what should win. (And yes, we’ll talk about Timothée Chalamet.)

    For a list of our favorite Oscar nominated films, check out our list at Letterboxd — at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture.

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    13 March 2026, 7:00 am
  • 21 minutes 47 seconds
    What Makes A Great Cast?
    This year, there's finally an Oscar being awarded for casting. The nominees are the casting directors for Sinners, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, and The Secret Agent. That got us thinking - what makes a great cast, anyway? Today, we spent some time talking about some of the nominees and casting generally.

    For a list of films we discussed, check out our list at Letterboxd — at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture.

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    12 March 2026, 7:00 am
  • 24 minutes 54 seconds
    Harry Styles Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.
    Harry Styles just released his new album Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally. It’s his fourth solo album since leaving the boy band One Direction, and the follow-up to Harry’s House, which won album of the year at the Grammys. The new album is a fairly radical departure, inspired by dance floors and post-punk music. But it still swoons, as any Harry Styles record must.

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    11 March 2026, 7:00 am
  • 18 minutes
    Hoppers
    In Disney and Pixar’s delightful new film Hoppers, a young woman (Piper Curda) learns a beloved glade is under threat from the town’s slimy mayor (Jon Hamm). But luckily, she discovers that her college professor has developed technology that can let her live as one of the critters she loves – by allowing her mind to “hop” into an animatronic beaver. And it just might just allow her to help save the glade from serious risk of destruction.

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    9 March 2026, 7:00 am
  • 23 minutes 38 seconds
    The Bride! and What's Making Us Happy
    The Bride! goes way beyond a simple tale of literature’s most famous reanimated corpses. Directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal and starring Jessie Buckley and Christian Bale, the film is a wild take on the bride of Frankenstein’s monster. It follows her origin story, her relationship with the big lug himself, and her pursuit of her own distinct identity. 

    Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture


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    6 March 2026, 8:00 am
  • 24 minutes 48 seconds
    Love Story
    John F. Kennedy Jr. was an object of public fixation his entire life, and he’s now the subject of the FX series Love Story. It focuses on Kennedy’s (Paul Anthony Kelly) relationship with his wife, Carolyn Bessette (Sarah Pidgeon). The show follows their courtship, their marriage, and the great strain that she experienced as part of what was, for a time, one of the most closely watched couples in the world.

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    4 March 2026, 8:00 am
  • 15 minutes 41 seconds
    The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins
    The new comedy series The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins stars Tracy Morgan as a disgraced former football star and Daniel Radcliffe as a documentary filmmaker who team up to make a movie. I know what you’re saying - another mockumentary sitcom? What if I told you that the creators come from shows like 30 Rock, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Girls5eva? And that the joke density bears that out? The NBC/Peacock series also stars Erika Alexander, Bobby Moynihan and Craig Robinson.


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    3 March 2026, 8:00 am
  • 25 minutes 42 seconds
    Industry
    HBO’s addictive drama Industry has never been afraid to wade in the muck, and the fourth season and finale was especially messy. The paths of frenemies Harper (Myha’la) and Yasmin (Marisa Abela) erratically converged and diverged, Sir Henry Muck (Kit Harington) lands at a fintech startup, and the parallels to real-life headlines became impossible not to notice. So after that harrowing season finale, we’re wondering what just happened, and where might the show go from here?

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    2 March 2026, 8:00 am
  • 22 minutes 43 seconds
    Scream 7 and What's Making Us Happy
    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.

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    27 February 2026, 9:07 pm
  • 16 minutes 30 seconds
    Our Favorite Movies On Tubi
    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.


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    26 February 2026, 8:00 am
  • 25 minutes 26 seconds
    The Traitors
    The Peacock reality show The Traitors has become weekly appointment television, as the always impeccably dressed Alan Cumming presides over an unfriendly game full of alliances, secrets, treachery and murder. This season has been rich with drama. Players like Love Island contestant Rob Rausch and former Real Housewife Lisa Rinna have created some truly memorable moments in Traitors history. Ahead of the finale, we convene in the turret to debrief on it all.

    To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.

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    25 February 2026, 8:00 am
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