Pop Culture Happy Hour

Steve Carell is a writer of pulpy crime novels and a hapless new writing teacher at a small college in the HBO comedy series Rooster. His daughter (Charly Clive) is also a teacher, and she’s the subject of campus gossip because her husband just dumped her for a student. The show’s got a great cast, including Danielle Deadwyler and John C. McGinley, and one of its creators is Bill Lawrence of Scrubs, Shrinking and Ted Lasso.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the Prime Video series Scarpetta, Nicole Kidman plays a tough, smart medical examiner whose latest murder case is entangled with a much earlier one. The show's got a big cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Bobby Cannavale and Ariana DeBose. Scarpetta is based on a series of successful crime novels by Patricia Cornwell.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

At the Oscars, One Battle After Another took home six awards including best picture, Michael B. Jordan won for lead actor in Sinners, and the telecast had plenty of jokes at Timothée Chalamet’s expense. We’re recapping the highs and lows of the 2026 Oscars.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureSubscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhourTo manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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/nprpopcultureTo manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhourTo manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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? To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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/nprpopcultureTo manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In Hulu's twisty drama series Paradise, Sterling K. Brown plays a Secret Service agent caught up in a web of intrigue after the president of the United States (James Marsden) is assassinated, with no suspect in sight. But at the end of the first episode, we learn this show is about way more than the murder of the head of state. From Dan Fogelman (This is Us), the series is back for a second season, so we’re revisiting our conversation about the show. To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Netflix’s How To Get To Heaven From Belfast is the new series from the creator of the beloved show Derry Girls. It follows three very messy longtime friends working together to solve a mystery from their youth. Part mystery and part comedy, it’s a darkly funny adventure through Ireland and elsewhere, as they elude various pursuers, reopen old wounds, and try to find answers about what has happened to a friend they lost along the way.To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In Pillion, a.k.a. the “gay BDSM biker movie,” a meek young man named Colin (Harry Melling) meets a handsome, broody biker played by Alexander Skarsgård who brings out his submissive side. They enter into a sub/dom relationship, but the biker remains so mysterious and withholding that Colin starts to want more – endangering the bond the two men share. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureTo access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the new film “Wuthering Heights,” Margot Robbie stars as headstrong and horny Cathy, and Jacob Elordi as brooding and horny Heathcliff. Their love on the wild windswept moors is passionate, doomed and pretty bonkers. From writer and director Emerald Fennell, the film has love, lust, hatred, revenge, and lots of lusty looks in the soaking rain.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureTo manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy