Pop Culture Happy Hour
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About This Podcast
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 between, we take it all with a shot of cheer. On the Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast, we watch everything so that you never miss anything.
Make your happy hour even happier with Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus! Your subscription supports the podcast and unlocks a sponsor-free feed. Learn more at plus.npr.org/happyhour
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Recent Episodes
Summer House
Have you been keeping up with all the drama of Summer House? The cast of the Bravo reality series is currently embroiled in a scandal involving Kyle Cooke, Amanda Batula, West Wilson and Ciara…
Office Romance
The new Netflix film Office Romance pairs rom-com veteran Jennifer Lopez with Brett Goldstein in a story about the hazards of falling for your boss. But is the on-screen chemistry there? And how does…
Scary Movie
The horror comedy franchise Scary Movie is back in theaters with a new movie. But does this legacy sequel that parodies other legacy sequels have anything new to say? Helmed by the Wayans Brothers,…
Masters of the Universe and What’s Making Us Happy
The new Masters of the Universe movie is packed with Easter eggs for fans of the old 80s cartoon and toys, but does this wannabe summer blockbuster have anything to offer for everybody else? It…
Power Ballad
In the wonderful new film Power Ballad, Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas play two musicians whose careers haven’t exactly gone to plan – but one song may change that. Rick (Rudd) is a wedding band singer in…
Spider-Noir
Does Spider-Noir get its blend of noir and superheroes right? In the 2018 film Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Nicolas Cage gave us a taste of a black and white, film-noir Spider-Man who talked in…
Backrooms
The new horror movie Backrooms is about some of the creepiest places imaginable: the nondescript, beige-carpeted rooms that populate countless office spaces and discount furniture warehouses. The…
Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed and What’s Making Us Happy
The Apple TV series Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed pulls you in almost immediately. Tatiana Maslany plays a newly divorced woman who finds comfort in an online relationship with a camboy, but that…
The Four Seasons
Netflix’s charming comedy The Four Seasons follows a group of couples whose friendship dynamic is rocked by their mid-life crises. The impressive cast includes Steve Carell, Tina Fey, Colman Domingo,…
I Love Boosters
In the new film I Love Boosters, Keke Palmer is the ringleader of a shoplifting crew that squares off with an unethical fashion CEO played by Demi Moore. It's from the bizarro visionary director…
The Boroughs
Something is definitely up in the fantastic new Netflix series The Boroughs. Monsters, or maybe aliens? It’s set in a seemingly idyllic mid-century modern retirement community in the middle of the…
Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu and What’s Making Us Happy
The Mandalorian has made the jetpack-assisted leap to the big screen with the new movie Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu. The laconic bounty hunter (Pedro Pascal) and his cute sidekick Grogu are…
Stephen Colbert and late night
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert comes to an end this week amid a lot of changes in the business and the country. Some of the sources of tension include the economics of late night, the approaching…
Is God Is
You should make sure to check out the new film Is God Is. It’s a kinetic movie about twin sisters (Kara Young and Mallori Johnson) who set out to kill their abusive dad (Sterling K. Brown). It’s an…
Nemesis
If you’re a fan of the movie Heat, then you might be into Netflix’s new action-packed heist series Nemesis. Co-created by Courtney A. Kemp (Power), it’s about the blurry lines between criminality and…
Obsession and What’s Making Us Happy
The new film Obsession has a familiar setup: A guy makes a wish, wish comes true, and things go bad. But what sets this twisted little movie apart is how bad things go, and the astonishing,…
Shrek
Shrek launched a Dreamworks franchise, won an Oscar, spawned a stage musical, and greatly extended the cultural life of the band Smash Mouth. And it all started with the story of a crabby green ogre,…
Fun movies we missed
One basic truth of the streaming era is that streaming movies come at you fast. So we’re recommending three fun movies that we haven't covered on the show that you can stream at home: Apex, Mike…
The Sheep Detectives
In the charming new movie The Sheep Detectives, a shepherd (Hugh Jackman) is murdered and the sheep who adored him are determined to solve the crime. The sheep are voiced by an impressive cast…
Mortal Kombat II and What’s Making Us Happy
Mortal Kombat II brings back more of the unforgettable characters you might have grown up eviscerating. Based on the ultra-violent video game franchise, it centers the story on warrior princess…
Frequently Asked Questions
Pop Culture Happy Hour has published 300 episodes since January 2025, covering topics in After Shows, Arts.
Pop Culture Happy Hour is currently highly active with new episodes every few days. Average episode length is 20m.
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