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Pop Culture Happy Hour

NPR
Pop Culture Happy Hour
Latest episode

476 episodes

  • Pop Culture Happy Hour

    Bait and What’s Making Us Happy

    2026-03-27 | 24 mins.
    In the whimsical Prime Video comedy series Bait, the great Riz Ahmed plays Shah, an actor in the middle of a career downturn who lands an audition to be the next James Bond. But when this leaks to the public, the social media reactions to the possibility of a brown 007 are unhinged. And one particularly disturbing response shakes Shah’s confidence and sends his personal life into a tailspin.

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  • Pop Culture Happy Hour

    BTS Arirang

    2026-03-25 | 23 mins.
    BTS, one of the biggest groups in K-pop, is back. Arirang is the group’s first full-length album following a hiatus in which the members released solo projects and served in South Korea’s military. It’s a brash, catchy comeback, with a mix of hip-hop, pop, and R&B. And like their previous hits, Arirang is bound to make a mark on the Billboard charts. 

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  • Pop Culture Happy Hour

    The Reality TV Show We’d Actually Win

    2026-03-24 | 16 mins.
    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. In this encore episode, we're not here to make friends. But we are here to pick the reality shows that we think could thrive on.

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  • Pop Culture Happy Hour

    Ready or Not 2: Here I Come

    2026-03-23 | 16 mins.
    The cheeky horror comedy Ready Or Not starred Samara Weaving as a bride who’s forced to partake in her new family’s game of hide and seek, which turns quite deadly. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come picks up right where the previous story left off, but this time with more lore, more gore, and more stars like Elijah Wood, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Kathryn Newton.

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  • Pop Culture Happy Hour

    Project Hail Mary and What’s Making Us Happy

    2026-03-20 | 27 mins.
    Ryan Gosling has teamed up with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) for the new sci-fi movie Project Hail Mary. It’s based on a novel by Andy Weir (The Martian), and tells the story of a molecular biologist who winds up on a one-way mission into space to save Earth’s population. If that all sounds incredibly bleak, fear not: you can expect quirk, charm, and a cutesy alien creature.

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About 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.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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