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Pop Culture Happy Hour Get obsessed with us. Five 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.
Pop Culture Happy Hour

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

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Get obsessed with us. Five 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.

Most Recent Episodes

Remembering Betty White

Betty White accepts a lifetime achievement award during the 2015 Daytime Emmy Awards. Getty hide caption

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Getty

Remembering Betty White

Actress and icon Betty White died Friday at the age of 99. Her career as a comic actress – on TV, on radio, in movies, and more – lasted more than 80 years. She was probably best known for her work on The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show. But White was a trailblazer, a record-setter, and one of the most venerated figures in the history of television.

Remembering Betty White

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Our 2022 Pop Culture Resolutions
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Our 2022 Pop Culture Resolutions

It's the end of 2021, and the cusp of a new year — which means we're looking back, and we're looking ahead. It's time to see how we did sticking to our pop culture resolutions we made a year ago. And it's time to make some new ones for 2022.

Our 2022 Pop Culture Resolutions

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Our 2022 Pop Culture Predictions
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Our 2022 Pop Culture Predictions

If there's one thing we can tell you about 2021, it's that we didn't see it coming. And we might not see 2022 coming either, but we're going to try — by making some pop culture predictions for next year. And on top of that, we'll look at last year's predictions and see how things turned out.

Our 2022 Pop Culture Predictions

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'Don't Look Up' is an environmental satire that squanders its resources

Cate Blanchett, Tyler Perry, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Jennifer Lawrence in Don't Look Up. Netlfix hide caption

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Netlfix

'Don't Look Up' is an environmental satire that squanders its resources

The new Netflix film Don't Look Up has a crazy Academy Awards pedigree. Writer-director Adam McKay won an Oscar for The Big Short and the Oscar-studded cast includes Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence as scientists who discover that a massive comet is hurtling toward Earth. The only problem: They can't get the media's attention (represented here by Cate Blanchett and Tyler Perry) or get the president (played by Meryl Streep) to care. But with all these stars in the mix, did Don't Look Up miss the mark?

'Don't Look Up' is an environmental satire that squanders its resources

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We'll miss the smart, sometimes messy 'Insecure'

Yvonne Orji and Issa Rae in the series finale of Insecure. HBO hide caption

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HBO

We'll miss the smart, sometimes messy 'Insecure'

When Insecure premiered on HBO in 2016, Issa Dee (played by the show's co-creator Issa Rae), her bestie Molly (played by Yvonne Orji) and the rest of their cohort were a bunch of millennials who were stuck in unhappy relationships and jobs, and didn't have a clue how to make better choices for themselves. After five seasons, we're bidding farewell to Insecure — only now, these characters have finally seen some growth.

We'll miss the smart, sometimes messy 'Insecure'

Listen · 21:14
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'Licorice Pizza' is a deep dish of vibes

Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim star in Paul Thomas Anderson's Licorice Pizza. Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures hide caption

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Metro Goldwyn Mayer Pictures

'Licorice Pizza' is a deep dish of vibes

Licorice Pizza is a freewheeling slice of life story about an odd friendship/flirtation set in the San Fernando Valley. Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, the film stars Cooper Hoffman and Alana Haim (who play 15- and 25-year-olds, respectively) as they deliver waterbeds and embark on meandering adventures during the gas crisis of the 1970s.

'Licorice Pizza' is a deep dish of vibes

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Should you enter 'The Matrix Resurrections'?

Carrie-Anne Moss and Keanu Reeves return as Trinity and Neo in The Matrix Resurrections. Warner Bros. hide caption

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Warner Bros.

Should you enter 'The Matrix Resurrections'?

When The Matrix opened in 1999, it thrilled audiences with its strangely cerebral mix of stylized violence, existential crisis, and tight, black leather. The new movie The Matrix: Resurrections continues the story. Directed by Lana Wachowski, the film takes us back inside the simulation that the machines are using to keep humanity docile as they harvest our energy. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss return as Neo and Trinity, who, alongside an array of new characters, attempt to, once again, lead an uprising to let us all live authentic lives.

Should you enter 'The Matrix Resurrections'?

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If you love Lucy, you might not hate 'Being the Ricardos'

Nicole Kidman and Javier Bardem star as Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz in Being the Ricardos. Amazon Studios hide caption

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Amazon Studios

If you love Lucy, you might not hate 'Being the Ricardos'

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz were the TV power couple. In the new film Being the Ricardos, we spend an eventful week with Lucy (played by Nicole Kidman) and Desi (played by Javier Bardem) as they try to get a show on the air. Written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, the film showcases the complicated relationship and creative process of America's favorite couple.

If you love Lucy, you might not hate 'Being the Ricardos'

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Bradley Cooper is Guillermo del Toro's monster in 'Nightmare Alley'

Cate Blanchett and Bradley Cooper in Nightmare Alley. Searchlight Pictures hide caption

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Searchlight Pictures

Bradley Cooper is Guillermo del Toro's monster in 'Nightmare Alley'

Nightmare Alley is a stylish neo-noir that's as seedy as its title sounds. The film is directed by Guillermo del Toro and is inspired by the book and 1947 movie adaptation of the same name. It stars Bradley Cooper as Stan, an ambitious 1940s drifter who joins a traveling carnival and learns to develop his own mentalist act. An encounter with a mysterious psychologist, played by Cate Blanchett, leads to a fateful and destructive turn of events.

Bradley Cooper is Guillermo del Toro's monster in 'Nightmare Alley'

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'Spider-Man: No Way Home' mixes fun and fan service

MJ (Zendaya) and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) in Spider-Man: No Way Home. Sony/Columbia Pictures hide caption

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Sony/Columbia Pictures

'Spider-Man: No Way Home' mixes fun and fan service

In Spider-Man: No Way Home, we spend time with some familiar characters. The film stars Tom Holland as Peter Parker and Zendaya as MJ, and, this time, also brings in Doctor Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), plus an array of villains who'll already be familiar to fans of the franchise. But the film is more complicated than that, as the Marvel Cinematic Universe delves deeper into the mysteries of the Multiverse.

'Spider-Man: No Way Home' mixes fun and fan service

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