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Remembering Betty White

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

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Jesse Grant/Getty

Pop Culture Happy Hour

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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Betty White, a beloved icon and actress since the beginning of TV, has died at age 99

Actress Betty White poses for a portrait on the set of the television show "Hot in Cleveland" in 2010. White died at the age of XX. Matt Sayles/AP hide caption

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Matt Sayles/AP

Obituaries

Betty White, a beloved icon and actress since the beginning of TV, has died at age 99

TV favors the young — but Betty White only got more famous as she got older. White's career began in the earliest days of television, and she was active until her death at the age of 99.

Betty White, a beloved icon and actress since the beginning of TV, has died at age 99

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What's making us happy: What to watch, read and listen to this weekend

Alexander Skarsgård stars as Amleth and Anya Taylor-Joy as Olga in director Robert Eggers' Viking epic The Northman. Aidan Monaghan/© 2021 Focus Features, LLC hide caption

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Aidan Monaghan/© 2021 Focus Features, LLC

What's Making Us Happy: Recommendations From 'Pop Culture Happy Hour'

What's making us happy: What to watch, read and listen to this weekend

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: the trailer for The Northman, the novel The School for Good Mothers and more.

Looking back at Whitney Houston's 1991 national anthem

Whitney Houston sings the National Anthem prior to Super Bowl XXV on January 27, 1991. George Rose/Getty Images hide caption

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George Rose/Getty Images

It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

Looking back at Whitney Houston's 1991 national anthem

Happy New Year's Eve, y'all! Before we officially end 2021, we're revisiting on one of our favorite episodes of the year — our deep dive into Whitney Houston's 1991 national anthem. Sam chats with Danyel Smith, host of Black Girl Songbook, about how Whitney Houston captivated the entire nation with her rendition of the national anthem that year and why it still matters more than 30 years later.

Looking back at Whitney Houston's 1991 national anthem

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Our 2022 Pop Culture Resolutions
Nora Carol Photography/Getty Images

Pop Culture Happy Hour

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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NFL Hall of Fame coach and iconic sports broadcaster John Madden dies at 85

Former Oakland Raiders coach John Madden practices the electronic charting device telestrator on Jan. 21, 1982, for the Super Bowl broadcast on CBS. Madden, the Hall of Fame coach turned broadcaster, died Tuesday morning. AP hide caption

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AP

Obituaries

NFL Hall of Fame coach and iconic sports broadcaster John Madden dies at 85

For 10 seasons, John Madden led the Oakland Raiders as head coach. After his retirement, he became a legendary NFL commentator for three decades.

Our 2022 Pop Culture Predictions
Nora Carol Photography/Getty Images

Pop Culture Happy Hour

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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Ask Code Switch: What does race have to do with beauty?
LA Johnson/NPR

Code Switch

Ask Code Switch: What does race have to do with beauty?

This time of year, folks are being inundated with messages about how to become more beautiful. But beauty is an ever-changing goalpost that has everything do with race, class and power.

Ask Code Switch: What does race have to do with beauty?

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Telephone operators of another era gather to reconnect

Operators have always been a fashionable lot. Note the bobby socks and saddle shoes. c. 1951 The Telecommunications History Group Inc. hide caption

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The Telecommunications History Group Inc.

Arts & Life

Telephone operators of another era gather to reconnect

Maine Public

A reunion of Maine switchboard operators highlights the challenges of making a phone call more than 50 years ago and what it was like to handle emergencies, rude customers and delicate situations.

Telephone operators of another era gather to reconnect

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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. Niko Tavernise/Netlfix hide caption

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Niko Tavernise/Netlfix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'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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Kids need to see themselves reflected in media. Here are some recommendations

A page from the book The Me I Choose to Be by Natasha Anastasia Tarpley with photography by Regis and Kahran Bethencourt. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers hide caption

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Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Arts & Life

Kids need to see themselves reflected in media. Here are some recommendations

We asked children's media experts to recommend their favorite new books, TV shows and video games with characters and storylines representing the diversity of the U.S.

Kids need to see themselves reflected in media. Here are some recommendations

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The holiday movie machine

Vanessa Hudgens, Vanessa Hudgens, and Vanessa Hudgens starring in The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star. Mark Mainz/NETFLIX © 2021/Mark Mainz/NETFLIX © 2021 hide caption

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Mark Mainz/NETFLIX © 2021/Mark Mainz/NETFLIX © 2021

It's Been a Minute with Sam Sanders

The holiday movie machine

Do holiday movies actually make money for networks like Hallmark and Netflix? How many Vanessa Hudgens characters is too many Vanessa Hudgens characters? Sam is joined by Pop Culture Happy Hour co-host Linda Holmes and author Kat Chow to discuss the best and worst 2021 holiday movies on TV and talk about the business behind them.

The holiday movie machine

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