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Beyoncé performs during the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2018.

Beyoncé performs during the first weekend of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in 2018. Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Coachella hide caption

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Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Coachella

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Our 15th anniversary time capsule

We launched Pop Culture Happy Hour 15 years ago this summer, and we had a lot of pent-up hot takes. To celebrate this milestone, today we’re breaking open a time capsule to revisit some of our memorable early moments and see how they’ve held up.

Pop Culture Happy Hour-08.19.2025

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Denzel Washington in Highest 2 Lowest.

Denzel Washington in Highest 2 Lowest. David Lee/A24 hide caption

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David Lee/A24

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Highest 2 Lowest' is a tour of Spike Lee's many influences

Spike Lee's new crime thriller Highest 2 Lowest reunites him with his favorite leading man, Denzel Washington. The film is based on Akira Kurosawa’s classic High and Low, and it’s a tense story about a very rich man with a very big problem. Part morality play and part action movie, Washington plays a music mogul who confronts questions of responsibility and power when he believes his son has been kidnapped.

Highest 2 Lowest

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Timothy Olyphant in Alien: Earth.

Timothy Olyphant in Alien: Earth. Patrick Brown/FX hide caption

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Patrick Brown/FX

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

‘Alien: Earth’ is bursting with creepy imagery

Alien: Earth is a new TV spinoff of the Alien movie franchise, and as one might expect, it has plenty of Facehuggers, chestbursters, and dark metal corridors. The show brings the infamous Xenomorph to our planet – along with a host of other creepy crawly off-world species – and has them tangle with humans, cyborgs, synthetics and something new. The series comes from the idiosyncratic mind of Noah Hawley (Legion, Fargo) and is airing on FX and streaming on Hulu.

Alien: Earth And What's Making Us Happy

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Travis Kelce looks at Taylor Swift during Wednesday's episode of New Heights.

Travis Kelce looks at Taylor Swift during Wednesday's episode of New Heights, the podcast he cohosts with his brother Jason Kelce. New Heights/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

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New Heights/Screenshot by NPR

Music

Takeaways from Taylor Swift's podcast appearance: her new album, romance and more

Swift revealed the release date, cover art and track list for The Life of a Showgirl. She also discussed her romance with Travis Kelce, buying back her masters and recovering from the Eras Tour.

Kirsten Dunst in Bring It On.

Kirsten Dunst in Bring It On. AJ Pics/Alamy hide caption

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AJ Pics/Alamy

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

‘Bring It On’ is 25. Spirit fingers!

The cheerleading film Bring It On spawned direct-to-video sequels and a Broadway musical. And with an all-star cast of Kirsten Dunst, Eliza Dushku, and Gabrielle Union, the movie remains a quotable classic. But a lot has happened since that might make it feel very timely, or very dated. Bring It On turns 25 this month so today we’re revisiting our conversation about the movie.

Bring It On

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Tyler Perry's media empire spans television, film, and theatre.

Tyler Perry's media empire spans television, film, and theater. Kevin Winter/Getty Images hide caption

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Kevin Winter/Getty Images

It's Been a Minute

The rise (and fall?) of Tyler Perry

Tyler Perry is many things, but is he someone we should aspire to be?

The rise (and fall?) of Tyler Perry

Listen · 21:34
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Sydney Chandler as Wendy in Alien: Earth.

Sydney Chandler as Wendy in Alien: Earth. Patrick Brown/FX hide caption

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Patrick Brown/FX

Review

TV Reviews

'Alien: Earth' is one of the best shows so far this year

The TV prequel to the Alien movies calls back to the best elements of those original films — including questions about corporate exploitation and technological advancements.

‘Alien: Earth’ is one of the best shows so far this year

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Taylor Swift sings onstage during the Eras Tour in November 2024.

Taylor Swift, pictured during one of her last Eras Tour performances in November 2024, is teasing what will be her 12th studio album. Emma McIntyre/Getty Images hide caption

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Emma McIntyre/Getty Images

Music

Taylor Swift announces her next era: 'The Life of a Showgirl'

After cryptic Instagram posts and a surprise countdown clock, Swift announced early Tuesday that her new album will be called The Life of a Showgirl. The cover art and release date remain a mystery.

Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen in Platonic.

Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen in Platonic. Apple TV+ hide caption

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Apple TV+

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne make great pals in 'Platonic'

In the breezy comedy series Platonic, Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne play former best friends who reconnect years after a falling out. The Apple TV+ show follows their misadventures as they try to navigate their respective midlife crises and become friends again. Platonic is back for a second season, so today we are revisiting our conversation about the series.

Platonic

Listen · 17:20
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Julia Garner in Weapons.

Julia Garner in Weapons. Warner Bros. Pictures hide caption

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Warner Bros. Pictures

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In ‘Weapons’, the kids aren't at all right, not in the slightest, nope

The intriguing and seriously creepy new film Weapons follows what happens after 17 third-graders get out of their beds on the same night, at the same time, and disappear. The community points fingers at the students’ teacher, played by Julia Garner. The latest film from Zach Cregger (Barbarian), Weapons explores why one student was spared that fateful night. There’s a clear answer – but we guarantee it’s not one you’ll see coming.

Weapons

Listen · 20:24
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Lindsay Lohan in Freakier Friday.

Lindsay Lohan in Freakier Friday. Glen Wilson/Disney hide caption

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Glen Wilson/Disney

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'Freakier Friday' is a zany parent (and grandparent) trap

Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis first switched bodies over 20 years ago in the beloved Disney body swap movie, Freaky Friday. They return in the long-awaited sequel, Freakier Friday, which offers twice as many body swaps, fights galore, and a whole lot of jokes about being old and kids these days. Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.

Freakier Friday And What's Making Us Happy

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The Spice Girls – Mel B, Melanie C, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell and Victoria Beckham in the movie Spice World.

The Spice Girls – Mel B, Melanie C, Emma Bunton, Geri Halliwell and Victoria Beckham in the movie Spice World. Cinematic/Alamy hide caption

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Cinematic/Alamy

Pop Culture Happy Hour

What’s the definitive piece of Y2K pop culture?

We are 25 years into the 2000s, so we wanted to debate: what’s the most definitive piece of Y2K pop culture? We try to pinpoint the essence of that period when teens ruled the culture, viral internet memes first became a thing, and everyone was freaking out about stocking up on duct tape. We talk about Spice World, Get Over It, Britney Spears’ “Oops… I Did It Again” music video, and Janet Jackson’s “Empty.”

Y2K Pop Culture

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It's never too late to find a good relationship. Here's proof.
Getty Images

It's Been a Minute

It's never too late to find a good relationship. Here's proof.

Have you ever stayed in a relationship, because you felt like it would be too hard to find another partner? This episode is for you.

It's never too late to find a good relationship. Here's proof.

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Jenna Ortega in season two of Wednesday.

Jenna Ortega in season two of Wednesday. Jonathan Hession/Netflix hide caption

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Jonathan Hession/Netflix

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Is 'Wednesday' creepy, kooky, mysterious or ooky enough?

Wednesday is one of the most popular Netflix shows of all time, and it helped make Jenna Ortega a star. It takes the breakout Addams Family character Wednesday Addams and breaks her out of her home environment. Gomez (Luis Guzmán) and Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones)  pack her off to their alma mater, the gloomy, gothy Nevermore Academy, and she’s soon drawn into the investigation of a series of grisly murders. Wednesday is about to return for a second season, so today we are revisiting our conversation about the show.

Wednesday

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'The Naked Gun' packs jokes on jokes on jokes

Liam Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr. in The Naked Gun. Frank Masi/Paramount Pictures hide caption

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Frank Masi/Paramount Pictures

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

'The Naked Gun' packs jokes on jokes on jokes

The Naked Gun franchise has always been a rapid-fire delivery system for gags, delivered straight-faced by a cop who doesn't know that anything is funny. In the new Naked Gun movie, that role is handled by the very straight-faced Liam Neeson. With Pamela Anderson as his femme fatale, Neeson tries to save the world from, quite literally, a plot device. And like the original franchise, this Naked Gun is all about a joke pileup.

'The Naked Gun' packs jokes on jokes on jokes

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Brazil Braces for Trump's Tariffs. Brits Say Goodbye to Ozzy

Workers harvest coffee on a farm in Braganca Paulista, Brazil, April 4, 2025. Andre Penner/AP hide caption

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Andre Penner/AP

State of the World from NPR

Brazil Braces for Trump's Tariffs. Brits Say Goodbye to Ozzy

The threat of 50% US tariffs on some goods have Brazilian growers and producers are on edge. Heavy metal hero Ozzy Osbourne has a hometown farewell in Birmingham, England.

Brazil Braces for Trump's Tariffs. Brits Say Goodbye to Ozzy

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Sex and murder are everywhere in 'The Hunting Wives'

Malin Åkerman and Brittany Snow in The Hunting Wives. Kent Smith/Lionsgate hide caption

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Kent Smith/Lionsgate

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

Sex and murder are everywhere in 'The Hunting Wives'

The Netflix series The Hunting Wives is a soapy murder mystery full of nudity and intrigue, about a group of Texas women who are up to no good. It stars Brittany Snow as a woman who follows her husband from the East Coast to Texas for a job working for a rich businessman and budding politician (Dermot Mulroney). Sophie is immediately enchanted by his sultry wife, played by Malin Åkerman. If you always thought Desperate Housewives would be better if more of the housewives were having sex with each other, this might just be the show for you.

Sex and murder are everywhere in 'The Hunting Wives'

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Is joy an act of resistance?

A woman smiles while sipping a fancy drink. That's joy, right? Jackie Lay hide caption

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Jackie Lay

Analysis

Code Switch

Is joy an act of resistance?

The phrase "joy is resistance" has been popping up all over the place lately. But what, exactly, does it mean? In this episode, we're unpacking what joy is, when it can actually be used as a tool for social change, and why the slogan has become so popular (even when joy itself feels more tenuous.)

Is joy an act of resistance?

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