Podcast: Pop Culture Happy Hour

Sometimes, our favorite musical artists are too good to be true because they're sprung from the imaginations of Hollywood screenwriters. But what makes a fake band great? Today, we are debating the best fictional bands in TV and film — including from Mamma Mia!, Josie and the Pussycats, It's Your Move, and Miami Connection. We want to hear your opinions about summer snacks. Are you Team Hot Dog or Team Hamburger? What's better: churro or a funnel cake? Click here to cast your votes. The results will be revealed at a virtual live event for Pop Culture Happy Hour+ supporters on Thursday, June 27th at 6 p.m. ET. Sign up for PCHH+ at plus.npr.org/happyhour to get access to the event. (Once you've signed up for PCHH+, make sure to set up your special feed, where you'll see a special bonus episode from May 31st with instructions on how to register for the live event. Email plus@npr.org for any extra assistance.)Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The Peacock series We Are Lady Parts is a bold and very funny comedy about an up-and-coming London punk band called Lady Parts. The members of Lady Parts, and its manager, are all young Muslim women, from various racial and ethnic backgrounds. Over the course of its first season, each member experiences triumphs and setbacks – including its lead guitarist, who strives to overcome stage fright. The show is about to return for a new season, so today, we are revisiting our conversation about it.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

What is it about a show that turns you into a bitter-ender, that keeps you dutifully watching every last episode, long after the train has jumped the tracks? Even when you know it's not good, but, for you anyway, it's just good enough to muddle through, all the way to the finale? Today, we're talking about terrible but bingeable TV shows.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Today, we are bringing you an episode of a new NPR podcast hosted by our pal Rachel Martin. It's called Wild Card, and it's a new interview show where the game controls the conversation. Each week, the guest chooses questions at random — about the memories, insights, and beliefs that have shaped their lives. This episode is an interview with the actor Pop Culture Happy Hour listeners voted as their favorite Chris — Chris Pine.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga is packed with bone-crunching practical stunts and lots of gnarly, diesel-powered chase scenes. It also shows a commitment to worldbuilding that grapples with themes of feminism, environmentalism, and humanity. Directed by George Miller, the prequel film tells the story of a Furiosa (Anya Taylor-Joy), who was taken from her home as a girl, raised to be a warrior in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, and now seeks revenge on an evil warlord (Chris Hemsworth).Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

It's rare to find a series with such an impeccable pedigree as HBO's The Sympathizer. It's based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, co-created by auteur director Park Chan-wook, and features Robert Downey, Jr. in four supporting roles. Set during and after the Vietnam war, the series follows a man (Hoa Xuande) juggling a position with the South Vietnamese military and one as a spy for the North Vietnamese. But is it a worthy adaptation?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the new movie IF, a 12-year-old girl (Cailey Fleming) discovers she can see other people's imaginary friends. It stars Ryan Reynolds, and directed by John Krasinski. It mixes the real world and animation, but does it capture the heart of the Pixar movies that inspired it?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The Netflix series Bridgerton is back, as gossipy and over-the-top as ever. Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan) and her crush on childhood best friend Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton) take center-stage. When Penelope is determined to find a husband, Colin wants to help her and they start spending extra time together. But where will this lead? Well, you know the answer to that. It's all about the journey, and the clothes, and the nudity, and obviously, the Queen's hair. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The new music biopic Back to Black chronicles the life of singer-songwriter Amy Winehouse. The film stars Marisa Abela, and follows Winehouse as she records her breakthrough album, gets married, and struggles with addiction. But does the movie do justice to the singer and her music?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The new movie Babes stars Ilana Glazer and Michelle Buteau as longtime best friends who've made very different life choices. It's also about the inherent joys, stressors, and grossness of parenthood, and what it means to embrace your chosen family. It's the feature directorial debut of Pamela Adlon (Better Things).Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

For years, Black Twitter was the watering hole. It was where we could pop off jokes about Olivia and Fitz on Scandal. It's also where you could call out social injustices. It was both a state of mind and a state of being online. A new Hulu docuseries called Black Twitter: A People's History puts the massive global reach of that space into perspective. But what's changed now that it's owned by Elon Musk?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

I Saw the TV Glow is a strange and pleasantly unsettling new film from writer and director Jane Schoenbrun. It's about two teenagers (Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine) who bond so strongly over a cult monster-of-the-week TV show that it becomes their entire identities. When the show gets canceled, their bond dissolves – until years later, when one of the teens sweeps back into the other's life, bearing secret knowledge that could change everything.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

If you're familiar with Interview with the Vampire — because you read the Anne Rice novel or you saw the 1994 movie — the AMC series has some surprises. It revolves around a young man named Louis, his handsome vampire lover, and the creepy vampire child they adopt — but it's funnier, sexier and queerer than you remember. But this Louis isn't a white plantation owner — he's an ambitious and closeted Black man. The show just returned for a new season, so we're revisiting our conversation about the series.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes follows Noa (Owen Teague), an extraordinary chimpanzee whose clan is enslaved by a mercenary ape king named Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand). As he sets out to gets them back, he's joined by a sage orangutan (Peter Maykin) and a scavenging human (Freya Allan). The movie is set hundreds of years after the recent Planet of the Apes trilogy, but the spirit of Andy Serkis' revolutionary character Caeser still looms large over this new film.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

2024 seems destined to go down as the Year of Pop Culture Grievances. Megan vs. Nicki. Beyoncé vs. Nashville. But above all: Kendrick Lamar vs. Drake, who are currently engaged in the nastiest lyrical warfare rap fans have seen in a minute. Today, we're talking about all the pettiness: Why so much beef, and what makes a good battle? And is there ever a clear "winner" in these battles?Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The British singer Dua Lipa has become one of the world's biggest pop stars. Now, she's back with Radical Optimism, a sort of concept record about moving through life with a more mature and constructive attitude. But it's also a pretty straightforward collection of grievance-free, hyper-catchy bangers.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The new Netflix film Unfrosted tells a fanciful invented version of the Pop-Tart's origin. The film was directed and co-written by Jerry Seinfeld, who also stars as a Kellogg's executive who's in a race to release a new breakfast idea before their rival beats them to it. Seinfeld is joined by a big cast of funny people including Melissa McCarthy, Amy Schumer, Jim Gaffigan, and Hugh Grant. But is the movie as satisfying as the Pop-Tart itself?Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhourLearn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show, the comedian doubles down on the uncomfortable intimacy of his stand up special Rothaniel, where he came out publicly as gay for the first time. Jerrod Carmichael gets a film crew to follow him around as he bares his soul to the camera as he cheats on his boyfriend and forces his parents into deeply uncomfortable conversations. The HBO series is funny and poignant. But it isn't a spotless, media-managed facade. It's a portrait of a man who absolutely delights in letting us know just how flawed and selfish he is.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the entertaining new film The Fall Guy, Ryan Gosling plays a down-on-his-luck stunt performer who gets a big new opportunity to get his career on track. And maybe get back the woman (Emily Blunt) whose heart he broke. Directed by David Leitch, it's a knowing comedy about action movies, and a character study of a man who likes to think he's invincible. And the movie has amazing stunts.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The new movie The Idea Of You tells the story of a boy band star (Nicholas Galitzine) who falls in love with an older divorced mother (Anne Hathaway). It's based on a hit novel that's at least partially inspired by Harry Styles' life and career.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy