Pop Culture Happy Hour

Morning Edition host David Greene talks with late night radio personality Delilah Rene Luke. This year marks 20 years Delilah has been taking calls and making song dedications. (This interview originally aired on Morning Edition on August 16, 2016.)

All Things Considered host Ari Shapiro talks with Sam Esmail, the creator of Mr. Robot. (A shorter version of the interview aired on All Things Considered on August 10, 2016.)

Code Switch's Kat Chow and Gene Demby join the show for thoughts on the groundbreaking Cartoon Network series Steven Universe and various card and board games. And, as always, we close with What's Making Us Happy this week.

Critic Chris Klimek and NPR Editor Tanya Ballard-Brown join Stephen Thompson and Glen Weldon for a discussion of two summer blockbusters, Jason Bourne and Suicide Squad. Plus, What's Making Us Happy this week.

MTV turns 35 years old Monday, and they're marking the occasion with a channel called MTV Classic. The new channel will air MTV programming from the 1990s and 2000s. Audie Cornish and Stephen Thompson discuss the new project. (A shorter version of this conversation aired on All Things Considered on August 1st, 2016.)

ABC recently rebooted the vintage game show with Alec Baldwin as host and celebrity panelists such as Rosie O'Donnell and Tituss Burgess. Here, Glen Weldon and Stephen Thompson offer their thoughts.

Host Linda Holmes, NPR Music's Stephen Thompson, Librarian Margaret Willison, and Producer Emeritus Mike Katzif chat about the new Netflix series Stranger Things. Then, they'll discuss some of their favorite weddings in television and film. All that plus What's Making Us Happy this week.

Glen Weldon and Chris Klimek debate the merits of Swiss Army Man, the new indie comedy referred to as the Daniel Radcliffe farting corpse movie.

In this Pop Culture Happy Hour extra, hear two dispatches from this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego. First, panelist Glen Weldon explores hard science fiction. Then, NPR Books editor Petra Mayer reports on Wonder Woman fandom in honor of her 75th birthday. (Glen Weldon's piece originally aired on Weekend All Things Considered on July 23, 2016. Petra Mayer's piece originally aired on Weekend Edition Sunday on July 24, 2016.)

All Things Considered Host Ari Shapiro joins the gang for a discussion of the new Ghostbusters film and the return of the television thriller Mr. Robot.

This week on Pop Culture Happy Hour, we revisit an episode from summer 2012. Linda Holmes talked with Stephen Thompson, Trey Graham and Glen Weldon about pop culture finales — from television shows like Six Feet Under, Community, M.A.S.H., Buffy the Vampire Slayer and LOST to books like Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and comics like Calvin And Hobbes, Sandman and Y: The Last Man. Then, a look at road trips and the pop culture they use to occupy and distract and energy while in the car. All that plus What's Making Us Happy this week.

Pop Culture Happy Hour's Glen Weldon and Stephen Thompson discuss the game: its allure and ubiquity, its backlash and glitches, and its zeitgeist-y collision of gaming, community and nostalgia.

NPR Books editor Petra Mayer joins the panel to discuss The BFG specifically and Steven Spielberg movies in general. Then they move on to talk of crumpets and The Great British Baking Show.

Pop Culture Happy Hour's Stephen Thompson and Code Switch's Gene Demby discuss Kevin Durant's move to the Golden State Warriors: Is it good for basketball? Is this the wave of the mercenary future?

Code Switch's Gene Demby joins the panel for a discussion of the state of the sequel and why we decided not to go deep on Independence Day: Resurgence. Then, the gang takes a quiz all about sequel taglines.