Mike Katzif appears in the following:
Jon Hamm steals 'Your Friends and Neighbors'
Wednesday, April 16, 2025
In the Apple TV+ series Your Friends and Neighbors, a very rich guy reacts to becoming a bit less rich by turning to a life of crime. Played by Jon Hamm, in full charming-but-morally-compromised mode, he starts sneaking into people's and taking their stuff. Part drama and part dark comedy about rich jerks, the series also stars Amanda Peet and Olivia Munn.
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To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.
'Drop' is a bumpy, chaotic thrill ride
Friday, April 11, 2025
In the bonkers thriller Drop, Meghann Fahy plays a woman whose first date goes off the rails when she starts getting increasingly alarming message drops from someone nearby. And this potentially romantic dinner turns into a life-or-death situation, real quick.
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To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.
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.
Pop culture that changed our minds
Thursday, April 10, 2025
At a certain point, most of us settle into a groove with our pop culture consumption. We know what we love and what we're not into. But sometimes, all it takes is one great outlier or a willingness to step outside our comfort zone to make us reconsider what we don't like. Today we're talking about our pop culture revelations, including Friday Night Lights, Train to Busan, the poetry of Mary Oliver, and Watchmen.
In 'Dying For Sex,' pleasure and grief collide
Wednesday, April 09, 2025
The premise might be a tough sell: a young woman attempts to finally own her sexuality following a terminal diagnosis. In the new show Dying For Sex, Michelle Williams stars as a cancer patient confronting the unsatisfying relationships in her life. The series is also a raunchy sex comedy that suggests it's never too late to insist on your own happiness. And it's got a stellar cast, including Jenny Slate, Rob Delaney, and Sissy Spacek.
'The White Lotus' season 3 ends with several bangs
Monday, April 07, 2025
Season three of The White Lotus just wrapped up, but not before serving up a tropical buffet of sex, betrayal, violence, revenge, privilege, incest, drugs, death, and spirituality. We finally found out whose dead body was floating in the pond way back in the season premiere. From creator Mike White, this season stars Walton Goggins, Carrie Coon, Natasha Rothwell, Aimee Lou Wood, Parker Posey, and Lisa of BLACKPINK fame.
'Daredevil: Born Again' delivers street level justice
Wednesday, April 02, 2025
In Daredevil: Born Again, Charlie Cox returns as everyone's favorite blind-but-with-heightened-senses Marvel superhero. This time out, he hangs up his horns and throws himself into his career as a lawyer. At the same time, the criminal mastermind Kingpin (played by Vincent D'Onofrio) decides to go straight and run for mayor of New York City. The two men declare a truce, but will it last?
Seth Rogen and a fabulous cast highlight the satire 'The Studio'
Monday, March 31, 2025
In the very funny new satire The Studio, Seth Rogen plays a Hollywood studio head desperately trying to do a job he's afraid of failing at every single day. The Apple TV+ series features comedy MVPs like Catherine O'Hara, Bryan Cranston, and Kathryn Hahn, but also cameos from actors and directors playing themselves — including Anthony Mackie, Zoë Kravitz, Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese and Ice Cube.
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To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.
'Severance' delivers woe, dread, malice and even a tiny bit of frolic
Monday, March 24, 2025
In season two of Severance (streaming on Apple TV+), we got a blowout finale with answers to mysteries and even more layers of weirdness. The show stars Adam Scott as an employee of a sinister corporation called Lumon. He has undergone a process called severance, which separates your work self and home self.
To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.
To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.
Terrible but bingeable TV shows
Thursday, March 06, 2025
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 revisiting our conversation about terrible but bingeable TV shows
Our favorite 'SNL' musical moments
Wednesday, March 05, 2025
Perhaps you've heard that Saturday Night Live is celebrating its 50th anniversary — they've mentioned it once or twice. From Lazy Sunday to Domingo to a ton of iconic musical performances, SNL's had a long and fascinating relationship with music. Today, we're talking about some of our favorite SNL musical moments.
Our 2025 Oscars Recap
Monday, March 03, 2025
This year's Oscars was a big night for Sean Baker's Anora, including wins for best picture and director. The film's star Mikey Madison scored one of the night's few upsets, winning best actress. Adrien Brody, Kieran Culkin and Zoe Saldaña also took home acting wins. We also recap the hilarious bits from host Conan O'Brien, the long and discursive speeches, and show stopping musical numbers.
To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.
To access bonus episodes and sponsor-free listening for Pop Culture Happy Hour, subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+ at plus.npr.org/happy.
In 'Zero Day,' a stellar cast struggles through a silly story
Tuesday, February 25, 2025
The Netflix series Zero Day begins with a terrifying moment in which everything in the United States goes briefly offline. Thousands of people die, and even after everything is restored, a widespread panic leads to a government investigation of who did it. With a cast headed by Robert De Niro and Angela Bassett, the show hopes to be a paranoid political thriller for our times.
Our favorite actors who've never been nominated for an Oscar
Monday, February 24, 2025
The standard line for awards season goes: "It's an honor just to be nominated." But when it comes to the Oscars, there's quite a long list of great performers who have never received this honor. Today, we're talking about some of our favorites who should have at least one Oscar on their mantle — including Pam Grier, John Goodman, Oscar Isaac, and Regina Hall.
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Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
In 'The Monkey' the goring is never boring
Friday, February 21, 2025
In the new horror-comedy The Monkey, Theo James plays a pair of identical twin brothers who get saddled with a cursed wind-up toy monkey that causes people around them to die freakish, gory deaths. It's based on a Stephen King short story, and directed by Osgood Perkins, who made last year's Longlegs.
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Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture
We fantasy cast 'The Traitors'
Tuesday, February 18, 2025
The Peacock reality show The Traitors continues to be a delightful mix of treachery, foolishness, and Alan Cumming's outfits. In the United States, the cast is made up exclusively of so-called celebrities. So today on the show we're fantasy casting who we think should be on the next season of The Traitors.
In the run-up to the Oscars, Pop Culture Happy Hour is watching all 10 best picture nominees – and you're invited to join us! Sign up for the NPR Movie Club newsletter series and tell us what you thought of the movies you watched this week.
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
In the run-up to the Oscars, Pop Culture Happy Hour is watching all 10 best picture nominees – and you're invited to join us! Sign up for the NPR Movie Club newsletter series and tell us what you thought of the movies you watched this week.
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
'Paddington in Peru' puts a mild bear in the wild jungle
Monday, February 17, 2025
In the new movie Paddington In Peru, Paddington Bear and the Brown family fly across the globe, into the wilds of Peru, in search of Paddington's Aunt Lucy. Along the way, they meet a not-remotely-suspicious singing nun (Olivia Colman) and a boat captain (Antonio Banderas). The adventure that follows involves lost treasure and narrow escapes — and leads to new revelations about Paddington's past, and a new appreciation for what it means to be home.
In the run-up to the Oscars, Pop Culture Happy Hour is watching all 10 best picture nominees – and you're invited to join us! Sign up for the NPR Movie Club newsletter series and tell us what you thought of the movies you watched this week.
Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
In the run-up to the Oscars, Pop Culture Happy Hour is watching all 10 best picture nominees – and you're invited to join us! Sign up for the NPR Movie Club newsletter series and tell us what you thought of the movies you watched this week.
Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
'Captain America: Brave New World' is a major misfire
Friday, February 14, 2025
In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, there's a new Captain America, played by Anthony Mackie. And with Captain America: Brave New World, he's finally got his own movie. Cap finds himself battling a literally monstrous president played by Harrison Ford whose rages threaten to destabilize the whole world.
In the run-up to the Oscars, Pop Culture Happy Hour is watching all 10 best picture nominees – and you're invited to join us! Sign up for the NPR Movie Club newsletter series and tell us what you thought of the movies you watched this week.
In the run-up to the Oscars, Pop Culture Happy Hour is watching all 10 best picture nominees – and you're invited to join us! Sign up for the NPR Movie Club newsletter series and tell us what you thought of the movies you watched this week.
Demi Moore's 'The Substance' will get under your skin
Thursday, February 13, 2025
The Substance is a bloody, campy, fiercely feminist body horror film. Demi Moore plays a TV aerobics instructor who learns of a mysterious drug that causes another younger, entirely separate version of herself (Margaret Qualley) to splurt out of her back and assume her consciousness. The movie has earned Moore her first Oscar nomination, and she's the frontrunner in this year's best actress race. So we thought it would be the perfect time to revisit our conversation about the movie.
In the run-up to the Oscars, Pop Culture Happy Hour is watching all 10 best picture nominees – and you're invited to join us! Sign up for the NPR Movie Club newsletter series and tell us what you thought of the movies you watched this week.
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
In the run-up to the Oscars, Pop Culture Happy Hour is watching all 10 best picture nominees – and you're invited to join us! Sign up for the NPR Movie Club newsletter series and tell us what you thought of the movies you watched this week.
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
There can only be one pope in the delightfully preposterous 'Conclave'
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
The new movie Conclave is a fun and twisty political thriller. Ralph Fiennes plays a cardinal tasked to managing the secretive process in which the pope is replaced. The film offers plenty of scandals, surprises, and dark horses, along with some strong commentary on the state of the Catholic church. Directed by Edward Berger (All Quiet on the Western Front), the film also stars Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini.
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Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture.
Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour
We watch classic movies for the first time
Tuesday, October 22, 2024
We've all been there. A major movie is mentioned, you shrug, sheepishly, and someone says, "I can't believe you've never seen that!" Today, we make a dent in our own lists of classic films we somehow had not yet gotten to, including Erin Brockovich, Flower Drum Song, Enter the Dragon and Raging Bull.