Bait and What’s Making Us Happy

In the whimsical Prime Video comedy series Bait, the great Riz Ahmed plays Shah, an actor in the middle of a career downturn who lands an audition to be the next James Bond. But when this leaks to the public, the social media reactions to the possibility of a brown 007 are unhinged. And one particularly disturbing response shakes Shah’s confidence and sends his personal life into a tailspin.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

BTS, one of the biggest groups in K-pop, is back. Arirang is the group’s first full-length album following a hiatus in which the members released solo projects and served in South Korea’s military. It’s a brash, catchy comeback, with a mix of hip-hop, pop, and R&B. And like their previous hits, Arirang is bound to make a mark on the Billboard charts.  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 manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Part of the fun of reality TV is putting yourself in the shoes of the people you're watching. Maybe you'd make a great Real Housewife. Maybe you could win The Amazing Race. In this encore episode, we're not here to make friends. But we are here to pick the reality shows that we think could thrive on.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

The cheeky horror comedy Ready Or Not starred Samara Weaving as a bride who’s forced to partake in her new family’s game of hide and seek, which turns quite deadly. Ready or Not 2: Here I Come picks up right where the previous story left off, but this time with more lore, more gore, and more stars like Elijah Wood, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Kathryn Newton.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureSubscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhourTo manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Ryan Gosling has teamed up with Phil Lord and Christopher Miller (The Lego Movie and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse) for the new sci-fi movie Project Hail Mary. It’s based on a novel by Andy Weir (The Martian), and tells the story of a molecular biologist who winds up on a one-way mission into space to save Earth’s population. If that all sounds incredibly bleak, fear not: you can expect quirk, charm, and a cutesy alien creature.Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopcultureTo manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

Steve Carell is a writer of pulpy crime novels and a hapless new writing teacher at a small college in the HBO comedy series Rooster. His daughter (Charly Clive) is also a teacher, and she’s the subject of campus gossip because her husband just dumped her for a student. The show’s got a great cast, including Danielle Deadwyler and John C. McGinley, and one of its creators is Bill Lawrence of Scrubs, Shrinking and Ted Lasso.Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

In the Prime Video series Scarpetta, Nicole Kidman plays a tough, smart medical examiner whose latest murder case is entangled with a much earlier one. The show's got a big cast including Jamie Lee Curtis, Bobby Cannavale and Ariana DeBose. Scarpetta is based on a series of successful crime novels by Patricia Cornwell.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

At the Oscars, One Battle After Another took home six awards including best picture, Michael B. Jordan won for lead actor in Sinners, and the telecast had plenty of jokes at Timothée Chalamet’s expense. We’re recapping the highs and lows of the 2026 Oscars.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

We've watched all the nominees in the major categories for the Oscars including Sinners, One Battle After Another, Hamnet, and Marty Supreme. So we’ve got opinions about what will win and what should win. (And yes, we’ll talk about Timothée Chalamet.)For a list of our favorite Oscar nominated films, check out our list at Letterboxd — at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This year, there's finally an Oscar being awarded for casting. The nominees are the casting directors for Sinners, Hamnet, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, and The Secret Agent. That got us thinking - what makes a great cast, anyway? Today, we spent some time talking about some of the nominees and casting generally.For a list of films we discussed, check out our list at Letterboxd — at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture.To manage podcast ad preferences, review the links below:See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy