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Pop culture in high spirits
They're in love and they eat people, in 'Bones and All'

Timothée Chalamet as Lee and Taylor Russell as Maren in Bones and All. Yannis Drakoulidis/Metro Goldwyn Mayer hide caption

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Yannis Drakoulidis/Metro Goldwyn Mayer

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

They're in love and they eat people, in 'Bones and All'

Luca Guadagnino's weirdly beautiful romance Bones and All is a familiar road trip tale of young, angsty lovers drifting from state to state against the backdrop of breathtaking wide-open vistas. But the kicker is that the couple, played by Timothée Chalamet and Taylor Russell, are — wait for it — cannibals. And they're on the lookout for their next feeding. Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour

They're in love and they eat people, in 'Bones and All'

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

Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams in Wednesday. NETFLIX hide caption

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

The Netflix series Wednesday breaks the beloved Addams Family character Wednesday Addams (Jenna Ortega) out of her home environment and into the gloomy, gothy Nevermore Academy. It's the alma mater of parents Gomez (Luis Guzmán) and Morticia Addams (Catherine Zeta-Jones). As Wednesday navigates her new environment she's drawn into the investigation of a series of grisly murders. The show was created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar (Smallville) with Tim Burton directing half of the episodes

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

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Were you raised by Ricki Lake?

Ricki Lake attends the Stand Up For Pits Foundation Comedy Night at the Hollywood Improv. Amanda Edwards/Getty Images hide caption

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

Were you raised by Ricki Lake?

The Pop Culture Happy Hour team is off today, so we're bringing you an excerpt of the podcast Raised By Ricki. If you were a fan of Ricki Lake's talk show back in the '90s, this is the podcast for you. Ricki is back, and each week she's breaking down all the historic moments from her hit talk show with her co-host Kalen Allen. Part re-watch podcast, part cultural retrospective, Raised by Ricki features conversations with John Waters, Andy Cohen, Sally Jessy Raphael, and many more. In this excerpt, Ricki sits down with writer and podcast host Tracy Clayton. Tracy watched Ricki Lake every day after school, and talks about what makes the show so unforgettable, the importance of seeing Black representation on-screen, and how Ricki influenced her own career in media.

Were you raised by Ricki Lake?

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Latinos in Hollywood

America Ferrera (clockwise from top left), Eva Longoria, Rosie Perez, Ivette Rodriguez, Rosario Dawson and Christy Haubegger are using their platforms to promote empowerment and representation. Mike Gallegos for NPR hide caption

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

Latinos in Hollywood

The Pop Culture Happy Hour team is off today, so we're bringing you a story from Mandalit del Barco's radio series about Latinos in Hollywood. Latinos have been a part of Hollywood since the days of silent movies, but they continue to be underrepresented in front of and behind the camera. For example, there aren't many Latina actresses in leading movie roles-- fewer than two percent, according to USC's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. And those who do make it also multitask as directors, producers, and activists.

Latinos in Hollywood

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Point, Blanc: 'Glass Onion' brings together a big cast to solve another murder

Edward Norton as Miles, Madelyn Cline as Whiskey, and Daniel Craig as Detective Benoit Blanc in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. John Wilson/Netflix hide caption

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Point, Blanc: 'Glass Onion' brings together a big cast to solve another murder

What has a murder mystery, a big cast of stars, some amazing fashion, and the deep blue waters of Greece? The eagerly awaited Glass Onion, the follow-up to the 2019 Oscar-nominated comedy Knives Out. Daniel Craig returns as brilliant detective Benoit Blanc and this time, he's trying to solve a murder that involves a tech billionaire and his glamorous but sketchy friends.

Point, Blanc: 'Glass Onion' brings together a big cast to solve another murder

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On Lohan! On Ferrell! On Food Network hosts! It's Christmas movie time

Lindsay Lohan and Chord Overstreet star in Netflix's Falling for Christmas. Scott Everett White/Netflix hide caption

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On Lohan! On Ferrell! On Food Network hosts! It's Christmas movie time

It's that time of year again, when many cable outlets and streaming services put on their holiday best. That's right, it's holiday movie season, and we're diving in. From the splashy musical Spirited featuring Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds to a big comeback for Lindsay Lohan, we're dipping a toe in some of the highest-profile movies of this season.

On Lohan! On Ferrell! On Food Network hosts! It's Christmas movie time

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Screening Ourselves: The art and archive of feeling unseen on screen

Whoopi Goldberg in The Color Purple, Marlon Brando in The Godfather, Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct. Mark Harris for NPR hide caption

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Screening Ourselves: The art and archive of feeling unseen on screen

The debates over on-screen representation and filmmaking's blind spots predate digital outrage. The new podcast Screening Ourselves digs into three Hollywood classics, The Godfather, The Color Purple and Basic Instinct, and how they each portrayed, and ignited, historically misrepresented groups.

Songs for cleaning the bathroom

Cleaning the bathroom requires two things: a mop and some really good tunes. Angela Hsieh/NPR hide caption

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

Songs for cleaning the bathroom

Maybe you've got guests coming over for the holidays. Maybe an onslaught of news has kept you glued to the couch or hiding under your covers. Either way, you need to clean the bathroom, and you need a playlist. In this encore episode, we're recommending three songs for cleaning the bathroom.

Songs for cleaning the bathroom

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Revisiting 'The Color Purple' wars
Mark Harris for NPR

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Revisiting 'The Color Purple' wars

In the final chapter of our special documentary series Screening Ourselves, host Aisha Harris recounts the debates ignited by Steven Spielberg's The Color Purple. The 1985 film is remembered as a fan-favorite centering Black women's lives, but the acclaimed adaptation of Alice Walker's novel was received quite differently among female viewers and male viewers.

Revisiting 'The Color Purple' wars

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What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend listening, viewing and reading

Anjelica Huston as Morticia Addams and Raul Julia as Gomez Addams in Addams Family Values. Paramount Pictures/Cinematic Collection/Alamy Stock Photo hide caption

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Paramount Pictures/Cinematic Collection/Alamy Stock Photo

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend listening, viewing and reading

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: Dawnlands: A Novel, Addams Family Values, Wind of Change and Turnstile.

'She Said' is a movie about journalism that knows whose story to tell

Zoe Kazan and Carey Mulligan depict reporters Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey in She Said. JoJo Whilden/Universal Pictures hide caption

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'She Said' is a movie about journalism that knows whose story to tell

The film She Said is about the New York Times investigation of movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Zoe Kazan plays Jodi Kantor and Carey Mulligan plays Megan Twohey. Their reporting on Weinstein's sexual misconduct and assault allegations contributed greatly to the #MeToo movement, and helped lead to criminal charges that sent Weinstein to prison. The film was directed by Maria Schrader and written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz and is in theaters now.

'She Said' is a movie about journalism that knows whose story to tell

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The wide open spaces (and soapy tropes) of 'Yellowstone'

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The wide open spaces (and soapy tropes) of 'Yellowstone'

Even if you don't watch the TV show Yellowstone, there's a good chance you know people who do. The very popular western is entering its fifth season, it's already got multiple spin-offs planned, and it's not slowing down. Kevin Costner plays the patriarch of the Dutton family, and their story and sprawling ranch is one of television's biggest current success stories.

The wide open spaces (and soapy tropes) of 'Yellowstone'

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Donald Glover seems mad at us, but we (mostly) embrace 'Atlanta' anyway

Donald Glover, Zazie Beetz and Brian Tyree Henry star in Atlanta. Guy D'Alema/FX hide caption

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Donald Glover seems mad at us, but we (mostly) embrace 'Atlanta' anyway

When the FX series Atlanta arrived six years ago, it was unlike anything else on TV. It depicted its namesake city as a surreal landscape rich with offbeat characters. And it turned its creator and star Donald Glover from a niche comedic actor and rapper into an A-list Hollywood auteur. Atlanta recently concluded its fourth and final season, and it remained dark and weird until the very end. But did it go out on top?

Donald Glover seems mad at us, but we (mostly) embrace 'Atlanta' anyway

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On 'The Crown', you can't spell divorce without Di

Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki star in The Crown Keith Bernstein hide caption

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Keith Bernstein

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On 'The Crown', you can't spell divorce without Di

In the latest season of Netflix's The Crown, a new cast steps into the roles of Queen Elizabeth II and her family just in time for the 1990s – and a series of scandals growing out of the bitter separation and divorce of Prince Charles (Dominic West) and Princess Diana (Elizabeth Debicki). The world around the royal family undergoes sweeping changes while Elizabeth (Imelda Staunton) strives, in her own stolid way, to hold on to privacy, tradition, and duty.

On 'The Crown', you can't spell divorce without Di

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If you need a new watch, get in the 'Mood'

In Mood, Nicôle Lecky plays Sasha Clayton, a young woman who gets pulled into the worlds of social media and sex work. Natalie Seery/BBC Studios/Bonafi hide caption

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Natalie Seery/BBC Studios/Bonafi

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If you need a new watch, get in the 'Mood'

The excellent BBC America/AMC+ drama series Mood considers how one young woman, at one of her most difficult moments, finds herself making choices she assumed she never would. Its writer and star is Nicôle Lecky, and the show is about sex work, social media and the way economic reality can make following your true passions very challenging.

If you need a new watch, get in the 'Mood'

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Queer villains, erotic noir, 90s pulp. 'Basic Instinct' and the backlash, rewound
Mark Harris for NPR

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Pop Culture Happy Hour

Queer villains, erotic noir, 90s pulp. 'Basic Instinct' and the backlash, rewound

In the second chapter of our special documentary series, Screening Ourselves, host Aisha Harris revisits the politics and legacy of Basic Instinct. Paul Verhoeven's 1992 thriller is a sexy and violent cult classic. But the film was also a problematic mainstream portrayal of queer women at a time of great political crisis for LGBTQ politics and representation.

Queer villains, erotic noir, 90s pulp. 'Basic Instinct' and the backlash, rewound

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Heavy is the head that does not like 'The Crown'

The Crown has long sparked complaints over its accuracy (or lack thereof) — but those concerns have turned into high profile condemnations in the show's fifth season. Above, Imelda Staunton as Queen Elizabeth II. Netflix hide caption

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Netflix

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Heavy is the head that does not like 'The Crown'

The Crown has long sparked complaints over its accuracy (or lack thereof) — but those concerns have turned into high profile condemnations in the show's fifth season.

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend listening, viewing and reading

Emily Blunt as Lady Cornelia Locke in The English. Diego Lopez Calvin/Amazon Prime Video hide caption

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Diego Lopez Calvin/Amazon Prime Video

What's Making Us Happy: Recommendations From 'Pop Culture Happy Hour'

What's making us happy: A guide to your weekend listening, viewing and reading

Each week, the guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: The Carmichael Show, Stephanie Williams' work for Marvel, The English and more.

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