Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
March is Women's History Month!

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Sidekicks, Holograms, And PCHH 101

Listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour

/ NPR
/
NPR

On this week's show, it's time to talk about the supporting characters who are getting their own stories — just like Judd Apatow is doing for Paul Rudd and Leslie Mann's characters in This Is 40. If you can't get behind Glen's spin-off idea from the world's most studly franchise, then I just don't know what to say to you, because frankly, it's brilliant. It's a sprawling discussion that brings us to The Jeffersons, Frasier, Joey, and a fantasy novel involving a wood gnome that I'm really very eager to hear. (There is a moment in which I say "this is your best idea since — and then I refer to an idea contained in this episode, to which I encourage you to return.)

We then turn our attention to the fact that we've completed our first 100 episodes and embarked on our second figurative century. What might be on the horizon, we wonder, in our second hundred episodes? Might it be technical advances? Might it be different ways of distributing entertainment? Will there be flying cars?

And finally, we turn to our favorite topic in every episode: What's making us happy this week. Glen is made happy by this film, which made him think of two comics: Oishinbo and Johnny Hiro. Trey is made happy by this singer. Stephen is made happy by this TV show and this one.

And then there's me. I am made happy this week by the lovely film Celeste And Jesse Forever, as well as the upcoming novel Eleanor and Park. I stand by both of those recommendations, despite the fact that I inexplicably fall into a pit in which apparently, the only word I can remember is "lovely." It's like some sort of weird brain loop; it's already a word I use a lot, and for some reason, these two pieces of happy-making culture pressed the "lovely" button over and over ... and over. I really apologize. I promise to try to implement a "lovely" blocker in my mind.

Until I do, you can find us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter: me, Trey, Glen, Stephen, producer Jess Gitner, and our producer emeritus and music director Mike.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of Pop Culture Happy Hour. She began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture, and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living room space to DVD sets of The Wire, and never looked back.