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| This Esquire profile of Ben Stiller, timed to the release of AppleTV+’s Severance (he exec produced and directed several episodes), has plenty to recommend it. It’s full of moments where writer Ryan D’Agostino hangs back and lets Stiller ruminate on his career, his late parents, and the changes the pandemic has wrought in his life. He comes off as both deeply driven, and deeply thoughtful; not a common combination. PS: We'll be talking about Severance on an upcoming show, but for now just know: Severance is good; watch Severance.
Netflix’s Cat Burglar is a new animated series that’s … um … animated by a deep, obsessive love of old Tex Avery cartoons. (Read: It’s super violent, and incredibly clever.) It’s also slyly intriguing, because the story’s driven by your answering a series of trivia questions. Answer right, and Rowdy Cat survives. Answer wrong, and he suffers and dies. If you remember the Black Mirror episode “Bandersnatch,” that’s pretty much the deal – which makes sense, as Cat Burglar is a Charlie Brooker joint. I liked the interactive stuff fine, but the look and feel of the series (the voice acting! The music! The cartoony mutilations!) is what sold me.
The hilarious podcast Las Culturistas is always listen-as-soon-as-it-drops material, but last week’s episode, in which co-hosts Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers were joined by Louis Virtel, still managed to be a standout. That’s a function of both the easy chemistry among the three friends, and the sheer amount and variety of pop culture topics volleyed among them. I nodded when I agreed (which was often!), took notes of things I learned (there were many!), and fortified myself with vital information to take into this year’s NPR Culture Desk Oscar Pool (watch your back, Neda Ulaby!). |
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On Monday, we encored (can I say encored? I’m saying encored! Language is a living organism! Nothing matters! Mere lexicographical anarchy loosed upon the world! Wooo!) an episode about Netflix’s Love is Blind, which is now back for Season 2. Linda, Stephen and Sam Sanders talked about it when the show first came out.
On Tuesday, Aisha and Barrie Hardymon talked about the Hulu miniseries Pam & Tommy, which sets out to place a story a lot of us know into a new, more sympathetic context.
On Wednesday, Stephen talked to The Youth of Today (read: Latesha Harris and PCHH first-timer Hazel Cills) about what the kids are getting up to on HBO’s Euphoria, with all of that-there goldfish-swallowing and phonebooth-stuffing and flagpole-sitting. Oh you kid! 23 skidoo! Feelin’ hep!
On Thursday, Aisha talked with Walter Chaw about Steven Soderbergh’s surveillance thriller Kimi, starring Zoe Kravitz, which is streaming on HBO Max.
And on Friday, I assembled a dream team (Christina Tucker! Greta Johnsen!) to talk bustles and buggies and barons-comma-robber and, of course, Baranski. That’s right: The Gilded Age, on HBO. Plus, What’s Making Us Happy.
Reminder: We’re going to be talking about The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air on an upcoming show, and we want your questions. You can email us a voice memo with your question to pchh@npr.org. |
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| Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: |
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