Month: June 2025

The new books publishing this week may get quite heavy, laden as they are with family tragedy, psychopathy and heartbreak — but at least they are fiction.

Here are some of the best summer TV shows — from Marvel reviving its fortunes with a new armored hero to TV’s most compelling serial killer returning for a bite of the Big Apple.

(Image credit: 20th Television Animation)

It’s 2025, and our society should be evolved enough to finally recognize the important contributions that the straight community has made to our culture.

Clever advice on how to quickly rebook your flight, skip long lines and avoid flight issues in the future. One tip? Try queuing up for an agent in the airport lounge.

Stephen King’s work has often contemplated the inevitability of death. But his latest adaptation, The Life of Chuck is a life-affirming film that challenges the cynic in everyone. It has a big cast including Tom Hiddleston, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jacob Tremblay, Mark Hamill, and Nick Offerman. The film was directed and written for the screen by Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass).

Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture

The Atlantic staff writer Elizabeth Bruenig talks about her decision to serve as a witness to state-sanctioned executions, and what she’s learned about mercy, faith and the possibility of redemption.

1. Cut FEMA flood budget. Make Bezos send wet places salad spinners to dry out stuff. 2. No more brown or yellow M&M’s. Low I.Q., emotionally unstable.

Should you date for love or financial security? That’s the central premise of the new movie Materialists. It stars Dakota Johnson at the center of a love triangle with Pedro Pascal and Chris Evans, and is directed by Celine Song (Past Lives).

Follow Pop Culture Happy Hour on Letterboxd at letterboxd.com/nprpopculture

Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour Plus at plus.npr.org/happyhour

In a country where birth control access is in jeopardy and women’s medical needs have been historically overlooked, how do social media trends like #lutealphase and “cycle syncing” complicate the narrative?

This is… Your Body, Whose Choice?

And for the next few weeks, we’re looking at the cultural, legal, and ideological frameworks shaping reproductive health in America…and what this means for the near and far future of our families, our personal agency, and our planet.

Today, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign professor Kate Clancy and reporter Lindsay Gellman join the show to clear up the misinformation around menstruation and how the search for guidance can lead to murky waters.

NPR’s movie critic and producers discuss how queerness is present across all genres of movies in ways seen and unseen.