Current:Home > BackWhat's Making Us Happy: A guide to your weekend viewing and listening-LoTradeCoin
What's Making Us Happy: A guide to your weekend viewing and listening
View Date:2024-12-23 16:59:44
This week, David Letterman paid a visit, Fargo returned, and another comedian returned to the same old material.
Here's what the NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour crew was paying attention to — and what you should check out this weekend.
"Farrah Fawcett Hair" by Capital Cities, ft. André 3000
"Farrah Fawcett Hair" by the electronic duo Capital Cities is almost a decade old and I'm just now discovering it. It's actually kind of timely because the song features André 3000 who just announced a new album of instrumental music. The song is just a list of random good stuff – like "how infants with baby breath yawn in your face" – with a killer saxophone break. It's kind of like if "We Didn't Start the Fire" was thematically coherent and actually a good song. This is a good song. You can dance to it. You can rock out to the saxophone break. It'll make your day. — Aisha Harris
Blue Eye Samurai, on Netflix
I really love Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix. It's an anime series made by a married couple, Michael Green and Amber Noizumi. It's set in the Edo period in Japan when the borders were closed to outsiders. It takes on these ideas about what it means to be mixed race, about immigration. All the voice actors are racially correct; all the little things that I've grown more and more passionate about in the last several years — this series honors them. Kenneth Branagh plays maybe the most evil character I have encountered in any medium for several years – he's so good as a voice actor. I just started watching the show and it's beautiful — I didn't expect to love it as much as I do. — Walter Chaw
Ghosts UK on CBS
Last week, as a companion to the delightful sitcom Ghosts, CBS started airing reruns of the U.K. sitcom Ghosts, which the U.S. version is based on. Ghosts is a very charming show in which a couple comes to own a big, spooky haunted mansion. After a near-death experience, the wife finds she can commune with the ghosts who occupy and haunt the property. Part of what is so delightful about these two shows is that while they share a basically identical premise, they are completely different characters. Each one has its own well-rounded set of foibles and powers and goofiness. I love the idea of networks and streaming services dipping into the waters of TV produced in other countries and sharing those shows with U.S. audiences. — Stephen Thompson
More recommendations from the Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter
by Linda Holmes
Slate's Joel Anderson, who hosted an entire excellent season of the Slow Burn podcast about the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, wrote this week about the recent lawsuit against Sean Combs and why the allegations didn't surprise him. I strongly recommend the piece, which is thoughtful and, like the podcast season was, great at providing necessary context to a big story.
Mike Birbiglia has a new special on Netflix called The Old Man & The Pool. Like all his work, it's impeccably structured, very funny and very personal.
I've been watching a lot of old episodes of House, starring Hugh Laurie as the Sherlock Holmes-ish doctor who diagnoses different offbeat diseases every week. With the pretty major caveat that the show ran in the early aughts, and the misanthropic House's racism and sexism and other offensive comments would probably not make the cut today, it has certainly been a fascinating opportunity to see what a mystery/procedural show looks like when it's not about the police.
Beth Novey adapted the Pop Culture Happy Hour segment "What's Making Us Happy" for the Web. If you like these suggestions, consider signing up for our newsletter to get recommendations every week. And listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
veryGood! (64239)
Related
- What do nails have to say about your health? Experts answer your FAQs.
- The Fed indicated rates will remain higher for longer. What does that mean for you?
- South Carolina Senate approves ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors
- Tesla 'full self-driving' in my Model Y: Lessons from the highway
- Amtrak service disrupted after fire near tracks in New York City
- A committee finds a decayed and broken utility pole caused the largest wildfire in Texas history
- A murderous romance or a frame job? Things to know about Boston’s Karen Read murder trial
- North Carolina Senate OKs $500 million for expanded private school vouchers
- Queen Elizabeth II's Final 5-Word Diary Entry Revealed
- Miss Universe Buenos Aires Alejandra Rodríguez Makes History as the First 60-Year-Old to Win
Ranking
- Man accused of killing American tourist in Budapest, putting her body in suitcase: Police
- Maui sues cell carriers over wildfire warning alerts that were never received during service outages
- Biden campaign continues focus on abortion with new ad buy, Kamala Harris campaign stop in Philadelphia
- Middle school focuses on recovery as authorities investigate shooting of armed student
- Who's hosting 'SNL' tonight? Musical guest, start time, where to watch Nov. 9 episode
- Man found guilty of murder in 2020 fatal shooting of Missouri officer
- China highway collapse sends cars plunging, leaving at least 48 dead, dozens injured
- Rosie O'Donnell reveals she is joining Sex and the City spinoff And Just Like That...
Recommendation
-
Jason Statham Shares Rare Family Photos of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Their Kids on Vacation
-
Cicadas spotted in Tennessee as Brood XIX continues to come out: See full US emergence map
-
Ozzy Osbourne says he's receiving stem cell treatments amid health struggles
-
Head Over to Lululemon’s We Made Too Much -- Get a $128 Romper for $39 & More Finds Under $50
-
Bitcoin has topped $87,000 for a new record high. What to know about crypto’s post-election rally
-
Arkansas lawmakers approve $6.3 billion budget bill as session wraps up
-
'SNL' announces season's final guests, including Sabrina Carpenter and Jake Gyllenhaal
-
Exxon Mobil deal with Pioneer gets FTC nod, but former Pioneer CEO Scott Sheffield barred from board