Current:Home > reviewsWhat's Making Us Happy: A guide to your weekend viewing and listening -TradeWisdom
What's Making Us Happy: A guide to your weekend viewing and listening
View
Date:2025-04-13 18:19:40
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! (7999)
Related
- The 401(k) millionaires club keeps growing. We'll tell you how to join.
- Board approves more non-lethal weapons for UCLA police after Israel-Hamas war protests
- US agency review says Nevada lithium mine can co-exist with endangered flower
- When do new 'Love is Blind' episodes come out? Season 7 premiere date, cast, schedule
- Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
- Wheel of Fortune Contestants' Bad Luck Curse Shocked Even Ryan Seacrest
- 'Bachelorette' alum Devin Strader denies abuse allegations as more details emerge
- Don't fall for this: The fake QR code scam that aims to take your money at parking meters
- 'We're reborn!' Gazans express joy at returning home to north
- How RHOC's Heather Dubrow and Alexis Bellino Are Creating Acceptance for Their LGBT Kids
Ranking
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- When do new 'Love is Blind' episodes come out? Season 7 premiere date, cast, schedule
- Weeks after tragic shooting, Apalachee High reopens Monday for students
- Dutch government led by hard right asks for formal opt-out from EU migration rules
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- A Glacier National Park trail in Montana is closed after bear attacks hiker
- Where is Diddy being held? New York jail that housed R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell
- Black Mirror Season 7 Cast Revealed
Recommendation
Rams vs. 49ers highlights: LA wins rainy defensive struggle in key divisional game
Michael Madsen Accuses Wife of Driving Son to Kill Himself in Divorce Filing
US agency review says Nevada lithium mine can co-exist with endangered flower
Florida sheriff shames 2 more kids after school threats. Is it a good idea?
What to know about Tuesday’s US House primaries to replace Matt Gaetz and Mike Waltz
Why Blake Shelton Is Comparing Gwen Stefani Relationship to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's Romance
50 years after ‘The Power Broker,’ Robert Caro’s dreams are still coming true
Kyle Okposo announces retirement after winning Stanley Cup with Florida Panthers