Linda Holmes
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.
Holmes was a writer and editor at Television Without Pity, where she recapped several hundred hours of programming — including both High School Musical movies, for which she did not receive hazard pay. Her first novel, Evvie Drake Starts Over, was published in the summer of 2019.
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Each week, guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: This Is How You Lose the Time War, GWAR covering “I’m Just Ken,” and the Tested podcast series from NPR's Embedded.
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In the highly meta Deadpool & Wolverine, Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman finally meet up for their own big movie. Deadpool is still smarmy, Wolverine is still tragic, and they have to get together to save the world. Along the way, Deadpool continues his usual routine of endless wisecracking. The movie is jam-packed with fan service and Easter eggs. But how will casual Marvel fans like the movie? -
The verdict is in, and the ending is a dud: Rather than wriggling out of the original story’s sexism, the Apple TV+ series just makes the same mistakes in a new way. -
Twister was one of the biggest disaster movies of the '90s. Now, it's finally got a sequel — one with an all-new cast, state-of-the-art effects, and a whole lot of tornadoes. The new film stars Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones as rival storm-chasers who have a habit of running into tornadoes while everyone else is fleeing. Twisters was directed by Lee Isaac Chung, who also directed the Oscar-nominated Minari. -
Abbott Elementary was nominated for best comedy series. But the more serious FX show The Bear set a record on the comedy side with 23 nominations. Shogun got even more nods.
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Actress Shannen Doherty, star of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Charmed, died over the weekend. She was 53 and was battling cancer.
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Just in time for the All-Star Game, pop culture critic and Phillies fan Linda Holmes is here to persuade you to turn on some baseball. If you don't have a team, just borrow hers; they're doing pretty well. -
Doherty, who died at 53, almost ten years after she was first diagnosed with breast cancer, was a child actor, most notably on Little House on the Prairie. She was in Heathers in 1988, which is a bright spot on any résumé. But she became an icon as Brenda Walsh on Beverly Hills, 90210, one of the biggest hits of the early '90s and the spark for many teen soaps that came later. -
It's summer, so we're talking all about road trips. Should you blast music that's familiar or unfamiliar? What makes for a good road trip audiobook? What are some road trip games we hate? Pop Culture Happy Hour talked all about how to entertain and amuse ourselves in the car way back in 2012. Today, in this encore episode, we're revisiting that conversation. -
The Bear just returned for its third season and it's still one of the most stressful and most interesting shows on TV. Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) are launching their new fine dining restaurant, but he's estranged from some of the people who are closest to him just as he sneaks up on a new level of success. The series is streaming now on Hulu.
