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Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Star Wars,' 'Louie' And Other Phenomena

NPR
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We're joined this week by the lovely Petra Mayer of NPR Books, who brings her serious sci-fi and fandom chops to our opening chat about the big Star Wars news. (From her early comment that one of the prequels should be subtitled "Three Hours Closer To Death And Nothing To Show For It," you can tell she's serious about those chops.) (And the way she says, "I'm Trek not Wars!") We also talk quite a bit about diversity in casting, and I mention a story about Noah that you can read here.

We also jump into the topic of Louie, FX's decorated, widely admired comedy centered around Louis CK. We talk about the positives, the drawbacks, and a little nonspoilery business about the new season. (Well, a little spoilery as to the first two episodes that have already aired. Otherwise much less so.) Petra mentions a cat picture she worked on while she was watching the Louie episodes. You can see that picture at the bottom of this post.

As always, we close the show with what's making us happy this week. Stephen is very happy about a musical theater production about which he is completely unbiased, in the sense that one of his blood relatives is in it. He's also happy about a record you can actually listen to. Petra is happy about a book series she really loves (you must hear her description). Glen is happy about a book that sounds equally interesting and surprising. I am happy about a small grab bag of things: Stephen writing about sellouts, a giant toy I got in the mail, and Dave Holmes' Somewhere In Time column.

Find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter: me, Stephen, Glen, Petra, producers Jessica, Lauren and Nick, and our dear pal Mike.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

This is the photo that Petra talks about working on during <em>Louie</em>. It is the cat of NPR's Melisa Goh. You will agree: Petra has done the work.
/ Petra Mayer
/
Petra Mayer
This is the photo that Petra talks about working on during Louie. It is the cat of NPR's Melisa Goh. You will agree: Petra has done the work.

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.
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