Accessibility links
Culture Art and entertainment commentary plus interviews, book reviews, movie reviews, music reviews, comedy, and visual art. Subscribe to podcasts and follow trends in music, painting, art, architecture, photography, and design.

Culture

Tuesday

What makes 'The Real Housewives' so addictive? (Classic)

What makes 'The Real Housewives' peak culture? Santiago Felipe/John Lamparski/Jim Spellman/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Santiago Felipe/John Lamparski/Jim Spellman/Getty Images

It's Been a Minute

What makes 'The Real Housewives' so addictive? (Classic)

It's a big week for fans of reality TV - it's Bravocon 2023. This year it's in Las Vegas – and while we couldn't make it to Vegas, we're revisiting what we learned from last year's Bravocon in New York. Host Brittany Luse and producer Liam McBain talked to fans, a producer, an academic and the Housewives themselves to understand what makes The Real Housewives peak culture – as in the #1 topic in the group chat – for so many people.

What makes 'The Real Housewives' so addictive? (Classic)

Listen · 30:24
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197954194/1209464737" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
Why the urban legend of contaminated Halloween candy won't disappear

Children go trick-or-treating on Oct. 31, 2022, in Houston. Brandon Bell/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

National

Why the urban legend of contaminated Halloween candy won't disappear

There is no evidence of any deaths or injuries from contaminated Halloween candy. Why are people still afraid of it?

Why the urban legend of contaminated Halloween candy won't disappear

Listen · 2:01
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1208459235/1209644594" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
What to know about trunk-or-treating, a trick-or-treating alternative

A car is open at a trunk-or-treat in 2014. The events allow children to collect candy from trunks of cars gathered in parking lots. Scott Maentz/Flickr Creative Commons hide caption

toggle caption
Scott Maentz/Flickr Creative Commons

National

What to know about trunk-or-treating, a trick-or-treating alternative

Trunk-or-treating has been popular among churches, where people gather in parking lots and decorate their car trunks. Here's a rundown of how it started and how to find one nearby.

A priest explains what 'The Exorcist' tells us about evil

Priests, played by Max von Sydow and Jason Miller, try to help a possessed child in The Exorcist, from 1973. Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images

Moments in history

A priest explains what 'The Exorcist' tells us about evil

After half a century, The Exorcist is still considered one of the scariest movies ever made. But one priest says it's a movie deeply concerned with faith, and responding to evil.

A priest explains what 'The Exorcist' tells us about evil

Listen · 3:44
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1209028838/1209644612" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
It's Been a Minute: Britney Spears tells her story

Britney Spears holds her awards for the 1999 MTV Europe Awards; The Woman in Me (2023) by Britney Spears JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images, Simon & Schuster, Inc. hide caption

toggle caption
JOEL SAGET/AFP/Getty Images, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

It's Been a Minute: Britney Spears tells her story

Britney Spears just released one of the most hotly anticipated celebrity memoirs of the year. The Woman In Me details her meteoric rise to fame, her family history, and her 13-year-long conservatorship. Today we're bringing you a special episode of It's Been a Minute, where host Brittany Luse and her guests discuss all the juicy, strange, and sad highlights from the new book.

It's Been a Minute: Britney Spears tells her story

Listen · 21:58
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197956381/1209451788" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">

Monday

Horror trailers can be scary for kids — and avoiding them is hard, especially around Halloween.

Horror trailers can be scary for kids — and avoiding them is hard, especially around Halloween. Gerard Launet/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Gerard Launet/Getty Images

Scream time: Has your kid been frightened by a horror movie trailer?

Ads for horror movies and TV shows seem to be everywhere around Halloween — including during shows that kids might be watching. Avoiding them is a challenge.

Scream time: Has your kid been frightened by a horror movie trailer?

Listen · 2:52
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1209466841/1209529151" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
How Black socialite Mollie Moon raised millions to fund the civil rights movement

Josephine Baker (left), Mollie Moon (right) and the newly crowned Miss Beaux Arts Ball, 1960. E. Azalia Hackley Collection of African Americans in the Performing Arts/Detroit Public Library/Amistad imprint of Harper Collins hide caption

toggle caption
E. Azalia Hackley Collection of African Americans in the Performing Arts/Detroit Public Library/Amistad imprint of Harper Collins

Race

How Black socialite Mollie Moon raised millions to fund the civil rights movement

Fresh Air

Historian Tanisha Ford tells the story of the Harlem activist credited with raising millions to build economic and racial equality in the U.S. Ford's new book is Our Secret Society.

How Black socialite Mollie Moon raised millions to fund the civil rights movement

Listen · 35:47
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1209018407/1209470587" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
Alice McDermott's 'Absolution' transports her signature characters to Vietnam
MacMillan

Review

Book Reviews

Alice McDermott's 'Absolution' transports her signature characters to Vietnam

Fresh Air

McDermott's latest novel, which centers on two American women who meet in Saigon in 1963, explores themes of religion, humility and insistent charitable intervention.

Alice McDermott's 'Absolution' transports her signature characters to Vietnam

Listen · 7:51
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1208508580/1209470674" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript
No candy for you. Some towns ban older kids from trick-or-treating on Halloween

Children walk past Halloween decorations last year. In several U.S. towns, it's illegal for kids over 12 years old to go trick-or-treating. Brandon Bell/Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
Brandon Bell/Getty Images

National

No candy for you. Some towns ban older kids from trick-or-treating on Halloween

When are kids too old to go trick-or-treating? In some U.S. towns, it's illegal for teenagers to indulge in the sweetest part of Halloween – one even threatened jail time.

In 'The Holdovers,' three broken people get schooled

Dominic Sessa, Da'Vine Joy Rudolph and Paul Giamatti star in The Holdovers. Focus Features hide caption

toggle caption
Focus Features

Review

Pop Culture Happy Hour

In 'The Holdovers,' three broken people get schooled

In the funny, melancholic and weirdly moving new film, The Holdovers, Paul Giamatti plays a widely disliked teacher at a prestigious New England boarding school in 1970. He's forced to look after the boys who can't go home for the Christmas break, including one kid (Dominic Sessa) who's a particular pain in the butt. The film is directed by Alexander Payne, and also stars Da'Vine Joy Randolph as the school cook, who's spending the first Christmas without her son.

In 'The Holdovers,' three broken people get schooled

Listen · 21:29
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1197956362/1209080102" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript

Sunday

The Nightmare Before Christmas Turns 30

Costumed revellers dressed as characters from the film "The Nightmare Before Christmas" walk down Essex Street on Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts. It's been 30 years since The Nightmare Before Christmas first hit theaters. JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

toggle caption
JOSEPH PREZIOSO/AFP via Getty Images

Consider This from NPR

The Nightmare Before Christmas Turns 30

The Nightmare Before Christmas is back in theaters, celebrating its 30th anniversary. The film, directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton, was not a smash hit upon its release, but has become something of a holiday classic over the years. And while there is some debate as to whether it counts as a Halloween movie or a Christmas movie, its spooky themes draw many viewers back to the film every October.

The Nightmare Before Christmas Turns 30

Listen · 14:19
  • Download
  • <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1198908859/1209355876" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player">
  • Transcript