Plus: Remembering Sidney Poitier and Ronnie Spector [View this email online]( [Pop Culture Happy Hour]( by Linda Holmes Welcome! It was the week when we said goodbye to [one of the TV dads]( a lot of us watched for many years. It was the week when [another possible sequel/reboot]( came calling. And it was the week when some TV home makeovers [turned out to be not so magical](. Let's get to it. Opening Argument: How I Met Your Father And The Challenges Of The Hangout Show Let us not rehash the bad feelings around the poorly-conceived ending of How I Met Your Mother. I spent happy years watching that show, loved much of what it did with its talented cast, and don't believe in regretting that time just because the charming premise of its pilot (sometimes the person who seems to be your romantic soulmate is not, but they may still be incredibly special to you) was betrayed by its ending (psych! She actually is his romantic soulmate LOL ha ha). Much of that show's success lay in what you might just call its hangout vibes. Like Living Single and Friends and other sitcoms, it put a bunch of people -- Ted (Josh Radnor), Robin (Cobie Smulders), Marshall (Jason Segel) and Lily (Alyson Hannigan), and Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) -- in a bunch of rooms doing a bunch of weird things, and it watched as they unfolded. At the same time, the comedy of HIMYM was heightened and a little unreal. It's not as well-known for its hooky, jokey concepts as something like Seinfeld, but bits like the slap bet and [Robin's past as a Canadian teen pop star]( always made it feel a little broader than a pure hangout show. And now, years later, we get How I Met Your Father on Hulu, which is premiering January 18. The premise is this: an adult Sophie, played by Kim Cattrall, addresses her son to tell him how she met his father. He says he already knows, but she says he doesn't know the details. From here, we launch into the story of young Sophie, played by Hilary Duff, who in the first episode is living with a roommate and going on Tinder dates and, improbably, instantly gaining entry into a new group of friends after an adventurous night. Critics have been asked not to talk too much about how the story of the father fits into this story, so: fine. Frankly, that asks us not to tell readers how the show is trying to preempt fears that its ending will be as much of a gotcha as the original HIMYM ending, which might be counterproductive from the show's point of view, but: fine. But what I will tell you is that the jokes in the two episodes I watched just do not land at all. It's not for lack of effort, and it's not for lack of talent in the cast. Hilary Duff can absolutely carry a show like this, as you know if you watched her on Younger. And Chris Lowell, who's playing one of the guys in her newly formed circle, is one of my very favorite Regular Guy Actors, by which I mean he often brings a little punch and tons of charm to roles that aren't written with a lot of easy, showy stuff for actors to grab onto. (The role he plays [in Promising Young Woman]( almost riffs on this very quality.) The rest of the cast I don't know quite as well in comedy -- Francia Raisa as Sophie's roommate; Tom Ainsley, Daniel Augustin, Suraj Sharma (from Life of Pi!), and Tien Tran all play other people who enter her life in the first episode. But I don't think it's them; I think it's the script not being nearly funny enough. But on the whole, I think this show isn't weird enough. Ted Mosby was often insufferable, but he had a kind of quixotic desire for love -- a belief in grand gestures and destiny -- that made him watchable, even if sometimes through your fingers. Marshall and Lily were a couple of beautifully matched dorks. And Barney was pretty loathsome, but at least he was specific, with his suit-wearing and his high-fiving and the constant question of why he was friends with any of these people. How I Met Your Father is a hangout show that I think is too much like an actual hangout. These people seem very nice. (And it's definitely a positive thing that it's not another full complement of straight white characters.) They seem to like each other; they seem to be rootable and pleasant. The actors are absolutely up to the challenge. But ... trying to marry this kind of naturalistic, laid-back approach to the high-concept business with the narrator and the "this is how I met your father" and all that? I think it's not working in these early episodes, at least. (With that said, comedies often take time to grow into themselves.) It's harder than it looks, the "put a bunch of attractive people in a room and put a camera on them" kind of show. It's hard, period. Chemistry is hard to duplicate; quirkiness is hard to manufacture without having it seem hopelessly labored. If I had to actually be friends with either the friends in the first show or the friends in the follow-up show, I might well choose these friends. But that's not really the point, is it? --------------------------------------------------------------- Newsletter continues after sponsor message
--------------------------------------------------------------- We Recommend! Two things to check out if you want to be super prepared for our shows next week: Abbott Elementary on ABC and Sort Of on HBO MAX. I read [Edgar Gomez's memoir]( High-Risk Homosexual this week; it's a very good book about growing up as a queer Latinx kid who, among other things, frequented the Pulse nightclub before the shooting there. It's funny and full of wonderful characters, while being bracingly honest about moments of pain and trauma. I've been watching a bunch of astronaut movies for an upcoming podcast appearance (not my podcast; more on this later). I cannot really recommend, exactly, [the 1977 film]( Capricorn One, a tale of three astronauts who are forced into a scheme to fake a Mars landing. But I will tell you that (1) it is available to rent online or to watch on Amazon Prime (as of this writing), and (2) it features Elliott Gould as a journalist and perhaps the most intriguing trio of astronauts that 1977 could have offered: James Brolin, Sam Waterston, and O.J. Simpson. My friends, I give you ... 1977. If you liked last week's essay about YouTube videos about Amazon return pallets, don't miss [this week's Planet Money deep dive]( into the economics of return resellers. And a reminder! There is a new way to support the show! It’s called Pop Culture Happy Hour+, and it means you’ll get the same episodes, but via a sponsorship-free feed. If you prefer or your circumstances dictate, you can absolutely continue listening the same as before in the regular feed with sponsorships. But if you’re interested, check out your options and figure out a plan that works for you at [plus.npr.org/happy](. What We Did This Week: [Ronnie Spector image]( Jack Kay/Getty Images A request first: We're going to be talking about The Golden Girls on an upcoming episode. Do you have a question? Something you want to ask us to talk about? Send us a question via voice memo at [pchh@npr.org](mailto:pchh@npr.org?subject='The%20Golden%20Girls'). We might answer your question on the show! On Monday, [Aisha and Odie Henderson]( talked about the legend, Sidney Poitier. And last week, she [wrote a beautiful remembrance]( as well. On Tuesday, Aisha and I [talked with Danny Hensel]( about the Mike Mills movie C'mon, C'mon. Wednesday, Glen talked with Inkoo Kang and Katie Presley [about the TV adaptation of]( Station Eleven. Thursday, [Stephen was joined by Reanna Cruz and Kiana Fitzgerald]( to talk about The Weeknd and Dawn FM. And Friday, [Glen and Aisha talked about]( The Tragedy Of Macbeth with Bob Mondello and Bedatri D. Choudhury. [I wrote about Ronnie Spector]( who died this week, and about the year when "Be My Baby" was the song that meant sex in a couple of different big pop-culture moments. [And Glen reviewed]( HBO's Somebody Somewhere, which he calls "a modest, refreshingly clear-eyed take on the struggle to reinsert yourself into life." What's Making Us Happy: Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: - What's making Bedatri happy: ['70s Dinner Party](
- What's making Bob happy: [Remembering Dwyane Hickman]( and watching The Bob Cummings Show
- What's making Aisha happy: [Grand Crew](
- What's making Glen happy: [A Swim in a Pond in the Rain: In Which Four Russians Give a Master Class on Writing, Reading, and Life]( by George Saunders --------------------------------------------------------------- Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream.
[Find a Station]( --------------------------------------------------------------- [Subscribe to Pop Culture Happy Hour+](. Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free episodes. What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: [pchh@npr.org](mailto:pchh@npr.org?subject=Newsletter%20Feedback) Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can [sign up here](. Looking for more great content? [Check out all of our newsletter offerings]( — including Music, Books, Daily News and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Pop Culture Happy Hour emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 [Unsubscribe]( | [Privacy Policy](
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