Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Show Me A Hero' And A Summer Update

Oscar Isaac and Carla Quevedo star in the HBO miniseries Show Me A Hero.

Paul Schiraldi/HBO

Five-plus years into the history of PCHH, this is the first time we've found ourselves recording a full episode with just three of us — in this case me, Stephen and Glen. We gathered this week to talk about the HBO miniseries Show Me A Hero, which I previously reviewed on the blog over here. It's from David Simon, who previously did The Wire and Treme, and it digs into a famously contentious late-'80s battle over low-income housing in Yonkers, N.Y. We talk about some of the performances, the history, the attempt to balance a political story with a story about life in public housing, and lots more.

Then, in recognition of the fact that it's almost September (!), we start with a look back at our summer movie box office predictions, and I am once again reminded that I should not predict things. But then, we go to a few things we've been catching up on that we missed in recent months (and sometimes a teeny bit longer than that). Glen talks about a horror movie and another horror movie (and Stephen asks for help finding appropriate scary movies for a middle-school horror fan in the making). Stephen talks about summer songs and debates over summer songs, acknowledging a certain arc of liking-disliking-liking one particular song while flatly disliking another. I talk about one TV show featuring a standup and one featuring an extremely specific, niche-y parody.

In our regular What's Making Us Happy This Week segment, Glen rounds up three pieces about the same comic (one, two, three). Stephen is happy about some fine writing at NPR about tough topics, and mentions a couple of fall records to soothe the soul, one from a "like-but-not-love band" that's now gained ground and one he calls "balm on my nerves." And if you're interested in the social media meetup Stephen talked about around the launch of Hidden Brain, hit it! And I had so many things making me happy this week that two of them got cut for time (ha!), but the two that survived were a great music podcast and a Tumblr that's just ... shallow. That's what. I regret nothing.

Find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter: the show, me, Stephen, Glen, producer Jessica, and pal and producer emeritus Mike.