Pop Culture Happy Hour: On Sequels And Skipping 'Independence Day'

As of last weekend, we thought the show we'd be bringing you today would be primarily about Independence Day: Resurgence, which seems like the umpteenth sequel this summer to open with soft box office and exhausted reviews. But then we remembered: we don't have to see it.

And so, buoyed by a combination of sequel fatigue, explosion fatigue, big movie fatigue, marketing fatigue, and generalized summer entertainment fatigue, we are joined by Code Switch's Gene Demby as we declare our own independence from seeing this movie, and instead talk about why it might be that sequels are having such a rocky summer. Is it an inherent problem of revisiting, and if so, why are there still some sequels we welcome? Is it a sign of things to come as a cycle of rebooting runs out of things to reboot except other reboots?

In our second segment, we deliver a noisy quiz about turtles, aliens, neighbors, and other critters that return and return.

As always, we close the show with what's making us happy this week. Stephen is happy about the second season of a show we've discussed before. Glen is happy about a game he enjoyed playing and a musician he can't stop listening to. Gene is happy about an entirely different musician with an intriguing angle. And I am happy about a game show reboot and a show I really love that's just back.

Find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter: the show, me, Stephen, Glen, Gene, producer Jessica, and producer emeritus/music director/pal-for-life Mike.