NPR pop culture critic Linda Holmes lists highlights from the year, including Ted Lasso, a TikTok dog, a twisty mystery, some great performances, and a moment in a mall.
Since hooks' passing on December 15, social media has flooded with reflections on her public impact as an author and scholar. Here, her friends remember what she was like in private.
In the series, Lebowitz talks with Martin Scorsese about getting kicked out of high school, driving a cab in New York City in the 1970s and not having a cell phone. Originally broadcast January 2021.
A reunion of Maine switchboard operators highlights the challenges of making a phone call more than 50 years ago and what it was like to handle emergencies, rude customers and delicate situations.
Culkin plays one of three siblings vying for control of a media empire. The character, he says, "doesn't really know what [it] means to suffer consequences." Originally broadcast Dec. 6, 2021.
These Life Kit stories about burnout, distraction and making connections resonated with readers, topping the charts as our most popular stories of 2021.
Some people spend years or longer trying to track down favorite books from childhood. An Instagram account called My Old Books uses crowdsourcing to make the connection.
In the series finale, we finally get an answer to the "will they, won't they" question that's been surrounding Issa and Lawrence since Season 1—but that won't define the show's legacy.
We asked children's media experts to recommend their favorite new books, TV shows and video games with characters and storylines representing the diversity of the U.S.
The artist explored everything from pastries to cityscapes in his work. Paintings, he once told NPR, can be "powerful statements about the sort of astounding capacity of the human mind."
Creating your own game can lead to lots of laughs, but it can also help teach people how to bond, work together as a team and create some lasting memories, according to comedian Eric Cunningham.
