All’s Fair And What’s Making Us Happy

Ryan Murphy’s latest show All’s Fair centers on an all-female law firm led by Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts, and Niecy Nash-Betts. The high-powered law firm specializes in obtaining hefty divorce settlements for wealthy women. The show is barbed, nasty, over-the-top and maybe too much. It’s got us wondering: Is it fair that Murphy’s unleashed this utter silliness upon the world? See pcm.adswizz.com https://pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy https://www.npr.org/about-npr/179878450/privacy-policy

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  This message comes from iXL, a learning platform for helping kids build confidence and get up to speed fast. One subscription covers math, science, and reading for all children in a household. Receive 20% off at ixl.com/NPR.

• 0:21Aisha Harris?

  It's quite possible you're at least familiar with Ryan Murphy's latest project, All's Fair, because in terms of utter silliness, it's a doozy. It's about an all-female law firm led by, wait for it, Kim Kardashian, Naomi Watts, and Nisi Nash-Betts. And true to the Murphy brand, the show is barbed and nasty, over the top and all around so much, maybe too much even for him. It's got us wondering, is it fair that he's unleashed this upon the world? I'm Aisha Harris, and today we're talking about All's Fair on Pop Witcher Happy Hour from NPR. Joining me today is Vulture TV critic Roxana Hadadi. Welcome back, Roxana. Hello. Thank you for having me. It is great to have you here, Roxana. Also here is Christina Tucker. She's the

• 1:05Aisha Harris?

  co-host of the podcast Wait is this Date? Welcome back to you, Christina.

• 1:09Speaker 02

  Hello, hello. Get ready to pin your wigs back, team.

• 1:13Aisha Harris?

  The wigs are pinned. The makeup is done. The nether regions have been pricked and plodded and plumped and all those things.

• 1:24Aisha Harris?

  Look, this show, my goodness. Okay, so All's Fair stars Kim Kardashian as Alora Grant, Naomi Watts as Liberty Ronson, and Nisi Nash-Betts as Emerald Green. That's redundant. Together, they form a high-powered law firm specializing in obtaining hefty divorce settlements for wealthy women. Their mentor and colleague is Dina Standish, played by Glenn Close. Their sworn enemy is rival attorney Carrington Lane, played by...

• 1:51Aisha Harris?

  Who else? Sarah Paulson, who is basically inhaling the scenery whenever she's on screen.

• 1:55Speaker 03

  Boy, do I love coming here, walking down that hallway, shaped like a clown cervix. I hate you both so much that I'm specifically taking on clients now just to come here and make your life a living hell.

• 2:06Aisha Harris?

  Whew, that is just a taste, just a taste. When the ladies aren't fighting for their clients, they're dealing with their own personal problems, like a cheating ex who also happens to be an NFL player, or negotiating a prenup with a fiance, or difficulties dating at all because no one wants to be with a woman who's so rich and successful on her own. Ah, the show is so relatable. All's Fair is streaming on Hulu now. Christina, I'm gonna start with you. Are you on board for All's Fair?

• 2:36Speaker 02

  I am on board, and I need to say this because I feel like I resisted being on board. I said, maybe this is enough. Maybe putting this one on screen is maybe just too far. Maybe we've let Ryan Murphy go too far.

• 2:52Aisha Harris?

  And yet. And yet.

• 2:54Speaker 02

  I sat there and sure, did I feel my brain shutting off as I watched? Absolutely. But did I feel my fist pumping in the air as I heard every nonsensical line that came out of these actresses' mouths? Yes, also that. And at the end of the day, I'm always going to be here for Ryan Murphy letting older women do insane things on screen because no one else is letting them do anything. So let's go. Throw a tea kettle, Glenn. I wanna see that.

• 3:22Aisha Harris?

  Hmm, okay. Tyler Perry would like a word, but I hear you, Christina.

• 3:29Aisha Harris?

  Roxanna?

• 3:30Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 3:30Aisha Harris?

  Come on, what are we doing here?

• 3:32Speaker 04

  I mean, I am on board, but I'm like on board in the way that Kate Winslet was like clutching the door at the end of Titanic where you're like, I don't actually know if this is good. Like, I'm like holding on for dear life. I'm seeing all my hopes and dreams sink to the bottom of the ocean. I do think that it is. Fun, and I think it's fun because it's a nighttime soap, right? Like, we all sort of miss the nighttime soap. Yellowstone is essentially a nighttime soap.

• 4:02Speaker 02

  Yep.

• 4:02Speaker 04

  Like, all shows are basically this format.

• 4:05Speaker 02

  Yes.

• 4:05Speaker 04

  But I do appreciate that this show isn't trying to do anything other than what it's doing. Right? Like, it fully knows that these characters are ludicrous and these problems apply to, like, the point 111%. It is girl bossing fully in the mode of, like, 2011. You know what I mean? Like, it's... So, yeah, I mean, it is, like, lowest difficulty setting.

• 4:36Speaker 02

  Exactly.

• 4:36Speaker 04

  Absolutely.

• 4:37Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 4:37Speaker 04

  But I think I personally am very tired of shows that use the girl boss format for some sort of, like, political statement. Like, I never want to watch The Diplomat again. Homeland is like, blah. But this, I don't know, there's something about this that I'm like, oh, they're fighting about jewelry. How quaint. How pleasant.

• 4:58Speaker 02

  It bizarrely does have a quaint energy. Like, I don't know how, because some of the words you're hearing are far from quaint. Let me assure you. But still, watching it, it does have an energy that's like, yeah, this is a soap opera that I feel kind of charmed by. Like, there is something quaint about it.

• 5:16Speaker 04

  Fully what I think it's trying to do is, like, what if the Golden Girls were lawyers? And there's something about that that is, I don't know, very familiar. And I think just weirdly tolerable for me personally.

• 5:30Aisha Harris?

  Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned the Golden Girls, because that definitely came up for me as I was watching this. And I just completed a very slow first time watch of the entire series of the Golden Girls. So it was fresh in my mind.

• 5:43Speaker 02

  Top of mind.

• 5:44Aisha Harris?

  Yes, very, very top of mind. I gotta say, y'all, look, I have a extremely high tolerance for trash TV. I have watched a lot of really bad reality TV. If you've listened long enough, you know that like I've watched pretty much every episode of Teen Mom. Like, I have no druthers about watching and digging into the muck. There's something about this show, though, for all the reasons you actually mentioned, it's just like repelling me away from enjoying this.

• 6:10Speaker 02

  I kind of love that.

• 6:11Aisha Harris?

  Yes, it's a show that knows what it is, but I think it knows what it is too well. Like, it's winking too hard at me. I feel like Ryan Murphy has now reached a tipping point. And I am not by any means like a Ryan Murphy completist, who could be and still live a fulfilling life. Like, no one has time to watch everything he's put his stamp on. But, you know, I go back as far as one of his first shows, Popular, which I remember watching when I was probably too young to be watching it, but I definitely watched it, loved it. I've watched The Feuds, I've watched, you know, American crime stories. I've never been into American horror story, that's not my thing. And I've watched Hollywood, the sort of memory-hold, really not-great show that like sort of fan-fix this idea of like mid-century Hollywood, classic Hollywood,

• 6:56Aisha Harris?

  being more progressive like than it ever was and ever even is now. So I enjoy Ryan Murphy in bits and pieces. I do think on this show, it seems very meme-forward. It feels like a show that is intended to be so over the top that it's not anymore, like for me, anyway. And so... To see Sarah Paulson getting off all of these barbs and jabs and frequently referring to, you know, body parts and being like the staunch anti-feminist who's like, I don't care about women, like, it's every person for themselves. There's something just about it that I can't latch on to and enjoy. And I want mindless things, but this one felt beyond mindless for me.

• 7:37Aisha Harris?

  It felt as though I was just retreating into the dark abyss of nothingness. And I wish I had the joy that you both...

• 7:46Speaker 02

  No, I'm so fascinated to hear this.

• 7:48Speaker 04

  Aisha really said, hello darkness, my old friend.

• 7:51Aisha Harris?

  Truly.

• 7:53Speaker 02

  I did. I mean, I understand where that feeling comes from. It's not that I can't see approaching the show with that kind of energy. And I, quite honestly, I think for probably the first half of the first episode, I was like, is this gonna be fun enough to deserve my attention and time? And I think it almost manages to succeed almost exclusively on the strength of the sudden switch we make. I think it's in episode four or five onto Carrington Lane, Sarah Paulson's character. Yes, yeah. Giving her some more dimension. I was like, well, first of all, this show should just simply be about this woman. I don't really understand what we're doing here. Yes, I agree with that. There was something about like that slight bit of dimension that I was like, okay, I'm ready to hang my hat on that. And yeah, I mean, there are some moments where I was like, is it possible that this

• 8:38Speaker 02

  is everyone who's involved in the show creating a Shutter Island scenario for Kim Kardashian specifically? I don't know. It's possible. It's just something I'm wondering. But it is really, has been just making me giggle. And unfortunately, a large part of my joy is just the giggles that come from hearing Glenn Close say things like, I'll pack you a lunch with peppered farm goldfish. What?

• 9:03Speaker 04

  Yeah. Here's what I'll say. Fun is a subjective word.

• 9:08Speaker 02

  Yes, as we know, yes.

• 9:10Speaker 04

  And so I would hesitate to say that episodes in their entirety are fun. I think the thing we sort of have to talk about is that like, each episode has sort of this like A-plot with what's happening in this law firm. And so there's always sort of like a divorce case. And this is where you get your guest stars, right? Like Elizabeth Berkeley for like five minutes, Jennifer Jason-Leigh.

• 9:35Speaker 02

  Jessica Simpson.

• 9:37Speaker 04

  Jessica Simpson.

• 9:38Speaker 02

  And Rick Springfield.

• 9:39Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 9:40Speaker 02

  Playing her older husband. Exactly. They ate down, I'll say it.

• 9:43Speaker 04

  You get that classic like nip-tuck Dr. Odyssey format of like, here's this like recurring hamster wheel of guest stars. I personally enjoy Murphy's work best when he has sort of like a short attention span. And I think this is why I don't react as well to like Monster and to the other mini-series, which are really like. The classic mini series problem of a movie that stretched to like 10 or 13 episodes.

• 10:15Aisha Harris?

  Yeah.

• 10:16Speaker 04

  I think he does better episodically. And so I think like, you know, that 15 minutes of Jessica Simpson like screaming at her ex.

• 10:27Aisha Harris?

  Mm hmm.

• 10:27Speaker 04

  That's fine with me.

• 10:29Aisha Harris?

  Yeah.

• 10:29Speaker 04

  And I do think that like, as the show has sort of changed, there are elements of it being like a murder mystery all of a sudden. It's like a portrait of Carrington Lane. Like it's doing different enough things. But each episode to me, I'm like, I honestly have no idea where this is gonna.

• 10:49Aisha Harris?

  Yeah.

• 10:49Speaker 04

  Go.

• 10:50Aisha Harris?

  Yes, yes.

• 10:50Speaker 04

  But I know that we're gonna hear the C word so many times.

• 10:54Aisha Harris?

  So many times, so many times.

• 10:56Speaker 04

  We might as well be in England over here. Hanging with the land.

• 11:00Aisha Harris?

  Yes, that sort of A plot, B plot thing also kind of reminds me of like the earlier seasons of Scandal where it was like, you know, the white hats. We're gonna try and clean up these messes for all these, you know, very important people, politicians, whatever. But even Nacho had a little bit of a, yes, it was also ridiculous. And I think Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy kind of sometimes play in similar sandboxes. I've already mentioned Tyler Perry also put, you know, Lee Daniels in there as well.

• 11:26Speaker 04

  Hundred percent, yeah.

• 11:27Aisha Harris?

  For me, I guess it's like, I think I would be more okay with all of this like ludicrousness. If it wasn't so rah rah for the 1% like sisterhood. And so many scenes are like, we're gonna do this, we're dealing with this. And then it's like, but you know, it's so hard being rich and successful woman. Like it's impossible to do this and we have to live up to all these expectations. And I'm like, well, okay, you cast fricking Kim Kardashian. No, I'm just gonna say, I don't like her. I don't think she's a good actress. I think she.

• 11:59Speaker 04

  No, she is not.

• 12:00Aisha Harris?

  That is not a. Revelation here.

• 12:03Speaker 04

  No, it is not.

• 12:04Aisha Harris?

  Anyone who's seen Tyler Perry's Temptations: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor knows that she is not, or even American Horror Story, like she is not an actress.

• 12:12Speaker 04

  No.

• 12:12Aisha Harris?

  But this is clearly a show that's sort of pulling, if not directly from her own life, as someone who has been married and divorced several times and who is very rich and wealthy, there's just something that doesn't sit right with my soul, watching her sort of play this role of a woman who, and I believe she believes that she is someone who is like for women, and I'm just like, okay, but really, this is, again, as you said, Roxanne, a very 1% rah rah. And if it didn't hammer so hard on those points, I think I would be able to enjoy it more, but those points make it icier for me in a way.

• 12:49Speaker 04

  Yeah.

• 12:50Speaker 02

  I do think some of that meta-commentary, especially around like the scenes specifically where they're all talking about like the surgeries and procedures that Alora goes through.

• 12:58Speaker 05

  So, the other day, I did this new miracle laser that makes the tiniest microscopic holes in the skin that stimulate collagen. There's also the most wonderful new long-lasting filler formulated from salmon sperm.

• 13:13Speaker 02

  And that was really the moment to me that kind of stood out as I like, are we having our cake and eating it too? Because the message of that was like, definitely don't get plastic surgery unless you want to, and then that's fine. It was just kind of like, okay, but then why is this conversation here? And a lot of the conversations kind of felt like that, like they were kind of introducing a very special episode energy to like, today we're talking about this at the table with the girls.

• 13:39Aisha Harris?

  Yes, yes.

• 13:40Speaker 02

  And something I wrote in my notes was that I underestimated like the sleepover energy that it would have. Like, I didn't really expect that.

• 13:47Aisha Harris?

  Sleepover in the law office.

• 13:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, I just like, didn't really expect like the amount of like girlies giggling around somehow a roaring fireplace every four seconds, even though you're in LA.

• 13:57Aisha Harris?

  Yeah.

• 13:57Speaker 02

  I was a little delighted by that, but also kind of like, interesting that this is like very special. And then also, you know, adding in the B-plots are always like, hello, here's a perfect plot to comment on what someone is going through in the cast. We will explain exactly how this woman deserves money because she was involved in this marriage and this work and et cetera, et cetera. The same score will play. It will swell at the moment and everyone will nod. And just kind of, again, I've come back to quaint. I'm like, that feels quaint to me.

• 14:24Aisha Harris?

  Yeah.

• 14:25Speaker 04

  And I do think This sort of like broader question is hanging over everything, which is like, how long can they keep getting away with this? Like, it's been renewed.

• 14:34Aisha Harris?

  It's been renewed, yes, for season two.

• 14:35Speaker 04

  Yeah, it's already been renewed. So clearly, like, we're dealing with an Emily in Paris. Are the hate watches fueling the renewal situation?

• 14:44Aisha Harris?

  Yes, yeah.

• 14:45Speaker 04

  But I do think, like, when I actually try to think about the politics of the show, there is clearly, like, the show thinks it's doing an intersectional feminism thing, right? Because, like, the cast involves people of, like, various races, like, various backgrounds, et cetera.

• 15:02Aisha Harris?

  Hari Neff is in it.

• 15:03Speaker 02

  Hari Neff is slaying in it.

• 15:05Speaker 04

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. But I think all of the clients have been white, if I'm remembering correctly.

• 15:11Aisha Harris?

  So far, at the time of this taping, yes. That is another thing I've been like, okay, so we've just got all these rich white women that we're catering to.

• 15:19Speaker 04

  I mean, again, this is like a classic Ryan Murphy thing. When you stare at the show too long, like, Cthulhu appears and the abyss opens up and we all get pulled inside.

• 15:31Speaker 02

  Guys, this is why I'm saying it's Shutter Island.

• 15:34Speaker 04

  Yeah, like, it resists any type of, like, logical point of view. Aside, again, from that, like, 2012, yes, go, girl, do everything you want, nothing is bad as long as you choose to do it wave of feminism. And so maybe, maybe I'm watching it out of, like, nostalgia for what we lived through.

• 15:59Speaker 02

  And I do think there is something in our kind of current online, like, lol, I'm just a girl trad wife content. I am kind of like, fine, bring me back a girl boss. Like, bring me back a girl who's working.

• 16:11Aisha Harris?

  Well, there's also going to be a new Devil Wears Prada soon, so we are firmly recycling and going back into that era.

• 16:18Speaker 04

  Listen, I mean, the All's Fair season two, screening at the Wing, it'll all be back.

• 16:22Aisha Harris?

  Oh, God, the thing, yeah, yeah. I just look at this and I think, like, where is the middle ground here? I feel like there is, you know, we have this moment where women, actresses like Glenn Close and Sarah Paulson and Naomi Watts, they are waiting in the muck, I would say, of Ryan Murphy, very glamorously. But like, is this that different from when women like Betty Davis and Joan Crawford had to, like, sort of? Uglify themselves in movies that I think hold up better than, you know, you would expect. I think Whatever Happened to Baby Jane is a classic. And of course, Ryan Murphy did a whole season about

• 16:59Speaker 02

  Didn't he ever?

• 17:01Aisha Harris?

  Film, which I think is actually very good. I loved the way they kind of attacked that. And that's what I think like, I find so fascinating about Ryan Murphy is even with all the ways I think he's kind of made things sometimes, if not worse for women of a certain age, it's lowered the bar for what we want from them. It's like, yes, I'm sure they're having fun. These women clearly enjoy working with him. Good for them. But also like, to what end? And

• 17:25Speaker 02

  Right.

• 17:25Aisha Harris?

  While they get to look nicer and they get to have better jobs and not be necessarily cast as, you know, old hags as like, you know, Betty Davis and Joan Crawford had to do and, and women in previous eras had to do. At the same time, I don't know if it's that much more progressive. Even just the way they handle sexual assault on this show with Miesie Nash, that's his character. It's the one time the show seems to be trying to do things seriously

• 17:53Speaker 02

  Mm hmm.

• 17:54Aisha Harris?

  In a way that could apply to women who aren't just rich and white. It felt icky to me.

• 18:00Speaker 02

  Yeah. I was like, oh, okay. So they're gonna try to do this. Like, this could happen to anyone. This is perils of being a woman in the world. And then at the end for them to be like, no, this is payback for another larger crime later on.

• 18:12Aisha Harris?

  Oh, my goodness.

• 18:13Speaker 02

  I was like, oh, okay. Ponzi scheme thing.

• 18:15Aisha Harris?

  Also, like, how would that actually be?

• 18:17Speaker 02

  I have no idea. I have no idea. It's kind of why I'm desperate to watch the next episode, frankly. You know, I kind of like it better if you're pulling this back and at least saying this is very specific to this like tiny insular world and we're not trying to comment on larger things. Because, yeah, when it was like, oh, yeah, this could happen to anybody. I was like, I'm not loving the energy you guys are bringing to this. I don't like this at all.

• 18:38Aisha Harris?

  Yeah. The explanation for that just felt so like, how do you pull that out of your butt? Like, how does anyone? I'm sorry, it's, it's, yeah.

• 18:47Speaker 04

  Again, like this to me is like, we are an audience who is watching it with like, an ironic level of detachment, or speaking for myself, I don't want to speak for you, but I am watching it with an ironic level of detachment.

• 18:59Speaker 02

  No, I'm dialed in.

• 19:00Speaker 04

  And so, like, accepting all of these things is like, fully ludicrous, but I'm thinking about how like, on Dr. Odyssey, wasn't like, Joshua Jackson's character like Patient Zero for COVID? Like, we just live in these absurd fantastical Ryan Murphy worlds, and so I almost feel like, he isn't someone who I want talking about the realities of life.

• 19:28Aisha Harris?

  That part.

• 19:28Speaker 04

  I think that's part of what bothers me with the Monster franchise, is because it is trying to do this like, very, true crime affects us all, it is like, a cultural scourge, I'm doing it, but it's a cultural scourge, where it's really with this, it's like, maybe I'm just so like, accustomed to the world not depicting realistic women, that at least in this way, there's something about it that I am being moderately entertained by, while also being completely aware that this show is like, in no technical way, good?

• 20:05Aisha Harris?

  Oh, yeah.

• 20:07Speaker 04

  Sure.

• 20:08Aisha Harris?

  I get that. I absolutely get that, and I think, you know, again, if it was just that show, if it was just kind of silly, I think I would be able to, like, digest this better, but it sounds like you all plan to continue watching this into season two. Am I correct? Is this?

• 20:24Speaker 04

  Wow, into season two is bold. At least until the end of season one.

• 20:30Speaker 02

  Yeah, I will probably finish the season, but as to what happens after that, I'm not so sure.

• 20:35Aisha Harris?

  Yeah, I mean, we'll see, I'm curious to see how quickly they're able to get season two off the ground, because, you know, Kim Kardashian's probably gonna be trying to take the bar again, I don't know if she's gonna have time, like, who knows?

• 20:47Speaker 04

  Like, if we could all have such hilarious, like, failures on our resumes, that are like, you know what, though, like, she keeps doing it, good for her, that's the show, she fails, but she keeps doing it, good for her, that's all's fair, like, in a statement.

• 21:03Aisha Harris?

  Yeah, that should be the season two tagline.

• 21:09Aisha Harris?

  Well, it sounds like we all had varying responses to this show. You've probably watched the show if you're listening to this episode. Tell us what you think about All's Fair. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/pchh. Up next, we're going to talk about what's making us happy this week.

• 21:25Speaker 00

  Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors. This message comes from ProLon. With their five-day fasting-mimicking diet, a clinically-developed nutrition program with the goal of promoting fat loss while protecting lean body mass. Learn more at prolonlife.com/NPR. This message comes from AT&T. Right now at AT&T, you can get the new iPhone 18 Pro for $0.00 with eligible trade-in. It has the ultimate pro camera system and a big leap in battery life, so you can turn this deal into a long-lasting connection. Connecting changes everything. Requires trade-in of $230 or more and eligible plan. Terms and restrictions apply. Subject to change. Visit an AT&T store for details.

• 22:08Speaker 06

  This message comes from Google Workspace with Gemini. One subscription that does it all. Personalized AI and premium business versions of Gmail, Google Docs, Drive, and more. Try it free for 14 days at g o o dot g l e slash Workspace with Gemini.

• 22:26Aisha Harris?

  Now it's time for our favorite segment of this week and every week, What's Making Us Happy. Christina, I'm going to start with you.

• 22:32Speaker 02

  Woohoo. As ever, this time of year, it's fall. I crave a mystery novel. And this time, I said, I'm going back in time. I've read a lot of current mysteries. I said, what about ones I'm missing? What about my girl Dorothy Sayers? Let me tell you, friends. Sign up for a Dorothy Sayers read. You will have the time of your life. I'm here to specifically wreck the trio of Strong Poison, Half-Assed Carcass, and Gaudy Night. They are so romantic in a way that we don't really write books anymore and kind of made me feel like I was really...

• 23:05Speaker 04

  Swept up in romance in a way that I haven't felt in a while with also like fun, silly murder mysteries happening all around and a foppish lord. Like this is all I need, you know? So Dorothy Sayers, Strong Poison, Havish Carcass and Gaudy Night specifically, a gorgeous trio of fun, perfect for fall, mystery novels.

• 23:27Aisha Harris?

  Thank you so much, Christina. I love a good mystery novel and somehow I have not read Dorothy Sayers.

• 23:32Speaker 04

  Do it.

• 23:33Aisha Harris?

  So thank you for that recommendation. Yes, yes. Roxanna, what is making you happy this week?

• 23:38Speaker 04

  I mean, we all know this because we all cover TV, but I feel like at this point I am watching like two seasons of television a week and it's like too much for my brain. It's like very overwhelming, but it's our job. So I have been trying to like improve my memory, I would say, because I feel like it is so inundated with like just all of these television shows. So I have really gone back to the early days of my childhood, my formative years, and I'm watching Jeopardy again. It is making me so happy.

• 24:10Aisha Harris?

  New episodes.

• 24:11Speaker 04

  New episodes. Like we watch Jeopardy every night as a family.

• 24:14Aisha Harris?

  So did I when I was a kid.

• 24:15Speaker 04

  Yeah, we watched it every night. I am humbled every night by how much I don't know, but it really feels like if I'm watching All's Fair, I like also need to watch Jeopardy.

• 24:26Aisha Harris?

  Yeah.

• 24:28Speaker 04

  I need to balance it somehow. So that's what's making me happy, like getting back into the Jeopardy grind.

• 24:34Aisha Harris?

  I love that. And now it's available on Peacock. So that's great to know. Man, I miss Jeopardy. That really was appointment viewing for like, I don't know, 10, 15 years of my life and somehow it just kind of fell off. But thank you, Roxanna. Well, what's making me happy this week is The Ballad of Wallace Island. This is a charming British dramedy that came out earlier this year. I was actually kind of shocked how much I enjoyed this. It's like not necessarily in my wheelhouse, but it stars Tim Key as a quirky widower who he basically hires this defunct indie rock. Folk duo to reunite for a concert on a remote island where he lives. They're played by Tom Bazin and Carey Mulligan. It doesn't go over quite as well as Tim Key's character expects.

• 25:19Aisha Harris?

  The duo broke up, both professionally and romantically, on not great terms, and so they haven't spoken in years. But like, obviously, there's definitely some tension and some awkward moments and just kind of cringe things that happen. But it's also fun. It's heartwarming. I feel like it's a nice pick for a family friend movie night during the holidays. It's very delightful. The performances are great. And Key and Bazin actually co-wrote the script for this. So it's fun. It's charming. Really enjoyed it. That is "The Ballad of Lawless Island," and you can find it streaming on Prime and on VOD. And that's what's making me happy this week. If you want links for what we recommended, plus some more recommendations, sign up for our newsletter at npr.org/popculturenewsletter.

• 26:04Aisha Harris?

  That brings us to the end of our show. Roxana Hadadi, Christina Tucker, thanks so much for being here, even if I completely disagree with you on All's Fair. This was so much more fun than watching the show, in fact. Thank you. What an honor. Thank you. This episode was produced by Carly Rubin, Galen Lattimore, and Mike Patzif, and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello, Come In provides our theme music. Thanks for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Aisha Harris, and we'll see you all next week.

• 26:37Speaker 00

  Stay tuned for the following announcements and messages from our sponsors.