Hosted by Linda Holmes and Stephen Thompson, NPR's popular new podcast features spirited round-table discussions covering a wild and unpredictable landscape of pop culture subject matter, from the 50th anniversary of Gilligan's Island to "pop culture carbon dating" (why some things age well and others not at all) to the "what's making us happy" segment of the show, which always leaves listeners with a smile.

The conversation is energetic, insightful, and full of surprises: NPR's Ari Shapiro sparks a discussion about the best pop culture debuts in albums, novels, TV shows, and more. Gene Demby (Code Switch) participates in a quiz titled Paint or Perp: Is the name a title of a Law & Order episode or a Sherwin-Williams paint color? Audie Cornish (All Things Considered) joins the gang to chat about the art of the mixtape: how they communicate emotion, how they are erroneously assumed to communicate emotion, and whether it's counterproductive to put them on shuffle.