Slate Culture Feed

On this week’s show, Dana is joined by Slate’s own Nadira Goffe and Richard Lawson, of the Critical Darlings podcast. Their first agenda item is Jury Duty Presents: Company Retreat, the second installment of the workplace comedy/reality show hybrid which places an unknowing everyman in a made-up scenario populated entirely by actors. Does the second season deliver a heart-warming moral test in the form of comedy or a manipulative prank? They discuss.Next for more funhouse mirror television, they take up Bait, the Riz Ahmed-starring and created show about a Riz Ahmed-like actor vying for the role of James Bond. The show is stuffed with ideas and Ahmed’s charm, but they debate whether its conceptual martini sufficiently shaken or stirred.Finally, it’s time to go out, wear something nice, and push as they take a listen to Sexistential, the new album by Swedish dance pop queen Robyn. Though the “Dancing On My Own” singer has a new partner on the dancefloor in her young son, motherhood and midlife make for some real club classics.On a bonus episode for Plus subscribers, they take up the question, as posed in a recent New Yorker article, of whether “plagiarism is that bad?”EndorsementsRichard:  The compulsively watchable time travel family drama The Way Home, a Hallmark Channel Original. (And subscribing to Critical Darlings)Nadira: The ten minute disco cover of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Linda Clifford and the album WOR$T GIRL IN AMERICA by Slayyyter. Dana: The new book by Mason Currey Making Art and Making a Living as well as his newsletter Subtle Maneuvers.--Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com. Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Defector co-owner Alex Sujong Laughlin, whose recent piece about “lip filler accent” identified a new way TikTok is changing how we speak. Even people who don’t have any plastic surgery at all appear to be picking up on the trend, because when it comes to status, sounding like someone who has had plastic surgery is really all that matters. This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay, with help from Kevin Bendis. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosts Lindsay Gibbs and Ben Lindbergh discuss the maddest moment of March—from the UConn buzzer beater, to Women’s Final Four redux. Alex Kirshner rejoins for two interviews: the first with author and professor Seth Tannenbaum about the growing class divide inside baseball stadiums, the subject of his new book, Bleacher Seats and Luxury Suites: Democracy and Division at the Twentieth-Century Ballpark. The second with Nina Mandell about an Ohio gymnastics dynasty, chronicled in her book: A Fraction of a Point: A Gymnastics Dynasty on the Line.Finally, Ben closes with an Afterball about the historic and cringey N64 video game Mia Hamm Soccer 64.In this week’s bonus episode for Slate Plus members: the T-Rex hunting for a draft spot in the NFL.March Madness: (6:37): Duke’s demiseBleacher Seats (26:32): The haves and the have-notsFraction of a Point (42:42): The gymnastics world beatersAfterballs (57:49): Mia Hamm Soccer 64(Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad-free.)Get more Hang Up and Listen with Slate Plus! Join for weekly bonus episodes of Hang Up and Listen and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Hang Up and Listen show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/hangupplus for access wherever you listen.You can email us at hangup@slate.com.Podcast production and editing by Kevin Bendis, with production assistance from Patrick Fort Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A listener we're calling Natalie received over a million dollars after being sexually abused by her university gynecologist in one of the largest abuse settlements in American history. She talks about the strange math of converting a bad experience into a dollar amount, and why she’s barely spent any of it. *This episode includes descriptions of abuse. Please take care while listening. Death, Sex & Money is now produced by Slate! To support us and our colleagues, please sign up for our membership program, Slate Plus! Members get ad-free podcasts, bonus content on lots of Slate shows, and full access to all the articles on Slate.com. Sign up today at slate.com/dsmplus.And if you’re new to the show, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here. Find us and follow us on Instagram and you can find Anna’s newsletter at annasale.substack.com. Our new email address, where you can reach us with voice memos, pep talks, questions, critiques, is deathsexmoney@slate.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by New York Magazine features writer Rebecca Jennings, who recently profiled the now-cancelled Bachelorette, Taylor Frankie Paul. Paul’s season was pulled after a video of her 2023 domestic violence incident was published by TMZ, following news of another domestic violence investigation from February of this year. While the video is upsetting, knowledge of Pauls’ 2023 arrest is not new, and The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives continued to use her volatile relationship for ratings. Now, parent company Disney is turning on her over a situation that may be more complicated than it seems. This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The 100th episode of Hit Parade has put host Chris Molanphy in a reflective mood. So in Part 2, he unfurls the story of the late, great American Top 40 host Casey Kasem—a perennial inspiration for this podcast and the chart king that Chris calls “the original poptimist.” Enjoy this long-distance dedication, as Chris pays tribute to a radio hero with a preternatural understanding of the power of pop to unify.Get more Hit Parade with Slate Plus! Join for monthly early-access episodes, bonus episodes of "The Bridge," and ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe directly from the Hit Parade show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/hitparadeplus to get access wherever you listen.This episode will be available for free on March 27, 2026. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

 Welcome to a very special Money On Film miniseries!Over three episodes, Slate Money’s Felix Salmon and Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe revisit three films at the intersection of culture and finance. On this episode, Nadira and Felix take a trip to a bathhouse for spirits in 2001’s Spirited Away.Directed by Hayao Miyazaki, the film follows a girl named Chihiro, who becomes trapped in the spirit world and must save her parents, encountering soot sprites, river spirits, a giant baby, and many more wonderful and terrifying beings along the way.The film is a masterpiece of storytelling and technical animation, but as Felix explains, it also works as a highly developed metaphor for capital and the Japanese economy at the close of the millennium: the bathhouse stands in for a stable but exploitative economic system, beset by outside capital forces, with workers stripped of their names and identities.This is the final episode of the Money On Film miniseries. Thanks for listening! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, Dana, Julia (fresh from the launch of her new media venture L.A. Material), and guest host Dan Kois set their gaze to the heavens with a discussion of the lost-in-space adventure yarn Project Hail Mary. Based on the book by Andy Weir and directed by genre movie savants Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the sci-fi blockbuster stars Ryan Gosling and a big rock creature puppet.Next, they hop across the pond for the launch of SNL UK, the British revamp of the venerable American comedy institution. Slate UK contributor and author of Deep Down, Imogen West-Knights joins to share her two pence on the show’s local reception.Finally, the panel turns to Dan Kois’s epic, 8,500 word Slate essay on… bar soap. His opus—or “soapus," if you will— makes a persuasive case for why bar soap is a superior form of foam.In an exclusive Slate Plus bonus segment, the gang gets into a listener question about analog media.EndorsementsJulia: In addition to subscribing to L.A. Material, the great American junk food that is the corndog—the vibes and graphic design of Hot Dog on a Stick at the Santa Monica Pier are swell but seeking listener recommendations for the very best place to get a corndog.Dan: For some '"higher gossip " and a bit of 1800s history, the book Parallel Lives: Five Victorian Marriages by Phyllis Rose.Dana: The work of voice actor Ray Porter in the audiobook of Project Hail Mary and the interview Porter gives on the book podcast Off the Shelf.--Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com. Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Jonquilyn Hill, host of Vox’s Explain It To Me podcast. First, they recap musician Afroman’s free speech victory in court after he used security camera footage to make music videos for his songs about the police raiding his home in 2022. While songs like “Lemon Pound Cake” will live to see another day, Justin Timberlake’s legacy may be in peril now that footage of his infamous DUI arrest has been made public. But it’s what the footage doesn’t show that’s most concerning…This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For over a century, fans of Sherlock Holmes have been analyzing, debating, and creating new texts with Arthur Conan Doyle’s characters. But when a fan theory emerged about the BBC TV show Sherlock that posited the inevitability of a gay romance between Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson—it wreaked havoc on the community. In this episode, which originally aired in 2018, we explore the Johnlock Conspiracy, with help from historians, journalists, and the fans at the heart of the controversial idea. It’s almost a Holmesian tale itself, full of brilliant theories, false leads and mysterious motives—except for the ending, which, unlike in a Holmes story, isn’t very neat.This episode was written by Willa Paskin. It was produced and edited by Benjamin Frisch, who also created the episode art. Shasha Leonárd provided production assistance, and Danielle Hewitt helped us fact check the episode. Decoder Ring is also produced by Katie Shepherd, Max Freedman, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer.  Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.