The Gabfest’s end is nigh but we’ve still got a few bits of culture to gab upon. This week, Steve and Dana are joined by longtime Gabfest star pinch hitter Dan Kois.

First up for consideration: Pixar’s Toy Story 5. In this fifth installment of the computer animation studio’s flagship franchise, the threat to the vital bond between toy and child are computers themselves. Will Pixar, of all entities, save us from the threat of screentime? Maybe not. Is it nice to be back with Woody, Buzz, Jesse and the gang of plushies, dolls, and various transitional objects? Maybe so.

Next, the panel drops into the indie comedy ecosystem of the streaming service Dropout TV and talks about its chaotic cult hit game show Game Changer, now in its eighth season. Does the goofy hijinks therein offer a framework for the future of TV? They discuss.

Finally, supreme, very special friend of the program (SVSFOP) Wesley Morris joins to talk about the New York Times’ package on the six sentences that define America and his essay in it about Nina Simone’s “Mississippi Goddam.”

In our bonus episode, Wesley sticks around to theorize with Steve, Dana, and Julia about the point of even having podcasts about culture.

Endorsements

Dana: "What Steven Spielberg Taught Me About Fear, Catharsis, and Being Human" by Wesley Morris in The New York Times as well as, maybe for the first time ever for Dana in Gabfest history, a piece of technology: the MacBook Neo.

Julia: The ongoing career—after composing the Gabfest theme—of the composer Nicholas Britell including his work for the NBA and particularly the composition "Agape" on the film score of If Beale Street Could Talk.

Wesley: The potato salad recipe in Pearl Bailey's cookbook Pearl's Kitchen: An Extraordinary Cookbook.

Dan: Writing fan mail to authors whose work you love. Also, the music of the recently departed South African jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim, particularly the album Mindif.

Steve: The semi-fictionalized documentary about David Hockney A Bigger Splash and Philip French's review of it for BFI. Also, David Denby's 1990 New York Review of Books essay "The Real Thing" about the documentarian Frederick Wiseman.

Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com.

Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.

Need to set up your Slate Plus feed? If you subscribed through Slate.com, check out our FAQ at slate.com/podcastfaqs for easy instructions. Members subscribed via Apple Podcasts get automatic access—no setup required.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.