Our 2026 Oscars Recap

Summary

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 2026 Oscars Recap

Date: March 16, 2026
Hosts: Stephen Thompson, Linda Holmes, Glenn Weldon, Aisha Harris

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Episode Overview

The Pop Culture Happy Hour team gathers just after midnight following the 2026 Academy Awards to break down all the night’s major wins, upsets, high points, and awkward moments. In classic PCHH style, hosts Stephen, Linda, Glenn, and Aisha deliver a lively roundtable, debating everything from the biggest winners to the telecast’s classic “old school” flavor—and those (many) Timothée Chalamet jokes. They highlight history-making awards, standout acceptance speeches, musical performances, and the effectiveness of Conan O'Brien as host.

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Major Oscar Winners & Reactions

"One Battle After Another" Sweeps the Night

[01:52]

• Film Awards: Best Picture, Director (Paul Thomas Anderson), Adapted Screenplay, Supporting Actor (Sean Penn), Inaugural Casting Award, Editing.
• Glenn Weldon: Compares Anderson’s win to Scorsese’s for The Departed:

  "Is this your best film? I don't think so, but it's time... It's a good movie. I have my quibbles, but overall, not upset or surprised."

• Linda Holmes:

  "Not a big 'One Battle after Another' girl... but I recognize the skill, including a heck of a good car chase. Paul Thomas Anderson never won. He was, in a sense, due."

• Aisha Harris:

  "We were all pulling for Coogler, but the guy’s in his 30s. He’ll get a shot."

The First-Ever Casting Award

[03:10-04:11]

• Big discussion around the emotional tone and sincerity of presenting a long-overdue casting Oscar.
• Linda Holmes:

  "Casting directors have the most fascinating resumes. It all makes sense why they were so gushing toward them."

• Stephen Thompson: Notes the discovery of new talent like Chase Infinity through casting.

"Sinners" Scores for Coogler, Jordan, & Arkhipa

[06:21]

• Wins: 4 Oscars: Original Screenplay (Ryan Coogler), Lead Actor (Michael B. Jordan), Cinematography (Autumn Derald Arkhipa—the first woman to win), Score (Ludwig Göransson).
• Glenn Weldon:

  "I literally yelped out loud and threw my hands up in the air as if I was watching a football game."
  "For People of color, it's great. But it doesn't concretely mean that anything has fundamentally changed...Still, I feel as though [Coogler] will eventually have his 'it's time' moment."

• Aisha Harris on Arkhipa’s acceptance speech [09:16]:

  "It was the best acceptance speech of the night… She also invited us all to take a breath and accept the moment...what a great move."

• Linda Holmes:

  "What an incredibly, again, richly deserved award—for somebody who’s done such great work in feature films and music videos. So smart for this film."

• Performance: "I Lied to You" song performance was chaotic and sound-muddled but evoked the film’s wild energy ([10:30-12:52]).

Other Notable Acting Awards

Supporting Actress—Amy Madigan, "Weapons" [13:25]

• Glenn Weldon: "I really thought Teyana Taylor was gonna win this...I love that we got a horror villain winning and a woman."
• Linda Holmes:

  "If you had walked out of Weapons and said Amy Madigan is gonna win an Oscar for Aunt Gladys, people would have really laughed at you… and yet, here we are."

• Aisha Harris on Madigan’s speech:

  "It was fumb but sincere. It was not too actor-y...actual surprise and delight."

• Stephen & Glenn highlight Teyana Taylor's gracious and enthusiastic support from the audience.

Lead Actress—Jessie Buckley, "Hamnet" [16:01]

• Linda Holmes:

  "This felt wire to wire, like she was always going to win."
  "If this movie works on you, it works because of her."

• Jessie Buckley's dedication:

  "It’s Mother’s Day in the UK today, so I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother’s heart." [16:40]

Animated Feature and Original Song: "K Pop D Demon Hunters" [16:54]

• Wins: Animated Feature, Original Song ("Golden")
• Stephen Thompson:

  "First time a K pop song has ever won an Oscar."

• Glenn Weldon:

  "I wanted more chaos from this performance...I wanted it to be more like a Broadway production."

• Critique on scheduling:

  "The Oscars were hawking that performance all night. It didn’t happen until almost three hours into the telecast—why not lead with it for the kids?"

International & Technical Awards [18:59]

• Sentimental Value (Norway) wins International Feature.
• Frankenstein picks up Costume, Makeup & Hairstyling, and Production Design; Avatar: Fire and Ash wins VFX; F1 wins for Sound.
• Glenn Weldon:

  "Guillermo del Toro puts teams together that make really cool looking stuff. If his film is the one that's gonna bring a bunch of design stuff home, seems fine."

• Note: Rare tie in Live Action Short (7th ever). Quick-fire: documentary awards and shorts covered.

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Telecast & Ceremony Highlights

Telecast Format and Flow

[21:55]

• Stephen Thompson:

  "I'm so glad that in the acting categories, they showed us clips instead of having these long, droning monologues...Just show us the clip."

• Aisha Harris:

  "Opening montage...Conan runs literally through several nominated films. That’s a Billy Crystal schtick...The presenter banter was decidedly mid, but short. That’s good."

• No long intros for Best Picture nominees—just a return from commercial into the monologue.
• Stephen Thompson:

  "They could in the future take that saved time and not cut people off...one of the rudest playoffs I’ve ever seen. I was really angry."

• Linda Holmes & Glenn Weldon: Noting inconsistency in speech cut-offs; frustration over orchestra playoff.

Running Jokes & Telecast Quirks

• Timothée Chalamet became the night’s recurring punchline ([23:37]):

  "He was the punching bag of the night...beaten dead," says Glenn Weldon.

• Sound quality was persistently poor, particularly hurting the musical segments and Streisand’s In Memoriam performance ([24:21], [24:33]).

In Memoriam Segment [25:32-28:24]

• Blended tributes: Rob Reiner (Billy Crystal); Rachel McAdams for Catherine O’Hara and Diane Keaton; Barbra Streisand for Robert Redford, culminating in a rare live song.
• Aisha Harris (re: Barbra Streisand's presence):

  "Did it feel that maybe Barbra Streisand was centering herself in a way?"

• Linda Holmes & Glenn Weldon:

  "Sad truth of the Oscars...some people mean more than others, or mean more to more people," but overall segment called one of the best in memory.
  "It was lovely to see all those casts together—like a little Spinal Tap reunion."

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Host Performance: Conan O'Brien

[29:21]

• Linda Holmes:

  "Conan is always a perfectly fine event host—he was right in the pocket of how Oscars hosting is supposed to be. He remains very game...had nice moments trying to stick up for people cut off mid-speech."

• Aisha Harris:

  "You want someone to commit to the bit—Conan does that full-body commitment. Not above it all (like past hosts Martin, Carson, Kimmel)."

• Favorite pre-taped bit: Conan with Sterling K. Brown spoofing modern screenwriting and Casablanca ([30:43]).
• Stephen Thompson:

  "Welcome reminder that Sterling K. Brown is a funny dude."

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Glenn Weldon (re: historic wins):

  "It’s very rare for any black person to win it more than once...I feel confident Coogler will get there eventually." [08:12]

• Aisha Harris (on Arkhipa’s speech):

  "She invited all the women to stand up, saying she didn’t get here without them—a classy move." [09:16]

• Linda Holmes (on casting awards):

  "The winner of the inaugural casting award being someone who also worked on casting both 'The Brutalist' and 'Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle'—that's a win for everyone." [06:02]

• Stephen Thompson (on musical performance):

  "You had so many great musical presences swirling around, and it really felt as kind of chaotic as it was..." [11:24]

• Linda Holmes (on Buckley):

  "Sometimes there's a movie and people decide this is the award it's going to get...I think it was pretty much predetermined." [16:03]

• Aisha Harris (on In Memoriam):

  "Did the fact that we’re picking certain people to pull out feel a little weird? Or do people just do that in eulogies…?" [26:15]

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Final Thoughts

• General consensus: 2026 Oscars returned to a more “old school” pace and format; some traditions were warmly welcomed (more film clips, snappier banter, robust nostalgia).
• Persistent issues: Sound engineering was a major flaw; cutting off speeches drew ire.
• Big Moments: Historic wins for women and people of color, inaugural casting award, and polarizing but memorable musical performances.
• Hosting: Conan O'Brien delivered a solid, participatory performance with standout comedy bits.

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For Social Media & Feedback

Find Pop Culture Happy Hour on Facebook at facebook.com/PCHH

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End of summary. For full, nuanced takes and more fun banter, check out the original episode.

Transcript

[IXL Advertiser]

This message comes from IXL. IXL's level up diagnostic gives immediate benchmark results along with personalized action plans that link directly to IXL's skill practice. [e-mail] NPR you're listening to Pop Culture

[Stephen Thompson]

Happy Hour, the podcast that keeps you plugged in about the latest and greatest in movies, tv, music and more. If you're a pop culture junkie who's not following the show yet, we're recommending you fix that right now by following Pop Culture Happy Hour on your favorite podcast app. Now onto our Oscars recap. One battle after another, Michael B. Jordan, Jesse Buckley and K. Pop were among the big winners at Sunday night's Academy Awards. We'll debate if the old school feel of the telecast worked for us. And yes, we'll get into those jokes at Timothee Chalamet's expense. I'm Stephen thompson. It is 12:02am and we are recapping the highs and lows of this year's Oscars on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour.

[IXL Advertiser]

This message comes from takeoff by IXL. For 25 years, IXL has been listening to educators describe the same challenge with traditional textbooks. They can't meet each student where they are. That's why IXL created TakeOff, a K through 5 core math curriculum that continuously differentiates learning for every student. The curriculum is built on a digital platform with lesson plans, adaptive practice assessments and real time insights. Learn more at takeoff by IXL.com joining

[Stephen Thompson]

me today are my fellow Pop Culture Happy Hour hosts, Linda Holmes. Hey, Linda.

[Linda Holmes]

Hello, Stephen.

[Stephen Thompson]

Aisha Harris. How's it going?

[Glenn Weldon]

Viva la revolution.

[Stephen Thompson]

Stephen they showed that quite a few times. Glenn Weldon. Hey, buddy.

[Aisha Harris]

Hey, pal.

[Stephen Thompson]

All right, we're going to get right to it. Biggest winner of the night, six Academy Awards. One battle after another won best picture. Paul Thomas Anderson won for directing and adapted screenplay. Sean Penn won for actor in a supporting role. The inaugural casting award went to Cassandra Kulakundi's and the film also won for editing. What did y' all think?

[Glenn Weldon]

I mean, this kind of feels like when Martin Scorsese won for the Departed, where it's like, okay, is this your best film? I don't think so, but it's time. As I said, when we had our preview episode leading up to the Oscars tonight, I just think that that is something that the Academy loves to do and I'm okay with that. It's a good movie. I have my quibbles, but overall, not, not at all upset or surprised.

[Linda Holmes]

I am not a big one. Battle after another girl. I don't tend to be a big Paul Thomas Anderson girl, but I recognize the skill with which a lot of it was made, including a heck of a good car chase. And, you know, I recognize some. Some very good performance. Teyana Taylor, I think, does the best that could possibly be done with that character. And listen, it's not my cup of tea, but Paul Thomas Anderson never won. He was, in a sense, due, and I do not begrudge him his Oscars.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah, I think we were all pulling for Coogler, but the Guy's in his 30s. He'll get a shot. About that casting award, that was the first ever casting award. I wondered how they were gonna present it. And what they did was they kind of echoed something that they've done before where they would have past winners in the acting categories give a tongue bath to the current nominees. But this felt fundamentally different, and I'm not exactly sure why. It just felt like gratitude. Right. It felt like coming from a place of sincerity, like, these people got me my job, and I don't know, it kind of took the curse off it for me. It really worked well.

[Linda Holmes]

I think there's also a difference between when those tongue baths are given to people like actors who tend to get a lot of tongue baths, and when they are given to somebody like a casting director who. I think the fact that this was the first time there's ever been this Oscar made it a lot more palatable to hear people express exactly the gratitude that you're talking about. And honestly, if you go look up the resumes for all the people who are nominated, casting directors have the most fascinating resumes.

[Glenn Weldon]

Oh, yeah.

[Linda Holmes]

Once you do that, it all makes sense why they wanted to be so kind of gushing toward them and good for them. Now, if you're giving a tongue bath to the same three nominees every year for however long, it'll feel different. But this year, none of these people are famous to the average Oscar viewer. So it makes a lot of sense that they were recognized for what they do.

[Stephen Thompson]

And I think in this case, it was especially appropriate that you had Chase Infinity there on the screen kind of helping introduce this award. She's one of the kind of leads in one battle after another, and it was very much a discovery for, I think, a lot of viewers coming out of this.

[Linda Holmes]

She spent years searching for Willa, and she saw something in me that I didn't even know was there. Her belief in me helped me believe in myself.

[IXL Advertiser]

And thanks to her determination, imagination, and

[Linda Holmes]

instincts, I was cast in My first

[Glenn Weldon]

feature film, One Battle after Another.

[Stephen Thompson]

One of the things that you're getting with this casting award is this sense, like, oh, wow, you thought to cast Leonardo DiCaprio, congratulations. But like, no, there were also people who were kind of discovered, you know, in part from their performances in this movie. I'm a little bit with Linda, like, I think all of us were kind of rooting for Sinners, but I do think this race kind of boiling down to one battle after another and Sinners, which we'll talk about in a second, felt a little bit like the Oscars from 15 or 20 years ago when it was between There Will Be Blood and no country for Old Men, where like, you really kind of had these two major heavy hitting frontrunners, you know, directed by kind of powerhouse directors. And it really kind of came down to those two films. Ultimately, this race felt kind of similar. And one thing that, you know, anybody who came out on the short end of that can say is like, people still talk about both There Will Be Blood and no country for Old Men. It's not like either of these films is likely to be memory hold anytime soon.

[Linda Holmes]

Well, getting the statuette is zero sum, but having your movie be beloved is not zero sum. And listen, the winner of the inaugural casting award being someone who also worked on casting both the Brutalist and Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle is, in my opinion, that's a win for everyone.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yes, fascinating. All right, well, next up, Sinners won four Oscars. Ryan Coogler won for best Original screenplay. Michael B. Jordan won for actor in a leading role. If only somebody had predicted that. Autumn Derald Arkhipa won for cinematography. She is the first woman to win in this category. And Ludwig Goransson won for Score. What did you think of the role, you know, Sinners played in this telecast?

[Glenn Weldon]

I mean, look, I've beat this horse dead at this point.

[Aisha Harris]

Care.

[Glenn Weldon]

And yet I was so ecstatic. Ecstatic when, when first Ryan Coogler won for original screenplay. And then when Michael B. Jordan won, I literally like yelped out loud and threw my hands up in the air as if I was watching a football game, which I never do. It's just like. It was a really lovely moment.

[Capital One Advertiser]

Thank you everybody in this room and everybody at home for supporting me over my career. I feel it. I know you guys want me to do well and I want to do that because you guys bet on me.

[Stephen Thompson]

So thank you for keep betting on me.

[Glenn Weldon]

I don't think symbolically this means much at all. I think these awards, especially for People of color, it's great for them. I'm happy for them. But it doesn't actually concretely mean that anything has fundamentally changed. He's about the same age as me. I've basically grown up with this dude. And from the Wire to Friday Night Lights, I never watched Parenthood, but I hear he's really good on Parenthood and then his whole entire career, the way that Ryan Coogler just knows what to do with him. And I hope some other directors figure out what to do with him, because so far I haven't seen it. But I'm just so happy that this happened. And I do think, even though Ryan Coogler didn't wind up winning Best Director or Best Picture, I can say, honestly, for the first time ever, that I feel as though he is a black creator who will eventually have his it's time moment like Paul Thomas Anderson has had. It's very rare for any black person to win it more than once. Denzel's done it. Ruthie Carter, the costume designer. But other than that, it's like you get one shot, and that's pretty much it. Oh, and Mahershala Ali has won twice as well. And I think Ryan Coogler, like, even though he didn't win the other awards that I kind of wanted him to win, I feel confident that he will get there eventually and I will be so happy for him.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah. And that Arkapas win for cinematography, I'm gonna make the case. It was the best acceptance speech of the night. One of the best acceptance speeches I can remember. It's maybe the perfect Oscar speech because it was composed but still emotional. And most importantly, it met the moment. It was a historic win. She also invited us all to take a breath and accept the moment, for she was. She was inviting us to recognize it for her and accept it for everyone. For all of us watching it, you know, when she asked all the women in the audience to stand up.

[Glenn Weldon]

I'm so honored to be here. And I really want all the women

[Linda Holmes]

in the room to stand up, because

[Glenn Weldon]

I feel like I don't get here without you guys.

[Aisha Harris]

That was such a classy move. That was such a great moment.

[Linda Holmes]

Absolutely. I think it's very difficult when you win to be like, the fact that I just won is historic.

[Glenn Weldon]

Right.

[Linda Holmes]

Because on the one hand, you want to give recognition to the fact that it's kind of depressing that you're the first woman to ever win in this category. On the other hand, you want to be happy about it and encourage other people to Be happy about it. You know, it's difficult in an acceptance speech to entirely be like, yay, me. I made history, even when it's transparently true. So I think balancing all of those things that you kind of maybe want to do in a speech like that or that, I feel like in a speech like that. I agree with you, Glenn. I think it was very impressive how she handled it, I thought. And, like, what an incredibly, again, richly deserved award for somebody who not only has done such great work in feature films, but it was so smart to use somebody who's done so much in music videos as she has. Because given what this film is, so smart, such a good collaboration. Just love it all.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah.

[Stephen Thompson]

That movie is absolutely stunning to look at in every frame. I'm so, so glad she won here. Linda, you mentioned the music in Some Sinners. Sinners also played a role in this telecast in the performance of I lied to you. Speak your words I know the truth

[Glenn Weldon]

hurts

[Stephen Thompson]

so I lied to you

[Glenn Weldon]

so

[Stephen Thompson]

I might want to tell you for a long time it might hurt you

[Aisha Harris]

Hope you don't lose your mind.

[Stephen Thompson]

Miles Caton performed at Raphael, who co wrote the song, was part of the performance. They were joined on stage by Buddy Guy and Brittany Howard from the Alabama Shakes and Shaboozy and Alice Smith and Bobby Rush. And, you know, you get, like, three seconds of Shaboozi, and you're like, that's

[Linda Holmes]

Shaboozy and Misty Copeland dancing.

[Stephen Thompson]

Misty Copeland dancing. You had so many just great musical presences swirling around, and it really felt as kind of chaotic as it was and as frankly, terrible as the sound was, that the entire telecast, I thought that performance captured some of the, like, dizzying effect of experiencing that song the way that it appears in the movie.

[Glenn Weldon]

It. It. It did.

[Linda Holmes]

I mean, I think Aisha's face agrees with my face.

[Stephen Thompson]

I mean, it's chaotic. It's chaotic, but I was there for it.

[Glenn Weldon]

No, I. I get that. I. I do think it kind of felt like one of those, like, Grammy moments where they. They came in.

[Aisha Harris]

Oh, I love those. See, that's the thing.

[Stephen Thompson]

Okay.

[Glenn Weldon]

Yeah.

[Linda Holmes]

I don't know.

[Stephen Thompson]

I'm on Team Step.

[Glenn Weldon]

Oh, we're gonna put all these people, and it's like they rush by so quickly, and like, none of them really got their proper due. So I just felt as though. I would have loved to see more of Rafael Siddiq. I would have loved to see more of Buddy Guy. Like, Buddy Guy, literally, the camera just, like, swoops past him. He checked. I don't Even know if I heard him in that mix. Again, the sound was awful, but, yeah, I mean, they did their best. And I thought the camera movement wasn't really my issue because I actually thought it was kind of cool to see those things happening. I just think maybe have one or two really famous people and then because, again, they felt underserved. But it's hard to recreate that. What works pretty well in a cinematic context for a live audience experience. So. Right.

[Linda Holmes]

I think the onstage performance live at the Oscars with not good sound certainly did not, to me, show you what was so great about the scene in the movie, but it maybe would remind you of what was so great about the scene in the movie.

[Stephen Thompson]

Maybe that's all I needed. Maybe I just wanted. Wanted to go back to that scene

[Linda Holmes]

and be like, you know, oh, yeah, I remember that I saw the stage thing as like, an homage to the scene in the movie rather than really being similar, kind of the Cirque du

[Glenn Weldon]

Soleil version, you know?

[Linda Holmes]

Exactly.

[Glenn Weldon]

Exactly.

[Aisha Harris]

I was all for it.

[Stephen Thompson]

Well, speaking of things, we are all for best supporting actress went to Amy Madigan for her unforgettable role in the movie Weapons, a role that was so memorable, Conan o' Brien referenced it in the very opening of the telecast.

[Glenn Weldon]

That's true. Yes, he did. But, yeah, I'm excited for Amy Madigan. You know, I really thought Teyana Taylor was gonna win this, and she didn't. I don't. I have my issues with the role. Yeah. I love that we got a horror villain winning and a woman, and yes, like, this is exciting. I mean, again, these things are not symbolic. I also just found out today that she's married to Ed Harris. Where have I met? I don't know how I didn't know this, but for a long.

[Stephen Thompson]

That's cool.

[Glenn Weldon]

That's cool. I love it.

[Linda Holmes]

Absolutely. I think my touchstone for this happening is, like, if you had walked out of Weapons and said, I think Amy Madigan is gonna win an Oscar for playing Aunt Gladys, people would have really laughed at you, I think. Not because it's not great, but because who would have had that kind of faith in the Oscars.

[Glenn Weldon]

Right.

[Linda Holmes]

And yet, here we are.

[Aisha Harris]

And once again, just that acceptance speech was what I want from an actor acceptance speech. It was fumb but sincere. And, you know, it was not too actor y. I think if anybody's gonna dig Jessie Buckley's acceptance speech, they could say it had a very practiced actorly effusiveness. I could be wrong. Your mileage may vary, but this felt like it was coming from a place of actual surprise and delight. And that's always good to see.

[IXL Advertiser]

Agreed.

[Glenn Weldon]

This is great.

[Linda Holmes]

Everybody's asking me. I'm depressed at all this. Well, it's been 40 years. And you know what's different about this time?

[IXL Advertiser]

It's different.

[Linda Holmes]

It's got this little gold guy.

[Stephen Thompson]

I also want to throw a quick shout out to Tiana Taylor, who was, I think, in many quarters favored to win that award and was maybe my favorite audience member to watch over the course of that telecast, was enormously enthusiastic, enormously gracious, extremely excited about Amy Madigan, who just beat her.

[Glenn Weldon]

She stood up. Yeah.

[Stephen Thompson]

Really want to see more from her. She pops up in that Ben Affleck, Matt Damon netfl RIP movie, which I liked.

[Linda Holmes]

Which I like from, like, January.

[Stephen Thompson]

So, like, more. Teyana Taylor in everything. She was a big winner, even if she didn't win that award. Glenn mentioned Jessie Buckley a second ago. She won best actress in a leading role for Hamnet. This felt wire to wire, like she was always going to win this.

[Linda Holmes]

Yes, I agree.

[Glenn Weldon]

Yeah.

[Linda Holmes]

I think there were. There were moments when it felt like it might be Rose Byrne for if I Had Legs, I'd kick you, which I think is a astonishing performance. But, yeah, listen, sometimes there's a movie and people decide this is the award it's going to get. It's a very awardsy movie. It involves a lot of people we like. In this case, Chloe Zhao, Jessie Buckley, Paul Mescal, Max Richter doing the score. What we're going to give it is Jessie Buckley for lead actress. I agree with you, Steven. I think it was pretty much predetermined. I like her. I've liked her in other things.

[Glenn Weldon]

Sure. Lynda, you said it. I have nothing to add.

[IXL Advertiser]

Yeah.

[Aisha Harris]

And as I said before, if this movie works on you, it works because of her, so.

[Glenn Weldon]

Exactly.

[Linda Holmes]

I think that's right.

[IXL Advertiser]

It's Mother's Day in the UK today,

[Linda Holmes]

So I would like to dedicate this to the beautiful chaos of a mother's heart.

[Stephen Thompson]

And I gotta say, between this and the Bride, Jessie Buckley is willing to go feral in performance, and she's absolutely feral in this. One of the other big winners of the night, K Pop D Demon Hunters 1 for animated feature film and original song for Golden. Definitely two fields in which I think it was pretty heavily favored, though there was a sense that I Lied to you from Sinners was kind of sneaking up on Golden. Ultimately, it was kind of a coronation for this film. And not for nothing, the first time a K pop song has ever won an Oscar.

[Glenn Weldon]

Yeah, I'm happy about this. But also, can we talk about that performance? Performance? Because we talked about the sinner's performance being a little chaotic. I wanted more chaos from this performance.

[Stephen Thompson]

I just wanted it to be longer. I did like verse, chorus, coda.

[Glenn Weldon]

This is not to say anything about the performers. I thought the performers were giving it their all.

[Stephen Thompson]

Ej, Audrey, Nuna and Reami were on pitch with bad sound.

[Aisha Harris]

A very demanding song.

[Stephen Thompson]

Yes, a very, very, very demanding song.

[Glenn Weldon]

Yeah. I just wanted more going on in the production, to be honest. I wanted it to be more like a Broadway production. But it is what it is.

[Stephen Thompson]

You're talking about one of the biggest pop cultural phenomena of 2025. And like, the Oscars were kind of hawking that performance over the course of the night. It didn't happen until almost three full hours into the telecast. And I'm just thinking all those. Those little kids begging their parents to let them stay up and watch them perform golden and then having it pop up at, you know, if you're on Eastern Time at 10 o' clock at night, I just don't understand why you don't lead with that performance and blow it out.

[Linda Holmes]

They just wanted to make sure that the kids got to hear all of the Conan o' Brien monologue and lots

[Stephen Thompson]

and lots of skits.

[Linda Holmes]

All of the things that are really good for kids, like the In Memoriam and stuff like that, you know.

[Stephen Thompson]

Well, we wanted to run through some other winners from Oscar night. Sentimental Value got shut out in a lot of categories, but it did win international feature. That film is from Norway. Any thoughts?

[Glenn Weldon]

I would have loved to see the Secret Agent Witness. I think it's a great movie. But Sentimental Value was also really good. I really liked it, so I was happy about that.

[Linda Holmes]

If you like a family drama, it's a family drama, you know.

[Glenn Weldon]

Yeah.

[Linda Holmes]

And I think a very solid one.

[Stephen Thompson]

It's a very good family drama. I mean, it's not an accident that four different performances from that film got nominated in the acting categories. It is very hard to pull that off.

[Linda Holmes]

Is it an accident that you said it's an accident when they beat. It was just an accident or

[Glenn Weldon]

oh,

[Linda Holmes]

no, you didn't do that on purpose. That was just an accident.

[Stephen Thompson]

That was just an accident.

[Linda Holmes]

Did we mention what time of night it is?

[Stephen Thompson]

All right, let's talk technical awards briefly. Frankenstein won for costume design, makeup and hairstyle and production design. And then visual effects went to Avatar Fire and Ash and F1 won for sound, which means F1 has more Academy Awards than Marty supreme, which had nine nominations. Vroom, Vroom, vroom, vroom, vroom.

[Glenn Weldon]

That's true.

[Aisha Harris]

Was there a surprise in this mix? I wasn't surprised by anything. Any of these.

[Linda Holmes]

I wasn't surprised either. I've been talking about the red veil that happens early in Frankenstein ever since I saw that movie. I think it's really striking. You know, obviously we can keep beating the drum of, like, I loved in a bunch of these categories also, but I am perfectly happy with Frankenstein. Like, listen, Guillermo del Toro is a way of putting teams together that make really cool looking stuff. If his film is the one that's gonna bring a bunch of design stuff home, seems fine.

[Glenn Weldon]

Hear, hear.

[Stephen Thompson]

It was really telling when that film won for makeup and hairstyling and one of the winners paused and had a long hug with Jacob Elordi. Like, that is a relationship fueled by fire.

[Aisha Harris]

400 hours in the chair.

[Glenn Weldon]

400.

[Stephen Thompson]

There was also a tie in the live action short category. That is only the seventh time there has ever been a tie at the Oscars. Those awards went to the singers and two people exchanging saliva. Mr. Nobody against Putin won for documentary feature, which was something of an upset. Documentary short went to all the empty rooms and the Girl who Cried Pearls won in the animated short category. So let's get to the telecast. This ceremony had a lot of things for a lot of people. A lot of highs and a lot of lows. I'm gonna start us off with general observations about the telecast and say, I am so glad that in the acting categories, they showed us clips instead of having these long, droning monologues about Timothee Chalamet. You made me think you were a ping pong champion. Just show us the clip.

[Linda Holmes]

Yeah, yeah.

[Aisha Harris]

I mean, it was a pretty old school. I mean, the opening montage where Conan runs literally through several nominated films. That's a Billy Crystal schtick that goes back the opening monologue, which a bunch of absolutely mid jokes. That's tradition, too. Like the clips that you mentioned, Steven, the presenter banter that was decidedly mid host jokes. A lot of them all went along a theme of like, this is, we're trying to reach out to the Youngs. There were a lot of them, but they were short. They were like 30 seconds at most. That's good.

[Glenn Weldon]

Well, that was part of the joke, right? Cause we have no attention span if you're under the age of 20.

[Aisha Harris]

That's the idea. Introducing the best picture nominees. Not by having some actor come out and bloviate about what this film's about, but instead just coming back from commercial and then going straight into the monologue with no intros. You know how much time we saved by that? If you consider those intros are maybe what, 15, 30 seconds. If there's 10 movies, that's still a lot of time that it's wasted. Utterly wasted. They didn't do it this year. I was pleased with that.

[Stephen Thompson]

They could in the future take that time they save and not cut people off and let people finish their speeches. Like, for example, if you win best original song and you're the first ever K pop Oscar winner and the second person starts to speak and you slam into the orchestra in one of the rudest playoffs I've ever seen. I was so. I was really angry.

[Linda Holmes]

Well, one of your collaborators is basically jumping up and down over to the side trying to get them to let you talk, which, you know.

[Glenn Weldon]

Well, I'm glad that that person did just keep going. And that time the orchestra backed off a little. But then there's another time when someone else got an aw and they got cut off completely.

[Linda Holmes]

There was one when they did and one when they didn't.

[Glenn Weldon]

I absolutely agree with you. I also, even though it became sort of like the running gag of the night and it got old very quickly, I did find it quite amusing how Timmy Chalamet just kept coming. He was the punching bag of the night. Him and Trump were like the punching bag for very different reasons, obviously. But of course, there was this clip that went around from this town hall interview he did with Matthew McConaughey where Timmy Chalamet is saying, like, he wants to keep movie theaters alive and how he doesn't want to be working in ballet or opera. Things that, as he says, no one cares about anymore. You know, there were a lot of jokes, they were beaten dead. But I did find it kind of amusing because, you know, well, and the

[Linda Holmes]

sound was a constant problem all evening. And I will grant you, this is a really complex, lots of moving parts sort of engineering feat, I am sure. But it was roof well.

[Stephen Thompson]

And one section where the sound suffering kind of meant the most was in, I think, an otherwise pretty impressive In Memoriam package. You know, unfortunately, as always, we lost a lot of really, really great people in the last year. They had a lot of ground to cover and I think they largely did so in elegant fashion. But at one point, Barbra Streisand is talking about Robert Redford and, you know, they work together on the Way We Were. And then she sang some of the Song the Way We Were. The Way We Were. Man, when you don't have adequate sound for an extremely rare performance by Barbra Streisand, who is largely retired from performing publicly, and it sounds sort of muddy and garbled, that's really frustrating.

[Glenn Weldon]

Yeah.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah. And here's the part where I need. Take the temperature of my friends who have actual human emotions just to check myself. I need a temperature check. Cause In Memoriam segment, we started with a tribute to Rob Reiners by Billy Crystal. Then we got a reel of a bunch of people. Then we got Rachel McAdams doing a bit of Catherine O' Hara and then going all in on Diane Keaton. Then more real. And we think it's ending. And we think it's ending because we get a scene from the Way We Were with Robert Redford and Barbra Streisand, and it's a scene where they're hugging. But what's odd is the last shot of that reel is over Robert Redford's shoulder. We see we have a full shot of Barbra Streisand's face. And you're like, what's going on here?

[Stephen Thompson]

I was like, barbra Streisand is still alive.

[Linda Holmes]

Well, yeah, but it's because they were

[Aisha Harris]

bringing her out, and then you realize that they're bringing her out. That's why they do it. But I need to check in with you. Did the fact that a. We are picking certain people to pull out from this as opposed to just giving them extra, like, screen time, picking certain people to pull out from feel a little weird? And then did it feel and contain your shock? Did it feel that maybe Barbra Streisand was centering herself in a way?

[Stephen Thompson]

Look, definitely what you say or do

[Aisha Harris]

people just do that in eulogies? And I'm just being weird.

[Glenn Weldon]

I mean, look, the sad truth of life and living and death is that some people mean more than others. Let's just be real. This is the way it was. Or they mean more to more people than others.

[Linda Holmes]

That's what it is. They're known to more people.

[Glenn Weldon]

Sure. I don't find it surprising, especially concerning who those three people they chose to single out. I don't find it surprising at all that those people got those moments. It's tricky, right? Cause there's always. Every year, there's like, they left this person out. Like, you can't cover all of it. And I think considering the way previous In Memoriams have gone, which is usually way more, like, kind of messy in different ways, where it's like we're gonna center the person who's singing on stage as opposed to actually centering the people who died. To me, this is the best in memoriam that the award ceremony has done in my memory. So I thought it was very lovely. I thought it was sweet. And sound problems aside, and especially the moment when they brought up a bunch of people who had worked with Rob Reiner at the end of his sort of sequence. And I just thought that was really lovely to see all of those people there.

[Stephen Thompson]

I thought that was particularly lovely in part because that brings you back around to paying tribute to these movies, bringing out those casts and having that feeling of like, oh, my gosh, that's like a little Spinal Tap reunion and a little Stand By Me reunion and a little, you know, it's bringing the audience in and kind of celebrating the person's legacy and filmography in a lovely way. I agree. I thought this was, for the most part, I thought that was a lovely segment that sometimes really does not get done particularly well in awards shows.

[Linda Holmes]

And I do think, Glen, in terms of. I wondered too, about picking particular people out and sort of doing special segments on them. Cause, like, why do you do Robert Redford but you don't do Robert Duvall? Like, how do you make those decisions? I did think about the fact, not as much with Robert Redford, but particularly with Rob Reiner, with Catherine o' Hara and with Diane Keaton. I think those are all maybe ones that people did not see coming as much. And so I think they were all, obviously, Rob Reiner died by violence. It's a different thing. But I think that people maybe were didn't process those deaths in quite the same way. As somebody who's been retired from acting for a super long time and has been, you know, you knew they were perhaps close to the end of their life. I wondered if that was part of it, that those deaths were ones that they felt people were perhaps taking particularly hard. But that's total speculation on my part about the thinking.

[Stephen Thompson]

Before we wrap up, I wanted to take y' all's temperature about Conan o' Brien as the host. I mean, I think it felt like they leaned on some pre produced bits a little bit more. What did y' all think of Conan?

[Linda Holmes]

I think Conan is a experienced host who I think is always a perfect. And this is gonna sound mean, and I don't mean it that way. I think Conan is always a perfectly fine event host. I mean, Conan has always been a little weirder than a lot of other people. So to Me, it was like, I think he was right in the pocket of how Oscars hosting is, which is that it is somewhat thankful. But I think he tends to remain very game. I think he had a couple of nice moments where he tried to stick up for people who got their microphones cut off. I think he's a gracious host.

[Aisha Harris]

Game is also a magic word there. I mean, like, you want somebody to commit to the bit. You want somebody to go full ham. You get Conan o'. Brien. He's not gonna hold himself apart from the proceedings the way that great hosts in the past have done, like Steve Martin. I think he was a great host. I also think his Persona was above it all.

[Linda Holmes]

Johnny Carson.

[Aisha Harris]

Johnny Carson. I think Jimmy Kimmel also kind of holds himself AP at the same time, he's not gonna dump all over everything the way that Nate Bragazzi did at the Emmys. So, you know, I think it's a full body commitment, and that's what you get from Conan o'.

[Glenn Weldon]

Brien. Yeah. My favorite of his bits was the one with Sterling K. Brown.

[Aisha Harris]

Yeah, that was the best one.

[Glenn Weldon]

Yeah. They were riffing on the reports from certain people in Hollywood that they're being told to rewrite, to write scripts and repeat information because people are two screen experience, three screen experience, whatever. They're not paying attention. So they did a bit with Casablanc. And of course, Sterling K. Brown is playing Sam and he's playing the Humphrey Bogart character. And it's. I enjoyed that.

[Stephen Thompson]

It definitely contributed to my overall cynicism, what with this being World War II and all.

[Linda Holmes]

World War II.

[Stephen Thompson]

That's the Hitler one, right? Welcome reminder that Sterling K. Brown is a funny dude.

[Glenn Weldon]

Yes, he is.

[Linda Holmes]

He sure is.

[Glenn Weldon]

He's very funny.

[Stephen Thompson]

You can put that guy in comedy and he'll cry.

[Linda Holmes]

Absolutely.

[Stephen Thompson]

All right, well, we want to know what you think about this year's Oscars. Find [e-mail] PCHH that brings us to the end of our show. Linda Holmes, Aisha Harris, Glenn Weldon, thanks so much for being here.

[Glenn Weldon]

Thank you.

[Aisha Harris]

Thank you.

[Linda Holmes]

Thank you.

[Stephen Thompson]

This episode was produced by Liz Metzger, Carly Rubin and Mike Katsif and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello. Come in. Provides our theme music. Thank you for listening. Listening to Pop Culture Happy hour from npr. If you're not already following the show, do that right now. I'm Stephen Thompson, and we will see you all next time.

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