Made Possible by Pop Culture

Documentary filmmaker Clair Titley joins Made Possible by Pop Culture to dive into her latest project, Friends Like These: The Murder of Skylar Neese, and to talk about the '90s music video directors who inspired her. Fun fact: One of them was Michel Gondry, and his direction of "Sugar Water" introduced Clair to Cibo Matto, which gave her a very special moment when sourcing music for The Contestant. She shares that story on this episode too.

School Spirits star Nick Pugliese joins Made Possible by Pop Culture's Danielle Turchiano to dive into Season 3 of the Paramount+ series, as well as why he listened to Beyoncé's Lemonade every day for years after it dropped in 2016.

Lovell Holder's debut novel The Book of Luke is set in the world of reality TV with a splash of politics. He joins Made Possible by Pop Culture to talk about crafting the story about gay ex-footballer Luke whose husband cheats on him publicly, leading to him going back on the reality show that made him famous years ago. As the book mixes Luke's personal story with past and present seasons of the reality show within the book, Lovell also discusses how The Challenge and even his childhood love of Into the Woods influenced what he was creating. As a bonus at the end, there's a short chat about The Traitors!

Kristoffer Polaha dives deep into a discussion on independent film production and original IP to promote his directorial feature debut, Mimics, which is out in theaters February 13, 2026. Then he travels back in time to 1987 to reflect on U2's The Joshua Tree and the surprising track that meant the most to 10-year-old him (and why).

Join Made Possible by Pop Culture for a second annual holiday roundtable episode, this time with a group of entertainment journalists discussing Heated Rivalry (and yes, explaining how and why it fits this theme!); Finding Mr. Christmas Season 2; Merry Christmas, Ted Cooper; With Love, Meghan, and a little bit more!

Emmy nominee and The Abandons star Lamar Johnson joins Made Possible by Pop Culture to talk about how a childhood love of dance kickstarted a career in the arts (did you know he was in Honey at 9 years old!?), his current interest in original IP, and yes, spoilers for his new Netflix show.

Author Kyra Davis Lurie is on Made Possible by Pop Culture just in time for you to pick up her latest novel, The Great Mann, for the holidays! During the episode, she talks about her retelling of The Great Gatsby via an affluent (and historically rich and accurate) Black community, answers whether she'll ever write another Sophie Katz murder mystery, and talks about how Annie Lennox via "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" introduced her to new music and new style.

Actor/director Chris Chalk has been stealing scenes for decades, but it's his work as famed Stephen King character Dick Hallorann in Welcome to Derry that he deep-dives into on Made Possible by Pop Culture. In the episode he takes us through the first five episodes of evolution of the character and the world of the It prequel, plus teases a bit of what's to come in the remaining episodes for the season. And of course, a past pop culture influence (this time with an unintentional connection to the show) is discussed as well: Aretha Franklin's version of "Let It Be."

Journalist and author Kristen Lopez joins Made Possible by Pop Culture just ahead of the release of her latest book, Popcorn Disabilities: The Highs and Lows of Disabled Representation in the Movies. In the episode, she discusses the early childhood influence Forrest Gump (namely Lieutenant Dan) had on her, as well as the process to highlight films featuring disabled characters from the early 1900s to today in her book, what strides still need to be taken for better inclusion, and more.