Glen Weldon
Glen Weldon is a host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast. He reviews books, movies, comics and more for the NPR Arts Desk.
Over the course of his career, he has spent time as a theater critic, a science writer, an oral historian, a writing teacher, a bookstore clerk, a PR flack, a completely inept marine biologist and a slightly better-ept competitive swimmer.
Weldon is the author of two cultural histories: Superman: The Unauthorized Biography and The Caped Crusade: Batman and the Rise of Nerd Culture. He has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The New Republic, The Atlantic, Slate, McSweeney's and more; his fiction has appeared in several anthologies and other publications. He is the recipient of an NEA Arts Journalism Fellowship, an Amtrak Writers' Residency, a Ragdale Writing Fellowship and a Pew Fellowship in the Arts for Fiction.
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Something is definitely up in the fantastic new Netflix series The Boroughs. Monsters, or maybe aliens? It's set in a seemingly idyllic mid-century modern retirement community in the middle of the desert, and focuses on a septuagenarian Scooby Gang formed by Geena Davis, Alfred Molina, Alfre Woodard, Denis O'Hare and Clarke Peters. -
NPR's Star Wars nerds talk about whether the franchise still has the juice, as 'Star Wars: The Mandalorian and Grogu' hits the cinemas.
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Glitter, vocal gymnastics, on-stage flames — the show goes on on the Eurovision stage in Vienna, even though five countries are boycotting this year's contest due to Israel's participation. -
As I watched the new series, I only cared about Piggy — the thoughtful, smart kid stranded on an island with other boys. That made me think about what we look for in art. -
Dan Levy co-created and starred in the beloved Schitt’s Creek. And now he’s back with a new comedy on Netflix that’s got a very different vibe. -
Steve Carell is a writer of pulpy crime novels and a hapless new writing teacher at a small college in the HBO comedy series Rooster. -
The Peacock reality show The Traitors has become weekly appointment television, as the always impeccably dressed Alan Cumming presides over an unfriendly game full of alliances, secrets, treachery and murder. -
An Academy Award in Best Casting will be the newest prize at the Oscars in March. An NPR panel examines what an achievement in casting might mean.
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Actor Robert Duvall died Sunday at 95. Critic Glen Weldon looks back at his career playing icons of American masculinity.
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Duvall appeared in over 90 films over the course of his career, imbuing stock Hollywood types — cowboys, cops, soldiers — with a nuanced sense of vulnerability.
