This week, live-action remakes kept coming, labor conditions might be changing in reality TV and an iconic poet left us.

Here’s what NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour crew was paying attention to — and what you should check out this weekend.

A tried-and-true Bourbon Ball recipe

When I was a kid, I always made Bourbon Balls with my mom at this time of year. I still have the recipe that she had in her little box of cards. I made Bourbon Balls the other day — they are just amazing. They’re delicious, brownie-like things and I make way too many every year.

What I remember most about them was two weeks later, when we finally ate them, me at 5 or 6-years-old would have a little bit of one then make a terrible face because it tasted like alcohol and then pretend to be drunk for the next five minutes. And everybody at whatever party would just think that was adorable. That’s what I’m going for. — Bob Mondello

Bob’s Mom’s recipe for Bourbon Balls

Ingredients

2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (rolled fine)
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1 cup powdered sugar (and extra to roll balls in)
2 teaspoons cocoa
2 teaspoons corn syrup
1/3 cup bourbon (or rum, or brandy)

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients well. 
2. Form into 1-inch balls. 
3. Roll into the extra powdered sugar.
4. Store in an air-tight container for at least one week before serving (the hardest part).

Somebody Somewhere

I’m obsessed with Somebody Somewhere on Max. It took me a minute to get into, I remember watching the first season and the first episode thinking this moves really slow, but for some reason it just clicked for me recently. I’ve binged it and I’m so sad that it’s in its third and final season. Bridget Everett and that entire cast is absolutely incredible and it’s actually become a comfort show for me. It’s this exploration of being an outsider in a small rural town. And as someone who grew up in the South and in a small, suburban, rural town, it really hits in all the best ways. — Ryan Mitchell

The Amazing Race

I recently started a rewatch of The Amazing Race on Paramount+. A throwback from another time. We were in a different world back then. It is so beautiful just to see regular people traversing the world and conquering their fears. I find it quite entertaining and calming. So check it out. — Tre’vell Anderson

A Christmas Carol: A Signature Performance by Tim Curry

I’ve been listening to the great Tim Curry reading a story that has been co-opted by Big Christmas for far too long: A Christmas Carol. It’s sappy, sentimental, treacly. Yes. That’s why you need Tim Curry in the mix. He cuts through the treacle. He does not milk the sentiment. What he leans into is the language and the voice of the narration, it’s my favorite thing. I just started my annual listening and I always forget how much funny throat clearing there is in those opening pages where Dickens is like: Why is it dead as a doornail and not dead as a coffin nail? And he goes into this tangent about Hamlet’s father’s ghost. It’s just the best. — Glen Weldon

More recommendations from the Pop Culture Happy Hour newsletter

by Linda Holmes

I enjoyed Kelsey McKinney’s piece at Defector about the challenges of writing a book and the things that can’t be replicated by robots.

The Netflix action movie Carry-On wants very badly to be Die Hard (as Sam Adams has noted in Slate), and it is very much not Die Hard. It’s not as witty, and I don’t think I’m shocking anyone by saying that Jason Bateman is not Alan Rickman. However! With that said, it’s an entertaining and silly little diversion, nicely shot and choreographed, and featuring another good supporting performance from the terrific Danielle Deadwyler. Worth your time on a weekend evening or afternoon.

The funniest thing I read this week was Kathryn VanArendonk at Vulture, talking about what Taylor Sheridan is currently doing with Yellowstone. Truly, it is much weirder than whatever you’re thinking if you don’t watch.

I hope you’ll spend some time with the list of best TV and movies of 2024 that was assembled by some NPR critics: me, Glen, Aisha, Bob Mondello and Eric Deggans. Lots to love.

Dhanika Pineda adapted the Pop Culture Happy Hour segment “What’s Making Us Happy” for the Web. If you like these suggestions, consider signing up for our newsletter to get recommendations every week. And listen to Pop Culture Happy Hour on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The volume and variety of great art in 2024 could set your mind reeling. But don’t worry: We spent the year getting overwhelmed so you don’t have to. NPR’s staff consumed culture in every imaginable form, and now that the end of the year is upon us, we’ve gathered all of our favorites right here. Dig into the lists below wherever you feel like starting — the best songs and albums, our favorite video games, TV shows and movies that hooked us and, of course, the books we loved — and then come back and sample something new. The rewards are nearly endless.

Kelsey Grammer has played Frasier Crane for nearly a quarter century — most recently on a “Frasier” follow-up series that just last month wrapped its second season streaming on Paramount+. So it might be natural for longtime fans to conflate the small-screen psychologist with the man who won four Emmy Awards portraying him.

In Sunday Funday, L.A. people give us a play-by-play of their ideal Sunday around town. Find ideas and inspiration on where to go, what to eat and how to enjoy life on the weekends.

That’s why when we spoke late last month to discuss Grammer’s ultimate Sunday L.A. itinerary, I was curious as to how much overlap there might be between the actor’s downtime and that of his most famous character.

“Honestly, I just play Frasier,” he said. “But I guess if Frasier could go sailing he would — and I’m pretty good on a boat. … And my favorite food is caviar, so I suppose that [would be something in common]. But that was my favorite food before I played Frasier.” (For the record, Grammer likes to score his salted sturgeon roe at the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills.)

Beyond that, Grammer, who says he’s lived in L.A. “since 1984, basically,” envisions the perfect Sunday here as one spent at home with wife Kayte Grammer, their three young children and a couple of miniature Australian Labradoodles.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for length and clarity.

5:30 a.m.: Coffee, phone calls and Word Cookies
I like to wake up in the morning and sit with my cup of coffee and enjoy the sort of the misty air that comes in off of Santa Monica. … I actually kind of like those June Gloom days when there’s a bit of moisture dripping down the windows of the kitchen from the fog that rolled in the night before [that] slowly recedes back toward the ocean.

I like to wake up early so I have a little bit of time on my own to write. I’ve been writing things for the last several years in that sort of magic hour as the sun starts to come up. So I sit down and try to peck out a few words, a few thoughts on a couple ideas I have. There’s a book about my sister [Karen Grammer] coming out in May, and there’s another one about [my experience working with veteran’s group] Operation Restored Warrior I’ve been working on. And there are several other things in the pipeline.

Years ago, I used to do the New York Times crossword puzzle every morning. I’ve sort of fallen from grace and tend to play board games on my phone now. I’ve got a whole bunch of apps on my phone, but pretty much the only one I play is Word Cookies. So I’ll do a little of that; I’ll do a couple of phone calls with the East Coast. I started a [Margaretville, N.Y.-based] beer company called Faith American Brewing Co. [in 2015], so there’s usually some beer business to catch up on.

7:30 a.m.: Kids and Koala Crisp
Then the kids start to get up and trundle in — the younger ones, who are 12, 10 and 8. And they’re like, “May I have a bowl of cereal,” which is usually organic — Koala Crisp is what I think it’s called. My older son, Jude, who was living with us — he’s off to college at Emerson right now — wouldn’t come down until sometime around three in the afternoon.

And then Kayte usually trundles in, and she’ll offer to tee up some oatmeal. She does a great morning oatmeal. So that’s all five of us just hanging out — plus sometimes folks who are in town visiting. And we all sit around and have some oatmeal.

10 a.m.: Hit the beach — or the trail — with the dogs
And then maybe we’d drive to the beach or go on a hike with the dogs — we have a couple of miniature Australian Labradoodles — up in the Santa Monica Mountains on a trail that comes out on Temescal Canyon. If it’s the beach, we’d be going to the Santa Monica Pier.

That basically would be the traffic of the day. In the old days, I would have gone sailing. I don’t have a sailboat anymore but, in my salad days, I’d go sailing at least twice a week. I had a Baltic 37, a sloop, that was a beautiful sailing boat, and I’d go out with a couple of friends and enjoy the day. But those days are coming again; we’re talking about getting a boat and maybe keeping it in Florida.

Noon: Midday multimedia multitasking
After that, it’s mostly just the family hanging out, maybe doing some reading together. “The Monstrumologist” [by Rick Yancey] is one my daughter Faith is reading. My son Gabriel is reading “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” and my son James is reading the “Frog and Toad” [book series by Arnold Lobel]. So we’ll read those. Or they’ll catch up on their homework.

Sometimes we’ll watch a movie. I have a relationship with the studios and a server at the house, so they will just send over a first-run film, and Gabriel is nuts about trying to see movies on the day they come out. I think the last one we watched was “Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire,” and that was fun.

After that, honestly, we just sort of hang out. It’s a very domestic life. The kids love to go swimming; sometimes we’ll go for a hike in the mountains and that sort of thing.

2:30 p.m.: Get out in the garden
I’ve been doing some gardening lately and get out there about every day. So I might go out and sniff around our garden a little bit if I have a spare minute; pull up a few weeds or pick a tomato. The tomatoes were great this year — the cherry tomatoes were unbelievable — and we had great eggplants, bell peppers and jalapeno peppers. We have a spice garden too. The kids are not that interested [in gardening], although we have planted some strawberries together, and they like to go out there and pick them.

4 p.m.: Steak tartare and a martini
In the late afternoon, I love to go over to the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel and have steak tartare and a martini.

6:30 p.m.: Head to Nobu or e. Baldi
In the evening, we’d all jump into the car and head to Nobu because the boys love the yellowtail jalapeno. We also go to e. Baldi a lot [which is closed on Sundays]. Kayte likes to order penne arrabbiata [off the menu]. She also enjoys a dish called [My Favorite] Childhood Memory [“ravioli con la coda” filled with green chard and ricotta in melted butter and Parmigiano].

After that I might watch a football game on TV. My go-to team is the Miami Dolphins, but they’ve just been a tragedy for so long. I’m still nursing the [wounds of the] ’72-’73 season.

And one of my favorite things to have — and it’s been this way for a long time — is a hot fudge sundae. So, my ideal Sunday would probably include the best impression of a Denny’s hot fudge sundae I could find: vanilla ice cream — I love Häagen-Dazs — with crushed nuts and all that.

9:30 p.m.: Bedtime
Since I’m up at 5:30 a.m., I’m usually in bed by 9:30 p.m., so that’s when I shut things down. Pretty exciting, right?