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Hi, Linda Holmes here. Somehow we are almost at the end of 2025. And I'm going to be honest with you, it's been a pretty challenging year for NPR and local stations.

But here's the thing.

Despite losing federal funding for public media and despite all the attacks we've seen on the free press, we're still here for you.

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What does 2026 have in store for pop culture? It's impossible to know for sure, but we are always willing to make our best guesses anyway.

That's right. We are back for another year of pop culture predictions. We'll touch on AI, the future of Rupal's drag race, and what's to come for the Law and Order universe.

And, of course, we'll check in on our prognosticating from last year and see how things worked out.

I'm Stephen Thompson.

And I'm Linda Holmes.

And today we're talking about our 2026 predictions on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.

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