I'm Stephen Metcalf, and this is the Slate Culture Gab Fest, the three Blake

lively problem edition. It's Wednesday, May 14th, 2025. On today's show, another

simple favor is a sequel to the Kinky 2018 noir,

A Simple Favor, as one returns Anna Kendrick and Blake Lively as a pair of frenemies embroiled

in a game of cat and mouse. And then Amy Sherman Palladino is probably familiar to our listeners

as the showrunner, creator of such beloved hits as Gilmore Girls and

the marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She, along with her husband, Daniel Paladino, returned with etoile.

I'm told that's French for a star. It's a serial dromedy about French and American ballet companies

that swap their biggest stars. You can watch it on Amazon Prime. And finally,

Holy White Smoke, the new Pope is an American. We discuss with the New York Times journalist Ruth

Graham. But first, we're joined by Julia Turner, a fellow at the Annenberg School of Journalism

at the University of Southern California. Hey, Julia. Hello, hello. And Dana Stevens, the film critic for Slate. Hey, Dana. Hey, Stephen.

Julia, what does this program and Taylor Swift now have in common? Being awesome. I don't know.

Oh, are we doing, are we doing Steve Dana and Julia's version? That's exactly right.

Explicate.

Okay, we recorded such a great show for y'all last week, and then we had technical difficulties, and we're not able to release it.

Though we really liked a lot of the topics we talked about and thought you all might like to hear about them.

So this is last week's podcast,

Steve, Julia, and Dana's version. And we're doing a re-record two topics from last week and one

new one because the Pope from Chicago had not yet been selected. Sorry to the New York Times

Magazine Happiness Package. We loved you. No one will ever hear what we said about you or how we

feel about happiness in our own lives. The lost the lost tapes, maybe we'll, uh, we'll, uh, we record that one in another five years.

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