In the new TV series The Big Door Prize, a small town is forever changed when a mysterious

machine pops up in the local general store.

Each person who gets in the machine receives a card that reveals their life's potential.

Their true potential doesn't always land as good news, but it often leads these characters

to radically change the direction of their lives, sometimes in surprising ways.

I'm Glenn Weldon.

And I'm Stephen Thompson on this episode of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, we're talking

about the Apple TV Plus series The Big Door Prize.

Joining us today is our fellow Pop Culture Happy Hour host Aisha Harris.

Hey Aisha.

Hey, my true potential is happy to be here.

No, I appreciate that.

So the Big Door Prize is set in the fictional small town of Deerfield, whose residents

include a hangdog teacher played by Chris O'Dowd, his wife played by Gabrielle Dennis,

and their teenage daughter played by Juliet Amara.

Along the way, the show delves deeper into their lives and stories, but also those of other

townspeople.

We meet a teenager and his dad, both of whom are reeling from a recent tragedy, a priest

and a mysterious bartender who share an unlikely bond, the narcissistic mayor and a restaurant

owner who's still trying to relive his past glories from when he was a high school athlete.

But these aren't just quirky small town archetypes, and their stories are given a surprising

amount of weight.

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