Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Making A Murderer,' True Crime, Alan Rickman

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This is a fun week for me, as Stephen and Glen and I get to welcome Sarah Bunting, who is not only the East Coast editor of Previously.tv, but also my former boss at Television Without Pity, the first site where I ever wrote professionally. Sarah and I have known each other a long time, and I was excited that we could bring her in to talk about something she cares about a lot: the true crime genre.

We kick off with a short discussion of Netflix's Making A Murderer (I refer to this recent New Yorker piece), but broaden out to talk about the wide variety of fare the genre has on offer as well as the obligations of people who make true crime to represent the truth but also make their work compelling. Touched on: Ann Rule, Paradise Lost, Serial, The Jinx, Ted Bundy and Mark Harmon, the effect of reenactments and much more.

In our second segment, we talk about Alan Rickman, whose death last week made us miss his delicious performances all the more. From Die Hard to fancy theater to Harry Potter to Galaxy Quest, we try to get at some of the things that made Rickman so compelling and some of the reasons we're really, really going to miss him.

As always, we close the show with what's making us happy this week. Stephen is happy about a recent celebration that he and I were both delighted to attend, and about being able to pass along a book (for once). Glen is happy about a show we agree is terrific and stupid and also about an oral history that, for once, he's not tired of. Sarah is happy about a very Sarah-like book. And I am happy about a movie Stephen talked about a few weeks ago where you should really look at the trailer, because it's so pretty.

Find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter: the show, me, Stephen, Glen, Sarah, producer Jessica, and producer emeritus Mike.