{"podcast":{"title":"Culture Gabfest","slug":"culture-gabfest-830145","podcast_index_feed_id":830145,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/69612bcd1f21449d6dec2ccb","website_url":"https://slate.com/podcasts/culture-gabfest","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/69612bcd1f21449d6dec2ccb/show-cover.jpg","author":"Slate Audio","episode_count":870,"summary":"New York Times critic Dwight Garner says “The Slate Culture Gabfest is one of the highlights of my week.” The award-winning Culturefest features critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner debating the week in culture, from highbrow to pop. For more of Slate’s culture podcasts, check out the Slate Culture feed. Get more Culture Gabfest with Slate Plus! Join to unlock weekly bonus episodes—plus ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from our show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or visit slate.com/cultureplus to get access wherever you listen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":null,"page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/culture-gabfest-830145"},"episode":{"title":"One Oscar After Another Edition","slug":"one-oscar-after-another-edition","published_at":"2026-03-18T07:05:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/culture-gabfest-830145/one-oscar-after-another-edition","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/culture-gabfest-830145","url":"https://shows.acast.com/culture-gabfest/episodes/one-oscar-after-another-edition","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/69612bcd1f21449d6dec2ccb/e/69b9ac41b64f8985fe67e39e/media.mp3","summary":"On this week’s show, Dana and Steve are joined by long-time FOP Isaac Butler (and author of the forthcoming book The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America's Culture Wars .) They step into this week’s cultural trenches by way of an animatronic beaver den in Pixar’s Hoppers . Does the kooky eco-romp revive Pixar from its much-discussed slump? They discuss. Next, they step to the frontlines of middle-age malaise in the new HBO limited series DTF St. Louis, a sex comedy and meditation on male friendship mashed up with a murder mystery starring Jason Bateman, David Harbour, and Linda Cardellini. Finally, they debrief on the various battles for golden men in a recap and analysis of the 98th Academy Awards. Are the Oscars a real measure of artistic value? What do this year’s ceremony and winners say about the state of cinema? Why are they so long? Your questions answered here. In an exclusive bonus episode for Slate Plus subscribers, the panel takes up a recent excerpt from Michael Pollan’s new book A World Appears: A Journey into Consciousness . Endorsements Isaac : An earlier instance of Jason Bateman playing sinister, the 2015 thriller The Gift , directed by Joel Edgerton. (Also, don’t forget to pre-order The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and the Birth of America's Culture Wars ) Steve : The work of the recently deceased philosopher Jürgen Habermas . As a starting off point, read the Wikipedia page of his early work The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere .  Dana : For more beaver-related slapstick, the exceedingly low-budget 2022 debut—produced for just $150,000— of director Mike Cheslik Hundreds of Beavers .  --- Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com .  Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by…","meta_description":"On this week’s show, Dana and Steve are joined by long-time FOP Isaac Butler (and author of the forthcoming book The Perfect Moment: God, Sex, Art, and th…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3773,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/culture-gabfest-830145/episodes/one-oscar-after-another-edition/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/culture-gabfest-830145/one-oscar-after-another-edition.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}