Each week, guests and hosts on NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour share what's bringing them joy. This week: the shows The Agency and The Pitt, audiobooks by Philomena Cunk, and cinema from the late director David Lynch.

President Donald Trump notched two victories on Thursday as he pushed to get his top officials in place. He also faced new legal challenges.

Ratcliffe, Trump’s former director of national intelligence, sought to reassure senators that he would remain apolitical in his role as CIA director.

(WASHINGTON) — The Senate on Thursday confirmed John Ratcliffe as CIA director, President Donald Trump's nominee to lead America's premier spy agency and his second nominee to win Senate approval.

The president is punishing a group of former officials for expressing an opinion he didn’t like.

Day Four of the Trump administration opens in Washington, D.C. with a raft of Senate hearings including Trump's picks for the Departments of Energy and Interior as well as the EPA and VA. Also on the docket,

Bolton did, however, publish before getting permission to do so, and anyone who has had a security clearance knows that dodging the review is a violation not just of the letter of one’s clearance conditions but also of the norms and instincts inculcated by the culture of national security.

The Senate Banking Committee voted along party lines to approve Scott Turner’s nomination for Housing and Urban Development secretary. He previously served as the executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council during Trump's first term, and he played nine seasons in the NFL.

President Donald Trump on Thursday signed an executive order that aims to ease regulation on cryptocurrency, seeking to fulfill the policy promises he made to the industry after courting its cash and support throughout the 2024 campaign.

Pam Bondi was pressed about the 2020 election and Trump's influence over the Justice Department, while Marco Rubio struck a more measured tone on the Russia-Ukraine war.

Trump promised at his inaugural address that "national unity" would return. But much of this week has seen the returning president continue to pummel out-of-power foes. He called former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, of Wyoming, a "crying lunatic."

The following review contains spoilers for "The Agency" Season 1, Episode 10, "Overtaken By Events."] The finale of "The Agency," Showtime's espionage thriller from writers John-Henry and Jez Buttersworth,