Mental Floss

POP CULTURE



Pee-wee Herman, circa 1995

In the summer of 1985, Paul Reubens introduced America’s youth—and millions of young-at-heart adults—to a new kind of comedy.

Jennifer M Wood






Melissa Gilbert stars in Little House on the Prairie.

'Little House on the Prairie' was television at its most wholesome, but that doesn't mean that everything that went down behind-the-scenes was PG-rated. Now, Netflix is rebooting the series.

Kara Kovalchik, Garin Pirnia








Still from ‘Picnic At Hanging Rock.’

Peter Weir’s Australian New Wave classic turns 50 this year. Here’s what you need to know about the film, from the off-limits question Weir asked book author Joan Lindsay to the spooky stuff that happened on set.

Matthew Jackson


Give ’em a spin.

Some true classics are turning the big 5-0 this year, from Springsteen’s ‘Born to Run’ to Rush’s ‘Fly by Night.’

Kenneth Partridge


Oscar statuettes.

The Oscars have given out 96 awards for Best Picture in their long history. Here’s one thing you should know about each film, from ‘Wings’ to ‘Oppenheimer.’

Justin Dodd, Michele Debczak, Shayna Murphy




David Lynch

The iconoclastic director behind ‘Mulholland Drive,’ ‘Twin Peaks,’ and more cult classics—who passed away on January 16, 2025 at the age of 78—once drew a comic strip about a furious dog and disliked large furniture.

Scott Beggs