The Good, the Bad and the Good-Bad (Movie)

About this episode

<p>When it comes to movies we love, there are the artistic masterpieces and there are the foot-stomping crowd pleasers. But there’s another particular kind of beloved movie, the one that makes our friends groan, but that we rewatch incessantly; the one that we can quote line for line, even as we giggle at the actors’ performances; the one that we’d say is great, but that we might not say is good. These are the kinds of movies that Maya Salam, a pop culture writer at The New York Times, covers in her monthly column, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/the-good-bad" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Good-Bad</a>.</p><p>This episode is a celebration of good-bad movies, timed to the release of “Practical Magic 2,” the long-awaited sequel to the 1998 cult film that Salam called “a bubbling cauldron of plot holes and tones.” Our host Rachel Abrams talks to Salam about the joys of loving a movie despite (or because of) its flaws. Then, they’re joined by The Times’s canon editor, Gilbert Cruz, and Taffy Brodesser-Akner, a Times Magazine writer, to discuss the best of good-bad cinema.</p><p><strong>On Today’s Episode:</strong></p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/maya-salam" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Maya Salam</strong></a> covers pop culture for The New York Times.</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/gilbert-cruz" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Gilbert Cruz</strong></a><strong> </strong>is the canon editor for The New York Times.</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/by/taffy-brodesser-akner" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><strong>Taffy Brodesser-Akner</strong></a> is a features reporter for The New York Times Magazine.</p><p><strong>Background Reading:</strong></p><ul><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/spotlight/the-good-bad" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Good-Bad</a></li><li><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/04/movies/good-bad-movies-nytimes.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Why Loving Good-Bad Movies Feels All Good</a></li></ul> <p><p>For more information on today’s episode, visit <a href="http://nytimes.com/thedaily?smid=pc-thedaily"><strong>nytimes.com/thedaily</strong></a>. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. </p><p> </p><p>Subscribe today at <a href="http://nytimes.com/podcasts">nytimes.com/podcasts</a> or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher">https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher</a>. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.</p></p><br/> <p>Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See <a href="https://pcm.adswizz.com">pcm.adswizz.com</a> for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.</p>