My List of Everything in 2016

A long list of lists.

In a year that “Texts From Hillary” didn’t feel fun anymore—thanks EMAILS and President-Elect Donald Trump—there was plenty to get excited about, at least in terms of pop culture. From nostalgia to true crime, Emma Stone’s Oscar bid to Tyler Hoechlin’s shorts, the unexpected brightness of Black Mirror and the bleakness of American Crime and American Crime Story, 2016 proved to that there’s room for new, creative, provocative, funny and exciting ideas.

These are the things that stuck with me in 2016:

Moonlight. The film, along with Jackie and La La Land, hit a nerve in a way that all movies should

Some of My Favorite (Scripted) Movies of the Year

• Moonlight
• Jackie
• La La Land
• Arrival
• Deadpool
• 10 Cloverfield Lane
• Everybody Wants Some!!

Some of My Favorite (Film or TV) Documentaries of the Year

• O.J.: Made in America
• Weiner
• Amanda Knox
• Tower
• Tickled
• Chef’s Table Season 2
• 13th

Emma Stone’s Oscar bid for La La Land. Mark my words: This awards season, she’ll be the Jennifer Lawrence to Natalie Portman’s Anne Hathaway

Thandie. 👏 Newton. 👏 on Westworld

Women on screen. In general, all my favorite performances were by female actors, from Newton, Portman and Stone to Naomie Harris (Moonlight), Anna Camp (Good Girls Revolt, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt), Amy Adams (Arrival and Nocturnal Animals), Sarah Paulson (American Crime Story, American Horror Story), Adina Porter (American Horror Story), Jenny Slate and all the girls on Girls, Tracee Ellis Ross (Black-ish, Broad City), the women of Saturday Night Live, Kathryn Hahn (Captain Fantastic, Transparent), Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Margot Robbie (Suicide Squad), Michaela Watkins (Casual), Constance Zimmer and Shiri Appleby (UnREAL), Issa Rae (Insecure), Lena Headey (Game of Thrones), Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe), Claire Foy and Vanessa Kirby (The Crown), Millie Bobby Brown and Winona Ryder (Stranger Things), Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld), Samira Wiley (Orange Is the New Black), Trace Lysette (Transparent), Claudia O’Doherty (Love), Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin (Grace and Frankie), Yael Stone (High Maintenance)

The relevancy of The Help in 2016

How ‘The Help’ Cast Is Killing During (This) Awards Season

• Viola Davis, nominated for four Critics’ Choice Awards (won two), a Primetime Emmy Award, a Golden Globe Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards
• Jessica Chastain, nominated for a Golden Globe Award
• Octavia Spencer, nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award
• Emma Stone, nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award
• Bryce Dallas Howard, nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award
• Allison Janney, nominated for a Critics’ Choice Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards

Natalie Portman’s Jackie Kennedy accent in Jackie. It may seem over the top, but it’s accurate

6 Campiest Performances of the Year

• Natalie Portman, Jackie
• Emily Blunt, The Girl on the Train
• Sarah Paulson, American Horror Story: Roanoke
• Laura Linney, Nocturnal Animals
• Winona Ryder, Stranger Things
• Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool

Lin-MANUEL MIRANDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

The wolf in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible

Cynthia Erivo bringing down the house post-Tony win in The Color Purple

Amy Ryan’s drunk, selfish mothering in Love Love Love (see: “Amy Ryan Indulges Her Funny Bone”)

A dancing Channing Tatum in Hail, Caesar! And with his clothes on

Walter Goggins’ sass on Vice Principals

#JusticeForBarb (see: “‘Stranger Things’ Breakout Shannon Purser on Barb’s Appeal”)

Anna Camp as Jane Krakowski’s nemesis on Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Pinot by Tituss (see: “Tituss Burgess Wants You to Buy Him a Glass of Pinot by Tituss”)

“Cranes In the Sky/Don’t Touch My Hair,” by Solange

Lemonade 🍋

Big Freedia’s snarl on “Formation” (see: “How Big Freedia Helped Beyonce Return to Her Roots on ‘Formation’”)

Stranger Things soundtrack on vinyl

The summer of Sia

“(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life”

Hillary Clinton on Between Two Ferns With Zach Galifianakis

Van Jones on CNN during election night. Seriously, he spoke the truth when so many people didn’t

This photo of Sasha and Malia Obama with Ryan Reynolds

Kate McKinnon as Hillary Clinton, Cecily Strong as Melania Trump, Alec Baldwin as Donald Trump and Larry David as Bernie Sanders on Saturday Night Live

The president’s late-night talk show tour (see: “It’s Late Night With President Obama”)

Samantha Bee

Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s bromance

Every homoerotic moment in Everybody Wants Some!!

Tyler Hoechlin’s ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ Shorts, Ranked!!

3. These red shorts. Too loose for this crowd — but we’ll forgive it.

2. These white shorts. Actually the whole outfit. Well, actually those thighs.

1. These red ping pong shorts. Because they don’t get much shorter than this!!

The West Wing Weekly podcast with Josh Malina and Hrishikesh Hirway

Noises Off and every earned laugh of this incredibly funny play

Andrew Rannells’ short racquetball shorts in Falsettos

“I’m Breaking Down,” by Stephanie J. Block in Falsettos

Nadiya Hussain on The Great British Bake Off. (Let’s ignore Mel Giedroyc, Sue Perkins and Mary Berry’s Brexit, shall we?)

Matthew Goode and Matthew Rhys on The Wine Show

Tip of the Hat to Sharon Horgan for Catastrophe and Divorce. And a quick shout-out to Thomas Hayden Church’s mustache on the latter

London Spy and The Night Manager

The rise and fall** of Tom Hiddleston (see: “Could Tom Hiddleston Be the Next James Bond? Yes, but Just Don’t Ask Him About It”) **Well, not so much of a fall as a fling with Taylor Swift

Superheroes played by actors not named “Chris”

The Marvel’s Black Panther cast. It doesn’t even come out until 2018, but its trailer is one of my most anticipated films of 2017

Teyana Taylor in the music video for Kanye West’s “Fade”

Frank Ocean building a spiral staircase to nowhere as a “fuck you” to his record label before releasing Blonde

The Happy Endings reunion at Vulture Festival

Watching the corpse flower bloom live at the New York Botanical Gardens

The surprise return of long-running reality shows

3 Long-Running Reality TV Shows That Returned to Glory

• Project Runway. After season 14, which Tim Gunn even panned, it’s nice to see the show find its footing again. Sure, the bar is still low for success (or finished garments), but the judges finally got back to real critiques and the contestants seemed legitimately talented again.
• RuPaul’s Drag Race. Season seven was a real drag—and not in a good way. But the show bounced back with a return to basics in season eight, finally earning RuPaul a long overdue Emmy award. It also helped that season eight was followed by a standout second season of All-Stars.
• America’s Next Top Model. Cycle 23 is not perfect, but new host Rita Ora is not bad either. And aside from the gift that is cycle 22 winner Nyle DiMarco, the last few cycles weren’t all the great to begin with, so the cycle 23 easily cleared the low bar that laid before it.

Nyle DiMarco, the first legitimately successful ANTM winner

Marlee Matlin signing at the Super Bowl (see: “Marlee Matlin on Lady Gaga, Performing at the Super Bowl, and Her Broadway Debut”)

The 2016 Summer Olympics: The Final Five, Michael Phelps’ retirement, Katie Ledecky, Usain Bolt, Pita Nikolas Aufatofua’s Opening Ceremony outfit and Gisele Bundchen’s final runway

Serena Williams

Henry Cavill’s thirsty Instagram account

Jonathan Groff’s tears in Looking: The Movie. Seriously, he carried the final chapter from beginning to end

And the Oscar goes to…

Benjamin Walker’s sculpted torso and every single homoerotic moment in American Psycho (see: “Bring ‘American Psycho’ to Life on Broadway”)

The quiet meditation of Sterling K. Brown on The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story and This Is Us

Some of My Favorite Interviews of the Year

• Sterling K. Brown (see: “Sterling K. Brown Reaps the Rewards of ‘American Crime Story’”)
• Sarah Jessica Parker (see: “Sarah Jessica Parker Stands by Her Convictions on ‘Divorce’”)
• Billy Eichner and Julie Klausner (see: “Billy Eichner and Julie Klausner Bring the Mean” and “‘Difficult People’ Star Julia Klausner Finds Her (and the Show’s) Voice in Season 2”)

• James Franco (see: “How James Franco Uses Famous Friends to Make Hollywood Movies His Way”)
• Aziz Ansari (see: “Why Aziz Ansari Made It His Mission to Do the Unconventional on ‘Master of None’”)
• America Ferrera (see: “Why America Ferrera Wants the Freedom to Play Whomever She Wants”)
• Nico Tortorella (see: “Nico Tortorella Just Wants to Love and Be Loved”)
• Tracee Ellis Ross (see: “‘Black-ish’ Star Tracee Ellis Ross Stands Her Ground in Season Two” and “Why Tracee Ellis Ross Loves Auditioning”)

This Rolling Stone cover (see: “Oscar Isaac: The Internet’s Boyfriend Becomes a Leading Man”)

Meryl Streep. Because what’s the point of a list without Meryl?

Peak TV. According to FX, the number of original scripted programs this year reached 455, up from 421 in 2015

Genre of the Year

• True Crime (see: “Amanda Knox, OJ Simpson and Our Fascination With True Crime”)
• Runner-Up: Nostalgia (see: Everything else)

Some of My Favorite Episodes of the Year:

• “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia,” The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
• “San Junipero,” Black Mirror
• “Fish Out of Water,” BoJack Horseman
• “Assassins,” The Crown
• “Mother” and “Kissing Your Sister,” Veep
• “Hope,” Black-ish
• “Parents,” Master of None (for Veep, Black-ish and Master of None see: “Stories Behind Emmy-Nominated Episodes You Need to Watch”)
• “Christmas Trifle,” Please Like Me
• “To Sardines and Back,” Transparent
• “Hello Kitty,” “Japan” and “The Panic In Central Park,” Girls
• “Looking: The Movie,” Looking (see: “‘Looking’ After Orlando”)
• “Jews on a Plane,” Broad City (see: “Tracee Ellis Ross Finds Success on ‘Black-ish’ and ‘Broad City’”)
• “The Animals” and “Toast Can’t Never Be Bread Again,” Orange Is the New Black (see: “A Mini Oral History of Samira Wiley’s Death Scene on ‘OITNB’”)