Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Good riddance, 2017. Thanks for… well, not nothing, but also not much. It’s felt like we’re in the final season for civilization for a while–and I’m talking a full-order, 22-episode network season that drags on, not a briskly paced prestige drama. But at least this year gave us some mighty fine (and sometimes mighty empowering) pop culture to distract and/or inspire us.
That’s why along with all of our end-of-the-year lists, the members of Team Decider also knock out lists of our own favorite everythings from the previous 12 months. And these aren’t just lists of movies or TV shows, they get very specific (and, if you’re me, I guess they also get very nerdily gay?).
This was also my first year at Decider after joining in April, bringing a lot more of, well, all of the stuff on the list below to the site. 2017 may have been horrible, but spending it on this site–and gushing about a lot of the things on this list–has been a highlight. Here’s my top 10 of everything from this year, ranked in true countdown fashion because I love a good countdown!
The Gay Pool Party In 'There's...Johnny!'
There’s… Johnny!, a Seeso refugee that found a home on Hulu, is the show of my dreams. I mean literally, it is a dream scenario of mine to be plucked out of my reality and dropped into the backstage drama of a ’70s TV show. By the time the sixth episode (“The Getaway”) came along, it was like Paul Reiser had somehow creeped inside my head and jotted down copious notes. A gay pool party! In the ’70s! A ’70s gay pool party! Yes, this pool party was paired with a plot line involving a cast member’s dad soliciting prostitutes and shooting up (this is a deeply odd show!), but every time those half dozen gay pool-goers extras appeared on screen, I was filled with envy (mostly swimsuit envy, but also “good lord I miss the summer” envy).
This show also featured a blowjob in a helicopter and a frantic hunt for a runaway doggie. That’s There’s… Johnny! for you.
'Match Game' On Sling TV
Not since 2016 have I needed so much comfort food TV (we’re in a bad stretch here, y’all). Thankfully, my husband’s decision to get Sling TV (we had to watch the Drag Race finale live!) changed my TV watching life–mainly by giving me access to Match Game again.
And lordy, how I have missed Match Game.
Match Game is not a game show so much as the loosest of excuses for six celebrities (most of them known primarily for being celebrities on Match Game, such is the ’70s circle of life) to get drunk and hang out on TV. This goofy and at times subversive game show got me through my closeted college years and it’s been great reuniting with my gay role model Charles Nelson Reilly now that I’m very out and proud. Love ya, Chuck!
'Star Trek: Discovery'
Surprise, I love a Star Trek TV show! I’ve always been a Star Wars guy (so now you know where this list is headed), so I was beyond shocked and pretty excited to finally find a Trek show that really felt like my own. I love the new characters so much (Tilly! Stamets! Burnham!) that I would gladly buy merchandise of every one of them and create a display for them on my work desk. Okay, yes, that is me shamelessly asking for promotional items from CBS All Access. Sure.
Most of all, though, I loved having weekly appointment TV again, and that appointment being on the bridge of a Starfleet ship makes me happy.
Hulu's Sprawling Sitcom Library
Hulu had a year, didn’t it? Not only did they scoop up seemingly every fan favorite show Netflix dropped, they staked claim to, like, the ’90s with their new additions. Back in May, I asked “where have all the ’90s sitcoms gone?” By December, 12 of the 30 shows I wondered about had landed on Hulu!
This has been a game-changer for me, not just because it enabled frankly insane projects like the Sitcom Advent Calendar and the Spooky Sitcom Decider Flowchart. It’s allowed me to finally watch Will & Grace and it has facilitated a crush on Home Improvement’s Al Borland, a gay icon if ever I’ve seen one.
Sasha Velour
This was my first full year as a Drag Race devotee, and Season 9 was my first time watching the events unfold week-to-week. This is also the year that I finally found my favorite queen, Sasha Velour.
It didn’t happen quickly or easily, as Season 9 featured almost nothing but potential favorite queens, but Sasha won me over with nearly every challenge. Her Marlene Dietrich in the Snatch Game challenge, her hilariously deadpan roast of Michelle Visage, the rose petals!
Most importantly, her role on the show as a provider of gay history lessons appealed specifically to my gay-history-loving self. Drag Race made me a better gay man, undoubtedly, and Sasha Velour is a queen after my own heart.
Mark Hamill's Goofy Dad Vibes
I’m hard-pressed to think of a man I admire as much as Mark Hamill, which is totally shocking since I’ve always been a Han Solo guy. Over the last few years, and specifically during this year’s press tour for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, I realized that Mark is exactly the kind of man I want to age into–whoops, sincerity alert! But I mean it; as a kid-turned-man that has always latched onto pop culture for entertainment, inspiration, and education, I now look at the relentlessly goofy yet unflappably wise Mark Hamill with genuine love and admiration. From his love of puns to his soundbite-ready anecdotes about his life as Luke Skywalker, I can only dream I’m as witty and put together when I’m 66. I’m the pupil and Mark is my master.
'The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel'
A show about comedy… where the comedy is actually funny… and the actor playing the comedian is more captivating than most IRL comedians? How… how did Marvelous Mrs. Maisel do it?! Amazon didn’t need to bribe me with brisket to get me into this show. A show set in my favorite era about a thing I love with the unsung hero of House of Cards shining in the spotlight? This show was exactly what I needed this year. Give Rachel Brosnahan an Emmy, right now.
'Thor: Ragnarok'
I’m a dedicated follower of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I could name all the movies in release-date order, which is a wildly uninteresting party trick of mine. I loved all three of 2017’s additions to the canon (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Spider-Man: Homecoming, and Thor: Ragnarok), but it was Marvel’s last spectacle of the year that razzle-dazzled me.
Thor: Ragnarok was like Star Wars meets slapstick, Gladiator art directed by Lisa Frank, a Marvel movie meets, well, New Zealand’s proud weirdo auteur Taika Waititi. These strange tastes go great together, creating a tasty treat that gave me way more belly laughs than most of the TV comedies I watched this year. It also gave me my new fave Miek, a silent little bug buddy with knives for hands who can’t stop showing off his killer moves. Keep flexing, Miek, keep flexing.
Meeting Bob Newhart Because Of An Article I Wrote On This Site
I’ve been a professional internet opinion-haver for almost a decade, and this year contained by far the most fantastically surreal moment of my entire career. Back in late July, I wrote a passionate piece about why millennials should care about Bob Newhart–and Bob read it.
The Emmy-winning star of two long-running sitcoms, Grammy-winning standup legend, Papa Elf himself read it and reached out to thank me. The day I got that email, it was like an entire generation of comedians that I have admired since I was a tyke watching Nick at Nite reached out through time to shake my hand.
A few months later, that article and email enabled me to go backstage and meet Bob Newhart after one of his stand-up shows–yes, he still performs at the age of 88! It was maybe the only time in my life that my outgoing personality was stifled by nerves and general awe. I didn’t get to tell him how The Bob Newhart Show has given me #marriagegoals or how his show helped me cope with seasonal stress. I just shook his actual hand, thanked him, and took a picture to prove this wild ride happened.
Rian Johnson & 'Star Wars: The Last Jedi'
Two things have been a constant this entire year: my excitement for Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and my swoony heart-eyes crush on its writer and director Rian Johnson. My movie of the year and my hunk of the year, no contest.
What is it about Rian? Well, first, look at him. Thank you, Star Wars, for pulling right from My Specific Type, thus making the Last Jedi press tour even more interesting to me! Then there was the way he interacted with fans at Star Wars Celebration in April, visiting the overnight line and talking with every single one of them. Then the was the press tour, where he took black and white portraits of every interviewer he talked to. Listen, I’ve done press junkets as a journalist. You feel like a bespectacled face in a bespectacled crowd. This is a level of kindness and interest that you rarely see, and it made me love Rian more.
Oh–and then there’s his fashion, because dude dresses well and we don’t talk about it enough. He’s no pineapple-romper-wearing Taika Waititi, but Rian dresses with purpose (a lobster cardigan, subtle plaid suits) that I appreciate. His penchant for wild socks even rubbed off on Mark Hamill!
And then I saw The Last Jedi, a film every bit as daring as Rian’s socks and empathetic as Rian’s overnight Celebration meet and greet. NO SPOILERS–It was everything I wanted it to be, while being absolutely nothing I expected. It pushed me as an audience member and it embraced me as a fan. I saw it four days in a row, uncovering deeper meaning (and crying harder) every time. This tweet sums my strong feels up way more succinctly than this entry:
And now I leave you with my absolute favorite picture of 2017:
