My 2019 Entertainment Retrospective

[imlad]

The end of 2019 has finally passed, and I can now look back and see the full picture of what entertainment media I consumed for the year. As has been the case the past few years, it has been dominated by TV (and YouTube, which I didn't include in this retrospective). Below you will find my list of the top TV shows of the year, the worst shows of the year, the books I read in 2019, the films I saw in 2019 (although not necessarily released in that year), and all the television shows I watched during the year (including the ones I only watched an episode or three of before giving up or just never going back). [You'll notice many TV shows get listed twice in the "Television Shows Watched" list; the first time is finishing the season that began in 2018, and the second time is starting the season that began in 2019.] In 2020 I expect a shift towards books, or I plan on one at least. I've already unsubbed from several YouTube channels that eat up a lot of my time, and I'm planning to cut back on the telly this year as well. I hope. But I've got a stack of books I'm determined to get through by year's end, so I need to find the time. Thankfully, but somewhat sadly, a number of the programs listed below had their final season/series in 2019. 

Top 20 TV Shows of 2019
1) Watchmen
2) Doom Patrol
3) The Expanse
4) Luther
5) The Boys
6) Man in the High Castle
7) Legends of Tomorrow
8 ) The Mandalorian 
9) His Dark Materials
10) True Detective
11) Black Mirror
12) Cloak & Dagger
13) Young Justice - Outsiders
14) Good Omens
15) The Punisher 
16) Umbrella Academy
17) The Planets (BBC docu-series)
18) Daredevil 
19) The Magicians
20) Game of Thrones

Honorable Mentions (not in any particular order)
Jessica Jones
Victoria
Veronica Mars
Stranger Things
Swamp Thing

Worst TV Shows watched in 2019 (#1 being the worst)
1) Another Life
2) The War of the Worlds (BBC miniseries)
3) Knightfall
4) Nightflyers
5) Riverdale

Books read in 2019 (in order read)
How Star Wars Conquered the Universe by  Taylor
Genesis by Ken Lozito
Nemesis by Ken Lozito
Legacy by Ken Lozito
Salvation Lost by Peter F Hamilton
Sanctuary by Ken Lozito
Discovery by Ken Lozito
Emergence by Ken Lozito
King of Ashes by Raymond E Feist (started, 65% complete)

Films seen in 2019 (incl: documentaries & comedy hours; # is rating out of 10, in order seen) 
Aquaman (7.7)
Captain Marvel (8.9)
Annihilation (9.3)
Dumbo (7.4)
Shazam! (8.3)
Avengers: Endgame (9.0)
Game of Thrones: The Last Watch (BTS documentary) (9.5)
The Atomic Soldiers (documentary short) (9.5)
Dark Phoenix (7.2)
The Lego Movie (7.8)
Ramy Youssef - "Feelings" (Comedy hour) (9.4)
Spider-Man: Far From Home (7.9)
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (9.8)
Once Upon A Time... In Hollywood (8.7)
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (7.0)
Downton Abbey (8.5)
Mark Ellis - "Dog Stepfather" (Comedy Hour) (9.6)
Aladdin 2019 (9.0)
Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (8.0)
The Director and the Jedi (BTS documentary) (8.5)

Television shows watched in 2019 (listed approximately in order of beginning to watch)
Daredevil season 3 (finished)
Doctor Who episode 12.00 (New Year’s Special 2019)
The Gifted season 2 (finished)
Runways seasons 2 & 3 (finished)
The 100 seasons 5 & 6 (complete)
The Magicians seasons 3 & 4 (complete)
Young Justice - Outsiders season 3 parts 1 & 2 (complete)
Knightfall episode 1.01
Star Wars Resistance season 1 (finished)
The Flash season 5 (finished)
Victoria series 3 (complete)
Star Trek Discovery season 2 (complete)
Supernatural season 14 (finished)
Supergirl season 4 (finished)
Death in Paradise series 8 (complete)
Arrow season 7 (finished)
Riverdale season 3 (finished)
Luther series 5 (complete)
Black Lightning season 2 (complete)
Doom Patrol season 1 (complete)
True Detective season 3 (complete)
Legends of Tomorrow season 4 (complete)
Cloak & Dagger season 2 (complete)
Les Miserables (BBC miniseries, episode 1 only)
Game of Thrones season 8 (complete)
Warrior episode 1.01
Agents of SHIELD season 6 (complete)
iZombie season 6 (complete)
Umbrella Academy season 1 (complete)
Good Omens (miniseries) (complete)
Swamp Thing season 1 (complete)
Krypton season 2 (complete)
The Planets (BBC docu-series) (complete)
The Punisher season 2 (complete)
Black Mirror season 5 (complete)
Killjoys season 5 (complete)
Man in the High Castle seasons 3 & 4 (complete) 
Nightflyers season 1 (complete)
Veronica Mars season 4 (complete)
Jessica Jones season 3 (complete)
The Boys season 1 (complete)
Stranger Things season 3 (complete)
Hanna season 1 (complete)
Carnival Row season 1 (complete)
Pennyworth season 1 (complete)
The Originals season 5 (complete)
Space Command pilot episode (on YouTube) 
Legacies seasons 1 (complete)
Titans season 2 (complete)
Batwoman season 1 (started)
Supergirl season 5 (started)
Star Wars Resistance season 2 (started)
The Flash season 6 (started)
Black Lightning season 3 (started)
Arrow season 8 (started)
Riverdale season 4 (started)
Nancy Drew season 1 (started)
Supernatural season 15 (started)
Legacies season 2 (started)
Another Life episode 1.01
Watchmen season 1 (complete)
His Dark Materials season 1 (complete)
The Mandalorian season 1 (complete)
Harley Quinn season 1 (started)
The Expanse season 4 (complete)
The Witcher season 1 (complete)
The War of the Worlds (BBC miniseries) episodes 1.01-1.03

 

 

[Krakalakachkn]

Yeah nice!  I started tracking all my media as well in about June and this year I'm going to try and track everything: podcasts/hours, shows, movies, books, new artists, full albums listened, and video gsmes/hours.

 

Shall I post my list here as well?  Shall we compare?

[imlad]

2 hours ago, Krakalakachkn said:

Yeah nice!  I started tracking all my media as well in about June and this year I'm going to try and track everything: podcasts/hours, shows, movies, books, new artists, full albums listened, and video gsmes/hours.

 

Shall I post my list here as well?  Shall we compare?

 

I'd love to see that! I warn you though... it can get tough to record everything. A couple years ago I tried to record what you saw above plus every internet video I watched that was over 20 minutes and it was just too much to handle as I watched a lot of stuff from the internet; if I had included videos shorter than 20 minutes it would have been beyond pure insanity! That's why I left anything that was just YouTube or Vimeo type stuff off of the list this year (however, if it was a TV series that was on something like Amazon Prime, Netflix, YouTube or CouchTuner that I watched, I counted it as television).

 

When I tried to record everything watched, short videos aside, it just turned into too much work, really. And eventually, usually in the middle of the year around convention season, I would realise I had missed recording somethings, often several somethings, usually convention panels. But the problem would be that I couldn't always remember which ones I had actually watched, since I would be watching so many panels around the same time, from that year's conventions as well as past year's. And I would just give up; "it's not complete and accurate, I'm not gonna record it at all!" was what I'd think to myself.

 

That's why I've decided to keep it to just television shows (basically whatever the Emmys and/or BAFTAs would classify as telly), movies (feature length as well as shorts, documentaries and comedy specials, just for giggles...see what I did there??) and books (which would include graphic novels, comic books, academic papers, novellas and short stories if I read any of those formats). There are regular weekly shows from YouTube that I watch that I didn't include for 2019 that I am thinking of including as TV for 2020. Stuff like Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin's "Fatman Beyond" show they do from the "Scum and Villainy Cantina" in Los Angeles (the two of the BS for a while about what they were up to recently, then they BS about the recent geek news, and then they do a Q&A; episodes run 90-120 minutes), and "The Dusty Wheel" that Mat Hatch from TheoryLand does every Wednesday.

 

But yeah, I'd love to compare my "2020 in Entertainment" to your's, and anyone else's. You'll have a whole category or two I won't have (unless I start recording my podcast feeds/shows, and I don't listen to much music, not even when I'm at the music festival I go to every September), but it will still be cool to see what everyone has.

[Krakalakachkn]

Best movies of 2019:

1. Parasite

2. Jojo Rabbit

3. Doctor Sleep

4. Booksmart

5. The Lighthouse

 

Best tv of 2019:

1. Fleabag

1. Watchmen

3. The Expanse

 

 

The Complete List:

Books

 

• Art of Freedom
• Animal Farm
• 1984
• Flood Tide
• Harry Potter 1-7
• The Crystal Shard
• Streams of Silver
• The Halfling's Gem
• The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady
• Sabriel
• Lirael
• Abhorson
• X-Wing series 1-9
• Thrawn Trilogy
• Elantris
• Hope of Elantris (short)
• Emperor's Soul (short)
• The Mistborn Trilogy
• Warbreaker
• Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell (short)
• The Way of Kings
• Words of Radiance
• Oathbreaker
• Batman City of Owls v. 1-6
• Blankets
• Y: The Last Man v. 1-8
• Hellboy v. 1
• Fairy Tail v. 1-18
• Saga v. 1-3

 

TV SHOWS

 

• Umbrella Academy series1
• Doctor Who Series 1-4
• The Last Airbender series 1-3
• Peggy Carter series 1-2
• Agents of Shield series 1
• Daredevil series 1
• Arrested Development series 2, 3, 5
• West Wing series 1-5
• Stranger Things series 1
• The Boys series 1
• The Pacific
• Seinfeld series 1
• Rick & Morty series 1-2
• Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood series 1
• Weeds series 1-3
• The Expanse series 1-2

 

Movies

 

• Iron Man 1-3
• Thor 1-2
• Avengers 1-2, 4
• Captain America 1-2
• Guardians of the Galaxy 1-2
• Star Wars: Solo Story
• Dallas Buyers Club
• O Brother, Where Art Thou
• Hail Caesar
• Christopher Robin
• The Terminator
• Aquaman
• Creed 2
• Into the Spiderverse
• Grease
• Detective Pikachu
• Imitation Game
• Spotlight
• What a Girl Wants
• Dragon Ball Super: Broly
• Toy Story
• The Spectacular Now
• Rocky III
• Us
• Ninja Assassin
• Inglorious Basterds
• Yesterday
• Say My Name pts 1&2
• Blinded by the Light
• The Parent Trap
• Bohemian Rhapsody
• Mission Impossible 5
• Moneyball
• Sum of All Fears
• John Wick
• The Man of Tai Chi
• Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
• Crouching Tiger 2
• The Stooges
• Robin Hood
• Silence of the Lambs
• The Proposition
• Halloween
• Get Out
• V for Vendetta
• Terminator: Dark Fate
• The Lighthouse
• Tucker & Dale vs. Evil
• The Highwaymen
• Echo in the Canyon
• Logan's Run
• Ford v Ferrari
• The Good Liar
• Won't You Be My Neighbor
• Doctor Sleep
• The Force Awakens
• Bridesmaids
• Star Wars Episodes 1-3
• Queen & Slim
• Elf
• Dodgeball
• Rise of Skywalker
• She's the Man
• International Man of Mystery
• Parasite
• The Joker
• A Beautiful Name in the Neighborhood
• Dolemite is My Name
• Knives Out
• Jojo Rabbit
• Bombshell
• On Her Majesty's Secret Service (9/10)
• Live & Let Die (6/10)
• Man with the Golden Gun (8/10)
• Moonraker (8/10)
• The living Daylights (7/10)
• Casino Royale (9/10)
• Quantum of Solace (7/10)
• Skyfall (9/10)
• The Three Musketeers (1978)
• Aguirre, Wrath of God
• The Devil's Backbone
• Girl on the Motorcycle

 

Video Games

• Witcher 3
• Tomb Raider 1 & 2
• Outer Worlds
• Wolfenstein

Edited January 11, 2020 by Krakalakachkn

[imlad]

@Krakalakachkn that's a mighty impressive list! Especially the list of films. (I like your "Best of" lists, though I haven't seen the movies listed yet I have heard many good things on all the Entertainment News and analysis shows I watch). Which Doctor Who is that, the original or the 2005? And I ❤️ The West Wing, it is one of my all time favorites.

 

I see a lot of familiar stuff in your lists, but also plenty that I mean to get to at some point.

 

I do have to ask, how'd you do that thing where you hid stuff? That's gonna be handy in the future.

[Krakalakachkn]

New doctor who and yeah it can be a tad preachy but WW is great.

 

[Spoiler ] text [\ spoiler ]

 

But remove all spaces between the brackets

[imlad]

On 1/4/2020 at 8:47 PM, Krakalakachkn said:

New doctor who and yeah it can be a tad preachy but WW is great.

 

[Spoiler ] text [\ spoiler ]

 

But remove all spaces between the brackets

 

Love the New Who, haven't watched much of the original stuff though. Just went yesterday (Sunday 5 January 2020) to see parts one and two of "Skyfall" the series 12 premiere at the local theatre, with a Q&A broadcast to all the theatres holding the event of Whitaker, Gill and Cole. Was pretty neat watching Doctor Who on the big screen, and seeing it a few hours before the rest of the States got to see it (I think the show started for us in the theatres about the same time it started up in the UK).

 

And thanks for the How To on the spoiler tagging.

[Krakalakachkn]

How was the Q&A?

[imlad]

23 hours ago, Krakalakachkn said:

How was the Q&A?

 

It was fairly cool, typical of the format I'd say. Just had a host and no resident audience, but some questions via social media. No questions that particularily stood out (but then, at this point I've watched a few hundred hours of Q&As from panels and cons over the past dozen years it seems for every show out there, so they all kinda blend together after a while). Only thing I didn't like about the Q&A was no Bradley Walsh (my favorite of the three current Companions, not to denigrate Mandip or Tosin at all though).