Thanksgiving 2019: The pop culture we're thankful for

01 of 20

EW gives thanks

del-ray-yoda-sandler-1-2000 — Mat Hayward/Getty Images; Lucasfilm; A24

This week, as all of our hearts overflow with gratitude for the good things that have gotten us through a long year, we would be remiss to leave out the movies, TV shows, books, music, and games that were bright spots of 2019. Here are the pop culture picks that the EW staff is thankful for this year.

02 of 20

Marriage Story

Heartbreak — what a strange thing to feel thankful for. And yet when I consider Noah Baumbach’s masterful divorce film, which oscillates between sharp comedy and devastating drama in its portrait of two people drifting apart, no other word feels more appropriate. It’s the kind of gut-punch that shows you, in its sadness, what it means to love, and to change, and to grow. I’ve seen it twice — once alone in a huge festival crowd, the other with my partner in an intimate setting — and was deeply moved, in very different ways, both times. The pain is the beauty. Hopefully my heart can take round 3. —David Canfield

03 of 20

Baby Yoda

The best things come in small packages: God bless The Mandalorian for gracing us with the wonder and beauty that is Baby Yoda. This tiny, green, Force-sensitive rug rat is so adorable that it can be physically painful to look at him, but I, for one, cannot look away. He has the ears of a Fennec fox and the eyes of an ancient wizened unicorn who has seen into the depths of your soul and borne witness to your many faults and still deemed you worthy of love. If anything bad happens to him, I will throw myself into the swamps of Dagobah. —Devan Coggan

04 of 20

Booksmart

You may have heard that Booksmart is like a “female Superbad.” But that, to keep on theme with this delightful high school comedy, is like skimming the SparkNotes instead of reading the whole dang book (and you should really, really do the homework). Olivia Wilde doesn’t reinvent the end-of-senior-year story as much as give it a hilarious and distinctly feminist upgrade. There are house parties, quirky classmates (Billie Lourd straight up steals every scene she’s in), and the best jumpsuits to grace the screen in 2019 not worn by Phoebe Waller-Bridge. But what makes the film really special is how it celebrates the friendship between its central, unabashed overachievers, Molly and Amy (Beanie Feldstein and Kaitlyn Dever), as they cut loose for one epic night before starting the rest of their lives. It made my inner Hermione happy, and my outer movie lover happier. —Jessica Derschowitz

05 of 20

Chris Evans wearing sweaters in Knives Out

Bless the cinema gods for Chris Evans in all of his cozy sweater-clad glory in Rian Johnson’s boisterous whodunit, Knives Out. Sure, his character Ransom may not be the most likeable fella, but gosh darnit, those excellent sweaters (The chunkiness! The holes! The colors!) make me almost forget his snobby, rich-guy persona...almost. —Lauren Huff

06 of 20

Lana del Rey's Norman F---ing Rockwell!

Ever since Lana del Rey’s Norman F---ing Rockwell! dropped at the end of August, my regular weekend makeup routine has ballooned to one hour, seven minutes, and 38 seconds, because I am no longer capable of going out without having given myself a full makeover while playing through the album in its entirety. Perhaps inevitably, my eye makeup has become significantly heavier under the influence of Lana’s moody ballads; regrettably, this also comes at the expense of precision, because I can only perform this beautification ritual by candlelight. The change in my prep time has slightly hindered my punctuality (not great to begin with), but I estimate that it has made me really, truly, egregiously, unforgivably late no more than five or six times. I have no plans to abandon this practice, and I am thankful for the whole exquisite one hour, seven minutes, and 38 seconds of Norman F---ing Rockwell! which have enabled me to adopt it. —Mary Sollosi

07 of 20

The goose from Untitled Goose Game

In our modern climate with so much political and cultural unrest, sometimes you just need to throw your wings back and say, "Honk!" it all. The titular antihero from Untitled Goose Game brings the energy we need in 2019. The indie developers at Panic, Inc. literally just wanted to make a videogame about a goose that terrorizes people, and that's what we got. Oh, there's an old man working in the garden? Let's turn on the sprinkler in his face. A little boy playing with an airplane? Nope, it's the goose's airplane now. Also, he's gonna tie the kid's shoelaces and trip him on the street in public because "Honk!" Climate change will kill us all, folks. "Honk!" it. Be a goose. —Nick Romano

08 of 20

Hot Priest

On a base thirst level, I’m grateful for the Hot Priest because, well, he’s hot (to quote Fleabag herself — his neck! His arms!). Not since The Thornbirds in the 1980s has a man of the cloth made the world collectively this ready to get our frocks off. But more seriously, I’m grateful for what he stands for in the perfection that is Fleabag season 2. He is the pulsing heart of a love story (complete with quirky asides about canned G&T and foxes), one that allows a broken woman to feel herself worthy of love again. The Hot Priest is what so many of us hunger for in a partner. He listens, really listens to what she has to say, and he takes great care with her, even while facing his own crisis of faith. The Hot Priest is a glowing testament to leaving space for moments of absolute transcendence (religious and romantic), a tribute to the possibility of healing and grace amidst the struggle of life. This bittersweet, peculiar, outright sexy man and the love story he’s a part of don’t just inspire gratitude —they make you want to shout “Hallelujah!” —Maureen Lee Lenker

09 of 20

The girls of Derry Girls...

It’s hard to quantify the amount of joy the Derry Girls has brought to my life in 2019 — mostly because I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve re-watched the first two seasons of the Northern Ireland-set ‘90s sitcom. From Clare’s ill-fated attempt at fasting for “wee Kamal in Africa” in the pilot to the season 2 finale where Erin and Orla selflessly volunteer to “take Chelsea off Bill and Hilary’s hands” by inviting her to enjoy the wave machine at the local swimming pool during the Clinton state visit and all the great craic in between, I (and literally everyone I know that I've told they HAVE to watch this show) am forever grateful to Lisa McGee for a series that not only accurately reflects nuggets of my own Catholic upbringing in Glasgow, but just genuinely makes me laugh hysterically. It truly is cracker and I can't wait to try out the "Rock the Boat" wedding choreography at my sister's New Year nuptials. —Ruth Kinane

10 of 20

...and the villain of Derry Girls

Sister Michael on Derry Girls — Hat Trick

I am thankful to have discovered the British import Derry Girls, streaming on Netflix. The girls, the writing...it’s all top-notch, but the scar tissue in my heart warms to the girls’ nemesis, the head of their school, the judo-loving nun Sister Michael (Siobhan McSweeney). Her hilariously uncontained contempt for her charges more accurately reflects my personal educational experiences than all the stereotypical saintly teachers usually portrayed on TV. Sample Sister Michael: After listening to a singing act during the school’s talent show, she says, “You know, every year I sit backstage listening to the singers, and it really makes me realize how talented the professionals who originally recorded these tracks are.” Finally, I feel seen. —Maria Speidel

11 of 20

Sally Rooney

If I were the kind of person who called people “the voice of a generation,” I would call Sally Rooney “the voice of a generation.” But in all reality I have no proof of what goes on inside the heads of my fellow millennials — I can only say that reading her novels feels as though she has stolen my internal monologue and put it directly onto the page. "Probably nothing of import will happen in my life again and I'll just have to sweep up things until I die," is a line that Sally, as protagonist Frances, wrote in Conversations With Friends. (Technically, 2019 was the year of her follow-up Normal People, which allowed me the great pleasure of remembering what it was like to read her for the very first time in 2017.) So this year belongs to Sally Rooney, and to all the people who find themselves convinced they will have to sweep up things until they die. —Seija Rankin

12 of 20

Desus & Mero

I’m thankful for Desus Nice and The Kid Mero returning to shake up the late-night game. When the Bronx duo signed off from their Viceland show in 2018, I — like many of the Bodega Hive — was devastated. But they came back better than ever this February with Showtime’s Desus & Mero. We were treated to more of Mero’s hilarious Papi voice, gleaned additional intel about Desus’ secret family, and got genuinely refreshing conversations with the likes of Bernie Sanders and Ice Cube. And now that the show’s been renewed for season 2, we know the brand will continue to stay strong in 2020 and beyond. —Rachel Yang

13 of 20

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

It’s been a good year for the Nintendo Switch. But while many users of the system are eagerly diving into the new Pokémon, I’m still playing a game that came out in the summer. Fire Emblem: Three Houses is the latest installment of a long-running fantasy role-playing franchise, but I like to describe it as the best Hogwarts professor simulator anyone could ask for. At the beginning of the game, the player-character is brought on as a professor at the Officers Academy for young warriors and wizards. As the title suggests, there are three different houses at the school, and you get to pick which you want to teach (though you can also steal students from other houses if you want to mix and match). The rest of the game is split between tutoring your students (you get to choose which skills they should focus on, and how much time to spend with them) and putting those lessons to use by leading your students onto the battlefield against monsters and mercenaries. Then, halfway through the game, there’s a timeskip, and you reconnect with your old students now that they’re at war with the houses you didn’t choose. Hence why I’m still addicted: By trying different playthroughs you can make different choices. Your best friend or marriage partner from one game can become your mortal enemy in the next. With such heartbreaking storytelling embedded in the very structure of the game, I won’t be stopping anytime soon. —Christian Holub

14 of 20

Adam Sandler, trying

I both love and respect Adam Sandler. I mean, how could you not love Big Daddy and The Wedding Singer, and how could you not respect a man who has basically spent the last decade-plus getting studios to pay tens of millions of dollars for him to go on vacation and make movies with his friends? But as much as we can suggest that Sandler is phoning it in with projects like The Do-Over or Sandy Wexler (yes, those movies exist and were probably watched by a lot of people), he truly can be great, evidenced by his past dramatic work in Punch Drunk Love and The Meyerowitz Stories. And Sandler’s rarely used skills are on full display in Uncut Gems, a gripping crime thriller that features career-best turns by both Sandler and Kevin Garnett. The final 30 minutes of Gems (out Dec. 13) centers on Sandler’s gambling addict Howard Ratner watching a basketball game that could make or break his life, and it’s the most anxiety-inducing film sequence of 2019. Like Howard, I’m a terrible gambler, but I want to put all my money on Sandler winning the Best Actor Oscar, only to immediately follow it up with Grown Ups 3: Fart Camp. —Derek Lawrence

15 of 20

Michelle and Robert King

Michelle King and Robert King — Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

God bless this producing duo for their galaxy-brained approach to storytelling. Watching Evil and The Good Fight, it truly does feel like no idea is off limits. On Evil, they’ll throw a throuple into an episode about demonic symbols and a woman who believes her dead sister is part of her body, or throw a baby into a pool (which leads to an even more horrifying twist!). On The Good Fight, they’ll have Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald sing a low-key cover of “Raspberry Beret” just because who wouldn’t want to see that? Definitely television worth being thankful for. —Chancellor Agard

16 of 20

Kellyoke

THE KELLY CLARKSON SHOW -- Episode 3034 -- Pictured: Kelly Clarkson -- (Photo by: Adam Christopher/NBCUniversal) — Kelly Clarkson sings on 'The Kelly Clarkson Show'. Adam Christopher/NBCUniversal

The world can be a dark and scary place — and this year it was in spades. Luckily, Kelly Clarkson took it upon herself this fall to bless us with a daily dose of Kellyoke. Ever since she busted out with Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5” on the Sept. 9 debut of The Kelly Clarkson Show, the American Idol champ has kept fans guessing and delighted with surprising covers of our favorite songs past and present. Kellyoke was the ray of sunshine we needed in 2019. And now that TKCS has been renewed for a second season, we can keep the smiles coming well into 2020. —Patrick Gomez

17 of 20

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

Despite not liking the original The Dark Crystal film for the nightmares it gave me as a child, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance was one of the best things I watched in 2019. Yes, the Skeksis still make me want to run screaming from the room, but the sequel to the 1982 movie was simply a masterpiece. From the amazing production design by returning Dark Crystal designer Brian Froud, to the insane puppetry work to the stacked vocal cast led by Taron Egerton and Nathalie Emmanuel, every second demonstrated that this wasn’t another tired reboot but a true passion project that superseded the artistry of the original. It would have made Jim Henson proud. —Lauren Morgan

18 of 20

The Duffer Brothers

Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer — Rachel Murray/Getty Images

I’d like to give thanks this year to the Duffer Brothers who renewed interest in my favorite childhood film, The NeverEnding Story, when they had Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) serenade his girlfriend, Suzie (Gabriella Pizzolo), with the movie's theme song in the third season finale of Stranger Things. It was magical! —Rosy Cordero

19 of 20

Laurie Berkner's Waiting for the Elevator

The Laurie Berkner Band 'Waiting for the Elevator'

This year I’m thankful for new children’s music. Laurie Berkner’s latest album, Waiting for the Elevator, features the track "Purple Bricks in the Sky," which was actually inspired by my then-3-year-old daughter (she’s even mentioned in the liner notes). The rest of the LP is also filled with enough bops — yes, bops — to make you and your kids thankfully forget all about sharks — doo doo doo. —Lacey Vorrasi-Banis

20 of 20

Adam Driver

Let me put this simply: There's no other person I'd rather lay my head upon while sitting near the fireplace sipping on some spiked hot chocolate during this holiday season than Adam Driver. Picture yourself pleading with him to serenade you with some Sondheim and reminiscing about The Last Jedi, one of the best pectoral performances of the millennium. I'm also thankful for Driver for letting his Marriage Story performance wreck me. May the Force be with you and Baby Yoda only. —Omar Sanchez