2020 was eleventy billion months long. I barely remember most of what I consumed, but I think I managed to keep a decent list going here on my blog. It’s by no means comprehensive. I bet you I’m leaving off a book, a movie, or a performance that really made me flail! I’m not going to sweat it., though. This year was a hellscape, and everything below made it a little bit more bearable.

Favorite Books
Strange Love by Ann Aguirre
Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know by Samira Ahmed
The Empire of Gold by S.A. Chakraborty
When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole
Recipe for Persuasion by Sonali Dev
The Duke Who Didn’t by Courtney Milan
The Devil of Downtown by Joanna Shupe
The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows by Olivia Waite

Favorite TV Shows
Altered Carbon (Netflix)
The Baby-Sitters Club (Netflix)
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow (The CW)
Gentefied (Netflix)
The Haunting of Bly Manor (Netflix)
Julie and the Phantoms (Netflix)
The Mandalorian (Disney+)
Star Trek: Discovery (CBS All Access)
Star Trek: Picard (CBS All Access)
The Umbrella Academy (Netflix)
The Untamed (Netflix)

Favorite Movies
Birds of Prey
The Half of It
The Old Guard
We Can Be Heroes

Favorite Lead Actors: Xiao Zhan, The Untamed; Pedro Pascal, The Mandalorian; Wilson Bethel, All Rise, Patrick Stewart, Star Trek: Picard.

Favorite Lead Actresses: Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder; Renee Elise Goldsberry, Altered Carbon; Jurnee Smollett, Lovecraft Country (right); Finola Hughes, General Hospital.

Favorite Supporting Actresses: Linsey Godfrey, Days of our Lives; T’Nia Miller, The Haunting of Bly Manor; Michelle Yeoh, Star Trek: Discovery; Jessica Camacho, All Rise.

Favorite Supporting Actors: Paul Telfer, Days of our Lives; Charlie Weber, How to Get Away With Murder; Rahul Kohli, The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Favorite Scene Stealers: Sydney Mikayla as Trina, General Hospital; Sophia Reid-Gantzert as Karen, The Baby-Sitters Club; Robert Sheehan as Klaus, The Umbrella Academy.

The Maura West Award For Being Maura “She Did That” West: GH‘s Maura West (left) as Ava Jerome.

Favorite Soap Twist: GH‘s Finn is/may be Chase’s dad, not his brother.

Best Soap Opera Recast: GH‘s Briana Lane as Brook Lynn Quartermaine; Days‘ Cady McLain as Jennifer Horton.

Worst Soap Opera Recast: Y&R‘s Donny Boaz as Chance Chancellor.

Biggest Pop Culture Disappointment: HarperCollins putting Regé-Jean Page on the cover of their Bridgerton tie-in edition of The Duke and I when Julia Quinn’s characters are all white.

Best Pop Culture Surprise: The surprise appearance of a Star Wars saga fave in the last episode of The Mandalorian S2—utterly brilliant!

2020’s Fictional Crushes: Mick Rory, Legends of Tomorrow; Boba Fett, The Mandalorian; Fennec Shand, The Mandalorian; Benny Watts, The Queen’s Gambit.

Favorite ‘Ships: Days‘ Xander and Sarah; GH‘s Nikolas and Ava; Lola and Mark, All Rise; Zari and Constantine, Legends of Tomorrow; Hannah and Owen, The Haunting of Bly Manor (left); Wei Ying and Lan Zhan, The Untamed, Book and Michael, Star Trek: Discovery.

Favorite Instagram: kylelowder22, aka Kyle Lowder (ex-Brady/Rex, Days). He has such wholesome himbo energy and his entire feed is very soothing.

Favorite Twitter: @MagicRealismBot. The generated plots vacillate between absolutely absurd and oddly believable, and they almost always entertain. 

Favorite Baby Yoda No Matter What His Name Actually Is: Baby Yoda.