15 Of The Best Pop Culture Moments From 2016
2016 may not have been a great year in terms of news and politics, but it's safe to say that pop culture had a really amazing year. It's been a particularly strong fall TV season. There have been amazing Netflix shows and funny moments and viral videos… and oh yeah, this was the year that we got to spend more time in Stars Hollow, so that was definitely a high point. We are always happy to look back on the year that was when it comes to entertainment and celebrities since if there's one thing that brings us joy on a daily basis, it's pop culture. And that's a massive understatement.
Here are 15 of the best pop culture moments from 2016. Read on and remember the glory of a return visit to that charming town, a new family drama that is making everyone cry, and oh yeah, a lot of Kardashian and Jenner news.
15 The 'This Is Us' Pilot
OMG is all we have to say about this new show. When we first watched the pilot of This Is Us back in December, we were shocked to say the least… but shocked in a really good way, of course. This is a glorious family drama and we are so happy that it is in our lives. We watch every single episode with tons of excitement and anticipation and there hasn't been a bad episode or even a bad scene. It's just television gold and we think it's only going to get better in 2017. We really love that we get to see Mandy Moore in a role that is worthy of her talents because let's face it, we've been mega fans of her for a long time now. We also really love getting to see Jess on TV every week. No, we're not going to call him by his real name. He is Jess to us always and forever, thank you very much. Yup, we definitely consider this show to be one of the best things about 2016.
14 'Gilmore Girls: A Year In The Life'
Oh man, we don't even have words about this one, but we can definitely say that the four 90-minute episode revival of Gilmore Girls was one of the best pop culture moments of 2016. Sure, it may not have been 100 percent amazing but let's face it, nothing can ever be. There are always flaws and nothing is perfect so let's just move on from any weird moments. We are just really, really, really thankful that we got to see where Rory and Lorelai and Luke and Jess and Logan and Dean and Sookie and Michel ended up. We enjoyed every coffee-fuelled, magical moment and it's an experience that we will never, ever forget. In fact, we've probably all watched at least some of the revival episodes at least twice, if not more than that. What can we say? We really missed this show and can't say goodbye to Stars Hollow. Now about that ending…
13 Shondaland
If there is one showrunner that we love and look up to at the exact same time, it is Shonda Rhimes. We watch every new episode of Grey's Anatomy no matter what anyone else says (and we think that people should still be watching this show, but that is another story). We love How To Get Away With Murder and of course, we are super into Scandal. We love everything that Shonda Rhimes does and we have to admit that 2016 brought even more amazing and jaw-dropping television moments thanks to her genius. We thank her for giving us tons of awesome entertainment no matter what and we are excited to see what else she comes up with in 2017. She always keeps us guessing and knows how to make good TV that keeps us on our toes, and we're super grateful to her for that. Thanks Shonda, we can always count on you!
12 Kourtney And Scott Getting Back Together
Of all the celebrity couples that have broken up in recent years, we felt the most pain for Kourtney Kardashian and Scott Disick. We hated that they went their separate ways and we just knew that they were destined to realize how perfect they are for each other. As we keep saying… we don't shop with our ex-boyfriends or go on trips with them. So those things definitely proved to us that it was a matter of when not if when it came to them getting back together. When the recent news broke that they were officially back together, we cheered. We literally cheered. It just seemed like everything was all right in the world once again and like nothing could ever make us sad ever again. Okay, that may sound a bit crazy and dramatic but this is how we feel. They give us major couple envy and are the definition of #relationshipgoals.
11 The Obama And Biden Memes
While nothing about this election season or the election results made us laugh, something else did, and that's the memes about Barack Obama and Joe Biden. OMG did these memes make us laugh. We all love Obama and Biden since they are cool, adorable, fun, and also have a bit of a bromance going on. We think they are just so awesome and these memes really brought that to the surface. These memes were a total bright spot in a rough political year and we will forever be grateful for them for giving us some light and hope and happiness. While the memes are of course totally and completely made up and not something that would ever happen, we don't care. They still seem kind of realistic and they still made us smile (and continue to do so). After what we've read in the news this year, we have one thing to say: thanks for the memes.
10 Britney's Comeback
2016 definitely marked the return of Britney Spears and we have been totally here for it. We've always been super fans of her since we pretty much grew up with her amazing pop music and we're always excited about any new music or even any news about her. Now that the singer is 35, she has really come into her own and seems to be having the best time ever. She's over her breakdown, she's in a super stable place, and oh yeah, she looks and sounds absolutely great. We love that we don't have to worry about her anymore. All we have to do is listen to her awesome music, which is definitely what we want to do. In 2016, her latest album, Glory, was released and we have been listening to it on repeat. The general feeling seems to be that it's really good and we couldn't be happier for this pop icon and superstar.
9 The Jenners As Style Icons
If there are two people who really were super stylish in 2016, we have to give it to the Jenners. Kylie and Kendall are both super fashionable and what we love is that they really have their own unique styles. Kylie tends to stick to cool street clothes and vintage t-shirts and has this whole rock star vibe going on, whereas Kendall is more a high fashion person and can be seen in literally anything. We really love these stylish sisters and pretty much follow their every move online, so we definitely get some major style inspiration from them and they are helping us become better dressers on a daily basis. We can definitely say a big thank you to them for that. We look forward to seeing, even more, amazing and inspiring outfits in 2017 and we just know that they're not going to disappoint us when it comes to looking good.
8 All The Instagram Drama
If we can sum the past year up in just a handful of words, we would definitely say "Instagram drama." First up: The Biebs. Justin Bieber ended up deleting his Instagram account after a weird and crazy feud with Selena Gomez over his girlfriend at the time. It was a really confusing thing… and it got even more frustrating to think about when it seemed like he was back on the popular social media platform. Apparently, that wasn't the case. We really weren't sure what to think and it was definitely a confusing time in our pop culture addicted lives. Then Kendall deleted her account in November and we were pretty upset about that as well. But the crown jewel on 2016 Instagram drama would have to be Rob Kardashian's account. Apparently, someone hacked his account and posted that Blac Chyna left him and took baby Dream with her… or did they?! We have no clue what's really going down and can only hope that we get some answers in 2016. Needless to say, this drama has given us endless entertainment.
7 Fun Celeb Memoirs
From Amy Schumer's The Girl With The Lower Back Tattoo to getting some behind-the-scenes dirt from Lauren Graham's Talking As Fast As I Can, we can definitely say that 2016 was an awesome year for celebrity memoirs. It takes pretty much nothing for a famous person to write a memoir… especially since in a whole lot of cases, they have a ghostwriter and maybe don't even write a single word. Anything is possible when you have money and resources, right? It takes a lot, though, to write a book that is actually really good. And for a celebrity memoir to be considered good, it also has to be fun. That's the only reason why we read them. We can say that this year, there were lots of fun books penned by our favorite famous people and we have spent a lot of really great weekend afternoons curled up on the couch with these stories.
6 Late Night TV
If there's another bright spot in this year of politics besides the Obama and Biden memes, it would have to be late night TV. These hosts are totally comedians in their own rights and they have brilliantly joked about and shed light on the most important social and political and cultural issues of 2016. We are grateful that in these tough and often tragic times, we can still use humor to see our way out. We are hopeful that this will continue in 2017 and that these late night hosts will be able to get us through what is sure to be another tough political year. From Jimmy Fallon to Jimmy Kimmel to Samantha Bee to Seth Meyers, we give props and praise to these brilliant minds for helping us understand the worst of what humanity has to offer… and for allowing us to see that the best is still totally and completely possible.
5 'The Girl On The Train'
We love this book and loved watching the film adaptation even more. Sure, the setting was changed from England to the U.S. and some people weren't thrilled about that. But we are huge fans of Emily Blunt and think that she did an absolutely incredible job as Rachel. We're always kind of nervous about book-to-film adaptations since chances are, they could be really, really bad. We've definitely been disappointed before and can barely think about the movies that didn't do our favorite stories and characters and settings justice. We totally shudder just thinking about that so let's move on. It's definitely true that The Girl On The Train was a great adaptation and it makes us even more excited for Paula Hawkins's second novel which is in the works. We just know that is going to be another one of our all-time fave books… and it will most likely make another amazing movie adaptation.
4 One Word: Lemonade
Let's be real here: when Lemonade was released, we all went kind of crazy. We loved each and every single song and loved deconstructing the truth behind the lyrics. We wondered if Jay Z really did cheat on Beyonce (the horror) or if it was all some giant conspiracy to get us to love her even more. Well, whatever it was, it worked and it worked really well. The best part of this whole thing was Rachel Roy getting all those Instagram comments since people thought she was involved. Okay, so it wasn't great for her, but come on, we have to admit that this was pretty hilarious and fun to witness. We're always in awe of Beyonce and everything that she does, and we have to admit that when it comes to conquering an entire year, she totally slayed 2016. We can only imagine the good stuff she has in store for us in 2017.
3 More Harry Potter
2016 brought a play called Harry Potter And The Cursed Child (and a book version was also published in case you weren't able to actually go see it in the theater). We just loved knowing that there was another Harry Potter story out there in the world since it goes without saying that we're all super fans. We also have been really thrilled with the fact that J.K. Rowling's Fantastic Beasts series is now going to be five movies. Five. Movies. It's so amazing, it's pretty much the greatest news ever. We saw the first film pretty much the second it came out and loved it and we just can't wait for more. Sure, that's not technically a Harry Potter story but let's just go with it and call it Harry Potter adjacent since it's supposedly the same world. More Harry Potter is never a bad thing, that's for sure, and being able to think about this magical and wonderful world again has been a really great thing for us.
2 That Taylor Swift/Drake Rumor
Just a short while ago, it seemed like Taylor Swift and Drake would be making beautiful music together. Since we haven't heard a single peep about that so-called romance in a while -- at least not since she met his mom at his birthday party -- it seems like that rumor has totally crashed and burned. But the thing is that this rumor was really great while it lasted and we will always look back fondly on 2016 as The Year When T-Swift And Drake Almost Dated. We think that has a really nice ring to it. All we want for one of our favorite singers is to find true love… and not have to write a song about her subsequent heartbreak. Seriously, that's all we want. While she may not be with the Canadian rapper, let's hope that 2017 will bring Taylor a love story that will actually last and won't produce any songs except totally happy ones.
1 All The Netflix Shows
From a new season of Orange Is The New Black to tons of new shows, we can say that we adored Netflix even more this year and we are really grateful for all the awesome entertainment. This past summer, we adored Stranger Things and we all freaked out about that both on social media and in conversations with our co-workers and friends and family members. Last February, we loved getting a chance to spend more time with the Tanners on the first season of Fuller House and we happily curled up with the second season this past December. We also loved the new show Love because it tells a real and hilarious story about being a single thirtysomething. We're getting one last chance for a bingeworthy show with the new Netflix supernatural/magical/science fiction show The OA which is really too crazy to describe but definitely deserves to be watched. Thanks for everything Netflix, we love you!