As much as 2016 has been a year of violent extremes in terms of opinions, I find myself looking back on the TV, music, sport and video games of the past 12 months with a resounding shrug for the most part. What was good was REALLY good, but everything else being so lacklustre had me scrambling to big lists of “best [*****] of 2016” just to remember everything I had seen.
I wouldn’t bother otherwise, but damn it man, people need opinions!
I wouldn’t bother otherwise, but damn it man, people need opinions!
TV
TV was a lot stronger in 2015, judging by my review article last year. For example, I can’t in good conscience give reliable go-tos Arrow or Flash a big thumbs up this year, as both faltered hard. Arrow has basically become Eastenders with Capes with all of it’s dour, miserable story-lines, and Flash done goofed by delving far to into alternate realities and time travel, both of which are poison in long form entertainment as it’s very hard to keep the storytelling tight.
Marvel’s TV offering therefore surpassed DC’s for the first time since the launch of Arrow 5 years ago. Shield Season 3 combined the Inhuman and Hydra story-lines nicely, and Agent Carter’s second season was similarly solid. Not to mention Netflix’s Luke Cage continuing the strong build to the Defender’s crossover.
Away from the superheroes, I finally got to finish Park and Rec, albeit a year after it aired in the US. Brooklyn Nine Nine kept on trucking, as did Better Call Saul. And who knew Planet Earth 2 would give the world the most tense scene of the year?! Team Iguana 4 lyf.
The Worst Show of 2016 - The Grand Tour
The renewed Top Gear was garbage. Seemingly doomed to fail from the get go with the spectre of Grand Tour hovering over it, Chris Evans had an unbelievably hard job to do before he decided to be the most awkward man in the world. But you know what? Top Gear saw there was a problem, put positive changes into motion during the season (adding in much more material from the endearing Extra Gear team of Rory Reid and Chris Harris), before dismissing Evans at the end. There is renewed hope for the next season now.
So, given a fresh start on Amazon, did the original Top Gear team of Clarkson, Hammond and May make similar positives changes to sort out their stale schtick? No. They somehow made things worse. Gone is all the subtlety of early Top Gear, doubling down on the pantomime “Oh no, this is totally a real thing that is happening” dross that made the last few seasons on BBC Two increasingly harder to watch. In the mire of bad motoring shows, the better team somehow made the worst show.
So, given a fresh start on Amazon, did the original Top Gear team of Clarkson, Hammond and May make similar positives changes to sort out their stale schtick? No. They somehow made things worse. Gone is all the subtlety of early Top Gear, doubling down on the pantomime “Oh no, this is totally a real thing that is happening” dross that made the last few seasons on BBC Two increasingly harder to watch. In the mire of bad motoring shows, the better team somehow made the worst show.
The Best Shows of 2016
3 - Daredevil Season 2
Daredevil S1 took home the prize last year, and S2 looked set to take it home again based on the opening episodes based on the conflict between Daredevil and the Punisher. However, though still very good for the entirety of its run, S2 peaked with those early episodes, and was unable to carry that momentum through when the focus shifted to Elektra and the Hand.
2 - Stranger Things
The black sheep of the year that exactly no one saw coming, Stranger Things is about as perfect of a concept execution as you could possibly find. It’s a study in how to set up a world, make it believable and compelling, before paying it off fully whilst still leaving an appetite for more. Perhaps no other show has more riding on it’s second season than Stranger Things.
1 - Game Of Thones Season 6
This was a legitimate tough choice between this and Stranger Things, but ultimately I had to give the nod to GoT because it was such a tidal wave of awesome to wash away the somewhat dull and dour efforts of S4 and S5. It felt borderline fan-servicy at times as it gave satisfying payoff after satisfying payoff, whilst still occasionally hitting you over the head with heartbreak. Plus it felt wrong that any show willing to give us the Battle of the Bastards could be anywhere else other than on top.
Video Games
This is, unfortunately, a short list. For whatever reason, video games took something of a back seat this year. I ploughed through a fair few Zelda games, including Majora's Mask and Link Between Worlds. I dabbled with some LEGO games, but neither LEGO Avengers nor LEGO Force Awakens were good enough to join the pantheon of great LEGO games.
Far Cry Primal was perhaps the only major console game I bought (Uncharted 4 will happen eventually, but it won’t be until 2017), and it was good, but not great. It had a lot of fun mechanics, but it did feel like really good DLC as opposed to a fully fledged game for whatever reason.
Far Cry Primal was perhaps the only major console game I bought (Uncharted 4 will happen eventually, but it won’t be until 2017), and it was good, but not great. It had a lot of fun mechanics, but it did feel like really good DLC as opposed to a fully fledged game for whatever reason.
The Best Video Game of 2016 - Pokemon Moon
Thankfully, the oldest gaming franchise in the Gutteridge household delivered in a big way in 2016. Sun and Moon represented a big upheaval of a lot of hallmarks for the Pokemon series, and all but one or two of the changes paid off, creating a game truly worthy of honouring the Nintendo staple in its 20th anniversary year. So great is it, that I am counting down to January for the sole reason of getting to play Moon again once the Pokemon Bank functionality is turned on.
Music
Last year, even my non-radio listening ass was able to pull out five or six songs to name on this list. Seems however that even the music business was not immune to the virus of 2016.
As is tradition, here are a smattering of the best Epic Rap Battles of History that came out this year.
As is tradition, here are a smattering of the best Epic Rap Battles of History that came out this year.
And following a scan of my Spotify, here are the only two song worthy of being given accolades, with Timberlake’s getting my only half hearted nod for best song of the year.
Yep, basic form pop music was all that was good. Hell even Bruno Mars’ new album hasn’t produced a good single so far. Versace on the Floor is the biggest bag of nothing in history.
Sport
All of sport was worthless in 2016. You should care about one match and one match only. Thin Seth Rogen vs. Japanese Michael Jackson Cosplayer because it is perfect.
Well that was happy go lucky wasn’t it! Good riddance to an awful year.
By Darren Gutteridge
@TheGutteridge
Darren is a columnist and a co-host on almost all our podcasts, including PopScorn and Gotta Cast 'Em All. He is a long time blogger, known for his previous website The Gutteridge Log, and his in-depth analysis and explanation of pop culture media.
@TheGutteridge
Darren is a columnist and a co-host on almost all our podcasts, including PopScorn and Gotta Cast 'Em All. He is a long time blogger, known for his previous website The Gutteridge Log, and his in-depth analysis and explanation of pop culture media.