The One Thing I Watched That Made 2020 Slightly Better

Dumpster fire. Vile nest of vipers. The kitchen in Jurassic Park when the velociraptors have learned how to use their massive talons to open doors. An alternate timeline caused by a mix-up in the space-time continuum due to a butterfly flapping its wings incorrectly one time. Call 2020 whatever you want at this point: It’s heard it all. And it knows it fucked up...big time. It even knows writers are tired of finding ways to say “unprecedented,” “historic,” “a year like no other,” and “Fuck all the way off, 2020. I’m more done with you than my last five exes.” 

Why waste time dwelling on what will soon be the past? Instead, the Refinery29 entertainment team has cobbled together what’s left of our optimism (currently in shorter supply than the polar ice caps will be if we don’t address climate change ASAP) to bring you this list. It’s an important one, because the things on it provided the briefest of respite as we plodded through [gestures so broadly they can see it from space] all of this. These are the things we bonded over during meetings on Zoom; the shows and movies we recommended to anyone who asked, “Please, give me something to pass the time until there’s a vaccine//the star of The Celebrity Apprentice is no longer playing president in the Oval Office.” 

These shows and movies are a source of calm, joy, nostalgia, warmth, humor, and more emotions we didn’t think we’d get the chance to feel as we parasailed directly into the mouth of hell. Come along, won’t you, for some goodness in a year that knows its been very, very bad.