You ate your body weight in roasted meats. You popped champagne. You belligerently echoed a countdown. You (hopefully) kissed someone at the stroke of midnight. And then, just like that, you shed the bedraggled year that was and draped yourself in the wondrous potential of the year that is: 2019.
Yes, 2018 is finally behind us. And because we're tired of looking back—despite ourselves, we too have "Best of" listicle fatigue—we're more than ready to look forward.
Herewith, 19 cultural things to get excited for during the first month of 2019.
(You see what we did there, with the numbers?)
January 4th
Escape Room
It was inevitable that Hollywood would take advantage of the escape room craze and turn the concept into a horror movie. Inevitable, but not necessarily horrible. We're cautiously optimistic about this one, if only because it seems more Cabin in the Woods than Saw. And because we love puzzles.
Beautiful Boy is on Amazon Prime
Be honest: you were never going to see the Timothée Chalamet-Steve Carrell drug addict melodrama in theaters. But you just may consider watching it once it's available for free with Amazon Prime.
January 6th
The 76th Golden Globes
Nobody really gives a shit about the Golden Globes. Mostly, it's an excuse for celebrities to get dressed up, drink together and toast to themselves with trophies. But that's why, while the awards matter the least, the Globes often make for the best award season telecast. Especially when Andy Samberg and Sandra Oh are hosting...
January 7th
The Bachelor
Yes, it's back. And this time, with its first-ever virgin protagonist. Is it somewhat suspect that somebody as good-looking and seemingly charming as Colton Underwood—who was third runner-up in Becca's season and made a teary-eyed appearance on Bachelor in Paradise—has never had sex? Sure. Will it make for great TV? Probably. Here's a short preview of Mr. Underwood ostensibly leaping over a fence to escape production.
January 8th
Lindsay Lohan's Beach Club
So Lindsay Lohan moved to Mykonos and opened a beach club, hired a bunch of attractive twenty-somethings to help her run it and enlisted MTV to turn the entire endeavor into a reality TV show. We're expecting something like Vanderpump Rules crossed with this sequence from Mean Girls.
Thick: And Other Essays
The debut essay collection from award-winning professor/author Tressie McMillan Cottom, whose writing on race and gender has been championed by the likes of Trevor Noah, Roxanne Gay and Oprah, incisively covers everything from LinkedIn, to SNL, to Trump rallies, through a deeply personal lens.
(Yes, we are aware of the strange juxtaposition between these two cultural entities, but...2019.)
January 10th
Brooklyn Nine-Nine is back from the dead.
Add Andy Samberg's police workplace comedy to the list of previously cancelled shows resuscitated by public outrage (and a different network). This will be the last season—as far as we know. (You can stream the rest on Hulu right now.)
January 11th
Sex Education
Here's a little British coming-of-age comedy we're excited to check out. Co-directed by the same bloke (we're using "bloke" because it's British) responsible for directing some great episodes of Amazon's astoundingly funny series, Catastrophe, Sex Education revolves around a high school virgin whose mother (Gillian Anderson) is a sex therapist. Escapades—and attempts to lose said virginity—ensue.
January 13th
True Detective, Season 3
After a clunky, impossible-to-follow second season, the famed HBO series returns, this time with Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali. It's already being heralded as a return to form. Minus the Lone Star soliloquies.
January 15th
This Is Us, Season 3
America's favorite network tear-jerker returns. Bring tissues. And wine.
January 18th
Carmen Sandiego
Fire up the nostalgia machine for Netflix's animated take on the classic mystery series, starring the voices of Finn Wolfhard (Stranger Things) and Gina Rodriguez (a lot of things).
Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
Remember Fyre Festival? That supposedly luxe music festival on a Bahaman island that quickly turned into a schadenfreude-evoking nightmare-slash-indelible image of late-capitalism? Well, somebody made a documentary about it. And it's premiering this month on Netflix.
Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?
The new studio album from the dreamy, pleasantly off-kilter Atlanta-based rock band, Deerhunter. Listen to the first single, "Element."
Outer Peace
One might describe Toro y Moi's breezy brand of electro-funk as "chillwave," which we'd like to think evokes a dreamscape featuring you, listening to their new album, while chilling on a wave. Check out "Ordinary Pleasure" now.
Heard It in a Past Life
The singles off of singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers's major-label debut have already taken the internet by storm, landing, as they do, in that poppy sweet spot somewhere between Haim and Lorde. The full album comes out this month.
January 19th
Brexit
Yup, HBO made a movie about the data-driven strategies employed by the "Vote Leave" campaign to orchestrate Brexit. And it's staring none other than Benedict Cumberbatch. Watch it, and maybe you'll understand once and for all what the hell really transpired over there. Maybe.
January 24th
The Sundance Film Festival
You may not be making the trip out to Park City to gawk at celebrities in their most stylish winter attire. That's okay; neither are we. But we're still excited to get overly excited about this year's class of indie movies.
January 25th
DNA
The Backstreet Boys are...well, back, with their first studio album since 2013. Will it be good? Probably not. Will you listen to it? Probably. Such is the way of the world.
January 29th
We Cast a Shadow
A timely satire set in the near future about a ghettoized Southern town and its oppressed black denizens, some of whom have opted into a costly (in more ways than one) medical procedure, which promises to make them look like white people. Consider this an easy way for you to make good on that "read more" New Year's resolution...
