Things I Learned from My Europe Vacation: Britain, Ireland, & Scotland Edition

The past few weeks, I have been on what is increasingly becoming an annual tradition.  Every September, while everyone else is coming back to the real world with the close of Summer and the start of the school year, I tend to like going on vacation.  September is a really great month for childless people to do that, because the weather is still solid (it doesn't magically become Pumpkin Spice Latte season even if you start drinking them after Labor Day), and most people aren't traveling because it's too hard with the new school season.

This year, I went on a vacation with my parents to Europe, specifically Ireland, England, & Scotland for a total of about 16 days, for me the longest vacation I have ever taken in my life by at least one day (if not two).  I had been to England before, when I was a teenager on a school trip (it's always a little weird, but this is the most vivid memory I have of what it was like to travel before 9/11 as this trip which would've included a layover in both DC and Chicago in addition to flights into Paris & London would've happened just a few weeks before 9/11 and the upending of the TSA experience for American passengers), but Scotland and Ireland were totally new to me.  As has become something of a tradition on this blog, I wanted to share my observations (some old, some new) from this trip, and what I learned from this travel that I can maybe bestow onto you in a bit of a change-up from our usual cinema & politics chat.

1. Planning a Trip Like This Takes Time...and is Necessary

First and foremost, planning a trip like this takes a lot of time...in fact, many, many hours bordering on days (I probably spent an equitable amount of time planning this than I did on the actual trip).  Part of that is fiduciary-a trip like this is very expensive, and you don't want to leave feeling regrets over missing something.

But also, it's kind of overwhelming if you don't plan ahead.  Planning this with my parents, both of whom had never been to any of these three countries, I wanted to make sure they got to see everything...with everything being a loose term here given you can't actually see everything in 16 days (I have lived in the Twin Cities for over 20 years, and there are still things on my internal "I need to do that" list that I want to go to here...I can't possibly conquer three millennia-old countries in just two weeks).  But if you go to these countries, you go with an idea of what you want to do, and you have to sort of approach it like a gigantic marathon.  You want to see Big Ben, Loch Ness, Stonehenge, & Blarney Castle (don't give me the malarkey about wanting to see the "non-tourist" side of a nation...that doesn't ever feel authentic & that just means you leave behind the icons of the country you dreamed of seeing as a kid).  You want to try authentic sticky pudding and fish & chips.  And you want to shop for souvenirs to bring home and postcards to mail.  And for a country where I was frightened off of driving due to them driving on a different side of the road, that meant planning tours & transportation in addition to finding locations to go that felt like we had truly seen everything (no day of the trip was meant for rest, as you can do that at home which has been the case for me as I've taken repeated naps in the past few days...the closest we got was the transit day from Ireland to Scotland, and even that day I made sure to get most of the mandatory shopping items done for my parents).

I will also note that traveling with a group made things uniquely odd for me given that I couldn't do a bus tour group, which was my initial plan.  I'm not young, but I would definitely be young on a tour group (even on the day tours we did, I was almost always in the younger crowd even in my early 40's).  But learning about hotels there, where I assumed I could just stay with my parents but in reality would've had to room with a stranger (for non-Americans reading this, American hotels can easily fit four in virtually all circumstances, something not the case for most European hotels), I instead opted to be our own travel agent and for 7 of the days, be the tour guide as well, taking us around the cities on my own.  This resulted in a better trip, but is another sign of how hard it is (and more expensive it is) to travel by yourself, and why I was grateful that my parents were with me both because it was more fun to experience this with them...but also because I frankly couldn't have afforded the trip in its end state without getting to sleep in the same hotel room as them & splitting the cost.

2. Thoughts on England, Scotland, & Ireland

As I said, I'd been to England before when I was 17, and remembered it weirdly well.  The experiences I had at Stonehenge, Stratford, Bath, & the British Museum were quite similar-these institutions haven't changed a lot, and it's also a good thing to note because they are things that (while enjoyable) you probably only need to do once in your life.  New to me in England were the Victoria & Albert Museum (and the gorgeous Raphael cartoons), the National Gallery (and its host of terrific paintings), and Warwick Castle.  The rest was repetition for me, and it was mostly fun to just share with my parents, who are highly addicted to BritBox, and spend way more time with British culture than I do.

Ireland & Scotland were new for me, though, and of the two, while I liked them both, I came away desperately in love with Scotland.  There was a beauty to Ireland that was unexpected (it really is green in a way that feels plucked out of a Technicolor film), but it didn't call to me in the same way that Scotland did.  This was partially to do with me having the single best day of the trip there on a walking tour of Scotland looking at sites from the Harry Potter books and film series.  I spent a full-day in the Warner Brothers studios north of London, which was about as close as I'll get to pure bliss actually stepping into the Great Hall and Diagon Alley, but the Harry Potter tour was a treat getting to spot and pick apart things from my favorite book/film series, and honestly our redheaded tour guide was so cute (and I was so good at his trivia game) that I was hard-pressed not to just beam the whole time (he singled me out with a high five when I won the house cup for my group, the only time in my life I'll openly admit to being a Hufflepuff when I am very much a Gryffindor boy).  I am usually loathe to make unprompted travel recommendations of what to do, but if you are a fan of the boy wizard and have a few hours in Scotland, you should make a point of doing this.

3. Travel Like It's the Only Time You'll Go

Traveling in London more than 25 years after the last time I went, I was struck by the single most recurring piece of advice I ever give about travel (and at this point, I think it's fair to say that I travel a lot for fun so maybe you should listen to me): travel like it's the only time you'll go to this place.  And I think this is telling because this is the first international trip I've ever taken where I actually saw things I'd already seen; last year's trip to Paris was a city I'd been to before, but I didn't go to any of the spots in Paris I'd been before (instead solely focusing on Disneyland Paris whereas my first trip was a more traditional list of Parisian landmarks like the Eiffel Tower & the Louvre).

But with that, I felt like I had really done England before, and coming away, the breakneck speed at which I had approached it as a teenager (pushing always to do "one more stop, one more museum, you can be tired later") proved that I had seen all of these places before, and hadn't shortchanged them.  This isn't to say I didn't enjoy it, and all of these places were ones I had been to, but also-I didn't feel like (save for the new places) I had missed out on England.  Samuel Johnson famously quipped "if you're bored with London, you're bored with life" and it's impossible to be bored with London (I'd go back tomorrow if given the chance), but also from a realistic perspective, visiting it in this way, I realized that had I never gone back, I felt like I had gotten what I needed to from the country.  There are places in my life because they are less about seeing things and more about a feeling or experience of them (like Hawaii, Alaska, Broadway, Paris, and Orlando) that I intend to visit again and just be places I always hope for one more time until that's no longer possible, but this trip reinforced, because I made a point of seeing everything I could (we walked over 100 miles in total over the 16 days), that if I never get back, the only regret I'll have is that I didn't kiss more Irish & Scottish men (wow are there are a lot of good-looking guys in those countries).

4. Bucket List Travel Should Never Be on the Backburner

I recently had the pleasure of meeting with a crew of coworkers who talked about our respective bucket lists over lunch.  I am the firmest believer in bucket lists for all people, not just because it puts pressure on you to quantify reach goals, but also because it gives you a realistic path to knowing how long it'll take to reach those goals.  And so during this, I pointed out to one of my coworkers who felt like she had a lot of travel on there that 1) she didn't-travel should be the biggest part of any curious person's bucket list and 2) given her age of around 30, and that travel is much easier when you have the health & money of someone still working, that if she took a trip every year, she'd likely be retiring about the time she finished all of her goals...so she should take a trip every year to keep up.

This felt good for me because looking at my personal bucket list, while I have a lot of things left on it (some would argue too many...I need to pick up the pace on some of them), travel I'm timing pretty well.  If I want to retire largely having finished the international travel component, I have about 17 trips outside of North America that I want to still take in my lifetime...which will put me near sixty when I finish those trips (i.e. hopefully about one a year).  Traveling is something that is a huge highlight of retirement, and as someone who hopes to retire in their early 60's (knock on wood), I definitely want to do that...but I'm also aware that as you age it gets harder to do that.  It's more challenging to know the technology to plan these things (not just booking trips, but knowing how to use mass transit or Ubers has changed dramatically since I was 17), and physically it can be demanding to make this trip.  We don't know how long our lives will last, but generally our bodies don't last in top condition as long as our lives & minds.  I hope I can still travel internationally when I'm in my 70's and even 80's...but I'm aware that this might not happen, and so planning as if I won't feels comfortable (if financially scary) for me.  And so getting this trip (the third of ten total trips I'd like to do to Europe in my lifetime) done just a year after a Europe trip I had spent upwards of 7 years planning...it felt like the pace that felt right for me.  I like the way this has made me feel like I'm investing in my goals, and getting to do it alongside family members (not just my parents, but my brother & I are already eyeing a trip to Asia next year) who are conquering their own life's goals makes it even better.

My Top 25 Favorite Shows

Every few years, I make a point of updating my favorite Film, TV, and Song lists as a time capsule of how I felt at the time.  What stayed, what goes...I'm someone who is constantly encountering new movies & television, and make a point of seeking out what's interesting and emerging.  So it makes sense that I was going to do a Top 25 (that's the number of shows I always pick) for TV this year as it'd been a few years, and of course I thought it'd be fun to do on the blog.

I will own, though, that the belief that your ability to appreciate new media dissipates as you get older is, to some degree, starting to happen for me with television.  I don't know if it's a case where I'm just not giving new shows a chance, or if new television isn't compelling (I think it's a combination, if looking at this year's rather unimpressive Emmy nominees is any indication-this is the best TV could produce in 2026?), but as you'll see, only five of these shows are still on the air (though, it's worth noting, one just went off the air in the past month), and only two of those five premiered in the past 10 years.  By-and-large, there are very few TV shows that I have fallen in love with that are still airing (I do my own personal Emmys on a Golden Globes timing so I've got a few more months, but will own that this year is looking peaked so far).

And that, for me, is what is the hallmark of good television.  I am very much a movie guy-I watch a lot of TV (probably more than I should), but TV is not really my jam.  I think it's too predictable, too overdone.  I like a good story, one that is told well, with relatively little repetition unless it's making a point.  A movie, with just 90-180 minutes of typical length, certainly can fall into that trap, but it largely stays away from it.  TV, though, can stretch for years.  There are shows that I don't have on this list even though I watched them (on the air) cover-to-cover because they went on too long and stopped being worth it in my memory.  Even shows that are on this list clearly had their moment in the sun and never stopped: The Simpsons is in the Top 10 shows, but of its 37 years on the air, the latest episode in the run that I have here is toward the end of the 7th season.  This isn't because I stopped watching-it's because it was never as impressive as it was those first few seasons.

But "love" was the word I wanted to highlight, because that's what I think about when it comes to great television.  Look at my Top 100 movies and you'll find cold, tough films like The Conformist or A Clockwork Orange-these are not films that are easy to love.  But I'd go out on a limb and say I love all of these 25 shows in the sense that I rooted alongside them, I wanted to know what happened to the characters and they became a part of my life while I watched them...and after.  Television is a thing that I watch over-and-over, much more so than movies, I'm just pickier about it.  Other than something like, say Clue and The English Patient, I doubt there are a lot of movies I have seen more than, say, 20 times.  But Friends or Bob's Burgers or Community...I have watched those episodes more times than I can count.  As a result, this feels honestly more indicative of my personality than even my movie list-I have spent thousands of hours with the characters on this list.  I have spent more time with Abed Nadir or Kate Austen or Eric Cartman than I have all of my cousins combined.

Rather than just unveiling my Top 25 favorite shows, I thought I'd do a little twist on the format and list my Top 10 favorite episodes of each series.  This was MUCH harder to do than the series.  For starters, it's unwieldy (some of these series have literally hundreds of episodes...remembering the kinds of details to pick out favorites is a challenge).  It was oddly easy to name the favorite episode in each series (you know what you're looking forward to)...what became harder was hitting, say, the 8th best episode because then it became splitting hairs.

I learned some things about myself with these.  I famously don't like series finales when rewatching.  Sometimes they're too much-it's not on this list (though I do enjoy it), but I will almost always stop watching Schitt's Creek before the ending because I don't want to let it go (and to a degree I don't totally like the ending).  I want that familiarity to be with me.  Also, some of these shows their final seasons are their least successful.  Oddly, though that's kind of true for pilots which are sort of crystallized in some cases & the show needs to get off-the-ground, and I have an equal number of pilots listed below as I do final episodes (six each).  It tends to be Season 2-4 that fare best (all but two of these series have at least one episode in their second season), as that's when you've gotten to know a series the best but it can still surprise.

I'm going to now present the list in descending order (#1 being my favorite show).  I'll do a quick little write-up for each, but will note a few things.  First-this is based on my favorite shows (just want to underline that if you hadn't already gotten it).  Second, I'm not a completist about TV (I give up shows once I'm bored, and also I don't see every show); I have a running list of classics I need to watch someday, but they take a backseat to movies.  I will note, though, that I've seen every episode to date of all 25 of these series, even the ones with 10+ seasons.  Every series has at least two seasons (there are great miniseries out there, and maybe someday I'll make that list, but the goal of this is continuing series so I wanted to truly do multiple season shows); I also didn't include web series, though I would be remis if I didn't say that Bad Boy on YouTube as I chronicled here would be a contender if I did (see it, see it, see it).  I also cheated a little bit with two-parters, and did include one movie that is based on these series because it feels like a "very special episode."  This updates every few years, and occasionally shows get back on (#20 dropped from the list a few years back to reemerge last time, and #23 was actually in 26th place last time and finally got onto the list with virtually no new episodes in the interim).  Also, I put a parentheses behind each episode title to indicate season and episode number, so (1.4) is the fourth episode of the first season, for example.  Enjoy, and share your lists in the comments!

25. Severance (2022-Present)

1. The We We Are (1.9)

2. Cold Harbor (2.10)

3. Woe's Hollow (2.4)

4. Defiant Jazz (1.7)

5. Who is Alive? (2.3)

6. What's for Dinner? (1.8)

7. Chikhai Bardo (2.7)

8. The After Hours (2.9)

9. Attila (2.6)

10. Good News About Hell (1.1)

Severance is one of the only shows on this list to still be on the air, and of the five that's still on the air, it's the only one that is truly long-form for the entire run of the series (three of the remaining are generally self-contained, and the fourth is largely season-contained).  I tended to favor episodes, therefore, that feed into the central mystery and drama, which means that this list could honestly change the most the longer I feel if there's a payoff or if there's new turns that make me favor older episodes that hinted at those turns.  Severance is also in a dubious spot here-it's only on its second season (I did not include any single-season shows here), so it could falter (shows like, say, Westworld or The Bear might've been a threat here if they had kept up what they did the first two seasons) but the first two seasons were so good I feel confident endorsing it).

24. The Good Place (2016-20)

1. The Burrito (2.12)

2. Michael's Gambit (1.13)

3. Whenever You're Ready (4.13)

4. Janet(s) (3.10)

5. Rhonda, Diana, Jake, and Trent (2.11)

6. Somewhere Else (2.1)

7. Pandemonium (3.13)

8. Chidi Sees the Time-Knife (3.12)

9. The Trolley Problem (2.6)

10. Dance Dance Resolution (2.3)

On the flip side of Severance is a show like The Good Place, which honestly had a fine-but-unremarkable first season until its finale.  It was an inventive show, but I distinctly remember when I was catching up (I started watching it sometime in the middle of the second season if memory serves) thinking "why is this so critically-acclaimed?" but when the twist of "Michael's Gambit" happens, it becomes much, much funnier & confident, and honestly more sincere.  This is one of the few series that has its finale on here, which is unflinchingly beautiful (I wish they'd had the guts to not put a silly stinger on it, but until that moment it may well have been one of only two series whose best episode might've been the finale).

23. Heartstopper (2022-26)

1. Kiss (1.3)

2. Perfect (2.8)

3. Promise (2.3)

4. Boyfriend (1.8)

5. Challenge (2.4)

6. Forever (4.1)

7. Crush (1.2)

8. Love (3.1)

9. Friend (1.5)

10. Together (3.7)

The most recent show to finish its run, and the only series on this list to have its connected movie on the Top 10, Heartstopper is odd because it's a show that 1) demographically, I'm probably too old for (proof that I can fall in love with a series very much made for Gen Z) and 2) it may be the only series on this list that I largely don't give a damn about the supporting characters.  Joe Locke & Kit Connor's chemistry is so good in Heartstopper, it's hard to focus on anything else.  I partially wish that Heartstopper had been a full 22-episode season because there are aspects of the side characters I think might've been worthy in that situation, but you'll note that virtually all of my favorite episodes are very clearly major moments in Nick & Charlie's evolution.

22. Only Murders in the Building (2021-Present)

1. Open and Shut (1.10)

2. Sitzprobe (3.8)

3. The Boy from 6B (1.7)

4. The Last Day of Bunny Folger (2.3)

5. Fan Fiction (1.8)

6. I Know Who Did It (2.10)

7. True Crime (1.1)

8. Grab Your Hankies (3.3)

9. After You (5.2)

10. The Show Must... (3.1)

We're clearing out all of the recent shows pretty early here (every other remaining current show started over a decade ago).  Only Murders is a series that is just a joy to watch each week.  It tries to be about more than that sometimes, but honestly the best parts of this adventure is just Charles, Mabel, & Oliver riffing on each other, each scoring the next zinger or punchline, solving another murder in the silliest way possible.  I love me a mystery, and you'll see here that while the three "very special episodes" stand apart, a lot of these are just damned funny moments from the series (or finally revealing the killer).

21. Happy Endings (2011-13)

1. Cocktails & Dreams (2.16)

2. The St. Valentine's Maxssacre (2.13)

3. Blax, Snake, Home (2.1)

4. The Kerkovich Way (2.17)

5. Everybody Loves Grant (2.14)

6. Barefoot Pedaler (1.11)

7. More Like Stanksgiving (3.4)

8. The Ex Factor (3.11)

9. Baby Steps (2.2)

10. The Incident (3.16)

One of two series on this list that clearly ended before its time but still has stayed in my heart, Happy Endings is a show that I occasionally feel was thrown off by the constant need to wrap up each season, and there are parts of Season 3 where I believe/hope that they were going to rewrite and give certain characters a shot (Penny deserved another round with Pete, same with Max and Grant) which neither of the two script-reading codas to the series really captured.  But it's also one of the funniest series of all time, and one that in episodes like "Cocktails & Dreams" proves the chemistry was unstoppable with the main characters.

20. 30 Rock (2006-13)

1. Generalissimo (3.10)

2. Reunion (3.5)

3. MILF Island (2.11)

4. Queen of Jordan (5.17)

5. The Natural Order (3.20)

6. Dance Like Nobody's Watching (6.1)

7. Double-Edged Sword (5.14)

8. Lee Marvin vs. Derek Jeter (4.17)

9. Mrs. Donaghy (5.11)

10. Tracy Does Conan (1.7)

30 Rock is a good example of a show that I love and that I generally think of as steady throughout its entire run, so this list (I made these in a bottle, not in any way trying to spread the wealth) kind of backs that up.  With the exception of the 7th season, every one has at least one entry on this list, and while I think in part that's telling (the seventh season tried to wrap and do multi-episode arcs in a way that many of the early episodes really didn't), it also shows that 30 Rock really started out strong and ended strong.  These episodes are in part driven by three of my favorite recurring guest stars (Jon Hamm, Elaine Stritch, & Sherri Shepherd).

19. Sex and the City (1998-2004)

1. I Heart NY (4.18)

2. Ex and the City (2.18)

3. The Good Fight (4.13)

4. The One (6.12)

5. Hop, Skip, and a Week (6.6)

6. Anchors Away (5.1)

7. Shortcomings (2.15)

8. Are We Sluts? (3.6)

9. Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda (4.11)

10. Four Women and a Funeral (2.5)

I never watched beyond the second episode of And Just Like That because I could instantly tell that the series was going to be dreadful and no amount of Carrie/Charlotte/Miranda would make it worth it, and I made it through the two movies with nostalgia and love of the characters carrying me through, but when it was good (particularly Seasons 2-5) Sex and the City was an ode to a specific type of adulthood.  One that involved culture, food, life, romance, friendship, and yes, even sex, that didn't need to have shame about the fact that you didn't look like the Huxtables or the Taylors or the Cleavers.  As someone who would grow up to spend the entire time that I was these women's ages being single in the city (part of it even in New York), it felt aspirational as much as entertaining.  The best episodes of the series you'll notice are frequently about that balance, about falling in love with being single itself.

18. Planet Earth (2006-23)

1. Cities (2.6)

2. Islands (2.1)

3. Extremes (3.6)

4. Humans (3.7)

5. Ice Worlds (1.6)

6. Mountains (2.2)

7. Deserts (2.4)

8. Freshwater (3.4)

9. Ocean (3.2)

10. Ocean Deep (1.11)

Maybe the most out-of-place series on this list, and the only one that is truly non-fiction, Planet Earth is as much here on its own merits as it is a placeholder for the many, many, many David Attenborough series that I have watched & adored continually through the past 20 years.  For me, the best episodes of this series combine learning something new and having genuinely jaw-dropping nature where you kind of can't believe there was a camera at that exact moment.  Season two is very much my favorite, as you can see it takes up 40% of the list with only six episodes in total.

17. Succession (2018-23)

1. Connor's Wedding (4.3)

2. America Decides (4.8)

3. All the Bells Say (3.9)

4. With Open Eyes (4.10)

5. This Is Not For Tears (2.10)

6. Church and State (4.9)

7. Which Side Are You On (1.6)

8. Safe Room (2.4)

9. Nobody is Ever Missing (1.10)

10. Chinatishire (3.8)

Most of the series on here, as I mentioned above, tended to peak in seasons 2-4, which is of course the case for Succession.  This series, though, stands apart from every other series on this list as its final season was undoubtedly its best one.  The series' early moments, where we're establishing this family of misfits, don't work nearly as well as when we understand what tragically broken and deeply bad people everyone in this is.  The best part of Succession is that it makes you, desperately, want people like Shiv and Ken and Roman to be the redemptive hero...but in this family, there are no heroes.  Everyone is their own version of corrupted.  The best episodes of the series show that, and the destruction that can have on the world when you give these morally bankrupt people control of the country.

16. Murder, She Wrote (1984-96)

1. If It's Thursday, It Must Be Beverly (4.7)

2. Murder Takes the Bus (1.18)

3. The Sins of Castle Cove (5.17)

4. Sticks and Stones (2.10)

5. The Murder of Sherlock Holmes (1.0)

6. Mirror, Mirror on the Wall Parts 1 & 2 (5.21-22)

7. Who Threw the Barbitals in Mrs. Fletcher's Chowder? (4.12)

8. Mr. Penroy's Vacation (5.3)

9. The Corpse Flew First Class (3.12)

10. Who Killed JB Fletcher? (7.14)

Because there are so many, and because they are so similar, Murder, She Wrote was the hardest of the 25 series to corner down to ten episodes.  Do you judge based on which was the hardest crime to crack (if so, that is on this list though I won't spoil it by pointing it out because if you tell someone there's a twist they know to look for it)?  Do you judge based on the quality of the guest stars (in which case, the best one, Jeanne Crain, definitely makes the cut as well)?  For me, I judge it based on the one that is the funniest, and keeps our treasured Jessica close to home (the Cabot Cove episodes were always the best, which is why all of the move to NYC post-Season 7 is off of the list here).  But man do I love this show-I used to time my Sunday nights based on when Andy Rooney was on 60 Minutes because I knew we were just moments away from Murder, She Wrote.

15. Friends (1994-2004)

1. The One where Everybody Finds Out (5.14)

2. The One with the Embryos (4.12)

3. The One with the Rumor (8.9)

4. The One with Monica's Thunder (7.1)

5. The One with Chandler in a Box (4.8)

6. The One with the Prom Video (2.14)

7. The One where No One's Ready (3.2)

8. The One with the All the Poker (1.18)

9. The One with the Cheesecakes (7.11)

10. The One with All the Thanksgivings (5.8)

At one point Friends was immobile as my favorite show (honestly, in my whole life I've probably only had two shows I've ever consistently called my "favorite" which is not the case for movies...if you want to know the other one, skip to the bottom of this article or just read through this blog a bit as I talk about it a lot).  It's now at #15 but that's because it's not omnipresent for me anymore-a recent revisit made me realize though that I still loved it, especially the first few seasons (honestly, the show was never as good as it was before Monica & Chandler fully got together, and then it truly never recovered after Joey & Rachel).  But when it was good, like these episodes, showing people just welcoming themselves into life, it was a warm hug every Thursday night.  Few shows have gotten such a momentous finale watch from me (I threw a party with about 15 people shoved into a tiny dorm room).

14. Ally McBeal (1997-2002)

1. The Theme of Life (1.17)

2. Fools Night Out (2.3)

3. The Last Virgin (4.5)

4. Troubled Water (3.5)

5. Cro-Magnon (1.12)

6. Cloudy Skies, Chance of Parade (4.20)

7. The Ex-Files (4.10)

8. In Dreams (2.11)

9. Pilot (1.1)

10. Just Friends (3.10)

If there was a show that competed against Friends for the top of my affection in high school, it was 100% Ally McBeal.  This was the first show I thought of that was really one that I would consider mine.  And part of that was because I not only watched it live, but because it was (for years) incredibly hard to find (it was one of the last major series of its era to get a DVD release) it existed mostly as something I would offer up.  The fifth season does not hold up (too many characters were gone, and the sugar high of Robert Downey, Jr.'s best performance the year before left a gap), but a funny, snappy, culturally delicious portrait of life it was in its heyday.  I still hear my theme song.

13. Gilmore Girls (2000-07, 2016)

1. Kiss and Tell (1.7)

2. That Damn Donna Reed (1.14)

3. The Lorelais First Day at Yale (4.2)

4. Twenty-One is the Loneliest Number (6.7)

5. The Big One (3.16)

6. I Can't Get Started (2.22)

7. Raincoats and Recipes (4.22)

8. The Incredible Shrinking Lorelais (4.14)

9. The Bracebridge Dinner (2.10)

10. Come Home (5.12)

Fun fact-"The Theme of Life" (Ally's best episode) starred Gilmore Girls staple Liz Torres in a guest spot.  I point that out both because it's true and also because Gilmore Girls would 100% be on the Top 10 of this list if it had stuck a little more to the themes of its early episodes and not the dreaded Season 7.  I recently rewatched most of the series, and while there are moments toward the college years where it starts to feel a bit stretched, it still works and is funny & sweet & lovely & romantic (growing up is realizing that Logan was the guy for Rory because Rory was also kind of shallow & materialistic, and we wanted her with Dean or Jess because we wanted to date them...or maybe just I did).  I love how the show upon rewatch gives us deeply imperfect characters (no one on this show is a saint except maybe Lane, which would not be the case in 2026 when Manic Pixie Dream Friend status would've been bestowed upon Sookie at least).  But the seventh season is unwatchable, and is best left discarded for a repeat of one of the more Stars Hollow-centered episodes where romance is left in the dustbin and the girls get to just enjoy their magical lives.

12. South Park (1997-Present)

1. Scott Tenorman Must Die (5.4)

2. Woodland Critter Christmas (8.14)

3. Fat Butt and Pancake Head (7.5)

4. Imaginationland Episode III (11.12)

5. Make Love, Not Warcraft (10.8)

6. Dances with Smurfs (13.13)

7. Cancelled (7.1)

8. Casa Bonita (7.11)

9. Doubling Down (21.7)

10. The List (11.14)

There are three animated series on this list, the three animated series of my life, and all of them I've seen them through the good and the "maybe we should cancel this."  While one still regularly spits out bangers in the mid-teens and one could've retired in Season 15 & been the greatest series of all time (but has since become a hollow shell), South Park is in the middle.  The first Trump administration, and the horrifying parallels with Cartman & Mr. Garrison on the show mean that we have one episode from the 21st season here, by far the latest in a run any series on this list was able to get an entry, proving it could give the best far into the series.  But the true best is probably Seasons 5-8, when Cartman would graduate from a stupid bully into a sociopathic supervillain, and we'd fall under the spell of a lovable scamp named Butters.

11. The Office (2005-13)

1. Casino Night (2.22)

2. Beach Games (3.23)

3. Dinner Party (4.13)

4. Boys and Girls (2.15)

5. Women's Appreciation (3.22)

6. Niagara (6.4)

7. The Dundies (2.1)

8. Customer Loyalty (9.12)

9. Stress Relief (5.14)

10. The Job (3.24)

I started watching The Office because I worked in an office where everybody would not stop talking about The Office.  Similar to Gilmore Girls, I don't actually watch the full series when I rewatch it (I have probably S1 of The Office slightly more than S7 of Gilmore Girls, but I'd be shocked if I'd seen either of them more than maybe twice outside of the initial viewing, whereas the rest of the series I've hit double digits on).  For me, the cringe humor of this series is secondary to the camaraderie that comes with a chosen family at work, which is close-to-my-heart as most of the best friends I would make in adulthood would come from working, in, well, an office.  While I never met my Jim or Pam...still open to it?  Also, kudos to the series for recovering from the brutal post-Michael back-half of S7 and all of S8 for a surprisingly strong S9 (it's #8 on this list for a reason).

10. Desperate Housewives (2004-12)

1. One Wonderful Day (1.23)

2. Bang (3.7)

3. Guilty (1.8)

4. Free (4.17)

5. Something's Coming (4.9)

6. Pilot (1.1)

7. Come on Over for Dinner (7.23)

8. I Know Things Now (2.21)

9. Down the Block There's a Riot (7.10)

10. A Spark. To Pierce the Dark (5.18)

You'll note that I'm old enough that I remember what nights certain shows were on, my brain not yet functioning around the idea of a streaming drop giving me my favorite shows (you'll also note that with the sole exception of Heartstopper, none of these are released in a binge model, even the streamers).  For eight years, you did not talk to me on Sunday nights from 8-9 PM because I was spending it with Susan, Gaby, Bree, & Lynette.  I was obsessed with Desperate Housewives, and watched it without fail even as others fell by the wayside.  The best episodes are the ones that leaned into either each season's mystery (i.e. the the finales) or the disaster episodes in the middle (gotta love the era of the sweeps month), which makes up the majority here, including the brilliant conclusion to the first season's mystery.  I even liked S8, though by then too many characters had left & we needed to call it quits.

9. The Leftovers (2014-17)

1. The Book of Nora (3.8)

2. I Live Here Now (2.10)

3. The Most Powerful Man in the World (And His Identical Twin Brother) (3.7)

4. International Assassin (2.8)

5. Cairo (1.8)

6. Gladys (1.5)

7. G'Day Melbourne (3.4)

8. The Garveys at Their Best (1.9)

9. Guest (1.6)

10. The Prodigal Son Returns (1.10)

I will own, though, that I started watching Desperate Housewives around episode 4 or 5, so it wasn't truly start to finish.  Honestly, only three series on this list did I actually start watching on the very first episode, in real time, and watch until the true end in real time.  One of those three was The Leftovers, a series that honestly most don't get to claim that distinction, as the tone of the first season was off-putting for some, who got more into it when the second season came about.  But I was a fan from day one, and loved the horrifying repercussions that it shows the world ending when 2% of the population disappear.  This is also notable as the only series on this list where the finale is the best episode (Veep, not on this list but a strong show, is another that would have this distinction), giving us as close to a "meaning of life" conversation we'll probably ever get from a TV series.

8. The Simpsons (1989-Present)

1. Cape Feare (5.2)

2. Marge vs. the Monorail (4.12)

3. Lisa's First Word (4.10)

4. Mr. Plow (4.9)

5. Bart Sells His Soul (7.4)

6. A Streetcar Named Marge (4.2)

7. Lisa's Substitute (2.19)

8. Treehouse of Horror V (6.6)

9. Sideshow Bob Roberts (6.5)

10. Raging Abe Simpson and His Grumbling Grandson in the Curse of the Flying Hellfish (7.22)

I mean, I've tacitly insulted The Simpsons a couple of times in this article, so I think I should point out that putting it #8, in a Top 10 after watching hundreds of TV shows through the years, is truly an achievement, and I love it so much.  The #1 episode here is the single funniest half hour of television I think that's ever been produced and I'll just watch it for no reason regularly to revel in the genius.  I also think that people who focus on the first ten seasons alone miss out-there are great episodes in seasons 11-17 or some that are worth mentioning even if I didn't above.  But nothing compares to the God Tier levels this would hit in roughly Seasons 4-7, where every episode seems to be a classic.  I mean, look at the deliciousness of the guest stars alone in this Top 10 (Kelsey Grammer! Dustin Hoffman! Linda Ronstadt!)...all perfection.

7. Pushing Daisies (2007-09)

1. Bad Habits (2.3)

2. Girth (1.5)

3. Pie-Lette (1.1)

4. Comfort Food (2.8)

5. Circus, Circus (2.2)

6. Dim Sum Lose Some (2.5)

7. Pigeon (1.4)

8. Bitter Sweets (1.8)

9. Water and Power (2.12)

10. Smell of Success (1.7)

I declare a level of ownership on all of these series, but in terms of shows I think people would call a "John Show," other than the Top 3, this would be the one you'd name check.  I adore Pushing Daisies, and it's truly a show where there is no bad episode.  Even the ones that are lesser are still miracles, wonderful bits of mystery, romance, & joy all rolled into a warm doughy pie tin.  The main problem with Pushing Daisies ever cracking the Top 5 is that there simply weren't enough episodes. Given that Severance will get a second season, this will be the shortest series on this list by the next time that I update this in three years, with only 22 episodes in total and only two seasons.  My favorite episodes focus on side characters Olive & Emerson, and honestly care less about some of the multi-episode subplots (which never work as well as the standalone bits), and of course that means that the Top 2 are both totally moments where Kristin Chenoweth takes center stage.

6. The Twilight Zone (1959-64)

1. The Monsters are Due on Maple Street (1.22)

2. The Obsolete Man (2.29)

3. It's a Good Life (3.8)

4. Time Enough at Last (1.8)

5. The Masks (5.25)

6. Will the Real Martian Please Stand Up (2.28)

7. The Eye of the Beholder (2.6)

8. A Nice Place to Visit (1.28)

9. Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (5.3)

10. Five Characters in Search of an Exit (3.14)

Television is personal, and it's about where you are when you see it.  It therefore makes it harder to fall for shows that you see retroactively.  While only three shows (Pushing Daisies, The Leftovers, & Heartstopper) are series that I watched in real time with their releases, only one show I didn't watch at least part of the series in real time with when it initially aired: The Twilight Zone, which ended twenty years before I was born.  But The Twilight Zone is the most cinematic TV series ever made, and is just a cascade of brilliant performances & writing.  Look at the above list-it features not just jaw-dropping twists, but the best performance ever from Oscar nominee Burgess Meredith, and complete proof that William Shatner was capable of great acting.  Each New Year's Eve, I go through and watch the whole marathon, in awe of what Rod Serling was able to achieve.

5. Mad Men (2007-15)

1. The Suitcase (4.7)

2. Shut the Door. Have a Seat (3.13)

3. The Other Woman (5.11)

4. The Strategy (7.6)

5. The Wheel (1.13)

6. Waterloo (7.7)

7. Meditations in an Emergency (2.13)

8. Nixon vs. Kennedy (1.12)

9. The Beautiful Girls (4.9)

10. The Gypsy and the Hobo (3.11)

Rearranging the chairs of shows #2-5 (which were the same Top 5 last time, but the comedies got moved up and the dramas got moved down) is partially because I don't revisit #4 and #5 as much (I've maybe rewatched Mad Men once from start to finish, and never have Game of Thrones).  But they're both shows that I couldn't stop thinking about & pondering when I first went through, and are objectively spectacular series.  Of the two, Mad Men is the most consistent (all but Season 6 is represented here), and has some of the greatest acting I've seen on television.  The duet between Don & Peggy was so good in "The Suitcase" we'd have to repeat it years later in the nearly as strong "The Strategy."

4. Game of Thrones (2011-19)

1. The Rains of Castamere (3.9)

2. The Winds of Winter (6.10)

3. The Lion and the Rose (4.2)

4. Blackwater (2.9)

5. The Door (5.6)

6. Battle of the Bastards (6.9)

7. Baelor (1.9)

8. Hardhome (5.8)

9. The Children (4.10)

10. And Now His Watch Has Ended (3.4)

Bring up Game of Thrones today, and literally the words "disappointment" and "worst finale ever" will come up almost instantly, which I don't entirely think is fair, and I'm sensitive to given the #1 show on this list also got the same criticisms and I defended the ending (which history has proven I was right).  I really want to do a rewatch of this this winter to see how it stacks up as a collective story as I think some parts of the finale will actually work better as a unit, but you'll note that nothing past Season 6 is on this list for a reason.  The best parts of this series (the shocking horrors of the Red & Purple Wedding) prove that Game of Thrones was the series that established the "no one is safe" mentality that TV hasn't really escaped in the years that followed.

3. Community (2009-15)

1. Modern Warfare (1.23)

2. Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (2.14)

3. A Fistful of Paintballs (2.23)

4. Emotional Consequences of Broadcast Television (6.13)

5. Cooperative Polygraphy (5.4)

6. Cooperative Calligraphy (2.8)

7. Conspiracy Theories and Interior Design (2.9)

8. Remedial Chaos Theory (3.4)

9. Basic Lupine Urology (3.17)

10. Critical Film Studies (2.19)

I moved up Community because I think it feels (along with #1 & #2) the show that encapsulates what I love about television the most-it is so homey, so moving, and so fleeting.  Again, we're skipping the famously worst season (the fourth) but every other season gets an episode in this Top 10, including the finale, which (like The Good Place & The Leftovers) manages to bring the series someplace higher.  The series is really about seven broken people who come together and find a chosen family and feel truly loved for themselves for the first time.  That the series doesn't ignore that characters like Pierce, Troy, & Shirley leave, but instead makes it a commentary about how loved ones eventually lift out of your day-to-day life, and you have to trust that the love you carry for them was real even when you don't get reminded of it every day (and that you are, in fact, worthy of love), becomes the message of the final episode.  Beneath the absurdist and meta-commentaries, Community is truly about something, and of the Thursday-night NBC comedies of its era, somehow the series that was the least heartfelt is the one that has the most emotional core.

2. Bob's Burgers (2011-Present)

1. The Bleakening (8.6-7)

2. The Plight Before Christmas (13.10)

3. Housetrap (5.19)

4. The Hauntening (6.13)

5. Topsy (3.16)

6. V for Valentine-detta (8.8)

7. I Bob Your Pardon (9.7)

8. Broadcast Wagstaff School News (3.12)

9. The Fresh Princ-ipal (9.15)

10. Brunchsquatch (8.1)

If Community is the show that I feel the most vulnerable with, Pushing Daisies the show that I feel the most mine, Lost the show I love most...Bob's Burgers is the show I feel the most at-home within.  Most of the shows on this list I rewatch every couple of years, letting it simmer.  There are shows that get an annual screening, but they're few and far between (basically just Community & Pushing Daisies).  And then there's Bob's, which I'll watch from start-to-finish (or more often backward) at least twice a year; it's on so much in my house I have regularly referred to it as my roommate.  The show, like The Simpsons and South Park, has some of its weaker entries right at the beginning, when it was still finding its groove (and admitting that unlike the Simpsons and the Griffins, this is a show about a family that loves each other AND has good parents), it's also a show that continued to be top drawer way longer than any series on this list.  Its second-best episode is in its 13th season!  And with its really strong Halloween, Thanksgiving, & Christmas entries (bring them back!) it also is a testament to the joys of watching a show in real time, across a full season.

1. Lost (2004-10)

1. Through the Looking Glass (3.22)

2. The Constant (4.5)

3. Deus Ex Machina (1.19)

4. The End (6.17)

5. Exodus, Part 2 (1.24)

6. The Candidate (6.14)

7. The Incident, Parts 1 & 2 (5.16)

8. Exodus, Part 1 (1.23)

9. There's No Place Like Home, Parts 2 & 3 (4.13)

10. The Other 48 Days (2.7)

I mean, what more can I say about Lost that I haven't already said on this blog (seriously-I'm rewatching in January and I need article ideas that I haven't already used).  Click the label at the bottom of this article for Lost and you will see how often I have talked about it here, including an article ranking the best-to-worst episodes I've already done.  Lost is pretty much perfect, and really well-balanced (every season has an entry in this Top 10, the only 5+ season series to claim that in this Top 25), a show that gives me such joy every time I watch it, and revel in the way it tells a mythological, complicated mystery on top of stories of broken people, finding their way in the world through their friendships, rivalries, & yes, even the occasional romance.  Lost is honestly never moving from this spot.  Give or take Harry Potter and The Oscars, it is the most consequential pop culture or arts relationship I have.  When I die, I hope that Michael Giacchino's score in the finale is playing at the funeral.

5 Thoughts on Last Night's Primaries

Tuesday we had the first major primaries of the year, and while I know I'm a day late in getting this out, we're going to continue our "morning after" series anyway with my five thoughts on the elections in Texas & North Carolina

1. James Talarico Wins in Texas

The biggest story last night was the Senate race, which ended with the Democrats getting their man, and the Republicans getting a runoff.  Let's focus first on the Democrats.  A race that going into the night I genuinely had no idea how it'd turn out emerged with the Democrats getting State Rep. James Talarico as their nominee.  I don't entirely know whom this is a win for in terms of establishment vs. outsider politics (I feel like, like most things in politics, those lines are more complicated than they seem), but Talarico is the candidate whom most pundits (including me) thought would have a better shot in the general election, and so from that perspective this feels like the Democrats playing with their A-Game come November.  Talarico will have a lot of work to do to ensure he wins back Black voters in November, though, as Rep. Jasmine Crockett overperformed with this group and he'll need overwhelming support from them if he has any hope of winning.  Complicating that matter is that there was clear chicanery in Dallas County, where it appears that there was confusion over where voters were to cast ballots, and that (despite a court order), Attorney General Ken Paxton (R-TX) is trying to invalidate ballots that were cast as a result of extended voting hours.  Given that Crockett's base-of-support is Dallas County, it's likely she would've done better had there not been voter discrepancies, though probably not enough to win.

I will note that this puts Crockett, who has been a rising star for the past few years, into an inevitable position: out of work.  It was clear that the general election was such a stretch it didn't make sense to get into this race (she would need hundreds of thousands of Trump voters in her corner to win, and she was not going to do that), so this shouldn't be a surprise, but it does make me question what she does next given the primary should've been an easier victory given her fame & popularity with the base.  I would imagine she becomes a talking head on cable news (and very much to her credit, even with the Dallas County issues, she endorsed Talarico immediately), but likely her salary will be less than it would've been had she won, and will honestly be even less if Talarico wins in November.  I also think it's worth noting that former Vice President Kamala Harris made a calculated risk in endorsing Crockett at the last minute, and given she's trying to run for president in 2028, and her biggest liability is voters worried she can't win, endorsing a candidate who loses a tight race is not a great look for her.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)

2. Cornyn Gets Second Chance in a Runoff

While Talarico is for sure on the ballot now in November, the Republicans are still debating.  Going into last night, incumbent-Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) was viewed as an underdog, to the point that some assumed he might not even make the Top 2 in a runoff.  Instead, it looks increasingly likely that Cornyn will come out of the primary with the lead, or very close to it.  This is still relatively pathetic for an incumbent senator, but given that people were writing Cornyn's political obituary a few days ago, this is good news for him, and the NRSC which is heartily endorsing him.

The question now is around President Trump.  It appears likely that Trump will endorse (he said as much yesterday), and pretty much everyone's belief is that he'll back Cornyn.  This would be a godsend to Cornyn, and honestly a huge slap in the face to his opponent Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has been about as loyal of a MAGA supporter as you can get (proof, once again, that Trump's only loyalty is to himself).  I assume that Trump's endorsement will carry more weight than MAGA's clear antipathy of Cornyn, and Cornyn would make it through (in which case he'd be the frontrunner, but not the total one given his lack of popularity), but I wouldn't totally discount Paxton given that Trump's endorsement has less juice than it used to, and while MAGA isn't willing to rebuff him directly, they are seemingly more inclined than they used to be to ignore him when it comes to a primary.  A big question is what happens to the votes of Rep. Wesley Hunt, who got third-are they going to back Trump's endorsed candidate or Paxton...given they just voted against an incumbent US Senator by casting their support for Hunt, that's a harder question than it seems.

Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX)

3. Colin Allred Positioned for a Comeback

If there's a silver lining for Jasmine Crockett, it might be that she now has a very strong ally that looks to be winning back a seat in the US House.  In Dallas County, former Rep. Colin Allred came out in the lead, but not by enough to avoid a runoff, against the woman who replaced him in the House, Rep. Julie Johnson.  This was in part a result of a redraw, and in part because Allred, after losing a Senate race in 2024 and initially running for the Senate in 2026, went scorched earth in the primary, trying to tank the campaign of James Talarico by implying that he was racist.  Allred's gambit didn't help Crockett (if anything, it may well have hurt her), but in a bluer constituency, it does appear he's in the driver's seat in a bid to win back his seat.  Similar to the Republican primary, part of Johnson's uphill (I'd say she's very much an underdog now despite being the incumbent) climb is going to be trying to pick up the votes of third place challenger Carlos Quintanilla, but given the issues in Dallas County (and his strong support in her primary), I would assume that Jasmine Crockett will want to get a victory and will also make Allred's victory a top priority.  If Johnson doesn't become the first incumbent House Democrat to lose a primary this year, I would be surprised.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX)

4. Crenshaw Falls While Foushee Goes to a Recount

She won't be the first incumbent member of the House to go down in a primary, though, as that distinction this cycle goes to Rep. Dan Crenshaw.  Crenshaw's loss to State Rep. Steve Toth was not a surprise (I figured this was coming), but it does mean that Toth, who first ran for Congress in 2016, is finally headed to the chamber.  Toth is one of the most conservative members of the Texas legislature (let that sink in for a second), and ran in large part on Crenshaw's vote to certify the 2020 election for Joe Biden, the incumbent not buying into the Trump-led conspiracy that the election was stolen.  This is a reverse of some of the age-focused politics we've seen in the Democratic Party in recent years (Toth is 24 years Crenshaw's senior), and also the end of a career that started really impressively for Crenshaw, with him having a (I'll admit it) quite funny Weekend Update sketch with Pete Davidson after Davidson had mocked his eyepatch the previous week.  It's also proof that MAGA politics can take down some of the Republican Party's most impressive bench candidates, hardly a good plan in a state that is looking to at least be flirting with purple status this year.

On the flip side, the one notable race in North Carolina will likely end with Rep. Valerie Foushee winning another term.  In a very blue seat (the primary is tantamount to a victory), Foushee has a slight (it'll go to a recount) win margin, but not enough for a recount to realistically make much of a difference.  Democrat Nida Allam, a Durham County Commissioner, was backed by a number of progressive groups (including David Hogg's Leaders We Deserve PAC), and Foushee had a lot of last minute help from a number of organizations, including AIPAC and some PAC's that support AI (not meant to be confusing word play-those are two separate things).  While an incumbent losing by this much is not a great look, this was one of the best options on the map for Hogg's movement (which is trying to oust aging Democrats out of office-Foushee is 69 and Allam is 32), and they weren't able to win.

Rep. Christian Menefee (D-TX)

5. Is Age a Number in Texas-18?

Arguably the best option to beat an incumbent member of the House with a younger member is with an incumbent member of the House.  In Texas's 18th district, the question of whether that will happen extended into a runoff.  Just a few weeks after winning his seat, Rep. Christian Menefee appears to be on top in his race against Rep. Al Green, but it's close enough that (unlike Allred/Johnson) I can't tell who will ultimately be the nominee.  Green is 78-years-old while Menefee is just 37-years-old, and this was seen as a chance for Democrats to support a younger candidate, even though Green was far more established & has stronger roots in the district.

The big question here, like with the other two runoffs, is what happens with the third-place candidate (Amanda Edwards).  Edwards has been struggling to get to Congress for years.  She ran for the US Senate in 2020, and the US House in 2024 & in 2026; in all three races a candidate billed as a rising star couldn't make it out of the primary, and she had actually withdrawn from this race even though her name was still on the ballot.  I'm curious to see what she does here-Edwards, by pretty much every estimation, has too many losses at this point to ever make it to Congress and her career as a serious candidate is done.  So does she go with the guy who is clearly the future (Menefee), or does she hang onto the idea that she has a future in electoral politics and back Green, in hopes that he retires in 2028 and she can run another campaign?  The answer may decide the sole member vs. member primary this year for the Democrats.

What Will be the Next Billion Dollar Movie?

Earlier today, we did one of our annual start-of-the-year traditions, so now it's time to do a second: predicting the upcoming year's $1 billion movies.  With the quarantine exception year of 2020, every year since 2008 has had at least one movie that, at the global box office, made over $1 billion, an astronomical marker that guarantees a profit, and a stamp of approval from audiences.  In 2025, we had four movies that hit this marker: Zootopia 2, Avatar: Fire and Ash, Lilo & Stitch, and Ne Zha 2, the latter becoming the first film to make $1 billion that is not primarily in English, and it also was the highest-grossing film overall this year (technically Avatar 3 and Zootopia 2 are still shooting up the charts, but I can't see them beating Ne Zha 2).  No other film at the current box office will get close to hitting $1 billion (only one more movie, A Minecraft Movie, cracked $900 million), so I think we officially have four in 2025.

Each year I predict the five films most likely to cross this threshold (more on that in a second), and I did okay.  Zootopia and Avatar were both movies that I predicted, and I did mention Lilo, though I didn't quite catch Millennial nostalgia for the movie after Mufasa struggled at the box office (and the Disney live-action trend continues to wane).  Ne Zha 2 I will totally own I hadn't even heard of when it came out of nowhere, and so I don't really fault myself on that (you'll note I don't predict a Chinese film to be in contention below, but I suspect one will...it's just really hard to find a lot of hints at which franchises even have new movies, much less which might be in the realm, so just know that I'm confident another film will come close or exceed in 2025...I just can't tell which).  Of the three that I predicted, one was Jurassic World: Rebirth, which crossed the $800 million line so a solid bet, though nowhere near as strong as the films starring Chris Pratt in this franchise.  The other two were missteps.  I thought Tom Cruise nostalgia and the proper close to a series with Mission Impossible 8 was enough to get it going (perhaps if the movie had been good it would have helped?), but it didn't even turn a profit, and making even less was The Fantastic Four: The First Steps, which was one of several misfires from the MCU this year.  These were respectable guesses, but it also shows that audiences have become exhausted by these franchises.

Which brings us to our list, and some good news.  I think, for the first time since 2019, the box office has the potential for more than five $1 billion-dollar movies.  In fact, if it doesn't, we're looking at at least one major franchise headed to catastrophe.  Similar to previous years, I'm only going to predict five, but I will say that a year from now I deserve some shame if there's more than 5 billion-dollar movies, and I left one on the chair.  I think that we'll have a lot of headline winners (though I continue to worry about mid-tier movies that aren't horror breaking out...really excited to see stuff like The Housemaid & Anaconda get love, and am sending into the world that I want more of films that can have box office legs hitting the $100M mark again that don't have $100M budgets...films like The Devil Wears Prada 2, Verity, & Focker-in-Law, I know you're there, and would love for you to show up well too).

With that-here's my guesses (listed chronologically):

Honorable Mentions: As ever, I'll name check a few films below that might be options or dark horses, especially if the big $1 billion prediction clicks, but there are three movies that I feel deserve special treatment here because not only are they $1 billion contenders, they are ones I think probably are hitting $1 billion (or darn close).  The first is the most obvious: The Mandalorian and Grogu, the first Star Wars film in seven years, and part of a major TV franchise.  I'm not picking it because it feels like Star Wars light without being connected to the main Skywalker series, but nostalgia for it could be real, and I think waiting so long might have people turning out if it's good (for the record-I'll be there opening weekend, I'm pumped, and making me wait 7 years has actually primed me to see this).  Second, we have Minions 3, which is the seventh film from this franchise, and 5/6 of these movies have made over $900 million.  The reason I'm not listing it is because the last two were JUST shy, and I do wonder how much longer this franchise can milk this for what it's worth (but I could be wrong...I also predicted the last two & got screwed over so I'm trying a different tact).  And third, we have Moana, a movie I'm an idiot for not listing (and initially I did, but changed it last second), as the franchise is beloved, but am I the only person thinking this is "too soon" after a forgettable sequel?  I'm judging this in part by sitting next to a 9-year-old the first time I saw the trailer and she said "that's not Moana" when she came onscreen, and I think it's a bad sign they're hiding Dwayne Johnson from us...is this Lilo where it'll be crap and still make $1 billion, or was Lilo an aberration in a tired format?

The Super Mario Galaxy Movie

Release Date: April 3, 2026

Reasons Why It Will Hit $1 Billion: I mean, the biggest one?  The last movie did.  Not only did it hit it, it made $1.3 billion and was a gigantic hit that honestly I don't think a lot of people saw coming.  The recent trend toward established video game & toy IP (not just this, but also Barbie and Minecraft) being more reliable at the box office than superheroes has opened up a lot of gates, and this will be the biggest test if it's just a novelty or if it also is creating franchises.  The marketing so far has been smart, hinting at new characters like Rosalina and Bowser Jr, and this is based off of an equally popular game.  I suspect this will be a sugar rush opening weekend, and then it'll be a question of how well it can do internationally (and if it it's any good).

Reasons Why It Won't Hit $1 Billion: Some of the problems with surprise $1 billion movies is that they tend to struggle to duplicate with sequels because people only wanted them once.  Some good recent examples include Joker, Alice in Wonderland, and Captain Marvel, all of which had insane first numbers and then turned into nothing when people were like "I'm good-that was all I needed" on a second shot.  I do worry that's the case for Mario, who started a trend but hasn't had the same staying power that, say, a Barbie sequel might invite.

What It Means for the Rest of the Year: There's not a lot of established video game or toy IP this year that you might borrow from (2027's Zelda is a much better test), but you should be looking out for Masters of the Universe, which is reviving the He-Man franchise and is a big bet for the summer, and Resident Evil is getting a showy punch-up after the failure of 2021's Welcome to Raccoon City.  The biggest contender for it might be Jumanji 3, which might get bumped (details on it so far are slim, which makes me wonder how far along they are in production), but the last two films were gigantic, $800+ million movies (the first one was just shy of $1 billion), and is opening at Christmas which could be a good way to cash in (similar to 2025, studios are betting big on the holiday box office in 2026).

Toy Story 5

Release Date: 6/19/26

Reasons Why It Will Hit $1 Billion: Well, depending on how you count it, the last two both got $1 billion.  Past performance is one thing, but these movies are beloved.  Go to DisneyWorld and you'll see entire sections of the park dedicated to Woody & Buzz (Donald Duck can't even boast that, and he's been a staple for decades).  Pixar also seems intent on this being a big deal-sequels are a huge part of their game plan (Incredibles 3 and Coco 2 are both greenlit, and you gotta assume Inside Out 3 is just a matter of time away), so they are going to want their crown jewel to look shiny...

Reasons Why It Won't Hit $1 Billion: ...particularly since the last time Buzz was on the big-screen, it was an embarrassing catastrophe.  2022's Lightyear was critically-hazed, a financial flop, and became the first film in the franchise not to get an Oscar nomination of some sort.  Part of why I think they're bringing this movie back (other than greed) is to make up for tarnishing the legacy so much, though I am worried that this is another risk for Disney-Toy Story 4 was able to get past some of the "we don't need this" by holding up and feeling like a really beautiful sendoff to Woody...but how will they retcon that ending AND get the sort of sentimentality that has become a hallmark of this franchise without increasingly jaded audiences turning away from them?  Buzz's Tim Allen is back, but it's worth noting that Slinky Dog, Sarge the Army Man, and both the Potato Heads are all dead in real life...will audiences forgive that Pixar keeps reminding them that this isn't the movie they fell in love with?

What It Means for the Rest of the Year: You're going to note a shocking amount of Disney on this list (seriously-the Mouse House is owning the 2026 box office), but if you can believe it there's two other original films (Hexed and Hoppers) coming out next year from them as well.  It's hard not to wonder if the continued trend of Disney originals getting hung-out-to-dry (save for Elemental) will continue, or if we'll finally have the relief of discovering the next Disney franchise.  I would also mention that The Cat in the Hat is (other than Minions 3 of course) one of the few non-Disney animated films in 2026 to keep an eye on, particularly as 2018's The Grinch outperformed virtually all expectations (it made way more than you remember it did for a film that no one remembers).

The Odyssey

Release Date: 7/17/26

Reasons Why It Will Hit $1 Billion: My riskiest bet, particularly given I had the respectable net of Star Wars or Moana to rely upon, but this is for fun so why not get a little gutsy?  Christopher Nolan's last film, a biopic about the man who created the nuclear bomb, nearly made $1 billion, and this is WAY more in-line with what we've come to expect for a $1 billion movie (a starry action-adventure).  Nolan's film is huge-people are literally already buying tickets, and given the stature he has, if it's good it'll have the kind of word-of-mouth you can usually only get if you're James Cameron, enough to make $1 billion.  I'm pumped-I think this is going to be a big deal.

Reasons Why It Won't Hit $1 Billion: I mean, for starters, it's not based on established cinematic or video game IP...it's a thousands year old story about Greece.  But I think the bigger question is more if it will have international appeal.  Oppenheimer had a 66% share of its gross internationally (a respectable anomaly given the subject matter).  Given the potential for this domestically, if The Odyssey can pull that off, I think it will make it to $1 billion...but I could also see this being more of a domestic box office thing given it doesn't come with recognizable characters like most $1 billion movies do.

What It Means for the Rest of the Year: There's a lot of movies that are going for less conventional routes (i.e. not comic books & animation) this year.  You've got original SciFi epics like Project Hail Mary and Disclosure Day (both of which looks terrific), as well as the long-awaited Michael Jackson biopic Michael and the close to the Dune franchise (Dune: Part Three), as the last one made almost double its predecessor, and interest in the series continues to grow.  Also, we can't mention Oppenheimer without also mentioning Barbie, and like Christopher Nolan, Barbie director Greta Gerwig also has a follow-up this year in Narnia: The Magician's Nephew, which I'd have a lot more hope for it being a box office juggernaut (and $1 billion contender) IF the film was getting a proper theatrical release rather than just a 28-day trial before it's slapped onto Netflix.

Spider-Man: Brand New Day

Release Date: 7/31/26

Reasons Why It Will Hit $1 Billion: July promises to be a BIG month for Tom Holland given he's leading both of these films (will this be the closest together ever that someone made two $1 billion movies?), and we also have here (in my opinion) the surest $1 billion movie of the list.  Holland's last two endeavors as Spider-Man both made over $1 billion, and even as an insanely saturated character (he has his own accompanying animated franchise as well), there seems to be no stopping him.  Spider-Man is, over even Batman or Superman, the most consistently bankable superhero in movies today, and given that Holland is almost certainly closing out his time behind the mask after this (he'll be in his thirties by the time this is released), people will want to see how this ends.

Reasons Why It Won't Hit $1 Billion: I say this with all love and sincerity, if this movie doesn't hit $1 billion, the entire comic book genre has been torn to shreds in a way that it's basically impossible to imagine.  Even people who don't see comic book movies see the Spider-Man movies.

What It Means for the Rest of the Year: Probably nothing.  I will note that (in addition to the next film on this list) there are two superhero movies (here from DC) coming out this year (Supergirl and Clayface), and while neither should come close to $1 billion (if Superman couldn't, why would these?), both are worth keeping an eye on just to understand the health of the superhero genre after 2025 yielded no billion-dollar movies for either DC or Marvel despite quite a bit of trying.

Avengers: Doomsday

Release Date: 12/18/26

Reasons Why It Will Hit $1 Billion: Because Avengers is the only franchise in the history of the movies to go 4/4 in terms of hitting $1 billion at the global box office.  Harry Potter, Star Wars, Jurassic World, Toy Story...none of them have the perfect 4/4 batting average that the Avengers movies do.  And Disney knows it-they are trotting out not just the return of Robert Downey, Jr., but also "plucked from the dead" Chris Evans and a potential sendoff for Chris Hemsworth (wouldn't be super stunned if ScarJo has a cameo they're keeping secret too).  Everyone in America will be curious about this.

Reasons Why It Won't Hit $1 Billion: Because, with the very big exception of Spider-Man (which, honestly, is its own thing at this point), the entire post-Endgame plan for the MCU has been a critical and commercial failure of epic proportions.  Look at last year-there were three MCU films, and not only did none of them make more than $600 million, there's a decent argument to be made that none of them so much as made a profit.  Between lazy movies and toss-away TV shows, the 21st Century jewel in Disney's crown is increasingly at risk of being permanently tarnished.

What It Means for the Rest of the Year: No other movie makes sense to put next to Avengers: Doomsday.  No other movie has the stakes to perform the way it will need to perform, no other movie has more riding on its success.  It could easily be a $2 billion movie and a close to a gigantic year for Disney...or totally upend a two-decades long money-printing formula that will unceremoniously come to an end.