Happy New Year to all of my fellow stalkers! While most people are currently looking ahead, I’m spending today looking back – at my best entertainment finds of 2019. Read on for my favorite book, podcast, movie and television discoveries of the last year and where to find them. As my longtime readers know, I’m not really into music, so you won’t see any musical entries on this list, though I do have to say that I love Taylor Swift’s latest album. (Basic, I know.) And please keep in mind that these picks aren’t necessarily new, just new to me. So without further ado, I present my best of 2019! (*If you buy something through one of my Amazon links below, I may earn an affiliate commission.*)
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1. The West Wing (Netflix and Amazon) – I’ve professed my love for this series several times over the past year. The West Wing is honestly one of the best shows to ever grace the small screen! And yes, I know I’m seriously late to the game on this one! Though it debuted over a decade ago, the Grim Cheaper and I didn’t start watching until last January. We were hooked immediately and, while currently only about halfway through Season 5, not a single episode has yet to disappoint (except I’m still mourning Rob Lowe’s departure). As I said in this recent post, the show is so good I could cry! If you have never seen The West Wing, it’s not too late to get on the bandwagon!
2. Fyre Fraud (Hulu) and FYRE: The Greatest Party that Never Happened (Netflix) – I’m putting these two together as the GC and I watched them back to back and found them equally fascinating, though I think the Netflix version gives a more thorough and balanced view of the total abomination that was 2017’s Fyre Festival. Both documentaries cover the outright duplicity of the faux fete’s founder, Billy McFarland, as well as the unfettered arrogance (or perhaps delusion) he still boasts to this day. Each makes for a fabulous watch – and, if nothing else, taught me that “Fyre” is actually pronounced “fire” not “fry,” as I’d been calling it since the scandal broke.
3. Instant Family (Amazon Prime and Hulu) – This heartwarming tale of a couple who become foster parents to three siblings will have you laughing, crying and maybe even contemplating adoption. It is my favorite feel-good comedy of the year! The fact that it is based upon the real-life experiences of director/screenwriter Sean Anders and his wife, Beth, only makes the story that much sweeter.
4. Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Amazon) – Of the many SAG screeners sent out last January, this was my favorite. The film (which I consider more of a comedy than drama) covers the true story of celebrity biographer Lee Israel (Melissa McCarthy) who, in a moment of financial desperation, turns to forging letters from famous writers and selling them to rare book dealers for cash. Over the course of three years, she creates more than 400 counterfeit epistles, so seemingly credible that, per a Town and Country article, “Two of them featured in The Letters of Noël Coward published by Alfred A. Knopf in 2007, over ten years after Israel pleaded guilty for her crimes.” Can You Ever Forgive Me? is not a discretionary tale or story of woe, but rather a fun look at a pretty major transgression. Lee sums up the feel of the narrative best when she rather gleefully announces towards the end of the film, “I can’t say that I regret any of my actions. In many ways, this has been the best time of my life.”
5. Green Book (Amazon) – Another of last year’s SAG screeners, also based on a true story, this one about the unlikely friendship that blossoms between African American pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) and Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), the Italian bouncer he hires to be his driver during an 8-week concert tour at the end of 1962. Throughout their journey, the two teach each other valuable life lessons – such as tolerance, courage, letter-writing, proper diction, and that’s there nothing quite like a meal from KFC – and form a bond that lasts the rest of their lives. It is heartwarming, feel-good and uplifting – all of the things I hope for in a movie.
6. The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (Amazon) – The GC and I watched this 2011 comedy on the recommendation of my mom earlier this year and couldn’t believe we hadn’t heard of it prior! Boasting an all-star cast, the film centers around a group of seven British sexagenarians who move to a retirement complex in India, the eponymous Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, which winds up being a lot less appealing in real life than it seemed in the brochure. As they soon discover, though, while a bit rough around the edges, the ramshackle apartment house, as well as its inhabitants, are just exactly what they all need.
7. Imposters (Netflix and Amazon) – Sadly, this series, about an unlikely trio seeking revenge on their con-woman ex, was canceled after only two seasons. The twenty episodes that did air, though, are fantastic! A bit campy, full of heart and wholeheartedly romp-y, the three main characters and their oddly loving relationships with each other are the show’s real draw, and the final episode only leaves you wanting more.
8. Harlan Coben Mysteries (Amazon) – My grandma is an avid reader and regularly puts aside books she thinks I’ll enjoy, sending them to me every few months in bulk. Early last year, a box arrived chock full of Harlan Coben thrillers. I quickly dove in and found each one better than the last! Unable to be put down, gripping, and thoroughly unique, I kept expecting to come across a dud at some point, but if Harlan has written one I have yet to discover it. A few of my favorites include Six Years, Caught, Home, Run Away, Live Wire and No Second Chance.
9. All Rise (CBS and Amazon) – The Fall 2019 television season brought with it a slew of fabulous new shows, five of which the GC and I absolutely adore. They’re all detailed below, starting with All Rise. At the center of the freshman CBS series is Lola Carmichael (Simone Missick), a newly-minted Los Angeles County Superior Court judge. It’s impossible not to fall in love with the highly idealistic Her Honor and her unique methods of delivering justice, not to mention her madcap courtroom team. The show is funny, dramatic, thrilling, and utterly heartwarming all at once. And I simply love the fact that Lola is best friends with a man, prosecutor Mark Callan (Wilson Bethel), and that there are absolutely no romantic undertones. Lola is married, Mark has a girlfriend – the two are just simply BFFs. Men and women can just be friends (my best friend is a guy), but not onscreen typically. Lola and Mark’s relationship is a refreshing deviation from this norm.
10. Prodigal Son (Fox and Amazon) – My darkest pick of the new fall shows, Prodigal Son follows Malcolm Bright (Tom Payne), the emotionally damaged offspring of an infamous serial killer. Employing his unique background and knowledge of the psychopathic mind, Bright consults for the NYPD as a profiler, which in turn helps him to heal his own deep wounds. The caveat? Sometimes he has to call upon his murderous father for insight. It’s gripping to say the least.
11. Bluff City Law (NBC and Amazon) – Easily my fave of the Fall 2019 lineup, I am in shock that this one might not be given a second season! Get with the program, NBC! Literally! Chronicling a Memphis, Tennessee (aka “Bluff City”) family-run law firm specializing in civil rights cases, the series is a compellingly heartwarming legal drama unlike any I’ve ever seen. A true ensemble show chock full of kind, big-hearted characters fighting for the underdog, Bluff City Law is a regular tear-jerker – and Jimmy Smits, who plays patriarch Elijah Strait, has never been better!
12. The Unicorn (CBS and Amazon) – A bittersweet comedy – yes, comedy – about a widower who starts to move on with his life a year after his wife’s untimely passing thanks to some much-needed help from his zany group of friends. While it might not sound like the most humorous premise, the series, based upon the real-life experiences of creator Grady Cooper, is laugh-out-loud hilarious. Not to mention full of heart. I can’t get enough!
13. The Morning Show (Apple TV+) – I’ve mentioned my obsession with this series a few times in recent months (here, here, here, here, here and here). Scathing reviews be damned, this is one of the best programs to ever hit the airwaves! Chronicling the fallout when one of the main hosts of a morning television news show is fired for sexual misconduct, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carell are magic together and I canNOT wait for Season 2. And yes, it is definitely worth subscribing to Apple TV+ just for this series alone.
14. Top of the Morning (Amazon) – I am currently knee-deep in Top of the Morning: Inside the Cutthroat World of Morning TV, the 2013 exposé The Morning Show is based upon, and it is just as engrossing as the series. Though published a full four years before Matt Lauer’s shocking firing, journalist Brian Stelter’s look at the behind-the-scenes goings-on at both Today and Good Morning America is still chock full of scandal, drama and titillating tidbits. It is one fabulous read!
15. Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Amazon) – My vote for the best movie of 2019! Quentin Tarantino’s ninth film, a look at aging Hollywood star Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio), who happens to live next door to Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and Roman Polanski (Rafal Zawierucha), and his loyal stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), in 1969 Hollywood, is nothing short of perfection! From the locations to the costumes to the script to the performances, this one is not to be missed!
16. To Live and Die in L.A. (all podcast platforms) – A journalist and a private investigator set out to find a missing person and wind up solving a murder. And I do mean solve! The two figure out the identity of the killer, pinpoint the exact site where the murder took place, and track the perpetrator’s movements in the hours that follow, even locating the exact dumpsters where evidence was trashed! It’s an incredible feat that makes for an incredible listen. Easily my vote for the best podcast of the year!
17. Origins (all podcast platforms) – On his aptly titled Origins podcast, journalist James Andrew Miller takes a deep dive into the origin stories of several popular entities including the ESPN network and University of Alabama football coach Nick Saban. While neither of those subjects is of particular interest to me, the fifth chapter of the show details the genesis of Sex and the City. In three elaborate episodes (as well as a bonus fourth which chronicles Sarah Jessica Parker’s vast business empire), Miller breaks the hit HBO series’ history down into delicious bites which I ate up with a spoon! Featuring interviews with SJP, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis, Michael Patrick King, Darren Star, and countless others, no topic is off-limits, not even the Kim Cattrall drama which is very candidly discussed! Origins is so well-executed, I have already book-marked the chapters on SNL and Curb Your Enthusiasm to listen to next.
18. Dateline (all podcast platforms) – For someone as obsessed with true crime as I am, it’s a shock that I have never watched Dateline. That’s a good thing, though, as the pivotal series has now been turned into a podcast, with current and classic episodes released almost daily, which means I have countless new-to-me cases to learn about! I’ve never been more entertained – or terrified (I mean, is there anything spookier than Keith Morrison’s narration?) – on my morning walks! The six-part spin-off podcast The Thing About Pam is a must-listen, as well.
19. Office Ladies (all podcast platforms) – Extra! Extra! The Office stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey (BFFs in real life) just launched a podcast breaking down the hit 2005 comedy series episode by episode with behind-the-scenes info, anecdotal tidbits and interviews galore! The show is incredibly well-done and chock full of the kind of intricate details I can’t get enough of! It is simply amazing just how much the two remember from their days on set – and I am here for all of it!
20. The Christmas Contract (Amazon) – I’ve never been into Hallmark (or Hallmark-y) Christmas movies as they’ve always seemed way too cheesy. But this year, the GC and I decided to give them a go. There were more than a few duds (like Holiday High School Reunion, which we somehow managed to watch all the way through), but some pleasantly surprised us. My favorite by far was Lifetime’s The Christmas Contract, the super cute tale of a lawyer, Jolie Guidry (Hilarie Burton), who hires her best friend’s brother, Jack Friedman (Robert Buckley), to come home with her for the holidays and pose as her boyfriend. Romance, of course, ensues, but it’s a fun, totally believable ride!
21. The Princess Switch (Netflix) – My other pick for best Hallmark-y Christmas movie is Netflix’s The Princess Switch, about a princess, Lady Margaret, and a baker, Stacy De Novo, both played by Vanessa Hudgens, who, upon discovering their uncanny resemblance to each other, decide to trade places, a la The Parent Trap, for a few days. Though I loved the story, the cute tale is worth watching for Lady Margaret’s wardrobe alone!
22. The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair (Amazon) – This mystery miniseries, based on one of my favorite books, was released in Europe in October 2018, but, maddeningly, we had to wait until last year to catch it stateside. Since it finally debuted in the U.S. in August, the GC and I have viewed it twice – and I even reread the novel! It’s that good! The ten-episode thriller, about the 1975 disappearance of a New Hampshire teen and the discovery of her body 33 years later on the grounds of a famous author’s house, will leave you guessing to the very end!
23. Origin (Amazon) – As a puzzle enthusiast, I am obviously a huge fan of Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code book series, but somehow only discovered 2017’s Origin, the fifth in the franchise, last year. It was worth the wait, though. Not only is the tome thrilling and suspenseful, but Brown’s descriptions of the central locations had me wanting to book a flight to Spain, stat!
24. Dead to Me (Netflix) – Another unlikely premise for a comedy, the Netflix original series Dead to Me follows a widower named Jen Harding (Christina Applegate) who inadvertently and unknowingly befriends the woman who killed her husband via a hit-and-run, Judy Hale (Linda Cardellini). It’s both hilarious and suspenseful and, at ten episodes, perfect for a quick binge. The locations are absolutely stellar, as well – you can read about a few of them here, here, here, and here.
25. Ingrid Goes West (Hulu and Amazon) – An interesting look at the perils of social media, this drama, about an impressionable young woman who stalks and befriends her favorite influencer, will make you think twice about buying into people’s online personas. Though quite the sad commentary on modern times, it’s a truly engaging story – one that will likely have you putting your phone down to invest in some real human interaction.
In case you missed last year’s post on my favorite entertainment finds of 2018, you can check it out here.
