My favorite (non-movie) pop culture of 2016!

Last updated on: December 20, 2016 at 10:13 pm by Chris Williams

My favorite (non-movie) pop culture of 2016! 2016-12-20T22:13:29-05:00 Chris Williams

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3.) Stranger Things

“Stranger Things” appears to have been created by a Netflix algorithm designed to exclusively target my generation. Anyone who was a kid in the ’80s likely started salivating as soon as they laid their eyes on this eight-episode first season, which appeared to mix the early works of Steven Spielberg and Stephen King in a blender, seasoned with a liberal dash of John Carpenter. From its Amblin-esque aesthetic to the homages to everything from “Halloween” to “Dungeons and Dragons,” this was the best film we never got to see as kids.

But homage only goes so far, as we saw with J.J. Abrams’ “Super 8.” And as I watched the first episode, the question nagged about whether I truly liked what I was watching or if I was just having my nostalgia stroked by the Duffer Brothers.

By episode two, the questions evaporated. “Stranger Things” is compelling, compulsively watchable television. The Duffers spin a creepy, moving story of lost kids, gruesome monsters, other dimensions and shadowy government conspiracies that moves at a bullet’s pace. The show not only gets great mileage from established actors like Winona Ryder, David Harbour and Matthew Modine, it also has one of the great child casts of anything ever, particularly in Millie Bobby’s Brown’s mysterious and creepy Eleven and Gatan Matarazzo’s adorable, very funny Dustin. Even what initially appeared to be the show’s weakest link — a subplot involving the town’s teenagers — ended up working well, with Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton and Joe Keery creating one of the most likable love triangles of some time. The show had a knack for introducing and resolving its mysteries quickly, and the Duffers are masters with atmosphere and tension. And it wasn’t only children of the ’80s who caught on; when your show becomes a meme for its title font alone, you know you have a smash hit on your hands. And while its success made season two inevitable, there’s a part of me that’s afraid returning to something so delicate could be very dangerous.

Was “Stranger Things” the smartest or most ambitious show of the year? Probably not. But it’s the only one I blew threw in a week, sitting down to watch three or four episodes in a row just so I could see how it turned out. It’s the TV equivalent of losing hours on the couch with a good book, and even if I have some trepidation, I still can’t wait to return to the Upside Down.

Season one of “Stranger Things” is streaming on Netflix. Season Two is expected to air in late 2017.

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