It’s the end of the year, which is my favorite time of year for many reasons. But TBH, I am done with hearing Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You,” (though it is a PERFECT song). However, the mythology of Mariah and the song is just as interesting as the song itself at this point. So I’m fully invested in seeing all the new ways Mariah Inc. spins out new content and excitement for it every December. Another high point: Christmas break is usually my longest time away from a mic all year, and it usually includes some time in the desert, my happiest place. 

But I am most enamored by December because it is the season of year-in-review. The best-of lists come out. The worst-of lists come out. There’s a word of the year, or a few. There’s a color of the year (see below). People smarter than me tell me what is out and what will soon be in. There are thinkers and writers all over the world trying to make sense of the madness, trying to ascribe a throughline to a culture that increasingly feels like a tightly wound ball of knotted rubber bands. This is my favorite season. Super Bowl-level excitement, only matched by my love/hate relationship with Oscar season. 

Here on the show, we’re going full hog on year-end content. This Tuesday, I asked one of my favorite culture writers, Alex Abad-Santos, just how Queer 2025 was. (TLDR: It was pretty queer, but representation and justice are two different things.) Next week, I’ll have a chat with a music writer I love, asking another big year-end question: Was pop music kinda crappy in 2025? (Send me your answers to this question; I’m curious.) And this week, I taped an episode of what is becoming my favorite tradition on this show. For the second year in a row, I had Traci Thomas of The Stacks book podcast and Franklin Leonard, founder of The Black List, come and make sense of the entire year of culture and entertainment. This year, we built a Mt. Rushmore of 2025. You’ll have to watch to see what made it to the mountaintop (and what got stuck in the valley below), but in the meantime, here’s half of my list of things I really, really enjoyed in 2025. I’ll share more next week in this newsletter.  

GEESE
This is my description of the band to Franklin and Traci this week on the show: “[Lead singer] Cameron Winter sounds like he’s casting a spell on you. Cameron Winter sounds like he hasn’t found the right antidepressant yet… like he is not over the breakup and he never will be. Cameron Winter sounds like he’s evading arrest. He’s singing with the frustration and passion of the ancestors. Geese. GEESE.”

EPISODE 7 OF SEASON ONE OF APPLE TV+’s THE STUDIO, “Casting”
The best TV and film about Hollywood doesn’t glamorize Hollywood; it skewers it. Seth Rogen’s Emmy-winning Apple TV+ all about a Hollywood producer falling up hilariously takes on race in an incredibly unserious way, to beautiful effect. When Seth’s character and his colleagues have to cast a live-action Kool-Aid film (that alone is funny enough) in a way that is racially sensitive, but also maybe race-blind, hilarity ensues. 

Ben Sherlock at ScreenRant has the best synopsis: “First, they worry that casting a Black actor as the Kool-Aid Man is playing into racist stereotypes. Then, they worry that not casting a Black actor as his wife will be offensive to Black couples. Then, they worry that casting all Black actors as the animated characters and all white actors as the live-action characters gives them a “segregated” cast.”

Rogen and his team say the quiet part out loud: Progressive Hollywood still doesn’t really get race. In fact, they’re very scared of it. To make one laugh while making so somber a point is high art. 

SABRINA CARPENTER’S MANCHILD
I found Sabrina’s 2024 breakthrough album, Short n’ Sweet, pretty outstanding as far as pop records go. Smart, playful lyrics, hooks that burrow into your brain, and a main character in Carpenter that’s always singing with a wink and a nod. The in-on-the-joke Sexy Baby of it all felt just right, and incredibly fun. On her latest album, Man’s Best Friend, the playbook starts to feel a little tired and repetitive, but that still can’t stop the siren’s call of the album’s lead single, “Manchild.” This song has powered me through more runs than I’d like to admit, kept me company in LA traffic, and is most likely the song I’ve been humming to myself the most all year. 

THE VILLAIN IN WEAPONS
I hope every gay is her for the next few Halloweens. If I say anything more, I’ll spoil the movie for those who haven’t seen it yet. (Go see this movie if you haven’t seen it yet.) 

JP BRAMMER’S WRITEUP ON PANTONE CHOOSING ‘CLOUD DANCER’ AS ITS COLOR OF THE YEAR 2026
“Cloud Dancer is the color of a MacBook charger in its waning days of service. The color of bad news delivered with bureaucratic indifference. The color of congressional insider trading. The color of a person’s thoughts while ignoring war. The color of an email from an exec proposing a live-action remake. The color of the popcorn ceiling in the hotel room of said exec’s extramarital affair. It is the color of the word “exec.” 

CYNTHIA ERIVO DOING JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR
I have been locked inside the Wicked Industrial Complex for at least two years now. We all have. The film’s never-ending press tour, the never-ending Cynthia and Ariana memes, the never-ending reviews and takes and questions of the reviews and takes, it’s all become disorienting. I can no longer tell if Wicked is good, or bad, or even from this planet. It has become the McDonald’s of film: the point is not whether it’s good or bad, but that it's everywhere. But I do know one thing: it made us all take a closer look at Cynthia Erivo and finally (I hope!) respect her brilliance. If you still aren’t convinced of her genius after seeing her in green for almost two awards cycles now, check out this clip of her singing Gethsemane in a recent production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl. It’s nothing short of remarkable. I hope 2026 gives us even more Erivo (just no more Wicked films, at least for a while). 

ONE OF THEM DAYS
A buddy comedy that makes its money back during its theatrical run and turns an R&B star into a bona fide movie star? Also, Keke Palmer? Sign me up. 

Bad Bunny, Sinners, and KPop Demon Hunters. 
But you already knew that.

Alright, more from my best-of list next week, but before I end this newsletter, can I get a little serious? I am guessing that KCRW was also maybe one of the best parts of your year? It was def one of the best parts of mine. It’s a constant companion during my work day, a source of new music and new ideas, and also a pretty great place to work. KCRW is free for all who want to enjoy it, but it still costs money. If you are so inclined, maybe drop a few dollars to the station, or become a monthly donor (and get some cool swag in the process). Alright, I’ve rambled way too much. 

See y’all next week, and thanks. 

– Sam

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