You Know What? 2016 Was a Pretty Great Year for Pop Culture

It’s that time of year again—the time when we all look back at the past 12 months and try to figure out what the hell just happened. Here on The Monitor, things are no different. In fact, that’s what this week’s entire episode is about. Yes, this week the WIRED Culture team started talking about 2016 and realized: Hey, you know what? This was a pretty good year for pop culture. We got some great new TV shows from Issa Rae (HBO’s Insecure) and Donald Glover (FX’s Atlanta), some great new music from Chance the Rapper and Beyoncé, and a lot of awesome new podcasts. There were also quite a few good movies and some wonderful comics too. Want to know why this year was so good for pop culture? Then tune in. We’ve got editors and writers Peter Rubin, Charley Locke, and Angela Watercutter on the mic and they’re ready to get nostalgic for 2016 before it’s even over. A few helpful links for things we talk about in the podcast: -Charley Locke’s piece on the first time she watched Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope -WIRED’s feature on Rogue One: A Star Wars Story VFX supervisor John Knoll -Jason Kehe’s piece on Alan Tudyk, who plays Rogue One’s K-2SO