AVQ&A: What is your pop culture resolution for 2025?

It took me far too long to cut the cord, I still have books from 2022 I haven’t finished, and I still haven’t managed to finish a complete episode of a podcast, any podcast. So, this year, I’m setting myself up for success with a low-stakes resolution, which amounts to inviting people over to my house to do something I was already planning to do. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, my friends and I took turns hosting themed movie nights, which turned into remote group watches, often via Discord. We started a deep dive into Nicolas Cage’s filmography that way, which can only get better with in-person viewing. [Danette Chavez]

The thick spine of Lonesome Dove, the Pulitzer Prize-winning epic by Larry McMurtry, has been staring down on me from my shelf for more than a year, and I’ve yet to crack it open. I’d like to claim that it’s the book’s breadth that keeps me from doing so, but that’s not it: A beat-up version of Horseman, Pass By, the writer’s slim debut novel, sits close to it, equally untouched. The thing is, I know I’ll love Dove. The Last Picture Show is one of my favorite films, and I mostly enjoyed the two books I’ve read by McMurtry: All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers, a snapshot of early-twentysomething boozing, heartbreak, restlessness, and writerly ambitions; and Boone’s Lick, an amusing tale of a family’s arduous journey after the Civil War. And right now, I kind of feel like someone who says they really like The Stones but hasn’t bothered to listen to Sticky Fingers yet. [Tim Lowery]

As much as I’d like to dig into my ever-growing “to read” stack next year, or continue just reading manga on my phone like a degenerate, the correct and moral thing to do would be to quit dragging my feet and finally dig back into Robert Caro’s massive biography series The Years Of Lyndon Johnson. As a presidential history dork, I finished (and adored) the first book, The Path To Power, early last year, but leaping directly into Means Of Ascent was daunting. One can only learn so many terrible things about how our government works in a calendar year. But Caro is such a compelling read that there’s always an itch at the back of my brain stem bugging me about how I’ve only scratched the surface of one of our most complicated presidents. It doesn’t help that Caro is the George R.R. Martin of meticulous nonfiction authors, cranking out a new entry in the series every decade. It’s been 13 years since the last Johnson book, The Passage Of Power (they even sound like Game Of Thrones titles), so we’re due. And when it’s finally released, I’ll, hopefully, be all caught up. [Jacob Oller]

Generally speaking, I am out of the resolution business (please see previous failures for an explanation–one day, I’ll finish that Bergman box set). I don’t think setting myself up for failure is the best way for me to start a year. But, in the spirit of the exercise, I’m going small: I resolve to play a single video game. My 2024 pop-culture life left me no room to pick up the sticks and sink into a video game. It doesn’t help that I’m a console generation behind the times, meaning I can’t even try Baldur’s Gate 3. In 2024, I want to face the future head-on, pick up a new Xbox, and finally spend some time with 2014’s Alien: Isolation, which I bought over the summer as my Xbox One finally decided to move to a farm upstate. So, yeah, video games! I want to play that new Zelda, too! Happy New Year! [Matt Schimkowitz]

To be completely honest, I read/watched/listened/generally consumed a lot less in 2024 than I did in 2023. What felt good to me this year was singlemindedly diving into some old, long-running broadcast series (I have waxed poetic elsewhere about the joys of Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice). Though I still got in on the ground floor of some good shows this year, next year I’m ready to step up my game and cast a wider net for new series. And while we’re at it, let me tack on my pop culture wish for the new year: bigger episode orders and longer seasons for new shows! With any luck, the premieres of 2025 will become the long-running bingeable shows of tomorrow. [Mary Kate Carr]

One of the knock-on consequences of being paid to think, and talk, about TV is that I sometimes struggle to incorporate new shows (i.e., ones I’m not being paid to view) into my regular downtime routine. Easier to flip on some YouTube videos, or pop on an old Bob’s Burgers (or revisit something I know I can just chill out with, like Detroiters), than engage with something new. But no more playing catch-up when year-end lists come around, only to irritate my co-workers way after the fact with my “Hey, did you know Somebody, Somewhere is actually really great?” messages on Slack. In 2025, I’m going to watch TV without being paid to do it, just like regular people! Unless I come up with an essay idea after the fact, of course… [William Hughes]

Back in March, I went to see End Of Evangelion for this site, partially because I recognized that anime was a pretty big hole in my pop cultural knowledge. But for most of 2024, I did little to ameliorate that. This fall, I did watch the new Adult Swim adaptation of Uzumaki, which I enjoyed and which left me thoroughly disturbed. (“Let’s watch more of that show I hate,” is something I would say to my roommate when suggesting the next episode.) But I was also disturbed by the fact that everyone seemed to be already familiar with this story. I don’t foresee myself going full tilt into anime fandom, but I would like to familiarize myself with the form a bit more so it doesn’t feel like such a big blind spot. Perhaps I can start with the rest of Evangelion since I’ve already seen the end. (Notice how I didn’t say I know how it ends—that’s a whole other story.) [Drew Gillis]

I’m one of those people who goes a little crazy for fun personal stats. The good thing is I always have year-end wrapups on apps like Spotify and Letterboxd to look forward to. The bad thing is I find myself subconsciously prepping for them from the minute the clock hits midnight on January 1. Since Spotify Wrapped already came out, I’ve used this past month as a bit of a freebie and reveled in listening to some of my more “embarassing” favs from years past (angsty showtunes, admittedly whiny emo jams) that I would normally keep locked away from the eyes of the general public. And it’s been… so, so fun. My goal for next year is to break free from the shackles of data visualization and have fun with my own taste again. And if that involves listening to a tragic amount of Taking Back Sunday, so be it! [Emma Keates]

As someone who writes about TV for a living, I can officially confirm there is too much of it. I tend to get lost in the shuffle of the big shows released on Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Apple TV+, etc. And in the process, I’ve been bad at giving some of the lesser-appreciated streaming platforms a chance. While I’ve enjoyed a murder mystery or two on Acorn TV and Britbox, and thoroughly enjoyed Nicola Coughlan’s Big Mood on Tubi, I want to do better. So my goal for 2025 is to explore these niche services (including Shudder, The Roku Channel, and someday, even Crunchyroll) to better understand and enjoy the TV landscape as a whole. [Saloni Gajjar]