The best and worst of pop culture in 2023 (so far)

From Succession's stellar finale to The Flash's rubbery cameos, here's what worked—and what didn't—in entertainment this year

By Jen Lennon, Tim Lowery, Cindy White, Drew Gillis, Saloni Gajjar | June 28, 2023 | 12:00pm

Aux Features Stephen King

The best and worst of pop culture in 2023 (so far)

Clockwise from bottom left: M3GAN (Universal Pictures), Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 (Marvel Studios), Yellowjackets (Showtime), The Idol (Max), Top Chef (Bravo) Graphic: The A.V. Club

We’re only halfway through 2023, and we’ve already had some bonkers new TV shows (hi, The Idol), triumphant film franchise finales (’sup, Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3), and media companies continuing to make a mess of everything they touch (ew, Max). And, as the studios continue to hold out on a deal with striking film and television writers and with an actors strike a distinct possibility, the second half of the year is looking bleaker and bleaker. What disarmingly sexy fungus men will we have to celebrate if there are no scripted shows to watch and no stars to portray said characters? That’s why we’re looking back on all the things we’ve loved and hated so far this year: who knows when we’ll next get to see anything glorious, weird, terrible, or gloriously weirdly terrible? We need to enjoy these moments while we still can. Here’s the best and worst of pop culture so far in 2023.

Best: M3GAN’s dance

M3GAN (2022) - M3GAN Dances Scene | Movieclips

Campy killer doll movies are never a hard sell—they’re such a staple at this point that they’ve become an entire horror subgenre unto themselves. But brought a new twist to the trope: the titular doll is eerily humanlike, but still firmly in the uncanny valley, as she proves when she busts out a hypnotic and unnerving dance. The moment appeared in the film’s trailer and quickly went viral, ushering in 2023 with a weirdly fun TikTok challenge that saw people recreating the M3GAN dance. [Jen Lennon]

Worst: The Flash’s cameos

THE FLASH - FINAL TRAILER

None of ’s digital cameos look great—they’re all weirdly rubbery and lifeless—but there’s one in particular that stands out for its crassness. He appears for only a moment, but Christopher Reeve shows up as Superman through a combination of archival footage and A.I. There are others who appear this way, too, including Helen Slater as Supergirl, Adam West as Batman, and Nicolas Cage as a different Superman, but the Reeve cameo is a particular sore spot. in the past, and it’s hard to believe that he would’ve wanted his character, and his likeness, used purely for fan service as it was in The Flash. [Jen Lennon]

Most Popular

Best: Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour

America Has A Problem Live 4K - Opening Night: Beyoncé - Renaissance World Tour 2023

Beyoncé’s Renaissance tour hasn’t even made its way to North America yet, but from the phone screen, it looks like what we’d expect from a Beyoncé concert: perfection on a massive scale. During the final act, Beyoncé positions herself as the anchor of “KNTY News” to deliver Renaissance standout “America Has A Problem,” donning a custom Mugler costume that the online hive has dubbed a “.” The image of Bey the bee is the most iconic of the tour so far, but the artist has been trying to tell us for years that she is actually not perfect. A from one concert of Beyoncé accidentally shattering the helmet—and her own surprise at the mistake—is a welcome reminder that the Queen Bey is, in fact, human. [Drew Gillis]

Worst: Max

Max | The One to Watch | Coming May 23

Combining the disparate offerings of Discovery and HBO into one app sounded like a bad idea from the start, and not surprisingly the was a mess, too. Warner Bros. Discovery did a dreadful job of communicating about whether or not users would need to download a new Max app or if they could continue using the legacy HBO Max and Discovery+ apps, and on top of that the new UI was pretty damn confusing. Is anyone really looking for Succession and 90 Day Fiance in the same place? Probably not, but that hasn’t stopped Max from presenting them side-by-side, anyway. [Jen Lennon]

Best: Succession’s finale

The Succession Cast Talk Last Day of Filming & The Series’ End | Succession | Max

The decision to end with its fourth season and kill off Brian Cox’s Logan Roy provided a narrative thrust that allowed HBO’s prestige drama to bow out in top form. Creator and showrunner Jesse Armstrong gave us everything we wanted in the finale, as we watched Logan’s damaged children try to grab and hold onto the reins of power in a dramatic boardroom showdown. He also gave us something we didn’t know we needed—a rare moment of silly sibling bonding that we knew was too good to last, just like the show itself. [Cindy White]

Worst: The AMPTP holding out on a deal

is the battle between the Writers Guild of America and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. It’s been almost two months since the in their quest for a much-needed new deal, bringing a halt to production on films and TV shows. The with the writers, and now comes the threat of , too, as actors also prepare to strike for better working conditions and compensation. [Saloni Gajjar]

Best: Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3

Marvel Studios’ Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 | New Trailer

While it always seemed unlikely that James Gunn would drop the ball for the conclusion of his trilogy, Marvel has had a shaky track record lately. So the pressure was on, not just to deliver a satisfying ending to some of the most beloved movies in the MCU, but to restore some faith in Marvel as a whole. Unsurprisingly, Gunn delivered, with a heartfelt, emotional finale that explored Rocket’s backstory and gave the Guardians crew the sendoff they deserved. [Jen Lennon]

Worst: Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania

Marvel Studios’ Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania | Official Trailer

In stark contrast to Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 3 stands . It always seemed like a weird choice to introduce the MCU’s new big bad in an Ant-Man film, because the first two movies are some of the funniest in Marvel’s ever-expanding catalogue. And sure enough, the tonal shifts in Quantumania were just weird: the humor and the drama felt like they existed in two separate worlds that never came together. That’s been a recurring problem in the MCU for a while now, but when you can’t even get the balance right with Ant-Man, something’s really wrong. [Jen Lennon]

Best: Jennie from BLACKPINK in The Idol

JENNIE - The Idol (Full Dance Scene)

, as a whole, is a bizarre mess that we can’t seem to look away from, but there is one good thing to come from this show: Jennie from the K-pop group BLACKPINK. Jennie steals every scene in which she appears, showing everyone around her what actual talent looks like as the rest of the cast fumbles their way through extremely cringy dialogue. She may not get much to do (another one of the show’s innumerable sins), but whenever Jennie shows up, at least we know we’re in for some excellent choreography. [Jen Lennon]

Worst: The Weeknd’s acting in The Idol

The Idol | Official Trailer | HBO

HBO has had a lucky streak of Sunday night TV this spring with and airing back-to-back-to-back. Unfortunately, this lineup was replaced by music drama, . That’s a downfall if we’ve ever seen one. Hidden underneath the layers of terrible dialogue and unnecessarily graphic scenes is an exciting storyline. Yet, each time The Weeknd comes on screen, he zaps the fun out of it with an icy, flatlining performance. The show never figured out Tedros, which means we’re stuck with watching ” [Saloni Gajjar]

Best: Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show

Expectations for Rihanna’s return to the stage for the Super Bowl LVII halftime show were almost unmeetable. The singer has famously not released an album since 2016’s Anti, and fans had resigned themselves to the fact that Rihanna probably would not debut new music at the game. The resulting greatest hits performance, her first televised gig in over five years, proved that Rihanna still has what it takes to command the world’s biggest stage. She also managed to pull off one major surprise: revealing a baby bump, her second child with A$AP Rocky. While the performance was bittersweet for fans, who realized they definitely weren’t getting a new album anytime soon, they’ll always have that halftime show to fall back on. [Drew Gillis]

Worst: Fall TV schedules

With the AMPTP holding out on a deal with film and TV writers, . Some networks, like ABC, are relying heavily on unscripted reality shows to fill primetime slots; others, like CBS, are fully committed to the delusion that the writers strike will end in time for scripted shows to return in the fall. But since that’s extremely unlikely to happen, we’ve all got a fall TV season full of endless singing and dating competitions to look forward to. Yay. [Jen Lennon]

Best: Poker Face guest stars

brought episodic storytelling to a prestige TV format, and while there were a lot of brilliant results from that decision, the one we really want to talk about is its effect on guest stars. Poker Face was able to draw in some incredible actors who couldn’t otherwise commit to a full TV show—a single episode is a much easier sell. Thanks to that, we got guest stars like Nick Nolte, John Ratzenberger, Lil Rel Howery, Hong Chau, Adrien Brody, Ellen Barkin, Chloë Sevigny, and Ron Perlman, all of whom were absolutely delightful. [Jen Lennon]

Worst: The Golden Globes’ bizarre for-profit turn

The 2023 Golden Globe Awards were perfectly fine, but they certainly didn’t make a strong case for the show’s return after the scandals that rocked the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and led to cancelation of the ceremony in 2022. Then in June came word that the Golden Globes were being sold to private equity firm Eldridge Industries, along with Dick Clark Productions, and that the . Pro tip: if you’re an awards show trying to avoid controversy, maybe don’t turn your voting body into employees who are financially incentivized to make decisions that are in the best interest of the company, rather than simply rewarding the shows and films that deserve recognition. Just a thought. [Jen Lennon]

Best: Jack Black in The Super Mario Bros. Movie

The Super Mario Bros. Movie - Bowser Attacks Brooklyn Scene | Movieclips

Jack Black adds joy to pretty much everything he touches, but he was especially delightful as Bowser in . The casting was perfect—who better to voice a campy evil king? He brings all his to the role, making it easy to love and hate him in equal measure. [Jen Lennon]

Worst: Chris Pratt in The Super Mario Bros. Movie

The Super Mario Bros. Movie - Invincible Mario & Luigi Scene | Movieclips

Despite reassurances from the Universal Pictures marketing department that Chris Pratt’s Mario voice would actually be really great, it turned out to be pretty terrible. Pratt’s take on the Italian plumber was just his regular voice with a mild and inconsistent Brooklyn accent, which, why even bother? They should’ve just kept Charles Martinet, who’s voiced Mario in the video games since 1991. [Jen Lennon]

Best: Yellowjackets’ cannibalism scene

Let’s be clear: there was no reality in which wasn’t going to have a , but after teasing it for the entire first season, there was a question about how much longer the show could draw it out. Luckily, they got right down to business in the second season as the team devoured Jackie in episode two. It was gruesome, gory, repulsive, and strangely hypnotic—in other words, it was absolutely perfect for the show. [Jen Lennon]

Worst: Perry Mason’s cancelation

Perry Mason Season 2 | Weeks Ahead Trailer | HBO Max

Is it surprising that got the chop from HBO, given everything that’s happening over there? No. Is it a bummer? Absolutely. is a singular series, a noir(ish) project with shades of other man-against-the-system masterpieces like, say, Chinatown. It’s thematically timely, gorgeously shot, and carefully cast, with Matthew Rhys giving a career-best performance as the messy and idealistic lawyer at the center of it all. I’ll miss Mason’s drinking sessions with Strickland (Shea Whigham), the arcs of Della (Juliet Rylance) and Paul (Chris Chalk), the excellent use of Los Angeles and the show’s score, and devouring . [Tim Lowery]

Best: The Bloater in The Last Of Us

The last of us | episode 5 | full bloater Scene

If you missed the cultural discourse after episode five of HBO’s The Last Of Us, we’re either proud or sorry to tell you that, for a moment, everyone kinda wanted to get down with “.” That’s how Adam Basil, the actor inside the costume, described his character, a sort of extra-mutated zombie elevated by a fungal infection. Basil also called the beefy fungus boy a “sex icon,” which might be a bit of a stretch, but then again … that swagger is pretty hard to deny. [Jen Lennon]

Worst: Twitter, 2023 edition

Elon Musk’s Twitter nonsense continued into 2023, after he acquired the site in October 2022. Though he promised an end to his short but chaotic reign in December 2022, he didn’t actually step down until six months later, which meant he still had time to force his petulant behavior onto a public that really, really did not want to engage with him. Case in point: against King’s own wishes, which really sums up Musk’s Twitter stewardship in a nutshell. [Jen Lennon]

Best: Scandoval

Ariana Madix FURIOUS over Tom Sandoval’s Affair | Vanderpump Rules Highlight (S10 E15) | Bravo

This time a year ago, even die-hard fans knew that the show’s best days were in the distant past, and it probably wouldn’t be long before it was time to call it a day. How nice it was to be wrong; with Scandoval (i.e. Tom Sandoval cheating on his life partner, Ariana Madix, with co-star Raquel Leviss) the series got an adrenaline shot straight to the heart. Ariana’s confrontation with Tom at the top of the season 10 finale is one of the greatest moments in reality television history, with scorched-Earth dialogue that feels almost ripped from an Edward Albee play. But despite what skeptics may believe, this wasn’t scripted; if these people were that good at acting, they wouldn’t be on Vanderpump Rules. No, this was just pure, brazen betrayal, and we couldn’t get enough of it. [Drew Gillis]

Worst: Padma Lakshmi leaving Top Chef

This one stings, as Padma Lakshmi is the best to ever do it as far as the whole cooking-competition hosting gig goes. With an excellent palette and food vocabulary but also a nice sense of humor, empathy, and calm, Lakshmi helped keep this insanely intense show on an even keel. As Christina Izzo, who recapped the most recent season of for us, so wonderfully put it in her: “When Padma says something tastes good, you believe her, because she’s not only the Top Chef viewer’s guide through all of the QuickFires and Restaurant Wars and ‘mise en place’ races but also its plate-licking proxy, a through-and-through food geek able to seamlessly navigate cultures.” Luckily for us, she’ll still be around—er, on our TV sets—thanks to . [Tim Lowery]