This year spent mostly in quarantine produced some of the strangest (and let’s be real, cringiest) content this side of Priyanka Chopra clapping for essential workers from her mega-mansion’s balcony. Creaky Zoom jokes and saccharine storylines invaded our TVs. And then there’s the curiosity of Law & Order: SVU’s, uh, loose understanding of how masks work.
But life in quarantine also pushed creators to new levels of insight and originality. TikTok hosted some of the funniest reflections of our new stir-crazy states of mind. Borat made an unexpected return—and nailed the people in power bungling our nation’s pandemic response. John Wilson, of HBO’s moving new series How to With John Wilson, captured better than anyone what it felt like to be in New York in those first terrifying few days of the city’s exposure.
Here’s a look back from my Daily Beast colleagues at the highs and lows of a year in quarantine content. It’s a record of Hollywood, comedians, and internet creators responding in real-time to a transformed audience’s cravings for distraction, reflections, and anything to assure us we’re not all (really) alone. —Melissa Leon
