July
Nice guys don’t always finish last — especially not in 2021, when audiences seem to crave something upbeat and folksy and guileless. The second season of “Ted Lasso” debuts, bringing a new set of challenges to the amiable coach and his underdog club, AFC Richmond. In two months, the show will sweep the comedy Emmys — we’re just telling you now, because our September entry will be packed! “Heck of a year,” Sudeikis will say, Lasso-like.
August
Who saw this coming? It’s Bennifer! Almost 20 years after their very public romance, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have found each other again, and they’re packing on the PDA, with paparazzi pics of kissing at dinner, on a yacht, on red carpets; the internet rejoices. On a sad note, it’s the end of a rock ‘n’ roll era as Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts — the beat AND heartbeat of the band — dies at age 80, just before the Stones go back on tour.
September
“There’s no place like home!” That’s the original Glinda, Kristin Chenoweth, welcoming Broadway audiences back to “Wicked.” Enthusiastic post-pandemic theatergoers — masked and vaccinated — also flock to hits like “Waitress,” “Hadestown,” “The Lion King” and “Hamilton.” The Met Gala is back, with mandatory PCR tests and a decidedly young vibe led by hosts Timothee Chalamet (in sweats and high-tops), Billie Eilish, Gorman, and tennis star Naomi Osaka. At the Emmys, it’s Lasso time, and also time to hail comedy heroine Jean Smart, who takes a trophy and basks in her “JEANaissance.” New on TV: the South Korean survival drama “Squid Game,” making an audacious entrance. In the courtroom, music star R. Kelly is convicted of sex trafficking — a milestone in the #MeToo movement, especially for Black victims of sexual abuse.
October
In an almost-too-good-to-be-true, life-meets-art moment, Captain Kirk himself boldly blasts off into space. An overwhelmed William Shatner, at 90 the oldest space traveler, describes the atmosphere keeping mankind alive as “thinner than your skin.” Daniel Craig makes his final Bond outing in “No Time to Die.” And while Tony Soprano may be dead — or not, depending on how you viewed that diner scene in the finale — he’s back as a teenager in the prequel “Many Saints of Newark,” played by none other than Michael Gandolfini, James’ son. The film, though, doesn’t thrive at the box office — unlike Sony Pictures’ Marvel sequel “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” which enjoys a huge opening. Real-life tragedy strikes a movie set as a gunshot fired by actor Alec Baldwin accidentally kills cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, horrifying an industry and spurring calls for all guns to be banned on sets.