Rueben's Ramblings

After everything that took place in 2020 because of the COVID pandemic, everyone was hoping for a better year in 2021. To a certain degree things have gotten a tiny bit better. Vaccines have been rolling out, booster shots are available; people are getting back to work; the entertainment industry is getting back into production; but – sadly – too many people in the United States are balking at getting the vaccines and still creating problems over wearing masks as well as balking at following health mandates that are there for good and valid reasons. And the nation has been rocked by a lot of tragedies, school shootings, unprecedented weather patterns and political quagmires. We are also currently concerned with the latest Omicron variant that has been cropping up across the globe.

It all started on January 6 when the orange-faced baboon incited the riots that took place in Washington, D.C., culminating in the insurrection at the Capitol Building. What a horrible display of human behavior that was; and what’s worse, not enough people have been prosecuted for those vial acts of treason against our country.

Only a few weeks later, the United States marked one year since the first case of COVID-19 was announced in Washington State with a death toll of 650,000 people as of February [sadly, that number continues to grow]. And then the second impeachment of the orange-faced baboon was announced without an indictment being handed down – yet again!

Then there were the Andrew Cuomo and Matt Gaetz scandals; the conviction of Derek Chauvin in the murder of George Floyd, and the Russian hackers – known as Darkside – causing a massive fuel shortage across the East Coast because of their attack on the Colonial Pipeline. There were vaccine protests throughout the country and a criminal investigation lodged against the Trump Organization; and the missile strikes between Israel and Palestine.

By the summer, it was announced that 4 million worldwide deaths were on record due to the COVID pandemic. As summer began to fade, the United States finally withdrew from Afghanistan only to have the Taliban take over that country in about a week’s time, not to mention the devastating bombing that took place at the airport there as people were desperately trying to evacuate.

And then there was the Facebook whistleblower who testified on Capitol Hill; the Navy engineer and his wife who were arrested for espionage; the French Catholic Church scandal; the recent Astroworld Festival tragedy; the extremely disappointing results of the Kyle Rittenhouse case, finding him not guilty on all counts (so very, very wrong!) while the three men in the Ahmaud Arbery case were rightfully found guilty on all counts.

Turning to weather tragedies: there were earthquakes in Indonesia and Haiti; a deadly Nor’easter that hit Texas; countless tornadoes and hurricanes throughout the South and Northeast; massive floods in Germany and Belgium as well as many parts of the U.S. South; volcanic eruptions on the Island of St. Vincent and on the Canary Islands in Spain and countless wildfires in the Pacific West.

Throughout the year it seemed like every state reported shootings at schools or malls; places of business; on military bases; at the Capitol; at a FedEx hub in Indiana and countless more. There was the horrific collapse of that condo building in Surfside, Florida; the train derailment in Montana and the horrible oil spill in Huntington Beach, California.

There were triumphs in 2021, however, including the Perseverance Rover successfully landing on Mars; President Biden signing into law making Juneteenth (June 19) a federal holiday; the medal success of all the athletes at the Summer Olympics in Japan (which were delayed one year because of the pandemic) and Matt Amodio becoming the 3rd highest regular season earner ever on Jeopardy.

Let’s all hold onto the small glimmers of hope and joy that we have been able to find throughout the year; and hold out for more good things to happen in 2022.

I hope that you will join me through the end of this year, as I focus on the best and the worst of 2021 in the worlds of TV and movies, TV ratings and so much more.

NOTE: I apologize in advance for any omissions, spelling errors or oversights I might have made, but I definitely don’t apologize for any choices I made.

TOMORROW: TV Highlights