Rueben’s Ramblings is celebrating its 10th Anniversary!!
In honor of that I decided to highlight some of the big events that took place during each year of the past 10 years.
Today’s salute is focused on 2019:
A couple of the more memorable shows that debuted during that year included:
* A Discovery of Witches – Based on the book by Deborah Harkness, this series starred Matthew Goode as a centuries-old vampire and Theresa Palmer as a historian (and reluctant witch) who fall in love despite the long-held distrust between witches and vampires.
* Whiskey Cavalier – This action series was a breath of fresh air and just so damn fun to watch during the spring of 2019. The chemistry between leads Scott Foley and Lauren Cohen was pretty terrific too. The most upsetting thing was the network cancelled the show after only 13 episodes, disappointing all of its fans and especially the cast.
* His Dark Materials – This HBO drama may not have pulled in the ratings as expected or even hoped – given that it took over the Game of Thrones time slot – but it certainly was grand in scope, had Lin-Manuel Miranda recurring – and a giant talking polar bear. There was much more to the show than that, but those were the stand-outs for me.
* The Witcher – The draw for this Netflix fantasy series was, of course, Henry Cavill (Superman himself), but I found myself captivated by the action, the magic and even the grunts and growls from Geralt. Despite less than positive critic response, this series became one of the most in demand original series on streaming platforms.
* Pennyworth – This EPIX series gave viewers a much different look at Alfred Pennyworth, the long-time butler to the Wayne family from Batman legend. Viewers got to see a young man looking to find his own place in the world while becoming a target for a conspiratorial group wanting to take over the British government.
* Batwoman – The most recent installment of the DC Universe was introduced in the fall of 2019, bringing Kate Kane, cousin to Bruce Wayne (aka Batman) to live in a Gotham City where the Caped Crusader has been MIA for the past three years. Sure, at the end of the debut season viewers were very surprised that Ruby Rose (series lead) left the show, making it necessary for the series to be revamped for its sophomore season.
Some of the big events that took place throughout the year included:
Jane the Virgin came to an end in 2019 and Gina Rodriguez had an impressive 7-minute monologue where she talked about her situation between the unexpected return of her late husband Michael (who had been believed to be dead for YEARS) and her relationship with Rafael. And, during the series finale of the show it was FINALLY revealed that the narrator of the series was actually a grown-up Mateo, Jane and Rafael’s son.
NOTE: Sadly the video of Jane’s monologue is not available online, but the video of the Mateo reveal is available, and you can see that below:
The final season of Game of Thrones was raked over the coals by fans for being hot-and-cold, disappointing a lot of fans; but one of the best events to take place in the final season was watching 5′ 1″ tall Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) kill the Night King, ending all of the White Walkers.
You can see that scene below (go to 4:48 in the video to see the BIG moment):
A big milestone that took place in 2019 was the 20th Anniversary of the TV series Angel with a reunion of the cast members on the cover of Entertainment Weekly.
Check out the cover photo for that issue:
[Photo Credit: Entertainment Weekly]
One of the final episodes of Supernatural (sure, the very last 7 episodes will air in 2021 because of the pandemic, but…) featured the return of John Winchester (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). It was an emotional episode for the cast and the fans.
You can see the family picture below:
Five years after the box office movie was released, Veronica Mars FINALLY returned for a much anticipated fourth season, and the episodes were even released early as a way to not only appease the fans but also in celebration of lead star Kristin Bell’s birthday.
That being said, though, the fourth season brought about a major controversy [Spoiler Alert if you haven’t watched] that rocked the fandom to its core. Veronica and Logan got married BUT then Logan was killed – yes, killed – in the final episode shortly after they exchanged their vows.
Needless to say, fans were in an uproar over that unnecessary and unwelcome twist and what made it even worse was the fervor over how Kristin Bell and series creator Rob Thomas handled the fans ire over Logan’s death, and the resulting efforts to stop a season 5 from ever being made without Logan.
The top movie at the box office in 2019 was Avengers: Endgame. Meanwhile some of the worst movies for the year were Stuber, Cats and the Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway film Serenity. Two movies that SHOULD have done well but turned out to be flops were Dark Phoenix and Terminator: Dark Fate.
NOTE: Regardless of how poorly those two movies performed at the box office, our photographer Dom got some great shots of cast members at Wonder Con and San Diego Comic Con.
Check out Dom’s pictures at the links below:
Terminator: Dark Fate at San Diego Comic Con
Following in the tradition, I had started a number of years earlier, I selected a group of interesting people as part of my faces of the year and new faces to be on the look out for in the new year.
Some of the people I picked for 2019 included: Cynthia Erivo, Marsai Martin, Kaitlyn Dever, Simone Missick, Andrew Scott, Samara Weaving and Beanie Feldstein.
