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The Must List: Ranking the Best in 25 Years of Pop Culture
Get ready to obsess over the last twenty-five years of pop culture hits, misses, and cult classics. THE MUST LIST is an elegantly packaged, gift-worthy compilation of 100 illustrated top 25 lists celebrating the best in TV, movies, books, and music from the editors of Entertainment Weekly.
Beginning with an introduction highlighting the "25 Things We've Forgotten About 1990", this full-color, deep-dive into the past twenty-five years of obsessive pop-culture coverage features the magazine's incisive criticism, trademark humor, and 2,500 amazing moments.
Featured topics Greatest Villains, One-Hit Wonders, Best Superheroes, Mobsters, Zombies, Dystopias, Shocking Snubs, Unsexiest Sexy Moments, British Imports, Memorable Deaths, Late Night Comedy Wars, and many more binge-worthy lists.
Beginning with an introduction highlighting the "25 Things We've Forgotten About 1990", this full-color, deep-dive into the past twenty-five years of obsessive pop-culture coverage features the magazine's incisive criticism, trademark humor, and 2,500 amazing moments.
Featured topics Greatest Villains, One-Hit Wonders, Best Superheroes, Mobsters, Zombies, Dystopias, Shocking Snubs, Unsexiest Sexy Moments, British Imports, Memorable Deaths, Late Night Comedy Wars, and many more binge-worthy lists.
- GenresNonfictionPop Culture
192 pages, Hardcover
First published October 6, 2015
5 people are currently reading
99 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 1, 2018
I was going to bed early....and then read this cover to cover. What can I say?? I’m a sucker for TV/Movie trivia!!! This is full of fun facts, lists of all sorts, and really highlighting the greats of Pop Culture. (I couldn’t help but laugh over the sideburns sensation that was 90210! 😍😍😍) (Or the old, decrepit toddler that is Brad Pitt as Benjamin Button) (favorite couples, favorite finales, and just plain favorites)
Light, easy read for anyone who likes pop culture trivia!!
Light, easy read for anyone who likes pop culture trivia!!
April 16, 2019
Entertainment Weekly is unabashedly 'popular' culture. That can be a good or a bad thing. This collection of lists and rankings just exemplifies that. Some of it is comforting, and some of it is appalling. Things like ranking the opening credits to Sex and the City as the most important fashion moment of the era (1990-2015). Or rating the 'unsexiest sex scenes' and actor transformations (most of which are weight gain/loss, but a couple are literally putting on face maks or fake noses). Or comparing villains across movies, TV and books. Or completely ignoring video games as a medium. There's some 'valuable' information here, seeing what topped the zeitgeist over the era, but there's a lot here that already feels exceptionally dated in under 5 years (Kevin Spacey's 4 mentions, Kanye's 6, and a dearth of female focused spotlights). I have to say I have never even heard of 18 of their top books; fantasy and science fiction don't rank high in 'popular' culture I guess.
There are some interesting pieces here, and an occasional bit of depth that makes it a decent bathroom read. I'd have ranked it 3 stars except for their terrible Infographics, which provide little to no actual information, or even make it unintelligible (their Bullseye infographics are a travesty to the format). If you're interested in what pop culture was like in 1990-2015, this makes a decent time capsule. But if you're looking for relevance and timelessness, you're reading the wrong book by the wrong magazine editors.
There are some interesting pieces here, and an occasional bit of depth that makes it a decent bathroom read. I'd have ranked it 3 stars except for their terrible Infographics, which provide little to no actual information, or even make it unintelligible (their Bullseye infographics are a travesty to the format). If you're interested in what pop culture was like in 1990-2015, this makes a decent time capsule. But if you're looking for relevance and timelessness, you're reading the wrong book by the wrong magazine editors.
September 3, 2018
I'm a huge fan of Entertainment Weekly magazine and it's not at all an exaggeration to say that I heard my copies even though I can find almost everything online these days. There's just something about physical copies that can't be beat.
Overall this was a pretty great "recap" of popular culture for the last 25 years, albeit one for a specific type of person and maybe not quite so general as they had intended. At least I was the intended audience and walked away with a nice list of new movies to watch.
Two reasons this was a 4 rather than 5 star for me: I think their bullseye is comical and always like looking at it in the weekly issues. Most of the bullseyes in this book missed the mark for me, though. Also, while magazines are obviously a quicker publication in regards to turnaround time, I feel like they could have spent a little more effort on formatting. There were several blatant errors (in one case, the text of a line got completely cut off and was just never finished).
Overall this was a pretty great "recap" of popular culture for the last 25 years, albeit one for a specific type of person and maybe not quite so general as they had intended. At least I was the intended audience and walked away with a nice list of new movies to watch.
Two reasons this was a 4 rather than 5 star for me: I think their bullseye is comical and always like looking at it in the weekly issues. Most of the bullseyes in this book missed the mark for me, though. Also, while magazines are obviously a quicker publication in regards to turnaround time, I feel like they could have spent a little more effort on formatting. There were several blatant errors (in one case, the text of a line got completely cut off and was just never finished).
December 29, 2023
3.5
This was an okay book. I loved Entertainment Weekly so this was a nice treat now that they don't have physical issues anymore but I was confused about some parts like their bullseye features (I think the series finale one, even if you take opinion into account, had some random ones pretty high up) or rankings (like sitcoms and wealth or dysfunctional families). I noticed there was an error where they captioned Brokeback Mountain as another book. It was okay but reading it all at once made me just feel all over the place.
This was an okay book. I loved Entertainment Weekly so this was a nice treat now that they don't have physical issues anymore but I was confused about some parts like their bullseye features (I think the series finale one, even if you take opinion into account, had some random ones pretty high up) or rankings (like sitcoms and wealth or dysfunctional families). I noticed there was an error where they captioned Brokeback Mountain as another book. It was okay but reading it all at once made me just feel all over the place.
October 7, 2017
Harmless, light reading. Entertainment Weekly's opinions on pop culture aren't exactly cutting edge but what can I say... ?
February 23, 2016
dificult as it is to imagine, some current pop culture is now 25 years old, but this concentrates mostly on the 'popular' aspect of culture that was and is and will ever be a way of passing time, not enriching it...
April 18, 2016
I love Entertainment Weekly and have been a subscriber for over 20 years, so when I noticed this book at the library, I knew it would be a winner. Clever lists, infographics, bright colors and a pleasing layout made this an enjoyable read. Good stuff for my pop culture-loving brain.
December 22, 2015
Eh, a stocking stuffer of a book, I suppose. Not really necessary.
May 11, 2016
It's fine.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews