At this point, it’s probably better to look forward than back. 

And I write this after a lifetime of believing that there is some benefit to understanding the past in order to move forward in the present.

But just because it’s probably better doesn’t mean we can’t briefly reflect on 2023.  After all, I’ve also spent a lifetime doing things mostly the hard way and its mostly worked for me.

So why stop now?

Oh, 2023.

I so wanted to do a best of and worst person list.  The former would have included all sorts of movies, TV shows and music that many of you would have agreed with and some might have found… lacking.

As for the worst person of 2023 – well, isn’t it reassuring to know we can still ALL agree on some things?

F-CK HIM and the diapers he rode in on this year and next.

Breathe in all that fresh air now that, at least here, he’s no longer part of the equation.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!

There were worse years than 2023 but there were also better ones.  After all, how bad can it be when the polar opposite of films – Oppenheimer and Barbie – together grossed more than $2.3 BILLION dollars worldwide and are credited with temporarily “saving” the theatrical movie business?

More importantly, since at this point, I’m happy not to mix it up with phone scrolling strangers without masks sitting next to me – Barbenheimer showed us that polar opposites can play nicely with each other, share the stage and produce a great result for everyone.

Perhaps we can learn from it?

Or not.

Hi Zazzzzzz. 

Hi MAGA. 

Hi moron who cut in front of me in traffic last week but wound up behind a bus that allowed me to amble far past them thanks to the green light up ahead the bus ignored.

See, for better or worse we humans will always rise and fall on our best and worst instincts.

Meaning, who in the media predicted early on that many months of union strikes by the Writers Guild of America, the United Auto Workers and the Screen Actors Guild would net previously unheard-of gains in salary, plant re-openings, residuals and, at least, begin to address the unregulated use of AI?

It’s far from perfect but it’s a tribute to, as they say, the will of the people.

As is the bloody war in Ukraine.

As for the Hamas invasion of Israel and Israel’s invasion of Gaza, that’s a f-n mess.

Just when one hand of humanity gets it right the other becomes hopelessly entangled in all sorts of sh-t.

Even though I don’t listen much to Taylor Swift music, if at all, I can’t say I’m not thrilled her 2023 tour grossed in excess of $1 billion, she and the affable, well-dressed football star Travis Kelce seem deliciously happy together and that she gives a lot of time and energy to her devoted fans as well as millions of dollars and social media promotion to humanistic political causes and the politicians that support them.

And no, I’m not entirely trolling for readers by stating this. 

In fact, I have plans with a friend to watch her concert movie next week.

We might even order BRACELETS!!!!

This will take nothing away from my love of Maestro and the Leonard Bernstein/Bradley Cooper/Carey Mulligan story.  It will only prove that, like Barbenheimer, I can appreciate two polar opposites simultaneously.

Like everyone else, I had challenges this year.  My Dad died early in 2023 (Note: He was 94 years old, lived his like exactly the way he wanted and at the end of the day seemed really happy).  I also finally got Covid in mid-September and am still feeling some incredibly annoying, lingering side effects from the virus that can’t seem to learn the age-old show business lesson of ceding the stage.

Though which of us can?

Nevertheless, I have a great spouse, excellent friends and I don’t look half bad for a guy who last month was offered an unsolicited senior citizen discount by some checker at the market.

Yes, I took it.  But still……I was wearing a baseball hat, stylish glasses and slimming workout clothes!

At the end of the day all of this is beside the point because I often judge the year, and the state of our world, by the subjects of the original screenplays and TV pilots my students are writing about during the semester.

This fall all I got were dystopic, apocalyptic, cynical, murderous and horrific worlds.  There was one bittersweet love story but you couldn’t quite call it happy.

What there was not was a SINGLE out-and-out comedy.

This, more than anything, tells me too few of us are doing enough laughing and experiencing the bare minimum of joy.

My hope in the coming year for all of them, and all of us, is to acknowledge and embrace the idea that humor is an important tool in survival, and in life.

Barbenheimer, you know.

“Closer to Fine” – Brandi Carlile and Catherine Carlile (from Barbie soundtrack)