Vote for 2017's Best Comeback
It’s time for the Yahooies, our third annual reader-voted awards honoring the best — and sometimes worst — of 2017. Each day through Dec. 8, we will announce the nominees for one category, with an accompanying poll. The winners will be crowned Monday, Dec. 11.
The nominees for 2017’s Best Comeback are…
Blade Runner 2049
Sure, Warner Bros. had no idea how to market a movie that was essentially one giant spoiler and the box office disappointed, but director Denis Villeneuve’s visually breathtaking return to Ridley Scott’s dystopian Los Angeles won over fans and critics with its atmospheric, enigmatic, enthralling story of an android-hunting cop (Ryan Gosling) tracking down his on-the-lam predecessor (Harrison Ford) to puzzle out an existential mystery. Like the original, 2049 is destined to be a cult classic. —Marcus Errico
Dave Chappelle
After turning down millions from Comedy Central and disappearing into obscurity (aka South Africa and Ohio) in 2006, the popular comic had been inching his way back into the limelight in recent years, with some surprise appearances at New York comedy clubs here, a gig hosting SNL there. Call it a Half Baked comeback, if you will. But the comeback came full-on in 2017, with the suddenly ubiquitous Chappelle inking a $60 million deal with Netflix that’s so far yielded two predictably hilarious standup specials, The Age of Spin and Deep in the Heart of Texas, already the two most-viewed comedy specials in the streaming service’s history. He’ll debut a third, Equanimity, on New Year’s Eve, perfectly capping off a spectacular ’17. —Kevin Polowy
Gendry on Game of Thrones
For several years, the Baratheon bastard was a running (rowing?) joke among fans, since he was last seen escaping Dragonstone on a boat at the end of Season 4. We didn’t find out he made it to shore until Season 7, when Davos found him in King’s Landing, once again toiling away as an anonymous blacksmith. “Thought you might still be rowing,” Davos smirked. Then, after teaming up with Jon Snow, he proved his running prowess too. Gendry: The meme that keeps on rowing. —Kelly Woo
Star Trek: Discovery
After a 10-year absence from the airwaves, the Star Trek franchise returned to its small-screen birthplace with a sleek new series that’s boldly gone to new and exciting places during its freshman year. While the creative tumult behind the scenes could be felt in Discovery‘s early episodes, the series righted its course midway through the season with a potent mixture of confident storytelling, intriguing characters, and a darker tone. Due respect to fans of Fox’s Next Generation-homage The Orville: That show may reflect what Star Trek was then, but Discovery captures where it is now. —Ethan Alter
Twin Peaks: The Return
Fulfilling a promise made by Laura Palmer herself, David Lynch and Mark Frost revisited their groundbreaking 1990 TV series for an 18-hour sequel that proved to be as marvelously mad as its predecessor. From its opening moments to that hauntingly inscrutable final image, the Twin Peaks revival consistently defied audience expectations, unafraid to baffle us with bizarre imagery or test our patience with drawn-out storytelling. Sure, Lynch and Frost could have crafted a more conventionally crowd-pleasing version, but that wouldn’t have been the Twin Peaks we know and love. —EA
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