Reflecting On 2015: The Year In Pop Culture

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• "Before consigning these last 12 months to our Facebook timelines, let us remember 2015 — the year we said goodbye to 'Stephen Colbert' and hello to Stephen Colbert, were mesmerized by documentaries that were often stranger (and better) than fiction, hate-watched all those GOP debates with all those GOP presidential candidates, and everybody bought Adele’s new album."

• "Cultural appropriation is a scurrilous label older than Elvis, and as revolting as Pat Boone’s literally and figuratively pale versions of early rock 'n' roll classics by Little Richard and Fats Domino. Such concerns center not only on who makes the music, but who claims its legacy and shapes its future. Nowhere is this discussion more fractious than in hip-hop where the music is culture and the culture, for many, is life. In a genre where its most devoted acolytes still believe authenticity is everything, newcomers are expected to earn the right to stand alongside legends."

• "The TV boom that began with The Sopranos faced a clear end—or the end of a particular era, at least—when Mad Men concluded this year. That's okay, though, because the show's final few episodes were among the best Matthew Weiner and company ever did, from Don Draper's return to listless womanizing to his ambiguously enlightened end. Mad Men's enigmatic final moment did something most TV can only aspire to: It continues to be thought-provoking."

• "Whatever your entertainment obsession is — be it TV, movies, or the members of One Direction's Twitter accounts —there was something for everyone this year."