We’ve announced our top 25 unforgettable moments of 2014. Now let’s look at the rest of our top 100…
26. HBO Go announces HBO Go spinoff
The good news for cord-cutters: HBO is finally planning to offer an online-only streaming service in 2015! The bad news: You no longer have an excuse for mooching off your dad’s subscription.
27. Viola Davis removes her wig on How to Get Away with Murder
By taking off her metaphorical armor (i.e. her hairpiece and makeup) before confronting her husband with an immortal line (“Why is your penis on a dead girl’s phone?”), Davis’ Professor Annalise Keating showed true vulnerability for the very first time—transforming her from a kickass character into an actual person.
28. Ellen Degeneres takes a selfie at the Oscars
Sure, the bloom comes off the rose a bit when you realize that the most retweeted message of all time was actually a multi-million-dollar Samsung ad—but seeing some of the world’s most famous people cut the pomp and circumstance for a few minutes at Hollywood’s most self-serious night? Still pretty cool.
29. John Oliver takes down FIFA
John Oliver’s weekly, lengthy rants became a signature of Last Week Tonight, but none was harsher than his one about the corruption surrounding the organization behind the World Cup, FIFA. What made it most poignant was Oliver, a big soccer fan, dealing with the internal struggle of being disgusted by FIFA, but still really wanting to watch the World Cup.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlJEt2KU33I
30. Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin consciously uncouple
The way other people “divorce” was just too ugly for the GOOP creator and her rocker husband. So instead, they introduced the world to a new concept in which you can separate from your spouse but still go on Caribbean vacations together.
31. Emma Stone beats Jimmy Fallon in a lip-syncing battle
The Tonight Show’s “Lip Sync Battle” is a straightforward duel: A celebrity guest and Jimmy Fallon compete over faux hooks, impassioned impressions, and whoever bows to laughter first. In the case of Emma Stone last April—who performed “Hook” (Blues Traveler) and “All I Do Is Win” (DJ Khaled) flawlessly—Fallon was left in a puddle of giggles, while Stone got bragging rights for starring in the most-watched Tonight Show clip of 2014 (38 million views and counting).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLBSoC_2IY8
32. A bust goes wrong on True Detective
In a six-minute, adrenaline-pumping sequence that followed an undercover Rust Cohle through a heist in the ’hood gone wrong, director Cary Fukunaga proved that True Detective wasn’t just about its movie stars (and won an Emmy for his efforts).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_HuFuKiq8U
33. Jimmy Fallon makes his Tonight Show debut
Jimmy Fallon set a new tone with a chorus line of famous celebrities, “old friends” who each paid up on a $100 bet that he’d never host The Tonight Show. Fallon gets special kudos for welcoming back Joan Rivers, who hadn’t been on the show since Johnny Carson banned her in the ’80s.
34. Batfleck is revealed
When Zack Snyder tweeted the first look at Ben Affleck’s Batman, he probably didn’t realize how the Internet would receive the saddest Batman yet—by inserting him into a series of even more depressing-yet-hilarious photos.
https://twitter.com/ZackSnyder/statuses/466249462348644352
35. Emma Watson gives her “He for She” speech at the UN
UN Women Goodwill Ambassador Emma Watson made a powerful statement when she launched the HeForShe campaign, declaring her feminism and sparking debate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-xqeTvD3as
36. Lupita Nyong’o speaks about “black beauty”
Lupita Nyong’o became a burgeoning style icon when she hit the awards circuit for her Oscar-winning role in 12 Years a Slave, but a speech she gave at the Essence Black Women in Hollywood Luncheon—about her insecurity with her own skin color—spoke to how limited our conceptions of beauty can be, and how much Nyong’o is doing to change that.
37. Weird Al’s late-career surge
Weird Al’s perfectly bite-sized, infinitely sharable nuggets of entertainment were made for the Internet, even if he started making them before the Internet was a thing. He proved as much when his week of daily video premieres back in July pwned the Internet harder than any hacker collective could dream.
38. Jax kills his mother on Sons of Anarchy
Even in her final moment, Gemma (Katey Sagal) manipulated her outlaw son (Charlie Hunnam): “I love you, Jackson, from the deepest purest part of my heart. You have to do this. It’s who we are, sweetheart…It’s okay. My baby boy. It’s time. I’m ready.”
39. Marvel shakes up its comics roster
The publisher’s heroes got a bit more diverse as a woman took up Thor’s hammer and Sam Wilson, one of Marvel’s most prominent black heroes, became the new Captain America. Oh, and Iron Man is now a villainous Silicon Valley tycoon.
40. Zoe Barnes dies on House of Cards
In the show’s season 2 premiere, Frank Underwood shocked audiences when he pushed nosy reporter—and sometimes lover—in front of a speeding subway.
