When looking back on 2020, a few TV shows stand out in stark contrast to others: Tiger King and The Queen’s Gambit.
Maybe it was because of the pandemic or sheer boredom, but for whatever reason, everybody watched these shows. They were so popular, in fact, they came to define the 2020 experience.
According to The Guardian, the Netflix series, starring Anya Taylor Joy, even sparked a renewed interest in the game of chess. International grandmaster Maurice Ashley told the British newspaper, “It’s really had a pretty surprising, wonderful, electrifying effect on the fanbase, particularly of non-players.”
We were a nation drawn together by the collective terror and boredom of the pandemic, leaving man of us on our couches, binging show after show—and for better or worse, 2021 wasn’t much different.
Of course, interest in the board game has since waned as people move on to new topics and curiosities in 2021. This year, it seems viewers were looking for a bit of romance and then some, with people tuning in to shows like Sex/Life and Bridgerton in record numbers.