Pop culture thank yous

Deck the halls and fa the las, because it's time for another month of Christmas-themed columns! Oh, wait. It's not even Thanksgiving. Sorry, I'm currently camped in front of Best Buy, and time is a flat circle.

Since we have some time, I might as well use this space to say "Thank You" to all the wonderful pop culture in my life.

Sure, it can get ugly. The Kardashians are, remarkably, still a thing in 2014. All the more reason to celebrate the good pop culture, especially the stuff that kept this restless parent sane between "Dora the Explorer" and "Curious George."

Actually, I'm thankful for "Curious George." That monkey is hilarious.

• Television with definitive endings

The miniseries was back with a vengeance in 2014. The self-contained seasons of FX's "Fargo" and HBO's "True Detective" were better than (almost) all the drama I've seen on the big screen this year.

Taut and character-driven, "Fargo" successfully nailed the tone of the Coen Brothers film while carving into its own unique storytelling. And "True Detective" was an epically told police procedural on the level of "Heat," bolstered by career best performances from Woody Harrelson and Matthew McConaughey.

• Amazon Prime music

I've abandoned trying to be the guy who knows about the hipster music of today. I like what I like, and now that's mostly the stuff available for free on my Amazon Prime account.

Like its video streaming service, Amazon offers an enormous amount of music, available to stream from their magical, retail store-crushing cloud. As someone who still prefers to listen to full albums from individual artists, Amazon's library offers a listening experience similar to that time in history when we all bought records/cassettes/CDs.

Of course I still have a terrific playlist containing Weird Al, Neko Case, Phantogram and the Backstreet Boys.

• The final days of glorious late night TV

I'm a fan of Jon Stewart, Conan and both Jimmys of late night television, but nothing beats the one-two punch of David Letterman and Craig Ferguson on CBS. Letterman's interview-style wrings the best material from celebrity guests, and Ferguson's unstructured antics are a welcome change-of-pace from the cue card-riddled gags of other shows.

Ferguson ends his 10-year run next month, and Letterman is leaving sometime next year. My late nights belong to CBS for now, and I can still watch the "Daily Show" and Fallon on Hulu.

• Mario Kart 8

My wife and I don't play too many video games, but throughout our history, we've always played "Mario Kart" together. It's basically the secret to wedded bliss. Our run continues with the latest racing installment on Nintendo's Wii U console. There's nothing like ignoring your kids and smashing each other with red turtle shells on a Saturday afternoon.

Just in time for Thanksgiving, a new pack of racetracks and characters is available for download in the Nintendo online store. So skip the Black Friday (Thursday) shopping and play a video game like a real American. Happy Pre-Christmas.

Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com.