The biggest entertainment comebacks of 2019

Pesci had retired from acting, which is what you can do when you have a great career, win an Oscar and don’t feel like working anymore. However, the allure of working with Martin Scorsese one last time was apparently too much for him. Pesci, appearing in his first movie since 2010, has a key supporting role in “The Irishman.” It was great to see him back — and he’s still got it.

For years, Pacino has sort of been a parody of himself. The days of Oscar movies gave way to “Hoo-ah!” impressions and his appearance in Adam Sandler’s disastrous “Jack and Jill.” This was a great year for Pacino, though. He had a small, but good, role in “Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood,” but his crowning achievement is his portrayal of Jimmy Hoffa in “The Irishman.” Another Oscar could be in the works.

OK, so this one might be a bit silly, but when you think comebacks in 2019, you probably think about the biggest movie of the year, and of all time, by box office standards. In the previous film, “Infinity War,” Thanos succeeds in his quest to make half the living beings in the universe disappear. Fortunately for everybody who was snapped away, the Avengers were able to undo the damage in “Endgame,” bringing back the likes of Spider-Man and Black Panther.

Lopez never completely disappeared, but for the last few years she seemed to be mostly floating on her well-deserved goodwill. That wasn’t the case in 2019. “Hustlers” didn’t just get people gushing over how good of shape she’s in for 50, but she is also getting legitimate Oscar buzz. We’re seeing J.Lo in a whole new light now.

“Downton Abbey,” the very British TV show, aired its last episode in 2015. Would there be an audience in 2019 for a movie based on the program? Or had too much time passed? It turns out people who loved the show were dying to see their favorite characters again, this time on the big screen. The film was made for only about $20 million, but it scored huge returns at the box office on that price to the tune of $187.6 million.

There was a lot of “Don’t call it a comeback” talk for Zellweger this year which, if we’re being honest, means this was definitely a comeback year for the Oscar-winning actress. It’s been a while since Zellweger was in the spotlight, but she’s gotten rave reviews for her work as Judy Garland in a biopic of the troubled but talented singer and actress. Zellweger is now getting Oscar buzz once again, and she might get her first Best Actress win this year.

Here is a comeback we’ve been waiting for seemingly for ages. There have been some false starts, but Murphy’s movie career never got back to a level of critical or commercial success. Finally, it seems like it’s happened. Murphy may not get an Oscar nomination for his role in “Dolemite is My Name,” but he’s gotten a lot of critical love, and he’s really good in the movie. In terms of exciting comebacks, perhaps the biggest Murphy news was his returning to host “Saturday Night Live.”

We’ve seen Aaron Paul a bit here and there over the years. There was that “Need For Speed” movie that flopped and that Hulu show “The Path,” which was OK if largely forgotten. In truth, though, many were just waiting for Paul to get the chance to return to the character that made him famous: Jesse Pinkman. Paul won multiple Emmys for playing Pinkman in “Breaking Bad.” Fans of that show were able to get some closure on Jesse thanks to “El Camino,” a Netflix movie that got Paul the best reviews he’s gotten since…well, since “Breaking Bad.”

Hamilton is basically known only for playing Sarah Connor in the “Terminator” movies. That’s totally fine, by the way, since it’s an iconic movie role. It’s been a while since Hamilton has appeared in anything notable. Her last big movie role was…maybe 1997’s “Dante’s Peak?” While she was reluctant to do it, Hamilton stepped back into the role of Connor for “Terminator Dark Fate.” The movie didn’t get great reviews, but everybody pretty much singled out how nice it was to see Hamilton on the screen again.

How about a little love for the food TV fans out there? Brown has popped up on TV here and there; however, it’s been a few years since “Cutthroat Kitchen” was canceled and even longer since the original run of “Good Eats” ended in 2012. We say “original” run because there was great news for fans of that show in 2019. After many years away, maybe the best cooking show ever came back. “Good Eats: The Return” was a reminder of how much we’ve been missing out. Fingers crossed we get a second season.

Spade’s movie career, outside of popping up in Adam Sandler movies, has largely been non-existent since “Joe Dirt.” While he was on “Rules of Engagement” for 100 episodes, that wasn’t a terribly popular show, and even that ended in 2013. We’re not saying that his new Comedy Central program, “Lights Out,” is a huge hit, but it’s the first real showcase Spade has had in years. It’s also right in his wheelhouse, for better or worse.

Speaking of the Sandman, his movie career has never really suffered too much. Netflix handled him a crazy deal, and he gets to go on vacations where he shoots half-assed movies that people stream when they are looking to kill some time. This year, though, is a comeback for Sandler: a comeback of the critically acclaimed Sandler. Every once in a while, Sandler reminds us that he really can act. This year, that’s happened with “Uncut Gems.” If only he would make movies like this more often.

As a character, Nancy Drew has been around for decades. However, the girl detective’s heyday came decades ago. People don’t read books about her, or the Hardy Boys, anymore. Previous attempts to build a TV show around Drew have also not always been successful. This year, though, Nancy is back on the CW! “Nancy Drew” is in the middle of its first season. Finally, Nancy has a home on TV.

The days of Johnson being a superstar are over. In the ‘80s, Johnson became a TV, and fashion, icon in “Miami Vice.” Then he had another TV success in “Nash Bridges,” which your parents (or grandparents) probably watched. Now Johnson is back to being good in critically acclaimed stuff. On the TV front, Johnson has an important role in “Watchmen.” In film, you can catch the erstwhile Sonny Crockett in “Knives Out.”

The individual Jonas brothers, or at least Joe and Nick, have been around since the band broke up. The collective trio, though, the “Jonas Brothers” as a band, joined back together in 2019, much to the delight of their fans. The brothers Jonas released their first album in 10 years, “Happiness Begins,” and saw it become a No. 1 that went platinum.

Rock music lost a big gun when My Chemical Romance broke up in 2013. It seemed like the emo band would be done for good, and fans would have to settle for its greatest hits album that came out in 2014. Then, out of nowhere, the band made a big announcement on, fittingly for its aesthetic, Halloween that it would be doing a reunion show in December to be followed by a tour Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

T-Pain was the “Autotune guy,” but his star had fallen after he was put in that box. Then an inexplicable little show called “The Masked Singer” debuted. The winner was the person in the Monster costume, which turned out to be T-Pain, this time sans Autotune. It changed people’s perception of T-Pain as a musician, and it just so happened he had a new album to drop right after his win.

Shia has had a weird career and a weird life. His days of being in blockbuster movies are basically over. However, he’s apparently still delivering some critically acclaimed work. In 2019 LaBeouf got good reviews from two films. One is “The Peanut Butter Falcon” while the other is the harrowing “Honey Boy,” a personal story that he co-wrote and co-stars in playing his own father.

Reiser had a recurring supporting role on Amazon Prime’s underappreciated “Red Oaks,” and of course he had that small role in “Strangers Things.” He briefly popped up in the third season of the Netflix juggernaut, but that’s just the tip of Reiser’s 2019 iceberg. In addition to roles in “Fosse/Verdon” and “The Kominsky Method,” Reiser rebooted his hit sitcom, “Mad About You.” That’s quite the year.

There have been many reincarnations and attempts to revive “The Twilight Zone.” Other than the original “Twilight Zone” show created and hosted by Rod Serling, the reboots have mostly been failures. Even the movie adaptation left a lot to be desired. Well “The Twilight Zone” came back for the first time since 2003, this time with Jordan Peele as the host. Given the success he’s had in intellectual horror, Peele seems like the perfect successor to Serling.