Never Forget Fat Betty: 20 TV GIFs That Defined 2012

This Saturday is the first night of Hanukkah, so you know what that means: it’s time for you to scramble and find a cheap ass dollar store menorah if you’re Jewish or completely ignore the holiday, outside of a casual listen to “The Hanukkah Song” on YouTube. Also, YEAR-END NOSTALGIA. God, remember how great February was? I mean, it was no April, but it was close.

We’ll keep our “What Did The Firm Mean for 2012″ trend pieces to a minimum, but it can be fun looking back at the past 12 months, if only to remember how badass Game of Thrones was. How badass? Very badass.

Anyway, as you may well know, we’ve been putting together GIFs of the Week features every Friday, then Saturday since June, and over the past eight months, we’ve compiled hundreds of continuous clips from Community, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Louie, Archer, and probably some other shows, too. In this post, we’ve selected 25 GIFs from (scripted) shows that aired in 2012 that we feel best define 2012. This isn’t a list of the BEST shows, necessarily, but moments from throughout the year that we never want to forget. Like Fat Betty.


#25. The Office

It was the year the post-Michael Scott Office defined itself with a plot about Nellie eating a taco. (Via)

#24. SNL

It was the year SNL kind of ruined Homeland for everyone *JAZZ FREAKOUT* (Via)

#23. The Walking Dead

It was the year a million “black people die like this, white people die like this” jokes were made. (Via)

#22. New Girl

It was the year we were introduced to Nick Miller’s zombie novel. “Zombie zoo, zombie zoo. Zombie zoo, zombie zoo. Who let them zombies out that damn zombie zoo?” (Via)

#21. Whiskey Business

It was the year of CMT’s Whiskey Business, with Pauly Shore (and Dog with a Blog). (Via)

#20. Homeland (sort of)

It was the year Mandy Patinkin trended on Twitter. (Via)

#19. South Park

It was the year Here Comes Honey Boo Boo became a bloated cultural phenomenon, and then Cartman mercifully ran over the squealing piglet with his Rascal. Related:

#18. Mad Men

It was the year Mad Men inspired a pitch perfect parody of a Ram Jam song. (Via)

#17. Louie

It was the year DAVID LYNCH GUEST STARRED ON LOUIE (Via)

#16. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

It was the year class was taken to the next level, now that garbage men are riding in/on limos. (Via)

#15. Girls

It was the year we all had LOUD OPINIONS about Girls, but could all agree this was great. (Via)

#14. 30 Rock

It was the year Liz Lemon got married. (Via)

#13. Liz and Dick

It was the year SO BORED Lindsay Lohan starred in an amazing Lifetime movie and her life became a terrible Lifetime movie. (Via)

#12. Veep

It was the year “gold-plated sh*t gibbon” was added to the lexicon, and we called Jonah a rapist. (Via)

#11. Louie

It was the year Louis C.K. called Jay Leno “the weirdest looking person on the planet Earth” and flipped off David Letterman. (Via)

#10. Boardwalk Empire

It was the year Boardwalk Empire done got great and Richard Harrow was named Badass of 2012. (Via)

#9. Archer

It was the year Pam referred to herself as an African American football player who’s been arrested seven times while throwing waffles at a busty naked woman in a strip club, which speaks for itself. (Via)

#8. Justified

It was the year KABONG. #teamava (Via)

#7. Parks and Recreation

It was the year Ron Swanson and Mike Ehrmantraut squared off over the last piece of shrimp. (Via)

#6. Game of Thrones

It was the year we graduated from Joffrey Slap to Joffrey Cowpie Launch. (Via)

#5. Happy Endings

It was the year Penny Hartz gave every TV blog a new slogan. (Via)

#4. Mad Men

It was the year cagey Lane Pryce punched smug Pete Campbell in his dumb face, and Danger made this. (Via)

#3. Community (part two)

#leonardlikesthisyear (Via)

#2. Breaking Bad

It was the year Breaking Bad casually referenced a Destiny’s Child song. (Via)

#1. Alison Brie

It was The Year of Alison Brie, as will 2013, 2014, etc. (Via)

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