1. Palestine conflict: We were all agape as war broke out between Israel and Palestine; the heart-wrenching visuals and the constant influx of disturbing news. It seems that the sights and sounds are asking us to take a stand rather than drift in the comfort of not having an opinion.

2. Wednesday: Few can resist the nostalgic charm of The Addams Family, with its quirky characters and demented storylines. Netflix, that bastion of meaningless sequels, prequels, remakes and spin-offs, can occasionally throw up a good one and Wednesday, named after the titular Addams daughter, knocks it out of the park.

3. Imran Khan’s arrest: There is no denying that IK’s arrest was a momentous event. The visuals of the arrest, followed by the riots, made for a tense couple of days. This was the one event that united IK’s fans and foes in ecstasy – for different reasons!

4. End of Tere Bin: What aired twice (or thrice) a week, had one of the most clichéd storylines and moved at a snail’s pace, yet amassed more than a billion views on YouTube. The logic-defying successful Tere Bin had us all glued to our TVs for some reason. The day it aired its last episode was, in every sense, a day of rekindling of hope in quality television. On second thoughts – no, since it has been renewed for another season!

5. The Smiths Saga: If one has to pick from a variety of popcorn-worthy sagas coming out of Hollywood, it would be the revelation by Jada Pinkett-Smith. The estranged wife of Will Smith remains in the news for no apparent reason. One can argue that her husband had his fair share of falling from grace. However, his worst choice spoke up a few days ago to reveal that she and Will had been separated for several years.

Talha bin Hamid is an accountant and observer of pop culture. talhamid@gmail.com