The 30 best TV shows of 2022
Behold: the most exciting, ambitious, addictive, heartbreaking, hilarious, and simply stellar series to grace our screens this year
TV Lists Naveen Andrews
Clockwise from left: Jeremy Allen White in The Bear (Photo: Matt Dinerstein/FX), Christina Ricci in Yellowjackets (Photo: Kailey Schwerman/SHOWTIME), Quinta Brunson in Abbott Elementary (Photo: ABC/Gilles Mingasson), Fiona Shaw in Andor (Photo: Lucasfilm), Lee Minho and Jae Jun Park in Pachinko (Photo: Apple TV+) Graphic: Rebecca Fassola
Will 2022 be remembered as the year we all could finally agree that there is too much TV? We’re … not sure. But despite the overload of series (we’re looking at you, Netflix) and how unsustainable the current model feels, we’re not complaining. The last 12 months have gifted us some fantastic television, with newbies like The Bear, that little summer show that could, and the epically priced epic The Rings Of Power, not to mention the final runs of beloved series like Atlanta and Better Call Saul. So here are The A.V. Club’s 30 best TV shows of the year. To be included, a series simply needs to have aired a new episode in, yes, 2022 (so that means you just made the cut, Yellowjackets). And now, as the kids say, on with the countdown.
210 Comments
Alright, I’ll be the one to say it. Abbott Elementary is…fine. I just find it odd that a show that repurposes the tiredest conceit in comedy is somehow seen as revolutionary.
Every public school teacher I know says that the show is quite accurate.
What conceit is that?
Mockumentary. You know, like The Office. And Parks and Rec. And What we do in the shadows. And Reno 911. And…
Oh, right. I only watched one episode and I completely forgot it was mockumentary. Which is a gimmick that really needs to die.
I thought you were refering to the will they-won’t they romantic thing, which is surely way older and tireder than mockumentary.
I don’t even think of mockumentary as a conceit. It’s more a genre, like workplace comedy.
I’ll do you one better. It’s not very good.
Oop . . . I totally agree. It’s perfectly pleasant and the characters are all mostly likeable, but there’s no depth there. And the will they/won’t they is extremely shallow and dull. I think people are responding mostly to the novelty of the setting depicting average people plus our country’s aching need to have something positive in our lives atm.
Reservation dogs is damn near perfect and it should win more awardsAndor: Fantastic! Watching Stellan Skarsgård and Forest Whitaker argue, I was stunned and thinking “Why is this much talent in this star wars side project on Disney + and why are not more people watching this”. Just stunning TV. Abbot Elementary: I just had to stop watching as the principal is a clone of my boss and it was so triggering that I did not want to watch it after working it the same conditions all day. Good show. The only quibble is that elementary teachers often do not have time to eat lunch in a group.
Andor is pretty amazing, but I can certainly see why it wouldn’t be popular. Star Wars is pretty much a comfort food brand at this point with pew-pew spaceship battles and space superheroes with laser swords. This is what sci-fi is to many, many people.Andor is much more early 1970s sci-fi, that is much more interested in 15 minutes of hushed and tense dialog about the bureaucracy of moving banking accounts around without being noticed by Big Brother.
I was thinking when watching the elevator conversation with the mole, that if this was NOT sci-fi, I would not be interested in the subject mater of andor. not that any one may thing that but heist, jail break, political drama stuff is not my jam except for when in sci-fi.
I think andor will find its audience over time, it wasnt top 10 for me, but it is the best star wars product since empire. Im glad to see pachinko and res dogs getting some love. Those two really dont get much attention but are two of the best shows going. Pachinko to me was the show that really made me respect apple TV, who else would sign the checks for a fairly high budget multi-generational Japanese-Korean-English Drama, that takes some hutzpah. Severance and the Bear are both gems and I cant wait to see more of those. Atlanta managed some truly amazing episodes that are without comparison. I thought Bad Sisters was really good and probably deserving to be in the top 20 (I have no idea how LOTR got in, I choked through the first 4 episodes before I couldnt take any more, and I think WoT may actually be better than it – not saying much). Sandman was also really good and got way less attention than deserved that might actually be top 10-15 for me.
The last episode of Abbott, Janine is home sick and the principal has to take over her class. It was pretty good. Also, the cold open of an episode where Barbara confuses white celebs and Black celebs, Sheryl actually does that and Quinta wrote it into the show.
Reservation Dogs is just so, so good. It really sneaks up on you with it’s low key hang out humor and then there you are at the end of the season crying your eyes out.
I have had the great experience of teaching more than a few Native kids and their humor is just terrific.
God I was wondering why everyone was so impressed with Abbot Elementary, because I thought was decent but suffering from typical “First season of a comedy” in that characters hadn’t been established and it just wasn’t that funny yet.Makes sense because you’re all watching S2 which for some reason isn’t over here yet!
It’s wild to me that Atlanta is revered as amazing (an assessment I agree with) and you never hear about Reservation Dogs.I see a TON of similarities in those shows in terms of style, execution, vibes.
Just some random thoughts. Personally wasn’t a huge fan of The Dropout and generally find Industry as an entertaining but overrated show (it’s basically adult Skins IMO). Also wasn’t that impressed by Ms. Marvel or any of the MCU shows – Ms. Marvel is probably the best one but it wasn’t as good as the third season of Stargirl. Finally Abbott Elementary being as high as it is seems odd to me, it’s a perfectly enjoyable show but not sure it is degrees more enjoyable than Ghosts.I’m really surprised Stranger Things didn’t make the list as I thought S4 largely delivered on huge expectations and was one of the most discussed seasons of TV out all year. House of the Dragon is another shocker. And then I thought Players on Paramount+ was a really great, under the radar show that had a lot of thought and care behind it. And Hacks and Julia were both really fun HBO Max shows that seem deserving of top-30 too.
I’m not shocked HotD isn’t on the AV Club lists- the reviews/ recaps were always massively inaccurate in even summarizing the plot to the point one would question whether the reviewer actually watched the episode. It’s a tough year for television in the sense that there’s a ton of wonderful programming and the acting pool is more of an acting ocean when it comes to depth, but I suspect HotD will get some love once the awards season rolls around.
I’d be OK with someone leaving House of the Dragon out if they had good reason to – “best of” lists are always subjective and it’s entirely fine with for someone to have different tastes. It can be a good way to discover new shows to watch. I do wish they explained why they left off some of the shows I mentioned though.My preferred approach for this type of article is what AV Club used to do. Poll all of the staff writers to rank their top-30 and build the list from composite rankings. Then do an article about the near-misses and why they didn’t make it that accompanies the top-30 list.
Polygon did it that way this year, and it’s great. They even showed the ballots.
AVClub usually publishes the ballots shortly after the full list.
The amount of hype and expectation Stranger Things had to live up to was ridiculous, the last series to face that level of scrutiny was GoTs, and even further back Lost. Neither GoT or Lost lived up to the expectations, failed miserably in fact, yet Stranger Things hit it out of the park. If for only that reason, S4 of STs was fantastic. Plus…pop culture shifting music.
The Dropout was really not written all that well but I guess we’re forgiving everything because of some decent performances. Whew.
Bold to put Yellowjackets up for the same season two years in a row. Even bolder to give it an 11 spot bump!
This^
For me, the best season of television in 2022 has to be, after finishing in 5th place last year, Season 4 of Seinfeld. I’m to understand that what they were doing may have been truly groundbreaking during the time in which it originally aired.
I would be afraid not to put Yellowjackets on the list, if there was any question of its eligibility, in case Christina Ricci might murder me
I’m kinda in a weird position of being an anti-fan of some of the more popular prestige shows out there right now (Succession is so fucking mid you guys, I truly don’t understand why you all like it so much. Also, they should maybe hire someone to write them more than one single piece of music) – but Severance and Yellowjackets are in the weird position of being exactly as good for me as the hype surrounding them. I haven’t stopped thinking about either one since finishing their seasons. Genuinely so excited to see where they go next.
Surprised to see Righteous Gemstones didn’t make the cut. I thought the second season was just as good as the first – it’s like Succession, but they remembered to write jokes and make me give a shit about anyone.
Any other year, What We Do In the Shadows would have been on this list. Sad that this most recent season was just ‘very good’ rather than ‘great’.
AKA mentioned below, but Stranger Things Season 4 was fantastic – save for Skinny Hopper, which is still the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.
Also, I know an anime will never make this list, but Mob Psycho 100 III – even with the dub awfulness – is a just-as-good continuation of the absolute peak of the medium.
Also, every Marvel show this year sucked a fat one except Ms. Marvel, so glad to see it here.
Even Moon Knight *ducks* I’m so sick of the internet being over impressed by roles like this one or James McAvoy in Split “omg what a good actor he’s playing so many characters!” calm down latino man is just doing a british accent.
Yeah, Moon Knight has one extremely strong episode (second to last), and mostly just floats by on the fact that Oscar Isaac is a cutie otherwise. The hype machine played it up while airing as some sort of groundbreaking new entry into the MCU but it mostly just felt like Uncharted if everyone was underdrawn and nobody’s motivations were compelling.
She-Hulk also had an extremely good single episode, but it never figured out what it wanted to be and the finale was c-tier level meta nonsense.
I… I kinda really liked She Hulk, and I dislike nearly every Marvel series. I loved the self awareness, pop culture shenanigans and breaking the third wall. I thought it was incredible relevant, given current culture. Honestly thought the premise was great.
I got in a huge scuffle about that show on here already, wherein I was told that I was a misogynist, but honestly – I don’t like when shows go meta without really thinking through why and what it brings to the table. I felt like the ending was just “this will be clever” without really thinking through what it said about the themes of the work, how it impacted the storyline, etc. And it kinda deflated a lot of my enthusiasm for the series up until now. The whole “lol, why are Marvel stories about daddy issues” felt so toothless, when the real question should have been “why have two of the three female-led Marvel TV series featured plot points violating their heroine’s sexual autonomy when the male heroes never have to deal with this shit?”
I think there’s an absolutely sublime version of the show on the editing room floor somewhere, and I’d watch Tatiana Maslany in literally anything, but it didn’t gel with me. I’m glad you enjoyed, though! I think it was one of the better-received efforts, and I at least get why – compared to Moon Knight, anyway.
It is the fourth wall since I was always see the other 3.
You didn’t like She-Hulk?
Really? I thought it too “sucked a fat one”, or if not a fat one, certainly sucked overall.It started out incredibly promisingly. So much style. Focus on actual people and cute familities. Then it suddenly introduced some villains extremely quickly, who were berserk lunatics with no apparent rationale for their nastiness, suddenly out of nowhere ramped up the stakes to “END OF THE WORLD”, then immediately resolved that plot (in bizarrely violent way given the tone of the show), whilst being interspersed with flashbacks which utterly destroyed the pacing. Oh and all this also gave significantly less time for characterization to the point where Kamala herself seemed to be pretty personality-light. Then the finale completely changed the tone of the show once again with a sort of ‘80s retro meets Home Alone scene that just couldn’t exist in the same world as some of the earlier scenes, and then whoop tonal whiplash again as we’re suddenly supposed to care about this kid deeply when he’s really seemed like pretty much a prick and it’s all supposed to be super-serious.There are about 2.5 episodes of a good show in there. But there were 6 episodes. That ain’t good.Also I thought She-Hulk, whilst messy, was far more of a breath of fresh air for Marvel.
Exactly. After a super promising start, Ms Marvel disintegrated quickly. Her power set was really unimpressive too.
Ms Marvel started great (probably the best mcu pilot) but went off the rails by mid season. Moon Knight was an overall a better series.
Haven’t seen Mob Psycho 100’s new season, but if you liek anime the new season of Bleach is straight FIRE. Also if you don’t mind a ton of hypersexualziation Chainsaw Man is excellent.
I bounced so hard off of Bleach a decade ago, I think I’d have a hard time coming back to it. Hueco Mundo or whatever it was called was like the first show that made teenage me realize that maybe some shows were just a waste of time, haha. But I hear the production on the new season is absolutely lovely.
I watched the first episode of Chainsaw Man and was very into it – but I’m going to save more until I can watch it with some friends – it seems like a show that benefits from a social watch.
I enjoyed the entire run of OG Bleach, even if some of the arcs were meh, but man the animation on the new one is god tier. Like the 4th episode, I think, with the fight with Old Man Yama and the big bad, like dude best animation I have seen in years. But at the same time, and probably what bounced you off the OG anime is that Bleach suffers from they same thing all Shonen anime do, there is ALWAYS another big bad. DBZ is a great example, like even as early as the Cell Saga, like the good guys have planet/solar system destroying levels of power but there is always a stronger villian. That and the tendency to slow play the fights, like instead of coming in full power and just BODYING the bad guy, they tease and play around at lower levels. Liek sometimes how about you just walk into the fight and dominate the bad guy quit fucking around. As far as Chainsaw man I was mentioning it to a buddy talking about how good it is, but I was also like it’s REALLY horny. I mean most, or many, anime’s are horny but shit Chainsaw Man doesn’t even hide it, at one point the main guy’s ONLY motivation to fight is to grab some titties lol.
I can be fine with the horny when it’s not the typical anime kind of horny – I like that all of the female characters, at least from what I’ve seen, have non-stupid outfits and they all look like grownups. It’s not my flavor, but it doesn’t make me say “actually, fuck this” like some shows do. Looking at you, most isekai.
Oh I agree compared to most anime’s the female characters are dressed normally, and they tend to be just as horny as Denji, and so far he’s the only male character acting like that. Something else that happens in a later episode, not a spoiler, one of the famle character’s while drunk attempts to take advantage of Denji, then the next morning say’s something along the lines of I hope I didn’t take advantage of you last night that would have been wrong because you’re under age. Like that never happens as it’s usually the male characeter’s after a young, or at least young looking, female character. So it’s kind of nice to see that kind of stuff, while still there, as being equeal between male and female characters. Also I would suggest you watch the Old Man Yama fight from the new Bleah anime, as a example of how fucking good it looks, to get you into it, but there is a major thing that happens at the end that you really should watch the previous episodes first. And actually here is a clip that doesn’t show the whole fight so as not to spoil the ending of it, you can stop at 1 minute if you want.
Daaaaaang that looks nice.
I know right. I lost it seeing Yama bust out his Bankai. Like dude was a beast in the OG anime, but he went full beast mode in that fight, and the next episode so does Ichigo. Even though I heard this final arc from the manga is a bit iffy sometimes I am digging the anime.
Also, I know they’re both Studio Mappa, but the production of Chainsaw Man looks SO CLOSE to Jujutsu Kaisen that it’s distracting.
Oh, wow, I didn’t know that. But I love them both, so makes sense.
I didn’t know that either, though I am familiar with the studio. I haven’t actually seen any Jujutsu Kaisen.
It’s a favorite! Similar vibes to Chainsaw, with less boob-related humor (though still plenty of comedy to offset the demon-y body horror).
Ill have to check it out sometime, I do have Crunchyroll though I never even use it lol. To be fair with Chainsaw Man while it is horny compared to other anime, at least it’s just not the male characters going after young, or young looking, girls. Some of the female characters are just as horny lol. I mean the one eyed girl, can’t remember her name, damn near raped Denji, while wrong, I don’t think he would have minded lol. But the fact she even admits it would have been wrong, partly because he is underage, is something I can’t recall seeing in any anime, well ever lol. So kudos for that.
Hah, equal opportunity offense, I guess? SAME on Crunchyroll. Literally every month my partner is like “should we … cancel this? I never see you watching it?” and I throw a big fit, mostly because it’s slightly easier to pay the $X whatever each month than set up a new account when something inevitably hits.
Something like that I guess lol. Its like instead of ONLY the guys creeping on the young or young looking female characters, several of the female characters in Chainsaw Man actively use the fact that Denji has never been with a woman to motivate him to do stuff by offering a kiss of to let him grab some titties, even all the way to sex lol. Yeah with Crunchyroll honestly I have had it for YEARS but almost never watch it since doing so means using my PS4, minor hassle I know, which I barely even use at all to the point I haven’t turned it on in well over a year. I think if my Vizio TV had a CR smart app, it did once for like 2 days, I would watch it WAY more. I mean I do have the CR app on my phone, I used to have a chromecast, but streaming from my phone didn’t work really well. Shit at this point I have had CR for almost a decade but I haven’t gone on it in YEARS. But it’s one of those smallish charges that only hits once a year so I just end up forgetting about it lol.
Can’t explain it but Chainsaw Man was an instant nope for me. Barely five minutes in and I turned it off.
Fair enough, it’s certainly not for everyone. It’s certainly hyper violent and gory and super horny, though compared to other anime I think they handle it quite well TBH. And the main character Denji, is probably one of the MOST tragic hero’s in any anime I have seen. Hes homeless, treated like he is nothing, living on garbage and his only friend is a devil(dog), like as a character is really sad, but it’s also kind of sweet to see later on just how much he really TRULY appreciates things people are giving him. Like he expresses pure joy for what all these regular people just treat as normal. Sometime an anime wil grow on you sometimes not. Black Clover grew on me despite Asta’s CONSTANT screaming in the beginning, same thing with One Piece and JoJo, they certainly take getting used to.
Is anti-fan how you guys are identifying now? Your identity is that you aren’t a fan of things. You sound super fun.
It’s an overstatement for comedic effect sweety, calm down.
Ok I do like Succession because it makes me laugh, but it really is the same thing over and over again. I’m not going to argue that it’s the greatest show ever, but I enjoy it.I don’t understand the love for Yellowjackets though. To me, it exists in this weird space where serious things happen but the characters don’t really take them seriously. Trapped in the wilderness? Let’s have a school dance. Accidentally killed a guy? Let’s call our pseudo-friend to come cut up his body and pretend nothing happened. It’s hard for me to care about the plot when the characters don’t even seem to care that much.
I’m not going to hold anyone’s enjoyment of anything against them, but I feel like you could listen to that Demi Adejuyigbe video that adds lyrics to the Succession soundtrack (because that is exactly one song) and have the exact same experience as watching the show. (“All the rich white folk are going to argue. And whoever’s best is going to win a kiss from dadddyyyy.”) I think the long, staid sequences of characters brokering uninteresting business deals really kills it for me. But a lot of people seem to get a lot out of it, so mazel tov for them.
Re: Yellowjackets. In my read, the school dance stuff totally checks out. You can’t be miserable all the time – and the moments of trying to reassert some sort of control in the face of horror makes sense to me. That real life rugby team that got trapped in the Andes in the seventies (which the show is obviously drawing a ton of inspiration from) were making jokes and pulling pranks on each other right up until they were rescued, even after 3/4 of them were dead and they had to cannibalize the dead to survive. Regarding the murder, I think it’s just showing how utterly skewed their conditioned responses to horror are, even decades later. But I can understand why it would be off-putting.
I do love the show, and I’m excited for more, but I think the intended plan of five whole seasons sounds insane. From what we have thus far, it absolutely feels more suited to a tight two or three. We’ll see, I guess.
To add to what Tsume76 said below, the teenage survivors of the Uruguayan football team stranded in the Andes at one point burned extra precious firewood so they could stay up late reading comics. People are not rational machines, especially at that age.
The Home makeover episode of Shadows with the Sklars saved this season. That was fucking brilliant. I’m still so depressed about Saul I can’t even do a rewatch yet. Nacho, Howard and Kim’s attempt at redeeming herself broke my heart. If Rhea doesn’t get an Emmy for the second half of the last season… like we all haven’t been screaming this for the last 5 months.
“…save for Skinny Hopper, which is still the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.”Ditto. They took the most lovable mess on Netflix and turned him into a CW anti-hero.
I enjoyed the second season of Righteous Gemstones — but I was extremely put off by the lack of any carry-over between the two seasons. It almost felt like a soft reboot. I looked it up and saw that the creator wants to make seasons self-contained stories, which I get, but it felt like there were a lot of interesting character dynamics that were shifting at the end of season one that were almost completely swept under the rug, especially between Jesse and Amber.
Still was funny as hell though, so it’s hard to complain too much.
Agreed, it is funny and I do enjoy it. Its a bit different, though, as I believed it would be more of send up of the evangelical world.
If only Succession had more cartoon schoolgirls with giant eyes! That’s *literally* all it was missing amiright
Righteous Gemstones jumped the shark and became a caricature of itself (a bit where Succession is headed as well).
Agreed on the letdown that is Skinny Hopper. Dad Bod Hopper better be back in Season 5 or we riot.
CP Edgerunners was absolutely fantastic for a limited run series. Stranger Things S4 feels slightly behind S3, but after ignoring the series for a while, both those seasons have made me a fan for sure.
I think Peak TV or the golden age of television has passed.
Did you use the ballot system this year? The Bear feels like an unconventional number 1 pick for The AV Club, I definitely thought it was going to be Better Call Saul or Severance based on past years.
Agreed, it sounds like they did this by committee this year rather than the usual ballots and tabulation.
Cabinet of Curiosities was better than season 4 of Stranger Things and House of Dragons? Not trying to pick on this particular show but it was pretty weak. Watchable at best with maybe one great entry.
Yeah, it’s a weird choice. I watched the first two episodes, and while the aesthetic is there, I thought the writing and acting was on the level of those monthly Hulu horror movies – that is to say serviceable, but distracting.
I disagree, Cabinet of Curiosities has good actors in every episode. The problem is the show is too art house for its own good. The episodes, except for one, were too esoteric for my taste.
Yeah, it’s not good as a whole. The two Lovecraft episodes in particularly being flat out bad. That’s 1/4 of the season.
I thought the adaptation of “Pickman’s Model” for Night Gallery was better than the Cabinet of Curiosities one, and Night Gallery wasn’t great
“The Autopsy” was an amazing episode & adaptation of the seemingly unfilmable Michael Shea story. Otherwise I agree the episodes were adequate at best
I watched one episode of Cabinet and was bored out of my damn mind. And I picked that particular one because it rated very highly on multiple “best of” lists. Oy, what a fucking snooze. I won’t be back, Guillermo.
No Derry Girls? Catch onto yourselves.
Can’t believe I’m losing both Tati from Los Espookys and Orla from Derry Girls in one fell swoop.
Is Espookys cancelled????
Unfortunately yes. I expected it though since Zaslav’s in charge now.
It’s shit.It’s always been shit, it’s the short of show we get a dozen of a year in the UK and the occasional one gets caught on a hotel TV whilst an American producer is doing a press tour and gets bigger than it needs to be.
Oh how wrong you are my friend – there have not been a dozen shows in the UK as good as Derry Girls in the last 30 years. Even Scorsese’s a fan.
I’d never use the word “as good”, but there have been plenty as bad, all non funny “comedy” sitcoms with bad hooks:Derry GirlsBad EducationTwo Pints of Lager and a Packet of CrispsThe InbetweenersGrown UpsComing of AgeMrs Browns BoysMy HeroThe list goes on, just awful, awful sitcoms.
JFC – how can you lump Derry Girls in with that lot?
Because in my opinion, they’re all the same.There have been far better sitcoms on British TV this year – hell Big Boys on Channel 4 starring Derry Girls’ Dylan Llewellyn was spectacular, and no one talked about it at all.He was brilliant in that, and it was a truly hilarious and moving show.
Given that I haven’t seen it, you may well be right about Big Boys, but your opinion on Derry Girls doesn’t fill me with confidence. Anyway, we clearly aren’t going to agree on Derry Girls, and everybody’s entitled to their opinion and all that. We’ll have to agree to disagree.
It’s not just my opinion
What did Derry Girls get on that?
I’m in the 1% on that one
😂 I notice you’ve cropped the audience score!
It’s irrelevant, the audience score on RT is manipulated with review bombs and what not. If you went by that anything with a non white woman lead or non straight protagonist would be the worst thing to ever be released in the history of the Internet.I’m more than happy for you to ignore the 83% on the other image, most queer shows get marked down anyway.Example, which of the two scores here is more indicative of the finished move, do you think:
OK – I give up. Big Boys is brilliant. Even though I’ve never seen it.
You really should – it’s great, it’ll have you laughing and in tears throughout. Just because I think Derry Girls is shit (it is, it just is, it’s fucking awful), doesn’t mean you shouldn’t watch something that’s been universally acclaimed – especially since it ahs that guy from that show you like in it.Plus, there’s a second series on the way!
I don’t think it’s shit per se, but yeah I don’t get Derry Girls either. At the end of the day, I just don’t find it funny but I’m also not sure what other people see funny in it either. Very sitcom, very mugging instead of jokes. Very VERY broad premises that totally break with reality. I just don’t see it.
Meh, I wouldn’t say Bear was #1, but it’s certainly very good. I think Yellowjackets is over-rated, but honestly I either agree with or can’t comment (didn’t watch) the rest of the list, so, good job.
Wut’s your #1 then
Eh, these lists are just “What I liked best”, but I’d probably put Andor, Interview With the Vampire, and Slow Horses above Bear. Bear’s definitely in my top 10, though.
I was going to complain that Succession didn’t make the list and then I saw that aired a full year ago?! Jesus, where did 2022 go?I’ve barely seen any prestige TV this year so my list is very patchy, but I think Better Call Saul has to take it. Just an immensely satisfying final run that managed to be completely surprising yet inevitable. Shout out to Severance, one of my few binge watches this year and just ludicrously compelling and darkly funny.
Warms my heart to see so many genre shows on the list.It wasn’t that long ago a list like this would have been comprised of roughly 1/3 cops shows, 1/3 doctor shows, and 1/3 lawyer shows.
I was expecting 2/3 superhero shows and 1/3 cop shows.
Too many superhero shows on this list.
Not that long ago, that’s all there was!
You got The Bear right. And I love you for having Somebody Somewhere and Documentary Now in the top ten. But wow, some of these choices were so weak. Spotty debuts (Ms. Marvel), worst-yets (Harley), and overhyped, forgettable shows (Barry was good in the moment but I hardly remember much of it beyond that ridiculous chase scene).
You don’t remember the very last scene that redefined and reset the entire series? Or the intense face-to-face acting exercise scene? Or the scene where one major character unexpectedly commits murder?
No.
The fact that The AV Club collectively came to a decision that the limp and lifeless LOTR series was better than House of the Dragon says everything, if anything The Rings Of Power was on par with the mediocre Wheel of Time…No Stranger Things, laughable. This season of For All Mankind was easily the worst. The Dropout was awful. Cabinet of Curiosity was bad, Los Spookys was marginally better. Not even sure If Yellowjackets is a 2022 series, so is Station Eleven ? She Hulk is a better series than Ms. Marvel. 15ish in no particular order….Severance Andor
AtlantaHouse of the DragonBetter Call SaulThe Rehearsal BarryBad SistersStranger ThingsRighteous GemstonesPachinkoHacksUndoneSandmanYellowjackets/Station Eleven? 2021?
Forgot to add The Bear…. the 7th episode was probably the best episode of TV of the year. The series was fantastic, half hour genius.
cheers to that. the part where the Somalian guy starts talking about the conflict in his home country while bandaging Richy….“… is this Blackhawk Down?”*chefs kiss*
You just made me chuckle, thanks… was giving it time, but I think it’s time to rewatch Bear.
Indeed. I’ve been looking forward to my first rewatch, just gotta time it right.
Yeah, the Rings of Power really just wasn’t any fun at all.My list:1. Better Call Saul2. Andor3. The Rehearsal4. The Bear5. Our Flag Means DeathHonorable mention: Hacks, Barry, Stranger Things
I agree with a lot of this, but Los Espookys rules. More magical realism please. Water’s Shadow deciding she had spent enough time as a parasitic soul demon and that she needed to get an office job to progress her career, then showing up to the embassy for an interview and communicating in the same croaks and water noises she always has was one of the biggest belly-laughs I’ve had all year.
Yeach, that’s fair. Spookys just didn’t connect for me, though I realize it’s following. It’s on basically every end of year list, shame it got canceled. HBO has been brutal lately…
It’s absolutely a niche taste, I think a ton of folks would probably agree with you. At least it ended on a somewhat satisfactory note, compared to, say, Infinity Train. Not really hitching my wagon to any HBO property anymore, since it seems like the whole enterprise might burst into flames at any moment.
The only “Network” I have faith in anymore is Apple. Have a feeling a bunch of broadcasters are going to implode over the next couple years, sounds like AMC is already on the brink. Though I think HBO will be fine…
Depends on how hard they pivot to reality-TV Discovery shit. I doubt it’ll straight-up go the way of Quibi, but it might become thoroughly unnecessary.
If HBO were to start hocking reality trash I would prefer they died tbh… it would be easier to swallow.
I liked the Ringer’s picks for ten best shows of the year, also I miss when these lists were all on a single page.
I feel like Stranger Things is too popular, especially with the kids, for it to be considered on a site that takes tv more seriously. Considering it made an old song from the 80’s into one of the biggest hits of the summer shows that it might have been the biggest piece of pop culture this year and thus relevant to this discussion. The image of Max floating in the air above in the cemetery is also the most iconic (and best) image this year.
Honestly a lot of that doesn’t even sound good
Some of my favorites that didn’t make the list:- How To With John Wilson (Season 2)
– Station Eleven (kind of a grey area since only 3 of the 10 episodes aired this year)
– Beforeigners (Season 2) (technically a 2021 show, but didn’t debut in the US until this year)
– She-Hulk (way more fun than expected)
Episode 7 of Station Eleven, Goodbye My Damaged Home, was my favorite hour of any series in 2021. It was brilliant, it aired just after Christmas and was set in a similar time period. God, it got me, tears were shed….
I love Beforeigners! Krista Kosonen is a delight.
If there’s any show that’s ripe for spinoffs, it’s that one. How awesome would it be to have editions in the US, Australia, Hong Kong, etc?
I never thought of this, but now I want this
Our Flag Means Death barely on the list? No Peripheral, no Paper Girls? Look, I liked Rings of Power, in a this is good and I feel the need to defend it against the people who hate it for the wrong reasons… but it does not belong on a top 30 list this year.
Our Flag Means Death isn’t really all that great.
I’m now on having the urge to shit on the third comedy someone has mentioned here and I’m starting to think, is it me? Is there something wrong with me? No, it’s the children who are wrong. Our Flag Means Death was cute, but not really that funny.
Agree. It’s cute and fitfully amusing, but ultimately it’s “pretty good” at best. Sure, it deserves a lot of points for uniqueness/strangeness of concept and I’d certainly rather watch it than a bland-as-fuck generic workplace comedy like Blockbuster.But “What We Do In the Shadows” and “Los Espookys” are also unique/strange and are routinely hilarious, so…..
I’m really enjoying Peripheral. I’m surprised it’s not getting more buzz.
I would personally have Evil and Star Trek Lower Decks on my list, and I like the US Ghosts just as much as Abbott Elementary, it is hard for me to separate those in terms of quality and how fun they are. And What we do in the Shadows should not just be on the list but near the top
I love WWDTS, but I don’t know if I’d put it very high on my personal list. This season felt a weaker than previous – still sublime, but nothing that stuck with me like the Jackie Daytona or the Nadja Doll episodes from previous.
To each their own, but I loved this season of What we do in the Shadows & thought it benefited especially from the more ambitious arcs for Guillermo and Nadja
The last two seasons of Shadows have been competent, but not exactly inspired. The show is settling into middle age.
I love Evil. I’m not very religious, but I like how they discuss David’s faith vs Kristen and Ben’s lack thereof. I do think they wrote themselves into a corner with David, they needed Kristen to consider adultery to tempt David but the whole plot of him always being gone and then Sheryl kidnapping him with Leland was pretty weird. That reveal was a total WTF moment. That actor was on Amy Schumer recently. He’s pretty funny.
Will there be a separate list for episodes? There were 2 major standouts for me:Reservation Dogs – “Mable”: this episode brought together everything the show does so well. It’s hilarious and sad at the same time, reveals the generational trauma (the adults mourn for Cookie just like the kids mourn for Daniel), and has time for some sage advice from season MVP William Knifeman. It’s such a beautiful half-hour of TV.Severance – “The Way We Are”: the season finale may be the most intense episode of television I’ve ever seen. I hadn’t felt that on edge since the first time I saw Children of Men.
Episode 7 of The Bear was absolutely brilliant.
The Good Fight competed heavily with Atlanta for the best surrealist, near-future/alternative-present TV anywhere. The brilliant pivot from a procedural dominated by white lawyers to a truly off-kilter look at what a new civil war might look like was deeply funny, weird and captivating. From secret Black-run extraordinary rendition sites to hallucinogen therapy, this show WENT THERE. I already miss it. Beyond that, I’m fairly certain Bust Down’s first season will be its last but no show has done better at evoking many of the pleasures of Always Sunny’s grittier years than this show — while bringing whole new dimensionalities to the proceedings (and none of the casual racism!). The sad loss of Jak Knight would rob the show of one of its key pillars, so I suspect this way-under-the-radar show will just vanish.
THAT’S what “The Good Fight” was about??
YES. It’s honestly so good.
Well, I’m intrigued now.
It’s such a weird show, I love it.
Thanks for agreeing with me multiple times! Not to sound narcissistic, but it’s nice to find a kindred spirit in garbage online forums from time to time! 🙂
Andor was interesting but way too involved if you were not already a star wars fan. I didn’t particularly like the baby yoda in Mandalorian at all but it made the show a lot more approachable than Andor. There is something to be said keeping the main arc simple.
Yes, there’s something to be said for it. You get a simple show. Andor is leagues better because it actually tried. And Andor has been embraced by several non-SW fans I know who wouldn’t give a crap about Baby Yoda or Boba Fett or Obi Wan or any of that crap.
Andor is a perfect Star Wars show for people who aren’t fans of Star Wars. It’s more akin to a spy thriller than a sci-fi fantasy.
Now that you mention it there is a “Man from U.N.C.L.E.” vibe…..or maybe “guns of navarone”.Thank you for that, I was coming at it scifi, but yeah it is way more a Action/War genera than a scifi one.
There are many, many fine performances from the actors in these programs, but Michael Mando’s portrayal of Nacho Varga in Better Call Saul really stood out for me as my favorite of the year.
Looks like somebody forgot Mrs. Maisel, at least to me. It was on in 2022 too.Just replace “The Rehearsal” with it. #21 seems about right for it.
Jfc, that show is so unbelievably awful. I noped out mid-first episode when it became clear that we were supposed to feel bad for HER after she outed a gay black man in the 60s. The absolute audacity of that writing.
Let the right one in was a pleasant surprise for me, I adore the Swedish movie but I really liked the way they created a new story that feels really grounded
Y’all forgetting The Pantheon, the most underrated show of this year. Too bad it’s buried on AMC+.
wish Apple TV accepted my debit card so I could actually try it.
I was disappointed with BCS. I liked the first few episodes but once he and his pos wife decided to destroy an innocent man, I was out.
They all smell to me.
But I have more VHS tapes. Laser Disc. DVD’s And 4K DVD’s to watch something new every night for over a year. And with Netflix,Hulu, CBS online.Really no need for over the are. Junk.
Yes, you’re correct. There really is no need for over the are.Do yourself a favor and lay off the cough syrup.
Jason Bateman is on line 1, and wants to know if everyone forgot the first 4 months of 2022. Ozark was, and is, good enough to be on this list
This list should be called “30 most watchable shows of 2022.” As decent as some of them are, I’d like to see how they’d stack up to the ones that defined “Prestige TV”: Six Feet Under, Sopranos, Twin Peaks, Arrested Development, 30 Rock. Abbott Elementary is the only one that’s grabbed my undivided attention, and as funny and well written as its characters are, it’s a far cry from The Office or Parks and Recreation.
I feel like streaming platforms spent their first few years giving premium cable a run for its money, and then once they attracted enough subscribers started lowering our expectations.
A third of Twin Peaks was straight up bad, 30 Rock had several mediocre seasons, and I’ve never seen Six Feet Under, but I rarely see people mention it in lists of great shows anymore. Which is to say, “prestige TV” was always far from perfect. Except The Sopranos. That was one of the best shows ever made, so, of course, few others will stack up to it.I haven’t seen most of the shows on this list, but Saul, Barry, and The Bear definitely stack up (except to The Sopranos.)Also, you may be forgetting that most “prestige TV” made back in the day was garbage. For every Breaking Bad, there were 10 or 20 Low Winter Suns.
I loved the first season of Twin Peaks, the season 2 finale, and I enjoyed the third season as a creative experiment, but I completely understand why people didn’t enjoy much of any of it. I showed my boyfriend the first two episodes, and as polite as he was about it, I immediately knew he wouldn’t be a convert. I think one of the most important aspects of Twin Peaks as prestige TV was that it very noticeably influenced the whole concept. You can see so many of its themes in Six Feet Under, Mad Men, and even the Sopranos, now far more fleshed out and watchable than they were on Twin Peaks. The Bear is brilliant and has staying power. As you mention, a lot of “prestige TV” is garbage. Critics and audiences get caught up in the idea of something new and fail to recognize how bad it is beyond the novelty. That’s how I feel about Game of Thrones and Westworld, neither of which I think will be remembered too fondly in future re-watchings. In a lot of shows, like 30 Rock and I’ll add The Office and Parks and Recreation, a great show goes off the rails with fan service and struggles to maintain its identity.
I’ll also add that television seems to wax and wane in quality. The ‘80s were a wasteland of cut-and-paste family sitcoms and then the ‘90s upended the whole concept with Seinfeld, Friends, even Ellen. By the late ‘90s and early 2000s we were finally getting sitcoms funny enough to get a laugh without a laugh track, something that hadn’t been tried since Police Squad bombed. I remember seeing a few on-location scenes in Will & Grace that aired without a laugh track and thinking how stale a lot of the jokes seemed when you weren’t queued to laugh. I think it’s also generational and dependent upon who’s watching. The ‘90s really reached out to Generation X when we were still young and single, so you saw a lot of shows representing that. By now, most of our generation has kids and we’re seeing a resurgence of laugh track family comedy. In the ‘90s, people our age had the spare time to sit down and engage with a TV show. Now that most of us are cooking dinner during Prime Time, parents aren’t looking for anything particularly engaging.
That said, television is so much more prolific now, there’s room for both fluff and for prestige, which is why I wonder why shows that stack up to the Sopranos or Seinfeld (which I think proved it could have survived without a laugh track in Curb Your Enthusiasm) are so hard to find. Always Sunny in Philadelphia is another show that I think has abandoned its identity, not for fan service, but because Rob McElhenney has gotten lost up his own butt. For at least five years, the entire show has felt like one long inside joke we’re not in on.
I still can’t believe Police Squad! bombed. I’m not old enough to remember when it was on, but the Naked Gun movies were utterly hysterical at the time and still have their moments. I guess it was before its time, audience-wise.
“‘90s, people our age had the spare time to sit down and engage with a TV show”Interesting. For me, I’m a Gen X. i started college in 1990 and finished my doctorate in 1999. The 90s were probably the time i engaged in tv the absolute least. I was either drunk, chasing girls, or studying, sometimes all at the same time. But i definitely didn’t have a ton of time.
“Six Feet Under, but I rarely see people mention it in lists of great shows anymore”That’s an “age of people making lists” problem, not a “quality of show” problem, to be clear. Six Feet Under is extremely superior television, but it doesn’t have the legendary status or, frankly “fun” gangster-genre-ness of The Sopranos, so hasn’t attracted a secondary audience in the same way The Sopranos has.I agree re: Twin Peaks and 30 Rock though. 30 Rock has entire seasons which are kind of hard to get through.
Twin Peaks ten years before the dawn of what we consider “prestige TV.”
30 Rock is “Prestige”?Really?Does that word mean something else in America, like fanny?
Twin Peaks is pretty ludicrously overrated. It absolutely is not remotely on-par with any of the other shows you listed.Andor on the other hand, is, bizarrely. I was don’t think I could have expected that less.
How many dollars did Amazon give you to put LOTR on this list? Lol.
Is the A.V. Club publishing the individual ballots this year? I’ve found them the most interesting part of the annual end-of-year coverage
I know “Bosch: Legacy”, “Reacher” & “The Terminal List” are too low brow for “critics” & among my 10 favorite shows of the year, but “The Lincoln Lawyer” certainly should have made it here. The only MCU I’m interested in now is the Michael Connelly Universe.
Don’t get the love for Abbott Elementary. Watched the pilot and I was utterly underwhelmed, if not downright bored. Is it one of those things that takes a while to find its footing, but then becomes great?
It gets worse. At least it does unti labout ep 9 or 10 when I stopped.At one point I was bored enough to count how many times characters stared into the camera *hilariously* Jim from the Office -style. It was legitimately like once every 5-10 seconds.
I can’t believe someone thought it was a good idea to go back to the mockumentary well in 2021. Ugh.
Pretty sure Yellowjackets was 2021 unless I’ve lost all sense of time.
Rings of Power? Really? Did you actually watch it? It was pretty bad. I don’t think you watched it.
The Bear is only mediocre, sahrrrry.
1899 is superior to most of this list; there is a strange tilt towards soap opera and violent glitz (not that I don’t tolerate a modest amount of either). It’s hard to justify not including foreign tv anymore.
Definitely one of my top favorites too. It was like Lost except they didn’t play coy forever and everything eventually paid off and made sense.
Hey, was Dark Winds any good? Only watched the first episode.
I really liked the performances and atmosphere in Dark Winds though the plot ended up less than satisfying
Okay, thanks. I felt the same way about “The Old Man.” We started Dark Winds, we just keep forgetting to circle back to it.
After a second season I wasn’t quite sure about, the third season of My Brilliant Friend absolutely knocked my socks off, particularly the rhapsodic finale. Really looking forward to seeing how that show finishes up next year. No other HBO shows from the last few years (sorry Succession and White Lotus) utilize the photogenic beauty of Italy as effectively as that show does.
Omg, it was sublime. That show is still haunting me.
Holy shit, the the Bear was hot garbage. A completely unbelievable and nonsensical show. Nothing about it made sense:
1. A chef in one of the top restaurants in NYC (i.e. the world) ends up broke in a Chicago italian beef shop .
2. dosing a bunch of kids with xanax and no kid ends up in the hospital or any one in jail.
3. gang violence in one of the richest parts of Chicago (Streeterville)4. a dessert chef at a beef shop?5. sit down family meals at an italian beef shop.6. italian beef shop closed for lunch?7. a culinary student wants to work an italian beef shop…. please.
8. running an italian beef shop like a Michelin star restaurant… fuck no.
That’s just going off my memory, the arcade competition IIRC was stupid because they were banking on really far suburbanites to come; then the cigarette pack drama was moronic; the NYC food rating system in Chicago… There was so much wrong with the show it felt like was written by an AI chat bot.
You forgot the 2 dumbest things, the cop telling the guy he was looking at 2nd degree murder charges if the guy he punched doesn’t wake up despite the fact the guy he punched was attacking people, and him, in his business. And the suicidal drug addict taking the time to open sauce cans, place tons of money in them, and reseal them because he was certain they’d be found by his brother.
I think you are strongly incorrect in your assessment of show. It seems like you don’t understand the kind of restaurant they were portraying. Like, at all. And if you did, it seems like most of your issues here wouldn’t exist. (But I’m far too tired to elucidate on this atm, sorry. Look up the actual restaurant it was based on. Or like, the most famous hot chicken restaurants in Nashville. Similar situations. Good food doesn’t have an area code, bro.) Also, the mob is not really the same thing as a “gang”. Those words have very very different connotations.
I live in Chicago, I know exactly what kind of restaurant they were portraying. I’m not sure you’re even talking about the same show, if you are I’m guessing you didn’t even pay attention.
The horrible LOTR that everyone now agrees is a complete failure but not the fantastic House of the Dragon that even you reviewed and praised ? What ?
I could only do half. I’m slippin. Several of my favorite shows all had or are nearing their final seasons, which may have effected why they ranked so high. May also explain why I’m starting to watch less tv. Anyway, my 2022 probably stacks up like this:
15.
14. (Spoilers)
13.
12.
11.
10.
9.
8.
7. (Spoilers)
6.
5. (Spoilers)
4.
3.2. (Spoilers?)
1. (Spoilers)
I don’t even own a TV.
I’ve hit up so many Best of 2022 lists in the past couple days and have yet to see one that includes Ozark S4. Y’all sukkas got short memories- the first part of S4 dropped in January, the second part dropped in April.
The DropOut had its moments but in general was a terrible betrayal of the incredible reporting, book, and documentary that all came first. They clearly were racing to get the thing done and left out gobs of shortcuts Holmes took on the science, the tech, the medicine, etc. If you didn’t know the backstory going in you’d be forgiven for wondering what all the fuss was about. Seyfried kept forgetting what to do with her mouth – kind of like lapsing from one accent to another. And geez, after watching the plane struggle to gain altitude for the first 7 episodes they pack the entire plane crash into the final episode. Producers must have been GOT fans (“Hey, dinner is waiting, let’s wrap it up!”)
I don’t watch that many TV shows through but the best I watched in 20221. Strange Things season 42. Peacemaker3. The Boys4. Reacher5. Harley Quinn Season 3I can’t wait to watch Cabinet of Curiosities (when I get some free time). Thanks for the list, will check out at least 2 shows on this list when I can.
I watched 18 of these shows. Some were good; others not so much. Some were overrated. Here’s hoping 2023 has a long list too of good shows too.
Feel free to pile on, but I really disliked The Bear. To me, the tone, the directorial style, the sometimes utterly ridiculous situations reminded me of a show from the 90s. Trying oh, so hard to be edgy. This would’ve been more relevant if it came out during the celebrity chef explosion period from that era.
Ha, I was just debating whether I wanted to jump in and say the same thing and saw this. Agreed, I felt like I could hear it being pitched while I was watching it.
I thought it was fine, I don’t see it being #1. There are a couple bits on there that were so dumb I had to just shake my head. My main problem was it was basically just White playing Lip again. If you told me the show was a Shameless spinoff where Lip went off to culinary school and came back home it plays out pretty much exactly the same.
Wait, I can’t be bothered going through the whole slideshow again but…is Star Trek: Strange New Worlds not on it? And Rings of Power IS?
Great to see Heartstopper on the list, I’ve been a huge fan of the comics for years, it’s just a lovely, spot on adaptation of the source.Queer youth need more shows like that.
Ahem: Slow Horses.
Who has time to watch all this stuff??
Any best of list that includes Rings of Power can be thrown out the window.
Disney celebrating Life Day is so strange to me. The Star Wars Holiday Special from 1978 has never been canon in Star Wars. (not Christmas Special. Christmas has nothing to do with it) The special made up a holiday that is celebrated on the Wookies planet. Because obviously there’s no Jesus in Star Wars. George Lucas disavowed this special and tried to hide it for decades. Now Disney is like, wait a minute, not so fast. Life Day is canon in Star Wars. Which makes us all assume then that the Holiday Special is now canon in Star Wars. At this point just remaster the print and put the Holiday Special on Disney+
Bluey is not on this list. So…
the lack of “My Brilliant Friend” is truly astounding
Stranger Things, Sandman, Mrs. Maisel would all be top 10 for me
So just screw We Own The City?