The best TV of 2019 so far
Image: Photo: Tuca & BertiePhoto: The Other TwoPhoto: FleabagGraphic: Natalie Peeples TV Features Entertainment, Culture
The threat of nuclear winter and the return of a prestige drama from the dead(wood) made for some of the hottest shows of the spring, but as we look back at the year in TV so far, it’s clear that comedies had a distinct edge over their longer, ostensibly more substantive counterparts. But dig a little deeper and you’ll find that some of the most outstanding offerings on The A.V. Club’s unranked list regularly blur the lines between the two formats, combining poignant character arcs and heady themes with humor both broad and trenchant. Even existential crises regularly found their way into half-hours about brassy New Yorkers and overwhelmed Los Angeles-based assassins. Despite not making as strong of a showing (yet), dramas still commanded plenty of attention, particularly those that put history on trial. So who’s the real winner in this contest? The viewer, who, thanks to the abundance of half-hour shows, for once has a chance to watch them all.
Barry (HBO)
If Barry was to hit its marks in its second season, it couldn’t just repeat the games of internal tug-of-war the first season dotted with showbiz satire and bloody mayhem. But after a slow start, it was clear that the aftermath of Janice Moss’ murder and the Chechen-Bolivian alliance wasn’t just raising the show’s bar—it was grabbing that bar in its teeth and running it barefoot up a tree and onto a nearby roof. “Ronny/lily” is the episode that’ll keep people talking for the rest of the year, but season two of Barry is stuffed with material that tests the show’s limits while broadening its horizons, like Sarah Goldberg’s stunning poolside monologue in “Audition” or the rib-tickling way the show established that Barry’s acting-class roommates are so dense, they don’t even notice him charging through the living room with a loaded pistol. (And in perhaps the most stunning challenge to the show’s status quo, Anthony Carrigan did an undercover scene in a wig.) Crucially for the show’s long-term prospects, the war for Barry’s soul was advanced to its next stage, pitting him between acting coach Gene (Henry Winkler, still spectacular) and devil-on-the-shoulder Fuchs (Stephen Root, even better), the pair of father figures he’s betrayed to varying degrees. Even the season’s parting sentiment counts as escalation, topping last year’s “Starting right… now” with a four-word send-off: “Barry Berkman did this.” [Erik Adams]
Better Things (FX)
Better Things has never made anything look easy—not parenting, aging, or being a working actor or an adolescent. But series star, co-creator, and director Pamela Adlon certainly has made depicting all of life’s vagaries seem effortless, even as she gave her FX comedy all the elan and heft of a prestige drama. The veteran actor has led her series like a family, nurturing her young cast members and shepherding the FX dramedy through three glorious seasons and one tremendous setback. Once Adlon regrouped, she rightly decided to make Sam the focus of season three; it was through that raucous, wonderfully expressive prism that viewers experienced sexual awakenings and revived crushes and perimenopause, and the familiar feeling of getting everything wrong despite your best intentions. Better Things maintained its balance of serialized and episodic storytelling, crafting an intricate collage out of the children’s storylines, including Max’s (Mikey Madison) arrested development and Frankie’s (Hannah Alligood) irrepressible brattiness, as well as Phil’s (Celia Imrie) tough decisions and the past Sam couldn’t keep buried. Through it all, Adlon kept us laughing and empathizing with the Fox family, who grow more endearing—and frustrating—with each episode. [Danette Chavez]
Chernobyl (HBO)
Chernobyl drifted quietly into HBO’s programming schedule as the distracted masses groused and argued over Game Of Thrones’ contentious final season, a seemingly endless source of roundabout discourse. Soon enough, though, Craig Mazin’s five-episode miniseries—a somber, unflinching look at the 1986 nuclear disaster keyed to our modern anxieties about government and climate—began penetrating the zeitgeist via word-of-mouth Twitter chatter and, believe it or not, memes. Perhaps, one wonders, a dose of sobering realism was just the antidote for those burned out after seven seasons of sex, swords, and dragons? But Chernobyl is more than just a history lesson, as veteran screenwriter Mazin’s elegant five-act structure toys with a myriad of genres—war, horror, drama, courtroom—as it embraces an episodic approach that allows the breadth of the accident’s aftermath to unfold in a digestible fashion that doesn’t downplay its terrors. It helps, too, to have the trio of Jared Harris, Stellan Skarsgård, and Emily Watson—the latter a composite character—anchoring the ever-swelling narrative, forging affecting bonds that help drive home the human element at the center of so much tragedy. That humanity, after all, is exactly what the Soviet government of the series didn’t want you to see. [Randall Colburn]
Deadwood: The Movie (HBO)
What a strange time it is for TV. Remember how there was a third season of Twin Peaks 25 years following its cancellation? How did that even happen? It’s a question we’re also asking about Deadwood: The Movie, a project that, just last year, Timothy Olyphant said was doomed. Yet, it exists. And, unlike so many revived properties, it managed to, for 110 sad, cathartic minutes, recapture the three-season show’s profane, redemptive spirit and provide it the satisfying end it was denied in 2006. That satisfaction is multifaceted, though. Sure, we’re given a marriage, a birth, some revenge, and, for several characters, a sense of hard-fought peace. But the real payoff is in the mere sight of this ensemble, the likes of whom were, as a collective, always more important than whatever story was unfolding at the time. So, yes, it’s sad that we couldn’t see Powers Boothe and Ralph Richeson alongside their old compatriots, but it was nevertheless lovely to see the gray that’s gathered in the beard of W. Earl Brown’s Dan Dority, who’s still somehow alive after all these years, or to hear Ian McShane’s Al Swearengen and Brad Dourif’s Doc Cochran banter about humans being “collections of cells.” With this epilogue, creator David Milch, who’s tragically battling Alzheimer’s, not only gave us the bigger picture, but the smaller ones, too. The barbs, the asides, the moments that made Deadwood so much more than the sum of its parts. [Randall Colburn]
Documentary Now! (IFC)
Bill Hader’s many responsibilities to Barry might have indicated a rocky third season for Documentary Now!, as exemplary as his wide cast of characters has been on the latter series. But season three made up for Hader’s on-camera absence (he still contributed the script for “Searching For Mr. Larson: A Love Letter From The Far Side”) by reaching out to a variety of other talents, with frequently tremendous results. Cate Blanchett was a fearless revelation as a performance artist at war with her former partner (Fred Armisen) in “Waiting For The Artist,” which somehow both paid homage to and poked fun at the experimental art movement. Owen Wilson made for an ideal whacked-out guru in the two-part cult-themed “Batshit Valley,” while Michael C. Hall, Tim Robinson, and Bobby Moynihan portrayed three very different bowlers vying for dominance in “Any Given Saturday Afternoon.” These all made for a typically superlative Documentary Now! season, but episode three, “Original Cast Album: Co-Op” stood out most of all. John Mulaney takes over for Armisen and Hader as a Steven Sondheim knockoff leading a depressed cast through recording the soundtrack album for an already closed Broadway show. That cast fortunately includes a flustered Richard Kind, and Paula Pell doing her best Elaine Stritch in “I’ve Gotta Go,” just one of the “Co-Op” songs that would seamlessly fit into an actual Broadway musical. The performances are transcendent, but Documentary Now!’s attention to detail remains unbelievably next-level: a long string of various magazine covers featuring bowling’s latest bad boy, the colorful ’70s wardrobe of the “Co-Op” orchestra, “Artist”’s unforgettable final revenge shot. [Gwen Ihnat]
Fleabag (Amazon)
“This is a love story,” Fleabag announces at the start of the show’s second season. As improbable as that statement appears to be at the time, with blood streaming down her face nearly reaching her about-to-be iconic jumpsuit, it turns out to be true. In season one, Phoebe Waller-Bridge established the emotional Fleabag groundwork, as her main character broke the fourth wall continually to reveal her inner life, slowly coming to grips with the death of both her mother and her best friend. In season two, Fleabag’s painful yet frequently funny journey continued onward, spurred on by the arrival of the hot priest (Andrew Scott) who’s about to marry her father and stepmother. The priest unlocks Fleabag’s inner self in a way that no one else can, so much so that he demands to know who she’s talking to when she’s addressing the camera. It’s a thrilling, shocking moment, proof that he’s reaching her on an entirely new (and intimate) level. Even though that situation doesn’t ultimately conclude the way Fleabag wants it to, thanks to the priest, she’s finally opened her heart again, even leading to closer relationships with her sister (Sian Clifford) and father (Bill Paterson), who also conquer their own emotional hurdles this season. Fleabag’s head shake at the end of the series is as inspiring as it is devastating; she no longer needs us any more, ready to fully walk back into her own life. [Gwen Ihnat]
Gentleman Jack (HBO)
Whatever expectations we might’ve had for a new BBC period drama, Gentleman Jack handily upended them. The HBO co-production, written and directed by British TV veteran Sally Wainwright (Happy Valley), cuts an odd, refreshing figure in the television landscape, much like Anne Lister (Suranne Jones) does as she power-walks around 19th-century Halifax in her top hat, collecting rents, dressing down shady businessmen, and steaming up sitting rooms in pursuit of Ann Walker (Sophie Rundle). The real-life Lister’s journals portray a passionate, difficult woman with a remarkably modern grasp of herself and her sexual nature, and Wainwright works a similarly eccentric confidence into nearly every level of her production: the knowingly over-the-top music; the dynamic camerawork and snappy editing; the smart, saucy script. Not only is Gentleman Jack America’s introduction to the force of nature that is Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster), but also it serves as a multigenerational survey of British TV talent. To name just a few, Rundle, Amelia Bullmore, Gemma Jones, and Gemma Whelan (a.k.a. Yara Greyjoy) all turn in superb performances, helping to make this series as multifaceted and as boldly subversive as its namesake. [Kelsey J. Waite]
I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson (Netflix)
Good sketches from Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin’s six-episode Netflix sleeper hit I Think You Should Leave follow a fairly simple formula: Take an asshole, give him a terrible idea (and a brain-lodging catchphrase like “mud pie” or “tugging knob”), and then have him double down in the face of reason, over and over again, until uncomfortable hilarity ensues. Great ITYSL sketches, however, blow past those simple beginnings into a sort of dark absurdist underworld that lurks somewhere far below the world of rationality, full of great babies, stinky cars, and men so horny they have no recourse but to honk. The beautiful part, though, is that you can almost always trace the madness back to a seemingly normal anxiety, one that Robinson and his team have then steadily blown out into chaotic genius through the simple expedient of asking “What would be the worst possible reaction to this?” By the time you’re in Garfield’s house, screaming about nacho equity, it’s already too late; you’re trapped in a three-minute, very funny horror movie where your own bad impulses and insecurities are the ultimate life-destroying threat. [William Hughes]
On My Block (Netflix)
When tragedy strikes our small, but mighty South Central California crew, Monse (Sierra Capri), Ruby (Jason Genao), Cesar (Diego Tinoco), Jamal (Brett Gray), and Jasmine (Jessica Marie Garcia) must juggle their grief over losing Olivia with school, love, the looming threat of gang violence, and a very sudden injection of cash that is far too shady and plentiful for kids to manage. Death, especially when it deals with a major character, can be tricky to navigate. On My Block found ways to thoughtfully incorporate grief and PTSD into the series’ overall texture without sacrificing the cringeworthy coming-of-age fun that made the show so phenomenal in the first place. The choice to elevate Garcia to a series regular also flexed a keen eye for comedic gold as the refreshingly layered Jasmine elbowed her way into the core friend group and, by proxy, our hearts. On My Block continues to demonstrate how to integrate tragedy into the stories of teens of color without making it their entire world. After all, Ruby still has to find a dope date to the dance, and that’s just as important. [Shannon Miller]
Pen15 (Hulu)
The first season of this Hulu comedy from Maya Erskine, Anna Konkle, and Sam Zvibleman was marked by bravura performances from its two leads, Erskine and Konkle, who essentially play their tween selves. When Pen15 begins, it looks like a promising idea for a sketch, but gradually becomes a raunchy and moving look at puberty and family, as well as a testament to the indefatigable spirit of young women, particularly ones who are big fans of the Spice Girls. The success of this oft-unhinged comedy hinges on Erskine and Konkle, who make reliving your adolescence look like the best and worst of times. Their utter commitment to these roles and this premise smooths over any bumps early on, as the two actors manage to turn back time with little more than slumping posture, bright-eyed stares, pastel polos, and hip-hugger jeans. Season one improves as it goes on, and is even better upon rewatch, which we suppose makes it a grower, not a show-er. [Danette Chavez]
Ramy
(Hulu)
Television doesn’t get much more daring in 2019 than the scene from Ramy’s fourth episode in which a younger version of the episode’s writer and director (and the series’ creator and star, Ramy Youssef) has a post-9/11 debate with Osama bin Laden over a bowl of strawberries. That’s third-rail stuff for any comedically inclined program, let alone one so early in its first season, let alone Youssef’s directorial debut. But that’s just the kind of splash Ramy made on Hulu in April, tempered by a nuance and grace that took viewers into a version of Youssef’s suburban New Jersey stomping grounds, where the TV Ramy wrestles with his Muslim faith and Millennial ennui while the Ramy behind the scenes affords similar courtesy to his fictionalized counterpart’s restless mother, Maysa (Hiam Abbass), and grad-student sister, Dena (May Calamawy). Executive-produced by Jerrod Carmichael for A24 television, Ramy bears the former’s fearless exploration of hot-button topics and the latter’s indie-movie dreaminess, but a personal vision of this type can only be achieved with a bone-deep specificity. When the show’s protagonist takes a late-season pilgrimage to his parents’ native Egypt, he finds that he still feels like an outsider even when he’s ostensibly home. Perhaps it’s because, in all the world, there’s only one Ramy—and likewise, there’s only one Ramy. [Erik Adams]
Russian Doll (Netflix)
Some of Russian Doll’s gifts to the streaming world are obvious: Sweet birthday babies. Natasha Lyonne’s bangs. The proper pronunciation of the word “cock-a-roach.” But for every gleaming facet of the show’s surface charms, there’s a deeper, equally satisfying set of pleasures. And we don’t just mean its cleverly constructed puzzle box of a plot, nor its continual climb through a series of divergent tones (although both of those things are deeply satisfying from a storytelling point of view). Layered beneath all of that, Russian Doll is also a portrait of a brilliant, difficult, world-weary, kind-hearted, complex woman, created with unusual thoughtfulness and care by an all-female creative team. Channelling Lyonne’s natural swagger and street smarts, Nadia moves through the world on her own terms—well, and the terms of the supernatural time loop that has her caught in an eternal cycle of violent death and sudden rebirth. But she’s working on that second one. [Katie Rife]
Superstore (NBC)
The retail employees of Superstore have survived to one of the sweetest spots of a sitcom’s evolution, when the characters have come into focus, the cast chemistry is properly calibrated, and the writers can start harvesting the crops of storylines they planted in the show’s earliest stages. In season four, that meant heartwarming (and occasionally quinceñeara-ruining) romantic payoff for Amy (America Ferrera) and Jonah (Ben Feldman), but it also meant a streak of winning episodes whose big laughs arrived on the surface of long-simmering, deeply relevant plots about the whole Cloud 9 crew. Sometimes those plots involved a lurking Easter Bunny or the disappearance of a whole cage full of exotic birds, and sometimes they involved labor organization and draconian immigration policy. Whatever directions the season went, it all embodied the spirit it went out with, as the staff rallied to show they’re a force greater and more resilient than the building that brought them together—a fitting exclamation point for creator Justin Spitzer and his time as showrunner. [Erik Adams]
The Other Two (Comedy Central)
Most sitcoms deal with a first season of minor stumbles, as the creators and cast find their sea legs and figure out the characters, style, and tone of the series they’ve come together to develop. Why is why it’s such a treat when a show like The Other Two comes storming right out of the celebrity-satire gate, forging ahead with a confident sense of its own storytelling abilities and a richly textured universe in which to plunk its two struggling protagonists—oh, and it’s funny as hell. Cary and Brooke Dubek (Drew Tarver and Heléne Yorke, both wonderful) are hitting that time in their twenties when they start to suspect their dreams of success—artistic, financial, you name it—may be beyond their reach, which of course is exactly the moment their sweet-natured pubescent sibling Chase (Case Walker) becomes a Bieber-esque teeny-bopper superstar following a hit viral video. The series nails an ideal blend of pathos mixed into its lacerating wit, as Cary and Brooke are pulled into their brother’s orbit (the less polite term would be “coattail riding”) and attempt to figure out what it means to exist in a world where you’ll always be seen as the also-ran. With sweetly warped supporting turns from Molly Shannon as their fiercely upbeat mother and Ken Marino as the world’s neediest manager, The Other Two’s secret weapon is the very thing it’s two leads keep buried so deep: a profoundly vulnerable beating heart. [Alex McLevy]
Tuca & Bertie (Netflix)
It would have been so easy for Netflix’s Tuca & Bertie to rest on its colorful whimsy and built-in odd-couple trope. (“One’s an admitted fussbudget! The other is a carefree tucan! Hilarity ensues! Also… boobs!”) Thankfully, Lisa Hanawalt’s story of a deeply loving female friendship weaves head-tilting hijinks and serious laughs with honest portrayals of trauma, anxiety, commitment, and the labor of maintaining relationships. Tuca (Tiffany Haddish) and Bertie (Ali Wong) may have specific roles within their friendship, but they are never sequestered to a singular box: Both women are hilarious and a little tortured, quirky and introspective. They are given enough room to be justifiably fucked-up without having to automatically ameliorate that space with jokes (though there are still plenty of those to spare). Best of all, their love for each other is not treated as a cure-all for their legitimate issues—their friendship requires actual work, and sometimes that makes things a little rocky. For a show crammed with pot-smoking foliage and the occasional puppet, Tuca & Bertie is one of the realest shows of the year. [Shannon Miller]
Vida (Starz)
Tanya Saracho’s unabashedly queer, brown, and sexy dramedy went to the head of the sophomore class in its second season, deepening its exploration of identity while also showing off greater dramatic and comedic chops than ever before. Vida remains a paragon of punchy storytelling, striking chords and busting guts in half-hour bursts. The series is more ambitious in its second season; while continuing to weave together an innovative immigration narrative and a classic family drama, Vida offers greater insight into queer culture, which sometimes has its own set of gatekeepers. Saracho and her fellow female Latinx directors also take full advantage of Starz’s reputation to feature some of the most thoughtful, incredibly sensual, and occasionally jaw-dropping sex scenes. Also upping their game are lead actors Mishel Prada and Melissa Barrera, who share a palpable, relatable bond as the Hernandez sisters, Emma and Lyn, respectively. And thank la virgen that it’s already been renewed for a third season, because queer bartender Nico (Roberta Colindrez) is fast becoming the internet’s girlfriend. [Danette Chavez]
What We Do In The Shadows (FX)
Adapting Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s What We Do In The Shadows for television is a pretty simple exercise on its surface; after all, the mockumentary format has produced some of the most popular sitcoms of this century. But capturing the playful, anarchic, awkwardly sexy spirit of the movie, particularly over an entire season, is a more complicated task, one that FX’s version of What We Do In The Shadows happily accomplishes. The series carries over the comedic and storytelling style of the film—hello, doctored historical illustrations and long, silly lists—while expanding its internal mythos to include psychic vampires who feed on boredom and a council of immortal bloodsuckers to which Wesley Snipes calls in over Skype. But the best example of the way What We Do In The Shadows builds on its namesake is in the new roster of vampires plotting their takeover of America, or at least Staten Island: Dorky medieval warlord Nandor (Kayvan Novak), unabashed hedonist Laszlo (Matt Berry, in an inspired bit of casting), and sex-positive undead feminist Nadja (Natasia Demetriou). Oh, and Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch). He’s also there. [Katie Rife]
When They See Us (Netflix)
Ava DuVernay’s limited series about the horrors faced by the Exonerated Five is an undeniably challenging watch, but it’s worth it—When They See Us is easily one of the most illuminating and well-crafted shows of the year. The series follows the five black and Latinx teens who were swallowed up by an inequitable justice system and spat out years later to piece together some manner of existence despite ever-dimming prospects. When They See Us is powered by a righteous fury, but it gives the narrative the chance to breathe and develop that was denied to these five youths, Korey Wise, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam, Kevin Richardson, and Antron McCray, played in the first part of the series by Jharrel Jerome, Marquis Rodriguez, Ethan Herisse, Asante Blackk, and Caleel Harris, respectively. The entire cast, including Aunjanue Ellis, Niecy Nash, and Michael K. Williams, turns in exceptional performances throughout, even when all hope seems to be lost. Once again, DuVernay turns her perspicacious eye to a moment of great injustice in this country’s history, and uncovers an uglier truth hidden beneath the headlines and full-page op-eds. [Danette Chavez]
Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas (HBO)
The quietly great Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas managed to cut through the din of online discourse and tentpole-touting late-night shows thanks to its measured approach and host Wyatt Cenac’s dry-as-fuck wit. Cenac recently announced that Problem Areas won’t be back for a third season which, frankly, is a problem. The HBO series, a kind of documentary and talk-show hybrid, offered something that the talk landscape, for all its many, white male-led options, has been desperately lacking: a discussion centered around facts and grounded by real, lived experiences. Cenac never did anything as flashy as invent a new spokesperson for the tobacco industry or stage a big musical number about restorative justice, but the show did do its research on topics like unions, police shootings, and education. Problem Areas always unearthed even more questions as it sought out solutions, but that didn’t make the show any less intelligent or gratifying. Viewers could take heart in watching communities come together in Michigan to improve upon the school lunch program, while also taking away a valuable lesson about the widespread effects of food insecurity. [Danette Chavez]
You’re The Worst (FXX)
You’re The Worst thrived on its sideways approach to romantic comedy, and what better cap to a rom-com than a wedding? For its five-season run, its cast of unlikable characters were people you rooted for, despite their enormous flaws and penchants for self-destruction. That all came to a head in the final season, which saw a series high of episodic television writing, including the experimental opener “The Intransigence Of Love” and the Paul F. Tompkins fake-out in “Bachelor/Bachelorette Party Sunday Funday.” Woven throughout the season was a series cunningly crafted flash-forwards, suggesting that Gretchen (Aya Cash) and Jimmy’s (Chris Geere) wedding won’t happen. It makes the bait-and-switch reveal overwhelmingly cathartic in in the series finale, “Pancakes,” giving viewers who stuck with Jimmy and Gretchen through the many ups and downs an enormously satisfying conclusion to their tumultuous love story. Their growth, dysfunctional as it is, showed how people can love each other in all sorts of different ways. That idea became a motif in the final episode, with Lindsay (Kether Donohue) growing up enough to embrace another try at marriage with ex-husband, Paul (Allan McLeod), while Edgar (Desmin Borges) is confident enough to leave his co-dependent relationship with Jimmy in the past. For a show so full of romantic failures, depression, and PTSD, You’re The Worst turned out to be an optimistic show about miserable people. [Caitlin PenzeyMoog]
269 Comments
Great list. I would add that Jett is off to a promising start in a summertime fun kind of way.
Yeah Superstore!
Agreed, and I might add…. why is that show and most of the shows on this list not covered on this here website??Hell, people talk about Fleabag like it’s the second coming and they dropped coverage halfway through a very short season.
I’m still annoyed that we didn’t get recaps on the last two episodes of Fleabag. Honestly, what the fuck?
Because the site is a shadow of its previous self, that’s why.
Oh I know. But they do still cover things. Just not most of what their own critics think is the cream of the crop.
Nothing worse than Superstore’s season finale being mentioned on the site’s What’s On Tonight and then for it not to be covered the next day.
I know! I thought we might at least get finale coverage as a result, but nope.
Because they’re too busy making sure every episode of Modern Family gets recapped, silly!
I loved that one scene in Barry where he apes a monologue from Braveheart instead of using doing one about what he did in Afghanistan.
You’re the Worst’s best episodes are some of my favorite TV, but I don’t think the finale really stuck the landing. Edgar and even Gretchen’s terrible Mom raised a couple of very valid objections to their pairing in the penultimate episode, which I guess we were just supposed to ignore because they came from someone with ulterior motives/so unlikeable, respectively?
“Let’s just be together without getting married” doesn’t actually solve any of the issues they raised, and while it’s arguably still a fairly novel ending for a TV rom/com, it’s less so in the real world where that describes like 20-30% of the couples someone in their age range is likely to know.
I don’t know if we are asked to ignore Edgar’s (or Gretchen’s mom’s) concerns as much as we are supposed to add them to the context of the ending.
Arguably Jimmy and Gretchen both became ever-so-slightly better people by the end of the series, and the largest amounts of toxicity in their relationship hinged around their impending marriage. By not getting married neither of them are actively attempting to sabotage the relationship as both of them had been in one way or another for the final season. The epilogue montage conveys fully that they are still struggling with the ever-present issues they conveyed in the series (particularly Gretchen’s depression), but that they are seemingly committed to some level of growth. It shows that Edgar wasn’t wrong, but he wasn’t implicitly right either. This is not to mention that the montage only shows us maybe 5 years into the future at most. There’s plenty of time for them to ruin each other’s lives…and their baby’s.
First off, i appreciate the thoughtful response.
For me, one of the more incisive things that Edgar pointed out was that their version of love was more an acceptance and even celebration of each other’s self-destructive behaviors. That’s not uncommon for a comedy, and we’re trained as viewers to look the other way on it because it’s often funny, but once you lay it out in a dramatic scene, you kind of have to deal with it. But by the end, we’re back to treating it as a joke or casual aside. Gretchen can’t get through a weekend without drinking, and Jimmy’s teasing her and making bets on it, but that’s really not great when you’re the parent of a small child.
They do show a lot of growth in the flash forwards, but I’m not sure it’s earned so much as it just sort of happens with the more problematic aspects getting pushed aside so we can get to the happy ending. It’d be like if two scenes after Melfi kicked Tony Soprano out of therapy, we cut to the future where he’s a priest. It’s not impossible to imagine that journey, but it glosses over some important things that have been established about the character.
I still crack up when I remember the Baron’s reaction to eating the pizza pie.
Just him saying, “Peezza pie.” made it “totally worth it.”
And the fact that he bought the peezza pie in Mana-hatta.
Thank you for On My Block shout-out, such a great show that so little people talk about.
Natasia Demetriou’s utter contempt for the name “Jeff” is so hilarious that if What We Do in the Shadows had the audience it deserved, it would kill off the name for at least a generation.
I came for Matt Berry and because I really liked the movie and stayed for her.
“What about Gizmo?” She has so many great little moments.
Honestly my sides are about splitting every time i see this.
I watched that scene like 4 times because I could not stop laughing. My wife was seriously second-guessing her life choices.
The show is utter perfection and completely baffles my wife. My fits of laughter may also put her off, of course.
When describing a scene to a friend of mine (trying to convince him to watch the show) and having to include the phrases “werewolf” and “squeaky toy” in the same sentence… I continue to be amazed. That joke alone puts the show on the best-of list.
The squeaky toy scene slayed me.
In addition to the utterly wonderful Natasia Demetriou and literally everything she does as Nadja, I’d like to also give a nod to the following inspired moments:
– Laszlo’s erotic topiary
– Nandor’s dildo suit
– Ska-la Land
– Colin Richardson’s face at the city council meeting
– Jenna’s bat form
– Kristen Schaal’s liason to the vampire council: “We sent ravens. We sent like a hundred freaking ravens!”
– the vampire council
– literally every time Laszlo says “bat” to turn into a bat
This show is almost too beautiful to exist.
The whole cast is so good. There really isn’t a weak link there, even in the guest roles.
The show had me at ‘Seinf*ck.’
Look, when the vampire baby showed up on the council, I laughed for about 10 minutes.
Oh God, Jenna’s bat-form. I was already cracking up at just how…useless she is and then that came on and I literally screamed “WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!?” Mind you, my favourite bit was Tilda Swinton. And Evan Rachel Wood (or, well, the Immortal Princess of the Undead…) Just sheer brilliant hilarity…Shall we watch a snippet? Lets!
The actor who plays nandor is also fantastic with weird readings of lines. Years ago he did a show in the uk called fonejacker where he prank called people using various weird and wnderful accents. His pronunciation of DVD as ‘duhvuhduh’ has been used by us in our house ever since.
“BAT!”Never stops being funny.
Like, its even funny when he very calmly explains to Jenna that he has to say “BAT” to turn into a bat.
“See, its different for everyone. For instance, when I want to turn into a bat, I simply stop and yell ‘BAT’”. I died.
Laszlo’s *maternal* erotic topiary
The vampire battle between energy vampire Colin and emotional vampire Evie was the funniest thing I’ve seen all year. “Remind me to email you a Slate article on the millennial housing crisis!”
“Not you, Guillermo” is my favorite recurring line in recent memory.
It’s so rare to have a show where almost every single joke lands perfectly. The pilot’s scene in the supermarket with Nandor and Guillermo is a damn masterpiece of silliness.
“Creepy paper!”“It’s crepe paper.”“Creeeepy paper!”
I am, like, 85% sure that while Colin Robinson is surely an energy vampire, he’s not, you know, Undead. He’s just a guy who sucks the life out of a room.
If you liked Natasia, I’ve got to recommend Stath Let’s Flats, a British comedy series from last year. She and her brother play the two main characters and she’s even funnier in it that WWDITS.
and “Fucking” Mike
But… I’m Jeff. And… yeah I get it.
Between Chernobyl, Fleabag, What We Do in the Shadows, and When They See Us, it’s been a ridiculously good year for TV so far.I will forever love how Colin Robinson is always Colin Robinson and look forward to seeing what Guillermo does in season 2. Who knew that the show would so perfectly capture the movie’s spirit so perfectly?!? Still holding out hope to see Rhys Darby and his pack of werewolves show up on Staten Island.
I decided to finally check out AP Bio because Hulu said it was expiring. It was a treat to see a cameo from the actor that plays Colin Robinson in a, ahem, more hands-on type of character. WWDITS is easily my pick for favorite new show of the year, and might be my overall show of the year. I came in with low expectations as a big fan of the movie, but holy shit did they knock it out of the park.
I am honestly shocked that it has managed to, in my opinion, equal its film predecessor. I suspect that part of it comes from the fact that Clement and Waititi were so involved with the creative side, if not in front of the camera.I really should look at more things with Colin Robinson in it because he was such a damned delight.
The actor’s name is Mark Proksch, but yes, he’s wonderful. He’s been on The Office, Portlandia and Better Call Saul, as well. He’s also married to former AV Club staple Amelie Gillette.
He’ll always be Colin Robinson to me. Honestly, I don’t think I could think of him by his actual name because of the show.
The episode with him and Vanessa Bayer was classic.
And On Cinema at the Cinema!
And a noted yo-yo artist.
Haha! True.
Oh, 100%. When I learned Waititi and Clement were very involved in the season after seeing the pilot, I allowed myself to get more hyped.
The battle between Colin Robinson and Evie Russell feeding off each other’s energy and emotion had me in tears of laughter. It’s such an outstanding scene.
I can’t believe they managed to fit in Wesley Snipes, but no Rhys Darby in the first season. He’ll be in season 2 for sure.
“Take an asshole, give him a terrible idea (and a brain-lodging catchphrase like “mud pie” or “tugging knob”)”
Wait, hold up just a second.
What makes the principal of the school an asshole?
Wow this is fucking simple:1.Chernobyl2.When They See Us3.Too Old To Die YoungI haven’t seen that many TV shows this year but these three shows are my picks. Plus, shows like Black Spot (aka French Twin Peaks) and Hilda are basically from a year or two so I have a lot to catchup with not only this year’s TV, but last year’s TV as well.Unfortunately, TOTDY is the one show I can NEVER recommend to anyone unless if he/she is familiar with the works of Nick Refn. It’s like an acquired taste for acquired tasted. I loved every minute of it more than Only God Forgives, but goddamnit my “normie” friends would be pissed within the second episode.
I will watch it but I am over Miles Teller and his penis face
He’s not in every episode, so you’re fine.
It’s been such a good year for TV, but I don’t know that I’ve ever been left wanting more at the end of a season as I was from Fleabag. Phoebe Waller Bridge is a great writer, but she’s also an incredible, charismatic presence in front of the camera. I wish she did more acting. Pen15 also deserves more attention than it got.
I was honestly bereft at the end of Fleabag. I wanted not just a third series, but 4 more series.
Six seasons and a movie.
Have you checked out Crashing? One season only, starring and written by Phoebe Waller Bridge (not to be confused with the US Crashing). It’s on Netflix, or at least it was a few months back. It’s far more traditional than Fleabag, and not as brilliant, but is still very good in its own right and given the recent Waller Bridge love, I’m surprised that it still seems completely under the radar here. (Plus, my husband Jonathan Bailey is in it).
Thank you. I’ve heard of it, but I had no idea she was involved. I’ll check it out.
I am still so annoyed that Crashing only got one season. It was really coming together nicely and then . . . nothing.
I love in the finale when she’s climbing the ladder up into the attic to find her dad, and she quickly looks back at the camera and makes sure her skirt is pulled down.
I would add that Broad City and Veep had stellar final seasons.
Sorry, we thought Veep phoned it in. The show’s typical excesses were even more excessive to the point it was just all excess. With a nod to Spinal Tap, they took it to 11 and kept it there, always a sign a show has jumped the shark.
Tuca and Bertie is fuckin awful. Both the transformers and twilight movies are objectively better than that turd of a show. Anyone arguing/debating this fact is wearing a bike helmet and is clinically retarded. There are zero redeeming qualities about the show.
I wouldn’t say *zero* redeeming qualities. There were some solid ideas there, but the execution was just so aggressivly weird…
yeah, i tried on Tuca and Bertie…but who the fuck ok’d that show.
The German-language Netflix show Dark has to be added to this list. As season 2 dropped, literally, this morning, it definitely qualifies. Episode 1 was fantastic.
Have When They See Us in the queue, but the only ones I’ve managed to see are Russian Doll, Fleabag and Gentleman Jack. Russian Doll was pretty good, Fleabag wasn’t as good as first season but watchable and Gentleman Jack I quit. And I’ve canceled my HBO, because Game of Thrones crashed, so my Chernobyl is going to be re-reading the Fredrik Pohl novel Chernobyl. If I had more confidence in the ability of online critics to see rather than to hear the buzz, I suppose I’d check some of these out, except no cartoons, which I just can’t get into.
How dare you terrible fucking monsters include the absolutely deserving masterpiece that is Fleabag on this list (that last shot of the S2 finale broke my heart), but not mention the completely perfect in every way Olivia Colman. How DARE you. The master of passive-aggressive shittiness, so wantonly cast aside. Honestly. Long live the Queen.Barry, Fleabag, and What We Do In The Shadows are hands-down without a doubt my favorites of the year so far. Head and shoulders above the rest. I shotgun binged the latter two series over the course of about a week, and I only wish I could go back and do it all again.
Olivia Colman is a gem and I am SO happy that she is finally getting the reconition that she has long deserved. And the amazing thing about her performance in Fleabag is that it may be her best one yet, which is truly saying something.
She’ll always be Doris to me.
So perfect as Doris.And so funny in Hot Fuzz
I quite like a midnight gobble.
You don’t mind a bit of manpower, do you Doris?
Cooock
Lol, IKR?! She and Paddy Considine had me dyin’. Love that movie.
Olivia Colman has had me on her side since Peep Show.
Love her so much. I love when Nicholas lightens up at the end and makes her laugh with some dirty joke. “Dirty bastard!”
Scrumbscious. All of the performances really. Oh that hot priest, and I LOVE the way her relationship with the Father might have given this show a whole new fascinating direction.But I don’t think there’ll be a Season 2 D:
Her performance in tyrannosaur is my fave.
I wasn’t much of a fan of her performance in The Queen (it was a broad caricature IMO…Rachel Weisz was the true standout of that movie) but she is awesome in Fleabag.
The Queen starred Helen Mirren.If you mean The Favourite, I agree. It is a ‘Black Comedy’ (from the director of The Lobster, no less), so the caricature was intentional. But not effective, imo. Queen Anne really did suffer from debilitating chronic illnesses. But using that fact as a driving force for the ‘comedy’, I think, really does diminish the part Anne played in history and the representation of Anne that Coleman was expected to supply. She came off as a coddled, sex-crazed nincompoop.
The Queen…duh. yes that’s a bit of a mistake on my part“She came off as a coddled, sex-crazed nincompoop.”Exactly. The performance had no depth and was one note.
She was the caricature in The Favourite but her pitch perfect facial expressions completely earned that Oscar in my opinion.
Counterpoint: Her facial expressions convinced me that Yorgos Lanthimos hates women.
I’m sure he does as I am a bit of a misandrist and don’t trust any man hahaha but that doesn’t mean she didn’t nail them.
Fleabag has so much heat on it that sometimes I’d remind myself mid-episode that “Oh yeah, that’s Oscar winner Olivia Coleman just having fun in the background of this show.”
I’m pretty sure I openly gasped when she first showed up. I hadn’t heard much about it besides how good it was before I started watching, so I had no idea.
The second season is so much better and the final scene is one of the best things I have seen on screen in a long time. It still makes me have all the feels. The blocking, dialog, pacing so perfectly devastating.
The scene where Andrew Scott looks into the camera as well to try and figure out who the hell she’s talking to really kinda freaked me out. It was so totally unexpected.I almost wish that Olivia Colman had played her real mother. It would explain why she’s so selfish and nasty, at least on a surface level.
I gasped out loud the first time the priest catches Fleabag breaking the forth wall. It was so unexpected and so utterly perfect. And then when he looks into the camera I about melted. The whole thing just works so, so effortlessly.
Yup. The trope has been normalized by The Office and Parks and Rec for so long, so to see a different show break it apart and use it in a completely different way was pretty incredible. Besides, Andrew Scott’s face kinda freaks me out to begin with anyway. lolI can’t wait to see what Phoebe does with the Bond 25 script, and as much as I loved Solo when it first came out, I love it even more now that I know it’s her playing L3.
I honestly cannot believe how much better the second series is, especially given how great the first one was.
High Maintenance needs a place on this list too! The episode with the gay construction worker was the best romance I’ve seen in awhile!
I did love that episode and do love that show, but I really didn’t care for the focus on The Guy’s relationship/fling this season. I like it better when it’s more of an anthology (and I also didn’t really care for the love interest).
No love or shout outs for Broad City, Catastrophe, and Veep? I would put them over Ramy and Russian Doll. The latter are good, but not exactly Grade A compared to Broad City and Veep.
Catastrophe – so underrated, so remarkable. We were seriously crushed to see it end.
I think it ended beautifully: that panning out shot of Rob and Sharon in the water was crushingly tender and true.
I absolutely rate Veep as a show overall, but I thought the final season was the weakest. Best of 2014? Sure. Best of 2019? Not so much.
Yeah they didn’t seem to be too concerned with lauding shows that were ending this year. But Catastrophe is better than pretty much everything else on this list.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend isn’t here, either. “Love’s Not a Game” was the single funniest thing on television this year, and it shall not be forgotten.
I’d add Deadly Class and The Tick…RIP 🙁
I enjoyed Deadly Class, but I understand why people wouldn’t. It had such potential. The Tick however was great and it pisses me off they cancelled it.
Did season 2 of the Tick turn it around. Honestly, I hold the animated series in such high esteem it is hard for me to enjoy any other version.
I bailed on Deadly Class after like two episodes. It was horrible
Different strokes for different folks. I enjoyed it and thought it was surprisingly faithful to the comic with some smart liberties taken to make for a better show. I guess you’re right and I’m wrong because they cancelled it.
The Vegas episode was actually really good or at least well done visually. It’s kinda obvious how it’ll be, but I the way they did trippy stuff was better than most do.
Me too. It was just dreadfully dull.
RIP the Tick indeed. They were going in an interesting direction, but it was always a cult hit without much broad appeal. I don’t think any of the shows lasted more than three seasons, including the animated show.
My sole contribution to this list is the K-drama “The Light In Your Eyes” (Alt title ‘Radiant’). The showrunners had ‘Trojan horsed’ the story, initially making the viewer think they were watching a light ‘magical realism’ rom-com. Then they dialed the story progressively bleaker until they gave us the mother of all Big Reversals which, in episode 10 (out of 12), turned the entire story on its head. The series was shown to have all along been a meditation on old age, living with dementia, and a life reaching its conclusion. Another website had been recapping. The recapper abruptly stopped and needed a two month break before recapping the final 2 episodes. Because the episode 10 story reversal affected the recapper so profoundly she needed time to compose herself and process her emotions before returning.And yes, I think K-drama television should be included in AV Club viewer lists because K-dramas are as easily accessed these days as any of the ‘traditional’ broadcast and cable fare.
Which service did you use to watch it on? I’ve been taking a long break from k-dramas, thanks to the shock dissolution of Dramafever, and have been wanting to get back in.
I watched the series on the Ratukem VIKI streaming site. VIKI has recently picked up a lot of former Drama Fever content, though unfortunately not all of it (and not some of my favorites).
https://www.viki.com/tv/36415c-radiant
Thanks! I’ve been thinking of signing up for that and you may have just settled that.
Side note – apparently there’s a third alternate title to the series: ‘Dazzling’. Here’s an unexperteed line from the Wikipedia entry on the series: “The drama is regarded as one of the best dramas of all time”.
I LOVED the show, and would regard it as one of the best K-Dramas I’ve seen, but I’ve seen… four. Still, I’d take that line in Wiki with a grain of salt–notice that there’s no link to a source for that comment?
I’ve been trying to start exploring K-Drama. I’ve only watched a couple of series, including Stranger, Signal and
Let’s Eat.
Any recommendations?
Oh, there’s so many to choose from.If you’re talking about streaming shows from VIKI:
I most often suggest the semi-comedy “My Wife is Having An Affair This Week” from 2016 for starters. It has everything I like about K-drama all in one packageIf you’re into epic fantasy comedy-dramas involving demigods and teenage girls VIKI has just uploaded the 2016 hit “Guardian: The Lonely and Great God”, If you’re into glossy mystery pot-boilers with a VERY strong female lead there’s the superior 2018 series“Misty”If you like touching rom-coms I especially liked “Because This Life Is Our First”.There’s also the time travel thriller “Chicago Typewriter”The VIKI website is vast. The easiest way to find a series is typing the show name (or an actor’s name) into the search bar.
Thanks heaps!
I have to say I was unprepared for how much I enjoyed Catch-22 despite how unceremoniously it was received after premiering. Completely divorcing it from the book (which was easy as I haven’t read it in 15 years) I was able to enjoy it for what it was. A deeply somber comedy(?) about trauma. It tended to invert the tone of the source material from being a comedy that slowly reveals itself as a horror show of atrocities, to a story that wears its ugliness up front and peppers in enough absurdity and jokes to keep it from being unbearably heavy.
That and every single performance was lights out great.
Pretty solid list, but I can’t help but feel AP Bio should have been included here. Season two was such a marked improvement over season one, it became appointment television in my house in a time when appointment television doesn’t exist any more.
Was Venture Brothers season 7 this year or end of last year? If it was part of this year it belongs on this list. My brain is goo so maybe it was last year.
I was just wondering that myself, but it was last summer. It was good enough that it should be on this year’s list somehow though.
Cool thanks! Yes it was so great it should still be on this list. Last season and season 4 to me are all time great Season’s for any TV shows.
I don’t watch much TV, and especially not when it airs, but for some reason I was on the ground floor for Tuca and Bertie. And it’s an absolute masterpiece.There’s a lot of good that can be said about so much of it, so my go-to is always one of the parts I don’t see reflected on as much: just how good of a character Speckle is. It feels odd to highlight the only prominent male character in a strong female show, but he’s actually the archetype that in any other show is usually a woman, and also usually terrible: the boring, voice-of-reason ‘wife character’ that largely ends up with the role of telling the more fun cast members to not do the fun things.But Speckle’s the most fun boring person I’ve ever seen, they just delight in making him the plainest, nicest person in the world. And yes he’s the voice of reason, but the show’s usually siding with him when he’s taking an opposing stance without being preachy about it.
Steven Yeun is so great as Speckle and I love how he’s written.
See I just couldn’t get into it. The whole thing felt super try-hardy and gross. It felt like an amateur screenwriter watched Bojack Horseman and got “ideas”.
Wayne’s only problem area these days is being off the air.Other than that, solid list but Veep should have been there.Vida is quietly great…probably being in Starz means not too many people are watching.Mrs. Meisel is the Amazon show getting all the glory but it should be Fleabag.
Yep, I saw the free trial of Vida — first two episodes — and loved it. Would love to continue watching it but hell if I’m paying for yet another TV-delivering service on top of the 45 I’m already paying for one show. (Same feelings about The Good Fight.) (Seriously, at first this whole streaming revolution sounded great and more affordable. Now with all the different platforms it’s much more expensive than cable+premium used to be.)
Yea, unfortunately in the same boat. Have cut back down to Netflix, Hulu, and Prime (although I kind of don’t count that one because Prime membership includes a bunch of other stuff). Need to get on the Kodi game and start streaming all this stuff.
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Despite that the show does kind of seem to keep punishing Fleabag for being sexual, this season was less censorious than the last one (which had an apatow-level of social conservatism comeuppance at its core)…I do hope she keeps making more. I was so surprised I Think You Should Leave was so therapeutic to watch…it’s like the actor’s nightmare except then the actor thinks he’s the world’s greatest gymnast for no reason and executes a series of incompetent cartwheels. There is an anxiety every day behind what would happen if you just went crazy and violated societal practices, got on stage during a play, answered a question during a meeting with fart noises. This show just starts there. As far as trash TV goes, I could not stop watching Umbrella Academy once I hit play, I tore through the whole thing in almost one go, it ain’t winning any writing awards but it sure was entertaining. I will also, as always, evangelize for The Magicians, which must have an audience somewhere because it keeps getting renewed!
Umbrella Academy had fantastic art direction, great music….
Legends of Tomorrow is still one of the best shows going, even if the most recent magic-related season was messy even for itDoom Patrol is amazing too
If you had told me Legends would be my favorite Arrowverse show, even though my main reason for being excited about it (Arthur Darvill) was no longer there, say 3 years ago… I would’ve called you crazy. And yet here we are.
All of the other Arrowverse shows to some extent or another try to be all serious and dark in their own ways, but Legends is pretty much “Hey, look, it’s a bunch of dysfunctional people with superpowers traveling through time, what goofy shit can we do this week”? It’s spectacular and glorious and the way it just up and openly embraces being dumb fun is perfect.
It is also remarkably how casually LGBT friendly Legends of Tomorrow is, Ava and Sara being the show’s most important romantic relationship being treated as a totally normal thing I think is wonderful.
I can’t remember what episode it was, but I remember when someone in the comments said jokingly about needing to have a straight relationship for once (my guess is during Nate and Zari hooking up) and it dawned on me just how many characters on the show fit into LGBTQ. Plus the fact that the show features bi characters, both men and women, is just amazing. Really more shows should aspire to the kind of diversity that Legends has had over its seasons.
I was bummed they weren’t in the cross-over, but I loved the way they addressed it, and even called back to it at the end of the season!
What surprises me the most is that Wentworth Miller as Snart was my favorite thing about season 1 of LoT, but the show doesn’t seem to miss him and perhaps his absence has even given other characters, especially his sidekick Mick Rory, more room to develop and shine.
I was SO sad when he left. And yet now I don’t find myself missing him at all, even though I think that he’d fit in beautifully with the show now.
His Earth X doppleganger, nice guy Leo Snart, also fit it really well & I would love for him to show up again
I would completely agree with you if I were willing to admit season 1 of Legends ever actually existed.
i love mick….he’s just there really to mess shit up and have a good time….
Doom Patrol not being on this list is a major omission, it was easily my favourite show of the year so far.
I don’t know if Diane Guerrero is going to get any awards nominations for playing Jane on Doom Patrol, but she deserves it
I’ll second that.
Doom Patrol was a thing of beauty. It managed to be both batshit crazy, taking the weirdest ideas from Grant Morrison’s run, and extremely easy to follow.
I will never stop trying to convince people to watch Legends. It’s wonderful. And yes, the magic was definitely messy but it still gave us genuinely moving emotional beats and some great laughs. I rewatched Season 4 when it hit Netflix (obviously), and I realized that “Tender is the Nate” is kind of the best encapsulation of what makes the show great. Some fantastic exchanges (“It’s a lute.” “Did someone say loot?” “I guess it’s technically more of a lyre.” “Everyone’s a liar.”), the running gag about Gideon being a member of the team, THE AVA-NORA-MONA FRIENDSHIP INCUBATOR, and more. I just love it so much.
Now I really want to rewatch that episode especially
Make popcorn. I’ll bring wine.
Legends of To-Meow Meow alone should get that show a spot on a best-of list. It had everything! 80’s reboots! People becoming cats! Three Constantines! Constantine going mad because he remembers multiple timelines! A puppet reboot! A gay, interracial kiss that rescued time and space! Honestly time travel television peaked right there.
You’ve got to love a show where a man gets possessed by his demonic nipple.
Neither of my two best friends watch the show, but every week I send them a short synopses, just to get their reaction.
“Right, so you remember that guy who had a nipple bitten off by a unicorn in the premiere? Well the big bad has reattached it for him, but because it’s been to Hell it’s now evil, and it possesses him and he starts taking over the Time Bureau by nipnotising everyone. Did I mention the dragon…?”
Or that one episode would involve the lead character magically regressing herself to adolescence so her robot girlfriend can experience the wonders of summer camp.
For “The Good, The Bad and The Cuddly” my synopsis was just “Nope. I don’t even know where to begin with this one, it’s too nuts.”Then I sent the gif of Beebo and Malace charging at each other.
WB’s Legends and the word best shouldn’t even be in the same sentence. That thing is schlocky garbage for trash people or children.
Possibly the most amazing thing about Legends, even beyond how batshit insane it is, is that it can take pretty much any character – even a two-season nonentity like Wally – and give them a compelling personality that fits in with the team in a unique and particular way. Even if it takes them a little while to find it, like with Zari, they get there eventually, to the point where I was genuinely a little heartbroken at the end of the season. Which is weird given how much I hated her when she first joined the crew.
Although I love Legends, Last season of LOT lost it’s focus and got a little too zany. I know that’s the point, but this season just felt too out of focus with some unnecessary additions and the lame plot of a supernatural theme park. Constantine was a good addition, I am glad they are still using the character after his show failed.Doom Patrol was surprisingly good, and I think surpassed LOT for the complexity of it’s storytelling and relatability of the main characters. After one season I felt like I understood them better than most shows. The only problem I had was is that Mr Nobody was basically godlike and only defeated because he got what he wanted and was talked into a situation where they could go free.
Am I the only person who couldn’t stand Fleabag? The fourth wall breaking gimmick is just too over the top for my liking. I don’t mind it so much in Gentleman Jack because it’s used sparingly, and it can be justified as a diary entry (as Anne Lister was a prodigious diarist).
I get how the wall breaking can be off-putting, but given how it pays off so beautifully with both Hot Priest being the only one in the show to notice it (leading to some truly electrifying breaks in my opinion) and the final wave, I think that it works gangbusters.
I liked Fleabag well enough, but all the over the top fawning over it makes me wonder what the hell I’m missing.
I loved it, and am certain I watched all of the second season, but the only priest I saw wasn’t hot. So I kept waiting for him to show up since everyone was going on and on about the Hot Priest.
Yeah, me too. Little guy with a MASSIVE forehead.
Seriously. I get you. I only started streaming ANY of this stuff 6 months ago. Yeah, we are of THOSE people who didn’t watch TV. And I also deliberately avoid anything that gets all the press. But we were feeling some advanced-aged FOMO so we are now watching two streaming services. And yes, Fleabag and Gentleman Jack are clever and funny ( whereas my 10-day Game of Thrones binge made me want ask everyone who liked it “WHAT THE FUCK?”It was Trash.
I thought the fourth-wall breaking was actually kind of understated. In most shows that have 4WBs, every camera spike is a gag, or a mugging reaction shot, and it’s almost always when the character is alone, so that they can milk the moment. Fleabag drops them right into the middle of the conversation, and some of her glances to camera are almost imperceptible.My personal fave was episode 2 when she’s in the bath with Arsehole Guy: when he mentions that “aunts started to get weird” when he was 11, PWB makes a sympathetic face to him, flickers a quick yikes-face to us, and resumes her bedside manner so quickly, you’d barely notice if it happened in real life.(Runner-up is season 2 when Claire gets her haircut: just as Phoebe’s about to tell her about the priest, she takes a breath and looks at us as if for moral support. Blink and you’ll miss it.)
I tried. I really, really tried to like I Think You Should Leave. I found it mostly annoying. I chortled a few times and liked some of the ideas, but overall annoyed.
Yeah I watched all of it and had the same reaction. I didn’t like “Detroiters” either. It’s like Tim Robinson keeps leaning into the fact that he’s weird looking and just tries to create the weirdest most off-putting characters imaginable. It’s some variation of that same joke in every sketch.
I did enjoy Detroiters, but there’s no hiding the fact that Sam Richardson carries that show pretty much single-handed.
I thought the first episode was supremely unfunny and keep hoping someone will tell me it gets immediately better. Otherwise, not worth it to continue.
It does get “better”, but if you didn’t like the first episode, you probably won’t like the rest either. It’s all in the same style. I liked it, personally, but don’t expect anything wildly different.
Same her. Never “got” me. So much other stuff to watch that I have to be picky about which shows I devote time to.
I liked some of the sketches but thought overall it was pretty average. You’d think it was the new Key and Peele based on the raving reviews it has gotten but it’s not even close to on that level.
The SHO series “Action”— a documentary-series about the effects of legalization of sports betting – was riveting. The makers of the show did an excellent job of letting people hang themselves with their own words and leaving the camera on them just a little too long to capture real reactions.
Not entirely sure what the criteria for inclusion is, but Crazy Ex-Girlfriend sticking the landing has gotta qualify, right?
I’m amazed that Crazy Ex-Girlfriend isn’t part of this list, I had some minor issues with the finale but even despite that it was pretty amazing stuff throughout.
Jon Glaser Loves Gear should be on it too, but I’m less surprised by it not being there as it seems the site refused to acknowledge it’s existence for some bizarre reason.
And I’ve just realised Corporate isn’t on it either. Jesus, this article really is a mess.
The Crazy Ex Girlfriend creators said they planned out season 4 stoned on magic mushrooms while naked in a hot tub (no joke, they actually said that). And you could kind’a tell from watching. Maybe they didn’t have the budget to pull off a superior final season, maybe they didn’t have the discipline. Maybe they were just exhausted.
pitting him between acting coach Gene (Henry Winkler, still spectacular) and devil-on-the-shoulder Fuchs (Stephen Root, even better)Heresy!! The Fonz is unparalleled on Barry.
I agree with you, but Fuchs is so fucking gross and unlikable on the show … and that’s because Stephen Root is SO GOOD. But yeah, Fonz for the win.
Stephen Root is disgusting and hilarious and more deserving of a terrible on-screen death than any other character in recent memory, but man, Henry Winkler acts circles around each and every other actor on that show without even trying.
After consoling a devastated Barry, when he switches gears immediately, “…now, I bill my private lessons separately, I’m just gonna get that ledger….”
So good. Or when they’re having that party out at his cabin at the end of the first season, and he comes out of the house wearing chef’s gear and lipsyncing some old show tune. I would pay Broadway prices to see a full show of that.
No love for Killing Eve, eh? That’s okay. I’ll be over here paying attention instead to how many Emmys nominations it gets next month for Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer’s considerable acting chops.
Killing Eve was good this season but not quite on the same level as last year. Something just felt off. And Oh and Comer are not doing the show any favors with their weird reluctance to categorize Eve and Villanelle’s relationship as sexual in interviews.
If you’re referring to that sketchy interview Oh gave recently, it was poorly written and worked more as clickbait than journalism. I disagree that Oh and Comer are displaying a “weird reluctance” to categorize Eve and Villanelle’s relationship as sexual. It’s obsession, lust and heavy breathing alright and a strange/strained love, but hell, they haven’t even kissed in two seasons. The desire of fans to see the Killing Eve ladies hook up is cool, but some of y’all are kinda rushing to an end that hasn’t justified the means yet.
That’s what fanfic is for.
Something felt off because Phoebe Waller-Bridge was doing Fleabag season 2 (which was a MASTERPIECE) instead of Killing Eve. I think most of the strength of the second season came from the characters PWB “created”.
This was easily the weakest season of Better Things. Sam let her children run roughshod with no consequences. It was infuriating to watch.
I agree about her kids, though I still think it was great television. Not sure why this review says Adlon decided to make Sam the central character for the third season, though. What the heck was happening during the first two seasons that I missed?
Chernobyl seems to be a lock for an Emmy.Russian Boll was the best Netflix new series. Documentary Now! is the funniest thing on TV. Barry is good, and Bill Hader is the most talented comedian alive right now in his prime..but I think Barry is a little overhyped. It is funny, and anything with the Chechans very much so, but it is more to me very competent than “best show on TV” level. Didn’t care for the “Deadwood” movie..the show was made too long ago and the magic was gone for me, and I did like the original back then.The rest? Skip them
Molly Shannon falling to pieces during the plane episode of The Other Two broke my heart. Such a funny, unexpectedly touching show and such a fantastic cast. That last episode of Superstore was obviously a gut punch but I found the previous one almost as upsetting, with Amy and Jonah caught between what they know is right and corporate’s threat to close the store. For such a funny, sometimes absurd show it sure knows how to nail the emotions.
It shame that Problem Areas (and Wyatt Cenac’s career in general) not get more attention. He also did great web series called AKA Wyatt Cenac, where he play Brooklyn-based superhero with no powers whose archenemy is gentrification. It basically just hangout show where he do some super-low-key crimefighting occasionally. Todd Barry has delightful bit as criminal Cenac captures in park who keeps asking passersby to untie him.
DOOM PATROL!!!!!!!
Wait…so is Fosse/Verdon not considered TV in this case? Because that seems like a legit oversight otherwise.
If Chernobyl is included, so too should Fosse/Verdon. If for NO other reason than Michelle Williams’ performance.
Seriously, WTF is with the all the gushing for Tuca and Birdie? It was AWFUL, like maybe the worst 10 minutes of tv I’ve seen in YEARS (because 10 minutes is all I and my wife could stand, we’ve staggered along with some pretty awful shows in our time before pulling the plug waaaay too late, and both of us were aggressively ready to bail after, like, the third scene).
I’m proud to have seen one of these (I don’t watch enough good TV).
Same. I only saw Russian Doll and what a fun, weird show it is.
Where is Corporate?
Everywhere
Of all of these the only ones I’ve seen are “Russian Doll” and “The Other Two” (which I agree were great) and “I think you should leave,” which I think was overrated. Who could possibly have time to watch this much TV in half a year? And this is just the “best” stuff? TV has become a soul crushing burden
I can see forcing yourself to watch “When they See us” out of civic duty. Seriously, I think it’s that important, but can’t see the same for any of this other stuff
I agree with you “I think you should leave” was overrated..did it have a chuckle or two? Yes..but “best thing on TV list”? Nah
Most of these are short-run cable or streaming shows. Even if you felt obligated to watch literally all of them, it’d be well under two hours a night. Probably less than one if you saved some for the summer programming desert. I bet there are people here who watch more sitcom reruns than that.
My own list of ‘best series of 2019′ can’t hold a candle to my ‘best series of 2016/17/18′ entries. But still, for 2019, they’re still the best of the current crop.
Doom Patrol! I was continually blown away by that series. Just incredible performances throughout!
The only excuse for it not being on the list is that it airs on the DC streaming service. And even that isn’t really a good excuse.
I just cannot get into I Think You Should Leave and honestly I don’t understand the hype for it.
I thought it was a nice little show, nothing special though. The only really good scene was the car one, though, the rest was pretty forgettable.
Veep’s final season should absolutely be on here if not just for the perfect finale. Catastrophe also had a perfect finale. Looks like all of Killing Eve’s juju went back to Fleabag as sophomore slump doesn’t begin to describe how disappointing it was.
I’m so glad that Superstore was on the list along with more prestige fare. The world building and character work they’ve done through four seasons paid off so well in that finale, which was so affecting. And I can’t believe Dina is my favorite character on the show, but Lauren Ash is so terrific.And am I the only one that finds Better Things to be insufferable? I actually really enjoyed the first season, but I had to bail on the second one by “The Eulogy,” which so many critics seemed to put on a pedestal. She gets her feelings hurt because her kids don’t care about her job? That’s just being a parent. She throws a huge fit over a minor infraction, and everyone coddles her for it. And she wonders why her kids are brats.I tried to have some sympathy for the situation with Max dating an older guy, I can admit that’s a bit of a tricky situation. But that she never seemed to make Max realize that what she was doing was really shitty to Macy, and that they pretty much treated Macy as a punchline to that story, was gross.It started feeling like latter-day Gilmore Girls, where it was all about propping Lorelei up and not holding her accountable for her own behavior, except Better Things seemed to get there a lot faster.
Fleabag, Russian Doll, and The Other Two are some of my favourite shows out there right now. I honestly think that a big part of that is the length. Don’t get me wrong, I love B99 and Superstore and their 22-episode seasons, and I still love Game of Thrones’ 55-minute earlier seasons, but I think these shows really make the case for short, strong TV. Russian Doll’s time loop never gets boring because it doesn’t outstay its welcome. Fleabag packs so much emotion into its six episodes that would be lost if it was forced to draw out the story with 44-minute episodes. The Other Two keeps you laughing breathlessly before sucker-punching you with its sharp emotional beats, with a momentum I don’t think it it would be able to carry through a traditional 22-episode season. Each of these shows are able to tell strong, concise stories about individual characters without meandering, but it doesn’t feel all-killer-no-filler either, because they aren’t movies; they’re TV shows, and we get to stay with these characters for a whole afternoon, or a couple days rather than 2 hours.
Any list not including AP Bio is null and void.NULL. AND. VOID.
Heather and Grace would rule Westeros by the middle of their first episode.
Missing Brockmire.
No ‘Game Of Thrones’?(Thank god.)
PEN15!!! My absolute favorite show of the year. In virtually anyone else’s hands, the central conceit (adults playing middle school versions of themselves) becomes the one-note joke. But the brilliance of this show is Erskine and Konkle never really make that the joke at all. And they pull it off with such unwavering aplomb, along with the surrounding cast of of-age kids who all play to the leads as if they are, in fact, their peers. There’s such an unwavering commitment on display here, and it’s all over the screen. I loved every minute of it and can’t wait for it to come back.
I know it came out like 5 seconds ago, but for me, Aggretsuko has to make the list. It should be a silly little cartoon about a cartoon fox who works in an office blowing off steam by singing death metal kareoke. What it is is an evisceratingly accurate depiction of the anxieties of being a young woman in the workplace and the world and the goddamn assault course that is real life, depicted in a way that is both horrifyingly prescient and filled with emotional intelligence. It’s so much better than it has any right to be.
So much good stuff on the services these days that it is hard to make time for it.
Russian Doll and The Other Two are the two from this list that would be on mine.
My top choice is Years and Years. It may be a cheat—it finished this week on the BBC, but isn’t coming to HBO until next week, where I’m concerned it won’t find much of an audience. I was already prejudiced to love it—an amazing cast (including Emma Thompson in a small, but pivotal role as a sorta sophisticated female Trump), and it’s created/written by Russell T. Davies who has been one of my top TV writers ever since his original Queer as Folk (and has had a stellar past few years between Cucumber, A Very English Scandal, and now this). But Years and Years kinda combines, miraculously everything Davies is good at being a good relationship/family drama (yes, including queer relationships), political thriller and sci-fi dystopian work. I’m sure the conclusion will be divisive, but I was just blown away by how well he pulled everything off.
This trailer doesn’t do the show justice, but… I can’t imagine another show knocking it off the top of my list coming this year…
“it’s clear that comedies had a distinct edge over their longer, ostensibly more substantive counterparts.”Hmm, not a thought that would have even occurred to me.
This doesn’t count but I finally decided to watch Enlightened for the first time this year. I am now very disappointed it didn’t get its planned third season.
This list is bullshit for missing the new season of Attack on Titan
That Sarah Goldberg scene in “Barry” was the most spectacular single-take performance I’ve seen sine Louise Lasser’s Mary Hartman breakdown in 1976. I’m thrilled to see it getting recognition, because it was truly brilliant.
Fruits Basket is also pretty good, but it’ll appeal to a much smaller audience than Attack on Titan
List needs Patriot and Succession.
All of these shows (that I’ve watched) are great, that’s an impossible amount of television already, and I know these lists are subjective, but I’m bummed that Brockmire isn’t getting more love. This season was its best yet, and I think the show is going really interesting places, especially given that it could’ve really been little more than an SNL sketch that went on too long.
Derry Girls
“A needle and thread! Because I’m dying!” Love Barry so damn much. Favorite new TV character, Lazlo. “She speaks the bullshit.” What We do In The Shadows kept pulling rabbits out of their hat all season. I watched Chernobyl and When They See Us back to back, what can I say I’m a glutton for punishment. The word powerful doesn’t even cover those two. The line “Lies incur a debt that must be paid.” fits both shows perfectly. The prison guard hugging Korey when he found out his sister was murdered just a small bit of humanity in a nightmare reality. Shit had me in tears. Not a popular opinion but The Long Night episode of GOT is the best episode of television I’ve ever seen.
I read this and I still have no idea what most of these shows are about.
Personally thought the latest season of The Magicians deserved to be on this list. It would be in my personal top-five.
Just came to say the same thing. It always gets forgotten bc it premiers in January and is done by March.
So the Magicians gets better? I made it through about four episodes and then had to quit because the guy’s hair and face made me irrationally angry.
When did you quit? Knowing that will be important to telling you if you should continue. Because if you are talking Season 1, then it was good, but so much more is to come. If you quit 4 eps into another season, then you might want to pick it up in the final 3 eps of this season. Esp if Q was your stumper.
Q was definitely my stumper. He’s so whiny and I couldn’t get into the whole Fillory thing and every character made me just irrationally angry for reasons I don’t even understand. BUT ALSO because his hair is really dumb, and no professional actor with a team of hair and makeup should have hair that terrible.
I think it got considerably better after S1 because the story shifted to focus on more characters and the story became heavily serialized.
People whose taste I trust intrinsically love it and I just have not been able to get into it at all. This is just like Doctor Who all over again.
I didn’t like S1 that much either. I mainly stuck with it because I generally enjoyed the books and wanted to see how certain plot points played out in the show. Quentin does get better by the way.
Lazor Wulf.
Years and Years just wrapped up here in the UK, and I think you guys get it on HBO later in the year, but it blows everything on this list out of the water.
Really got to get to Chernobyl and When They See Us. What We Do In The Shadows was OK but the movie really gave me all I needed from that premise. Russian Doll I liked but I found it more clever than actually involving. Tuca and Bertie… I wanted to be down for it but it got worse and worse until devolving to the point of using sexual assault as backstory. Real miss there. My favourite show not on this list was Sarazanmai which was a weird as hell but also quite touching and honest show about love, connections, and kappa butts.
Please please please where are the final 2 reviews for Fleabag? The episodes are haunting and lovely and I’ve really loved the ongoing reviews. The reviews have been beautifully written and thoughtful and the perfect compliment to following along with the show.
Pour one out for Crashing and Pete Holmes. Have enjoyed it from day one, thought season 3 was the best one yet, and was heartbroken when HBO cancelled it.
I was blown away by Fleabag. I haven’t cried in years, but the end of that show got me as close to bawling as I can remember. Stunning amount of emotion from a show that’s nominally about comedy (and is indeed hilarious).
Doom Patrol isn’t on here, that alone makes this list nonsense.
I don’t get the love for Tuca & Bertie? Unless it gets significantly better past where I gave up, it felt like Bojack Horseman except minus any of the brains, heart, recrimination, or self-examination that makes that show work. It’s like they copied down “anthropomorphic animals being huge dicks, occasionally to one another” and just stopped there. That one just did not click with me.
Pass. I’m not watching any of that shit.
… k
This list is entirely invalid without Doom Patrol.
You guys do know that Chernobyl is terribly inaccurate, right? It’s more science fiction than science fact.
The Orville went on a run of episodes – most of the season in fact – that just exceeded expectations.
What we do in the shadows is wonderful, also check year of the rabbit. Another Matt Berry soon to be classic. Got to agree that Legends of Tomorrow has been one of my favourite silly shows for a long time but couldn’t see any mentions of Good Omens. So well done, Pratchett jumping out of every scene. Thank you Neil for making sure it was done right.
Barry is at best just okay. It’s not great at all.
Unhappy not to see Happy!
I wouldn’t say the entire season qualifies as some of the consistently best TV, but if there’s a best episodes list, Star Trek Discovery’s “Project Daedalus” belongs on there. Broke my damn heart.
Just watched Fleabag season 2. Man that show is funny.Started watching Homecoming.
No Doom Patrol…
I also highly recommend Shrill, Bonding, season 3 of Slasher, and the second season of The OA.
Guys, I don’t care what you say … Fleabag is MAGIC! El numero uno!!
I’ve heard of two of these shows, and care about none of themIt’s shaping up to be a decent year for anime.
Barry really went over and above what I thought it was capable of this year. It had some of the best depictions of PTSD and wartime drama that I think I’ve ever seen. (Plus, Winkler.) That said, I did have one tiny bone to pick – I feel like the only depth we see to Sally is her history of being in an abusive relationship, and that’s pretty facile and getting way to close to fridging her.(But the Chechen stuff is great, and NoHo Hank is the man of my dreams.)Got to throw in a big rec for The Good Place (maybe doesn’t qualify for 2019 since it ended in January) and Schitt’s Creek (jesus, why aren’t people watching Schitt’s Creek??) – two shows who make me feel like this world might not actually be a giant dumpster fire. It’s refreshing to watch shows about people being good humans (or trying to, anyway).And, as someone said upthread, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend stuck the landing and managed to pull off NuGreg, which I honestly did not think they’d be able to do.
Solid list to agree with but WTF, no Brockmire??? The wiritng on that show fleshes out characters with nuance combined with relatble silliness, only surpassed by Hank Azara’s career defining performance. Throw in JK Simmons, Martha Plimpton, the perils of newfound sobriety, and fucking baseball legend George Brett, and this show continues to carve out a place in the peak TV era (and I’m not even a sports guy)…
I’m 44 years old, no spring chicken but certainly not an old fart.It amazes me that in the year 2019, I can read a list of the 20 best televisions shows, and have literally never heard of twelve of them. It’s not that I haven’t seen twelve of them, I was previously UNAWARE OF THE EXISTENCE of twelve of them.The splintering of our culture has happened at a mind-boggling rate. (FWIW, I do subscribe to Netflix and Amazon and basic cable. I do not have HBO or Hulu).As for “When They See Us”, I recommend you search out altering, more in-depth, and frankly, fairer, accounts of what happened. That film is more propaganda than documentary, if the definitions of which are that a documentary is the search for truth and propaganda is intended to persuade, regardless of truth. Just a suggestion.
The more you guys hate Killing Eve the better I like it.