In a year that saw masked crimefighters and plutocrats share the small screen with working-class stiffs and real-life victims of the criminal justice system, the only thing more impressive than the variety of roles was the talent that brought them to life. The star of an exiting prestige drama found a new well to pull from, as the auteur of a streaming series pulled double duty and made us all kneel with her vulnerability. Relative newcomers made veterans look like novices, while one of the best actors of her generation dazzled from the Sunshine State. A breakout star made her pain felt through layers of animation and intertwining timelines, and an Oscar winner became a hero under the cloak of night. There might have been more TV than ever in 2019, but with these gifted performers as our guides, it seemed almost manageable.
A quick note on nominations: The A.V. Club staffers and contributors sought to highlight performers who either hadn’t graced this list in the past, or who had found a new way into the spotlight in 2019. So, while we remained as impressed as ever with Bill Hader’s work on Barry, and Maya Rudolph’s presence in just about everything (but chiefly, as the voice of Connie on Big Mouth), we chose to let last year’s Hall Of Famer and MVP, respectively, rest on their laurels.
Individual performances
Regina King, Watchmen
Watchmen is a rollercoaster ride that messes with perceptions of memory and space and reality at nearly ever turn—creating the necessity for a strong, completely solid main character to guide the viewer through it all. Fortunately, Watchmen is led by Regina King as Angela Abar/Sister Night, and a greater leader for this show does not exist. From the very first episode, Angela is tough, compassionate, sympathetic, and determined to get to the bottom of her mentor’s murder. What she discovers turns her world—and ours—upside down, literally sending her into her grandfather’s memories, as King manages to transcend decades, genders, age, and various levels of sanity. But Angela also has her own surprises in store—like who her husband really is. Whatever the plot twist, no matter how preposterous or interplanetary, King’s steely resolve functions as an oasis in the midst of this blue world gone wild. As Watchmen heads toward the end of its first (and only?) season, the situation on Earth, even the galaxy, appears fairly precarious. But once King appears, absorbing attention more than anyone else, she gives faith that Sister Night will find a way to save the day like the superhero she is. [Gwen Ihnat]
Rami Malek, Mr. Robot
The success of Bohemian Rhapsody shouldn’t overshadow the truly brilliant work he’s been doing on USA’s Mr. Robot. Malek hasn’t gotten a chance to really stretch this season, with Elliot Alderson having spent the early episodes in a largely silent, vengeance-fueled haze as he tried to put together a plan that would destroy the people who are secretly ruling the world once and for all. That all changed with Malek’s devastating performance in “<="" span="">,” an episode that was built around Elliot being forced to recognize the horrifying reason why his Tyler Durden-esque imaginary friend Mr. Robot appeared to him in the first place (and why he happens to look a lot like Elliot’s dead father). After years of Malek playing Elliot as a man who had shut himself off from the world, he then had to show how it felt to suddenly be hit with every painful memory and awful truth he had spent his life blocking out. Malek got his Oscar for the Queen movie, but he proved he deserved it with Mr. Robot. [Sam Barsanti]
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Fleabag
In the hands of a lesser performer, the aside glances and private monologues that make up so much of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Fleabag arsenal might feel like a gimmick, a sympathy-demanding trick not far removed from the mugging looks to camera and talking head segments that populate faux-documentary shows like The Office. But as Fleabag’s most driving creative force, Waller-Bridge understands precisely the conspiratorial, sometimes invasive relationship she cultivates with every secret eyeroll, something ably demonstrated in the opening scene of the show’s stellar second season. Washing blood from her face in a fancy restaurant bathroom, Fleabag studiously avoids acknowledging us for as long as possible—and then, when she finally, blissfully invites us back into her confidences, the rush of relief is almost overwhelming. But while these more structural elements remain both flashy and compelling, the show’s second season also sees Waller-Bridge set a far harder challenge for herself. Rock-bottom agony is a deep well to pull from, as the show’s first season ably proved. It’s far harder to portray someone doing the quiet, unglamorous work of getting better, and yet Waller-Bridge tackles it just as effortlessly, investing every tiny triumph and shameful backslide in the show’s final outing with the energy of watching a friend slowly, but steadily, dig herself out of the shit. [William Hughes]
Jharrel Jerome, When They See Us
Ava DuVernay’s gutting four-part Netflix series takes a small-scale approach to retelling the saga of the Exonerated Five by maintaining its focus on the individual traumas of the five Harlem boys accused in the Central Park jogger case, the childhoods they lost due to wrongful convictions, and their maladjustment to life after lockup. Across the board, When They See Us is filled with raw, honest performances, particularly from the actors portraying the core Five. But Jharrel Jerome’s mesmerizing, Emmy-winning performance as Korey Wise stands out as the most impressive. Tasked with being the only core actor to portray his character as both adolescent and adult, the Moonlight actor delivers a rich, textured performance, going as far as to mimic Wise’s vocal tics. But the high-water mark for Jerome’s turn is the feature-length, tour-de-force finale that focuses on Wise’s brutal, heartbreaking journey through the penal system as the only member of the Five to carry out his entire sentence in adult prison. Over the course of the 88-minute runtime, Jerome transforms from a wide-eyed innocent youth to an anguished, battle-scarred grown man, communicating years of Wise’s trauma to stunning effect. Thankfully, the Television Academy took notice. [Baraka Kaseko]
Michelle Williams, Fosse/Verdon (FX)
Gwen Verdon gets second billing on the Fosse/Verdon marquee, but the FX miniseries quickly proved that Gwen was the absolute heart of its titular musical-theater partnership. Michelle Williams doesn’t portray Verdon as much as possess her completely, from her days as a fresh-faced ingénue to the reigning queen of Broadway to a performer understandably reluctant to admit that her best days are behind her. For better and worse, Verdon’s path to stardom was aligned with Bob Fosse (also expertly played by Sam Rockwell) who both propelled and thwarted her career. Williams miraculously unlocks all of it: dancing singing, being an affectionate mother and friend, falling in love with and then lashing out at her unfaithful husband. In the end, Gwen and Bob just couldn’t untangle their lives; the pair never even divorced. But in an age when women had less stature than they even do now, Verdon fought to make her mark on the world, and Williams encompassed the strength that made that happen, underneath the balmy sweetness that made everyone love her. It’s an astonishing, once-in-a-lifetime performance; Williams has already picked up an armful of awards for the role, with a Golden Globe likely to join the Emmy she won back in September. [Gwen Ihnat]
Wyatt Russell, Lodge 49
True believers aren’t necessarily the easiest people to be around. Their spiritual/ideological commitments can alienate close friends and trusted allies. But it certainly helps matters when they have the bravery of a knight and the energy of a Golden Retriever. Enter Sean “Dud” Dudley, Lodge 49’s kindhearted hero whose highest aspiration in life is to clean pools and hang out with his closest friends. Actor Wyatt Russell, previously best known for putting goofy-guy spins on jock archetypes in 22 Jump Street and Everybody Wants Some, imbues Dud with a bone-deep sense of wonderment that makes him both lovable and exhausting. His unquestionable thirst for adventure, whether it be a shotgun marriage or a quest for secret scrolls, endears and frustrates his loved ones in equal measure. While his inexhaustible spirit makes Dud a loyal friend and a true Lynx, it also keeps him from reflecting upon the real world. Russell captures Dud’s joy with ease, yet his best quality is his ability to communicate the vague, foggy confusion that arises from grief. That type of existential drift will make anyone search high and low for answers to life’s most impossible questions, even in the tavern of a Lodge. [Vikram Murthi]
Rosa Salazar, Undone
The performances in Undone are odd beasts: The series is rotoscoped, meaning that even though the actors are being filmed, they’re not necessarily around anything that will make its way into the final shot. It’s almost like having to deal with a green screen, except that your body is also going to be covered up and animated. Still, Rosa Salazar’s dreamlike performance fits remarkably well with rotoscoping as a method, and with Undone as a series. As Alma, an aimless young woman dealing with her family trauma and a potential mental illness, Salazar throws herself into the sheer weirdness of the show’s time-bending conceit, retaining the same pained bemusement whether she’s fighting with her boyfriend, pressing on her uncomfortable relationship with her sister and mother, or talking to her potentially imaginary, potentially time-traveling dead father. Her attitude toward the world helps convince the viewer that not only is Alma, who works at a daycare, actually good with kids (unlike many largely unconvincing TV characters), she’s in enough pain to want to look for answers in some unpleasant, strange places. Undone wouldn’t work if Salazar wasn’t captivating as Alma reacts to the uncanny, but its real strength is the way she brings that same sense of uncertainty to the way Alma reacts to people. [Eric Thurm]
Zendaya, Euphoria
If you want to gauge the unequivocal acting chops that Zendaya has honed over the course of her young life, you needn’t look any further than two scenes within the inaugural season of Euphoria. First, there’s the gut-wrenching moment in the episode “Made You Look,” where young addict Rue tearfully pleas for her friend/dealer Fezco (Angus Cloud) to supply her with more drugs. Then, head to “The Trials And Tribulations Of Trying To Pee While Depressed” and meet Detective Bennett, a chain-smoking high-school sleuth determined to uncover the truth about her best friend Jules (Hunter Schafer) and ruthless playboy Nate (Jacob Elordi). You’ll soon find that her skillful grasp of both dramatic and comedic material speaks to a range that she merely hinted towards previously. Rue is every bit a disaster and brilliant, enigmatic and an open wound, and Zendaya gifted audiences with such a lived-in portrayal that Rue resonated as one of the rawest characters of the year. Whatever the season threw at her—recovery, young love, depression, fear, joy, rage, or alarming apathy—Zendaya handled with spellbinding flair. [Shannon Miller]
Kirsten Dunst, On Becoming A God In Central Florida
While awards may not tell the whole story, Kirsten Dunst has consistently been one of the most underrated, unsung actresses for decades—arguably the best of her generation—never afraid to think outside the box with a particular choice in role. Her performance as Krystal Stubbs in On Becoming A God is the latest example of this, as the series—a Floridian fever dream that is both familiar and hauntingly foreign—needed a strong lead at the center to anchor it, and it got that and then some with Dunst. Dunst is bold and unafraid to be “unlikable,” to be less than glamorous, to just be a real human—not some caricature used to laugh at the working class in a place that’s often considered the punchline of America. There is so much about the show that could have gone off the rails with just one slight change, and that is especially the case for the role of Krystal. [LaToya Ferguson]
Suranne Jones, Gentleman Jack
Gentleman Jack might’ve been too niche for American viewers in 2019, or maybe people simply missed the HBO series, buried as it was beneath the rubble of the Red Keep and Chernobyl’s nuclear fallout. But you’d be hard-pressed to find a performance elsewhere this year as committed as Suranne Jones’ Anne Lister. The real Lister was a mess of contradictions: a pioneering 19th-century businesswoman and a radically gender-bending lesbian, but also a staunchly conservative landlord; a womanizer in relentless pursuit of a single, dedicated companion. Of course, this complexity also makes her fascinating, and Jones makes room for it all with a performance as sweeping as the show’s many pans across the Yorkshire countryside. Working from a wildly dynamic Sally Wainwright script, Jones both humanizes and sends up Lister in her portrayal, taking her time across the series’ eight episodes to reveal the vulnerable core of Lister’s brutish, outsize personality. It is a breath of fresh air to see a story centered on a butch woman, and Jones carries it bone-deep, taking up space in a way we rarely see women do. It’s the kind of definitive performance that makes it hard to imagine anyone else playing Anne Lister ever again. [Kelsey J. Waite]
Edi Patterson, The Righteous Gemstones
Danny McBride’s TV output thrives on collaboration: While the team of McBride, Jody Hill, and David Gordon Green get a lot of attention, there may be no more important figure in their weird world than Edi Patterson. Their latest project, The Righteous Gemstones, is an embarrassment of acting riches, but Patterson’s are the ones that stand out. She lends Judy Gemstone sympathy and compassion when it’s needed, but then instantly flips into some of the nastiest, funniest line readings you’ll ever hear. Patterson’s timing and delivery are sharp and sinister; she inspires laughs from the belly and disgusted shakes from the head. Take the clip above: In a finale filled with some of Gemstones’ best moments, it’s Patterson who steals the entire first season with a winding, wild, over-the-top monologue involving kidnapping, an Outback Steakhouse, and non-consensual handjobs. [Kyle Fowle]
Denny Love, Looking For Alaska
On the page of John Green’s beloved 2005 YA novel Looking For Alaska, Chip “The Colonel” Martin is a bit of an odd creation. He’s militant, academically brilliant, prank-happy, hot-tempered, funny, and fiercely loyal, not to mention 5-feet tall and built like an Adonis. It’s the sort of kooky supporting character it’s hard to imagine someone actually bringing to life. Enter Denny Love, who not only makes the Colonel feel like a real person, but almost walks away with the entire miniseries. In Love’s charismatic hands, the Colonel’s messy contradictions make complete sense. Like all of the teen characters in Looking For Alaska, the Colonel adopts a self-conscious wise-beyond-his-years attitude, and Love expertly conveys the sense of a young man who’s built up layers upon layers of over-the-top personalities to shield his big, vulnerable heart. (It helps that the miniseries expands the Colonel’s role and backstory, giving Love even more nuance and pain to play.) Surrounded by a universally strong young ensemble, it’s all the more impressive that Love emerges as such a standout. It’s an exhilarating breakout turn that will hopefully lead to a long career. [Caroline Siede]
D’Arcy Carden, The Good Place
Singling out one member of The Good Place’s god-tier ensemble is a lot like naming your favorite Beatle—there’s really not a wrong answer. (Yes, even if it’s Ringo.) Yet in 2019, there was one clear standout. D’Arcy Carden’s meticulously crafted, endlessly funny performance as the character we’ll call “our Janet” grows more layered and complex by the episode, just as the not-a-girl-not-a-robot herself has evolved and become more complex with every reset. And this year she was asked to aid showrunner Michael Schur in one of his glorious rug-pulling moments, a performance-based shell game that asked her to play the scenes honestly without giving away the trick before the big reveal. Sure, Carden’s most impressive high-wire act arrived at the tail end of 2018, but with or without the delight of Janet-as-Jason-Mendoza, hers is a sitcom turn for the ages, warm and strange, clever and deeply felt. The fact that she gave the prime Bad Janet some additional depth this season is just the cherry on top; not since the Clone Club disbanded have we had so much fun watching one actor play multiple roles at once. (Apologies, Paul Rudd.) [Allison Shoemaker]
Ensembles
Drama: The cast of Succession
Succession’s perspective is purposefully narrow. There’s no meaningful counterpoint to the narcissistic scions of the Roy dynasty, no good-hearted emblem of the working class. They’ve insulated themselves in a protective blanket of nodding suits, cash-stuffed players, and circling sharks—the “adults in the room,” to nick a phrase—and, as such, are aliens in the world they shape. What makes Succession so special is that its ensemble doesn’t luxuriate in the wealth porn afflicting so many stories of the 1%; they’re suffocated by it, each unconsciously bound by the singular mental, emotional, and sexual hangups endemic to the hyper-privileged. We’re never asked to like the characters of Brian Cox, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook, Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck, J. Smith Cameron, Matthew Macfadyen, or Nicholas Braun, but it’s so easy to be swept into their orbit. Aided by the show’s razor-sharp writing, each deftly reconciles what we recognize as humanity with the absurdities of their privilege, the acid of their daily discourse leavened with the subtlest glimpses of their own existential terror. Macfadyen’s Tom looks like a clown when he tries to sell “we hear for you,” but we believe him when he tells Shiv he’s unhappy. Culkin’s Roman is a sneering tyrant at his management-training course, but we flinch when his dad smacks him silly. Strong’s Kendall is a goon, but we shudder when he stares into the abyss. They are alien, yes, but they are compelling. Fish in a tank. Lions in a zoo. They are fascinating. [Randall Colburn]
Comedy: The cast of What We Do In The Shadows
Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement are a tough act to follow, but the cast of FX’s What We Do In The Shadows TV adaptation have proven themselves up for the challenge. Unusually for a comedy, the show is as heavy on special effects as it is improvised banter, requiring a diverse set of skills from performers who might be required to fly around in a harness and come up with jokes at the same time. The show’s core vampiric trio of Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, and Natasia Demetriou make this multitasking look easy, bringing a distinct personality to each of their characters—Novak the bumbling Nandor, Berry the foppish Laszlo, and Demetriou the headstrong Nadja—while maintaining a sense of unity through their common backstory. The bloodsuckers’ core dynamic carried over pretty much intact from the original film, but the show’s new characters, including Harvey Guillén as downtrodden familiar Guillermo and Mark Proksch as energy vampire Colin Robinson, keep things fresh with new variations on established themes. By the end of the first season, the chemistry between the show’s cast had produced something unexpected for such a silly show: Genuine tenderness, whether between married couple Nadja and Laszlo or platonic lifemates Nandor and Guillermo. Just because they’re dead doesn’t mean they don’t have heart. [Katie Rife]
Limited series: Toni Collette, Kaitlyn Dever, and Merritt Wever, Unbelievable
Unbelievable started with a compelling non-fiction narrative of a victim of sexual assault who was failed by the system, and the two detectives who years later led the investigation that uncovered the truth behind that failure. But none of these roles are easy to bring to life in an adaptation. Katilyn Dever’s Marie Adler is isolated in the past, pushing away her support structures, while Karen Duvall (Merritt Wever) and Grace Rasmussen (Toni Collette) are heroes mostly for their investment in the procedural labor necessary to do good police work. However, these actresses find the precise emotional levels to connect the audience to every dimension of this story. Dever’s embodiment of trauma takes your breath away by the end of the opening episode, Wever’s portrayal of empathy and understanding lets you breathe again when the focus shifts in the next installment, and Collette brashly joins the story with a seasoned sense of justice that pushes the investigation forward. For all of the rage that Unbelievable brings to the surface, their performances (and those of the rest of the ensemble) channel that rage brilliantly, and build to a cathartic moment of strong women prevailing against a corrupt system. [Myles McNutt]
Dynamic duos
Comedy: Heléne Yorke and Drew Tarver, The Other Two
Pity comedy, forever the also-ran to drama’s admiration for its performances. But Drew Tarver and Helene Yorke achieve a rare magic on The Other Two, Comedy Central’s almost shockingly good freshman series about Cary and Brooke Dubek, two twentysomething siblings striving for individual success only to realize they’re destined to be upstaged by their burgeoning star of a younger brother. The show finds both of them starting on autopilot, selfish and entitled and waiting for the world to realize it owes them something, only to slowly begin coming around—in a hilarious and empathetic progression of fits and starts—and confronting their own narcissism and frustrated hopes. That push-pull tension between the lacerating wit (and oft-clueless arrogance) of their bravado and the damaged hearts they’re hiding is what makes the endings of the episodes pack such a wallop: The comedy is razor sharp, but the pathos lying just below the surface is what pushes it into the realm of greatness. With supporting help from Ken Marino and an excellent Molly Shannon as their mother, Tarver and Yorke find the realism buried beneath the showbiz satire and ego-puncturing silliness. [Alex McLevy]
Drama: MJ Rodriguez and Billy Porter, Pose
If ever there was an ensemble show, it’s FX’s Pose, which is as devoted to celebrating family as it is showcasing its wonderful cast. But season two of this Emmy-nominated drama frequently tested the fealty of the members of House Of Evangelista and House Of Wintour, who compete with one another when they aren’t preparing Sunday meals together. New couples also emerged, but the most compelling dynamic to watch was the bond broken, then mended, between Pray Tell (Billy Porter) and Blanca (MJ Rodriguez). Porter’s character may have only recently found a partner to keep up with him, but the Emmy-winning actor has had an exceptional collaborator in Rodriguez from the beginning. Porter and Rodriguez gave their absolute all this year, leaving no feeling unexplored, no hope untapped, no lonely figure without a mentor. They supported one another in scenes both wrenching (like the early sequence on Hart’s Island) and exultant (like the season finale, in which Porter served up an exquisite Diana Ross homage), which made Pray and Blanca’s onscreen split all the more painful. Porter and Rodriguez are both more than capable of owning the spotlight, but their chemistry is undeniable, making Pray and Blanca’s reunion one of the most joyous moments on TV this year. [Danette Chavez]
Rising stars
Brooklyn Shuck, Skylar Grey, Maddy Crocco, and Dalya Knapp, Evil
A quartet of peppy preteens pulls off one hell of a stunt every week on Evil, playing the heroine’s hyperactive daughters as a kind of constantly chattering perpetual motion machine, rolling en masse through the backgrounds of scenes (and, in the season-to-date’s best episode “October 31,” getting their own spooky subplot). Too many children on TV and in movies are portrayed as either overly precocious—grade-schoolers who talk like grad students—or as permanently stuck in kindergarten. The Evil girls though talk like age-appropriate youngsters, who are easily distracted and yet still prone to comment on everything. They’re also incredibly funny, with a natural comic timing and a facility with fast-paced back-and-forth conversation that’s rare in child actors. There have never been a pack of TV characters quite like them. [Noel Murray]
Outstanding guest performers
Paul Giamatti, Lodge 49
No big-deal thespian who waded into the cable waters this past decade has had as much fun splashing around on TV as Paul Giamatti. In 2019, Giamatti stopped grinding axes (and Axes, and having his own axe ground in the bedroom) on Billions long enough to embody L. Marvin Metz, the eccentric pulp author he’d previously voiced during Lodge 49’s first season. Barreling into a delightfully disorienting cold-open flash-forward with a parachute on his back and a typewriter in his arms, Giamatti sounded season two’s call to adventure, in a screaming-mad register tailored to a writer with Clive Cussler’s prolificacy and a fanatical devotion to the Ancient & Benevolent Order of the Lynx rivaled only by L. Ron Hubbard’s worship of himself. (It was the very model of a guest-star turn, in that one more episode with Metz might’ve could’ve thrown the show’s delicate balance entirely out of whack.) The performance put Giamatti’s executive-producing money where the actor’s mouth is, finding a nutshell for Lodge 49 in the process: Kooky, tragic, bewildering, multifaceted, and a genius that society needs—now more than ever. [Erik Adams]
Alexander Skarsgård, On Becoming A God In Central Florida
On Becoming A God In Central Florida’s Travis Stubbs couldn’t be more different than the last TV role Alexander Skarsgård played, Big Little Lies’ Perry Wright. The former was an ineffectual but loving man (and may he rest in peace in that fictional gator’s belly), while the latter was a barely contained powder keg, one that remained an explosive threat to his wife even after his death. Where Perry cultivated a handsome, controlled veneer, Travis remained as guileless as he was witless. Skarsgård inhabits both of these disparate lives so fully, which is a testament to his shape-shifting abilities, but what’s truly impressive is how the actor found the common thread in Perry’s Italian wool suits and Travis’ strip mall tuxedo—both men posed a considerable danger to their wives. Travis may not have been physically abusive, but his glassy-eyed zealotry, his eagerness in buying into the pyramid scheme that is the American dream, still shattered his life with Krystal (a fearsome Kirsten Dunst). He may have been relegated to the pilot, but Skarsgård gave a go-for-broke performance that’s head and shoulders above those of other guest performers this year. Only a stinker thinker would conclude anything else. [Danette Chavez]
168 Comments
It had completely passed me by that Looking for Alaska actually came out. I remember it getting announced as a project but had no idea it’d started filming much less been released to the masses. I really liked the novel so I look forward to giving the show a try and I’m happy to hear the cast(or at least the main sidekick) puts in good work.I feel like Hulu does a pretty poor job of promoting their stuff. I don’t log in unless their is something specific I want to watch, but I’ll never know what they have if I don’t log in and browse it. Obviously a lot of that is on me but they certainly don’t seem to be trying very hard to bridge the gap.
No you’re totally right. I just spent a year with the service, and forgot I even had it for the first couple months. They only really want your attention when The Handmaid’s Tale drops, but they do actually have some great stuff (and Looking for Alaska is one of them. I loved it.). They need to make people more aware. All I’m ever hearing about is Netflix and Amazon. (And now Disney and Apple+ and they just started)
Evil is such an odd show. Especially all the kid/demon scenes, and whatever’s up with the Michael Emerson stuff. I’m loving it though.Very happy to see The Other Two in here.
More people need to be watching Mr. Robot.
I haven’t checked back in since the end of the last season. I guess you think it’s good enough to deserve attention again?
It’s easily the best show on television.
Yes
This last season is as good as it’s ever been.
No spoilers, but oh holy shit, yes…
Season 2 turned me off. I thought it was terrible, especially after how good the first season was.But, I’ve heard the show rebounded and has since returned to S1 greatness. Perhaps I should revisit!
YES!! Mr. Robot is fantastic this season and the acting is superb.
You should! They’re really not messing around this year, and have put the foot on the gas. Something epic has gone down in basically every episode this season.
They should, but at least it was given all the time it deserved. Despite the I’m assuming meh ratings it got the deserved claim from the get go which let it all play out as intended.
It’s great that there are now so many freaking good tv shows on that it’s possible to forget about a show.The performances in Watchmen have been consistently amazing.Dunst and Skarsgard were great in On Becoming a GodSuccession, man, that show, one of the finest things in quite a while, dark comedy, drama, satire, the cast have been great.Lodge 49, I like it. I like the characters. It doesn’t have the same effect on me (nor do the performances) as the others I’ve listed above, but I enjoy the show. I wonder if it’ll get picked up by Amazon or Hulu or someone.Oh and everything about Fleabag is excellent.
I’ve been trying to balance catching up on Silicon Valley with catching up on Succession, and boy howdy is Succession so much funnier. Something about how terrible everyone is on the show just works perfectly.I’d love to watch Lodge 49, but the viewing options in Canada are slim. What’s the tone of the show?
I too am in Canada, season 1 of Lodge 49 is on Amazon Prime, I DVRd season 2 which was on AMC. As AMC often shows re runs you might be able to do the same, or, your cable company might have season 2 on demand. Anyway, it’s very positive and happy and quirky as hell. It’s like if Twin Peaks had no murders and no real evil (there’s a supernatural element to it, but not in a bad way). Oh and the soundtrack is great, someone really likes the band Broadcast, I’ll say that much.As for Succession, my wife doesn’t understand why I’m constantly laughing at ‘that show about those horrible people’.
No shit! Now I have no excuse. I haven’t had cable in forever, so I’m usually cursing AMC’s name (also FX’s) for having shitty streaming.
It feels really weird calling “Lodge 49″ easy watching when everyone in the show is going through their own existential crisis. But for me that show is easy and comfortable to watch. I feel at home in the Lodge. Like I actually know each character on the show. Oh and I haven’t even started the 2nd season yet.
It looks like one of those properties that really resonate with me for when I’m at an emotional low. If I’m feeling a little depressed and dissociative, I like something bittersweet to bring me up. Mike Birbiglia or Marc Maron comedy specials usually help.
Oh wow. This is exactly how I feel.
It’s kind of bittersweet to know you aren’t the only person in the world suffering the same way, eh? Hope you’re doing well most of the time at least.BTW, I’ve started watching Lodge 49, the first episode in and it’s exactly what I’ve wanted out of it. It’s sad, but Wyatt Russell is such a charmer that I’m in for the long haul (though it seems like it’s not as long a haul as I’d prefer).
And I hope you are doing well Sumner! Enjoy Dud and the Order of the Lynx.
Lodge 49 is sweet and funny and sad and wonderful. I don’t know when I’ve ever cared this much about a show, and I love tv. It rewards attentive watching and every time I watch it again I see something new, but I think it is enjoyable to people that just want to go through it once.
Succession is so, so funny for something that is supposed to be a drama about awful rich people. I mean, 70% of the humor is Roman or Tom related but hey Brian Cox can also be super funny.
As much as I love Bridge, Sian Clifford/Claire deserves soo many awards. I know so many Claire’s, there are moments I am Claire — she’s just a perfectly realized character and played to absolute endearing perfection by Clifford. It’s a severely underrated performance next to the colorful Fleabag but the show wouldn’t have half the sincerity without Claire/Clifford.
Strong points. All of Fleabag is great.
The sisters in Fleabag are a uniquely well written adult sibling relationship. They get each other and genuinely love each other, as much as they intentionally and unintentionally antagonize each other.
I’m worried that Watchmen will be passed up for nominations because it is SciFi and based on a graphic novel.
I’m not sure how much of an issue that still is, especially with something being on HBO, but I understand the concern for sure.
Game of Thrones had mainstream appeal.
I nominate Pamala Adlon in the individual performances section. She’s so expressive and she somehow manages to do both comedy and drama with such pathos.
I am grateful for the performances on network TV. The new Golden Age was begun by cable, and the networks have mostly worked in reaction to it. But innovative performances on a more accessible platform work more strongly. How many viewers watch “Evil”?
I think I may try to catch up with Evil, but I dread digging into the horror that is network streaming. I hate dealing with the endless buffering, the glitchy play, the screwups involving the handoff from the show to supposedly targeted advertising that still ends up being the generic ads I see in a regular over the air broadcast. And I especially hate trying to diagnose why my playback is messed up when other people report it works fine. I don’t want to dig through firmware version numbers and router settings and everything else.
I will let ads play, really. I watch shows while exercising or cooking and don’t bother trying to skip ahead. And I won’t bother to illegally download streams. I just want to go to network.com and watch the show from three days ago I missed, but the hassles are too big.
But for the people who can’t do streaming, it is on “basic” TV.
I would watch Evil if I had access to it. What really pisses me off is that the network gave me a screener access to it for the award season but it lacks captions so I can’t actually watch it. Dammit.
What about Jared Harris and Stellan Skarsgard in Chernobyl?
Hell Jared Harris in Season One of The Terror
Adam Nagaitis as Cornelius Hickey in ‘The Terror’ — he made me feel things; dark, angry things.
I was late on that show, and I’m so glad I made the time to watch it. I was blown away.
If you’re interested check out Diamanda Hagan’s look at the history of polar exploration. She’s also doing an episode-by-episode breakdown of Season One and comparing it to historical events and the book.Be warned, she does occasionally show photos of the Beechy Island ice mummies.
Oh wow, thanks!
Who’s the other half of the duo though? Tobias Menzies or Adam Nagaitis?
hell, jared harris in damn near anything he does these days
Overlooking the performances in that series almost renders this list as useless as tits on a boar hog.
How can you not mention, even once, the series that won for best miniseries, writing, and direction? Chernobyl was objectively a masterclass in writing and direction. Its use of perspective is as flawless an example as you’ll find. And that’s to say nothing of the performances. Jherell Jerome earned his Emmy in the episode of When They See Us that centered around Corey Wise, no doubt, but for my money Jared Harris’ performance was overall stronger. Jerome’s part was flashier, while Harris is a case study in restraint and how transfixing that can be. His chemistry with Skarsgård is intense. How a retrospective of the year in TV can totally omit Chernobyl is beyond me. It has basically set the standard for long-form storytelling and historical storytelling.
AV Club is denying there’s graphite on the roof
As much as I’ve enjoyed Stellan Skarsgard in things, Chernobyl reminded me just how good of an actor he is. He went from frustrating to sympathetic without it feeling unearned.
I keep going back to this scene in episode 2:Others may point to other scenes or episodes as Skarsgård’s pivotal points in the series, this scene is it for me. At about 40 seconds in, when he reacts to Legasov saying they’ll be dead in five years—it’s perfect. His reactions are so perfectly calibrated to show a character who has just changed in an instant. It would have been easy to oversell that, but he doesn’t.And then he takes the character to war with that reaction as he sits down. You can see him wrestling with the impact of that statement, and having to shove that reaction back underneath when he answers the phone. But he’s changed, there’s no doubt about it. And he did it all with a few small facial movements. Honestly, Skarsgård is one of my favorite actors. He does so much good work, takes so many interesting roles (and he’s not afraid to have fun). I’ve loved him since Breaking the Waves, but Chernobyl launched me into a whole extended period of Skarsgård re-watching just so I could appreciate the breadth of his work. I can’t wait for the US release of his film from this year Out Stealing Horses.
Yes, this was the scene where my feelings toward him changed, too. I didn’t like him, thought he was going to be like all the others. Then he realizes and it changed everything for him. It’s hard to pick a favorite scene, but this one is one of them.
Actually, the whole cast. But you are not wrong.
I’m very confused about why they do and don’t include foreign entries on their lists, what their reasoning process is. They’d never in a million years include someone like Yum Jung-ah from the series ‘SKY Castle’ though the show’s up on Neflix and just as available as any other drama.
I’ve come across a lot of these lists lately *for some reason* and Chernobyl is getting no love at all. Don’t understand it.
Jared Harris is awesome at everything. Except maybe his accent in “The Expanse”
Wut? His accent in The Expanse is perfect.
They even name-drop Chernobyl in the Gentleman Jack blurb, so its not like they forgot it. Which somehow makes it even more insulting. Just outright denied.
I am sure someone has Matt Berry yelling out “BAT!”He has an incredible ability to get humor from a single word, see also “WHISKEY!”
‘FAAAATHEEEER’
Pretty sure I shattered a window with how loudly I laughed at that.
We drank the drug blood. We drank the drug blood.
D’Arcy Carden should have won performance for best ensemble. Just sayin’. And by that I mean JUST D’Arcy Carden.
Kirsten Dunst impressed me. I honestly think she’s excellent in everything and she has not disappointed me with her performance in On Becoming A God In Central Florida. She looks like a woman that not too long ago gave birth to a child and is working her way back to her previous size. We get hints about her background but she’s got that Scarlett O’Hara I will never be that poor again going on so I’m hoping for more about her in following seasons. I think Zendaya is going in the right direction to really become a huge star. Her work in Euphoria was amazing, I think everyone on Euphoria was amazing. Zendaya’s a hardworking young woman and thus far has avoided huge post Disney star meltdowns and her work after her Disney stuff has been really good at showing that she’s the real deal and a truly excellent actor.
Euphoria could qualify for a best ensemble award. All the teens, all the parents, and Rue’s little sister – all tops.
I was absolutely blown away by all the performances in Euphoria.
I could not get past how much I disliked Euphoria to even consider if Zendaya was good in it. Otherwise solid list on the individual performances
Ensemble for comedy absolutely goes to “What we do in the Shadows”. That cast is just stacked with ringers. I didn’t realize there were so many great performances this year, but either Edi Patterson or Janet from the Good Place would get my nod. Both ladies fucking KILLED this year, and on shows packed with talent. I might lean more towards Edi Patterson if only because some of the stuff she has to say is pretty insane. “I’m gonna move to Malibu Beach, shave my pussy, learn to surf.”
Shadows did a great job of balancing out the cast. I think it would have been easy for the producers to turn Colin Robinson into the Urkel of the show, but that would have been a huge mistake. The gradual buildup of every character through the season was really fun to watch.
What’s so amazing about ‘What We Do in The Shadows’ is that the characters get better the longer you know them, even the supporting ones. Also (going vague as to not be spoilery), Guillermo’s potential arc is my favorite cliff-hanger of any series this year.
I think they made a smart choice in emphasizing how shaky the vampires are about remembering things, because it frees the show from being too hung up on continuity. Nandor can’t remember basic things about Guillermo, which means if they want to completely rewrite the backstory of Laszlo and Nadja, and then flip everything back, they have that option.
Dead on, although Natasia Demetriou as Nadja was my MVP of the show. And I say this as someone who is a HUGE Matt Berry fanboy.
BAT!
Pretty sure I have a man crush on Matthew Berry between Shadows, Garth Marenghi and Toast of London…
Edi Patterson is wonderful. I liked her in “Vice Principals” too and felt sad for her character. She is great at engendering sympathy and also being insane and hilarious. Darcy Carden is awesome too, I’d watch her in anything.
Edi Patterson was really outstanding on Righteous Gemstones. I’d only seen the smallest bit of promos prior to the series’ release, and while Devine, Goodman, and McBride sold me on the show, Patterson PUTS IN THE WORK.
Needs more North Hollywood Henry
Very much in agreement. How the cast of Barry doesn’t merit even a mention in the “Ensemble” category ranks as an inexcusable snub.
Y’all really need to read the opening paragraphs
Bill Hader was the only actor from Barry mentioned in the opening paragraphs.
Top to bottom strong. Even the bit parts like the detectives were amazing
Oh, HARD YES on this. I’ll give it up to the writing more than the performances but YES YES YES. It’s an arc I want to study again and again. And for it pay-off in ronny/lily is just… it’s just stunning.
I’m a Bill Hader obsessive but even I thought Anthony Carrigan/NoHo Hank outshone Barry in Season 2 (I would happily watch the show if it pivoted to him being the lead). Hell, Barry was 3rd with Stephen Root/Fuches coming in STRONG this season.
I am just excited to see what kind of table he ended up getting.
I have to mention Bill Hader, Sarah Goldberg and Stephen Root. They play some of the most difficult roles on TV and always manage to nail the impossible complexities of their characters. Hader can do so much without saying a word. Root’s work in the scenes where Fuches has to lure Barry into a trap to save his own skin, which is killing him because he does love Barry in his own sick way, is tremendous. And Goldberg refuses to use lazy acting tricks to make viewers feel sorry for Sally, which made her arc last year (facing up to her abuse and being sickened by the reality of the “bad-ass babe gets her revenge on bad men” fetish trope in entertainment, only to give in to that trope in the end) all the more powerful. Really everyone on Barry, with a special nod to the acting class, who add so much fun to every background interaction.Also Alfie Allen on Game of Thrones. One of the very, very, very few elements of heart or pathos in that last year. His last scene is one to treasure.
Good call on Alfie Allen. Theon’s character arc was one of the few things GoT got right in its final seasons, and his performance throughout was absolutely outstanding.
Yup. The lack of anyone from Barry on this list is shocking. It was also the best thing that aired in 2019, imo. (Aside from maybe Fleabag, but those two are neck and neck.)
You didn’t read the intro i take it.
I did, and Bill Hader was the only one mentioned there. The rest of the cast are excellent and certainly deserve to be here.
Why do you hate Henry Winkler so much?
Henry Winkler was so funny and heartbreaking, too! They gave him a lot more to work with this season and it was just brilliant.
Hader was robbed of the directing Emmy.
Agreed. “ronny/lily” deserved all the awards for everything.
I agree. Theon was one of only characters who felt like he had a complete story arc, and whose redemption felt earned.
Dying before the execrable last few episodes ironically saved his character.
I still haven’t watched When They See Us and I don’t think I’ll be able to. It’s too heartbreaking and infuriating a story, but I’m glad so many others are bearing witness to it.
It’s really good, but really hard to watch. I thought the second part (the trial) was really hard to watch, but it just gets more uncomfortable in the later episodes.Also, I was so happy that Jahrrel Jerome won for his performance. He really deserved it.
I’ve heard it’s amazing and I don’t doubt it.
Yes, and most of what is depicted in the mini-series flat out didn’t happen. It’s a complete and total lie.
It’s mostly fiction.
Avu,the Rape apologist
http://www.historyvshollywood.com/reelfaces/when-they-see-us/
Thank you!
It is those things, but it’s also riveting and life-affirming in a way. Yes Jerome is getting all the attention, but really everyone is excellent, especially so many of the mothers. It’s worth watching for the great acting alone. It’ll be good for you- like eating your vegetables 🙂
Though I’m happy Succession was mentioned for its ensemble, the finest performance by an actor in a television show this year was Jeremy Strong as Kendall Roy.
For me, that distinction goes to Bill Hader in Barry, but Jeremy Strong was so, SO beyond incredible this season, too. His performance is consistently the best thing about Succession, and everything about that show is pretty damn great, so that’s saying something.
You’re right, Hader is great. I’m ashamed that I slept on Barry for so long. Just finished binging both seasons a week ago.
Jeremy Strong’s performance could be studied next to ‘Lolita’ and other works of art that portray, in stunningly terrifying accuracy, mental illness and derangement.
Also, depression.For me, I remain convinced Kendall Roy is, at his core, a good and noble person. What makes Strong’s performance so monumental is how he navigates that character in a room full of truly awful human beings, who just so happen to be members of his immediate family. Of course, Kendall does many, many bad things. But, I believe they are not done intentionally, and, he remains a victim of his environment. It’s compelling stuff.
Kendall’s problem is he’s trying emulate his dad, but he’s not his dad. Everything he says in the boardroom comes off crass as opposed to ruthless. And everyone sees right through him.
Kendall Roy is, at his core, a good and noble person. Hard disagree. But yeah, Strong’s performance is amazing.
Jeremy Strong is excellent but I think Matthew Macfadyen as Tom confronts a bigger challenge. It’s really hard to play a character that pathetic without turning him into a cartoon. He shoulders most of the comic relief without turning everything into a punchline. The blend of naivete, greed, cravenness, jerkiness, and love with which he plays that character is impressive. I hope he’s recognized for it.
It’s a reflection of how far into the golden age of television (or whatever) we are that you could do this entire article with a COMPLETELY different set of shows and no one would bat an eye.Look at what’s missing:BarryThe CrownRussian DollGlowSchitt’s CreekVeepStumptownand countless others.They could’ve written two of these things, and then have the link randomly send you to either one, and everyone would’ve probably just nodded and been like “yup.”
Ha. Crappy Gawker can’t display Mr. Robot episode title.
407 Proxy AuthenticationCurrently the highest rated live action tv episode on IMDB. Mr. Robot is the best show on TV right now. Season 2 was a little rough and lost many viewers, but season 3 was great and season 4 has been the highest rated season of tv ever.
407 Proxy Authentication Required funny it does screw it up.
ever?
What about Maggie Gyllenhaal? It’s bad enough to have left the Deuce off the best of the decade list but this omission is just unacceptable
Maggie Gyllenhaal is a TERRIBLE actress. When she was cast in the dark knight, my reaction was “holy shit, they found a worse actress than Katie Holmes!”
objectively wrong, her performance on the deuce is the best tv performance since james gandolfini as tony soprano
lol. tommy wiseau is better than acting that maggie g. i liked the deuce, a lot, (well outside of the stupid ending montage) but it would have been so much better if they found a Candy who had more emotional range than a wooden block.
I liked Maggie Gyllenhall in The Deuce, but in my opinion the best performance on the show was Emily Meade’s
Also great
Since Kristen Bell and Enrico Colantoni have gotten plenty of attention, I’ll throw out a nomination for Izabela Vidovic in “Veronica Mars”. It’s not a new revelation or anything but Stephanie Beatriz is as funny as ever on “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”, and over the last couple seasons has done a great job adding emotional depth to her character without making it seem forced.Good call on Rosa Salazar.
I literally couldn’t take my eyes off Undone. Part of that was the overall visual look and the fact that it’s a good show, but I also didn’t want to miss any of Rosa Salazar’s facial expressions. It’s just a great performance.
Rachel Skarsten is having a field day as Alice on Batwoman. Despite her character’s over the top performativity she makes her real, and despite the awful things she does she makes you root for her. I really hope in future seasons they can keep her around and become a quasi-reformed version of the character, like “Red Alice” from the comics
There’s a reason Regina King is at the top. Watchmen is the best show this year, and she is amazing in it. Each episode one-ups the previous one, the last two should be even more stellar. I think this great cast (especially King) can stick the landing.
Lizzy Caplan should be at the top of this list for Annie Wilkes on season two of Castle Rock. Not only has her performance been amazing, she’s doing all the work for everyone in that cast. They piled that entire show on her back and she has carried it all season, like it’s nothing to her. While having to follow up Kathy Bates playing the same character, no less. No one on television in 2019 has done so much stellar acting, nor have any of the others had so little to work with in the first place.
Absolutely. I still remember her from Cloverfield and Mean Girls. This is astonishing to watch.
Because the title of that Righteous Gemstones segment was “G’day BJ”, it took me a second to recall that BJ is the name of Judy’s fiancee and her story did not involve a blowjob.
No Barry and Noho Hank in Dynamic duos?
Michael Sheen and David Tennant in Good Omens? No?
No
I appear to be slacking off on my TV watching as The Good Place is the only one of these I’ve seen. I do agree with that choice.
There are a lot of great actors and shows on this list but I was really hoping to see Catherine O’Hara on here. Moira Rose is possibly the greatest sitcom performance I’ve ever seen in my damn life.
You people wouldn’t know good tv if… Oh, you mentioned Lodge 49, carry on.
What, no Baby Yoda? Fuck you.What an embarrassment of riches television is right now. For me, my discovery of the year is Edi Patterson. Her energy just blows me away.
Baby Yoda better win an Emmy! I can’t wait to see what he wears to the red carpet.
Huh, it’s always weird to see my last name pop up in showbiz stuff, there ain’t a lot of Knapps out there in Hollywood.
To my knowledge there is only one celebrity with my last name, and since I value my privacy I won’t say who that is. But yes, it’s really startling to see my last name in a movie review.
Well I long ago committed to my last name being part of my usernames so I just try to avoid putting my first name out there too much haha
Your Knapp kin?
Poor Stephen Dorff puts in one of the best supporting performances I can remember, gets zero love.
I forgot that was this year. I do feel bad for him.
For fucking real. That whole season was so great, but Dorff was phenomenal.
I’m a huge fan of the work Jessica Barden and Alex Lawther did in End of the Fucking World’s season 2. Alex plays “scared and desperate” incredibly effectively. And Jessica really nails cynical young woman suffering PTSD. They’ve both got extremely quirky characters that could easily go wrong, especially when they bounce off each other. But they both nail their parts and their characters’ relationship.
The other great performance I caught this year was Atypical’s Brigette Lundy-Paine, who plays the sister Casey. They’ve been a standout since the first episode, and season 3 really gave them some great scenes to act the hell out of, and Brigette’s chemistry with multiple other cast-mates is top notch.
I would like to nominate, if not the entire cast of Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, then at least Nathalie Emmanuel and Beccy Henderson as Deet.
Man, I haven’t seen any of these shows.
I thought Edi Patterson was/is much better on Vice Principals but yes…she is rad. And based on the photo, my first thought at seeing Nandor was “yeah, he’s good but the whole cast is equally as good” and then boom…the cast. This show is easily my most favorite finds of the year. I mean Chernobyl was excellent but that was pretty easy to find, I had to go looking for WWDITS.
Jharrel Jerome was incredible.
There needs to be a special category for voice performance in a live action series, so that Brendon Fraser can be rewarded for his work as Robotman on Doom Patrol (where Alan Tudyk was quite good too).
Doom Patrol was probably the best show of the year but gets no love here .:(
Nice to see Rosa Salazar on the list. She really popped in Undone in a strange role. Based on The Terror and Chernobyl, Jared Harris jumped to the top of my list of favorite actors.
I love Wyatt Russell in Lodge 49 and Dud broke my heart at the end of this season but I’m pretty sure everyone’s favourite part of the show is definitely Sonya Cassidy in a perfect world she’d win all the awards for that dumpling eating contest alone
I fucking LOVE What We Do In The Shadows; so happy to see it included.
Ctrl + F’ed for Jeremy Strong and was about to be annoyed that he’s not on here until I saw the ensemble section for Succession. Still think he deserves an mention. He deserves all the awards for that finale alone.
*FULL SPOILERS*There’s a lot I love about Succession but one of the bigger things is how tight the writing is. So when Cousin Greg somehow accompanied Ken, all I could think was ‘this is weird, this is a mistake – why is he going with Ken? why doesn’t Tom notice’. Watching it pay-off, knowing that Ken and Greg had a discussion we never saw, made me love the show all over again. It laid so much amazing groundwork for another season.As much as I want to separate the writing from the ‘eat the rich’ point, I appreciate the attention to detail in this work.
FREE BARANSKI(love that you mentioned the kids from Evil. that could’ve gotten bad fast but it works.)
Why must so many clips be unavailable.
I’m stunned how good Pedro Pascal has been considering his character has not actually been glimpsed onscreen yet. He’s a walking suit of armor. He says so much with silence, and simple seeming body language. It’s honestly a tour de force in expressive stoicism, because at no point have I been unclear as to what the Mandalorian is feeling.
The end of the f***** world – Alex Lawther and Jessica Barden. Season 2 was so good and there are two scenes that made me cry like a baby
Julia Garner in Ozark
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Thank god you’ve got Gentleman Jack in there — Suranne Jones is truly astonishing in this role, and made it one of the most purely enjoyable series I saw all year. Just watching her stride manfully across a ballroom while decked out in frills and taffeta was one of my TV highlights. Not bad at all for someone who graduated from playing a barmaid in a TV soap.
For some reason it pleases me that both female leads of Dick have made it into this list.
I never feel like I’m watching enough of these. The Righteous Gemstones, Undone, and The Other Two are now shows I’ll be looking for. Great clips, and thank you.
I know the series gets a lot of hate here, but I still go to bat for the ensemble of kids on 13 Reasons Why. They are settling into stronger material as season 3 seeks to improve its positions on crisis and finding support, and it leads to one of the most affecting displays of internalized pain I’ve seen in some time. An objectively amazing performance from the male victim, Tyler.