I don’t do Top X lists. As I’ve said before and elsewhere, my mind simply doesn’t function that way. I might be able to present a list of 10 unordered items, but that’s the best I could manage.
When it comes to TV/Streaming, this year, though, I’d be hard pressed to narrow my list of “favorites” down to a simple 10. So I’m just going to mention shows this year that I really enjoyed. There were a lot of them!
In the King universe, there was Season 3 of Mr. Mercedes, which adapted Finders Keepers. A strong season with a terrific cast, enhanced by Bruce Dern and Kate Mulgrew in particular. I’ve been hearing great things about Season 2 of Castle Rock, but I haven’t had the time to see it yet. Maybe before the end of the year. I have seen the first several episodes of HBO’s adaptation of The Outsider, and they’ve done a bang-up job of it. I’ll have a full preview of the series closer to air date, but it is really well done.
There were solid seasons from a number of reliable ongoing series. Luther, True Detective, Game of Thrones (yeah, I know–not everyone loved how it ended, but it was exciting getting there), Bosch, Stranger Things, Orange Is the New Black, Goliath (wasn’t Season 3 a trip?), The Crown. It was also the final run for The Santa Clarita Diet, which got canceled after a big plot event that I wasn’t that fond of, although the season was pretty hilarious.
I added two new series to the rotation this year. First, Stumptown on ABC, starring Cobie Smulders from How I Met Your Mother as a newly minted PI who suffers PTSD, has a brother with Down Syndrome, and a long history of poor life choices. She’s not alone in the latter–all of the characters make bad choices from time to time, making the show gritty and credible. I like it a lot.
The other new series is Morning Show on Apple TV+, starring Jennifer Aniston, Reece Witherspoon and Steve Carell. Who knew there was that much going on behind the scenes of a network morning talk/news show? The characters are fascinating, and the season is firmly rooted in the #MeToo era. It’ll be interesting to see how they wrap it up.
For limited series, we loved Good Omens and Chernobyl. I thought The Spy was very well done, too. We also enjoyed the miniseries adaptation of Catch-22.
For quirky shows, there’s Ricky Gervais’ touching After Life and the second season of Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories, which we enjoy for its insight into aspects of Japanese culture you don’t often see. Another in the strange category: The End of the F***ing World. I’m not quite sure what the attraction is, but I find I can’t look away from it!
On the scarier side of things, I loved the French series Marianne on Netflix. It’s about a writer who has been channeling a witch throughout her career, and now that she’s gone back to her hometown, things really take off in many bad ways. It’s one of the most tense and scary series I’ve seen in recent years, and it’s very well done. Black Summer is a quick watch, a low-budget but effective take on the zombie concept. The Terror: Infamy was a slow-burn, but we were fascinated by the Japanese mythology this season.
Not quite as scary, but equally well done, is the Christina Applegate series Dead to Me. Bad and twisted people doing bad and twisted things, often to hilarious effect. Russian Doll was terrific, with its twisty, turny storyline and a stellar performance by Natasha Lyonne, who also co-created the series. Homecoming, starring Julia Roberts, on Amazon, is another example of how you can do drama in 30-minute installments. I liked the first season of The Kominsky Method, but haven’t gotten around to the new season yet.
On the crime side of things, I was blown away by the German series Babylon Berlin, which has 16 episodes in two “seasons,” but it’s really all one story. It’s set in pre-WWII Germany and–save for a couple of dubious plot choices–tells an amazing story of decadence and corruption in a troubled nation. Season 3 can’t get here fast enough. The Germans also won me over with The Dark, which just finished shooting its third and final season. You need a score card to watch this one, and even then it’s really confusing, but it’s worth the effort.
The second season of Mindhunter was really good. I was intrigued by the Criminal series on Netflix, which consists of four sets of three episodes, each one set in a different country and language. They’re all set in the interrogation room and observation room, they all use the same set (with different decorations, including changes to the food in the vending machines). Season 2 of Tin Star went into Banshee territory. Unbelievable was an interesting look into what happens when someone decides to change their story after reporting a crime.
For science fiction and fantasy, there were strong seasons from Star Trek: Discovery and The Orville. We also liked Another Life, and stumbled upon The Society by accident and enjoyed that ride, too.
