Top 10 TV Shows of 2016 so Far

I've only been keeping up with this blog for about 5 years now and in that short amount of time, the ways that TV is being watched have changed. In past years, I would do a mid-year check-in via my DVR Bloodletting, when I updated what shows I'd be keeping and dropping from the last year. Seeing that nearly half the shows that I watch I do so from online platforms, that process really isn't cutting it anymore.

I decided to change things up this year. There's an overwhelming number of options on TV these days. By the middle of the year, plenty of shows have aired that deserve some recognition, so I came up with a list of my top 10 TV shows so far.

A couple clerical points I'd like to note. This includes any show that has aired new episodes this year that I have seen, including some still in the middle of their seasons. Shows like UnREAL and The Jim Gaffigan Show didn't make my final cut mostly because there wasn't enough episodes yet to judge them above the more complete seasons. Also, for network shows, I'm only including the episodes that aired since 1/1/16, which certainly handicaps them against shows with full seasons. Finally, this is a snapshot in time. I reserve the right to switch up the order for my end of the year lists.

Looking at the list I came up with, it's hard to see how I'm supposed to make room for any July-December shows. This would be a strong year-end list. All that means is that it's a great time to be a fan of TV.

1. Veep

Favorite Episode: "Kissing Your Sister"
It's remarkable how good Veep continues to be. No comedy still on the air has had as strong a run over the last 3 or 4 seasons as Veep. It somehow got even better this season, despite the departure of creator and showrunner Armando Ianucci. I was certain that Ianucci's departure would mark some kind of creative dip given how distinctive his voice is. It turns out that the combination of the returning writers and the cast's command of their characters more than filled the gap. Following the story of Selina Meyers' Electoral College tie and the machinations to try to keep her in the Oval Office was tragic and hilarious. Julia Louise Dreyfus will have earned her 148th consecutive Emmy win come September. I wish there was a way to award every single regular in the cast from Anna Chlumsky to Tony Hale to Kevin Dunn. But, if I had to single one person out, it has to be Timothy Simons. This season saw Jonah Ryan running for congress and every last beat of that had me delirious with laughter. Every year I get more confused that this show isn't a cultural phenomenon. It's terrific.

2. The Americans

Favorite Episode: "The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears"
I'm getting as tired of telling you how great it is as you are of hearing people talk about how great it is. Here's the problem: Not enough people are watching this excellent 80's spy drama. There aren't a better pair of leads on TV right now than Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys. With the end in sight* season 4 moved the story along a lot. Several series regulars got on a plane back to Russia or "got on a plane back to Russia". Phillip and Elizabeth were pushed to their break points. Somehow, Russell's Elizabeth may have done the most awful thing she's ever done and no one even ended up dead, which says so much about how good the writing is. Noah Emmerich as FBI Agent and family friend, Stan Beeman came closer than ever to figuring out who his neighbors really are, proving that you don't need to make people bad at their job to keep a story going. Even Holly Taylor bucks the trend of annoying teenage characters in prestige dramas. The more they give her to do, the better the show gets. I'm not sure what next season is going to look like but I'm as encouraged as ever that it will be great.

*FX has announced that there will be two more seasons of the series.

3. American Crime Story: The People v. OJ Simpson

Favorite Episode: "A Jury in Jail"
The first of two OJ Simpson-related series on my list. I wasn't ready for how good this limited series would be. I'm not a huge Ryan Murphy fan, but it turns out if you take him out of the writing process, he can add a great deal of value as a director and producer. The cast is superb with Sarah Paulson, Sterling K. Brown, and Courtney B. Vance giving career-best performances. The excellent writing, acting, and directing show new sides to very familiar people and events from the "Trial of the Century". More than anything, this is a shining beacon of hope that maybe the Television episode isn't dead. Rather than being arbitrarily assembled installments in a 10 hour story, each episode was a self-contained chapter that told the larger story of the series while focusing on individual topics like the jury's sequestering or the unfair treatment of Marcia Clark in the media. That's a stark contrast to the Netflix binge model where no episode is distinguishable from another. I liked this so much that I didn't even mind the miscasting of Cuba Gooding Jr. as OJ or John Travolta as Robert Shapiro.

4. Game of Thrones

Favorite Episode: "The Winds of Winter"
I fall in between the popular and the critical sentiment about Game of Thrones. I'm not obsessed with it by any means. Although, I think it is one of the great production marvels that television has ever seen. I've never had issues with the pacing of the story. The inconsistency is the nature of the series. Be it the freedom of moving ahead of the books or just the natural constricting of the story after years of sprawling out and setting things up, season six showed definite signs of an end game. The finale in particular is probably the greatest single episode of the series in both writing and eventfulness. It seems like every week this year had a signature moment that could've been the highlight of a lesser season. The fate of John Snow, the burning of the patriarchy, "hold the door". So many great moments. Hell. I'd watch a full episode of nothing more than Tyrion exchanging jokes with Missandei and Grey Worm.

5. OJ Simpson: Made in America

Yeah, another OJ Simpson show. It's hard to believe but both series were great. This is a five part documentary from ESPN Films. I'd consider putting it higher except, this technically had a theatrical release and might be in play for an Oscar rather than an Emmy. Either way, it was one of the best things I'll see this year. Playing out over 7 hours, it chronicles Simpson's rise to fame, murder trial, and his fall from grace as a way to look at race relations in the U.S. and Los Angeles in particular, including the public unrest and history of abuse by the LAPD that made the Trial of the Century such a powder keg. For anyone who loves a good deep dive into a topic, it doesn't get much better than this.

6. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Favorite Episode: "Donald Trump"
It's not that I manage to catch every episode of Last Week Tonight. I refuse to miss an episode. In his weekly series, Oliver manages to combine the intelligence of John Stewart with Stephen Colbert's ability to engage and mobilize an audience. It's truly remarkable what he accomplishes and I look forward to several more months of jokes about Donald Trump's tiny baby hands.

7. Silicon Valley

Favorite Episode: "The Uptick"
I think I'm always going to compare this series with the high-mark it achieved in Season 1's finale, "Optimal Tip-to-Tip Efficiency", which I consider to be one of the great comedy episodes of the last decade. While nothing in season 3 reached that level, they repeatedly approached that rarified air. Mike Judge and Alec Berg's ability to keep the Pied Piper crew from stumbling too far foward into success or backward from it is masterful. I want to call T.J. Miller, Zach Woods, Martin Starr, and Kumail Nunjiani all the show's secret weapon when, in actuality, it's probably Thomas Middleditch, who is giving the most unde-rreocognized lead performance of anyone in this top 10. The only big knock on the show is that they really should've been able to find a way to use Amanda Crew more by now.

8. The Middle

Favorite Episode: "Floating 50"
I adore this show and you should too. Not every show on TV has to be dark or complex or go after big issues. Sometimes, a deep understanding of the characters and a little narrative adventurousness is all you need. Few shows are more satisfying for me week in and week out than The Middle. To date, it's the only show I've even written about in 2016. It's rare to come by a family sitcom that has weathered the aging of the children as deftly as this has and never allowed the stories to outsize the characters. Highlights from this half-season include everything about Frankie's "50th birthday", Sue making a friend while trying to pledge a sorority, Mike dancing with Frankie's mom at the gas station, and the all-around solid finale.

9. Blackish

Favorite Episode: "Hope"
All this attention for Blackish in 2016 rightfully has gone to "Hope", better known as "the Black Lives Matter episode". It was a special episode that blended a discussion of a major and important issue with as many jokes as they could manage. If diversity on TV means there will be

10. Better Call Saul

Favorite Episode: "Inflatable"
This Breaking Bad prequel has no business being any good. It's a cash-grab. Vine Gilligan and Peter Gould didn't want to leave a lot of people out of a job. Right?
I'm glad they ignored all the internet chatter. Bob Odenkirk continues to blow away my expectations of him as a dramatic actor. Jonathan Banks is as stable as...some sort of really stable chemistry thing. Rhea Seahorn got even better this season. And Michael McKean is one of the most interesting villains on TV. This show will never be out of Heisenberg's shadow but it's remarkable what they've managed to do in the shade.

I'd love to keep going. Brooklyn Nine Nine ended the season strong (One word: Mumps). Fresh Off the Boat is yet another great ABC family comedy. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt returned for a solid second season. Girls improved after a middling 2015. Orange is the New Black went dark in a way that I couldn't shake for days. The Roots remake exceeded all my expectations. Girl Meets World opened with the great "Girl Meets STEM" before ending weak. Even The Muppets showed real improvement toward the end before being cancelled. There's just so much TV.

With the good comes the bad. Here are a few of the mid-year disappointments. Some are shows that I've already stopped watching. Others I'm too stubborn to quit. Or maybe one just had a down season.

Fear the Walking Dead

I only got a couple episodes into the season before I stopped. I don't care about any of the characters and there wasn't enough of a narrative pull to keep me going. I've been much happier since I opened my Sunday nights up.

American Horror Story: Hotel

Only a couple episodes aired in 2016. It was enough to remind me of what the Ryan Murphy that I'm not much of a fan of looks like. I still haven't gotten to the finale on my DVR. I can't get myself to do it.

The Walking Dead

Despite never loving the series, I've never been this close to dropping it. The writers have accepted that there's no end in sight for the series and haven't filled the void in direction with anything else. The season finale, a series of roadblocks eventually leading to a cliffhanger, is an apt description for every half-season of the series at this point. They managed to destroy the most interesting character (Carol) with an unearned religious conversion, and after last fall's Glenn fakeout, I no longer believe they have the courage to take a big chance on anything. That said, I'll probably be back this fall because, I don't know why.

Archer

I have always appreciated Archer's willingness to try things. Archer Vice was an enjoyable detour, for example. The move into the Figgis Agency just felt stale. It wouldn't take much for the show to get great again, I don't think. Not all animated series are meant to last forever though. Especially not when they are this serialized.

Vinyl

Well, HBO already unrenewed (cancelled) it, so there's not much to say. It couldn't been a lot better. I'll always wonder what it would've been had they dropped the murder story and just been about the music. Apparently, there was never an audience. I'm still not sure whether to blame the baby-boomers for not flocking to their nostalgia or the millennials for not attempting to reappropriate the era as their own. Either way, this will go down as one of the big write-offs in television history. Still, I like the idea of a series with Bobby Cannavale, Ray Romano, Olivia Wilde, and Juno Temple.