2018 hasn't been a banner year for TV so far. A lot
of shows are in between seasons (Game of Thrones), ended in 2017 (The
Leftovers), have been delayed (Veep), or just plain had down years (Silicon
Valley). Looking at those example - which I honestly thought were arbitrary
as I named them - I swear, I watch more than HBO shows. It hasn't been a bad
year by any means. The top tier is just a lot less crowded. Last year, I looked
at my mid-year top 10 and
wondered how any other show could break in by the end of the year. This year,
almost every show looks vulnerable.
The show count is about average for myself. I've
watched the new episodes of 39 shows. It's a paltry sum compared to the overall
number of shows that have aired this year (it's at least 200), but it's pretty
good for someone with a full-time job who also watches as many movies as I do. Only 3 shows I watch are currently
"airing" (not including whatever you'd call Netflix/Amazon series).
15 of the shows are network shows, so they're only half-seasons so far. Unlike
my movie lists, I'm not going to include a list of all the shows, because I'll
feel the need to write something about all of them if I do that. I just don't
have the time for that with all my Emmy prep. I'll post the full list at the
end of the year.
Favorite Episode: START
What a terrific final season. The story of these
deep cover Russian spies living as Americans in the 80s came to an end this
spring. I have to say, it wasn't the ending I thought I wanted. By the nature
of the pitch, I imagined big shootouts and public reveals. That's not what the
show was ever really about though. It's about a family and a marriage. That's
where the finale hit the hardest. I'm going to avoid spoilers, but there's a
music cue in that last episode that wrecked me. It still does. Matthew Rhys and
Keri Russell are excellent as always. Noah Emmerich is the unsung hero of the
show. Holly Taylor is a real discovery. I remember questioning why we even
bothered following the Jennings children in the first season. By the end,
Taylor and, to a lesser extent, Keidrich Sellati grew into fine actors with
integral characters. I've heard a number of people who've said the show went
downhill the last couple seasons. I'm not sure how someone could think that
without missing the point completely.
2. Atlanta (Season 2)
Favorite Episode: Teddy Perkins
It's nice to know that the rest of the world is
finally on the same page with me regarding Donald Glover. I won't pretend I was
a super-early adopter on him. I didn't follow Derek Comedy and wasn't aware of
him as a writer on 30 Rock for S1-3. Since the early days of Community
though, I've been convinced that he has unlimited star potential. He's taken
his own path with his fame, which is thrilling. Atlanta is a joy to
watch. Week to week, I never know what to expect. The core cast of Glover,
Brian Tyree Henry, Lakeith Stanfield, and Zazie Beetz all have star potential
(See all of them in half the movies coming out this summer). They all can and
do carry entire episodes. Sometimes the show is a hilarious. Sometimes it's
dark. Sometimes it's just plain weird. Then of course, there's the times when
it's all three, like "Teddy Perkins", probably the most written-about
episode of any TV series this year (among critics at least).
3. Brooklyn Nine Nine (Season 5)
Favorite Episode: The Box
Thank god NBC saved this show. There just isn't a
better comedy ensemble on TV. This cop comedy is good natured and constantly
hilarious. There's no premise to wear out. As long as the writers can come up
with good ideas for episodes, there's characters are so well developed that
they could go on for years. Brooklyn Nine Nine features both 2018's best
opening tag (the Backstreet Boys lineup) and closing tag (Captain Corelli's
Mandolin). The highlight of the year has to be the bottle episode, The Box,
which is entirely set in an interrogation room with Captain Holt (Andre
Braugher) and Detective Peralta (Andy Samberg) trying to coax a confession out
of a suspect played by guest star Sterling K. Brown. That episode is even
better when you realize that it's an homage to a famous episode of Homicide:
Life on the Street with Andre Braugher from 20 years ago. Really, we don't
deserve this show.
4. The Good Place (Season 2)
Favorite Episode: Rhonda, Diana, Jake, and Trent
Only five episodes aired in 2018. Arguably, this is
too high for this Michael Schur afterlife comedy. Each episode has to be so
carefully considered though that I'm fine with it. [It's also a reflection of
the relative weakness of 2018 so far.] Regardless, 2018 is the year of Jake
Jortles. I love this cast of weirdos. Emmy nominated Ted Danson is reminding
everyone why he's a legend. Kristen Bell plays with and against her inherent
likability. Manny Jacinto's Jason Mendoza of comic gold every week. Nothing will
compare to season 1's big twist, but I still never know where the show is going
next (or how quickly).
Favorite Episode: N/A
This documentary series premiered at Sundance and
aired on Netflix in March. It tells the story of how the Rajneeshpuram
cult/community essentially took over a county in Oregon. The story is nuts.
It's six parts long, over an hour each, and fills every minute easily. This is
a thorough and compelling examination of a community and the corruptible nature
of power. Ma Anand Sheela, who is at the center of this story, is the best
character of 2018. She's likable and terrifying at the same time.
6. Killing Eve (Season 1)
Favorite Episode: "Don't I Know You?"
Speaking of likable and terrifying. How about Jodie
Comer, the assassin at the center of the year's biggest surprise series? Killing
Eve premiered quietly on BBC America. It starred Sandra Oh and some English
actress I'd never heard of. Quickly it found a fervent fanbase with the
ratings growing every week. It's a tough show to sell, because it is a pretty
bland premise - Oh is a MI5 agent tracking down a serial killer (Comer). I've
seen countless serial killer shows and shows about a detective tracking down a
criminal. It's so damn enjoyable to watch though. Showrunner Phoebe
Waller-Bridge, you may remember from Amazon's Fleabag or as the voice of
L3-37 in
Solo,
brings a wonderful playfulness to it all without taking anything away from the
stakes. There's a wry sense of humor to it all. Oh, Comer, and all the other
actors find new takes on familiar characters. I have no idea how the show will
look after 3-4 seasons, but for one season, it was sublime.
7. The Middle (Season 9)
Favorite Episode: Toasted
I'm beating this drum for as long as I possibly can.
The Middle is a sweet little family comedy that closed out 9
under-the-radar seasons this Spring. It was never a hit. It never got any
nominations. It lived in the shadow of Modern Family from day one. It's
hard to find a family comedy that rolled with the punches better though. The
Middle reinvented itself numerous times during its run, moving from a star
vehicle to an ensemble, dropping the workplace comedy angle, and handling the
transition of the kids to college all quite seamlessly. There's nothing truly
special about the last batch of episodes in 2018. Even the finale was only OK
(Knowing that it was the final season going in, they could've paced things
better so they didn't have to cram so much into the finale). I'm just happy to
get a few more episodes with those characters.
Favorite Episode: The Good Twin
It's had to find much to saw about Glow because I
watched it in such a blur. I watched the first season of this 80's wrestling
period piece in nearly one sitting last year. I stretched it out to a weekend
this year. Alison Brie is wonderful. I never thought I'd see Marc Maron look
this comfortable as an actor. The rest of the cast is so much fun. That's
really what the show is: fun. It hits good emotional beats from time to time,
but it is at its best when it's playfully having fun with the things that make
professional wrestling cheesy and entertaining. The season's standout episode
"The Good Twin" was inevitable - a "real" episode of the
fake Glow program - but welcome nonetheless.
9. Barry (Season 1)
Favorite Episode: Chapter Seven: Loud, Fast, and
Keep Going
A lot of SNL graduates find out that the show
maximized their skillset and they struggle to find fitting projects after
leaving. That's why people like Kenan Thompson and Darryl Hammond stick around
until they're collecting Social Security checks. Bill Hader has navigated his
post-SNL life by involving himself as a creator rather than just a star.
He's been working with South Park since 2008. He's a co-creator of the
excellent and weird Documentary Now!. Barry is his baby though.
This story of a hitman who wants to become an actor gives him a chance to use
all those eclectic SNL skills while sneaking in some of his dramatic
chops. OK, more that some of them. Barry is a dramatic showcase. It's
darkly funny yet it refuses to veer away from the grimmest implications of the
premise. And then there's Henry Winkler in his best role in - what - 10, 20,
maybe 30 years. This show is so pitch black that I imagine it will turn a lot
of people away, but I loved it.
10. The Handmaid's Tale (Season 2)
Favorite Episode: Women's Work
The arc of the reigning Emmy winner for Outstanding
Drama series has been predictable. Using the Margaret Atwood book as an
outline, season one went pretty flawlessly. Everything from the acting to the
direction to the production design to the cinematography was exceptional. With
the freedom to expand on the novel in season two, Bruce Miller and company
still got terrific performances from Elisabeth Moss, Alexis Bledel, Yvonne
Strahovski, Ann Dowd, and the rest. In fact, most of the performances were
improvements, as they've identified everyone's strengths even more. They took
the show to even more locations and built the world out well. But, when it came
to changing the status quo, there was resistance. The story naturally tried to
go one direction, but Hulu's need to keep its awards darling going pulled it in
another direction. It reminds me a lot of the second season of Homeland
in that way (the Brody story had run its course, but Damien Lewis was too good
to move on from). The Handmaid's Tale was frustrating in season two only
because for as good as it was most of the time (truly great stuff), certain
shortcuts or teases really stuck out. It's the hardest to watch show on TV (by
design), but as long as Elisabeth Moss is this good in it, I can take the pain.
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