And, let me be clear. I'm not skipping altogether. I'm too neurotic to let that happen. Like every year, I've ranked every show I watched that aired new episodes in 2019. I don't have any formula I follow. I just do head-to-head matchups until it sorts itself out. I don't futz with the rankings to make myself look better or push and agenda. I choose shows by answering one simple question: what show provided more value to me? Some shows benefit from the momentum of prior seasons. Others are hurt by the decline from prior seasons.
The total number of shows I watched is up. I'm sure that has something to do with the length of seasons going down. The year feels a little down overall. My favorite new shows were mostly quieter shows and some all-time favorites ended with down seasons. Maybe I'm break down some theories I have about the state of TV for next year's list, but for now, here you go.
This Nexflix limited series was practically two of my favorite shows of the year told concurrently. I'm so angry that there isn't an ongoing series that they can make out of this, because I'd love to watch six seasons of Merritt Wever and Toni Collette as detectives investigating crimes.
2. Fleabag
Phoebe Waller-Bridges' series has won all the awards for a reason. If you need me to explain this ranking, that means you haven't watch the show. That's the only explanation.
3. Brooklyn Nine Nine
It's hard to believe how long this show's been on, because it still feels so fresh. If NBC lets them, I see no reason that this couldn't go on for 200 joyous episodes.
4. Barry
"Ronny/Lily" is my favorite thing to come out of 2019.
5. Sex Education
Is is weird that my favorite part of this raunchy yet sweet high school sex comedy is a mother played by Gillian Anderson? I thought not.
6. Succession
It's been real treat seeing this show launch into the stratosphere in season 2.
7. Veep
It's sad to see one of my all-time favorite comedies end.
8. Schitt's Creek
Every season gets sweeter and funnier. I never would've expected that from where the show started (more referring to the sweetness than the funniness).
9. Russian Doll
It's about time Natasha Lyonne got a chance to lead a show.
10. Last Week Tonight
It always makes laugh. I love John Oliver explaining something to me, even if I don't care about the topic or disagree with him.
11. One Day at a Time
Thank you, Pop, for keeping this show alive. More shows need this much heart.
12. Looking for Alaska
Is there a word for PTSD except for nostalgia? Because I got it hard from this John Green adaptation.
13. Documentary Now
It would be cool if this show didn't feel like my little secret. Like, did you know there was an episode with Cate Blanchett giving a tour-de-force performance?
14. Ramy
I love watching shows that tell stories I'll never hear anywhere else.
15. The Mandalorian
Baby Yoda won 2019.
16. The Good Place
If only these last few episodes could've aired in 2019 too.
17. BoJack Horseman
I'm starting to worry that things aren't going to end so well for poor BoJack.
18. Game of Thrones
The very end had some problems, but there were still a number of strong episodes and scenes in the final run of TV's biggest show.
19. Speechless
Thanks to cancellation, I haven't had any Minnie Driver this Fall.
20. Better Things
Louis C.K. was fully removed for the third season and the show didn't skip a beat. Pamela Adlon really can do everything.
21. Chernobyl
What's really impressive is how different each episode was while still falling under the same creative decision.
22. Watchmen
I can't wait to find out if Regina King earns an Emmy nomination for this. On the one hand, gets nominations for everything. On the other hand, remember how The Leftovers was almost universally ignored by Emmy voters.
23. The Deuce
That ending was pretty perfect. I wouldn't expect to find the end of a show about sex work to be so moving.
24. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
I wish they made this using the Gilmore Girls model. I'd love to have 22 episodes every year instead of just 8.
25. Mindhunter
Well worth the long time off. If only they could find a way to have Cameron Britton's Edmund Kemper join the FBI.
26. Catastrophe
Another fitting farewell season. I'm happy for Fleabag's success, but I'm sad it came at the expense of Catastrophe getting more attention.
27. Lodge 49
There aren't enough good hand out shows on TV. And there still aren't since AMC cancelled this gem.
28. Orange is the New Black
This might be the most important show of the decade and it had a terrific bounce-back final season.
29. Stranger Things
Just because I've never fully understood the overwhelming success of the show, doesn't mean it's not one of my favorite ways to kill a weekend.
30. Fresh Off the Boat
I wish Constance Wu shared my excitement about this show getting renewed.
31. Pose
This is such a wonderful ensemble, and I have no idea what they have planned for season 3.
32. Big Little Lies
I'll never complain about TV's most A-list cast coming together for another season, although I wish they found a story with a little more going on.
33. Silicon Valley
It ended exactly as it should've. I've cooled on the show the last few seasons, but at least this ending was fitting.
34. Brockmire
Jim Brockmire: even funny in sobriety.
35. Fosse/Verdon
Since seeing this show, I've seen both Cabaret and All That Jazz, so I guess that means the show was a success.
36. Killing Eve
I don't think the show was ever built for multiple seasons, but at least Jodie Comer and Sandra Oh continue to be excellent in it.
37. Big Mouth
I held off on the shows because it's overflowing with actors who I have strongly mixed feelings about like Nick Kroll and Jason Mantzoukas. That was foolish of me. It dirty and delightful.
38. American Ninja Warrior
This season named only the second winner in ANW history. I do worry a bit about the new measures they've implemented to make it easier for people to get further.
39. Battlebots
It's fitting for my two "reality competition" series to be right next to each other on the list. I like them both for similar reasons. Simple. Easy to watch. Summer filler. And Battlebots has a bonus in that it features robots beating the shit out of each other.
40. Saturday Night Live
Eddie Murphy. Adam Sandler. Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Emma Thompson. The collection of hosts in 2019 was pretty impressive.
41. When They See Us
It's a pretty hard show to rate because its purpose was literally to enrage viewers over the injustice. Really well made. A really rough watch.
42. The Simpsons
Death, Taxes, The Simpsons.
43. Four Weddings and a Funeral
Mindy Kaling has made no secret that she's built a lot of her career on her love of RomComs, so it's cool to see unload every idea she had for the genre in this limited series.
44. Black-ish
Black-ish is getting in that weird place all family comedy does where they need to figure out what to do with the aging kids. They are handling it more gracefully than a lot of shows.
45. GLOW
I loved the 80s Las Vegas setting this season, although it was a little sad to see things shifting away from the actual wrestling. I suppose their reaching the limit of what they can do with the actresses, who are not actual professional wrestlers.
46. The Big Bang Theory
Given the amount of prep time the biggest sitcom of the last decade had for its series finale, I wasn't hoping for something that didn't sell out a lead character's personal development. Then again, multi-cam sitcoms aren't known for ending strong anyway.
47. Bob's Burgers
I honestly couldn't tell you which season any episode happened, and I'm OK with that. It means the show is consistent.
48. Miracle Workers
Steve Buscemi as God is a low key brilliant casting choice.
49. Modern Love
I was a little iffy about the show until the closing montage. Why did I ever doubt John Carney?
50. AP Bio
"Wednesday Morning, 8AM" is the best episode from a middling show in 2019 as far as I'm concerned.
51. The End of the Fucking World
It really didn't need another season, but I suppose it was nice to be around the characters again.
52. His Dark Materials
Thanks to the 2008 movie being so bad, it's amazing how forgiving everyone is being of this series, which I did enjoy.
53. The Handmaid's Tale
I don't give the show enough credit for how it's able to change my opinion of Serena Waterford every damn episode.
54. 30 for 30
Light output for the series in 2019, and I didn't even track all of them down. 30 for 30 has always been best as a volume game.
55. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
I've been afraid to admit this for a few seasons, but I'm starting to think the style of comedy on this show isn't aging well, although it's amazing how much this show is able to perpetuate itself just by being self-referential. It seems like every other episode now is commenting on past episodes.
56. Leaving Neverland
I didn't need to be reminded that Michael Jackson was probably a monster, but this did a great job of it anyway.
57. What We Do In the Shadows
The cameo-fest of that 7th episode is an all-time great example of stunt-casting.
58. Mr. Robot
I stopped caring about the show by the second season. That the final episode got make to care as much as I did was remarkable.
59. The CrownThe new cast stepped in without missing a beat. I miss Claire Foy, but I love having Olivia Colman now. I feel torn.
60. Euphoria
Man, I appreciated this show so much more after I sat through Assassination Nation. It made Euphoria actually feel restrained. I love how disinterested Zendaya is in the fact that she's the lead of the show.
61. The Case Against Adnan Syed
There wasn't enough new information post-Serial to feel that this docuseries was really worth it. I suppose it was a nice refresher and it did make me appreciate how much of what I like about Serial was Sarah Koenig.
62. Black Mirror
The danger of 3-episode seasons is that if none of those episodes are among my favorite of the series, it caps my rating.
63. The Movies
Maybe I'm too close to movies, because CNN bring the same general structure they used for the decades series to film history didn't work nearly as well for me.
64. Legion
I reached a point in this series where I wanted to slap Noah Hawley and tell him to just get to the damn point. While the show still managed to put together multiple sequences I wanted to immediately rewatch, I fully lost interest in the actual storytelling.
65. This Is Us
I continue to love the cast, but the devotion to the time-hopping has really reached the point where it's a bug, not a feature. That said, if the show lost Mandy Moore and Milo Ventimiglia, I would stop watching. It's a lose-lose situation.
66. True Detective
The third season of a show is often the most vital. Many shoes start with a great first season then a second season that stumbles as they try to recapture the magic. The third season is when you can determine if the good or the bad season was the fluke. While season 3 of True Detective wasn't the hot mess that season 2 was, it was something that I had 0 interest in.
67. Modern Family
Only 8 episodes left. I'm seeing this through to the end.
68. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
I really wish I knew why I stopped caring about this show. I continued to love Ellie Kemper through the end, and that Tina Fey/Robert Carlock style of comedy is very much what I like. Oh well, the series ended nicely and quietly.
69. Les Miserables
I'm not really sure how this got down so far on my list. I had nothing against it. It was just early in the year and kind of forgettable.
70. The Flash
I only saw the Spring half of the season and it's starting to reach a point where the plots are getting too convoluted for me to care about.
71. A Million Little Things
It's an off-brand This Is Us, and I'm getting tired of This Is Us too.
72. Arrested Development
It's so sad to see a once great show limp to such a disappointing ending. Remember when we were so excited to hear about a fourth season? I miss those days.
No comments:
Post a Comment