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Updated my list as Happy just jumped on at #10. Might climb higher if there are more episodes before the Poll ends.
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Dec 31, 2017 06:08
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bagrada posted:Updated my list as Happy just jumped on at #10. Might climb higher if there are more episodes before the Poll ends. I enjoyed reading your list on the previous page, but you need to edit it, or the organizers won't count any of it. quote:4) I can’t believe I have to make this rule but here we are. You HAVE to have ten shows on your list. No more, no less. It HAS to be in order from 10 to 1. 10, in this case is your LEAST FAVORITE SHOW. Repeating again: 10 IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE SHOW, ASCENDING IN FAVORITISM TO 1 BEING YOUR FAVORITE SHOW OF 2017. It HAS to be numbered. You CANNOT list two shows within the same submission and expect your submission to be counted, even if they are complimentary shows. You MUST post your submission in comprehensible English. You MUST post your submission in one post. You cannot violate any of these rules and we will not count your submission or even link it if you don’t. NONE OF THESE RULES ARE NEGOTIABLE.
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Dec 31, 2017 06:44
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Big Bad Voodoo Lou posted:I enjoyed reading your list on the previous page, but you need to edit it, or the organizers won't count any of it. Will do, thanks.
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Dec 31, 2017 06:48
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bagrada posted:Updated my list as Happy just jumped on at #10. Might climb higher if there are more episodes before the Poll ends. I love Happy so far, but i have to say it's just fallen off my list. I had to remove it as I've been binging the Chris Gethard Show and it makes me feel good about things. so, even tho i'm not linked in the post at the start, just saying i've edited my list
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Dec 31, 2017 08:33
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Very hard this year with set contenders for 1-3 and for 8-15 and i really struggled with what to place in the middle and on the bench. So here goes (for now), starting with the special prizes: Sorry-you-just-didn't-make-it Awards: Brooklyn 99 - funniest season maybe since the first Stranger Things - Good atmosphere alone is not enough Gotham - just stupid, but sometimes hilariously so Wynonna Earp - Guilty pleasure gently caress-you-too Award: Game of Thrones - yeah, if you don't care anymore i also won't The-bad-guy-was-right-and-the-heroes-are-pricks Award: Inhumans - my first ever hatewatch? Amazing Let's get to the point(s): 10 Strike Back  Obviously could not hold up to the insanely high expectations. They could easily fall from a cliff on either side of a) looking like a cheap knockoff of the legendary previous seasons or b) not being close enough to the charm of the predecessor. And, at least for me, it hit a good middle in the couple episodes that already aired on Sky. Looking forward to the rest of the season in 2018 (why is there a break in a 10 Episode Series?). Give it a fair chance. 9 Z-Nation  Lost a lot of its appeal as they decided to focus too much on Warrens vision stuff. And i didn't like how they literally made some characters disappear. Other stuff was still good, even and especially the radioactive foam storm Barbershop. Curious how next season after "The Reset" starts off. 8 Blood Drive  Went from capital-B Cannonball spoof with lots of gore to some weird corporate conspiracy future-whatever. In some way the deranged brother of Z-Nation. Plus it gave the gift of Julian Slink to the world. 7 Killjoys  Stays its course which is a feat in itself. Still very charming and enjoyable. Still i liked it more when they were just "Space Bounty Hunters". 6 Agents of Shield  Still better than any X-Men movie. I like the future-setting and the return of HUNTER! secured its place on my list. 5 The Orville  Best Trek was original KirkTrek and this is as close as we can get to it nowadays. For the record: I hate Family Guy and Discovery lacks personality. 4 Crazy Ex-Girlfriend  I had fun watching last season as "show about silly woman-things" mixed with funny musical interludes. Then it gradually and gracefully slipped into very dark waters without becoming unenjoyable. 3 Legends of Tomorrow  When you're looking for fun in your superhero-tv look no further. They make every stupid thing work and even manage to make you cry in the end without anything feeling out of place. Obligatory link to THAT intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7VDZwwTCDo 2 Dirk Gently Hollistic Detecive Agency  I really wanted to love Season one but absolutely couldn't connect (ha!) to the storyline and everything fell kinda flat with it. Season 2 was just glorious insanity with tons of lovable characters and a love to the little details. To make every weird and crazy thing work and fit in the story in a way that makes you say "of course" afterwards is a gigantic feat of cast and crew and the cancellation is a crime against humanity! May the happily singing one-eyed one-armed fire-breathing peopleeater catch up to you! 1 Expanse  Sci-Fi setting, politicking on the back of "the workers", extraterrestrial threat with technical abilities beyond comprehension, cool characters and some pew-pew. All the buttons pressed - all the points! Finally i would like to thank all the nice forum posters and especially the GIF-wizards for their input over the year. Thank you! bou fucked around with this message at 11:24 on Dec 31, 2017 |
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Dec 31, 2017 11:12
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Honorable mentions: The Punisher. Anything with Frank and Micro or Karen was great but the whole thing was sunk by the rest of the cast being weak and the plot basically being Lethal Weapon 1 remade. Game Of Thrones. Some powerful character moments and action set pieces but as the end is approaching it all feels forced. This just makes me even more mad at how much time was wasted in seasons 4 and 5, time they now have to make up with teleporting characters and groups being made for plot's sake. GLOW. If I had watched this more recently it may have made the cut. 10. Claws my snowflake show vote for 2017. Drugs, murder and manicure in a completely over the top and yet sincere way. 9. Travelers, it's the year of Time Travel and season 2 built on over a strong season 1 with some breathtaking twists. It would have been higher had there not been another show that just edges ahead on its quality: 8. Dark, a show with a massive cast and massive scope. It's not got the tight focus on characters that Travelers does with 30+ major characters, most of which are played by different actors at different ages. This alone should have doomed any show but it pulls it off with some amazing casting, well structured reveals and gorgeous production values. 7. Agents of SHIELD, season 5 took a while to get going but purely on the strength of season 4 this deserves a spot. AIDA, Ghost Rider, are-you-real-or-an-LMD tension made it better then most major Marvel movies. 6. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, the best Marvel show of the year. Rachel Broshahan's star-making performance plus a lavishly shot and customed 1950's as presented by Amy Sherman-Palladino who just throws all the money and F-bombs on the screen she could not do before. 5. The Expanse another great season 2 show that takes a good season 1 and just goes above and beyond. 4. The Leftovers, the bar was set high for this to pull off a satisfying end and they succeeded admirably. Also, teasing Justin Theroux and then not delivering is the biggest flaw in The Last Jedi 3.Better Call Saul, a master class in acting and directing. 2.Riverdale, why is this show so good ? WHY ???? HOW ????? 1. Twin Peaks, there could not be anything else here. Nothing is like it or will ever be like it again. CeeJee fucked around with this message at 12:00 on Dec 31, 2017 |
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Dec 31, 2017 11:57
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 10. Fargo (FX) This season never quite cohered like the previous two, but a lot of the individual parts--especially David Thewlis's amazing villain and Ray Wise in the bowling alley--continue to stick with me.  9. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon) The stand-up bits are the highlight--and frequently hilarious--but Midge's personal and family life never feels like a drag, and her parents provide plenty of great comedy on their own while creating emotional investment in this crazy family.  8. The Good Place (NBC) The Twist is one of the few twists to genuinely gobsmack me, and everything in the second season so far has been golden, spinning off in directions with such great speed yet never feeling rushed or out of left field.  7. Legion (FX) An exciting and fresh take on the superhero story, a genre that often leaves me cold but here leaves my head spinning in the best possible way.  6. The Vietnam War (PBS) A great telling of a really depressing period of history.  5. American Vandal (Netflix) Manages to offer an intriguing mystery, an artful commentary on the true crime genre, and be so, so funny all at the same time.  4. Bojack Horseman (Netflix) TV's best depiction of depression comes in the form of a talking cartoon horse and a ton of dumb animal puns. I love it.  3. Mr. Robot (USA) Still the most enjoyable anxiety attack I will ever have.  2. Stranger Things (Netflix) Great characters, great hair, bitchin' season. Starts slow and has some pacing issues, largely with that episode (you know the one), but it comes together in a way that lifts it just above the first season.  1. Twin Peaks (Showtime) It happened again. It happened...again.
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Jan 1, 2018 02:43
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Pretty good year for TV! Some greats that seem to appear on my list every year had lacklustre seasons whilst still being solid and entertaining but it was definitely a year for some awesome new shows. First of all. Apologies to the following shows which I didn't get around to watching that may have appeared on my Top 10: BoJack Horseman gently caress Scientology Narcos Stranger Things Twin Peaks The Crown Comrade Detective Here is my 11 to 67 if anyone is interested (I know they aren't but I did it anyway) 11 American Vandal 12 Mindhunter 13 Fargo 14 Silicon Valley 15 American Gods 16 Legion 17 Sneaky Pete 18 Future Man 19 Broad City 20 The Americans 21 Vice Principals 22 Last Week Tonight With John Oliver 23 The Jim Jefferies Show 24 Insecure 25 GLOW 26 Animal Kingdom 27 Impractical Jokers 28 Black Sails 29 Dear White People 30 Shameless (US) 31 Game of Thrones 32 Review 33 The Handmaid's Tale 34 Vikings 35 SMILF 36 Preacher 37 Survivor 38 Veep 39 Blue Planet II 40 Big Mouth 41 Baskets 42 No Activity 43 Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 44 Youre the Worst 45 Snowfall 46 Ozark 47 The Sinner 48 Catastrophe 49 Orange Is The New Black 50 Love 51 Ballers 52 The Tick 53 Peaky Blinders 54 Vice 55 The Get Down 56 Broadchurch 57 Comic Book Men 58 Fear The Walking Dead 59 Hard Knocks 60 Harlots 61 Lip Sync Battle 62 Riverdale 63 Santa Clarita Diet 64 Taboo 65 The Grand Tour 66 The Walking Dead 67 Tin Star and now for my Top 10: 10. Better Things I'm not going to penalise this show for the Louie CK thing. What a follow up to an already great season. I think I cried in about 4 of these episodes this year which is pretty rare for me. A really interesting family that I want to spend more time with. 9. The Good Place I don't know how they did it, but they did. This season could have gone of the rails so easily but it only got better. The cast is amazing and diverse, the show remains hilarious and it's creative as hell, especially for a network show. 8. Rick and Morty The internet is trying it's best to ruin this show for me, but they haven't succeeded just yet. Whilst it didn't have the highs of last year, the show is still super clever, super original and laugh out loud funny. 7. Nathan For You Nathan Fielder is a genius. I wish he was more famous. Everything he does is gold. This season went down some pretty different paths to previous but it was awesome none the less. 6. Master of None Really solid season. It was almost like 10 (12?) 30min movies every week. So much memorable and creative stuff here. A love the creative leash that Aziz has been given with this because it's made for some all time great TV episodes. 5. Mr. Robot Wow, what a return to form. I was one of the Season 2 haters (well, not haters, but I was cool on it). This season hit me over the head with a bat repeatedly. The balls on this show are massive and the 3 episode stretch from 4-6 were white knuckle, edge of your seat brilliance. 4. The Deuce I desperately wanted this to be good after the failure that was that was Vinyl and boy did it deliver. I was concerned Simon was starting to lose it as his last couple of shows have been good, but not mega popular phenomenons. This was awesome. Loved the cast, loved the setting, loved the pacing. Can't wait for season 2. 3. Better Call Saul Maybe not as good as last season, but this show is really starting to threaten Breaking Bad's spot in the TV Pantheon. Can't believe this show exists and I can't believe how much better it keeps getting. 2. Patriot I loved this show the first time around, but thought it took a while to get going. Upon rewatch though, I don't know what I was thinking, it's pretty great right from episode one. I love this kind of Coen brothers, Martin McDonagh, Shane Black style of convoluted, black comedy storytelling. 1. The Leftovers This was special. They absolutely nailed this season and the finale will go down as an all time great. An extra soft spot from me, as I'm Australian so I was stoked to see Melbourne on full display to great affect. Carrie Coon is a goddess.
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Jan 1, 2018 03:34
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That's a lot.
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Jan 1, 2018 04:34
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10:The Orville Had more than a few hiccups in its first season but managed to be a fun bit of scifi action-comedy when TV really needs something like that 9:iZombie Mercilessly and unflinchingly destroyed its own status quo just to prove that it could, while still being fun and adorable 8:12 Monkeys Went further into crazytown with even more nonsensical time travel plots and acid laced visuals, and is all the better for it 7:Vikings Seemed aimless after killing off its charismatic lead last season, then Alex Høgh Andersen fit right into that Ragnar shaped hole and made it his own 6:Halt and Catch Fire Ended the only way it could have, with a bunch of likeable and endearing characters realizing that success will always be just beyond the horizon 5:Rick And Morty Like so, so many popular shows like it, especially animated ones, it has reached the point where I don't want to be ~The Kind of Dude Who Likes Rick and Morty~ but hey, sometimes popular shows are popular because they're good 4:Marvel's The Punisher Smarter than any adaptation of that character has any right to be, with near perfect action scenes and a career defining performance from Bernthal, a man who already has a few career defining performances 3:The Good Place Wrote a check no one expected the show could cash, then cashed it and wrote a dozen more, and I am poo poo at metaphors. This show is funny and endearing in every way. 2:Legion Visually ambitious with a story unafraid to go completely bugfuck, a perfect cast, and some good twists along the way, can't ask for much else 1:Better Call Saul Really doubled and tripled down on the fanservice, most of it probably unnecessary, but still pretty justifiably my favorite show as every single person involved demonstrates master-level talent at TV-making.
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Jan 1, 2018 05:43
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10. Game of Thrones I felt as though this season would've been better served with a few more episodes to space things out (especially the foray above the wall), but man, the loot train battle was just totally awe-inspiring. 9. The Good Place They found a way to not only keep the show fresh, but they also managed to make it even more entertaining. Dance Dance Revolution and the Trolley Problem are two of the funniest half hours I've watched all year. 8. American Vandal This show took a premise that should've worn thin in like an episode and a half and drew it out into a full season of something funny and insightful. #whodidthedicks 7. Master of None The Thanksgiving and New York episodes were major standouts for me, but I'm sold on everything Aziz does on this show. It's millennial as hell, but it's charmingly so. 6. Legion A really fun and creative twist on the superhero genre. Aubrey Plaza absolutely kills it. 5. Fargo This season definitely started slower and less impressively than the others, but by my count, its highlights (the last few episodes, along with anything featuring Ray Wise) were up there with the best of the series. 4. Twin Peaks: The Return I feel like I'm still digesting this show since I binged the whole series in the last month, so it might rise or fall in time, but man, what a strange, beautiful show. 3. Mr. Robot I wasn't one of those who felt the second season lost the plot, but this story is definitely helped by the fact that Elliot isn't separated from the entire cast for half the season. Still has the best title cards in TV. Also, I could watch Joey Bada$$ talk television for hours. 2. Halt and Catch Fire This show absolutely wrecked me. This was just a really great character drama that nailed its last season. 1. The Leftovers I was a bit of a late adopter to this show (I'd heard the first season was a bit of a miserable watch, which it kind of was) but I ended up watching this season ahead of some of my co-workers and I would have put this on the list solely for giving me the opportunity to sell them on lion sex boats. Besides that, it's just an incredible show that managed to be both seriously affecting and hilarious. fancy stats fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Jan 8, 2018 |
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Jan 1, 2018 09:36
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Honorable mention Vice Principals – Really wanted for this one to make the list this year but it just got edged off. Fantastic conclusion to such a bizarre and hilarious show. Bojack Horseman – This show means a lot to me. Even though I couldn’t fit it on my list its depiction of the struggles the characters go through are very important to me. Stranger Things – I think this season was just as good if not better than the first. The setup for season 3 is really exciting as well. 10. Marvelous Mrs. Maisel – I knew almost nothing about this until I sat down to watch it and it was a huge surprise. Incredibly hilarious and brilliantly acted. Rachel Brosnahan is incredible. 9. Better Call Saul – The final collapse of the Jimmy/Chuck relationship was devastating and enthralling. Everything about the courtroom episode and its aftermath were perfect. The show continues to be a slow burn but I have no complaints. 8. The Expanse – I was in a bad mental space when I first tried to watch this show back when it started. It’s so dense and full of detail and I just couldn’t give it the concentration it deserved. Finally gave it another try this summer and it blew me away. I’ve never seen another science fiction show with this kind of commitment to detail. Story and acting are fantastic as well. 7. The Orville – I had hopes for this show going in but was a bit unsure it could meet them. In the end however it exceeded them. A mostly fantastic cast with really creative Star Trek type adventures. What more could I ask for. 6. Travelers – I failed to watch season 1 of this in time for last year’s list but I was determined not to let it slip by this time. I love the concept for time travel in this show. In particular Episode 7 featured one of the most interesting ideas for how to work within the limitations, having to repeatedly send a traveler back to just after the previous one to try and prevent something in a very short window of time. The finale was also a huge paradigm shift and I can’t wait to see where season 3 goes. 5. Agents of Shield – This show is still as strong as ever. The latter half of season 4 was some of the best the show has ever been. They delved deep into artificial intelligence and an artificial universe and the effects these things had on the characters have been profound and long lasting. This season’s journey into space and the future are also shaping up to be excellent. 4. American Vandal – I almost skipped this one but my brother made me watch it over Thanksgiving and I’m so glad he did. It’s an absolute perfect true crime documentary parody, but also crafts an incredibly compelling story. Peter himself as the documentarian ended up my favorite character. Best episode by far was the one where he and his friend work to piece the events of the party together via videos and photos on social media. 3. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – How this show just keeps getting better I do not know. The episode where Rebecca finally learns to begin accepting what her real problems are was one of the best things I watched on TV this year. My Diagnosis in particular moved me deeply. 2. A Series of Unfortunate Events – These books are incredibly close to my heart and this is finally the filmed adaptation I’ve been waiting for since I read them. Almost every detail is perfect, the humor is spot on, the changes make sense, and the heightened sense of mystery from the beginning was a great touch. Would’ve been my number one but… 1. The Good Place – I couldn’t not give the top spot to The Good Place. The ending of Season 1 completely changed the show and season 2 capitalized on it better than I could have imagined. It’s hilarious and clever and always exciting. I look forward to it more than anything every week.
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Jan 1, 2018 17:50
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I had less time for TV than ever this year, but still managed to get in a lot of good shows. Here's the best of what I watched. 20 - 13 Reasons Why 19 - The Punisher 18 - Lethal Weapon 17 - Playing House 16 - Colony 15 - Brooklyn Nine-Nine 14 - Agents of SHIELD 13 - Curb Your Enthusiasm 12 - The Americans 11 - Veep 10 - No Activity (CBS All Access) The trailer for this just magically popped up on Youtube one day and I immediately knew I was going to love it. Great comedy with some of my favorites working today in a very minimalist (cheap) set up. I'm sure they probably shot this whole series in like three days or something but I loved every second. I hope there's more coming. 09 - Ozark (Netflix) I really did not expect to be into this show as much as I was. It was really fun seeing Jason Bateman in something so different to what I'm used to seeing him in. Laura Linney was also excellent. I had no real thought about this show going in and it ended up making my Top 10 of the year. I'm assuming since it's Netflix a second season is automatic, I hope it is. 08 - I'm Sorry (TruTV) My favorite comedy of this year. I think I might have been the only person watching or possibly the show just turned other people off. It's definitely not for everyone. I really like Andrea Savage so I was looking forward to this show but the whole cast was great, it even had the lead singer of the Oneders in it! But also recurring people like Jason Mantzoukas, Judy Greer, Martin Mull and Gary Anthony Williams. Really shocked it got a second season as I didn't really hear anyone else talking about it, but I'll take it for sure. 07 - Shameless (Showtime) This keeps slipping down my list every year, but it's not indicative of the quality of the show as much as it is the quality of other shows. I still love every second I get to spend with this hosed up family. Last year we got two seasons in one calendar year and I'll be honest with as little time for TV as I had this year I'm glad they didn't repeat that. I prefer having it to end out the year as I do now. 06 - Riverdale (CW) This show on paper is not something I'd normally have liked even five years ago. But I gave it chance based on liking the creator's work in comics and really got hooked. I thought maybe with an increased order of episodes they wouldn't go so crazy so fast in season two, but was quickly proven wrong. Maybe not a shining example of quality award winning TV, but you're not going to find much as fun and engaging as this one. 05 - 12 Monkeys (Syfy) This show really went crazy this year, not just by airing it all over three days. You can tell they're wrapping it up for the final season and they're not slowing it down a bit on the way there. James Callis was a great addition to the show and I really enjoyed his character. Can't wait to see what they do this year to finally to tie it all together. 04 - Vikings (History) I'm not exactly sure how this show seems to grow exponentially bigger every year, but it does. It's gone from a tight smaller scale show to something I'd never dreamed it would become. The battles and pure scale of the show are insane at this point. And while it may have lost a big character that made the show what it was, it managed to take that loss in stride and add some great characters to the mix and spotlight others that had been around to make up for it. 03 - Travelers (Netflix/Showcase Canada) Last year this show caught me by surprise, but this year I was ready. I think it managed to really up the stakes and take a really neat direction with the story this year. A couple of really shocking episodes this season and I love the one big main addition to the cast. 02 - Mindhunter (Netflix) This was probably my most anticipated show of the year and it didn't disappoint. I'm a huge David Fincher fan and Zodiac is one of my favorite films period. So this project was pretty much right in my wheelhouse. Was blown away by the performances in the show and happy to hear that Fincher is going to have his hands firmly on the further seasons. 01 - Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon) A real surprise to me, the pilot of this show came out of nowhere and I loved every second and then the show itself dropped and it was even better than I could have anticipated. Pretty much everything about this show landed for me and Rachel Brosnahan is a superstar in the making. Also probably my favorite season finale of any show this year. I feel the season ended just as good as it started and considering it was my favorite pilot in years that's pretty drat great. Cannot wait for the second season.
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Jan 1, 2018 22:04
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Yo Rarity is it kosher to make an edit to my list? I've been watching Travelers and I'm almost done the second season which is def clamoring to grab a spot on my list.
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Jan 1, 2018 23:37
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Zaggitz posted:Yo Rarity is it kosher to make an edit to my list? I've been watching Travelers and I'm almost done the second season which is def clamoring to grab a spot on my list. Lick! The! Whisk! posted:5) HERE IS HOW EDITING YOUR SUBMISSIONS WORKS. You're not on the list, yet.
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Jan 1, 2018 23:39
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List updated, watch Travelers y'all.
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Jan 2, 2018 01:17
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So what happened with Black Mirror? The voting period was extended for it, but no one hasn't voted for it yet.
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Jan 2, 2018 15:02
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It had some good episodes but wasn't top 10 material
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Jan 2, 2018 15:06
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ok FUCKERS here's some stuff from me. first up, a list of the worst shows of 2017. gently caress these shows: NOT THIS LIST OCC AND RARITY THE OTHER ONE posted:10. Preacher - This show wastes everything good it has going for it on meandering boring nonsense, someone give the writers a kick up the loving rear end for gently caress's sake Also posting my 50-11 for anyone wondering where so-and-so show is: 50. Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events 49. Catastrophe 48. Peaky Blinders 47. Curb Your Enthusiasm 46. One Mississippi 45. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt 44. No Activity 43. Brooklyn Nine-Nine 42. Superstore 41. Baskets 40. Transparent 39. Mindhunter 38. Sneaky Pete 37. Speechless 36. American Gods 35. Samurai Jack 34. The Handmaid’s Tale 33. GLOW 32. Game of Thrones 31. Search Party 30. Nathan For You 29. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 28. American Vandal 27. Fargo 26. Easy 25. You’re the Worst 24. SMILF 23. Feud 22. Girls 21. Brockmire 20. Vice Principals 19. Riverdale 18. BoJack Horseman 17. Review 16. Mr. Robot 15. Master of None 14. Adventure Time 13. Lady Dynamite 12. Halt and Catch Fire 11. Legion (loving AGONISED between leaving this or my 9/10 off, poo poo finale pushed it over the edge, sorry Legion) top 10 comin....RIGHT NOW: 10. Big Little Lies Easily the best thing David E. Kelley has done in years and a great portrayal of upper-class affluence and female friendships, led by a whole bunch of incredible female performances. 09. Better Call Saul Came pretty close to taking this out of my top 10 because the Mike/Gus stuff isn't great but MAN is everything else amazing enough to make up for it. Jimmy's downfall becomes ever slower and more tragic, while Chuck, already an all-time great TV character, got some of his best and most heartbreaking moments. And Kim is still an impeccably underrated character. 08. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel One of the most exciting new shows in forever and it's only this low because there needed to be more of it. Rachel Brosnahan puts in a superb performance as the lead, while ASP's writing has improved since the Gilmore days while still being hilarious and charming. Plus a show about a great comedian where the comedy is actually good?? What a crazy idea!! 07. The Deuce Spent most of its first season as another Simon great but the last couple episodes put it up there in Wire-level. The characters and setting are very memorable, with a lot of moving stories about the dehumanisation of sex workers and growth of their industry in 70s New York. Plus, despite never taking advantage of its subject matter, it's just FUN and entertaining in a way Simon's shows have never been. 06. Rick and Morty Holy loving crap this show was so good this year. It's easy to gloss over the season's greatness in favour of yelling about spergy misogynist sauce-wanters, but at least like 6 of this season's episodes were loving incredible and all-timers for an animated sitcom, with some of the densest 22-minute scripting and most emotional character work I've seen in the medium. The best season of this show yet, but I have no idea how long Harmon and Roiland can keep balancing on this tightrope, arguably the finale was a bit of a slip 05. The Good Place This was already high up in my top 20 last year just from the initial first several episodes being so good and then HOLY CRAP THEY BLEW UP EVERYTHING and the show became way more interesting but then oh i can see how s2 could be a weekly sitcom aga-OH NO THEY JUST SPED THROUGH ALL THAT IN ONE EPISODE and now it's just crazy and funny as heck and able to continue its more thoughtful ideas but with more elaborate execution. Could end up as Schur's best show ever which is saying a lot. 04. Patriot The one underrated show moaned about in Couch Chat that actually deserved the praise! A very morose and funny spy dramedy with gorgeous composition and a great lead performance. While you can compare it to certain Coen works it's entirely its own thing with its own tone and one of the more unique TV shows I've seen in some time. So unbelievably excited for the second season! 03. Better Things One of the most loving and humanistic pieces of television ever seen, Pamela Adlon's work directing, co-writing, and starring in every episode of this season was totally phenomenal. The whole show just feels so lived-in in a way a lot of sitcoms can't manage with five times the effort, while the more thoughtful and thematic side was always very meaningful, doing a fantastic job of getting you into Adlon's shoes and understanding how tough it can be to be a woman and deal with dudes' lovely behaviour and raise dipshit children but also you love them etc. 02. The Leftovers The ending to what is, overall, going to most likely be the best show of this decade (depending on how you wanna count things like Breaking Bad and Mad Men) was almost completely perfect, sending most of its cast on a spiralling journey of self-discovery and finishing off multiple character arcs in perfect fashion, with at least three? four? of the best character-focused eps TV has ever seen. Plus one of the all-time great finales that satisfied basically everyone. Like it was gonna take a minor miracle for this to be not 1 on this list, no question. Anyway my number 1 pick is a minor miracle. 01. Twin Peaks Wally Brando. The Mitchum brothers. The nuke. The charred men. Kyle loving MacLachlan. Gordon/Albert dream team. Charleyne Yi screams. A group of showgirls and businessmen conga into an insurance office bearing gifts. Amanda Seyfried stares into the sky as the cocaine takes effect. Evil rises, and light to meet it. The creature in the box. Ike 'The Spike'. Lucy learns how cell phones work. Shaggy has a scuba-related breakdown. David Bowie is a talking tea kettle, or at least the smoke coming out of it. The Hutchenses! Janey-E! Laura Dern! Eamon Farren! Harry Dean Stanton! Kyle GODAMN MOTHERFUCKING MacLachlan, my dudes!!! It makes no sense that this show existed, yet alone that it had all this stuff in it, yet alone that it all felt of one with each other.....but that's the power of David Lynch. That list isn't even half of the incredible poo poo that happens over the course of this 18-hour show. which perplexed, infuriated, and captured my heart every single week. Leftovers is probably the "better" show, but this one was so captivating, such a blast to watch, and just made my heart sour. I don't think we'll ever see another project like it, and no doubt it goes down in history as one of the best things to ever come out of the medium. ok that's my dumb post over, i hope you liked whichever parts of it you read Escobarbarian fucked around with this message at 22:46 on Jan 2, 2018 |
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Jan 2, 2018 22:38
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TLDR, but Tin Star is your no.1 show of the year? Bold choice.
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Jan 2, 2018 22:43
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Escobarbarian posted:10. Preacher - This show wastes everything good it has going for it on meandering boring nonsense, someone give the writers a kick up the loving rear end for gently caress's sake At least it had Pip Torrens perfectly cast as Herr Star, to the point I completely forgot he was Tommy Lascelles from The Crown. But yeah, this season started so strong with the road-trip concept and then just immediately spun its wheels in New Orleans, almost entirely inside one apartment  Escobarbarian posted:01. Twin Peaks gently caress yes. I think it's gonna be 20+ years before anything surpasses this, unless Lynch does something himself. This was absolutely loving incredible.
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Jan 2, 2018 22:46
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Jerusalem posted:At least it had Pip Torrens perfectly cast as Herr Star, to the point I completely forgot he was Tommy Lascelles from The Crown. Holy poo poo what??? hahaha that's so good The casting in Preacher in general is absolutely spot-on but man do they give them just nothing to do
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Jan 2, 2018 22:48
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Jerusalem posted:At least it had Pip Torrens perfectly cast as Herr Star, to the point I completely forgot he was Tommy Lascelles from The Crown. But yeah, this season started so strong with the road-trip concept and then just immediately spun its wheels in New Orleans, almost entirely inside one apartment
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Jan 3, 2018 00:30
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Escobarbarian posted:ok FUCKERS No future Man..... i feel like that's a slap ion the face on your top 5000 list
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Jan 3, 2018 01:21
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It was hard to come up with a definitive Top 10 this year, because even with the stuff I knew I'd missed, there was so much I'd enjoyed watching. Honorable mentions include The Orville for being like a warm blanket of Trek nostalgia; Veep for maintaining the quality after Armando Iannucci's departure; League of Gentlemen for reminding us you can't go home again but you can visit; The Crown for it's sumptuous visuals and intimate portrayal of the Royals, Rick and Morty for just being loving funny; and Mindhunter for being really drat good but edged out by the excellence of everything else. 10. Punisher - After Iron First and Defenders were both huge letdowns, this series was a vast relief. Moreso because like Jessica Jones from 2 years earlier it was more interested in exploring the psychological impact on its characters than just reveling in the fight scenes. Jon Bernthal is incredible as Frank Castle, whether spitting out his words in a cold rage or letting loose with his murder bellows... but that's not enough to carry a show. Thankfully, the writing and Bernthal's acting allows us to see a Frank Castle with more depth - somebody who was already in danger of losing his family and himself before they were murdered, another victim of a society that glorifies the notion of a soldier and then abandons or ignores them when they come home. The show is fascinating in its exploration of PTSD and survivor's guilt - not just through Frank but the other veterans who are all trying in their own way to find direction and purpose. Yes it has missteps, and runs a little long even if it handles pacing far better than any other Marvel Netflix show. The gun-control Senator is embarrassingly poorly written, some "twists" are incredibly obvious and Castle's healing ability feels near superhuman at times. But everything wraps up in an incredibly satisfying way and even though the show has been greenlit for a season 2, I kinda wish we never got any more. Frank's ultimate fate in season 1 leaves you with a sense that while everything is bleak there IS some sense of hope for something better or more normal down the road for him. It'll be taken away from him in order for there to be a season 2, and that's a drat shame, because by the end of the season it feels like he has earned it.  9. Doctor Who - After a too long absence, Doctor Who returned in fine form in 2017 for the first half of season 10, with a long run of good to great episodes (Oxygen is a masterpiece) before things kinda fell off the tracks a little in the middle of the season. It recovered to pretty standard fare and then had a hell of a two part finish to the season followed by a rather sweet Christmas Special that said goodbye to Peter Capaldi and his time as the Doctor while ushering in Jodie Whittaker. This was also a swansong for Stephen Moffat, who has been running the show since season 5 and been called everything from a genius to a hack. That the show was dealing with so many finalities this year made the fact it felt like a soft reboot all the more interesting. A new viewer could easily step in with season 10 and feel like they weren't missing anything. Or if they were, that it was quickly explained in the season itself. Capaldi smoothed the curves off his often grumpy Doctor without losing his edge, the show looked great, and everybody seemed to have fallen into a groove that made the show a joy to watch even in the season's weaker points. There was a sense that everybody knew this was their last chance to get as much right as they could, and most everybody delivered. Plus, of course, there was World Enough and Time as the penultimate episode of the season. Not quite up to the same quality as season 9's Heaven Sent but still a phenomenal episode with one hell of a cliffhanger. Season 10 was a nice reminder that I love this show because it's really loving good. While it is a show that thrives on reinvention, you don't always have to reinvent the wheel. Sometimes you just have to make the show be about an eccentric alien who travels in time having adventures and thoroughly enjoying themselves in the process.  8. Fargo - The first two seasons of this show were some of the best seasons of television I'd ever seen, so season 3 always had its work cut out for itself. Did it meet expectations? Not at all... but that's because what we got was something that felt almost completely different from the prior two seasons. Noah Hawley once again took things in a different direction, with a season all about perception vs reality, or rather how perception IS reality. What is real? What is true? Is this "true" story only true because somebody says it is? It made for a sometimes frustrating (if stunning) viewing experience but the performances more than made up for that. Ewan McGregor, Carrie Coon and Mary Elizabeth Winstead were all excellent, but it was David Thewlis who stole the show as the monstrous, disgusting and vile V.M Varga. Preying on the weaknesses, fears and desires of his victims, Varga was rampant capitalism personified - he existed for no other reason than to consume (they could be a little on the nose, admittedly, like the vomiting scene). The final scene of the season, where Carrie Coon's Gloria faced off against Varga and their perceptions of reality clashed against the other was absolutely sensational. Will there be a season 4? Maybe, and I have no idea what it will be like, and that's part of what I love about the show. You never know what you're going to get.  7. The Deuce - David Simon returned with his first regular series since Treme (Show Me A Hero, excellent as it was, was a mini-series) and man did he deliver. Alongside frequent collaborator and master of despair George Pelecanos, the show dives back into the squalid and frequently nasty world of New York's Times Square in the 1970s. An ensemble show with big names James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhal headlining, it offers a fascinating look at a period of time that New York has done its best to slide under the rug. Pimps and prostitutes, the burgeoning porn industry, police corruption, rampant and open homophobia, the mob - they're all present and everybody justifies their horrible actions. Watching the scramble for legitimacy, purpose in life, money, respect and control over their own lives, The Deuce already offers a more cohesive vision than the often beautiful but meandering Treme. Like The Wire, it can be equal parts depressing and inspiring, sad and happy. It can be poignant but also gloriously immature, and alongside the excellent and established actors are plenty of newcomers, journeymen and character actors delivering the performance of their lives. Plus holy poo poo that opening theme   6. Stranger Things 2 - I really enjoyed the first season of Stranger Things but did think the love for it was perhaps a little overblown. So I was surprised when I read that a lot of people felt season 2 was weaker, because I ended up loving it a whole bunch and thinking it was stronger in general than the first. Yeah there was that one kinda weird episode in Chicago that felt like set-up for season 3 but even that gave Eleven a chance to shine. The entire gang of kids felt better developed, particularly Lucas and his relationship with Max, plus Will actually got something to do this season. The Mindflayer was an intriguing new villain even if the Demogorgons did get a bit reduced threatwise as a byproduct. For me, this season captured the unholy combination of Spielberg/King better than the first season did and left me excited to see how much better season 3 could be, particularly after the final image of the season. I just hope the Duffer Brothers resist the urge to get too cute with their references, they handled the fallout from Barb's death in season one extremely well but it would be very easy to go overboard in the future with the likes of remembering Bob, or Steve's status as the World's Best Single Mom.  5. Mr Robot - I really enjoyed season 2 and was again surprised to hear there were people who felt it was a letdown. This season surpassed it in my mind however, perhaps because like season one I watched it over a few days instead of week to week like I did with season 2. The only real weak point of this season was the increasing ludicrousness of trying to simultaneously have the world running as normal AND being in the middle of complete economic collapse. The 5/9 Hack never really felt like a real thing in the world of Mr. Robot outside of the impact it had on the main characters. But this isn't a show I really watch for its impact on the world of the show, it is all about the characters, particularly Elliot, and it delivered in spades this year. Angela was sadly a bit of a letdown after the fascinating way the show used her in the previous season, but her decline into madness was still well-handled. In fact in general it was fun to see so many characters struggle to deal with the paranoia and fear that Elliot has had no choice but to live with his whole life, particularly Darlene. Bobby Cannavale was a delightful addition to the cast, the framing and editing was once again a thrill to watch, and Rami Malek is an incredible actor. The Trump stuff was a little on-the-nose and it looks like season 4 is going to try and just snap the show's world more into line with the real one, but I'll keep watching as long as Rami Malek is stumbling around New York trying to figure out just what the hell is going on in his head.  4. American Gods - We lost Hannibal but we got this beautiful thing as one hell of a consolation prize. The cast was incredible, the visuals were beautiful, the Coming to America interludes were wonderful, Ian McShane gleefully chewed the scenery and to top it all off there is nothing better in life than Bryan Fuller filming Gillian Anderson in wonderful locations/outfits. This was the road-trip/supernatural weirdness I'd hoped for from Preacher season 2, and it delivered in spades. The only downside was that it felt like it was over too early and JUST as what I thought would be the final couple episodes were about to begin. Apparently Bryan Fuller has left the show and won't be there for season 2, which is hugely disappointing, but at least I'll always have these 8 glorious episodes.  3. Legion - Though I enjoyed season 3 of Fargo, I can't help but wonder if Noah Hawley didn't spread himself thin considering he was also the showrunner for this awesomely bizarre series. Based on the weird X-Men character David Haller, mutant son of Professor X whose various powers manifest via multiple personalities. It seemed a bizarre idea for a show, given that Legion has never been particularly popular or well-known, and the link to the X-Men movies themselves was extremely thin. But the show looked incredible, and Downton Abbey's Dan Stevens is great as David. The real star of the show for me though is Aubrey Plaza, who initially appears to be just a minor variation on her Parks and Recreation character but is quickly revealed to be something far, far weirder. The episode where she takes control of the asylum and does a dance number would be one of the most enthrallingly weird things on television in almost any other year... if it hadn't been for Twin Peaks coming along and doing far weirder and more enthralling things almost every other scene in almost every episode. Jean Smart is also very good, though Jemaine Clement quickly overshadows near everybody he encounters outside of Plaza, which makes season 2 all the more intriguing. I don't know if the premise has the legs to go more than two seasons at most, but for now I'm really enjoying the ride.  2. Better Call Saul - This show just keeps getting better, every season it somehow surpasses itself and not only lives up to its status as a prequel to Breaking Bad but arguably surpasses it. Bob Odenkirk's Jimmy McGill is a tragic character whose triumphs and tragedies are riveting, but he's joined by a cast of equally amazing characters. None moreso than Chuck, whose rivalry with his brother came to a head in the most stunning way in the fantastic courtroom episode and then in the big finale. But all the supporting characters are strong, to the point that at least Kim and Mike feel like they could easily carry a show by themselves. Nobody feels like they are making up the numbers, nobody is one-dimensional. Hell, even Hector Salamanca feels like he has depth - his distaste for Gus only growing as he sees his position in the Cartel threatened. Gus' return has been somewhat criticized but I have no problem with getting to see Giancarlo Esposito back performing one of the most terrifying villains in television history. In fact the only issue I have with this series is that eventually they're going to have to cross into Breaking Bad's timeline and that means at some point this has to end... maybe?  1. Twin Peaks - I've never seen anything this good. It's television at a whole other level. 25+ years after revolutionizing how television was viewed, David Lynch returned. The TV landscape is completely different now, we've seen sensational television raised almost to an artform. The long-form story getting the acting, directing and cinematography it deserves and then along comes David Lynch and surely the world has caught up to him and surpassed him by now? Well yes they had... so he just raised things up to another level all over again! The almost effortless ease with which he unfurled 18 surreal episodes was breathtaking. The cast came running, actors old and new flocked to the chance to work for the bizarre genius and he rewarded them accordingly. Nobody knew what was going on, the only person who saw the whole script was Kyle MacLachlan and he sure as gently caress didn't fully understand it but none of that matters. MacLachlan's performance was a masterclass, whether he was Lodge Cooper, Evil Cooper, the beautiful Dougie or FINALLY the returning Agent Cooper he just dominated the screen. The only sour note was the lack of the original Sheriff Truman due to sickness, but even then everything else was just so... I don't have enough superlatives. It was a television event, a glorious reveling in the strange world of Twin Peaks. Credit must be given to Mark Frost too, who was left holding the bag in season 2 and has been often blamed for the worst parts of it. Season 3 was Lynch and Frost working in concert with no restrictions or outside influence. This was THEIR show and it was all the better for it. Plus episode 8.... the most breathtaking episode of television I've ever seen. Or episode 17, where I came close to tears when I thought for just one beautiful moment that they were going to save Laura Palmer. Or episode 18, which people will be talking/arguing about for years (decades!) to come. This was a season of television that I would never have thought could exist, or that if it could it wouldn't be allowed to. And we got it, we got exactly what Lynch wanted and it was everything I never knew I needed. There was nothing better this year. Nothing. Television has never been better.
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Jan 3, 2018 12:15
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Honorable Mentions - Mindhunter, Superstore, Once Upon a Time (Who knew the reboot would work so well!), Master of None, Great British Bake Off, American Dad and Get Krackin'. 10) Legends of Tomorrow The only DC show I regularly watch because it’s consistently fun. The Time Idiots gently caress up everything they touch before kinda unfucking it. Legends doesn’t take itself too serious, which makes it an easy watch. 9) Fear the Walking Dead This show has become much better than it’s parent show. Fear becoming the dark mirror to the original show is very enjoyable. Our leads gently caress everything up for everyone they come into contact with, but justify it by claiming it’s for their family. The only downside is that the show still just unceremoniously offs characters in lame ways. 8) 13 Reasons Why Look, I really enjoyed this show, apart from one thing. From the start of the show, our protagonist asks EVERYONE – ‘Am I on the tapes?!’ and it would have been much better if ANYONE had given him a heads up. It was the worst trope where characters withhold information for no good reason. 7) American Gods Sometimes style over substance, but it was intriguing. 6) Stranger Things Back to the Upside Down and another enjoyable trip to the 1980’s with everyone’s favourite telekinetic and Goonies. It’s more of the same, and it mostly does it well. 5) The Block (Australian) Even though I’m on the other side of the world and this show has far too many episodes every week, my housemates and I still watched every bit. This year had 5 couples (With no diversity, again.) who renovated 5 houses. When they were auctioned, some made hundreds of thousands of dollars. Some only made a pittance for months of work. It’s the armchair appeal of ‘I can do that’ mixed with renovation/design. If you don’t want to sit through the entire thing, just watch the reveal episodes. 4) The Good Place There’s a completely amazing twist this show pulled at the conclusion of S1. Since then, S2 has been rushing through story at an insane pace. I can’t wait to see where the Afterlife takes us next. Janet’s amazing. 3) RuPaul's Drag Race After two great seasons, Season 9 was another great turn for Ru. Lady Gaga made an appearance and it was a consistently entertaining season. The finale had epic lipsynchs and a deserving winner. 2) Legion Aubrey Plaza. Kubrician visuals. A brilliant mind-gently caress. All aboard! 1) Handmaid's Tale I waited a few months until after it came out before I watched it all in a week. loving hell. This show is still weighing heavy on my mind. It's a smash hit when it comes to the visuals, narrative and characterisation. It's one of those rare moments where the series/film is better than the book. Handmaid's Tale still plays on my mind, months later. I'm still recommending it to everyone, even though it's a grim trek through a near future dystopia.
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Jan 3, 2018 17:40
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I just watched the first four episodes of Happy! so I had to change my vote. The Magicians is out, Happy! is in.
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Jan 5, 2018 13:47
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Haven't been able to watch as much TV this past year. A large number of shows I haven't managed to watch yet. Honorable mentions - American Gods, Travelers (this might crack my top 10 but I'm only half way through) 10. Colony - I like josh holloway and I thought season 2 was a great followup to 1 9. Orville - I'm a macfarlane fan, much more serious than I was expecting, and it is nice to have a show thats not quite as serialized. 8. Punisher - much better written than I was expecting, bernthal does a great job. Much better than any of the other marvel shows this past year. 7. Game of Thrones - I'm a fanboy, this will always be on my list. great to finally see things that have been teased about for 20+ years 6. 12 monkeys - can't wait for season 4. Not sure how I feel about the whole witness reveal which I felt kind of fell flat though. 5. Legion - not quite sure what I watched, but very well shot, bizarre plotting, good use of music. the bolero sequence is my favorite scene from any show this year. 4. The leftovers - great finale. Season 2 and 3 were wonderful. Nora in the hotel is another powerful scene. 3. Agents of shield - season 4/the framework was amazing. Season 5 is off to a decent start so far. 2. the good place - hilarious, well written, great actors, constantly surprising me. 1. The expanse - had a lot of great moments this past season, for a scifi show its well written/acted. I've never liked Holden but I always want to smack him in the books as well so i guess its a good portrayal. karrethuun fucked around with this message at 17:48 on Jan 7, 2018 |
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Jan 5, 2018 17:24
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Two honorable mentions: Search Party and The Good Place In a way it's a good thing that I ran out of room on my Top 10 for both of these two, because it would be hard to pick one over the other. Both are that rare breed of comedy that actually has a compelling and suspenseful serialized narrative. Hope both of them get season 3s, and would recommend either to anyone who likes one and hasn't seen the other. 10. Brooklyn Nine-Nine It's been following the 30 Rock formula "throw 100 jokes at the wall per minute and at least one will hit" for a while now, with the added benefit of characters I sort of care about. 9. Stranger Things I don't think the second season had as many iconic scenes as the first, but it's still a very beautiful and haunting show. 8. Difficult People The only Hulu original I've ever enjoyed, and it's a crime that this was the last season. Can't wait to see what Julie Klausner does next. 7. Crazy Ex Girlfriend A really fun show, even if I think season 3 is a little weaker than 1 and 2. Not much to say that hasn't already been said. 6. Better Call Saul Season 3 was probably the best season yet, and the last few episodes were just about as exciting and riveting as Breaking Bad was at its best. 5. Dear White People Probably the most underrated Netflix original out there. Interweaving plots and perspectives of the different characters across multiple episodes is a hard thing to pull off, and Dear White People nailed it right out of the gate. 4. Master of None I'm not sure if Season 2 quite reached the highs of Season 1, but it certainly came very close. 3. The Leftovers I only discovered this show earlier this year right after the third season aired, and I think I got lucky. Being able to marathon everything at a rapid pace was super addictive and might be the best way to watch this Lost spiritual successor. 2. Halt and Catch Fire I ALSO only discovered this show earlier this year, and it's really something special. It's funny that the (admittedly shaky) first season was considered a bad Mad Men copycat, since I think the show ended up being a much better version of what Mad Men tried to be-- a super earnest character study set in a very distinctive and compelling time period. It helps that the characters are much more likeable and the show doesn't mind embracing campy earnestness every now and then. 1. Survivor The past two seasons were the weakest back-to-back seasons in several years, so I almost considered knocking it down a few spots but that would feel dishonest. It was still the show I was most excited to watch each week, and is still the show on this list I would most easily recommend to pretty much anyone who hasn't seen it. Riveting, exciting, funny, and just about every adjective you can use to describe good TV.
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Jan 7, 2018 04:45
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karrethuun posted:Haven't been able to watch as much TV this past year. A large number of shows I haven't managed to watch yet. Lick! The! Whisk! posted:2) This isn't PYF. Please write up something about the shows on your list- why you picked them, what you loved and hated about the season, whatever, just don't do a bare list.
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Jan 7, 2018 11:22
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I'm on tablet right now and literally don't have time to write out explanations but I'll edit in stuff later. I'm just putting it up now so I get it on in time. 10. My Brother, My Brother, and Me 9. Legion 8. Black Mirror 7. Mindhunter 6. Halt and Catch Fire 5. Twin Peaks 4. Rick and Morty 3. Better Call Saul 2. The Deuce 1. The Leftovers
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Jan 7, 2018 21:24
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Alright I guess I gotta just rip the bandaid off, this was tough. Honorable Mentions Review Vice Principals Shameless Better Call Saul Bojack Horseman Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later Fargo Love Punisher Catastrophe The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Twin Peaks Stranger Things I won't go into detail about each show, just that I really liked each one and thought they were real good but again, we got a ton of good shows this year. Review and Catastrophe in particular are shows that I don't think enough people watch (watched, in the case of Review  ) I'm sure I left a few shows out too, sorry shows  10. Riverdale - I really was not expecting to like this show as much as I do. It embraces the campiness in a good way. A full 22 episode order is a bit concerning but the season has been real good so far. 9. Legends of Tomorrow - Oh hey another show that fully leans into the campiness! After a rocky first season this show just said 'gently caress it' and went full goofy comic book show. Great cast, doesn't take itself too seriously, just fun all around. 8. Legion - Just a real quality comic-based show that was a real mindfuck. Beautifully directed, very interesting plot, and again a real mindfuck. They took a leap of faith and differed a ton by what you'd expect from a comic book show and it paid off. 7. Playing House - Did anyone else watch this show? It's about two best friends raising a baby, played by actual best friends (Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham). This season (the last one, show didn't get renewed) dealt with Jessica's IRL breast cancer diagnosis and managed to be super funny and touching all at the same time. Go watch it, people! 6. GLOW - Based on the actual short-lived lady's wrestling league. I had no idea this was even a thing that was happening until the day it was released and it blew me away. I thought they did a good job of portraying the ridiculousness of wrestling without being condescending about it. Plus Alison Brie. 5. Black Sails - I binged through this entire series right at the end of the year and holy crap it just kept getting better. Gonna have to go back and read Treasure Island again. The final season was a fantastic way to wrap the series, plus it has the best intro of any show probably ever. 4. Mr. Robot - I really liked season 2 despite the flaws, but season 3 was a "return to form" for people who were disappointed with it. They did a great job of balancing setting up the board for the future, leaning in on the time travel stuff without making it cheesy, and excitement. 3. The Good Place - I really did not know what to expect from this show when it first aired but between Danson and Bell I gave it a shot. Holy moly am I glad I did. It's a feel-good comedy with a premise that could have gone south easily but IMO they've nailed everything pretty flawlessly so far. 2. Halt and Catch Fire - One of the best shows that it feels like nobody watched. Every season of this show was better than the previous one and it had a really fantastic series finale, even though I had a minor quibble with the ending (though it made thematic sense). Don't listen to people who say the first season is bad because it isn't. It's just different, and also super important for establishing the relationships between the main cast which is really what the heart of the show is. 1. The Leftovers - What do I even say about The Leftovers that hasn't already been said? A beautiful, sad, confusing, sometimes goofy show that had what I think was the best ending to a show ever. Alright I think that about wraps it up, hopefully my brain thoughts make some sense. GobiasIndustries fucked around with this message at 23:54 on Jan 7, 2018 |
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Jan 7, 2018 22:57
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Glad to see we're back again and I appreciate you giving us more time to get entries in, I'd suggest making it the end of the first week of January going forward as a lot of folks are busy over the holidays or able to fit in some binges. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get around to watching everything I would have liked so in case you were wondering why something didn't make my list that's probably the reason. I really like this thread as I always find new shows I would've otherwise missed and am reminded of shows I need to watch so thank you Rarity and Toxx for making it happen. Honourable mentions: Animals., GLOW, Crashing, Catastrophe, The Good Place, The Deuce, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Rick and Morty, Brockmire and The Punisher 10. Big Mouth - This show by all rights should not be as good as it is. I'm not a huge Nick Kroll fan but he does a great job here. By far my favourite character has to be Maya Rudolph's The Hormone Monstress, I could listen to her say bubble bath forever. 9. Mr. Robot - I'm admittedly a season 2 apologist but I definitely think this season was a return to form. I find this show compelling and eagerly awaited each new episode. I enjoyed the "twist" at the end of the season and look forward to the next. 8. Mindhunter - The show fascinated me. I was a fan of Holt McCallany from Lights Out but feel he's even better in this however Jonathan Groff definitely takes the cake. There is a great progression in the first season and I'm excited to see where they go from here. 7. Star vs. The Forces of Evil - Another show I likely would have missed if not for this fine forum. This show is a perfect successor to Gravity Falls and just loving fun! I like all the characters and while I had some misgivings are the start of the new run I feel they did a superb job landing everything. If I need to just tune out for 11-12 minutes and feel good this is my go-to show. 6. Bojack Horseman - So many great moments. This show goes from hilarious to heart wrenching better than any other I can think of. Episode eleven was an incredible revelation and is a great example of why this show continues to be a must watch for me. 5. Stranger Things - I wasn't sure where the Duffer brothers would be able to go after the incredible first season but they blew me away again. I enjoyed the arcs of all the characters and the introduction of Brett Gelman as Murray was awesome. 4. Man Seeking Woman - I loved this show. I have a really hard time putting my finger on exactly what about it resonates with me but it does! It gave me a lot of belly laughs and warm fuzzies. I feel the third and final season was its strongest and the addition of Katie Findlay was fantastic. 3. Patriot - A surprising late edition to my list thanks to you kind goons. Shows that make my list are usually doing something different and man does this show ever do that! The use of folk music to tell the story of John's mental breakdown is genius. The episode where he's wandering around Luxembourg with the hiking pack might be my favourite of the year. 2. The Leftovers - Emotionally wrenching. I wasn't sure if they'd be able to land the finale and while I recall there being some critics I thought it was spectacular. The performances were amazing all around but those of Justin Theroux and Carrie Coon were on another level. I was impressed with how they were able to change locations each season without skipping a beat. 1. Review - This show, this loving show, in my opinion is one of the most overlooked and underrated shows ever! The journey of Forrest MacNeil was a true delight to watch from start to finish. I can't recall a single bad episode throughout the entire series and it ended in brilliant fashion. Levin fucked around with this message at 05:49 on Jan 11, 2018 |
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Jan 7, 2018 23:55
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I didn’t watch nearly as much television this year as I’d have liked, and a lot of the shows I did enjoy I didn’t end up finishing. So instead of doing just honorable mentions, here’s a list of shows I started or fell behind on and need to get back to: A Series Of Unfortunate Events (watched the first four) Patriot (currently blitzing through the last four episodes) The Get Down (my #3 last year! Didn’t watch all of the first episode, that animated stuff was rough) Steven Universe (haven’t seen the last five or so episodes) Search Party (watched the first two) Future Man (watched the first two) Twin Peaks (watched the first two episodes and decided I needed to see FWWM) Star Trek: Discovery (didn’t watch past the two they aired on real TV) The Tick (didn’t watch episode six) Preacher (like six episodes behind) iZombie (didn’t watch the finale) MST3K: The Return (watched like an episode and a half) Dad of Light: Final Fantasy XIV (Yes, really, watched an episode and a half) Dear White People (I didn’t love what little I watched of this, honestly, but it was just most of the first episode) Riverdale (like two episodes behind) And then there’s shows I never got to like GLOW, Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Mindhunter. As for actual honorable mentions, the three I unfortunately had to cut at the last minute were The Punisher, Steven Universe, and Stranger Things. 10. American Gods American Gods is a good book that meanders a bit too much in the middle, even if the digressions make sense in the overall narrative and it all gets tied together decently in the end. American Gods is a good show that meanders a bit too much in the middle, even if the digressions make sense in the overall narrative and it all gets tied together decently in the end. My point, then, is that there’s really nothing else this adaptation could have been, and what it is manages to capture the spirit of the book with some of the most gorgeous composition on television. Yes, it’s slow, covering only the first third of a long-but-not-that-long book in eight hour-long episodes. But it gets the right things right, consistently. The individual vignettes of the stories of the gods are all fantastic, and the expansion of certain characters’ roles is phenomenal. 9. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. This show should be a joke, right? It’s not just me? How is this as good as it is, as consistently as it is? This show aired its best episode ever this year, which is no small feat. Buoyed by outstanding performances across the board and the willingness to just go loving nuts whenever it gets the opportunity, this show continues to amaze me. 8. Legion I wanted to love this show, but instead I merely came to like it. It’s a shame that the final episode isn’t as strong. It’s a shame that it decided not to really explore the ideas from its premise I was most interested in. It’s a shame that the last third or so takes a weird detour that mostly works but also kind of doesn’t. Legion is not what I thought it would be. What it actually is: surprising, funny, and shockingly scary. And holy poo poo, what can I say about Aubrey Plaza that hasn’t already been repeated ad nauseum? 7. Riverdale Guilty pleasures are dumb. If you love something, own it. For instance, I love Riverdale, the dumbest show on television, full stop. Here are just a few of the amazing plot points Riverdale blew through this year: Drugged milkshakes A serial killer with a psychotic obsession with one of the main characters A gang war in which one of the main instigators is a character named “Sweet Pea” That gang war eventually leading to a loving street race And hard drugs named “Jingle Jangle”! Riverdale has no pretensions about what it is, and it is gloriously campy. There’s nothing ironic about my enjoyment of Riverdale, it’s just the tastiest junk food on television right now. 6. Rick and Morty Rick and Morty is constantly trying new things. They don’t always work, but it’s always trying. “Pickle Rick” is one of the best episodes they’ve ever done because it’s dumb, sincere, and brave all at once, and manages to thoroughly dress down its main character’s incredibly toxic worldview. This show gets a lot of poo poo. I won’t say it’s undeserved, but it’s also just loving incredible when it’s firing on all cylinders. 5. Better Call Saul Better Call Saul is probably a better show than Breaking Bad at this point, and it owes it all to Bob Odenkirk, who is just an incredible presence onscreen. Jimmy McGill has been denied and marginalized for so long that one can’t help but root for him, which makes it such a shame when he gives into his own worst nature, breaks the rules, and proves everyone who ever doubted him right. It’s hard to watch. It’s even harder to stop. 4. Patriot Behold, the tale of The World’s Saddest Man! Jesus, this show came out of nowhere, and it is something else. It’s like a Greek loving tragedy unfolding in slow motion from eight different angles. Everything good is transient. All victories will be undone. Failure is the only universal constant. ...It’s also funny as hell. 3. American Vandal American Vandal also completely blindsided me. It’s an incredibly well-executed mockumentary, from the reuse of footage to the random students walking into B-roll shots to request interviews. It’s hilarious and somehow even tragic. It’s kind of a perfect little thing in its own right. 2. The Good Place How can a show be so willing to blow itself up in so many different ways? The finale was incredible, but everything since has been on an entirely new level. There’s an amazing willingness here to let moments that other, lesser shows would save for a finale go off in the middle or even the beginning of the season. Even the latest episode ended in a way that leaves me with no idea where it can possibly go next. Also, “The Trolley Problem” is the funniest episode of television all year, and it’s not close. 1. The Deuce I haven’t seen The Wire. I really should, but I just haven’t. This, then, is my first David Simon show, and holy poo poo, what have I been missing? There’s the amazing feeling of a world just beyond the boundaries of every scene, implied by the texture of every moment and the incredible set of actors populating the cast. It’s rich and nuanced in the best of ways, never going for the easy way forward or the simple depiction. The introduction to C.C. and Lori, in particular, could have so easily been a trite example of one taking advantage of the other, but the writers know we know what’s up and throw our expectations for a loop. No other show this year made me feel as full a range of emotions as The Deuce, from tragedy to humor to horror, to full, complete captivation with the amazing completeness of what I was watching, permeating through every aspect. Here’s the best selling point I can think of: I find most nudity offputting because I’m a loving prude, but I couldn’t get enough of this show’s depiction of the sex trade. This show consistently goes above and beyond, and I can’t imagine another show taking the top spot for me. Arist fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Jan 7, 2018 |
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Jan 7, 2018 23:55
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Shows that somewhat disappointed me this year: Veep, Silicon Valley The Flash, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Survivor, Orphan Black Honorable mentions: Black Mirror, The Middle, Fresh Off The Boat, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Letterkenny, American Dad, American Crime, Skam, The Deuce, Legion 10. Big Little Lies.  HBO presents Desperate Housewives. A juicy rich suburbanite show centered on a murder mystery, but it's not really about that anyway. High caliber production values, acting, writing, etc., with more depth than you would expect. 9. The Leftovers.  Excellent service in concluding the emotional journeys of its main characters. Compared to last season, I wished the characters had actively affected each other more instead of just appearing in each other's stories. 8. Better Call Saul.  Jimmy's transformation into Saul remains fascinating. The climax and conclusion to Chuck's storyline should serve as a turning point for this series. 7. Broad City.  This year was about growth. Abbi and Ilana's work and relationship statuses went through some changes. In the end, the most important thing in their lives remains their friendship. 6. Fargo.  Great adrenaline-filled and inventive storytelling featuring another cast of memorable characters with a fantastic meditation into what makes (true) stories become real. 5. The 100.  The run of episodes in the last half of its season made it the strongest. The Big Bad of the season being an impending doomsday event gave it a different kind of urgency. I've had the most success recommending this show to people. 4. Riverdale.  This show sets out to be crazy ridiculous and it succeeds. By now, the town of Riverdale has been richly established with many well-defined colorful characters, strong central storylines and bold aesthetics. 3. DC's Legends of Tomorrow.  This show plays with a different genre in every episode and has fun with it. The team of 2. Better Things.  Most of the episodes were masterpieces. This scene right here is a masterpiece: https://youtu.be/VuFulZY6Qz0 1. Kingdom.  "I've never broken down before. I always hold up. I've always been proud of that. I've never looked down the road, forward or back. There's nothing to see. Zero visibility, that's how I live. Yeah you can have a strategy but forget about a plan. Forget about what you want in life. You don't know. Focus on yourself. Be honest. It says who you are, who you're with. Are you alone? Do you deserve to be? Where do you fit into this world? How are you going to survive? Maybe once, maybe good things are coming. And then let it go. Don't examine it, don't take it apart. Just accept it. You gotta think like a stoic, which boils down to enduring life's rear end-whoopings without complaint. That's how I live. Put my head down on a loving grind. And don't ever think you're safe. Because when your head's down, that's when you get caught... and we all get caught." - Alvey Kulina Manpain, the series. This is the best show that almost nobody watched. Those of us who stuck with it got 40 episodes of slow burning emotional character development at its best. This show is about (MMA) fighters living with the metaphorical animal inside them, a celebrated beast that gets to go wild against an opponent inside the cage, the same one that fucks up their own lives outside of it. The show was canceled after filming its last season, but it was a perfect last season anyway. At some point, we found many of the characters in similar circumstances as they were in the pilot of the show, except this time the tragedy hit so much harder because we were along with them through the whole ride. The last episode was one of the most memorable heart-wrenching TV experiences of my life. I realize that I'm being hyperbolic, so here's what a recapper wrote about Kingdom: Samantha Highfill at EW.com posted:So much story is being told in every single second of this show. Behind every look, every line, every dream, Kingdom is further developing these characters. It’s the kind of sophisticated storytelling that made me fall in love with this show, and it’s the very basis of why this show is must-watch television. Based on people's lists here, I'll be watching Manhunter and Halt and Catch Fire next. Yer Burnt fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Jan 11, 2018 |
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Jan 8, 2018 00:22
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Godammit I've been sick so no time for detailed praise this year. 10. You're The Worst - because they made a scene with a teenage guy eating dog food in exchange for a blowjob funny 9. Game of Thrones - The battles were badass and there were some lovely resolutions for Jaime/Theon's character arcs 8. The Deuce - Really well written and really well acted 7. GLOW - My two favourite things in the world are wrestling and female empowerment so this was right up my street 6. Orphan Black - Did a great job tying together a sprawling series and gave all the sestras a chance to shine along with a happy ending 5. The Good Place - Balls to the wall pacing and ridiculously funny 4. Future Man - High concept comedy with great execution 3. gently caress Scientology - Deeply moving and a fascinating insight into cult psychology 2. Mr. Robot - Another great season from the best drama on TV 1. American Vandal - the best mockumentary of the year, the best serious crime fiction of the year and the best coming-of-age story of the year all rolled into one
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Jan 8, 2018 01:20
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quote:Based on people's lists here, I'll be watching Manhunter and Halt and Catch Fire next. I'm guessing you mean Mindhunter, but you should still watch Manhunter too.
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Jan 8, 2018 01:28
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^ Nice catch.
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Jan 8, 2018 02:14
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Okay, folks, I planned to do this earlier, but then I got sick. Let’s just dive in. 10.) The Orville (FOX) “YOU WILL BE SILENT.” -Bortus I will be god damned. After what was easily one of the worst pilots I’d ever seen, Seth MacFarlane’s loving tribute to Star Trek started righting itself almost immediately, getting more confident in its dramatic and science-fiction chops without losing touch with its light-hearted nature that keeps it grounded and interesting for jamokes like me. Gene Roddenberry’s heroes always felt like important people doing important work. MacFarlane’s heroes are just people, smart and dumb in their own ways, constantly struggling with their own stupid issues yet managing to make a difference anyway. The result is a season that started with one bad episode and then delivered four fantastic episodes (“If the Stars Should Appear,” “Krill,” “Into the Fold,” and “Firestorm”) in a season otherwise filled with passionate, optimistic, and highly entertaining near-misses. And I think that’s the theme of my list this year: Passion and heart went a long way for me in this lovely year. 9.) Brockmire (IFC) “Knowledge and assumptions, those are like Loggins and Messina. They seem similar, but time proves one of them to be completely worthless.” -Brockmire https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRQ32jnIZ6k You’d assume that Brockmire would just be eight episodes of Hank Azaria spouting ridiculous poo poo in his old-timey baseball announcer voice because, frankly, that might actually be enough to carry a show. Azaria is loving hilarious in the role, as evidenced by that amazing opening scene embedded up above. But there’s a pain in Azaria’s performance that the show, created by Joel Church-Cooper and directed by Tim Kirkby (Fleabag, Look Around You), isn’t afraid to shy away from. It’s not BoJack Horseman (which we’ll get to). It’s an absurd comedy from the first episode to the last. But his damage is still taken fairly seriously, forming the basis for his surprisingly sweet relationship with his equally damaged new boss Jules (Amanda Peet). And rather than make it into a stealth drama, it just makes the comedy that much deeper and funnier. 8.) One Day at a Time (Netflix) “That is some Jesus crap right there.” -Penelope People keep saying multicam sitcoms are a dying breed. If more multicam shows were like this, people would shut the gently caress up. The new One Day At a Time, reimagined by Gloria Calderon Kellet (How I Met Your Mother) and Mike Royce (Enlisted, Everybody Loves Raymond) under the supervision of Norman Lear himself (still kicking rear end after 90+ years), puts a Cuban family at the center of the action, spearheaded by the strong-willed, quick-witted Army vet Penelope (Justina Machado). She’s raising two kids—socially aware Elena (Isabella Gómez) and painfully vain Alex (Marcel Ruiz)—and they’re all emotionally supported by their utterly fabulous matriarch Lydia (Rita Moreno), Penelope’s sad-sack, big-hearted boss Dr. Berkowitz (Stephen Goddamn Tobolowsky), and their landlord Schneider (Todd Grinnell), reimagined here as a clueless, lonely hipster as opposed to the womanizing cad he was before. The jokes land at an astonishing rate with impressive power (Lydia’s delivery of “Burn this” in the season’s 10th episode is one of the funniest things I’ve seen this year), while seamlessly tackling social issues like the country’s treatment of veterans, teen sexuality, PTSD, immigration, and even the lionization of Che Guevara. The show never seems to put itself on pause to cover the hot topic of the moment. It’s all of a piece; warm, humanizing, and funny as hell. 7.) GLOW (Netflix) “The money’s in the chase.” -Sam The spine of GLOW’s first season has a real chick-flick tinge to it. It’s a gal-mance between Ruth (Alison Brie) and Debbie (Betty Gilpin), two BFFs who fall out in the worst possible way after Debbie discovers that Ruth has been sleeping with her husband, but slowly rebuild it after they’re forced to work together. In this case, it’s the 80s, and they happen to be the star face and heel in a fledgling all-women’s wrestling league bankrolled by the lovable Bash (Chris Lowell) and directed by exploitation legend Sam Sylvia (Marc Maron). It’s an awesome dynamic; the first episode ends with Debbie looking to beat the poo poo out of Ruth for what she did, and the rest of the series lays the groundwork for their eventual reconciliation by having them figure out how to do so for the pleasure of a large crowd. It’s a great story, but GLOW isn’t content to rest on that, building out a cast of fascinating characters that could easily support the show for years to come. Among so many others, you’ve got the adorably weird Sheila the She-wolf (Gayle Rankin); the winning Carmen, AKA Machu Picchu (Britney Young); the way-smarter-than-she-looks Rhonda, AKA Brittanica (Kate Nash); and my personal favorite, wrestling scholar Arthie, AKA “Beirut the Mad Bomber” (Sunita Mani). Obviously, some of these aren’t quite politically correct, which is fair, because nobody gave a poo poo about political correctness back in GLOW’s day. But the show leans into it, whether it’s through direct acknowledgement (Arthie’s gimmick is all fun and games until some Libyans blow up a plane) or more subtle means (Tammé’s The Welfare Queen, played by former WWE star Kia “Kharma” Stevens, looks to be the most offensive of them all...and still probably is at the end of the season, but the way Sam makes his audience eat it in the end was pretty drat clever). Out of all the shows I’m listing here, GLOW is the one I want more of the most. Like, I was visibly upset that there wasn’t more show to watch when the credits rolled on the last one. I could watch this cast do this forever, especially if it's set to more of that bitchin' 80s soundtrack. 6.) Pretty Good (YouTube) “We’re serious about success.” -DeVry My definition of what constitutes TV is...weird. I'm using a broad definition that includes absolutely free YouTube shows that puts out 15-30 minute episodes whenever its creator feels like it and has thus only released three "episodes" this year. I may or may not be told to revise this list. I kinda hope I'm not, because frankly, more people should know about this series, the guy behind it, and one particular episode he did that I still can't wrap my mind around. Pretty Good is entirely produced, directed, edited, and researched by Jon Bois, creative director for the sports site SB Nation. As you'd expect, the series mostly tells sports stories but it branches out to pop culture (a couple of years back there was an excellent episode about 24), history, and general weirdness. In these breakdowns, laced with his goofy deadpan sense of humor, Bois finds unexpected poignancy (Larry Walters), sometimes existential despair ("The Dumbest Boy Alive"), and sometimes he catches faint glimpses of what looks like a remarkable, unexpected order to this random, meaningless universe ("Why Do I Choose This For A Living"). As mentioned, this year he put out three episodes: one was about NBA player Baron Davis sinking a buzzer-beater from 89 feet, another was about the Philadelphia Eagles during and after the bitter NFL strike of 1987. Both of these are fantastic; the latter in particular makes me wonder what Bois could do if he had a crew, some money, and a deal with ESPN to do a 30 for 30. It's the episode he made in-between that forced me to shove this thing on my list: “Troy State 253, DeVry 141.” It tells the story of the highest-scoring basketball game ever on record—a game so wild, he argues, that it may have gone down in the record books with the wrong score. As Bois himself admits in narration, this is not a “story” in the traditional sense. There's no beginning, middle, or end. After some brief setup to explain the road these two teams had leading up to this game, the raw content of the episode is pure numbers. Bois is a stat junkie, and he breaks the game down from every conceivable statistical angle. Sounds boring, right? Of course it does...before you add clever editing, fantastic music cues (both licensed and stock), quotes from The Iliad, clips from 1962's The Fury of Achilles, and surprising comparisons to Biblical-themed works from 16th century Dutch painter Pieter Bruegel. Once you stop asking yourself "What the gently caress is this," go find thirty minutes in your day and watch Bois sketch a portrait of a basketball game between a team determined to play as fast and as fun as possible and a rival that was determined to keep up, even as they were getting decimated. It is beautiful, original, awe-inspiring, and sometimes even funny as hell (in one memorable moment, one of Bois' co-workers observes that a player may have done the very first dab). It's a video—and in turn, a show, cowtown as it may be—that I kept coming back to all year, even more than the other shows on my list, to watch again and again and again. 5.) The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon Prime) “Who gives a toast at her own wedding?” -Midge When your main character is a fledgling stand-up comedian in the late 1950s, you’ve gotta have brass balls to have her arrested during the pilot episode so you can stick her in a police car next to Lenny Bruce. You’re inviting a hell of a comparison that most actors and actresses couldn’t hope to live up to, a comparison that could sink your average show. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel isn’t your average show and Rachel Brosnahan sure as gently caress isn’t like most actresses. Amy Sherman-Palladino crafts Midge Maisel’s story as a legend, the start of a rise to fame and fortune in a slightly exaggerated Rock Hudson-Doris Day universe, and Brosnahan just ATTACKS IT. In life, she’s witty, yet surprisingly sensitive and even in some respects submissive; she takes pride in being a perfect wife, and her sense of humor has always been her armor against her doubts and fears. On stage, she turns that humor into a weapon, and her poo poo turns out to be nuclear; you absolutely believe she’d be burning up any club she performed in. I can’t state this enough: Brosnahan is a STAR. If Hollywood can’t find a place for her after this show is over then Hollywood should be loving cancelled. But at the same time, we can’t ignore the undervalued utility of Michael Zegen as Midge’s little bitch of a husband, Joel, eternally facing cosmic judgement for ever daring to believe he could be anything other than who he actually is without actually doing any work to get there. You go from hating the schmuck to feeling sorry for him to being proud of him to liking him to hating him all over again. As frustrating as it can be—who’s watching The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel for some inadequate man?—it’s also a necessary reflection of the unique journey Midge is on, and Zegen sells every minute of it. 4.) The Punisher (Netflix) “I’m scared.” -Frank Because this is An Important Drama Show and not an action movie, Frank spends most of the first episode tearing down walls at a construction site with a sledgehammer, trying not to plant it in some random rear end in a top hat’s face. Of course, a bunch of hoodlum prick coworkers rope an innocent kid he’s bonded with into a robbery gone wrong, and before they can kill him to cover their tracks, Frank swings into action while Tom Waits barks “Hell Broke Luce” over the soundtrack. Ladies and gentlemen, witness showrunner Steve Lightfoot, of Hannibal and House of Saddam, having his cake and eating it too. Possibly the most creatively successful Marvel Netflix outing behind Daredevil Season 1 and Jessica Jones, The Punisher flips the bird to everyone who ever challenged the idea of Frank Castle being a weak character and uses Jon Bernthal’s performance, already brilliantly established in Daredevil’s second season, to build a character whose life of unceasing psychic pain and unquenchable anger gives him a surprising soul. This man is not a hero, the show successfully argues, but he is not an out and out monster, and that in turn gives the show a platform to talk about how this nation treats its veterans, and how they cope (or don’t) with the transition to civilian life. Even when it isn’t smooth, like an arc about a particularly damaged vet who falls down an anti-government rabbit hole, it has a point, and leads to some of the show’s most powerful moments. We usually talk about the Marvel Netflix shows in terms of how they’ll gently caress up or when. The same may be true for Punisher, especially when anything that could conceivably come after this seems like a devastating rollback for Frank. But this really was a hell of a season, backed by a hell of a performance. 3.) BoJack Horseman (Netflix) “Wish I wasn’t here.” -Zach Last year, ranking BoJack at number one, I said we were not allowed to be mad when the fourth season of this show was inevitably worse than the masterpiece that was its third season. Sure enough, BoJack season 4 was weighed down with political comedy in the form of Mr. Peanutbutter’s campaign for governor of California. They tried like hell to spruce it up, even giving us Andre Braugher as the dignified woodchuck running against PB, as well as the return of Jessica Biel, but alas, it’s a little dent in the bodywork... ...that’s easy to ignore when you factor in the rest of this year’s build, which gave us three utterly devastating episodes (“The Old Sugarman Place,” “Ruthie,” and “Time’s Arrow”) as well as “Stupid Piece of poo poo,” which dives into BoJack’s head for a look at depression so ruthlessly accurate, it makes K.Flay’s “Blood in the Cut” into an instant anthem. And in between? Asexual axolotls. Clown dentists. Felicity Huffman’s new reality show. “FRACK ME MR. PEANUTBUTTER!” And an uncharacteristic and totally earned upbeat ending. This show rules. 2.) American Vandal (Netflix) “He’s right. That is a stupid question.” -Peter What looked to be a four hour dick joke turned into one of the most absorbing mysteries of the year, one of the best young/new adult stories of the decade, and one of the best satires of the true crime format ever made (as short a list as that may be). Even now, explaining what made it so good without giving the game away is a challenge? Do I start with the precise, straight-faced direction from Tony Yacenda? Or the terrific performances from Tyler Alvarez and Jimmy Tatro? How about the way Yacenda and co-creator Dan Perrault, with their writers, layer each character with shades of darkness and light that hit you when you least suspect it? (What the hell DID Coach whisper to Christa Carlyle?) What about the unexpected commentary on the ways authority figures trap kids in boxes and try to control them or hold them down? This was the smartest show I’ve seen this year. 1.) Legion (FX) “Someday we’ll find it, the Rainbow Connection...” -Jim And this was the most creative show I’ve seen this year. Bear in mind: I’m one of the fools who slept on Twin Peaks: The Return. Everything I’ve heard suggests that David Lynch and Mark Frost made this show look like a loving Michael Bay film in comparison, and good for them. But having not seen Lynch and Frost burn every convention of television to the ground, I can only stand in awe as I hear that 2017 offered scenes more utterly nutso than the Bolero sequence. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V89QyxIPxD4 Happy 2018, everyone.
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Jan 8, 2018 03:41
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DivisionPost posted:Okay, folks, I planned to do this earlier, but then I got sick. Let’s just dive in. I'm 100% convinced the pilot was written and cut specifically to show to Fox execs and puppetmaster them into thinking they were getting Family Guy in SPAAAACE and an automatic green light.
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Jan 8, 2018 03:45
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