The TV thread

Anybody watch "Alice in Borderland"?

 

Recently watched the Queen's Gambit, this is the best I've seen this year.

 

This makes me think of a question; what is the best television show you watched this year?

 

I will be editing this all day...

Tier 1
Ted Lasso
Mandolorian
Queen’s Gambit
Watchmen
The Boys
The Last Dance


Tier 2
The Flight Attendant
The Outsider
Perry Mason - very close to Tier 1
Tiger King


Tier 3
Fargo
Doom Patrol
Stargirl
Outer Banks

 

The Mandalorian is the best show I've seen this year. The Boys is next.

Sadly, there isn't much that is new that has blown me away. I'm going to watch Queen's Gambit with my wife. We watched the first episode of The Flight Attendant. I thought it was okay, but I haven't seen enough to judge it yet.

 

I know Steinem and others bashed Mrs. America, but it was the best thing I saw all year.

 

Indeed. The first two seasons are outstanding. It's a shame how the show crashed and burned later on, especially after Spacey's legal troubles.

 

I don't watch teevee like I used to. In fact, hardly ever unless I feel properly motivated.

Ted Lasso was the best show I watched.

Tehran was up there as was Home Before Dark.

I'm basically binging my free year of Apple TV.

That said, I got into Mary Tyler Moore early in the year, first time really delving into the show. Elite television.

A few months ago I delved into Rockford Files for the first time. It's good but campy as all hell. But good. But really fucking silly too.

 

Agreed. I doubt I will ever watch it again, but the first two seasons were excellent. It was already headed down the drain before the kicked Spacey to the curb, but the last season was a disgrace.

 

Digging The Queen's Gambit. My fave is Schitt's Creek which I didn't discover until the spring. Oh, Picard. It had all the feels.

 

Of the top of my dome, and not taking into account release dates, just when we watched it...

Schitt's Creek, we binged through it like crazy, and then had to wait a couple months for the final season to be available on Netflix. We took that down in a single day, though. Drama, Queen's Gambit probably had the highest satisfaction level, if you take into account my enjoyment and my wife's enjoyment. My Show of the Year would probably be Mando - Watched S1 and S2 this year, and they were both really satisfying, but my wife isn't into S'Wars and really only got hooked with the last half of S2. My surprise show of the year was Teenage Bounty Hunters - friggin' loved it, but it's canceled already, which sucks.

Other shows I enjoyed this year:

• We're finishing up Catastrophe right now, and it's really well-done.
  
• The Pack, an Amazon show that's The Amazing Race but with dogs, is really lusciously shot and a breezy kind of show you can leave on in the background.
  
• Mrs. Maisel oddly has the same feel, with the huge budget kind of spackling over some of the show's flaws.
  
• Waco was good, but not completely satisfying.
  
• Devs was really well shot, but incredibly slow and ponderous.
  
• Mindhunter is a better version of Devs, although with drastically different subject matter.
  
• Thanks to the pandemic, we somehow watched 10 seasons of Shameless - really diminishing returns as you go, as side characters are abandoned without a mention and major components of characters are forgotten, but it eats innings.
  
• Palm Springs and Santa Clarita Diet were both delightful, but you kind of forget about them once you're done with them.
  
• Happy Endings was excellent - I saw it during its original run, but it was my wife's first time.
  
• I'm Sorry (also now cancelled) is a R-rated, female-focused comedy that's excellent.
  
• The Unicorn is pretty light fare and thus a waste of Goggins, but it's a fine 22-minute sitcom.
• Bob's Burgers remains delightful, although I think the peak of the show might be done. Similarly, I still watch The Simpsons - still a couple laughs each episode. The rest of the animation block is very "meh" or actively bad.

Not so recommended or actively bad:

• Castle Rock S2 didn't land in the same way the first season did. Not surprising the show was cancelled, it seemed like it had zero buzz.
• My wife likes this show, Virgin River. It's pretty much soapy trash, with everyone on the show suffering brain damage.
• Big Sky is soooooo trope-y. Maybe it would be better with some better actors, but network TV continues to kind of suck when it comes to attempting to emulate non-network shows.

 

Like Songbird, I just haven't watched a lot of TV this year, but my favorite was The Boys, just a nose ahead of The Mandalorian. I also enjoyed the final season of Agents of SHIELD.