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jordoalejandro · 2 months ago

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The Eighth Annual List of TV Shows I Saw the Past Year

Another weird year. Feels like there have been more and more weird years since 2020.

This year saw a lot of shows delayed by the strikes or coming back with 10-15 episode seasons. On the bright side, it allowed me to catch up with a few shows I’d missed.

Another weird thing: I usually say these lists are shows I’ve watched that have come out since the last Emmys, except the last Emmys occurred on January 15, 2024, which would’ve put some of these shows in no-man’s land.

So, instead, here’s the list of TV shows I’ve watched since-ish the last list of TV shows I watched (10/1/23).

38. Krapopolis (Season 1 - 2023-2024, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - A brutally unfunny show. I could probably count on one hand the number of jokes that really hit over a full season. And it’s not that it’s like, clever funny instead of laugh out loud funny. It’s not even particularly clever. It’s just sort of lazy Greek myth and early civilization references. The animation is really ugly and unpleasant to look at. The voice acting outside of Matt Berry is bad. I like Richard Ayoade, but he’s not right for this. His deadpan delivery works in his comedy but he just sounds like he doesn’t know when to emote here. Duncan Trussell has no range either in a large supporting role. Both are odd casting choices. I don’t think I liked any aspect of this show. I had to will myself to get through the season for completion’s sake. This show’s been renewed for three(!) additional seasons but I am so out.

37. La Brea (Season 3 - 2024, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: 42) - This show limped across the finish line with a sloppy six episode final season that hastily tried to wrap everything up. (It actually really felt like they tried to hastily wrap things up in only the final three or four episodes. They were kind of setting things up in the first two which makes me think I can pinpoint when they got the call from the bosses that it was over.) I've often said of this show that I really couldn't be bothered either way, but this season, it was not just me that couldn't be bothered. Multiple actors didn’t show up for the majority of the series' final episodes, eventually making courtesy appearances in the finale. At least the show got a proper ending. Completing a story is always nice. Too many shows don’t get that. La Brea is destined to be something I’ll be reminded of years from now that’ll make me go, “Oh yeah, I did watch that, didn’t I? Hmm. Don’t really remember anything about it.”

36. Fear the Walking Dead (Season 8B - 2023, AMC) (Last year’s ranking: 23) - Frustrating, aimless final episodes. No clear intention for the characters, bouncing around from motivation to motivation until the show came to an end. Looking back now, it seems pretty clear the show jumped the shark with the nukes going off at the end of season six. It was an apocalypse hat on an apocalypse hat. What followed were a series of constant time jumps and settings changes that didn’t really produce interesting scenarios but did manage to suck all the character drama out of the show. You'll hear, sometimes, about shows that make bold writing decisions because it forces them to write with their backs to the wall, to get creative and change course. You usually hear about this in a positive way. “It made the show better. It kept the audience guessing. Blah blah blah.” The season six finale in Fear was a bold storytelling choice that it never recovered from. Ultimately, I think this show had one really great season, a couple of good ones, and bits and pieces of quality here and there. When it was at its best, it was a show that focused on the characters and made me care for them. But it was also a show that often lost sight of that bigger picture, and it spent its final two years flailing its way to a messy ending. Tough way to go.

35. Abbott Elementary (Season 3 - 2024, ABC) (Last year’s ranking: 37) - Abbott Elementary reeled off a string of episodes early in season 3 that had me thinking, okay not bad, maybe they’re finally finding their footing. They lost it all almost immediately, reverting back to the weak writing of before for the back half of the shortened season. It does give me hope that, as the writers and actors continue to hone in on what works and what doesn’t, they’re will be more consistent improvement. What doesn’t give me as much hope is that we’re three seasons in already and still struggling through this.

34. Grimsburg (Season 1 - 2024, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - It’s a show that feels a little bit off the FOX animation assembly line -- schlubby male lead, goofy son, side character that’s a cyborg for some reason -- but it does show some promise. Nothing in the first season that really knocked my socks off but some solid episodes and I think if it can figure out how to balance the mystery with the humor, it can be a decent cartoon.

33. CSI: Vegas (Season 3 - 2024, CBS) (Last year’s ranking: 36) - The show settled into a pretty average crime show. I didn’t hate it or anything but also, I can’t really be too upset that it got canceled.

32. Echo (Miniseries - 2024, Disney+) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - You know how, sometimes, you’ll hear about a new spinoff show or film that’s set to explore a side character’s story and you think to yourself, Hmm, I wonder how they’re going to make that interesting? And then you watch it and they somehow do make it interesting? They show you a part of the character that you hadn’t seen before and give them some depth or reveal a surprising backstory that makes the character more interesting or sympathetic and you’re like, Wow, I’m glad they made this spinoff? Well, Echo isn’t that. Echo was a character that appeared in the Hawkeye series and she was a dour, stiff gang enforcer. She seemed uninteresting outside of her connection with the Kingpin character. Well, she got her own show and it turns out, she’s still pretty uninteresting. She still is dour and stiff. They give her some okay side characters to interact with but nothing that really moves the needle. They expand on her relationship with Kingpin but what you learn is all stuff you could’ve surmised from their interactions during Hawkeye. There’s some fun action in here but ultimately, nothing that really makes you feel like this was a truly worthwhile side-road to travel down.

31. Quantum Leap (Season 2 - 2023-2024, NBC) (Last year’s ranking: 35) – Quantum Leap was, in the end, fine. I mentioned it last year, but it’s essentially a quasi-anthology show and so some episodes were interesting, some were less so. The overarching plot was just fine as well. It was a passable show, but I’m not going to shed too many tears about its cancellation.

30. The Great North (Season 4 - 2024, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 20) - Little bit of a weak season for The Great North. I don’t think there was anything wrong structurally, per se, just very few episodes that really stood out. Could come right back next year and move back up several spots with a run of good episodes.

29. The Simpsons (Season 35 - 2023-2024, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 22) - Similar to The Great North, a weak season for The Simpsons. The highest grade I gave an episode this year was a B+. Nothing really standout to raise the overall score. Also similar to The Great North, it’s a case of what can you do? Write better episodes, I guess. When you do 700+ episodes over three and a half decades, there’s bound to be stretches of 18 episodes where nothing shines through.

28. Ghosts (Season 3 - 2024, CBS) (Last year’s ranking: 26) - Ghosts has landed around here on every list it’s appeared on so far and that seems about right. I haven’t given any episode of Ghosts a grade higher than a B+ in two seasons, but it also hasn’t gotten many bad scores either. Consistently decent enough.

27. Bob’s Burgers (Season 14 - 2023-2024, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 32) - The last few years, Bob’s Burgers has surprised me by mixing in an excellent episode amongst some mostly average episodes. It generally also has a couple of episodes per season that grate on me. This shortened season had neither. Just the average episodes, which is why it’s landing on this list around here, with other average shows.

26. Chad (Season 2 - 2024, The Roku Channel) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - Quick history of this show: sold to Fox in 2016, who eventually opted not to move forward with it. Picked up by TBS in 2019, aired its first season in 2021. Renewed for a second season right before the season one finale. A year later, TBS announced, hours before the second season premiered, that the show was canceled and would not be airing and TBS was getting out of the content game. The Roku Channel picks it up in October of 2022, releases season two in January of 2024, and cancels the show in May of 2024. Two seasons across eight years and three channels. And was it all worth it? Sure. Let’s say sure. Chad was a super cringe comedy with a little bit of depth that occasionally surprised you. I really enjoyed it at times and intensely disliked it at others but ultimately, I’m glad its second season didn’t disappear into the corporate tax write-off depths and got to be seen by whichever members of the general public that could find it on The Roku Channel.

25. Animal Control (Season 2 - 2024, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 14) - I didn’t dislike Animal Control this year. I didn’t think it was much different in quality than season one. I think its rating took a hit because it, like a lot of shows, had a shortened season and none of the episodes really stood out and so a bunch of average scores land it about ten spots lower from one list to the next.

24. Clipped (Miniseries, 2024, Hulu) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - Some decent performances and some interesting twists and turns but I think you kind of have to care about the early 2010s LA sports scene to really appreciate this. I don’t think this show alone gets you there. You don’t have to be a Clipper fan, but at least having an interest in the Donald Sterling affair and everything that surrounded it is probably needed.

23. Family Guy (Season 22 - 2023-2024, FOX) (Last year’s ranking: 24) - Family Guy is a show I usually highlight as one that experiences a lot of highs and lows, but weirdly, this year it’s at this spot on the list because it, too, was kind of just middle of the road.

22. Snowpiercer (Season 4 - 2024, AMC) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - Snowpiercer is another show that almost got disappeared by TBS/TNT’s sudden shift to not producing original content anymore. I once described Snowpiercer as filling my Stupid Summer Show slot (meaning a show that’s not necessarily stupid, per se, but more a wacky, swing-for-the-fences type that airs in the summer months when everything else is on hiatus so you have something to look forward to every week). I’ll always be a little sad about the ending of a Stupid Summer Show. They bring me joy. On the other hand, I also wrote about season three of Snowpiercer that it felt about right that season four would be its last. That remained true. They spent so long on the train during the first three seasons that it started to get tired. This season, they actually tried something new and it didn’t really help much. I suppose the show as a whole was a little tired. Which is fine. This was probably never a concept built to last this many episodes. And so, I’ll take this pretty good final wrap-up season and thank Snowpiercer for its Stupid Summer Show service.

21. What If…? (Season 2 - 2023, Disney+) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - I wrote that the first season of this anthology show was better at coming up with concepts than executing them. I think season two flipped that around. The execution of the plot within the episodes was tighter but the stories themselves were not as intriguing. Some fun ones here and there. If this show could figure out how to nail both concept and execution, it could be really good.

20. American Dad! (Season 20B - 2023, TBS) (Last year’s ranking: 18) - American Dad! was more in the "highs and lows" school of ratings than the "just average" school. Some excellent episodes in this back half of season 20 and some not so good ones.

19. Ahsoka (Season 1 - 2023, Disney+) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - Ahsoka’s episodes were all decent to very good but I think I wasn’t getting the full experience because I haven’t seen any of the Star Wars animated shows from which most of these characters originated. There would be moments that felt like significant reveals or emotional beats that didn’t fully land with me because I barely knew who any of these people were. I mean, I think the show still worked well enough without that previous viewing experience, but probably not as well as it could have if I’d done the homework ahead of time.

18. The Acolyte (Season 1 - 2024, Disney+) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - Some stuff in here worked well, a good chunk of it didn’t, but an entertaining enough series overall. Excellent fight choreography, among some of the best fight scenes in the Star Wars franchise.

17. Baby Reindeer (Miniseries - 2024, Netflix) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - It has its spots where it drags or feels a little repetitive. Its high points, though, are very good. Thrilling, tragic, yet still comedic in the blackest of ways. I think if this had been condensed into a two hour film, it would’ve been excellent. As a seven episode miniseries, it’s still pretty good.

16. Our Flag Means Death (Season 2 - 2023, Max) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - It remained a delightful show in its second and final season and finished on a high note.

15. Dead Boy Detectives (Season 1 - 2024, Netflix) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - Good characters, fun stories, a lot of style. I appreciated the use of the theremin. You rarely get theremin these days. Another Netflix one-and-done, which is a shame.

14. So Help Me Todd (Season 2 - 2024, CBS) (Last year’s ranking: 17) - I guess this is the “canceled too soon” portion of the list, as So Help Me Todd was axed shortly before its season two finale. This show was, I think, just about the best you’re going to get from a big order network series (your 23 episodes a year types). Snappy writing. Strong cast chemistry. A funny, easy watch week in and week out.

13. The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon (Season 1 - 2023, AMC) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - There was nothing exactly game-changing about this. No reinvention of The Walking Dead formula. It just felt fresher overall. It had a fresh look and style and France turned out to be a great choice in setting. It’s a well-done show, in terms of writing and acting and all that, but livening up the setting goes a really long way towards boosting it up this list.

12. The Lazarus Project (Season 2 - 2024, TNT) (Last year’s ranking: 11) - A good follow up season. It keeps you on your toes with its twists and turns and time traveling mind bending. It’s an often funny show as well, in a dark way. It doesn’t take itself too too seriously, which I appreciate. Also: canceled. And it ends on something of a cliffhanger, which is a bummer.

11. Hacks (Season 3 - 2024, Max) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - Caught up on this show last year and really took to it. Sharp, funny writing. Strong entertainment industry satire. Jean Smart is great in this but it has a very good cast overall.

10. Archer (Season 14 - 2023, FXX) (Last year’s ranking: 13) - Archer got off to a little bit of a slow start in season 14, introducing a new character who wasn’t really gelling. But it got stronger as it went on, and it ended with a just about perfect three-part finale. I’ll miss this crazy show. I’m glad it got to go out on a really high note.

9. Only Murders in the Building (Season 3 - 2023, Hulu) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - This show has a winning formula and it executes it well. Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez riff off each other. The central mystery keeps you guessing. The supporting characters are explored and given depth. It all works just right and makes for a great show.

8. Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty (Season 2 - 2023, HBO) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - This was another show that started a little slow but then kicked it into high gear and finished especially strong. Unfortunately, it also ends on, not a cliffhanger exactly, but a sour note. One that was strongly setting up season three -- a season which will never come because HBO pulled the plug. The show wraps up with a series of slides that tell you what happened with the main characters. It’s a nice attempt to close out things but really, it just makes you sad you’ll never see that story told. (Or, you know, dramatically reenacted.)

7. Girls5eva (Season 3 - 2024, Netflix) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - Really funny show that I’m glad came to Netflix from Peacock so I could actually watch it. It’s produced by Tina Fey and done very much in her style: jam-packed with silly jokes that hit at an incredibly high success rate.

6. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Season 1 - 2024, Amazon Prime Video) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - Did you know the original movie is somewhat weakly rated by the populace at large? 60% on Rotten Tomatoes. 6.5 on IMDb. I love that movie. It’s obviously not the best film ever but for what it set out to be -- a light romantic action comedy -- it’s great! And, honestly, probably the sexiest PG-13 movie ever? I mean, the chemistry between Pitt and Jolie? It’s palpable. I get why that film created and destroyed multiple marriages. Anyway. All this is to say I had both high hopes and high expectations for this series and it more or less met them. It has all the right pieces: the action, the romance, the comedy. The chemistry between Donald Glover and Maya Erskine is strong. It’s a good looking show, as well. Good music, good vibe. I guess the only knock, and why it’s around here on the list, is that it doesn’t always feel like its clicking. While the movie is two hours and keeps moving from beginning through finale, the show is eight hours and it sometimes feels like you’re sitting in scenes or plots too long. This is a little more noticeable when there’s tension in the characters’ relationship and they’re arguing and you’re kind of hit with the realization that you’re not watching people do spy stuff anymore and you haven’t been for a while. You’ve just been watching a couple going through marital strife, which, let’s be honest, isn’t nearly as fun as spy stuff. It’s when the show slows down that I found myself thinking, There’s some great stuff here but it could use some trimming. I wonder if this would’ve been stronger as a movie? And then I remember it was one and I kind of want to go watch the movie instead. That’s not a great argument to make in favor of this show. It was a very good first season and I liked it a lot. (I just loved the movie more.)

5. Fargo (Season 5 - 2023-2024, FX) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - I think, ultimately, there was just not enough story for the full ten episodes here. The show often hit the brilliant mix of dark comedy, tragedy, and mythology that Fargo is known for but it also slowed down at far too many points to rank it amongst the best of the show’s seasons. Still really strong though, and an improvement on season four.

4. The Bear (Season 3 - 2024, Hulu) (Last year’s ranking: 1) - I loved season two of The Bear. What I loved most about it was the character growth. You saw so many of the characters blossom and you came to care for them. My fear going into season three was that we’d see some resetting or some unearned regression of these characters because the drama has to come from somewhere, right? I think, luckily, the show sidestepped that. They didn’t ruin characters for the sake of drama, which is appreciated. Unluckily, I think their method for sidestepping regressing their characters was to just kind of bring the show’s timeline to a screeching halt. The first two episodes of the season take place over a day. Much of the season takes place over, I think, a month? It’s very short. And so, nobody really regresses but also nobody really progresses either, and it feels like we’re not really going anywhere. That said, still a lot of really excellent stuff within this season, even if I felt like the season overall was kind of treading water a little bit. 3.1, "Tomorrow," was tremendous, using mostly music and visuals to tell the story of Carmy’s life. And 3.6, “Napkins,” was a really touching episode as well. There’s still a lot of greatness in this show, but I am starting to wonder if this is a situation where an endgame might help in plotting things out and landing this plane.

3. The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live (Miniseries - 2024, AMC) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - It surprised me how much I enjoyed returning to these two Walking Dead characters. Andrew Lincoln and Danai Gurira play them so well, and play off each other so well. I’m glad they found a satisfying way to come back to Rick and Michonne and wrap up their story.

2. Loki (Season 2 - 2023, Disney+) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - I really did love both seasons of this show. Enthralling, emotional, funny, great to look at and listen to. I think I understood maybe two-thirds of it. I think if there’s any reason season two didn’t land as strongly with me as season one it’s that. It gets a little complicated. There is a lot thrown at you. And from you. And through you. And, also, simultaneously, never thrown at all. Time is a fascinating concept. But even not catching everything, you can still connect with the characters and the journey. The emotion still lands. The two seasons combined are in my top ten MCU experiences.

1. Fallout (Season 1 - 2024, Amazon Prime Video) (Last year’s ranking: N/A) - There’s sort of an unfair advantage built in here because I’m a huge fan of the video game series but I just could not get enough of this show. It’s a brilliant adaptation of the games, made with care by people who clearly love the series, too. It captures the essence just right, nailing the humor, the horror, the style, and the music. It explores the world of the game with an original story that feels right at home in the universe. It has action and mystery and twists and fun characters. I was worried coming in that it wouldn’t be able to do the games justice but it could not have turned out better. (It's so good that you don't even really need to know the games to enjoy it. You just have to know it's kind of gonzo and enjoy the ride.) Can’t wait for more.

If the list has bad writing at any point, just know that I wrote the majority of this while I had COVID. It gives you the brain fog and the only words you can think of to describe things with are good and bad.

But, really, in the end, aren’t those the only words you need?

Enjoy the Emmys.

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Annual Lists of TV Shows I Saw the Past Year

#reviews #annual lists of tv shows i saw the past year

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