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Post by Jeremy on Dec 23, 2022 8:39:13 GMT -8
Please read, enjoy, and/or rage at my picks for the Best TV Shows of 2022! (Also, someone remind Metacritic to include this in their aggregate; for some reason they keep ignoring my calls.)
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Post by ThirdMan on Dec 24, 2022 15:29:13 GMT -8
I thought Barry was terrific this season (probably its best), but I'm not sure that it was necessarily quite as funny as before, simply by virtue of it choosing to shift more towards drama than comedy this year. That freeway chase was indeed spectacular, though. (And I don't think any shows on this list are particularly rage-inducing. ) I'm gonna wait until Severance has completed its second season to see if the potential answers it provides to viewers aren't shallow, unsatisfying, or just plain dumb. Might be a one-season wonder. And as I noted earlier, I plan to commit a bit more time to Resrevation Dogs: maybe I'll find it engrossing over time.
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 24, 2022 16:05:29 GMT -8
Barry probably had fewer funny moments overall this season, but I think I laughed harder than ever before at the comedy (particularly the Fuchs scenes, bleak as they were), in part because of how starkly it contrasted with the show's darker moments.
I think you'll probably enjoy Reservation Dogs as it gets going; it's quite good once you get on its wavelength (as it took a little time for me to do). As for Severance, the plot-related mysteries are secondary to the character-related mysteries (i.e. who are these people outside the office?) and the show has thus far proven adept with those answers. The main issue is how the show will address the more overarching questions when it comes time to do so. In any event, it's also one of the most visually distinctive shows on TV (making great use of space and color in the office setting), so definitely worth checking out even if puzzle-box shows aren't your jam.
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Post by ThirdMan on Dec 25, 2022 4:57:21 GMT -8
Well, it's good that the character-related mysteries are the focus, because plot-related mysteries, like in the early seasons of Lost, can turn me right off a show. Because ultimately, I don't care. And no, I'm not suggesting that Lost didn't devote time to characterization, only that ending a season on a shallow gimmick like someone staring into an underground hatch isn't a compelling hook to me.
Speaking of shows related to puzzles and whatnot, I'll probably give the second season of Alice In Borderland (on Netflix) a look. I enjoyed its first season more than Squid Game (which I liked well enough, to be fair.) Asian film/TV makers just seem to do this stuff in a more eccentric manner, at least.
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Post by Incandescence 112 on Dec 26, 2022 12:33:36 GMT -8
Please read, enjoy, and/or rage at my picks for the Best TV Shows of 2022! (Also, someone remind Metacritic to include this in their aggregate; for some reason they keep ignoring my calls.) Very good list. Allow me to throw in a couple others into the ring. Both of them being female-centered coming of age stories set in the 20th Century in European Catholic nations. With drastically different tones.
Derry Girls made quite a splash when it debuted in 2018. Its first season was like a bolt of lightning--one of the most laugh-out-loud comedies to come from Britain or Ireland in ages while somehow simultaneously being set during one of the bitterest European conflicts of the post-WW2 era (only the Yugoslav Wars had a higher body count). Unlike many other shows that attempt this balance, these two facets don't conflict with each other because the show's main source of humor is harsh, Northern Irish gallows humor. And Sister Michael is one of the all-time great sitcom characters, for my money. I don't think Season 2 or 3 quite lived up to the near-perfection of S1, but there was still plenty of excellent material, and the series finale, "The Agreement" sent out the show on quite the high.
My Brilliant Friend--Almost no one seems to be watching this show (except for maybe Scott, lol), but it does justice to one of the most acclaimed series of novels in the past two decades. Gorgeous, heart-wrenching, and as sophisticated as ever, if the final season keeps it up, it will be one of the very best HBO shows for me. It's hard to top Deadwood and The Sopranos, of course, but this might notch right below them. Which is quite something.
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Post by Jeremy on Dec 26, 2022 13:08:00 GMT -8
My Brilliant Friend is one of those shows I keep meaning to sit down and watch but end up pushing off every year. I've heard a lot of great things (though perhaps a bit less so for this season). Perhaps I'll catch up before the final season.
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Post by Incandescence 112 on Dec 26, 2022 13:48:07 GMT -8
My Brilliant Friend is one of those shows I keep meaning to sit down and watch but end up pushing off every year. I've heard a lot of great things (though perhaps a bit less so for this season). Perhaps I'll catch up before the final season. I mean, I think the latest season was still very good, and better than most of the shows that are ending up on top 10 lists this year. Maybe it suffered in comparison to Seasons 1 and 2 (which were genuinely A/A+ material), but it's still first-class tv in my book.
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Post by otherscott on Dec 26, 2022 14:58:27 GMT -8
I think My Brilliant Friend is going to fall short for me this year, it may be able to snap up an honourable mention. I think I mentioned it in the Whatcha Watchin thread but there just wasn’t enough Lila this season and she’s the best part of the show by far.
Plus there’s just a lot of good TV. Jeremy had Peacemaker at 10 and Reservation Dogs at 9, and I’m going to have them in very similar spots despite both being very good shows. I’m still not sure the very top matches the mid 2010s in terms of quality, but every show in my top 10 will be very highly recommended which hasnt always been the case
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Post by Incandescence 112 on Dec 26, 2022 16:38:35 GMT -8
I think My Brilliant Friend is going to fall short for me this year, it may be able to snap up an honourable mention. I think I mentioned it in the Whatcha Watchin thread but there just wasn’t enough Lila this season and she’s the best part of the show by far. Plus there’s just a lot of good TV. Jeremy had Peacemaker at 10 and Reservation Dogs at 9, and I’m going to have them in very similar spots despite both being very good shows. I’m still not sure the very top matches the mid 2010s in terms of quality, but every show in my top 10 will be very highly recommended which hasnt always been the case Yeah it's been a pretty dang good year. One of the best in a while.
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Post by otherscott on Jan 9, 2023 11:27:55 GMT -8
Let's get the train rolling by unveiling my top 10 list! I'll do it one by one again so I can dedicate a little more space to each show because most of these I haven't really talked about a ton this year, though I think I've mentioned most of them on this forum.
First off, I'm going to give my honourable mention to Barry, which is a show most people really love, and I just kinda like. I think this season went darker which I don't necessarily think is the direction Barry needs to or should be going, because there's a lot of shows in that very dark space on TV now. But most people disagree and thought this was the best season yet, so that's fine!
10. House of the Dragon This show in some ways feels both two high and too low at the same time. It's got so much character complexity that I love involve, and really digs into characters and explores motivations, and gives somewhat realistic and understandable ways in which people in high places can act in ways that are ultimately very destructive. It actually has a lot of similarities to the aforementioned Barry, but I'm giving it the nod since it manages to build multiple characters with this complexity while Barry still more or less really builds one or two in that way.
The show is too dark though, like on the borderline of too dark for me to really want to watch or actually be curious about the world. Some more levity would be a necessity in the second season, and maybe in some way the levity is the entertainment factor of dragon fights, but I believe that if your show is completely humourless it's also suffers a lack of realism. Also I would say I know why the time jumps were done, and I can understand them, but it made the season feel very broken and episodic rather than a whole.
This is a very well done show, well written and earns a place in my top ten, but there's definitely areas for improvement in season two to really become one of TV's best.
(And right after I made this post I realized that House of the Dragon is actually number 11! So I guess this will be the list of my top 11 shows of the year).
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 9, 2023 19:04:12 GMT -8
(And right after I made this post I realized that House of the Dragon is actually number 11! So I guess this will be the list of my top 11 shows of the year). Okay, now I'm doubly offended that you left Barry off your Top 10, and then subsequently wrote a whole piece about a Game of Thrones spinoff despite it also not being in your Top 10. You wound me, sir. Incidentally, I think Metacritic has now tabulated all the critics' lists it could find, and the most acclaimed show of the year is a pretty close three-way race between Severance, Andor*, and Better Call Saul. ( Severance is on the most lists, but has slightly fewer #1 rankings than the other two.) The Bear is not far behind, and is actually on more lists than Saul. Great year for TV! *I did not rank my Honorable Mentions, but Andor would probably be my #11 show of the year. Was right on the edge of being included in my Top 10, but I just couldn't leave Peacemaker off.
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Post by otherscott on Jan 10, 2023 9:57:50 GMT -8
I can't really explain or come up with a good reason why Barry has never really worked well for me, aside from a few episodes in the middle of season 2. It just never has quite clicked properly.
The Real Number 10: Reservation Dogs I grew up in a community with a very high native population, and I have to admit I'm not entirely sure how accurate this show is to the native experience. It feels sanitized in some ways, though that can be regional differences as well. That being said, the show can really delve into these characters and is a really good take on trying to move on after something horrible happening to people you are close to, from a few different perspectives. One thing I really like that the show did this season is to not have the characters move on from the harm that was done to their friendship at the end of season 1, but realize there are some wounds there that are irreparable. The four kids at the center of this show will always have Daniel connecting them, but aside from that they are at the age where it is okay to drift apart and start moving on with their own lives. I think as far as coming of age shows go, this feels like it has a bit more realism to it than something like Buffy where everyone made that transition from high school to adulthood remaining a massive part of each others lives.
The show doesn't have a 100% hit rate for me in terms of episodes, and I think there's times where it can drag, which is why it's not a runaway number one show for me like it is for some, but no doubt it is an excellent show and the fact that it barely makes my top 10 says more about the quality of the shows above it.
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Post by otherscott on Jan 13, 2023 15:09:02 GMT -8
Let’s do a double dose today:
9. Peacemaker I am contractually obligated to mention the opening credit sequence. It’s actually hard to explain what makes Peacemaker work as well as it does for me, considering similar types of violent comedy shows fell flat. I think the difference between this show and something like The Boys is that there’s a little more care taken to sketching out the complexities of the characters which really helps the emotional moments hit a bit better. It hits humour a little better as well and, while it’s not alone in making wacky things happen, those wacky moments feel like they are more “well this is really random” rather than “I CAN’T BELIEVE THEY JUST DID THAT” and I prefer the former, it feels more surprising in a way.
Most importantly I feel like the show has a heart and that it cares, it’s not just a black hole of cynicism that can sometimes plague similar shows. This is a very good show and the best superhero show that I’ve seen since the end of the previous decade.
8. Black Bird A little bit of out of a left field pick here, the show is really elevated by its acting. It’s a mix of Mindhunter and those HBO crime miniseries like Mare of Easttown and Sharp Objects, where it is really grounded in a sense of place and features astounding performances. Taron Egerton would have my best actor vote for the year among some other great performances among shows still to come.
I think the Apple TV factor probably held this back where it could do with a little HBO prestige, as it definitely moves slowly at times and doesn’t really proceed in a way that’s unexpected. But like those aforementioned show you can just engross yourself in the acting and the sense of place and you really do have an excellent television watching experience.
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Post by ThirdMan on Jan 13, 2023 16:27:57 GMT -8
I enjoyed Peacemaker well enough, but I think what's held it back from being a genuine favourite is all the alien-bug stuff: that aspect is really generic and uninspired to me. I also think much of the profanity feels really forced, particularly from Cena (it seemed more organic in The Suicide Squad).
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Post by Jeremy on Jan 14, 2023 15:50:56 GMT -8
Is there really an "Apple TV factor" that's holding their productions back from getting prestige attention? Apple's streaming service hasn't been around too long, but they've already won a Best Picture Oscar and Ted Lasso has dominated the Emmys for two consecutive years.
I imagine Black Bird (which I started a while ago but never finished for reasons that will interest no one) is more a victim of the increased dominance of the Limited Series genre, which has become the most interesting and competitive part of the Emmys in recent years.
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