5. “Succession”
While the Great “Vice” Twitter Wars of the holidays of 2018 begin to gear up, we hope people don’t forget that Adam McKay already helped to deliver one great look at the ruling class and the abuses of power in 2018, as the executive producer and pilot director of Jesse Armstrong’s biting, savage satire “Succession.” The HBO drama/comedy (dramedy feels much too Sundance a label for something like this) follows the Roy family — a Murdoch-style media dynasty whose dysfunctional relationships are pushed into new levels after a health crisis suffered by the patriarch (Brian Cox, never better). Some on staff couldn’t quite deal with the show — we have enough privileged, uber-wealthy people ruining our lives on a day-to-day basis without wanting to spend time with on our screens. But “Succession” walked such a fine balance — exposing the rotten heart of American capitalism in as clear-headed a way as anyone has since the 2007 recession, while also retaining the humanity of its characters in a way that didn’t make them into monsters. Or at least, not just monsters. And few shows this year had such memorable characters and performances, from Jeremy Strong’s hip-hop loving frat-boy heir apparent, to Sarah Snook’s smartest-woman-in-the-room daughter, to Nicholas Braun as the lovably dim-witted, increasingly corrupted cousin, to, perhaps best of all, Matthew MacFayden as the gleefully obsequious Tom. It’s a show that started very good and quickly steered into greatness, and we can’t wait to see where it goes from here.
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1021442338520829952
4. “The Americans”
Though this superb spy drama was filled with death and violence, its sixth and final season ends not in blood but in tears. Showrunners Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields have maintained that “The Americans” was always more about the relationships than the espionage, and it stays true to that soul in these last hours. For its final 10 episodes, the FX show jumps ahead three years into 1987, finding Philip Jennings (Matthew Rhys) out of the Russian spy game and Elizabeth (Keri Russell) bringing their daughter Paige (Holly Taylor) into it. The first nine episodes of the season are strong, bringing back beloved characters like Oleg Burov (Costa Ronin) and reminding us why “The Americans” is one of the best shows of this decade. But the series finale, “START,” lands a punch to the gut with a force that Elizabeth would be proud of. The long-awaited, inevitable confrontation between the Jennings and neighbor/FBI agent Stan Beeman (an underrated Noah Emmerich) is equal parts tension and emotion, but the ultimate fate of Elizabeth, Philip, and their children Paige and Henry (Keidrich Sellati) – revealed with U2’s “With or Without You” playing over the sound of my sobs – is a heartbreaker, worthy of all the rich hours that came before it. – Kimber Myers
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/978729876059389953
3. “Homecoming”
Like many, it seems, we gave up on “Mr. Robot” at some point in the second season, the addictive sound and visuals no longer being enough to paper over the sheer dumbness of the plotting. But “Homecoming” put us firmly back on the Sam Esmail train — this adaptation of a popular scripted podcast let the director/showrunner use his considerable gifts in the service of a far more compelling narrative. Across two timelines, it told the story of Heidi (Julia Roberts), who in the present is working as a waitress, but in the past was a caseworker at a mysterious treatment center for veterans including Stephen James’ Walter Cruz. As a DoD bureaucrat (a wonderful Shea Whigham) closes in on her, Heidi starts to question her memory of what went on. Told in ultra-addictive half-hour bursts (new edict for 2019: more half-hour dramas, please), the show felt like late-period Soderbergh remaking “The Manchurian Candidate,” using its style in the service of discomforting and discombobulating the audience, before building towards one tour-de-force transition that might have been our single favorite moment of TV this year. Mysterious but satisfying, clever but not tricksy, chilly yet emotional, it bodes extremely well for the next period of Amazon shows to come.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdsrTWKCGIw
2. “Barry”
We needed another L.A.-set comedy about actors looking for a big break like we needed a bullet hole in the forehead. But fortunately, Bill Hader and Alec Berg anticipated this reaction, by adding numerous forehead bullet-holes to their actors-looking-for-a-big-break comedy “Barry.” The first real (and deserved) showcase for Hader post-‘SNL,’ it saw him play a military veteran now eking out a miserable living as a hitman, who comes to L.A. for a target but ends up enrolling in an acting cast and discovering the potential for a new life. It’s a “Grosse Point Blank”-ish premise to be sure, and Hader & co capture the spirit of the John Cusack classic in a way that no one’s managed in twenty years, blending big laughs and ultraviolence beautifully. It also proved to be much more than that too. It’s as genuinely profound a series about acting as we’ve ever seen, even while it scores plenty of gags at the expense of its hopefuls (largely thanks to Henry Winkler’s mighty performance). But it was also arguably the first show that we’ve seen that really learned from the lessons of “Breaking Bad” with its plotting and sense of tragedy, constantly dumping our anti-hero in worse and worse situations that seem inescapable. Gorgeously directed throughout, it was easily our favorite new show of the year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b09aJdWqVp4
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/978357927344926720
1. “Atlanta”
For the first time ever for one of our Best TV of the year lists, the same show has retained the top spot for the second time, and there was never even any debate about it. Donald Glover’s “Atlanta” was again head and shoulders above everything else, and if anything was even better the second time around. In part, that’s because of the way it fundamentally understands the form — in a time when the boring-ass phrase “it’s an eight-hour movie!” becomes increasingly prevalent, “Atlanta” is giddy with the possibilities of television, and the way that it can shapeshift and evolve from episode to episode. There were dizzying highs among those episodes — the Glover-directed flashback ep “FUBU,” the Van-centric “Champagne Papi” helmed by Amy Seimetz, and of course the instant classic that was “Teddy Perkins,” an unclassifiable, double-length horror story of sorts that was at once hilarious and deeply disturbing. But amazingly for a show that never repeats itself, those highs weren’t all that much higher than the rest — it’s a show of impressive consistency, as compelling when it returns to its central quartet as it is when it’s doing a big showpiece episode. Funny, profound, and with some of the best performances on TV (it’s, frankly, a disgrace that Brian Tyree Henry wasn’t just given every Emmy available this year), it sets a bar that feels hard to surmount, but we said that after Season 1 as well.
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/965637877710258177
Even in something of an off year for Peak TV, there’s still more content than even an entire team can catch up with, and there are a few things that slipped through our grasp that might have otherwise made the list. Among the shows that we never got to were “Picnic At Hanging Rock,” “Patrick Melrose,” “Pose,” “Trust,” “My Brilliant Friend” and “Lodge 49,” but they all have their fans – sing their praises in the comments if you were one of them. We also finally just caught up with the first episode of “Castle Rock” but haven’t got any further — that was super promising and we look forward to seeing more.
As for shows that nearly made the cut, “The Handmaid’s Tale” wasn’t as good second time around but remains powerful work, “The Good Place” wasn’t quite as great as it’s been in previous years but still remains the best comedy on network TV, while Desiree Akhavan’s “The Bisexual” is excellent and somewhat underseen. Netflix’s U.K. import “Wanderlust” is very impressive, as was Hulu import “Save Me” starring Lennie James, and Kenneth Lonergan-penned period drama “Howard’s End.” “The Deuce” and “Silicon Valley” continue to justify the cost of an HBO subscription (and while it’s more divisive, we continue to enjoy “Westworld” a lot), and Netflix delivered a very entertaining successor to “Buffy” with “The Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybKUX6thF8Q
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1012335359450124288
“Maniac” tore the team in half — it was certainly gorgeous to look at, but we were divided as to how much it had going on outside of that. “Ozark” delivered a strong second season, “Bodyguard” had a cracking thriller set-up (even if it couldn’t quite wrap up as well as it started), “Big Mouth” was loved and hated in equal amounts by staff members, “Insecure” had a slight downtick but remains very good, “Casual” and “Love” both finished strong, and “Baskets” continues to be solid AF.
https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1042821831235842048
Anything else we’ve missed? It’s probably inevitable. Shout out your favorites in the comments.
– with Ally Johnson, Kimber Myers, Jessica Kiang, Cory Woodroof, and Rodrigo Perez
