5. “Barry”
From the very first season, “Barry” has always been a case study of a (hit)man who has been so corrupted by past trauma and poor mentors that he can’t ever claw his way back to normalcy or redemption – and yet, he tries. In the face of everything collapsing in on him, he tries. Season 3 began with Bill Hader’s Barry at his lowest point yet and found new and exciting ways to push him further into the darkness, all while upping the ante on the innovative cinematic craftsmanship and dark humor that won over so many devoted fans. That it then gave many of the supporting characters equal depth and featured series-best performances from Henry Winkler, Sarah Goldberg, and Anthony Carrigan is a miracle and a testament to the steady hands steering the ship in Alec Berg and Bill Hader. Even three seasons in, “Barry” still surprises and delights with pizazz to spare. – MD. [read our review]
4. “Andor”
Tony Gilroy has accomplished what many would have believed was impossible in the “Star Wars” universe. He shepherded a television series that is a successful prequel to a prequel (2016’s “Rogue One”), doesn’t even mention the word Jedi, let alone features one, and the closest it comes to including a lightsaber (a franchise mainstay) is a transport ship with a startling trick up its sleeve. And did we mention its narrative is primarily a dissection of a bubbling insurgency against an increasingly monolithic fascist state? On Disney+, no less? Gilroy is assisted in this effort by a superb creative team including writer Beau Willimon and directors Benjamin Caron, Toby Haynes, and Susanna White, as well as startling performances from Diego Luna, Stellan Skarsgard, Genevieve O’Reilly, Denise Gough, and, perhaps the best work of his career, Andy Serkis. Set the proceedings in a remarkable world from production designer Luke Hall accompanied by another brilliant Nicholas Britell score and you, arguably, have 12 episodes of the finest television this decade. – GE [read our review]
3. “The Bear”
Quite possibly the buzziest show of the year, “The Bear,” took the nervous, off-the-rails energy of the Safdie brothers’ “Uncut Gems” and applied it to a fledgling Chicago beef sandwich shop. The result was pure, delicious magic. The show follows a young chef returning home after inheriting his family’s struggling but famous sandwich joint after the death of his brother. Led by a star-making performance from “Shameless” alum Jeremy Allen White and a slew of breakout supporting performances from Eben Moss-Bachrach, Ayo Edibiri, and Lionel Boyce, “The Bear” is an eclectic, claustrophobic, and harrowing journey through trying to make a shit sandwich that life has dealt you taste like a three Michelin star meal. It handles potentially cliched and well-worn topics like grief and found family with poetic aplomb and leaves viewers with a twist ending that almost no one saw coming. And who didn’t want to grab an Italian Beef sandwich immediately after every episode? – MD. [Read our review]
2. “Reservation Dogs”
Filmmaker Sterlin Harjo, the showrunner, writer, director, and co-creator of “Reservation Dogs” told us earlier this year in an interview that the show, like many shows out there, perhaps “Ramy,” stands on the shoulders of Donald Glover’s “Atlanta,” which we take to mean, situational scenarios, applied to a specific cultural viewpoint and then a sprinkle of absurdism and magical realism or surrealism on top. That’s fair, accurate, and generous of Harjo, but where his series about emotionally (and spiritually) lost indigenous teens and the community around them veers off into its own very distinct thing is its warm sense of family and community, its soulfulness, and melancholy. Generational trauma passed down through the legacy of your kin does not make for a depressing show, ‘R Dogs’ fought hard to be a more joyful, humorous look at native reservations, but that quiet melancholy—also expressed through one of their friends who died before season one began— is always there. Ultimately, “Reservation Dogs” for all its self-deprecating native jokes, spiritual warriors, Indigenous Instagram influencers, “Shitass” Tribal Police with little jurisdiction, white wannabee natives, and more, is a profoundly tender, moving, and wonderful series about life, friendships, and the bonds that form between those who have been in the trenches together. – RP
- “Better Call Saul”
An important era of television ended in 2022 when AMC’s “Better Call Saul” came to its perfect conclusion, closing the door on the world of Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) for the first time really since “Breaking Bad” premiered. With its two-part final season, “Better Call Saul” firmly solidified its position as the best-written show on television, landing the themes of this show in its final run in a way that most dramas fail to do. The final season of “Better Call Saul” deserves mention in any conversation about the best final seasons of any drama ever, anchored not just by writing that sent these characters off in a way that felt emotionally true but by an all-timer dramatic ensemble that included career-best work from Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn. It has felt for some time that the Prestige TV era is on its way down the other side of the hill from its peak, and the end of “Better Call Saul” could someday be seen as the closing door on that chapter of the form. It was that essential, that groundbreaking, and that purely entertaining. And it will be that missed. – BT [Read our review]
Honorable Mention
Honestly, this list was more challenging to put together than the film list, and it’s a testament to how damn good television is right now and how so many amazing filmmakers have migrated to television. Not on our list, but shows that we loved and have to mention include Antonio Campos’ “The Staircase” with the incredible ensemble of Colin Firth, Toni Collette, Michael Stuhlbarg, Dane DeHaan, Sophie Turner, Juliette Binoche, and more; Michael Mann’s “Tokyo Vice” featuring Ken Wantabe and Ansel Elgort; Adam McKay’s “Winning Time” featuring some fantastic episodes directed by Jonah Hill and an outstanding lead performance by John C. Reilly; the deeply underrated and arguably very misunderstood “WeCrashed” with exceptionally delicate performances of ambition, love, and arrogance by Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway; Hulu’s super entertaining “Pam & Tommy” highlighted by terrific performances from Lily James, Sebastian Stan, and Seth Rogen, and excellent episodes directed by Lake Bell, Craig Gillespie, and Hannah Fidell; Liz Hannah and Patrick Macmanus’ delicately handled teen-suicide texting drama “The Girl From Plainville,” featuring yet another killer performance by Elle Fanning; Dustin Lance Black’s “Under the Banner of Heaven” featuring a ton of great performances by actors like Andrew Garfield, Gil Birmingham, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Wyatt Russell.
Elsewhere, we also must shout out AMC’s “Interview with a Vampire,” HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” Prime Video’s epic “Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power,” Taylor Sheridan’s “1883,” HBO Max’s “Minx” and season three of “The Boys.”
