#best tv shows of 2022

[grigori77]

2022 in TV - My Top 10 Shows

10.  THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY (season 3, Netflix)

The lovable and deeply weird adaptation of My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way’s epic mindfuck of a cult comic book from showrunner Steve Blackman (Bones, Fargo, Altered Carbon) has pulled off a particularly impressive feat, managing to drop THREE essentially perfect seasons of TV in a row without ANY signs of flagging in quality, pace or sheer sense of fun.  After the bonkers time-travel shenanigans of the first two seasons, things in the timeline have REALLY gone to pot, and now the gloriously dysfunctional Hargreaves siblings have got a truly diabolical enemy to deal with, namely the Sparrow Academy, a far superior group of superpowered oddballs that were trained by their adoptive father, Sir Reginald Hargreaves (Colm Feore), when he discovered what a “massive disappointment” his original collection of inexplicable orphans would become.  Worse still is the fact that one of them is a new, far more unpleasant version of their late brother Ben (After Yang’s Justin Min), who instantly takes a personal set against them … absolutely bonkers and enjoyably irreverent, this show remains as unrepentantly mad as ever, with the entire cast shining throughout, although once again Robert Sheehan effortless steals every scene as louchely nihilistic clairvoyant Klaus.  Extra kudos of course have to go to the show for allowing Elliot Page to transition as his character goes from Vanya to Viktor, although we should also thank Netflix for seeing the good sense in picking it up for one more season after this given that whopper of a cliffhanger …

9.  OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH  (HBO Max)

One of the year’s biggest surprise hits came in the form of this riotously unique surrealist sitcom series based on the true life tale of Stede Bonnet, the gloriously flighty 18th Century Barbadian aristocrat who left his plush life of privilege and luxury in order to pursue his personal dream of becoming The Gentleman Pirate.  Problem was, he’s THE WORST pirate there ever was, a genuine embarrassment to the profession, who mostly rose to fame after he was taken prisoner by and become the object of playful amusement of the feared terror of the High Seas himself, Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard. The undeniable highlight of this show has to be enjoying the sparkling interplay between the two leads – Rhys Darby is, as always, an unbridled delight as Bonnet, the most unflappably effervescent hopeful idiot to have ever lived, while Taika Waititi’s clearly having the time of his life presenting the most feared pirate who ever lived as a disenchanted but ultimately gentle soul who’s long since grown tired of the ferocious façade he’s had to cultivate for himself over the years.  The rest of the cast are huge fun too (none more-so than Ewen Bremner as Bonnet’s entirely bizarre first mate Buttons), while the characters and sparkling scripts crafted by showrunner David Jenkins (People of Earth) and his writing team are a veritable masterclass in how to present a perfect show about LGBTQIA folk and their daily struggles through the prism of delightful absurdist comedy.

8.  THE MIDNIGHT CLUB (Netflix)

Mike Flanagan continues his assault of sheer small screen horror brilliance with this pitch perfect (sort of) anthology series based around the tales told by a group of teenagers thrown together in Seattle’s Brightcliffe Hospice for terminally ill adolescents in the mid-90s as they attempt to deal with impending death and all the horrific emotional baggage that comes with it.  Iman Benson (Uncle Buck, Black AF) shines incredibly brightly in an astounding youthful cast as Ilonka, the desperate dreamer who’s checked in with the intention of discovering the source behind a little known cure for her thyroid cancer which may exist somewhere in the hospice, while Nightmare On Elm Street’s Heather Langenkamp is wonderfully complex as Brightcliffe’s firm-but-fair chief resident doctor Georgina, and a winning selection of Flanagan regulars show up in a variety of roles (along with the resident cast) in a variety of intriguing roles in the titular group’s cathartic late night pastime of telling each other spooky tales.  These are the undeniable highlight on offer throughout the series, covering a fascinating range of genres from mysterious whodunnits and ghost stories to time-twisting sci-fi brain-melters that never fail to impress as Flanagan gets a chance to stretch his range a bit, but the overarching storyline is intensely compelling too as we come to really care about and root for these kids.  As we’ve come to expect from his work, this is spooky, creepy and insidiously unsettling, but once again there’s as much emotional intensity on offer here as bone-deep spine-chilling terror.  Unlike the rest of his TV work to date, however, this one was CLEARLY intended to be a proper ONGOING series … so of course Netflix has gone and cancelled it. At least we’ve got his adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher to look forward to, and he’s DETERMINED to bring Stephen King’s legendary The Dark Tower to the screen in far better style than the criminally awful 2017 movie, so there’s still hope …

7.  CYBERPUNK: EDGERUNNERS (Netflix)

Another big surprise hit sneaking in under the radar this year was this unexpected anime gem from Kill la Kill creators Studio Trigger, based on the cult tabletop RPG which spawned the troubled yet deliriously popular video game.  Anyone who knows me, of course, knows this is RIGHT UP MY STREET, I’m a total sucker for anything cyberpunk, as well as anime in general, so this was a perfect combo for me, but even so I was generally surprised by just HOW UNBELIEVABLY GOOD this actually turned out to be. It’s pretty short too – with ten episodes each clocking at around the 25-minute mark it’s pretty easy to binge in a single sitting – but thoroughly sweet, each instalment propelling the impressively robust story forward at quite the pacy clip towards a suitably explosive climax, with plenty of blistering action and compellingly dark techno-shenanigans along the way.  The real reward here, however, is the characters, a crew of dysfunctional misfits brought together over the course of the series who perfectly encapsulate the brilliantly crafted universe’s dark and dangerous criminal underworld – the central love story between teenage dropout turned cybernetically-enhanced mercenary David and born-survivor elite hacker Lucy is compellingly intense and realistically written, but the best addition here has to be hyperactive pint-sized cyber-badass Rebecca, who’s an ultraviolent delight from start to finish.  The animation is some of the very best I’ve EVER seen in anime, and the design work throughout is never less than stellar, wisely taking its lead from the impressively inventive game but still happy to carve its own path.  The end result is one of the best animated shows I’ve come across in quite some time (it’s not on Arcane’s level, but comes damn close), so it’s a shame that, since it was apparently intended to be a standalone, we’re unlikely to see any more in the future …

6.  WARRIOR NUN (season 2, Netflix)

Debuting in the middle of the Pandemic turned out to be a stroke of truly great luck for Continuum creator Simon Barry’s unique but also intrinsically challenging adaptation of Ben Dunn’s gloriously bonkers comic book Warrior Nun Areala, which became an impressive runaway hit for Netflix and made a second season inevitable.  Gods knew it quickly earned a rabid following (myself among them) who were champing at the bit for more, but shooting restrictions meant we’d have to wait a little bit … but it’s finally arrived and it is REALLY GREAT, actually IMPROVING on the previous run as we follow unlikely Warrior Nun Ava Silva (a truly spellbinding turn from the thoroughly adorable Alba Baptista) and her gang of rogue holy helpers on their quest to take down the Big Bad false messiah threatening to turn the world into hell on earth, the fallen angel Adriel (William Miller).  Along the way they get into an endlessly inventive series of scrapes, fights and misadventures that are a gleefully subversive joy to watch, but once again the real charm here is the will-they-won’t-they back-and-forth dance that continues between Ava and Kristina Tonteri-Young’s precocious but also thoroughly awkward Sister Beatrice.  Plotwise, things are tied off in a fairly neat little bow by the end of this season – albeit through an emotionally devastating climax which you definitely need to keep the tissues handy for – but even so there’s enough room for more that it’s a criminal shame that Netflix have decided to pull the plug on this one too.

5.  PEACEMAKER (HBO Max)

Whatever you might think about Warner Bros./Discovery in general regarding its current treatment of the future of the DCEU (especially after the shocking fate that befell the heavily anticipated Batgirl movie), and about filmmaker James Gunn in particular now that he’s taken over as the head honcho on the franchise itself, you can’t deny that he did a phenomenal job with this deliciously non-PC spinoff from his awesome 2021 Suicide Squad soft-reboot.  Michael Cena’s Christopher Smith was one of the film’s biggest hits, so a series following his exploits as the titular antihero was a damn smart move, the former wrestler-turned-actor once again proving what a comedic genius he is as he flexes, gurns and drops hilarious inadvertent one-liners as one of THE WORST SUPERHEROES in the entire DC Universe.  That being said, the show’s frequently stolen out from under him by Unreal and Time After Time’s Freddie Stroma, who’s even more of a blissfully awkward joy as Smith’s best friend/unwitting nemesis Adrian Chase, aka Vigilante, a ridiculously talented combat nerd who desperately wants to be a badass dark avenger like his bestie, while there are similarly game turns from Jennifer Holland and Steve Agee (both reprising their roles from The Suicide Squad) as the downtrodden ARGUS agents charged with keeping Smith under control along with Danielle Brooks’ geeky new recruit, and there’s an irreverent and perfectly scummy turn from Robert Patrick as the Peacemaker’s white supremacist supervillain father August Smith, the infamous White Dragon.  A riot from start to finish, this show is packed with over-the-top, ultraviolent action, jet black humour and an endless series of razor sharp winks, nods and homages from one of the best geek-master filmmakers in the business.  Best of all, though, has to be that STONE COLD GENIUS title sequence, choreographed to perfection to the brilliantly awful earworm Do You Wanna Taste It from irreverent Norwegian glam metal band Wig Wam, which is guaranteed to have you crying you’ll be laughing so hard.  Personally, I can’t wait for more of this one.

4.  GUILLERMO DEL TORO’S CABINET OF CURIOSITIES (Netflix)

Anyone who’s been following me long enough to know what I like should know that Guillermo del Toro is one of my favourite filmmakers of all time, I simply ADORE his work, so an anthology show of dark and disturbing horror stories shot-right-through with his irresistible geeky stylistic DNA was a no-brainer for me. ESPECIALLY since he opens every episode with an adorable intro where he presents his philosophical thoughts on what we’re about to experience in the style of Rod Serling. XD  The stories on offer, meanwhile, are an eclectic bunch, ranging from short-sharp-shock creature features to broadly satirical body horror, but there’s an impressive line in cosmic terror on offer here too, with several entries wearing del Toro’s deep-seeded Lovecraft influence on their sleeves.  They’re also consistently impressive, without a single dud in the selection, although the undeniable highlights of the whole bunch, for me, have to be the adaptations of actual Lovecraft stories, Pickman’s Model and Dreams in the Witch House, which perfectly encapsulate the author’s restless sense of endless low-key dread and horrific anticipation, with the eldritch horrors unleashed brought to deeply disturbing life through a selection of impressively palpable physical effects that’s become one of del Toro’s greatest strengths.  The production values on offer here are second to none, as is the quality of the ensemble casts and the directors bringing each story to life, which includes the likes of Vincenzo Natali (Cube, Splice), Panos Cosmatos (Mandy), Ana Lily Amirpour (A Girl Walks Home At Night) and David Prior (The Empty Man) - each filmmaker does wonders for their individual stories, showing spectacular flair and skill throughout, but every single episode still has the titular master of weird cinema’s fingerprints all over it.  Which is exactly what you want from such a wondrous tribute to one of the best visual storytellers out there right now …

3.  THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA (Amazon Prime)

Netflix really seems to have dominated all on the small screen this year, but Amazon have still managed to make their presence felt with one of this past year’s BEST OFFERINGS, in the form of a gleefully irreverent animated adaptation of the first Campaign of wildly successful Dungeons & Dragons-based live-play table-top RPG webcast series Critical Role. Most of my followers should already be keenly aware that I am quietly OBSESSED with the ongoing games, so when they announced this I was almost delirious in my excitement, and this first season paid off all our mad expectation MAGNIFICENTLY.  Starting out as a Kickstarter by the Crit Role gang themselves with the intention simply to make an animated special, the resulting support was SO STRONG they were able to spring for a whole series, which was then picked up for genuine syndication by Amazon, and the rest, as they say, is history … best of all, though, is the fact that, because it’s their baby, the original cast IN THEIR ENTIRETY are involved in bringing it together, from the writing to the character performances, and since they’re a collection of highly talented voice-actors they’ve done a STUNNING job here … but then THEY DO know their characters right to the bone.  Animated with EXQUISITE attention to detail by Titmouse (Metalocalypse, Star Trek: Lower Decks, Animaniacs and Pantheon among others), packed with stunning action and dark thrills and shot-through from start to finish with an infectious sense of humour, not to mention a veritable DUMPTRUCK’s worth of epic feels, this is an absolute riot from start to finish.  I’m waiting with eager anticipation for the imminent arrival of the second season, and am sublimely happy Amazon have already commissioned a third …

2.  STRANGER THINGS 4 (Netflix)

After season 4 ended in such a crazy place, with Eleven (Millie Bobbie Brown) depowered and Hopper (David Harbour) assumed dead but actually VERY MUCH ALIVE in a Siberian gulag, we were left with a hell of a lot of crazy questions, but we never had any doubt The Duffer Brothers would deliver those answers and more in style. That being said, they really pulled out ALL THE STOPS with this season, not only upping the scale to delirious levels but also massively increasing the overall runtime, which even prompted Netflix to employ a somewhat frustrating tactic of splitting the season into TWO PARTS with an entire month of waiting in-between … but at least the end result was some of the year’s most engrossing and thoroughly AWESOME television. Certainly this one packed the small screen’s biggest amount of WOW, as we’re finally given the fascinating but also thoroughly horrifying origin story to both the Hawkins Lab psychic experimentation project AND the Upside Down itself … giving away more threatens MASSIVE spoilers, but once again every aspect of the show deserves LASHINGS of praise heaped upon it, from the spectacular effects work (particularly some truly stunning prosthetic make-up work bringing the series’ ultimate Big Bad to life) to the uniformly astounding cast, with the ever-reliable returning players (particularly Brown, Harbour, Winona Ryder, Gaten Matarazzo, Sadie Sink and Joe Keery) once again doing their fair share of the heavy-lifting while the newcomers (most notably Joseph Quinn, Jamie Campbell Bower and Tom Wlaschiha) each make strong impressions going forward.  By turns thrilling, terrifying, heartfelt, funny and inventive, but always pitch-perfect in its nostalgic charm, this show continues to be one of the very best pieces of top-notch small-screen entertainment around, and I cannot wait to see what’s to come in the final season …

1.  THE SANDMAN (Netflix)

If ANYTHING was gonna beat Stranger Things to the top spot, it could only have been Neil Gaiman’s VERY hands-on adaptation of his own thoroughly beloved revolutionary cult comic book series.  Seriously, Gaiman changed the game with this title, so he was THE ONLY ONE we, the hardcore faithful, could possibly trust to bring his masterwork to life on the small screen, and after his astonishing efforts with the Good Omens show we had the utmost faith that he had the chops to pull it off.  We were not wrong … working closely with fellow showrunners David Goyer (Blade, Batman Begins) and Allan Heinberg (Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal, Wonder Woman), Gaiman has produced a series that wisely stays faithful to the original source material, essentially splitting this first season into two arcs, with the first realising Book 1 of the comic, Preludes & Nocturnes, while the second focuses on Book 2, The Doll House.  Tom Sturridge (The Boat That Rocked) was PERFECT casting as Dream of the Endless, one of a unique family of near all-powerful cosmic beings charged with the control and caretaking of various aspects of the Universe itself – Dream, obviously, rules over the province of the Subconscious, while his sister, Death (Killing Eve’s Kirby Howell-Baptiste), is pretty self-explanatory, but not at all what you’d expect.  After imprisonment for almost a century, Dream is looking to put his house back in order, but this brings him into direct conflict with various entities, including, dangerous “sorcerer” John Dee (David Thewlis), the Devil themselves, Lucifer (Gwendoline Christie), and monstrous rogue nightmare The Corinthian (a chilling performance from Boyd Holbrook), while the foundations for a far darker, more wide-reaching conspiracy are being laid by hands much closer to his heart … this adaptation is nothing short of a MASTERPIECE, Gaiman and his helpers bringing his creation to life in the most magnificent of ways in one of the most spectacular chunks of television I’ve ever had the privilege to witness.  Spellbindingly beautiful, emotionally devastating, spine-chillingly horrifying and effortlessly entertaining in equal measure, every single element of this show was brought to bear with the utmost attention to detail, and the results are nothing short of perfection.  Netflix have wisely picked it up for a second season, but we can only hope they maintain their faith in the series long enough for Gaiman to bring the entire saga to life …

Honourable mentions:

The Boys (season 3, Amazon Prime); Andor (Disney+); House of the Dragon (HBO); 1899 (Netflix); Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+); Obi Wan Kenobi (Disney+); Reacher (Amazon Prime); Interview With the Vampire (AMC); The Man Who Fell To Earth (Showtime); Gangs of London (season 2, Sky Atlantic)*

*What can I say?  There was A LOT of great TV this past year …

[gchoate17]

I watched 33 seasons of television shows in 2022, edging out my previous personal best count from 2020. Most were on Netflix or Amazon Prime Video. I ranked those seasons and made a few comments about them, should you care to know what influenced the season’s place on the list. Rewatched seasons are marked with an asterisk. Previous years' rankings are linked at the bottom.

The Great: Season 1 -- The first episode is a necessary, albeit somewhat unenjoyable acclimation period because the characters speak in what initially seems like gratuitous vulgarities on behalf of the show’s writers. But by the end of the second episode, it all clicks. Pure brilliance. (I thought my introduction to Nicholas Hoult was in “True History of the Kelly Gang,” in which he plays a terrible character I didn’t like. And then I saw him in “Sand Castle,” which is a war movie that may have forgotten to hire a military consultant – and Hoult has an iffy American accent. Based on those characters walking in, I didn’t like him in this show at first. But the moment I realized he was Marcus Brewer in About a Boy, everything shifted and I became a huge fan of his acting ability/character in this show.)

Keep Sweet: Season 1 -- An inside look at the fundamentalist sect of the Church of Latter Day Saints, lead by Warren Jeffs. I have a soft spot for cult studies.

Black Mirror: Season 4 -- The best season. All parents should watch Arkangel, and Hang the DJ stuck with me. Crocodile feels like it’s right around the corner.

Black Mirror: Season 1 -- A what-would-you-do episode, a comment-on-society episode, and an episode where life has become what my documentarian heart has always dreamed about. Fascinating.

Black Mirror: Season 2 -- White Bear is my favorite episode so far. That CGI Bear episode is one of my least favorites. I’m impressed that they’re still coming up with such interesting concepts two seasons in.

The Great: Season 2 -- At times it reaches too far, but Fanning and Hoult are fantastic.

Better Call Saul: Season 2 -- I’m hooked. They’ve got me pulling for the character who makes bad decision after bad decision.

Better Call Saul: Season 3 -- I’m more interested in Nacho and Mike than I am Jimmy and Kim at this point. I’m ready for Jimmy to stop making bad decisions.

Dead to Me: Season 1 -- Quirky and fun and funny. Reeks of Will Farrell’s humor, even though he’s just the executive producer.

*Seinfeld: Season 4 -- About midway through the season, the actors come into their characters in the way that we know them. Kramer is the best.

Better Call Saul: Season 1 -- I wasn’t a huge fan of Breaking Bad, and Saul was one of my least-favorite characters, but I never took him as seriously as I am taking him in his own show. Invested in both storylines. I also want to rewatch BB.

Better Call Saul: Season 4 -- I don’t understand Jimmy and Kim relationship. We’re getting closer to Breaking Bad timeline and I’m eager to come full circle.

*Seinfeld: Season 5 -- They’ve gotten a budget and some of the reputation-based jokes are starting to land – the best jokes are ones where the character doesn’t act, but we know what he/she wants to do/say – but there are still some entire episodes that fall flat. They’ve figured out their formula and any “gun” that’s introduced at all will predictably be fired before the credits roll.

The Last Kingdom: Season 5 -- The show has run its course. These characters have lived five lifetimes.

Alone: Season 8 -- This is my first season to watch and I didn’t want to like it, but I was too invested in Biko to stop watching.

*Seinfeld: Season 3 -- It’s almost like their trying to milk jokes from character reputation alone, but they still haven’t built a reputation. Except for Kramer, of course, who is still solid.

*Seinfeld: Season 2 -- “The Deal” (S2, E9) is the first good episode of the series. Kramer is still the highlight.

Maniac: Season 1 -- Interesting vibe/tone. Justin Theroux’s character makes the show worth watching.

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt: Season 1 -- For network TV sitcom, it’s a pretty good show. Lots of good one-liners in the style of “30 Rock.” But the ridiculous nature and lack of depth of such shows grows tiresome after 13 episodes.

Black Mirror: Season 3 -- The weakest season so far.

Ozark: Season 4A -- Classic final season situation where the writers are caught in between stretching things out for another season while also trying to tie up all the plot lines. Things got ridiculous. Julia Garner was fantastic, though.

Inventing Anna: Season 1 -- Interesting story, poorly told. Julia Garner was fantastic, though.

Black Mirror: Season 5 -- I accidentally started with Season 5 – not that it matters that much since the episodes don’t build on one another. I appreciated that these three episodes were different than anything I’d ever seen, but they also kind of felt like b-movies. (One of those b-movies with inexplicable starpower.)

Dahmer: Season 1 -- Started out great, but the intrigue wore off after the first couple of episodes.

*Seinfeld: Season 1 -- Dated. They’re trying to find themselves. Kramer is still evolving, but he’s good from the get-go.

Ozark: Season 4b -- Too much.

Dead to Me: Season 2 -- It went a little off the rails.

Uncoupled: Season 1 -- Neil Patrick Harris always delights – and I appreciate having a fuller picture of gay sex -- but I was eager to be finished with this one.

A League of the Own: Season 1 -- The desire to show viewers how gay everyone is seems to have surpassed the desire to tell a good story.

This is Us: Season 1 -- Network TV predictability and saccharine as hell.

Murderville: Season 1 -- I could watch people break character all day, but there were a lot of dry spells throughout.

Russian Doll: Season 2 -- This is not the same show as Season 1 (which finished 3rd of 32 in 2020). So disappointing. I never felt like anyone was in control of the story.

Yellowstone: Season 3 -- SPOILER ALERT: How in God’s name do the Dutton’s not have better security? And does the federal government just not give a damn about all the murdering happening in Montana? Teeter is the most unrealistic character I can think of that has made it beyond the cutting room floor of any show – that accent is awful. And not a chance Walker gets on stage at a bar so close to the Yellowstone.

See previous lists here: 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017.

[dualredundancy]

In this week's special episode David, John and Kyle are here to look back at entertainment in 2022. We also reveal the results for your favorite movies (2:05), returning TV shows (12:55), new TV shows (25:10), TV miniseries (34:40) and pop culture moments (42:50) from the past year.

[lousolversons]

LOUSOLVERSON’S REVIEW OF 2022 Best New Show - Severance, Apple TV+

[adragoncalledcat]

Hey guys, it’s me, once again ranting about willow, and how special the cast was. In the modern day a majority if not all fantasy tv series are extremely serious. Like to the point that it’s actively stressful to watch. Don’t get me wrong I love shows like game of thrones and rings of power, but a funny show like willow really sticks out amongst the crowd because of its sense of humor. Then on the flip side, it’s ability to balance its comedy with seriousness is really natural. This is why I feel like the cast of willow is really something special. The bonds that they have with one another transfer seamlessly on screen. I mean you really can’t act chemistry like that. And because the actors got along so well, the humor not only felt more realistic, but the show in it’s entirety felt elevated. I think willow is that good because of the way the cast brought it to another level

[twinsoftheday]

today's twins of the day are:

eurayle and stheno gorgon from monster high (generation 3)

[appleteeth]

From The 15 Best TV Shows of 2022, The Atlantic, 21/12/22

[its-only-v]

Best Shows of 2022

Yes, I'm putting this on Tumblr after 2022 has ended. Yes, it's also entirely too long with 30+ shows and all categories that I made myself.

The Best Show That Feels Like an Extended Award-Winning Cut of a Movie

And yes, I mean it in a good way, and not in the way that it should’ve been a movie and not a tv show. Slow Horses made the time fly by and it was so excellent that its second season is already airing right now and the show just came out in March. A big reason to watch it is also Gary Oldman, who plays one of the leads in the show. He’s also announced that he’ll be retiring after it ends - but don’t worry, it won’t be anytime soon because Apple has already renewed it for third and fourth seasons. How is that for a stamp of approval?

The Show with the Superhero in Most Desperate Need of a Therapist

On one hand, we have Peacemaker who has daddy issues (understandably so) and survivor’s guilt. On the other hand, there’s everyone in The Boys. We have definite psychopath Homelander and possible psychopath Soldier Boy and what’s Butcher doing this season with superpowers? But I doubt a therapist would be safe from the maniacs in The Boys so I’ll give this one to Peacemaker who would make better use of the help and not kill the therapist (this guarantee doesn’t extend to Vigilante).

The Show with the Highest Tension

This one’s a tie between The Bear and Severance. And what a surprise, both of them have the workplace as the central setting. Besides what I’ve already said about them in separate editions dedicated just to them, do I need to say more? Fine, here’s one line - it’s best to go in blind for Severance because you want to be surprised and I’ve watched The Bear all the way through three times.

The Best Show About Worst Career Changes That Sort of Work Out

A tie and both of these are comedy shows. Killing It follows Craig (Craig Robinson) an entrepreneur-turned-python hunter in Florida and Our Flag Means Death follows Steve Bonnet (Rhys Darby), a gentleman-turned-pirate. Both of them should not be doing what they’re doing but they do it anyway and it manages to sort of kind of work out along with hilarious situations along the way.

The Show with the Weirdest Relationship

Nobody can explain the plot of The Time Traveler’s Wife in a way that doesn’t make you narrow your eyes. Clare (Rose Leslie) first meets her husband Henry (Theo James) as a little girl when he travels back in time to a clearing near her house as an adult. She grows up falling in love with him because who wouldn’t (and she finds out that he’s already married her in the future so it’s destiny)? But it’s technically okay because he keeps his distance (and it’s not like he time/space travels on purpose) and he’s actually first met her as an adult when she’s an adult too (who has been in love with him since her childhood so is it acceptable?). It was cancelled after the first season because of the entire HBO/Warner Bros/Discovery disaster of a merger so we won’t be exploring more complexities of this relationship but it was interesting to watch while it lasted.

The Show with the Best Fictional Criminals

Sprung makes having a crew seem fun. You’d love to hang out with them and commit crimes (for legal purposes, this is a joke and I’m not condoning crime). We also had some white-collar crime in the new season of Industry but I’ll give them the leeway that crime isn’t their full-time job.

The Show with the Best Real-Life Criminals

This category was previously going to be called best shows based on real life, but then all the characters were fans of shady business practices. The contenders include WeCrashed (about WeWork), Super Pumped (about Uber), The Dropout (about Theranos) and Black Bird (about getting a criminal to get a serial killer to confess) (let’s pretend Inventing Anna didn’t happen for the sake of my sanity). Black Bird is the clear winner here. It has Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser giving their career-best performances and the show feels like a spiritual successor to True Detective and Mindhunter, which elevates it even more.

The Best Show About Teenagers Falling in Love with Teens Who Act Their Age

This was a difficult one to pick with very strong top three contenders - the new season of Young Royals, the last season of Love Victor, and Heartstopper. But, at the end, how could this not go to Heartstopper that’s romantic, wholesome, cute, and does not fail to put a big smile on your face? (The characters of The Sex Lives of College Girls are also teenagers but the second season is still airing so jury’s still out on that and if they all look & act like teenagers or rather young adults is up for debate)

The Show with the Best Power Couple

George (Morgan Spector) and Bertha Russell (Carrie Coon) from The Gilded Age, overcome the absolute drabness of their names to be the best power couple in television this year, not just in a period drama. Doing a bad relationship is easy. A great relationship? Tricky. Especially when it happens to be set in the past, with all its problematic period-accurate outlook. But Julian Fellowes has aced it (Bridgerton, please take note so you can have Season 2’s promising couple back for the third season, which didn’t happen this year).

The Show with the Most Toxic Couple

Yes, I said doing a bad relationship is easy. But - hear me out. Doing a toxic relationship with such compelling characters who happen to have insane chemistry? Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat (Sam Reid) from Interview with the Vampire will make you go from thinking they-should-be-together-forever to please-someone-enforce-a-restraining-order. And as a bonus, there are multiple toxic relationships to go around along with toxic traits that don’t include ripping people’s heads or organs off their bodies (murder can be excused but Lestat, don’t open your relationship if you’re going to throw a fit once your partner takes you up on it and definitely don’t turn a teenager into a vampire to have an adoptive child to save your marriage). Runner-up goes to The Great, which had its second season air this year, with a couple that would also gladly kill each other but at least they’re honest about where they stand.

The Sexiest Show with Queer Vampires

How is this a category? How can this not be a category when you have What We Do in the Shadows’ latest season, and new shows including Interview with the Vampire, Reginald the Vampire, Vampire Academy, and First Kill all airing in the same year? Vampires definitely had a resurgence this year and not just on television (Dracula Daily was also a phenomenon this year and we had the iconic Morbius that needs no introduction and the overlooked Netflix film Day Shift with Jamie Foxx and Dave Franco as vampire hunters). But all of this is just to say that yes, Interview with the Vampire wins again, and Guillermo from WWDITS would agree and we should take his word for it.

The Best Show About Making Money Off the Female Gaze

Minx and Welcome to Chippendales both have businesses trying to capitalize on the female gaze - the first with a magazine and the second with a troupe of male strippers. Since Welcome to Chippendales is still airing and I’m not entirely convinced it’ll stick the landing, Minx wins this one by default but it’s also a very strong show which might have won anyway.

The Best Show To Take You On a Vacation

Or, more specifically, Italy. Yes, the second season of The White Lotus wasn’t the only show with a scenic Italian setting this year. While at the time of writing The White Lotus hasn’t ended yet, I know Mike White isn’t going to lead us astray. The other show that takes you on a vacation in Italy during Mussolini’s era is Hotel Portofino, which weaves in beautiful locales, interesting characters, history, and a mystery to keep you hooked till the end of the season.

The Show with the Best Murder Victim

The Afterparty. RIP Xavier (Dave Franco), you were a superstar blessed with predicting your own death in your music video. (Bonus points for the song being a banger, with the creators filming the full music video even though it wasn’t in the show and releasing a full EP by the character on Spotify).

The Show with the Most Underrated Detective

With a lot of criminals come a lot of criminal catchers. You know the trio of Only Murders in the Building but I bet you’ve not heard of Bell Prescott from Panhandle is a genius crime solver and there couldn’t have been a more fitting name for him for the way he acts. Luke Kirby (who you might know as Lenny Bruce from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel - also the only good part of this year’s new season which I didn’t like much) plays the lead - he manages to solve years of unsolved cases all while not having stepped out of his Florida mansion (that he shares with his mother and pet crocodile) since the death of his wife (whose presence he still hallucinates). Also, like any crime-solving genius, he also gets an assist from a sidekick (rookie cop Tiana Okoye) who makes up for his flaws, making them an epic crime-solving duo.

The Best Supernatural Show NOT About Vampires

Well, not exclusively anyway. Supernatural Academy is my pick for this one, which won't entirely be a surprise. It was such a well-made show and had so much mature storytelling than I was expecting from it. I was also considering The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself because that was such a good show but it only picked up about halfway through and now it's been cancelled with just the first season on Netflix. While there hasn't been any news of Supernatural Academy's second season, I'm more hopeful of Peacock keeping shows going than Netflix at this point so I hope we'll see more of it.

The Best Show About Shows

Please take a moment to acknowledge the meta commentary by the placement of this category at the end. Thank you.

Please take a moment to acknowledge the meta commentary by the placement of this category at the end. Thank you.

There are multiple shows in this category and all are winners. The Rehearsal is technically a reality show that also shows you what goes into the making of a reality show. We also have Reboot for scripted fiction, which you’ve probably guessed from the title is a show about the making of a reboot that also happens to have an all-star comedy cast. If we extend the definition of a show to all types of shows because why not, we also have Hacks, whose new season was about the making of a new stand-up show on the road. Also an excellent watch.

[americanhoney913]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Wednesday (TV 2022) Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Wednesday Addams/Enid Sinclair, Enid Sinclair & Thing Characters: Enid Sinclair, Wednesday Addams, Thing (Addams Family) Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, the hug scene, But different, Enid's not the only one that transformed to protect, Even though it's after the fact, Canon-Typical Violence, Addams Family Levels of Violence Series: Part 1 of Wenclair Week 2023 Summary:

You put your arms around me And I believe that it's easier for you to let me go You put your arms around me and I'm home --- Arms, Christina Perri

Enid freezes when Wednesday’s palm presses her back but she goes because she knows she just crossed one of Wednesday’s biggest boundaries. She steps back but can’t let go of Wednesday, keeps a hand in the space between her arm and side. Tears bead at the corner of her eyes and she gasps out a sob as Wednesday stares at her. Dark chocolate eyes quickly flick over her face while Enid does the same. There’s no emotion on Wednesday’s face but Enid can read how she’s feeling in her eyes: scared, worried, relieved. And she feels the relief when Wednesday reaches out to pull her back in, one arm around her neck and the other around her waist, allowing Enid to thread her arms under the psychic’s and clutch at the back of her neck.

THE HUG but with a little bit extra

[rayanlovestaylor]

every time you smile, i smile.

every time you shine, i’ll shine for you.

[mikimeiko]

Kim's Convenience | Season 5 (2021)

[strawberryloveyyy]

so. you're telling me WILLOW GOT CANCELLED???? CANCELLED???

[lifelovemusiq]

[gnomeantics]

the weirdest part about growing up is finding out that british comedy actors are all in the same few things together and then googling an actor from a show you’re watching and they along with like five others were in your favourite childhood tv shows. its wild

[dualredundancy]

In this week's special episode David, John and Kyle are here to look back at entertainment in 2022. We also reveal the results for your favorite movies (2:05), returning TV shows (12:55), new TV shows (25:10), TV miniseries (34:40) and pop culture moments (42:50) from the past year.