Thursday, December 28, 2023

Best of 2023 - TV

I had been seeing television gets better each year, and even though this year there were less shows, although the quality level across the board was still pretty high. For television. Last I year I watched 87 shows and had 21 that I didn't finish. This year I had 71 and 17 that I didn't finish. Given that next year is gonna see the effects of the strikes, I don't see it being the same next year.

Of the 15 shows in my Top 10 new last year (I combined Marvel and Star Wars into one entry), none of the Marvel shows had a second season, nor did Peacemaker, Sandman, Severance, or Cabinet of Curiosities. Strange New Worlds, The Afterparty, and The Bear both had excellent second seasons and landed in the top 10 ongoing, Julia had an excellent second season and landed just outside of it. Reboot I completely lost interest in.

In the Top 20, 0 came from Disney+ (3 less than last year), 4 came from Netflix (1 more than last year), 4 from networks and Hulu (1 less than last year), 4 from Apple+ (3 more than last year, 1 from Prime (same as last year), 2 from Peacock (1 more than last year), 1 from Paramount+ (same as last year) and 3 from HBO Max (2 less than last year), and 1 from Starz.

Network Breakdown:

Apple+
Just like last year, Apple+ had 6 shows I liked.

Disney+
Disney+ had 8 shows for me, 6 of which were Star Wars and Marvel. The other two were Doctor Who and Muppets Mayhem.

HBO Max
Last year Max had a lot of my favorite shows, and as expected, Zaslav changed it this year. Last year they had 11 shows I liked, 5 of which were in my top 20. This year it was 7, 3 of which were in the top 20.

Hulu
Hulu had 14 shows, a little more than the 13 from last year, and of those, 4 are in my top 20, which is 1 less than last year.

Netflix
Netflix had 14 shows, 2 less than last year, and of those, five of them are either finished or unlikely to have another season.

Paramount+
Paramount+ had 10 shows, 2 less than last year, 3 of which were Star Trek, and 3 of which (True Lies, Bass Reeves, Rabbit Hole) were pretty terrible.

Peacock
Peacock had 9 shows, 3 more than last year, and I underestimated them, because Poker Face was one of the best shows of the year, and I quite liked Twisted Metal and and Mrs. Davis, although only one of those will continue on. 

Prime
Prime had 4 good to great shows this year, 3 that were ok, and 2 that I really disliked. 

All of the streaming services had a downturn this year. Disney+ in particular is looking to have a rough 2024 with no MCU shows except January's Echo, and a skip year for most of Star Wars. I'm not sure what to expect from 2024 on any of the streaming services, but I expect I won't watch as much on any of them.

  1. Hulu (#4 last year)
  2. Netflix (#6 last year)
  3. Apple+ (#2 last year)
  4. Peacock (#8 last year)
  5. Paramount+ (#7 last year)
  6. Disney+ (#3 last year)
  7. Max (#1 last year)
  8. Prime

Top 10 Ongoing Shows:

Interesting to see how many of these have been gone for one, two, or in one case four years. Better Call Saul, Harley Quinn, and Hacks jumped way up for me. The first one is the big surprise, because I've always loved it, but I guess there was just a lot of competition in 2020.

  1. Ted Lasso (Apple+)
  2. The Bear (Hulu)
  3. Barry (Max)
  4. Star Trek Strange New Worlds (Paramount+)
  5. Afterparty (Apple+)
  6. Party Down (STARZ)
  7. Fargo (Hulu)
  8. Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
  9. Sex Education (Netflix)
  10. What We Do In The Shadows (Hulu)
                                  Top 10 New Shows:
                                  1. Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix)
                                  2. Poker Face (Peacock)
                                  3. Shrinking (Apple+)
                                  4. Last of Us (Max)
                                  5. My Adventures with Superman (Max)
                                  6. One Piece (Netflix)
                                  7. GenV (Prime)
                                  8. Blue Eye Samurai (Netflix)
                                  9. Monarch Legacy of Monsters (Apple+)
                                  10. Mrs. Davis (Peacock)
                                  Just Outside the Top 10:
                                  I know, I'm cheating even more than usual, but this was such a good year for TV. Any of these shows would have been top 10/20 in a slower year. If I extended out to Top 20 on New and Ongoing, here's roughly where everything lands. And honestly, I could extend out another 10 places.
                                  1. Star Trek Lower Decks (#11 Ongoing)
                                  2. Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (#12 Ongoing)
                                  3. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (#13 Ongoing)
                                  4. Loki (#14 Ongoing)
                                  5. Quantum Leap (#15 Ongoing)
                                  6. Primo (#11 on New)
                                  7. Special Ops: Lioness  (#12 on New)
                                  8. Never Have I Ever (#16 Ongoing)
                                  9. Harley Quinn (#17 Ongoing)
                                  10. The Mandalorian (#18 Ongoing)
                                  11. Justified City Primeval (#13 on New)
                                  12. Last Week Tonight (#19 Ongoing)
                                  13. Julia (#20 Ongoing)
                                  14. Muppet Mayhem (#14 on New)
                                  15. Hijack (#15 on New)
                                  16. Bupkis (#16 on New)
                                  17. White House Plumbers (#17 on New)
                                  18. Twisted Metal (#18 on New)
                                  19. Ahsoka (#19 on New)
                                  20. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (#20 on New)
                                                  Complete List of Shows:
                                                  1. Ted Lasso
                                                  2. The Bear
                                                  3. Fall of the House of Usher
                                                  4. Barry
                                                  5. Poker Face
                                                  6. Shrinking
                                                  7. Star Trek Strange New Worlds
                                                  8. Last of Us
                                                  9. My Adventures with Superman
                                                  10. Afterparty
                                                  11. Party Down
                                                  12. One Piece
                                                  13. Fargo
                                                  14. GenV
                                                  15. Only Murders in the Building
                                                  16. Sex Education
                                                  17. What We Do In The Shadows
                                                  18. Blue Eye Samurai
                                                  19. Star Trek Lower Decks
                                                  20. Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
                                                  21. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
                                                  22. Loki
                                                  23. Quantum Leap
                                                  24. Monarch Legacy of Monsters
                                                  25. Mrs. Davis
                                                  26. Primo
                                                  27. Special Ops: Lioness
                                                  28. Never Have I Ever
                                                  29. Harley Quinn
                                                  30. The Mandalorian
                                                  31. Justified City Primeval
                                                  32. Last Week Tonight
                                                  33. Julia
                                                  34. Doctor Who
                                                  35. Muppet Mayhem
                                                  36. Schmigadoon
                                                  37. Hijack
                                                  38. Bupkis
                                                  39. White House Plumbers
                                                  40. Top Chef
                                                  41. Ghosts
                                                  42. Star Trek Picard
                                                  43. Minx
                                                  44. The Good Fight
                                                  45. Star Wars Bad Batch
                                                  46. Twisted Metal
                                                  47. Good Omens
                                                  48. Grand Crew
                                                  49. Ahsoka
                                                  50. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
                                                  51. The Simpsons
                                                  52. Shoresy
                                                  53. Mayor of Kingstown
                                                  54. The Other Black Girl
                                                  55. I'm A Virgo
                                                  56. The Recruit
                                                  57. Cunk on Earth
                                                  58. Not Dead Yet
                                                  59. Horror of Dolores Roach
                                                  60. History of the World Part II
                                                  61. Star Wars Visions
                                                  62. The Consultant
                                                  63. The Night Agent
                                                  64. Secret Invasion
                                                  65. Silo
                                                  66. Based on a True Story
                                                  67. Tiny Beautiful Things
                                                  68. Up Here
                                                  69. Beef
                                                  70. Kaleidoscope
                                                                                                                                                                                              Shows I Didn't Finish:
                                                                                                                                                                                              1. Strange Planet
                                                                                                                                                                                              2. The Great
                                                                                                                                                                                              3. Yellowjackets
                                                                                                                                                                                              4. American Born Chinese
                                                                                                                                                                                              5. Citadel
                                                                                                                                                                                              6. Shadow & Bone
                                                                                                                                                                                              7. Florida Man
                                                                                                                                                                                              8. Dead Ringers
                                                                                                                                                                                              9. True Lies
                                                                                                                                                                                              10. Night Court
                                                                                                                                                                                              11. Gotham Knights
                                                                                                                                                                                              12. Hello Tomorrow
                                                                                                                                                                                              13. Rabbit Hole
                                                                                                                                                                                              14. Lawmen Bass Reeves
                                                                                                                                                                                              15. Extrapolations
                                                                                                                                                                                              16. Junji Ito Maniac
                                                                                                                                                                                              17. Swarm

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