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.
- Hulu (#4 last year)
- Netflix (#6 last year)
- Apple+ (#2 last year)
- Peacock (#8 last year)
- Paramount+ (#7 last year)
- Disney+ (#3 last year)
- Max (#1 last year)
- 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.
- Ted Lasso (Apple+)
- The Bear (Hulu)
- Barry (Max)
- Star Trek Strange New Worlds (Paramount+)
- Afterparty (Apple+)
- Party Down (STARZ)
- Fargo (Hulu)
- Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
- Sex Education (Netflix)
- What We Do In The Shadows (Hulu)
Top 10 New Shows:- Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix)
- Poker Face (Peacock)
- Shrinking (Apple+)
- Last of Us (Max)
- My Adventures with Superman (Max)
- One Piece (Netflix)
- GenV (Prime)
- Blue Eye Samurai (Netflix)
- Monarch Legacy of Monsters (Apple+)
- 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.
- Star Trek Lower Decks (#11 Ongoing)
- Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (#12 Ongoing)
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (#13 Ongoing)
- Loki (#14 Ongoing)
- Quantum Leap (#15 Ongoing)
- Primo (#11 on New)
- Special Ops: Lioness (#12 on New)
- Never Have I Ever (#16 Ongoing)
- Harley Quinn (#17 Ongoing)
- The Mandalorian (#18 Ongoing)
- Justified City Primeval (#13 on New)
- Last Week Tonight (#19 Ongoing)
- Julia (#20 Ongoing)
- Muppet Mayhem (#14 on New)
- Hijack (#15 on New)
- Bupkis (#16 on New)
- White House Plumbers (#17 on New)
- Twisted Metal (#18 on New)
- Ahsoka (#19 on New)
- Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (#20 on New)
Complete List of Shows:- Ted Lasso
- The Bear
- Fall of the House of Usher
- Barry
- Poker Face
- Shrinking
- Star Trek Strange New Worlds
- Last of Us
- My Adventures with Superman
- Afterparty
- Party Down
- One Piece
- Fargo
- GenV
- Only Murders in the Building
- Sex Education
- What We Do In The Shadows
- Blue Eye Samurai
- Star Trek Lower Decks
- Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
- It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- Loki
- Quantum Leap
- Monarch Legacy of Monsters
- Mrs. Davis
- Primo
- Special Ops: Lioness
- Never Have I Ever
- Harley Quinn
- The Mandalorian
- Justified City Primeval
- Last Week Tonight
- Julia
- Doctor Who
- Muppet Mayhem
- Schmigadoon
- Hijack
- Bupkis
- White House Plumbers
- Top Chef
- Ghosts
- Star Trek Picard
- Minx
- The Good Fight
- Star Wars Bad Batch
- Twisted Metal
- Good Omens
- Grand Crew
- Ahsoka
- Scott Pilgrim Takes Off
- The Simpsons
- Shoresy
- Mayor of Kingstown
- The Other Black Girl
- I'm A Virgo
- The Recruit
- Cunk on Earth
- Not Dead Yet
- Horror of Dolores Roach
- History of the World Part II
- Star Wars Visions
- The Consultant
- The Night Agent
- Secret Invasion
- Silo
- Based on a True Story
- Tiny Beautiful Things
- Up Here
- Beef
- Kaleidoscope
Shows I Didn't Finish:- Strange Planet
- The Great
- Yellowjackets
- American Born Chinese
- Citadel
- Shadow & Bone
- Florida Man
- Dead Ringers
- True Lies
- Night Court
- Gotham Knights
- Hello Tomorrow
- Rabbit Hole
- Lawmen Bass Reeves
- Extrapolations
- Junji Ito Maniac
- Swarm
