TV may be getting too good. I tried to write a Top 10 and
found it to be almost impossible. Luckily I’m in control of my own blog so now
I have a Top 20. (Spoiler: I still cheat.) It’s not just that my favorite shows keep getting better, it’s
that more channels are making quality entertainment. The Sundance Channel
proved to have some of the year’s best programs, Netflix made huge waves with
launching entire seasons at once and more and more foreign imports are making
its way stateside.
People are trying to say that the Golden Age of Television
is fading, but it only seems to be growing stronger. Almost half of my shows on
this list are first seasons of new shows. Every week of the year seems to have
at least a half dozen great shows on the air. So even with watching so many
shows, there are some that I have missed usually because I don’t have the time
to catch up with them.
Thus, I apologize (not really) for not being caught up on Call the Midwife, Enlightened, The Good
Wife, The Legend of Korra, Parenthood, Scandal, Shameless (both versions),
Skins and A Young Doctor’s Notebook.
Also I haven’t even started Arrow, Bad
Education, Borgen, Dancing on the Edge, Last Tango in Halifax, The Venture
Brothers or The White Queen. So
many shows and now here are the seasons that were the best of 2013…
20. Treme Season Four
(HBO)
“So what is it exactly
that you want to do, hmm?”
“I want to get
Caldonia’s reopen. Take over Raul’s lease, revitalize Rampart Street, fight the
good fight for live music and New Orleans.”
“That’s it?”
“To start.”
In so many ways, Treme
became a metaphor for the thing it loved the most. People are loving HBO more
and more and yet nobody is watching this charming and emotional show about life
in post-Katrina New Orleans. It wasn’t able to have a full season for its finale,
but haven seen three of the five episodes, it still seems too soon to go.
Unlike other final seasons, this isn’t leading towards a climatic ending. For
at the end of these five hours, their lives won’t end. You want them to succeed
in their dreams and thus you want New Orleans to prosper and thus you want
America to prosper. When certain characters succeed financially, they always
want to return to this city because that is where the soul is. And boy did this
show have soul. You’ll be missed, Treme.
19. Orphan Black
Season One (BBC America)
“Bloody hell. How many
of us are there?”
The trailer for this show didn’t impress me. It kept using
plenty of vague buzzwords to try and intrigue you about its conspiracy and
clones. Then I watched the pilot where Sarah Manning sees a girl who looks
identical to her, kill herself in public. Sarah’s reaction? Steal the girl’s ID
so she can empty her bank account. The show continued to expand in wonderfully
crazy ways that kept playing to its strengths, which included the insanely good
performance of Tatiana Maslany who not only could play several characters
perfectly but can also play those characters playing other characters. The
goofiness and innovation made this show a whole lot of fun.
18. Bob’s Burgers Seasons
Three and Four (FOX)
“Let’s not dismiss the
quitting idea. It has a quiet dignity to it.”
“Quiet dignity?! Have you met us?!”
The strength of any shows is to have a strong set of
characters and then just let them bounce off each other every week. That is
especially true for sitcoms and Bob’s three kids may be the funniest characters
on TV. Tina is overloading with hormones and has no idea what to do with them.
Gene is pure joy and no brains. Louise is pure anarchy with bunny ears. The
show keeps improving because the stories are well suited to use their entire
ensemble so one character is never being overused. Their plots range from
simple to bizarre with little league to talking toilets. I love this hilarious
family who is just trying to survive and keep everyone happy.
17. It’s Always Sunny
in Philadelphia Season Nine (FXX)
“I mean it’s a little
bit odd we’ve never been nominated.”
“At some point it
becomes a little aggressive.”
After nine seasons, you would have thought that they ran out
of things to say about this gang. Their 100th episode proved the
opposite as we went further into their deprived psyches than ever before. Every
time they approach a topic like gun control or the Emmys, we see a different
but realized side of these five hilariously awful people. The creative team is
also refusing to be stale in front of the camera as they give some of the best
performances of the entire series. It’s a shame they don’t get the respect they
deserve when it comes to awards, but that only fuels their underdog situation.
16. The Americans
Season One (FX)
“I’m sorry I didn’t
kill you. That’s my apology.”
The Sopranos
changed the landscape by giving us a main character that we weren’t supposed to
morally agree with. The Americans
takes that gray area and examines our patriotism. The lead characters are two
Russian spies who have infiltrated the US during the Cold War posing as a
suburban family where not even their kids know where their parents’ allegiance
lies. Quiet and kickass, The Americans
is a fantastic callback to when spy dramas didn’t rely on techno gibberish.
This is the type a show where a character needs to warn someone across town you
gotta drive…fast.
15. Black Mirror
Season Two (Channel 4)
“You look like him, on
a good day.”
“The photos we keep tend to be flattering.”
The entirety of this series is a compilation of the greatest
commentaries about technology and the modern age. Even though I liked the three
stories from Season One more, that doesn’t discount how incredible and astute these
three were. The best sci-fi is always about using an experimental environment
to comment on human nature. Instead of blandly saying “Technology is bad!” the
show embraces the complicated world we live in and the sadness that can arise.
Man, I really wish this was on Blu-Ray in the US…
14. Veep Season Two
(HBO)
“A meme ma’am? Speak English, boy.”
At the end of every episode, there is a grim thought that
pops up in my head… “Oh God, is this what it’s really like?” All of the
plotlines in its second season became more serialized to the show’s benefit
because it’s not just about avoiding to make a decision—it’s about working hard
to have no opinion and affect no change while trying to advance your career.
The show becomes even more unnerving when it calls a stupid government shutdown
months before it happened. Also the show continues to use profanity in the most
inspiring of ways.
13. The Daily Show
with Jon Stewart (Comedy Central)
My easy rule of thumb for comedies is that I will continue
to watch them if they consistently make me laugh. I seem to laugh at every
episode of The Daily Show and that
airs four times a week. The show has always has an underlying feeling of anger but
this year was filled to the brim with insane government actions and poor
coverage by the media that gave the Daily Show some of their best material. The
show even felt fresher when John Oliver stepped in for the summer. What did he
get on his first day? Syria. Also enough can’t be said about the great
interviews he has with authors; it’s thanks to this show I discovered some of
my favorite books of the year like The
Reason I Jump and Then They Came For
Me.
12. Billy on the
Street Season Two (Fuse) / Nathan For You Season One (Comedy Central)
“Grapes?”
“Yes, Drew Barrymore
would like grapes.”
“Yes, correct, Drew
Barrymore would love grapes! Grapes are amazing!”
“Tonight I’m going to take a bigger risk than anybody has taken on
television before. In just a few
moments, I’m going to be handcuffed to this solid steel frame and I’ll have
exactly 90 seconds to free myself before the claw on this robotic arm undoes my
pants exposing me to an audience of children. If that happens, an LAPD officer
is standing by to arrest me for indecent exposure. We’ve all seen escape artists
escape death before but tonight I’m going to risk something even worse:
becoming a register sex offender for life.”
The problem with so many prank shows is that they end up
being cruel to the unexpected people. They’re usually responding appropriately
to what’s going on and then the audience laughs because they’re not in the
loop. Billy Eichner and Nathan Fielder turn all the absurdity on themselves.
Billy’s pop culture questions start with little warning and little logic with
prizes that range from a dollar to a birdcage. Nathan’s advice for small
businesses are so elaborately designed to play upon business clichés without
ever being effective. Like having a viral video that doesn’t mention the
business. After every encounter, everyone is allowed to win because the joke is
on the comedians who are never phased.
11. Doctor Who Season
Seven (BBC)
“What I did, I did
without choice…in the name of peace and sanity.”
“But not in the name of the Doctor.”
How do you celebrate 50 years with an audience who primarily
knows it from the last eight? Use the past to have fun with the present and
make way for the future. The mystery of who Clara ended up just being a minor
point to this less serialized season as they jumped around the universe having
adventures with subtle callbacks to the show’s long history as they brought
back classic villains (Great Intelligence, Ice Warriors, Zygons), explored the
TARDIS and forever changed the mythology of the show. The fun adventures were a
great counter to the last two episodes that deeply explored the dark actions of
The Doctor and learning why exactly he is a hero at heart(s). The season
continues next week with the final episode of Matt Smith. The trailer seems to
suggest the appropriate tone to this season and his tenure: joyful and epic.
10. The Returned
Season One (Sundance)
“No. It’s not
possible.”
“I agree, it’s not. But she’s here.”
LOST originally
tricked me by hooking me in with its new mythology but then made me care more
about the characters. The Returned did
the opposite. One day random people who have died, suddenly return without
having aged a day. Every reunion is filled with emotional nuance that always
felt powerfully accurate. The show was already working as a fantastic drama,
but this show went another step further. It’s a beautifully creepy show—just
check out its opening
credits. I never expected there to be any explanation for their return but
the show keeps dropping more hints and twists towards a grander story. By the
end of the season, I was just in awe at what it accomplished.
9. Arrested
Development Season Four (Netflix)
“I was mistakenly
voted out of a four-person housing situation in a pack-first, no-talking-after
scenario.”
From the rise popularity after its cancelation, the show
could have drank the Kool-Aid when it returned. They could have had Franklin on
a road trip in the stair cars to audition for the Blue Man Group with a chicken
dance. While that may have been amusing, that has been done. The show was so
good because it was something bold and new and crazy. That’s what Season Four
did so well. Right away, the show felt like something else—a sequel. These
characters have aged in the past few years and all for the worse. The show
looked forward instead of back as they advanced these characters stories into
really dark and terrible directions all in the name of hilarity. The structure
of the season wasn’t just them responding to difficult shooting schedules, but
it was a chance for them to do something new. This was not just a vanity project
but a chance to continue to do what we loved so much. To me, it worked with
great effect and made me even more excited to see what happens next in the
story because the way it all ended proved they’re accomplishing something
really special.
8. Masters of Sex
Season One (Showtime)
“Were they in love?”
“I have no idea. That was outside the area of our inquiry.”
Earlier this year, FX John Landergraf said that he has given
up on the anti-hero because what could be done that Walter White hasn’t. The
market has become oversaturated with those society-rebelling men that
television needed to prove it could tell other types of long-form storytelling.
Masters of Sex perfectly symbolizes
what’s next in television. There isn’t a villain who snuffles his moustache
while trying to shut down their research; instead they have fully realized
characters bouncing off each other creating inherent drama. From the first
episode, I was blown away by the confidence of the writing especially in the
relationship between Masters and Virginia. Every episode grew its world by
getting deeper with their characters by making them even more compelling. This
is not only the best series on Showtime at the moment, but the best show I’ve
ever seen on Showtime. Now I hope they don’t let Showtime mess it up.
7. Spartacus: War of
the Damned (Starz)
“There is no greater
victory than to fall from this world a free man.”
The Spartacus
series always was filled minute by minute with high levels of awesomeness.
Every episode had a gladiator fight that was never repetitive because they
always had a different emotional viewpoint or a different element to the
fighting—blindfolds and fire nets were some of my favorites. The politics of
the series were always very simple with the mindset of hating the cruelty of
Rome. What was incredible about Spartacus’
final season is that they complicated both of these issues by making the
characters deal with the complexity of being in charge. They had to face their
toughest and smartest villains to date but their real issue was getting what
they wished for. With only one city in their occupation, our warriors struggled
with not repeating the same mistakes of their oppressors. This fascinating
examination—which never fear, was still filled to the brim with badassary—ultimately
culminated with one of the best series finales of all time.
6. Mad Men Season Six
(AMC)
“You shouldn’t have
someone like me telling that boy what a Hershey bar is.”
There was such a joy about watching this season of Mad Men because it was never trying to
force the plot into ridiculous directions in its final seasons. (And this is
from the show that had the characters inject vitamins into their butt, which
caused them to tap dance their feelings.) While other stories are designed to
build to chaos, Mad Men is about a
loud rise and a quiet fall. We watch as our favorite characters naturally
evolve to irrelevancy. While Season Five watched as Don Draper tried to fix his
mistakes and lead a happy life, Season Six is the relapse and revelation that
he is able to redefine success for himself. The quote before this paragraph
signifies there is perhaps a happy ending for Don Draper to come and this was
his brilliant path of starting that ending.
5. Hannibal Season
One (NBC)
“Then why did you invite
me for dinner?”
“Because I was going
to kill you. I didn’t poison your dinner. I wouldn’t do that to food.”
None of this should work. Hannibal Lecter used to be scary
but now he’s a joke much like Dracula. All of his creepiest lines are overdone
in parodies and his last few cinematic adventures were pretty lame. Then all
the planets aligned to make—I’LL TYPE IT—the best Hannibal depiction ever. Mads
Mikkelsen is subtle in how horrifying he’s able to be. He’s such a smart
adversary that is so subtle, it makes sense that the brilliant people at the
FBI don’t suspect him. The darkness on this show is unprecedented as they delve
into the goriest murders ever seen on television and the destruction of the
human spirit as they are surrounded by the worst humanity has to offer. The
good are punished in horrible ways without many victories, which adds a level
of danger other shows of this type lack. Prepare for more hyperbole because
this is the best horror series ever seen on television.
4. Orange is the New Black
Season One (Netflix)
“There’s always hope
tomorrow’ll be taco night.”
Much like The Dark
Knight, I went into watching this with incredibly low expectations and was
shocked by how much I was drawn in from its opening scenes. The nicest thing I
can say about Jenji Kohan’s last show, Weeds,
was that it was okay at times. That now feels like the stepping-stone to tell
the story she really wanted to tell. The look at the women’s prison is
fascinating because it’s able to tell so many stories about the women they are
now. Too many prison stories focus on how they got there and how they’re going
to get out. This is the show that boldly fascinates at what it means to live
day by day with a group of strangers who are all fully realized. Easily the
best ensemble on TV right now.
3. Game of Thrones
Season Three (HBO)
“I think mothers and
fathers made up the gods because they wanted their children to sleep through
the night.”
If the first season was about turmoil brewing and the second
season started the war, this was the season when people started winning. DO NOT
TAKE THAT AS A GOOD THING. For all the victories weren’t through peaceful
negotiations, but through pain and defeats. Even people who don’t watch the
show fear the phrase “The Red Wedding”, but this season also broke down a
legend, tortured a guy for so long that even though we hated him we now feel
bad, damaged the most romantic relationship on the show and ended on a
bombshell suggesting that perhaps all of this war and damage was probably for
nothing. Jesus Christ, Lord of Light. This is Game of Thrones at its most focused and it only makes me fear about
what’s heading towards the wall.
2. Rectify Season One
(Sundance)
“The place where I was
had no windows. Just these thick walls surrounded by more thick walls. Since I didn’t
sense things in a normal way, I decided they weren’t real to me.”
“What was real to you, Daniel?”
“The time in-between the seconds.”
There is no other show on television that drained me as much
as Rectify. It’s a masterpiece in
structure where it has the feel of a mystery show but there isn’t a detective
character. There is no one searching the truth or even pushing the plot
forward…at all. In the first season, we are examining a week in the lives of a
southern family whose son returns home from 19 years on death row. We have no
idea if he’s innocent or not for the horrible rape and murder. It’s almost
impossible to tell if he’s acting so strange because something is wrong about
him or this is just what happens when you live for so many years in isolation. Watching
his family trying to emotionally connect with him and understand their own
feelings is heartbreaking. And yet…there is something beautiful about his new
exploration of the world as he’s fascinated by products at a connivance store
or finding peace in religion. I have no clue where the next season is going,
but already I know I want them all to be happy and I hope that is still
possible for this group. Watch this show.
1. Breaking Bad
Season Five Part Two (AMC)
“I did it for me.”
Of course it’s Breaking
Bad. I don’t care if it’s predictable or a cliché at this point, but this
was a show that was masterful for years and then went all out for its finale
and nailed it. Eight episodes, all fantastic. So many shows tease something and
then it never pays off but once the cat was out of the bag (after the bag was
out of the river)…all hell broke loose. Yes, there were crazy killings and
badass lines, but most importantly it finished its promise. Mr. Chips became
Scarface and the repercussions were astronomical. In the best episode of the
series, his family is destroyed on such a gut-wrenching level that after
viewing the episode twice in one night, I literally felt physical sick the next
morning. This is a show that only got better with every season because it
understood the number of possibilities within its world. These characters can
evolve to dangerous places, the stakes can get even higher and they even knew
they could hire Robert Forster. It was the strength of the character arc of
Walter White where we can now look back at his greatest moments and see them in
a new light. This wasn’t a man you were supposed to root for, but it was a man
you had to watch. Goodbye Breaking Bad,
you’ll be forever known as one of the greatest.
Even more honorable mentions: 30 Rock's final three episodes, Archer, Betas, The Bletchey Circle, Broadchurch, Brooklyn Nine Nine, Bunheads, The Fall, Family Tree, Fresh Meat, Girls, Justified, Key and Peele, Misfits, New Girl, Parks and Recreation, Rick and Morty, A Touch of Cloth, Top Gear.
Join us tomorrow as my
friends and I look at the greatest episodes of 2013. Get excited.
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