I'm just so happy you took on the mantle of #1 booster for Better Things during its extraordinary run. Far too few people will ever watch this incredible show but for those of us who are wading through the shitstorm of motherhood, it was unlike anything else on TV.
Alan, how do you keep track of all the shows you need to watch? Just as a consumer, I have a tough time remember which shows are on which streaming apps, and remembering which shows I started, etc. (I liked it when HBO and Hulu were on TiVo, so I could save the streaming episodes there in my queue.)
I’m racing to watch Heartstopper and Irma Vep, in addition to finishing Russian Doll and The Bear, because I feel like those are safe bets to be added to my year-end list. Right now, it looks like this — no order.
- Abbott Elementary season 1
- Severance
- Pachinko
- The Dropout
- Better Call Saul
- Euphoria (not consistently great but insane and a great central performance)
- Slow Horses season 1
- Hacks
- Ms. Marvel
- Tuca & Bertie
- The Rehearsal
- Atlanta season 4
- Ramy
There are a few honorable mentions, like Mo, and I haven’t seen Reservation Dogs season 2. On the whole, I felt like I made the mistake of stubbornly finishing shows that were just okay (Under the Banner of Heaven), rather than being picky about what I really liked.
I didn't see about half the shows in your Top 20 but I'd otherwise agree with all the other entries. I think The Rehearsal was so bizarre and caustic that it deserves a mention, regardless of how it all ends up coming off. And I would have included We Own This City, which was an excellent thematic sequel to The Wire. The Bear and Severance were two of the best new shows I saw in 2022, and I think about them often, so I'd rank them ahead of Barry, which as good as it was didn't stick with me nearly as much.
It’s nice to see ‘Atlanta’ and ‘Barry’ so high on your list. I haven’t watched the newer seasons of either of them, but enjoyed the first two seasons of both. And there is a fair amount of overlap with my favorite shows from the past year and your Top 20. My wife and I have been reluctant to start the new season of ‘Barry’ because the show can be so damned stressful. Why we haven't gone back to ‘Atlanta’ is a little less clear. Going to have to add them to the queue.
You’ve probably heard this enough, but I would say ‘Bad Sisters’ is worth your time. We watched it on a whim, knowing very little about it. It’s great dark comedy.
As someone who hadn't watched Cheers either, it was really fun listening to the TL;DW episode with Lena Dunham. I know you obliquely referred to it a few newsletters ago, but if/when you're able to release more episodes, I can't wait to listen to them. It was a great concept for a tv podcast.
Super bummed about As We See It (cancelled before I saw it); I've been writing about autistic and autism TV for a while now, and shows like As We See It (along with Everything's Gonna Be Okay) seemed like the bright shiny future for more diverse and authentic autistic representation.
Never heard of Somebody Somewhere, and it’s only about 3+ hours to watch so I gave it a shot. It just didn’t work for me. Cliche, cheesy, self consciously “quirky”...I’m just not really a Duplass Bros guy.
Glad to see Reservation Dogs earn the top spot- the first season was fantastic, but this season was heartstoppingly good. Three shows I liked enough this year that I would have found a place for:
-Life & Beth. It’s Michael Cera at his best, and Amy Schumer is surprisingly good at hitting dramatic beats. The episode on the boat, where Beth recognizes that her boyfriend can’t be separated from his place on the spectrum, hit me really hard.
-The Afterparty. I liked the concept-a Rashomoned whodunit with genre switches for each retelling of a murder- more than the execution, but I laughed at each episode and felt the mystery’s solution was satisfying, if not exciting.
-Welcome to Wrexham. There are great shows about players, both true and fictional. There are great shows about coaches (mostly fictional). This is the best show about a team. Everyone is a part- the young fans, the bus driver, the pub owner, the hooligans, the veteran player, the new hotshot, the hometown hero, the coach, and of course the celebrity owners.
Side note: I hope to see Rob McElhenney’s other show (not It’s Always Sunny, his other other show) in Alan’s best episodes list, though not an episode with Rob.
Also for the best episode hopes: The ninth episode of Station Eleven, with the department store deliveries, The first episode of The Rehearsal, which had a comfortable amount of bizarre before the show started eating its own tail, and the finale of Hacks, which hopefully is not the last we see of that show
Breaking down the best TV shows of 2022 list
I'm just so happy you took on the mantle of #1 booster for Better Things during its extraordinary run. Far too few people will ever watch this incredible show but for those of us who are wading through the shitstorm of motherhood, it was unlike anything else on TV.
Alan, how do you keep track of all the shows you need to watch? Just as a consumer, I have a tough time remember which shows are on which streaming apps, and remembering which shows I started, etc. (I liked it when HBO and Hulu were on TiVo, so I could save the streaming episodes there in my queue.)
I’m racing to watch Heartstopper and Irma Vep, in addition to finishing Russian Doll and The Bear, because I feel like those are safe bets to be added to my year-end list. Right now, it looks like this — no order.
- Abbott Elementary season 1
- Severance
- Pachinko
- The Dropout
- Better Call Saul
- Euphoria (not consistently great but insane and a great central performance)
- Slow Horses season 1
- Hacks
- Ms. Marvel
- Tuca & Bertie
- The Rehearsal
- Atlanta season 4
- Ramy
There are a few honorable mentions, like Mo, and I haven’t seen Reservation Dogs season 2. On the whole, I felt like I made the mistake of stubbornly finishing shows that were just okay (Under the Banner of Heaven), rather than being picky about what I really liked.
Your list is pretty close to mine, though I wish you'd seen and loved "Maid" as much as I do. LOVE that you didn't even _mention_ Warrior Nun.
I didn't see about half the shows in your Top 20 but I'd otherwise agree with all the other entries. I think The Rehearsal was so bizarre and caustic that it deserves a mention, regardless of how it all ends up coming off. And I would have included We Own This City, which was an excellent thematic sequel to The Wire. The Bear and Severance were two of the best new shows I saw in 2022, and I think about them often, so I'd rank them ahead of Barry, which as good as it was didn't stick with me nearly as much.
Absolutely agree with the difficulty of separating the art from the artist. I wrote about it mainly in relation to "One Tree Hill," but also Woody Allen, Michael Jackson, and JK Rowling. https://teendramawhore.substack.com/p/one-tree-hill-mark-schwahn
It’s nice to see ‘Atlanta’ and ‘Barry’ so high on your list. I haven’t watched the newer seasons of either of them, but enjoyed the first two seasons of both. And there is a fair amount of overlap with my favorite shows from the past year and your Top 20. My wife and I have been reluctant to start the new season of ‘Barry’ because the show can be so damned stressful. Why we haven't gone back to ‘Atlanta’ is a little less clear. Going to have to add them to the queue.
You’ve probably heard this enough, but I would say ‘Bad Sisters’ is worth your time. We watched it on a whim, knowing very little about it. It’s great dark comedy.
Way to tease the Poscast and not address it! #justiceforPhilConnors
As someone who hadn't watched Cheers either, it was really fun listening to the TL;DW episode with Lena Dunham. I know you obliquely referred to it a few newsletters ago, but if/when you're able to release more episodes, I can't wait to listen to them. It was a great concept for a tv podcast.
was We Own This City ever a contender?
Super bummed about As We See It (cancelled before I saw it); I've been writing about autistic and autism TV for a while now, and shows like As We See It (along with Everything's Gonna Be Okay) seemed like the bright shiny future for more diverse and authentic autistic representation.
Never heard of Somebody Somewhere, and it’s only about 3+ hours to watch so I gave it a shot. It just didn’t work for me. Cliche, cheesy, self consciously “quirky”...I’m just not really a Duplass Bros guy.
Glad to see Reservation Dogs earn the top spot- the first season was fantastic, but this season was heartstoppingly good. Three shows I liked enough this year that I would have found a place for:
-Life & Beth. It’s Michael Cera at his best, and Amy Schumer is surprisingly good at hitting dramatic beats. The episode on the boat, where Beth recognizes that her boyfriend can’t be separated from his place on the spectrum, hit me really hard.
-The Afterparty. I liked the concept-a Rashomoned whodunit with genre switches for each retelling of a murder- more than the execution, but I laughed at each episode and felt the mystery’s solution was satisfying, if not exciting.
-Welcome to Wrexham. There are great shows about players, both true and fictional. There are great shows about coaches (mostly fictional). This is the best show about a team. Everyone is a part- the young fans, the bus driver, the pub owner, the hooligans, the veteran player, the new hotshot, the hometown hero, the coach, and of course the celebrity owners.
Side note: I hope to see Rob McElhenney’s other show (not It’s Always Sunny, his other other show) in Alan’s best episodes list, though not an episode with Rob.
Also for the best episode hopes: The ninth episode of Station Eleven, with the department store deliveries, The first episode of The Rehearsal, which had a comfortable amount of bizarre before the show started eating its own tail, and the finale of Hacks, which hopefully is not the last we see of that show