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2022: One Show For Every Kind of TV Viewer
🕑 Added 2022-12-28 07:13:13 +0000 UTCI’m not a big fan of Top 10 Lists. Even when there’s this much TV, you end up with a lot of lists that look the same, and they all kind of assume a specific viewer. But there’s a fundamental problem with that task—not everybody watches TV for the same reasons.
Some people watch TV to be transported, some want company while they fold their laundry, and some people are determined to watch the worst trash they can.
People might be turning to lists to contemplate what makes great art, but what they’re really after is a recommendation.
We can all enjoy TV in different ways, so I broke down the year into 9 categories based on different kinds of TV-watchers:
- “I only have time for one show”
- “Twists and thrills and general excitement factor”
- “TV is for laughing”
- “I just want something fun I don’t have to pay that much attention to”
- “That's very true. The world's a fucked-up place.”
- “Give me a beautiful ending to a years-long journey”
- “Hit me with a sneaky great show”
- “The Weirder the Better”
- “‘Good’ is a social construct”
Previous installments can be found here: 2021, 2020
Let’s get cracking.
1. “I only have time for one show”
The Candidates:
- The Bear (FX/Hulu)
- The Rehearsal (HBO)
- Severance (AppleTV+)
- The White Lotus (HBO)
You only have a few hours to dedicate to the great American artform that is television, so let’s make it count. We get it, you have a life. Try not to rub it in.
This is the category closest to “what was the best show” but there’s a little more that goes into it. If you only have time for one show, I’m not going to recommend Better Call Saul to you, which has 5 seasons that you have to get caught up on before you can even watch the episodes that were so great in 2022.
Luckily, there are some great candidates this year that had their first season (or a stand-alone season for The White Lotus), spread out across the streaming multiverse.
The Rehearsal, the project from Nathan Fielder that I hesitate to call a TV show, is about rehearsing for stressful life events in as much detail as is physically possible, building a Synecdoche, New York style simulation of human life, but for comedic effect. It’s also the shortest binge, only 6 half(ish)-hour episodes, although be warned: it is so weird and disorienting that you are unlikely to be able to sit through the whole thing in one sitting.
The Bear is the second-shortest, and the most digestible. It’s straightforward, it’s tight, it’s intense, it’s emotional, and it’s grounded. That the show came out of absolute nowhere, from a first-time TV writer, and with only one semi-big name attached is a testament to the greatness of the story and filmmaking.
Severance is the only show here that projects to be a multi-season show that you will return to for seasons 2, 3, and so on—so if the premise of deconstructing the work-life balance of modern capitalism is appealing to you, you might want to get in on the ground floor before the show’s episode count gets away from you.
The White Lotus’s second season was as rich in details as any show in 2022, ripe for multiple rewatches. It’s also, arguably, the most popular show of this category, which means you’ll have lots of online discourse to dive into afterwards, picking apart the meaning of every piece of art hanging on the wall and every sly reference that snuck in under your nose.
Despite the fact that The Bear is the only show in this group that I did not make a video on this year, it’s my pick. Jeremy Allen White’s performance shines and its seventh episode is, without a doubt, the episode of the year.
Verdict: The Bear
2. “Twists and thrills and general excitement factor”
The Candidates:
- Andor (Disney+)
- Better Call Saul (AMC)
- The Boys (Amazon Prime)
- House of the Dragon (HBO)
- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power (Amazon Prime)
- Stranger Things (Netflix)
TV has never been more big-budget exciting than it was in 2022. Long the home of sitcoms that never leave that one set on a soundstage, streaming and TV have exploded in recent years. So, you’re a viewer who wants some danger, some excitement, maybe even the taste of blood.
I think that, with that in mind, we have to start with the most expensive TV show ever made: The Rings of Power. While it was not exactly the most scintillating story, you absolutely cannot deny the level of detail in the show’s visual worldbuilding. From dwarven cities to the Undying Lands of Valinor, every set looked brilliantly intricate and it was so easy to lose yourself in the show. The action scenes weren’t always at that same level, but if you were to somehow watch this show without the baggage of DiScOuRsE and expectations, I can guarantee you’ll be entertained.
Meanwhile on HBO, House of The Dragon has washed out the bad taste of the final season of Game of Thrones from most people’s mouths. The dragons look excellent, and it’s got all that sex and violence and sexual violence that real Thronehead sickos are probably into. Still, I can’t give this to a show that was dark and smokey and hard to see for 75% of the season.
Stranger Things, after two mid seasons, has returned to its natural resting place as mid+. It’s not a great piece of TV art that will stand the test of time, but it’s solid! And in this fourth season, with loads of money poured into massive set pieces, its visuals are better than ever before. From Eleven’s helicopter scene to Eddie’s guitar solo to the tangible grossness that is Vecna, this season was nothing if not a visually impressive romp.
Andor and Better Call Saul both deserve nods as shows that, at moments, could match or exceed the excitement of every show I’ve mentioned thus far. When Better Call Saul decides to ratchet up the energy in its cartel storyline, nothing on TV fills its audience with tense anticipation. Andor’s major setpieces are some of the most fun I’ve had with TV this year. But neither show sustains that level of amp.
My pick for this category is The Boys, because it really has everything you could be asking for. Action? Yes. Violence? Oh yes. Gore? You bet. Graphic sexual content? Just google the word “herogasm.”
Verdict: The Boys
3. “TV is for laughing”
The Candidates:
- Atlanta (FX/Hulu)
- What We Do in the Shadows (FX/Hulu)
- Reservation Dogs (FX/Hulu)
- Better Things (FX/Hulu)
- Reboot (Hulu)
Look, they don’t make funny movies anymore, TV is the last place left we get to laugh. This is the kind of viewer who’s just looking for good jokes.
FX has long been the king of auteur TV comedies, giving idiosyncratic creators full reign to make whatever they want. It’s created some of the most iconic comedies of the 21st Century, including Louie (yikes) and Atlanta. These “comedies” aren’t always that funny though.
Better Things and Reservation Dogs are two of the most heartfelt shows I’ve ever seen, and shows that I love dearly, but I doubt deep empathetic catharsis is what you’re looking for when you just want to laugh. With both of those shows, the laughs are secondary.
Atlanta can be very funny, but whenever I laugh at it I find myself interrogating why it is that I laughed at that and what the show is trying to say about society and America when I do, so I’m not sure it qualifies as a laugh-out-loud show either.
That leaves us with What We Do in the Shadows and Reboot, both rocksolid sitcoms. Reboot is a Hulu show about rebooting an old 90s sitcom for Hulu, with a delightfully meta pilot. But What We Do in the Shadows is the easy pick here. Every episode got a full-throated laugh from me at some point, from the New Jersey Devil to Go Flip Yourself to every single shot of Colin Robinson’s face CGI’d onto a child. No show brought me more uncomplicated joy.
Verdict: What We Do in the Shadows
4. “I just want something fun I don’t have to pay that much attention to”
The Candidates:
- Inside Job (Netflix)
- Harley Quinn (HBOMax)
- Big Mouth (Netflix)
- Our Flag Means Death (HBOMax)
Look, we all got stuff going on. We put the TV on while we’re cleaning or folding laundry. I bet that’s how half of you watch my YouTube videos. But what was the Best Show for this in 2022?
Animated comedies are some of the best shows to fit this bill, with the lion's share of the acting being done through voice work. While there can be a lot of visual gags, they’re usually keyed by sound in a way that tells you to look up from whatever you’re doing to catch them. For this category, we want a combination of humor, vibes, and heart.
Inside Job’s second “part” (season? Netflix has gotten real weird with releases as they try to stay relevant) was a huge improvement from the first in my opinion. The addition of Adam Scott to the cast rounded out the show’s character relationship dynamics nicely and served to expand the world of Cognito Inc., The Illuminati, the Catholic Church, and of course the Juggalos (“We run world finance! Woo-woo!”)
Big Mouth, now in its sixth season of dick jokes, is still quite solid, although we shouldn’t pretend that it’s fun for the whole family. You might look up to see your TV screen plastered with cartoon children’s genitals, which is something that I hope you’d want to be a little more intentional about. Harley Quinn remains a great hang-out show, simultaneously celebrating and poking fun at all things Batman and DC, while adding a socialist Joker and a bit more heart this season in the form of Harlivy
But my pick is Our Flag Means Death, a show with immaculate queer vibes. Our Flag Means Death rarely made me belly-laugh, but its dry sense of humor is perfect for this exercise. It’s cute, it’s fun, and while I could look at Taika Waititi in his Blackbeard costume for hours, you by no means need to be glued to your TV to catch every detail of the show.
Verdict: Our Flag Means Death
5. “That's very true. The world's a fucked-up place.”
The Candidates:
- Severance (AppleTV+)
- The White Lotus (HBO)
- The Boys (Amazon Prime)
- We Own This City (HBO)
Named for a scene in The White Lotus, this kind of viewer enjoys social, political, or economic commentary—stuff that has something interesting to say about our world. And boy, this year delivered some bangers! I mean, page 197 slaps!
I’ve talked about Severance and The White Lotus extensively in video form, but these are two of the best shows of the year, thriving on needling our current socio-economic systems. For both, it’s not as cut-and-dry as “brr capitalism bad,” and they both try to find human reasons for the things we surrender ourselves to. Either show could come off as preachy if handled less skillfully, but they remain grounded in excellent characters, people that we can understand and see ourselves in, no matter how painful that might be to our egos.
We Own This City is the most factual of any of these shows, depicting real-life events in Baltimore that surrounded the Gun Trace Task Force’s rampant corruption and the fallout from the murder of Freddie Gray. The show is a haunting portrait of why police reform is so fucking difficult in America, from every angle imaginable.
I talked about The Boys in another category, but one of the highlights of my year was watching superfans of the show slowly realize on Reddit that their beloved show was actually filled with political commentary that they did not like so much. As elements of American politics descend further and further into xenophobia, nationalism, and—dare I say—fascism, The Boys has risen to the task. Each season has been smart about the way it tackles the conflict of business and “doing good,” as well as the performance of politics. I’m not sure any moment has felt quite as chilling this year as season’s final scene, and how eerily similar it feels to a certain former president’s claim that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters.”
Still, I'm not sure any show did it as well as the namesake of this category. You can hear more about how I think The White Lotus in my video about it.
Verdict: The White Lotus
6. “Give me a beautiful ending to a years-long journey”
The Candidates:
- Better Call Saul (AMC)
- Atlanta (FX/Hulu)
- Better Things (FX/Hulu)
TV is all about the journey, spanning years of our lives—but which journey had the most fulfilling final chapter?
Three of the absolute best shows of the past 10 years concluded their runs this year, and they all absolutely stuck the landing in my opinion. Better Call Saul, which passed Breaking Bad in terms of quality at some point in season 4, continued to hone its craft through to the end. This time around, I think the team in Albuquerque hit a much better tone and in some ways I think you can read the ending of Better Call Saul as not just the finale to that entire world but to the entire genre of Difficult Men and the antiheroes/villain protagonists that defined it.
Atlanta’s finale was controversial, but I think that it remained true to itself to the bitter end. Ever committed to expressing the surreal nature of life, and specifically the black experience in America, it refused to abide by logic or to provide its viewers with narrative satisfaction, because those things would simply make too much sense.
Better Things is one of the most delicate shows I’ve ever seen, a slice-of-life show with more emotional intelligence than most people I know. It’s always been rather amorphous and has rejected the idea of “plot.” Some might find that to be a turn-off, and it’s certainly something that can crash and burn if the show’s creators didn’t know what they were doing. But star/creator/director/writer Pamela Adlon proved long ago that she knows exactly what she’s doing, letting us live with people as they just…live. Better Things is hardly the titanic force in the public consciousness that Better Call Saul and Atlanta have been, but its final chapter is every bit as heartfelt.
With all that said, Better Call Saul is my pick, filled with a lot more heart than I think it’s given credit for, a completion of a story that was both true to its characters and to its themes.
Verdict: Better Call Saul
7. “Hit me with a sneaky great show”
The Candidates:
- We Own This City (HBO)
- Reservation Dogs (Hulu/FX)
- Euphoria (HBO)
You watch a lot of stuff, but you’re still hungry. You’re looking for a sleeper that you missed the first time around, something that’s really good but you don’t see popping up on these Year End Lists.
That being said, Euphoria?! In the sneaky category? Hold your drugs. Euphoria is far from a perfect show, and I might even hesitate to call it “great.” I think I still would call it “great,” I just think I’d take a minute first. The very legitimate criticisms are well-documented at this point, but I almost feel like the popular discourse has forgotten entirely how high the peaks of this show were. It is truly one of the most dazzling displays of filmmaking to ever be on TV, full stop. Zendaya’s performance is worth all the hype and more, if only for the fifth episode “Stand Still Like the Hummingbird.” But it also is full of sexual violence and was super duper popular, spawning millions of TikTok parodies and memes. It’s not winning this category, but I wanted to give it a shoutout for its sometimes-forgotten brilliance.
We Own This City came and went without much fanfare, as seems to be customary for David Simon products, but it is one of the smartest, sharpest, and most in-depth accountancy of the shortcomings of our policing system and the obstacles that stand in the way of real progress. To top it off, Jon Bernthal is giving one of the absolute best performances of the year, as sleazy and despicable as he is captivating, telling himself the same myth about the police that we have subscribed to at a society-wide level.
Reservation Dogs is the best show of this bunch though, and embodies this idea of “sneaky good.” There’s nothing about Reservation Dogs that’s sneaky, but it’s a show that—like the group of people it spotlights—tends to be overlooked. It’s a show that mixes the supernatural with the real more effortlessly and seamlessly than any I’ve seen, always to tell a specific story about deep issues of loss and grief and carrying on. “Roofing,” the third episode, is worth the price of admission alone, and the scene where Bear talks to Daniel’s father definitely made me cry.
Verdict: Reservation Dogs
8. “The Weirder the Better”
The Candidates:
- The Rehearsal (HBO)
- Atlanta (FX/Hulu)
- Barry (HBO)
- Winning Time (HBO)
Maybe you just want something very different, unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.
The Rehearsal certainly qualifies. The premise is inherently bizarre and unnerving as Nathan Fielder tries to figure out what it means to be human by mimicking the everyday actions of those around him. You never have any idea where any episode might turn because Nathan is as inscrutable to us as everyday people are to him.
Atlanta is right up there too and, in its third season, sometimes appeared to ditch the idea that every episode would be about Black Americans as it split its time between white people in Atlanta and our core cast in Europe. I’m not sure you can get much weirder than creating an alternative historical documentary about how A Goofy Movie is actually the blackest movie ever made.
Winning Time isn’t the weirdest show on this list, by any means, rooted firmly in the historical dynasty that was the 1980s “Showtime” Lakers. But the way it tells that story is quite distinctive: changing between film stocks and videotape mediums, frequently turning to the camera for asides, and haunting the Boston Garden with a leprechaun ghost. Barry is also firmly rooted in reality, but has such an odd sense of humor that it’s impossible not to think of it on a “weird” list.
But, come on. Who are we kidding? The Rehearsal isn’t just the weirdest show of the year, it might be the weirdest show of all time.
Verdict: The Rehearsal
9.“Good is a social construct”
The Candidates:
- The Wilds (Amazon Prime)
- Bachelor in Paradise (ABC)
- Obi-Wan Kenobi (Disney+)
“Good” is an amorphous and subjective idea. What makes a show “better” than another? “Good” and “bad” can’t always be separated. I mean, sometimes it’s so bad it’s good. These shows make me think the most about what kind of mindset and expectations we bring into viewing. Maybe, in the right context, these shows are actually great! Probably not though.
Let’s start with last year’s winner: The Wilds. To refresh your memory, a bunch of teenage girls are stranded on an island, but it turns out that it’s actually some kind of bonkers immersion therapy session that all of their parents signed off on. In a bananas twist, the show has ditched its entire thematic premise (“being a teenage girl in normal-ass America...that was the real living hell”) and split its time equally between the girls and a new group of boys doing the exact same unhinged therapy on the other side of the island.
Obi-Wan Kenobi feels like a show that was created by people who have r/prequelmemes as their homepage. It’s less a TV show with a story, and more an excuse to hang out with Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor doing their old schtick.
Bachelor in Paradise knows exactly what it is, an absurd spin-off of an absurd franchise, but this season felt more self-aware than ever. There were relationship-defining fights about things as stupid and meaningless as the difference between itching and pain. There was a last-second switcheroo where Kira’s declaration of love to Jacob led to her lowkey kidnapping of Romeo. And then out of nowhere would shine the brightest of lights, like this speech Michael gave to Danielle about the nature of love and loss that literally brought an unprecedented quiet to my watching party.
Obi-Wan Kenobi is actually slightly too traditionally good to be on this list, if only because the child who plays young Leia is incredible. While I couldn’t have possibly scripted the beginning of The Wilds season 2 better (it starts with a montage set to “epiphany” by Taylor Swift), I’m not sure it was quite as deranged as season 1. My pick is Bachelor in Paradise, and that’s big facts.
Verdict: Bachelor in Paradise
