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Why make a list you know won't be accepted
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Dec 14, 2015 17:31
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sbaldrick posted:So my list is going to included a show you can only kind of watch on TV, even in files. Hey man, we're gonna need a short line about why each of these shows are good otherwise your list won't be counted 
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Dec 14, 2015 21:58
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This week totally affirmed my ranking of B99.
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Dec 14, 2015 22:24
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I just finished watching Nathan for you. How have I never heard of so many great shows in this thread?
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Dec 14, 2015 22:38
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sbaldrick posted:Invalid list Also, if you're going to champion a show that no one has heard of, make sure you spell it right.
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Dec 15, 2015 00:09
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I gave reasons and added a trailer for the show no one has heard of. If you don't speak french and live in Canada it begins it's run on the Super channel on Dec 15.
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Dec 15, 2015 03:26
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Honorable mentions: Black-ish, Mr Robot, Daredevil, The Grinder, Ash vs Evil Dead, Flash, Arrow, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and a whole bunch of shows I didn’t get to watch because too much tv this year. Best TV movie: 7 Days in Hell. 10. Jessica Jones  A great exploration of multiple forms of abuse wrapped up in a cool super hero story with a compelling villain. I’d say Daredevil had the better fight choreography and general cinematography but the thematic weight of Jessica Jones pushes it over for me. 9. Brooklyn Nine Nine  On point comedy, every episode, no more, no less. 8. Crazy Ex Girlfriend  Funny writing, catchy songs, all wrapping a compelling story about mental illness, nervous breakdowns and depression. 7. Banshee  Man, what the gently caress even is this show? The constant fluctuation from peak action schlock to dark introspective drama can be jarring, but when it hits, it really hits. Take this scene for example, where one of the Banshee cops, a reformed neo nazi, almost loses it after encountering his old crew. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im6qJiR1hTw 6. Master of None  This feels like the first sitcom truly tailor made for my generation. The jokes, though mostly culled from Aziz’s standup, are always on point. The acting may not always hit the mark due to the majority of the cast being either writers or Aziz Ansari’s real drat parents, but his dad slays every scene he’s in. 5. You’re The Worst  Take what I like about CXG, take out the singing, and laser focus on the depression. It’s a show about awful people who make eachother better, but are still pretty awful, and I really like it. 4. Person of Interest  A stellar beginning in 2015 with its amazing Cold War 4-parter(If-Then-Else is up there with The Devil’s Share as one of my favorite eps of tv of all time.) followed by a more uneven middle after some serious rewrites due to an actor being temporarily written out. The show nonetheless ended up delivering with the last handful of episodes of the season. Had the final season not been delayed this might have ended up ranking higher on my list. As it stands now, this will have to do. I expect to see this compete with Fargo for me next year, though. 3. Parks and Recreation  Boy these next two shows, talk about bouncing back from less than stellar penultimate seasons in a big way, and delivering perfect cappers to two of my all time favorite shows. I sure am gonna miss them. Parks had a rock solid final season, renewing focus on advancing/ending all of their character arcs, the most satisfying of which was the episode Ron and Leslie. I’ll miss you Pawnee, thanks for being host to the best sitcom. 2. Justified  What do you know, I guess you CAN leave Harlan alive! 1. Fargo  Perfect.
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Dec 15, 2015 07:23
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Here's 11-20 before I get into this properly: 20. Show Me a Hero 19. The Returned 18. Justified 17. BoJack Horseman 16. Parks and Recreation 15. Steven Universe 14. Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp 13. Rectify 12. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt 11. Mr. Robot
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Dec 15, 2015 16:18
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10. You’re the Worst Didn’t quite live up to an impeccable first season for me humour-wise, with its sharp edges mildly dulled, but made up for it with an excellent examination of depression. 09. Rick and Morty Spent a lot of time getting into its lead characters head while also doubling down on the conceptual episodes and fleshing out the side characters and i’m not really in a writing stuff headspace but it was funny and good 08. Transparent The Pfeffermans are still the best dysfunctional family on TV. More of a rounded ensemble comedy this year but every cast member got some excellent moments. 07. Better Call Saul A lot more downbeat and thoughtful than I was expecting but still gorgeous and fun and very confident storytelling. Can’t wait to see where they take this one next year. 06. Master of None It’s easy to forgive some of the more lo-fi elements and somewhat preachy dialogue when a show feels so on your wavelength. The best version of Ansari’s modern romance shtick. 05. Adventure Time The final half of the show’s sixth season went from strength to strength, delving further into philosophical, experimental, fluid, aesthetically stunning shorts. Later episodes are a little weaker but still drat funny. 04. Hannibal The most visually gorgeous show on TV for the third and unfortunately final year in a row, with some of the most atmospheric, effective scenes of the decade. I’ll miss it stupidly badly. 03. Mad Men One of the greatest shows of all time closes out with a run much like every other - somewhat frustrating and opaque to begin with before opening up to reveal the true hurt at its center. ‘Lost Horizon’ is probably my favourite TV episode of the year. 02. Fargo So perfect as to be almost clinical, and (mostly) keeping a tight lid on an impressively sprawling story, while also being a tour de force in acting and cinematography. Only some minor plotholes and a bizarre, uneven finale stop it from being one of the all-time great seasons of television. 01. The Leftovers One of the all-time great seasons of television, and also one of the messiest, sprawling out in every which direction to examine a bunch of ideas and concepts and nailing them all. Lindelof shook off all his classic mistakes and made his true masterpiece. Sits comfortably alongside the HBO pantheon and deserves to go down in history with the best of them.
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Dec 15, 2015 16:18
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Alright let's do this. I'll split mine up as well for easy reading. THE FALLEN The following are shows that made my list last year, but were not even close this year. House of Cards – Season 3 sucked and they seem to have no good plan for where they’re going with the show whatsoever. They completely squandered the interesting aspects of Underwood’s presidency and the season was just boring. Game of Thrones – I’ve seen this coming for a while now but this latest season absolutely floundered, following dull plotlines and having bad acting and just all around lousy writing. Sleepy Hollow – This show was really only good in season 1, I probably should’ve stopped watching it during season 2, but it took till a few episodes into season 3 to turn me off completely. Disappointing. Hannibal – Final season was really dull, the show peaked in early season 2 I think. I hated the ending and am just glad it’s finished. Honorable Mention Jessica Jones – after watching this one I really thought it would make the list. In the end it just barely got edged out. Still it was fantastic and I’m only sorry there were so many other great shows this year. iZombie – this show was an extremely pleasant surprise, and is now easily my favorite CW show. The Meat Cute shootout in the finale of season one in particular made me really want to fit it in somewhere on my list but it just couldn’t be done. Rick and Morty – This show just keeps getting better. Total Rickall was probably the single funniest television episode I watched this year. Again it feels like any other year this would’ve easily made the list but not this one. The Good Wife – Technically one of The Fallen but it’s still good, just not as great as it was. The only one of my honorable mentions that I never really considered for the main list, mostly because season 6 really wasn’t too special. Season 7 is really fun again however so it deserves at least this much. E: poo poo I forgot all about Justified uhhhhh it had a good final season consider it Honorably Mentioned Regy Rusty fucked around with this message at 18:37 on Dec 15, 2015 |
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Dec 15, 2015 18:34
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10) Orphan Black The last few slots on my list were probably the most contentious and I had a serious battle between this and Jessica Jones. But after a very lackluster second season, season three of Orphan Black is back on form. I have rarely been more pumped for the next season of a show than by season three’s finale. Somehow in the end doubling down on insane conspiracies has really paid off for the show and I can’t wait to see where it goes next. 9) Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt I feel like this might have been higher on my list if I’d watched it more recently, since a lot of the smaller details about what I like about it are a bit hazier. I think it has potential to become one of my absolute favorite comedies. I love the cast, the theme song, everything. 8) Sense8 I couldn’t decide where exactly to put this on my list so I just decided to go with the most appropriate number. It’s rare for such a slow character based show to grab me, but this one definitely did. The concept is extremely cool and I absolutely fell in love with all the characters. 7) Better Call Saul Ugh this should probably be higher on my list, I dunno. It was amazing, as I knew it would be. Odenkirk proved that his character absolutely has enough depth to carry a show. The reveal of the truth about Jimmy’s relationship with his brother was heartbreaking. 6) The Genius I FINALLY WATCHED IT. After like three years now of hearing about this show I finally found a way to watch through all the seasons and it blew me away. Who would’ve thought a Korean game/reality show could be so addicting? I was devastated to discover that the latest season would in fact be the last. But at least I had an incredible four seasons to watch back to back. If I were counting all four together I’d probably rate this even higher, but only season 4 was in 2015 so this is where I’ll put it. 5) Fargo Last year I begrudgingly added Fargo into the 10th spot on my list after finally giving in and watching it in December. There’s nothing begrudging about its inclusion this year. Season 2 was an improvement on season 1 in every way. I loved everything about it, especially all the alien nonsense. Mike Milligan deserved better. 4) Person of Interest Screw you CBS why’d you have to go gently caress around with my favorite show and keep it from starting its 5th and possibly final season until who knows when?? As it is POI still nets a high spot thanks to incredible episodes like If-Then-Else, but it’s not as high as it otherwise would’ve been. I’m gonna miss this show, hope season 5 is amazing. 3) Parks and Recreation What a final season. The finale may be my favorite single episode on TV this year. The way they looked forward to see how everyone’s lives continued worked so well and was the absolute perfect sendoff for this show. I miss it so much, I probably should do a full series rewatch sometime soon. 2) Steven Universe I’m so glad I finally gave this a shot when I did. It seemed like the internet exploded with buzz about it back in March after the Season 1 finale aired. Before then I had barely even been aware of it, so I finally sat down earlier this year and plowed through the whole thing. It definitely started off seeming like nothing special, but by the middle of season 1 I started to realize that this was something truly great. The season 1 finale absolutely blew me away and season 2 has not let up. This is going to rival Avatar the Last Airbender and Over the Garden Wall for my favorite animated shows ever. 1) Agents of SHIELD I considered putting this a bit lower on my list but in the end I said gently caress it. The season 2 two part finale was hands down the best movie in the MCU so far. It’s incredible how this show has come together since its rocky start in season 1, and it’s now easily grabbed the spot of single most looked forward to show every week. What’s even more remarkable is that it in general seems to just keep getting better (although the season 3 winter finale didn’t hold a candle to season 2’s, but that would be hard to top). For me the show is pretty much doing everything perfectly and has one of my favorite casts on television.
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Dec 15, 2015 18:36
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This year was tough, as everything outside the top three was pretty much up for grabs among twenty or so different shows. A few that really hurt to cut were Drunk History, Hannibal, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. There are a bunch more, but it would take several posts to get through them all, so I'm only going to highlight one. Special Honorable Mention - The Expanse (SyFy)  Because it's airing so late in the year (last night was the first episode, tonight's the second, then once a week after that), The Expanse is probably going to get the short shrift in top ten lists here and elsewhere, and even though I loved the first episode, and the reviews indicate the next three at least are just as good, I can't give it a spot for just one episode. If the next few totally blow my socks off I'll reconsider, but otherwise it stays here. The mix of cool spaceship action, noir-ish mystery, and solar system politics scratch all the right itches for me, and I'm looking forward to hopefully putting this on next year's list. But first, this year's. 10 - The Last Man on Earth (Fox)  Easily the most improved show over the course of 2015. The Last Man started with an amazing pilot that was squandered by the rest of the first season as it introduced character after character, each totally one-note, all the while our original Last Man kept screwing up the same way each and every time. The show started to pull out of its nosedive at the end of its first season, and so far the second season has been a huge improvement, fleshing out the supporting characters beyond "fat guy" and "the Australian one" and giving the Tandyman an actual arc while still preserving his Tandyness. Also, Jason Sudeikis hasn't gotten a whole lot of scenes, but he kills it in each one. 9 - The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst (HBO)  Robert Durst is one creepy dude. His life is also fascinating. He's living proof that life is stranger than fiction. Even without the bombshells at the end, charting Durst's crazy life was superbly entertaining and chilling at the same time, and that last episode just pushed over the tip, what with the letters, the hot mic, and the burping. Oh God, that burping... 8 - Game of Thrones (HBO)  Something something bad pussy. 7 - Parks and Recreation (NBC)  Compared with the rest of my list, Parks is surprisingly sunny and optimistic, especially in its last season, which the show dedicated to laying out how each of its characters earned their incredibly happy ending. It also managed to be incredibly funny, like an entire episode of Andy's public access TV show or our glimpse into Jean-Ralphio's future. And through all the sentimental dressings it managed to be incredibly poignant and touching. I'm going to miss this show, but I love that it ended the way it did. 6 - Community (Yahoo!)  Like Parks and Rec, Community is a show that had its final season aired with little fanfare but still managed to send off its characters (well, those still left) in a perfectly befitting manner, in this case by having its characters try and figure how you would even do a season 7 of Community. While its last season wasn't as consistent as Parks, Community's ambitious, experimental spirit brought some amazing highs, including some bizarre end tags that functioned as wonderfully absurd short films as well as actually making paintball cool again. 5 - Ash vs. Evil Dead (Starz)  Horror-comedy is really hard to pull off, but Evil Dead makes it look easy. Plenty of action, buckets of gore, sharp dialogue, and Bruce Campbell's performance make this show perfect crack-open-a beer-and-stop-thinking TV. 4 - Sense8 (Netflix)  I have no idea how to describe this show to people who haven't seen it. While the main mytharc is incomprehensible to me, the individual characters, their personal stories and interactions, and the stunning Game of Thrones-rivaling production values were enough for me. I'd watch a show about any one of those eight characters, but the fact that we get all eight in one is fantastic. 3 - Documentary Now! (IFC)  Pitch perfect parody of the history and form of the documentary that moves beyond parody into homage. Each episode tackles a different documentary or documentary format, each time capturing nuances and details and twisting them just far enough into absurdity that is becomes incredibly funny while still working perfectly as a (fake) documentary. Also, Helen Mirren says the words "ballz to the wallz" and specifies she's using the "zed." 2 - Bojack Horseman (Netfilx)  SUCK A DICK, DUMBSHITS! 1 - Fargo (FX)  In a year of amazing TV shows everywhere, it isn't even close. Fargo was everything I wanted out of a show and more. It's as funny as the comedies on my list, as exciting and moving as the dramas, and it has cool spaceships. It's got everything. Problematic Pigeon fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Dec 16, 2015 |
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Dec 16, 2015 00:33
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xcore posted:If you think it will be changing now, it definitely will. Episode 1 reaction should be "There are several red flag and it seems fairly generic but I will proceed with this with caution" The fact you aren't even there means you are going to have a hell of a ride. Indeed I did, time to edit my list.
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Dec 16, 2015 01:32
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Oh gently caress, honorable mention, I don't know if made for TV movies count, but I would like to give special recognition to 7 Days In Hell, starring Andy Samberg and Kit Harrington as tennis rivals. It might actually be the hardest I've laughed all year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpsMi3Q2fok
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Dec 16, 2015 02:49
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Hakkesshu posted:Oh gently caress, honorable mention, I don't know if made for TV movies count, but I would like to give special recognition to 7 Days In Hell, starring Andy Samberg and Kit Harrington as tennis rivals. It might actually be the hardest I've laughed all year. Happy to not be alone in giving this thing a shout-out.
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Dec 16, 2015 02:53
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My honorable mentions list would be like 30 shows long so I'm not about to bother. Just assume your favorite show is on it. Unless it's Fargo. (I still haven't watched it. Shameful, I know)
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Dec 16, 2015 08:31
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First things first, 20-11: 20. Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD 19. Jessica Jones 18. Game of Thrones 17. Mad Men 16. Parks and Recreation 15. You’re the Worst 14. 12 Monkeys 13. Better Call Saul 12. The 100 11. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
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Dec 16, 2015 12:57
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My list, AKA No Comedies Allowed 10. Daredevil Was debating between this and Jessica Jones, but while both were great I ultimately decided Daredevil more solidly earned its place on my list. I watched the season twice through (not something I normally do separated only by a few months) and found that I enjoyed it at least as much the second time around. Great action choreography and performances. 9. Sense8 A show that I had low expectations for, and ended up blowing me away. Emotionally powerful and very creatively directed. Moment where it all came together for me, as I’m sure was the case for most people, was definitely the “What’s Up” sing-along. 8. Banshee This one is a bit of a cheat, since I binged the entire series this year and thus the whole thing was new to me for this list. Nonetheless, Season 3 was fantastic, with all of the brutal action and intense drama of the first two excellent seasons. Job remains the MVP. 7. Hannibal The first half of the season dragged a bit, and almost caused me to leave this off my list. Then I thought back on it and remembered that Gillian Anderson was the secret MVP of the season. The Red Dragon arc was great, and the show remained as visually stunning as ever. 6. Justified A slam dunk of a final season, keeping a few colorful side villains around but focusing in on the conflict between Raylan and Boyd. Just a perfect ending to the story. 5. The Americans Show simply hasn’t lost a step since Day One. Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys turned in phenomenal performances, the writing and direction were stellar, and they even managed to center a storyline on a teenage character and pull it off. 4. Mr Robot Best new show of the year. The aesthetic it created was unlike anything else on TV, and the way it managed to play with audience expectations was masterful. 3. Fargo Managed to exceed a phenomenal first season, even with a more diffuse cast and a more sprawling story. Just great, great television, and I’ll be paying very close attention to any project Noah Hawley is involved with from now on. 2. Rectify Possibly the best season of the most emotionally affecting show on television. The fact that this show doesn’t get nominated for every acting award every year is a crime. 1. The Leftovers Nearly a perfect season of television, and one of the most successful instances of a “soft reboot” that I’ve ever seen. Just stellar on every level of performance and production, and packed with nearly-unmatched emotional intensity. Carrie Coon and Kevin Carroll deserve real Emmy consideration.
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Dec 16, 2015 12:58
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My list from 2013 thread: 10 Catfish, 9 Futurama, 8 Blacklist, 7 B99, 6 AHS, 5 The League, 4 Modern Family, 3 GoT, 2 BB, 1 Archer My list from 2014 thread: 10 Fargo, 9 True Detective, 8 Game of Thrones, 7 The Knick, 6 Cosmos, 5 B99, 4 Agents of Shield, 3 Utopia (UK), 2 Silicon Valley, 1 Rick and Morty Shows I returned to in 2015: I had dumped Castle sometime in 2013, and never had the chance to catch up until just recently. I'm very glad I returned to this show, they managed to turn in a great couple of seasons in the time I was gone. The Walking Dead is a show I have a love/hate relationship with. When it's good, it's really good, but when it's bad, I get soooo bored. The last two seasons, however, have really gotten me back on board, and I'm glad I spent the time to catch back up. Shows that I think will get good: I tried The Muppets when it came out and liked it just fine, but the shine wore off pretty quickly. I know it's getting retooled and has a new showrunner though, so I expect good things in the future. The Expans & The Magicians both premiered too late for me to give them any weighty consideration this year, but I am excited to dig into both of those shows. Hours I want back: 29.6+ True Detective, Scream Queens, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (two episodes), The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (two episodes), Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris, Heroes Reborn (four episodes), Glee (seasons 3-6). All of these shows were pretty much garbage. I can understand defense for Scream Queens, it just wasn't my cup of tea (keep trying, Ryan Murphy!). Colbert lost his charm, or something, I'm just not digging his new show, however, it has lead me to rediscover how much I enjoy Conan and Kimmel. Honorable Mentions: Man in the High Castle has amazing production design, but the full series left me somewhat wanting. Last Man on Earth is inconsistent, but makes me laugh while simeltaneously giving me serious bouts of "feel bad" about the characters and their situations. Star Wars Rebels is a fun show that me and my daughter can watch together, and that's pretty cool. The Jinx was so enjoyable, I watched it once, then sat through it twice more to share it with friends. Parks & Recreation will always be one of my favorite shows, but I won't remember the final season as fondly as the rest of the series. Marvel's Agents of Shield is a great show that keeps getting better. Brooklyn Nine Nine is probably the most consistent comedy on tv right now. It knows what its strengths are and it always makes me laugh. I feel like it's covering the "classic tv tropes" bases though, and needs to do something weird again like it did between season 2 and 3. Still love it. Galavant was a surprise hit for us, and really filled the void left by Glee and other crappy musical series. We really enjoyed the poo poo out of it, and are looking forward to the second series. Last Week Tonight is fantastic, funny and informative. I really enjoy John Oliver's schtick, and he managed to penetrate my SO's disinterest in politics, so for that, he gets a mention. My Top Ten for 2015 10. Marvel's Daredevil  Daredevil was initially higher on this list - though after Jessica Jones, I returned to this series in order to watch it again and introduce it to my SO, who enjoyed Jessica Jones a lot. We found that she was somewhat bored by Daredevil, and for me, it didn't hold up on second viewing. That's not to say it isn't still one of the best series of the year, it just didn't have the hype that it did the first time through. The fights are real and the choreography is incredible. That second episode hallway scene, sweet christmas. Daredevil is going to be considered "the best thing Marvel has made" for a long time, and season two looks to be more good stuff, I can't wait. 9. Game of Thrones  Game of Thrones is probably the show I get excited about the most each year. From the moment the finale airs, I get excited for what's coming next. I don't care if it wasn't the strongest season or whatever, or if they peeled off from the books and did their own thing - the show is fantastic and exciting. The characters are complicated and you care about them, it's simply its own kind of show - there's nothing else like it, nor has there ever been. 8. Life In Pieces  I expected this to be a Modern Family clone, a show which I watch and enjoy, but never give much thought to. (Modern Family made my top 10 in 2013, it's a legitimately good show). Comparing Life in Pieces to Modern Family isn't really fair - as Life In Pieces is a much more carefully crafted piece of work than MF. The small arc format works so well, and after just a few episodes, I felt more attached to these characters (in what others have told me is a throwaway comedy) than I do for characters in Modern Family, a show I've watched for X number of seasons. The cast is phenomenal, and as a 30 something Father, I can relate with Greg as a first time father. I remember being like Matt, and even Tyler. It's a really well written family drama that happens to be funny, because life is funny. I really, really like this show. 7. Red Oaks  I was warned that Red Oaks was not very good before I started watching it. I don't know how anyone can think that. From the get go, it's just sharply funny. In the first episode, when Richard Kind collapses on the tennis court and starts confessing to his son how he really feels, I laughed harder than I can ever remember. I don't want to spoil it in case you haven't seen it. But goodness, this show is amazing. The production design really leaves you feeling like you're in an 80's comedy. I grew up in New England in the 80's, I remember these cars, these clothes, these hairstyles. Even the cinematography feels like it was shot 30 some odd years ago. Sometimes I forget that I'm watching a modern television show. It's funny, it's sharp, and it's even got Paul Reiser. What's not to love? 6. Marvel's Jessica Jones  When I was really into comic books in the late 90's and 2000's, I never read Alias. I liked Bendis' other stuff, but never got around to that book. That being said, I did read a TON of Daredevil. From the Man Without Fear to Kevin Smith's Guardian Devil. So for me to put Jessica Jones way up here, above Daredevil (a show that I legitimately love) will hopefully say everything that needs to be said about this show. It has its faults, I found myself yelling at the TV everytime they had a chance to murder Killgrave and didn't, and it had plenty of surprises for me as a Marvel fan, such as Simpson. It's a really good show, if you can stomach the themes. 5. Rick & Morty  Rick and Morty has been at the top of my list for a while now. It's hilarious, it's sharp and poignant, and it touches on subjects and nostalgia that appeals directly to my generation. It was my favorite show last year, and season 2 was almost as good. The only reason it isn't number one again is because there were a few fan-pandering missteps this year (Rixty Minutes part two was just meh). It's still a great show, and still in my top five. 4. The Grinder  The Grinder is the surprise hit of the year for me. When I set my DVR to record the two new Rob Lowe shows, if you had told me that I'd be cancelling one, I never would have guessed it would be Moonbeam City. The Grinder is the funniest show on network television. It embraces the tropes of the single cam sitcom while reminding us it knows how to eviscerate other genres as well. The cast is phenomenal. The writing is top notch. It's consistent and funny, and by embracing its ridiculousness, it avoids the pitfalls of the everyday sitcom plot points that it by all rights should fall victim to. I don't know if the premise has the legs to go the distance, but right now, I'm having fun, week in and week out. 3. Silicon Valley  Silicon Valley is the funniest show on Television. If you're not watching it, you're stupid. 2. Mr. Robot  Back on February 9th of this year, I posted THIS - as NBC's Peacock Panel had showed me a trailer for this show, which made it seem very different. (In the original NBC trailer, it appeared as though they were pushing a more cyberpunk theme, and in the trailer, it seemed as though Rami Malek had supernatural hacking powers). Anyways - when the show came out and it was called "Mr. Robot" - I almost didn't try it because of the stupid rear end title. Then I watched the show, and now I can't say anything other than - loving go watch Mr. Robot. 1. Wayward Pines  Wayward Pines is not the best television show on this list. It is, however, my favorite this year. It had a lot of problems, I really hate Terrence Howard for example... But we started watching this show on a whim, and each week we found ourselves coming back to it. We somehow were blissfully unaware that it was based on a book series, and had the ability to speculate about where it was going and what was going on in the town, etc. We had wild theories and tons of twists and turns in our lines of thinking throughout the season... And we were wrong across the board! This series is what I wish Lost had been. Mystery after mystery after mystery -with a satisfying reveal and then an epilogue examined onscreen. I'm happily surprised that it got renewed for a second season (though, I'm unsure if they'll be as successful without a book primer to base it on) - either way, I enjoyed Wayward Pines a lot, and still recommend it highly to my friends who are looking for a show to binge. It's been a long time since a television show legitimately had me guessing and then surprised me, and for that, I will always remember Wayward Pines as my favorite show this year.
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Dec 16, 2015 15:23
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I really like Life in Pieces and would give it an award for best new sitcom a network has started in years.
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Dec 16, 2015 17:14
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I don't believe in honorable mentions since to me, the thing about top tens is about making tough cuts and being able to include only the shows you feel like should be on the list and "honorable mentions" detracts from that requirement of heavy curation but i just gotta say I need to stress watch fuckin' Show Me a Hero and Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief. like i'm genuinely p pissed i couldn't include those two on my list NieR Occomata fucked around with this message at 00:08 on Dec 17, 2015 |
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Dec 17, 2015 00:00
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Toxxupation posted:Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief We can include made for TV movies on our lists? Does 30 for 30 count?
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Dec 17, 2015 02:03
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centaurtainment posted:We can include made for TV movies on our lists? Does 30 for 30 count? I need to consult with Rarity but I'm inclined to say yes, 30 for 30 docs count but only as specific entries, like you can't put "30 for 30" as an entry since there's no connective tissue between each doc besides a banner that ESPN labels them with. they don't, as far as i can tell, share writing staffs, directors, any aspect of production, it's just a name that ESPN slaps onto the documentaries it pays directors a bunch of money to make about some sports thing and yes, you could always include tv movies. i made a specific point of that in the OP even NieR Occomata fucked around with this message at 02:11 on Dec 17, 2015 |
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Dec 17, 2015 02:08
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10. Orange is the New Black - Season three course-corrected from the drop in quality from the previous time around by refocusing on Piper's journey, and the political satire got more pointed than ever. 9. Broad City - A comedy that I don't think I would appreciate half as much if I didn't live in New York and know girls very much like the main characters. 8. Hannibal - The alternatingly frustrating and breathtaking conclusion that this beautifully shot and acted show deserved. 7. Bojack Horseman - The show's second season somehow managed to be funnier and darker than its first, which, given the downright depressing ending of season one, is a true accomplishment. 6. Rick and Morty - Rick and Morty continues to be the show that Invader Zim so desperately wanted to be, a darkly humorous cartoon that plays with audience expectations by combining crazed alien settings with the mundane trauma of the modern American family. 5. Better Call Saul - The year's best surprise; I was very much against the idea of this show, but the cast and crew pulled it off so well that I actually prefer it to Breaking Bad's unnecessary final season. 4. Fargo - The second season managed to top the first in almost every way, telling a tighter story with more interesting characters and boatloads of style (though, to be fair, no single performance as electrifying as Billy Bob's). 3. Silicon Valley - The funniest and best written comedy on television, hands down, with a weirdly sweet and sympathetic lead character at its core. A thoroughly modern television show. 2. Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief - A stylish and smart overview of The Modern Mormonism, complete with incredible source footage from Scientology celebrations and interviews of L. Ron Hubbard himself, horse teeth and all. 1. The Knick - Glorious period detail and morally complex characters makes The Knick this year's best drama. Plus the cinematography and score compete with Hannibal in terms of sheer artistry.
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Dec 17, 2015 02:34
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Okay, this list kind of proves I'm a terrible person, TV-taste wise, but here are my top ten! 10. Jane the Virgin The show itself is bright and just a hug across the screen. You have crazy telenovela/soap opera things occurring, like someone's hand getting blown off by a grenade, a drug dealer who turns out to be the stepmother to her lover, and the giant premise, a virgin woman with a boyfriend having the baby via artificial insemination from another man she's never met. But somehow, the show manages to do all of this in a very lighthearted, comedic way. The little visual quirks, like animations for the texts are always wonderful and the whole sets just look vibrant. 9. Teen Wolf Okay, hear me out. This show SOUNDS like an MTV trainwreck, but it really isn't. The cast is extremely attractive and likable; stick around for Stiles, he manages to make even the darkest times in the show funny with his wry, pithy comments. The horror elements are awesome. The Doctors and chimeras as villains are crazy as gently caress. Just give it a shot. Apart from some really stupid moments in season one, this show ramps up fast. 8. Limitless Okay, another show with a potentially awful premise, but actually turns out great. The lead, Brian Finch, takes something as OP as a drug opens up the full capacity of your brain, and somehow, turns it around and makes it approachable, funny even. You have the same sort of awesome visual effects, like making claymation version of the U.S. Most Wanted or replacing "hacking" with funny kitten videos to replace how boring it is, but it's balanced with some legit drama between what the endgame of Senator Morra is and what Mr. Sands will do to achieve it. 7. The 100 This show has more deaths, and hosed up ones at that, then Game of Thrones and the Walking Dead. There is a reason the main character is called Genghis Clarke in the threads. They really make these teens make really tough calls about ethics and the life of one versus many. It's a good sci-fi too, weaving in futuristic space stations and AI's that control nukes apparently with the remnants of humanity either living in a fallout chamber, crash landing from a space station, or being separate nations of natives. This is NOT a space teen romance. 6. Scream Queens I know, a Ryan Murphy production, really? But it's more than that. This is dark comedy at its finest, mixing Scream with The Heathers. For gently caress's sake, there's deaths involving cutting a guy in a cone costume in two with a chainsaw, a frat with baseball bats going up against the killers set to Backstreet's Back, and a girl texting her killer while he's right in front of her, tweeting about her murder as she's dying. A group of girls called Chanels and at one point an almost mirrored replica of Swiftmas parodied into something they call Chanel-O-Ween. Stuff your "But Glee! AHS! Nip/Tuck! Those are SO lovely," feelings aside and watch it. 5. iZombie Dollhouse WISHES it could pull the poo poo Liv Moore gets into every episode. She eats a brain and somehow merges the personality traits of the victim with her own. We've had a curmudgeon-y old man, a superhero, a contract killer, and a high society wife just off the top of my head. Her co-stars are also amazing. Her ex-fiance, Major Lilywhite (a dumb name, to be sure) starts off as such a kicked puppy and the show just continues piling on the poo poo on him, forcing him to become an addict as well as a zombie hunter. Ravi, her friend, is hilarious and Clive, her detective, plays straight man in this comedy surprisingly well. Even the villain, Blaine, is hilarious, dark, and enthralling at the same time. You definitely get ups and downs emotionally. 4. Daredevil Netflix hit it out of the park with this show. It's so gritty about how much Hell's Kitchen sucks after the big New York destruction, but you have the avocados at law, Matt Murdock and Foggy Nelson trying their best to save what few people they can legally from the corruption the Russian Mafia, the Triad, and the Yakuza spread, all helmed by Wilson Fisk (who gives depth to an otherwise cartoonish Kingpin). The fight choreography is the best I've seen yet, way above anything else you see on TV. Charlie Cox pulls it off as Daredevil. It's so good, I had to binge it just because every episode left me on the edge of my seat. 3. Orphan Black Tatiana Maslany plays so many characters, there has to be a separate Wiki page denoting each one and she manages to pull EACH ONE off flawlessly. They all have different looks, attitudes, opinions, the works. Last season in particular had my favorite clone, Alison, become a neighborhood drug peddler with her husband and you see them rolling in cash in their underwear, a priceless scene. They're still on the show's main mystery, answering in part why the clones were made and introducing male clones to the fray. 2. Person of Interest TVIV made me watch this show. And I downed it in 2 weeks, that's how good it was. All the characters, John, Finch, Shaw, Lionel, and Root interact so well, the music is down-pat perfect for every moment, you have crazy action sequences, and the most recent finale leaves you wondering how the hell this small band of people and a supercomputer now locked into a briefcase are going to overcome a giant hellbeast of a machine, Samaritan, which has no qualms about brainwashing children to do its dirty work and killing with only the slightest chance the individuals will interfere with its grand scheme to give world peace along with world domination. 1. Parks and Recreation They really did close off the perfect show with the perfect ending. God, it was so heart-warming and funny and each actor/actress pulls off their character flawlessly. I don't even have words to say just how much I loved this.
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Dec 17, 2015 04:14
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Fast Luck posted:10. The Jinx Fast Luck fucked around with this message at 07:29 on Dec 17, 2015 |
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Dec 17, 2015 07:08
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Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): Limitless - I tend to not like procedural cop shows, this is the exception, if there were 11 allowed places this show would be on my best of list. Please let me break the rules! Another Period - Funny, and much better than Garfunkel and Oates. The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - This show has the catchiest theme song I have heard in years, sometimes I just break out into singing it in empty elevators or the show. The final episodes of the season were a bit weak though. Nathan for You - This show makes me so uncomfortable that I can only watch it on DVR or via other means, sometimes I just need to take a laugh or cringe break. Galavant - I like this show a lot but it has a lot of weak points to its season. I hope they can somehow make it better because I loved the musical segments. And the joust. Top 10 10. unREAL I am ashamed to love a Lifetime show, I hate all the cheesiness and sappy blandness that channel represents. UnREAL however is amazing, for some reason I tend to love meta-TV shows and unREAL fits the bill, I love how horrible everyone is (besides the closeted lesbian, and even she isn't perfect). 9. Other Space This is a little show that I found on yahoo screen when I was trying to find Community (a show that I unreservedly dumped after the first episode this season). Other Space was a modern and americanized Red Dwarf. I read somewhere that yahoo screen is in the red and probably will be forever shut down which makes me a bit sad. It had a few great episodes and even though some of the acting wasn't the best I'd ever seen I'm a sucker for sci-fi and parodies so I loved it. 8. Mr. Robot This show surprised me, not with  -dad but with the sister. The show was shot beautifully and had awesome cyberpunk themed music that really set the tone. It was cool to see a hero who was an addict, mentally ill and on the spectrum. I really want to see where this show goes next season.7. Better Call Saul Maybe everyone else has been watching better TV shows than I have but I'm surprised to see this show make so few people's top 10 lists. The only weak parts of the show for me is having the characters being younger than their Breaking Bad selves, yet they're older. It just sometimes doesn't look right and I have to remind myself that Jimmy is at the right age where he could be flirting with Kim even though Bob clearly is not. When Chuck finally revealed himself to be such a manipulator to Jimmy it was an amazing bit of television. 6. Younger Silly premise, but after Bunheads went the way of the dodo I needed a Sutton Foster fix. Its also kind of interesting to see Hillary Duff in something other than Lizzie McGuire, even though her acting isn't the greatest. As I said the premise is silly, a 40 something pretends to be 20 something to get an entry level job in publishing, thank god its not a multi-cam. 5. Playing House In a just world I would be a famous critic of television and tell the world how great this show is. Sadly I'm a simple lurker on the Something Awful. Anyway, this show is great, the friendship between the two main characters is perfect and its because they're friends in real life(ooh, ahh)! There are some great side characters, especially Keegan-Michael Key as one of the town cops and love interest/friend of Jessica St. Clair's Emma. Its a nice sitcom but it oftentimes just doesn't feel as strong as... 4. Broad City This is an excellent sitcom. Illana and Abbi are perfect together and the situations they have their characters explore always end up hilarious and oftentimes absurd. This second season only feels stronger than the first season. I had issues on where to put this and Playing House but after rewatching a few episodes I knew I had to put this one higher on my list. 3. The Americans This past season was awesome for me. The kids are well acted and Paige especially so, which is good because this season focused heavily on her finding out that her parents are actually Soviet sleeper agents. It also introduced conflicts in how much Elizabeth and Philip should direct their kids beliefs when Paige started to experiment with religion with Elizabeth as wanting to stamp it out and teach her atheism and Philip being more open to letting their kids be American. A few of the plots were a bit thin on the spying side dealing with organizing communist movements in Africa and South America from the US, but in the end that didn't affect my enjoyment of the show. The cliffhanger at the end of the season hooked me well and I want it to be March already. Time is bullshit, Keri Russel is life. 2. You're the Worst I love shows with horrible people. One of my favorite episodes this season followed two characters that had never been introduced before and outwardly seemed to mirror a possible future for Gretchen and Jimmy. When their cutesy facade fell in front of Gretchen it contributed to one of the most haunting and true depictions of clinical depression I have ever seen in a TV show. Please FX, keep this show alive. 1. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend The CW often still looks like the Gossip Girl era of old with Pretty Teens* Doing Things™ but CXG (the title is the worst thing about this show, swear to god) sometimes has people who almost look normal, like you could find them at a supermarket somewhere, though it'd probably be more upscale than a Wal-Mart. The show is awesome, a musical sitcom for the modern age. The bits between where characters aren't breaking into song to relate how they want to watch their new "friend" watch them wearing a skin-suit made of their new "friend"'s own flayed skin (funnier than it reads) are much stronger than Galavant, which for me couldn't even break into my top 10 even though I loved its musical numbers, as I said. This is a funny show about a mentally ill person, her terrible decisions and the hilarious fallout (also funnier than it reads). I really wish more people would watch this show, it needs the ratings badly even though its a critical darling. At least the CW renews shows with terrible ratings, so there is hope that the future is not an empty and soulless dystopia.
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Dec 17, 2015 09:52
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SA, the only place in the world where everyone loves Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.
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Dec 17, 2015 17:47
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sbaldrick posted:SA, the only place in the world where everyone loves Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. To be fair, that's because it's the only place in the world where everyone has SEEN Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I've been doing my part, willingly subjecting myself to Martin Freeman to get people to watch it.
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Dec 17, 2015 18:00
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I saw the first episode, didn't care for it. Not my kind of show.
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Dec 17, 2015 19:05
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JUICY HAMBUGAR posted:1. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend You mean this one?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNIUkO2o_p4 The part where she is just staring her and Imagining about wearing her skin. 
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Dec 17, 2015 19:44
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adhuin posted:You mean this one?: I still want her arm swinging dance as an avatar.
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Dec 17, 2015 19:46
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All right, here's 20-11 to kick things off. I'll be back within the hour with a proper top ten. 20.) Faking It (MTV) After kicking off my top ten last year, Faking It returned...kind of off. It was a by-product of how things were left last year, with everybody feeling emotionally violated in ways simple apologies couldn't fix. There was an air of distrust and resentment settling into the show's atmosphere, and it threw the whole thing out of whack... ...up until the halfway mark of the season, "Boiling Point," a mild homage to The Breakfast Club that trapped our cast in Saturday Detention and let them pop off on each other. The catharsis of that half hour was topped only by certain episodes of Parks and Recreation, and with the air finally cleared, Faking It roared back to life and built to an emotional, difficult finale. Of course, it's still loving hysterical. 19.) Better Call Saul (AMC) A shaggier, more affable look at good intentions and the road to hell than Breaking Bad was, Saul remains wonderful in its own right. If BB was anchored by the wounded, bitter performance of Bryan Cranston, than Saul is defined by Bob Odenkirk's smarmy, tragic title huckster. This one might shoot up by next year. 18.) Banshee (Cinemax) Another show falling out of the top ten, except it wasn't quite the show's fault: Season 3 was a massive improvement on an already fantastic season 2. It's a testament to how much quality, inventive TV got on the air this year that somehow this isn't good enough to place. 17.) Limitless (CBS) Hold on to your hats, gentlemen, cause this one's gunning hard for next year's list. There just wasn't enough time to build up the head of steam required to break through, but they're setting up a mythology that brings the early days of Person of Interest to mind, and pulling it off with both the creative panache of late season 1 / early season 2 Community and the juvenile exuberance of Psych. It's a hell of a cocktail, and the longer it goes on, the more confident it seems to get. It can take a silly episode like "Headquarters!", wherein Brian offers to clear out the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List within two weeks in exchange for his very own Headquarters! (with the exclamation mark), and give it a surprising amount of soul. Or it could take a concept episode like "This Is Your Brian on Drugs," a Rashomon riff that covers different perspectives of a particular case, and give it a powerful, tragic twist. A show with that kind of creative flexibility is dangerous and absolutely worth watching, and I expect you're only gonna hear more noise about it as it goes along. 16.) Master of None (Netflix) Hard to find the words for this one. It's a clever, thoughtful little series that finally reveals Aziz Ansari to the world at large as someone bigger than the comic relief he's often relegated to. Cannot wait to see more. 15.) Parks and Recreation (NBC) Parks rebounded from a rough 6th season to end exactly as it should have. For a show as amazing as Parks was, that should be all I need to say. 14.) Agents of SHIELD (ABC) Remember when Heroes had a run of increasingly baller episodes in its first season that was building up to a climactic confrontation, only to piss all its goodwill away after it arrived with all the fanfare of a wet fart? Well, SHIELD promised it was leading up to a similar confrontation throughout the second half of its second season, but instead they turned it into a slam-bang action-thriller of a finale that could give some of this summer's blockbusters -- including Age of Ultron -- a run for their money. Then it somehow built itself up from there. If I was ranking these shows based on emotional reaction alone, it'd make my top ten easy. 13.) Daredevil (Netflix) Nimbly explores the concept of Catholic guilt and blurred lines between good and evil in the context of a superheroic action-thriller that takes subtle cues from The Wire. This is a lot to process, which makes it all the more remarkable that it comes together so easily. 12.) UnREAL (Lifetime) Another contender for next year. Going by the premise, UnREAL sure seemed hell bent on telling us what we already knew about the false realities of reality television. But that doesn't get into the surprising moral complexity of the show's main characters. Nor does it get into the dark, demented loving places this show goes. Think date rape is as bad as it gets? Well, you didn't think they introduced a contestant with PTSD from an abusive relationship just for flavor, did you? 11.) Halt and Catch Fire (AMC) Season 1 of the show found its feet halfway through, but leaving Cardiff Electric behind and exploring the burgeoning frontier of the Internet ended up giving this slow-burning drama the shot in the arm it needed for season 2. Mutiny is an outstanding creation of the show, a chance to explore the frathouse mentality of the era's programmers while giving the perpetually immature Cameron a chance to grow up a little -- just a little -- in her new leadership role. It also gives a fascinating amount of shading to one-time Don Draper knockoff Joe MacMillan, and carves out ample amounts of time for Toby Huss to sparkle as no-bullshit salesman John Bosworth -- truly the show's greatest gift.
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Dec 18, 2015 23:39
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All right, now for my top ten proper, starting off with... ...well... ...  10.) Shirobako (Crunchyroll) "Anime is for jerks." -Gerstmann THAT'S RIGHT, IT'S ME, TV IV. IT WAS ME ALL ALONG. Shirobako is about the daily grind of a small anime studio in the thick of producing a television series. (The title literally translates to "White Box," the space an artist works in.) But you're not wondering about that. You're wondering what in gently caress's Good Name possessed me to put a God damned anime on my top ten list. Let's just get this out of the way: With occasional exceptions granted to the show-within-the-show, there is none of that hypersexualized melodramatic penny-ante moe-waifu high-school obsessed horseshit that makes anime so rightfully popular around these parts. Rather, Shirobako banks on this revolutionary idea that a group of interesting characters busting rear end at their jobs, facing down their insecurities, and coming to grips with the changing world and the tough realities of their profession would somehow be enough. This isn't quite anime as the world at large knows it; this is a dramedy that just happens to be animated by Japanese studios. Okay, good for it. What takes it from "great by the sewage standards of anime" to "DivisionPost Put This On The Same List As The loving Americans (Spoiler Alert)"? To be sure, the novelty of the show gives it a sizable bump, but it also gets points for juggling a MASSIVE cast. The show focuses primarily on six young women working in different areas of the industry, but between the people they interact with on a regular basis, that number goes to about 30, and all of them pop. You might not get their names down, but you come to know who they are on sight, you know what they do, and you either like them a whole lot, you love them, or you absolutely love to hate them. That would be impressive enough, but on top of that, many of them are complicated, layered people. That dumb-looking gently caress-up PA you wish somebody would throw through a wall early in the series slowly charms his way into your heart. That visionary director given to inspiring speeches and brilliant breakthroughs happens to be a massive, insecure flake whose strokes of genius throw everyone off schedule. The characters who need to carry the drama here are quietly complicated and wildly compelling, which helps this show build to emotional crescendos with a skill I haven't seen since Friday Night Lights. Fighting words to be sure, especially when Shirobako lacks the verisimilitude that FNL had. But even without the unflinching toughness that balanced out FNL's most triumphant moments, Shirobako still manages to get you, even when the moment is as small as a character coming to terms with her place in an industry she loves. In the end, you just care about these people so drat much. And regardless of the medium, that's really what great TV comes down to in the end, right?  9.) Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix) "Females are strong as hell." -Bankston Yep, that sums it up. Given the way our perception of the world has been changing, there's something to be said about the fact that two of best, most talked about female-driven shows this year are survivor stories. They attack the concept of post-traumatic stress from completely different angles; Kimmy Schmidt takes a comic angle and puts our titular heroine's damage in a larger context without ever reducing it. Kimmy went through a lot of poo poo when she was in the bunker, and her experiences have clearly left her damaged, but she's determined to move past it. That's what compels her to leave her hometown of Durnesville, IN behind and move to New York on a whim; she needs to know that she's more than just "one of the mole women." And what she finds on the outside is that she's actually in good company. Her boss Jackie is stuck on a certain idea of success that has made her deeply unhappy. Her rival Xan, Jackie's daughter, is a teenage girl whose desperation for acceptance compels her to hide her true personality so she can "fit in." Her roommate Titus is an aspiring actor who happens to be large, gay, and black -- a combination nobody really knows what to do with, forcing him to learn to put on different faces to survive. Her love interest Dong is an illegal immigrant who has to hide his accent and marry someone, anyone, to stay ahead of the INS. Just like in the bunker, everyone is at the mercy of a master, even if that master is institutional in nature. And Kimmy is strangely equipped to help these people while they help her come to terms with her own issues, culminating in a flawed but underrated arc that returned her to Durnesville to make sure her captor went away for life. And along the way there are knock-off Times Square mascots, Spider-Man injuries, robot homicide cover-ups, bottles of diet water, -$1 bills, surprisingly incestuous silver-screen era movie musicals, and a collective sigh of relief that there is no Entourage 2. So yeah, great show.  8.) The Americans (FX) "That's what evil people tell themselves when they do evil things." -Betty The Americans is an epic espionage thriller about split loyalties between country and family, between the ideals we live for and the counter-intuitive things we're asked to do in the name of those ideals. It's got a novel-esque density that leaves you exhausted at the end of each episode, but is packed with moments that sear themselves onto your memory (that goddamn briefcase) like a great popcorn flick. All of this puts it in line with your standard Cable Antihero Drama, but it's kept fresh by the functional, not entirely harmonious, but altogether loving partnership between Philip and Elizabeth Jennings, whom Matthew Rhys and Kerri Russell play to the hilt. Their performances have always been fantastic, but getting their on-screen daughter Paige more involved with their story has brought them to another level, and Holly Taylor has been matching them beat for beat.  7.) Person of Interest (CBS) "Welcome to The Machine..." -Waters Somebody called this past season uneven; sounds about right. Here's the thing: "If-Then-Else" is a classic, full stop. gently caress it, I'll go all in: I wouldn't be surprised if down the road people talk about it the same way they talk about "City on the Edge of Forever." And the two-part finale comes very close to topping it. Aside from containing one of the most badass kills I've seen this year (maybe next time don't run your mouth until you're sure about those restraints, sweetie), it builds to a bonkers Empire Strikes Back ending that would have felt strangely appropriate (and frustrating) as a series finale, which is how things were looking for a hot second. Before and between those two tremendous peaks, it built, it maintained, it weathered, and it kept the fires stoked. When you've built up enough goodwill like POI has, that's enough to stay in the conversation.  6.) Jessica Jones (Netflix) "Smile." -Hope Say hello to Kimmy Schmidt's angry, wounded partner. It's one thing to talk about the epidemic of violence against women. For Jessica Jones, creator Melissa Rosenberg made her viewers eat it in the form of a disturbing allegory. She started with a simple plan: Why call people who tell random women to smile "assholes" when you could completely poison the so-called compliment at its root? From there on it just comes at you harder, telling stories that are engaging on their own while pummeling you with all the self-hatred, powerlessness, and fear that comes with victimhood and PTSD. And it's one thing for Krysten Ritter to sell it as Jessica, but David Tennant is an absolute powerhouse as Kilgrave, finding a disturbing amount of humanity in this absolute monster of a person. I couldn't binge Jessica Jones like I binged Daredevil, Kimmy Schmidt, or Bloodline. It was just too much. All the same, it's smart, necessary pop storytelling from a brand often scapegoated (not unfairly) as being neither smart nor necessary.  5.) BoJack Horseman (Netflix) "But you gotta do it every day." -Old Jogger BoJack's season 2 ending wasn't the punch in the gut that capped season 1, but the entire package was stronger overall, dodging some obvious traps (a lesser showrunner would've milked Vincent Adultman for all he/they were worth), finding room for some real power early on (the episode that reunited the Horsin' Around cast), and taking deeper dives into its themes of self-hatred and the unhealthy ways we use fiction to cope with reality. Along the way there were fascinating experimental episodes like "After the Party," as well as a scathing take on how Hollywood deals with rape and abuse ("Hank After Dark"). And it all builds up to "Escape From L.A.," a brutal half-hour that compels you to watch it through your fingers. This is a show about a spoiled B-list celebrity horse; one that could have easily coasted on its inherent laurels to satisfy the Adult Swim crowd. (It still does, to winning effect, with episodes like "Yesterdayland" and "Chickens.") That it goes for something heavier in and of itself doesn't earn it its stripes. That it succeeds so thoroughly does.  4.) You're the Worst (FXX) "Coolbookgirl14 on Goodreads called it 'An emotional rollercoaster.'" -Jimmy One of the best romantic comedies ever made. These days you hear a phrase like that and it suggests some sad-bastard indie where the relationship doesn't survive to the credits but it was all about the journey anyway, which was packed wall to wall with sensible highbrow chuckles. This is not You're the Worst (so far); the comedy goes big and it goes vulgar without going tasteless. It gets in some blistering super-slams on the SoCal Hipster Lifestyle, and embraces the fact that its major characters are terrible people while making them wholly empathetic. (Related to this, the ending of "The Sweater People" is one of the funniest things I saw on TV this year -- likely the funniest thing I've seen anywhere.) It's also the strongest, most accurate portrayal of depression to ever hit television. The ways it affects Gretchen (Aya Cash is a revelation here) and her relationship with Jimmy (Chris Geere, also killing it) ring uncomfortably true, making for episodes that utterly destroyed me ("LCD Soundsystem," "Other Things You Could Be Doing"). Yet it still finds ways to be laugh-out-loud funny, even when dealing with such a tough topic. The word that comes to mind is "beautiful," which again makes this show seem like something it's not. Maybe that's the most impressive part of You're the Worst; it forces one to redefine his image of what a beautiful romantic comedy looks like.  3.) Sense8 (Netflix) "What's going on?" -Nomi (and others) Here's the thing about swinging for power: when you miss, you look ridiculous. When you hit, though, nobody's laughing. There's a lot to laugh at in Sense8. It's earnest to a fault. Its dialogue is blunt, lacking subtlety and flair. Naveen Andrews is being wasted as an expository device. There's a disappointingly predictable Secret Evil Conspiracy storyline, fronted by a character whom we know very little about except that he looks like an evil Steven Spielberg, he sneers a lot, and he likes to use lobotomized people as puppets. And if you lack any tolerance for hippy-dippy new age crap, hoo boy will this show get hostile for you. You know what, though? Sense8 gave us Tequila Squared, the Sensate Orgy, the Nomi and Neet mysteries, Wolfgang and the Bazooka ex Machina, and VAN drat. I love the way it jumps from sci-fi thriller to heist flick to gay romance to prison drama to sex farce to detective story to revenge actioner and back again without breaking a sweat. And the performances run from unobtrusive (Brian J. Smith, Tuppence Middleton, Naveen Andrews, Terrence Mann) to enthralling (every other god drat person but especially Miguel Ángel Silvestre and Jamie Clayton). So I say, gently caress whatever doesn't work; when it connects, Sense8 knocks it screaming out of the park. It's defiantly original, blisteringly emotional, and maybe even important. And if it didn't piss off people who could stand to be pissed off more often, it'd still be at this rank, but I'm happy to call it an unrelated bonus.  2.) Mr. Robot (USA) "You knew the whole time, didn't you?" -Eliot Everybody knew the twist. And not a single gently caress was given. If that's not a mark of something special, I don't know what is. I don't understand how or why USA and Anonymous Content gave Sam Esmail a shot at running a TV show when he's only had a couple of indie films under his belt, but why be jealous or concerned over whether he can keep it going when what he produced is THIS loving GOOD? Seriously, if I could tie this for number 1, I would. In a heartbeat. It's brilliantly conceived and executed on paper, creatively photographed, and most of all, impeccably acted. Much has been made about Rami Malek and Christian Slater for good reason, but the way Esmail and Martin Wallström turned Tyrell Wellick from an antagonistic man with a plan to a desperate husk that has lost all control of his situation was nothing short of genius. Mr. Robot really went for it this year...  1.) Fargo (FX) "Oh God, it's Rapid City all over again!" -Schmidt ...this just went for it a little more. Taking apart all the pieces of the second Fargo series and examining how they seamlessly fit together blows my loving mind, quite frankly. You have the tragedy of Peggy and Ed Blumquist. You have the impending tragedy of Lou and Betsy Solverson. You have the crime saga between the Gerhardt Family and the Kansas City mob. You have encroaching corporatism with the 70s giving way to the 80s, the first steps of feminism as a serious movement, the trauma of Vietnam...and of course, the god drat UFOs. And it works. It all fits together as pieces of a whole instead of a mishmash of tones and ideas. There's nothing to say. Noah Hawley loving did it again. Unbelievable. DivisionPost fucked around with this message at 02:47 on Jan 1, 2016 |
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Dec 19, 2015 00:14
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Correction for DP: -Jeff Gerstmann, professional videogamesman
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Dec 19, 2015 01:46
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 20. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX) Last Year: 4 Heading into its third full year on the air, Brooklyn Nine-Nine has matured. Sure, it might not carry the impetuous edge of its youth but with its experience B99 has gained a comfortable sense of ease in how it goes about its business. Settling down to an evening with the Nine-Nine is like a night in with the family, you know exactly what to expect. The high spot of 2015 has to be the way the show has pulled the trigger on its teased romance between Jake and Amy and integrated them without harming the hit rate of the jokes. Or Holt reading out full URL links. One of the two.  19. Crime Scene (tvN) When Crime Scene first came to us from the same benevolent subtitler that gave us The Genius it was a bit of a curio. The format was overextended, the twists were repetitive and predictable and all in all it seemed merely to serve to tide us over until its elder cousin returned. However, between Jinho, Park and Hyunmoo the cast had enough charm to keep the show around and as it developed it discovered its greatest strength: adaptability. By the start of season 2 Crime Scene had learned how to cut down on the fluff and it only got better from there. Dongmin and Hani were great additions to the cast, the guests were a fantastic mix of old and new faces, the cases got a lot tighter and a lot more intricate, double episodes, meta episodes, cute nods to past cases, season 2 had it all. Nowhere was this more evident than the Beauty Pageant case, a CW-level soap opera distilled into one hour with a wonderful creative twist.  18. Agent Carter (ABC) And so it begins. While superhero TV had been building for the previous few years, 2015 was when the trend really took off. Early out of the gates to fill the mid-season break of Agents of Shield, Agent Carter is a light and breezy affair that makes up for what it lacks in drama with pure entertainment. The dynamic between Hayley Atwell and James D'Arcy as the eponymous Peggy Carter and her sidekick Edwin Jarvis features the perfect mix of backbiting, respect and affection while the producers smartly round out two-dimensional side characters by casting great character actors like Shea Whigham and Enver Gjokaj. All in all, Agent Carter is the most pure distillation of the MCU into television form, it's popcorn viewing in the best possible way.  17. Peep Show (Channel 4) For 12 years now Jez and Mark have been failing their way from misadventure to the next. They've eaten a girlfriend's family dog, they've pissed onto wedding congregations, they've opened pubs named after paedophiles and now they have reached the end. The final season displayed all the hallmarks of Peep Show at its finest: quick wit, lots of cringe, a drunk lady falling into a ball pit, Super Hans, a comedy underlined by a tragic co-dependent friendship of two men unable to mature. Filled with pathos, Peep Show went out the only way it ever could: with Jez and Mark right back where they started having not learnt a single thing.  16. Game of Thrones (HBO) Last Year: 6 Let's be fair, it's been a tough year for Game of Thrones. Strange to say that about something that won Best Show at this year's Emmys but while 2015 was the year GoT found award recognition it was also the year where its critical success began to wane. However, I'm not here to dwell on the low points of the season. Instead I'm going to talk about the reason it still has a spot in my top 20 and that reason is Hardhome. In fact, it's not even the whole episode, it's purely the second half in which a terse parley between the Night's Watch and the wildlings turns into a full scale White Walker invasion. It's a shocking sequence that arrives from nowhere and delivers both emotional impact and thrilling action in spades. Nowhere is this more apparent than with Karsi, a character who in that time receives an arc told from introduction to compelling conclusion. All of this is framed by set pieces that rival the show's highpoint, Blackwater, and anchored by a strong performance from Kit Harrington as always pissed off northerner Jon Snow. Of course, it's a shame that Jon's death means we won't be seeing any sign of him in Season 6. Yep. No way. Never going to happen.  15. Gravity Falls (Disney XD) It wouldn't be surprising if you'd managed to overlook Gravity Falls in your TV watching. After all, it only seems to air three new episodes a year. But relentlessly terrible network scheduling aside, Gravity Falls is the best cartoon going - not including, of course, The Show Which Must Not Be Neighmed. For 2015 the show has dived deep into its myth arc dropping plot bomb after plot bomb with twists and shocks that are beyond any expectations for a children's show (even a YA show) and all this while continuing to deliver the top notch humour we've come to expect. But none of that is the reason I recommend Gravity Falls. No, the real reason to jump in is because this is a show with heart. Created by Alex Hirsch as a celebration of his own relationship with his twin sister, the show never strays far away from the core connection between Dipper and Mabel. 2015 saw that relationship be strained to new levels, building up to an epic and emotional finale that spans the length of four episodes and is still ongoing. And it would be wrong to ignore the contributions from the other Mystery Shack alumni. Soos, Wendy and Grunkle Stan have all had their chances to shine and all proven their worth to the show. When you sit back and think about it, it really is quite amazing that in a show with scamming unicorns, skanky werespiders and Louis CK as a deformed monstrous head with one arm (don't ask) that it's the quiet moments you come away remembering most. While it's sad that there's only the series finale left to air, Gravity Falls looks like it's going to be one of those rare shows that goes out exactly when it should.  14. The Flash (CW) Last Year: 5 And here is where we really start to see the effect of the era of peak TV. Last year the Flash was the hot new show on the block, primed to make a run for the top spot and throughout 2015 it's delivered on all of those expectations. Yet here it is, not even breaking into my top 10. Not because of its own fault, because other shows have just been better. But let's talk about the Flash and what it's done right. In this era of superhero TV, no other show has embraced the balls-to-the-wall craziness of comic books more. This is a show with time travel, parallel earths, an alternate world version of the guy who was murdered and replaced by a man from the future (don't ask), psychic gorillas, a couple who are resurrected for eternity and also bird people, A GIANT HALF MAN HALF SHARK, killer bees, Joe West's tears and Wentworth Miller. I know that sounds like a lot and that's the strength of the Flash, with all the speed of its titular hero it just keeps piling on idea after idea. With another year ahead, who knows how much further that list will grow?  13. Orphan Black (BBC America) Last Year: 3 Another year, another round of conspiracies, another random Alison subplot, another standout performance from Tatiana Maslany, another finale that introduces a new set of questions that will likely be ignored next year. Haven't we been here before? Well, yes. The worst that can be said about Orphan Black is that it's starting to get somewhat predictable. But when what you're predicting is so good, is that really such a crime? The big news for Orphan Black in 2015 was the introduction of Project Castor and the male clones. While the boys lacked the variety of their sisters, narrowing down their characterisation allowed Ari Millen to stick to what he does best, being weird and creepy and untrustworthy. Attaching Castor to the military not only explained these similarities but also allowed the show to explore the ways societal expectations are harmful to the male psyche, a new tangent from its normal female focus. That's not to say that the girls were pushed aside. As always, the Clone Club remained central to its premise, nowhere moreso than Helena and her bond with her sestras. If season 2 was the year where Sarah accepted Helena as one of her own, in season 3 it was Helena's turn. All of these threads pulled together in the season's highpoint, Certain Agony of the Battlefield, a stunning hour of television that forces the viewer to care about its most maligned character, Paul, before killing him off without compunction in one of the most heroic deaths in years then finishing with Helena's return to Sarah, on the surface an act of protection but in truth an acceptance of the love and sisterhood she has wanted for so long but never allowed inside. And it would be remiss for me to finish without mentioning either Krystal, the latest addition to Maslany's repertoire, who provided a fresh burst of energy towards the season's end. Or Ksenia Solo, who brought a stable ground to the increasing insanity as Cosima's new girlfriend, Shay. Or this, which needs no context.  12. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix) Last year Netflix announced that they were upping their original content game with 15 scripted shows to come to their service for 2015. Dropping in early February, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was the first shot in a relentless barrage against traditional broadcasting. The show tells the story of Kimmy, a woman who spent 15 years living in a bunker under the sway of an abusive cult leader as she attempts to reintegrate into regular society. It's a dark premise made for prestige drama but this show is not just a comedy but the craziest, funniest comedy of the year. None of which would be possible without the performance of Ellie Kemper as Kimmy, providing a strong, positive and yes, unbreakable backbone to the character that prevents the show from ever dwelling in misery. Whenever life tries to knock Kimmy down, she just puts the smile back on her face and keeps on trucking. The rest of the cast are even matches in the comedy stakes, whether it's the outrageous Titus Burgess, Jane Krakowski exporting Jenny to a new series or the criminally under-appreciated Carol Kain as Ellie's batty old landlady. Not to mention Xanthippe, one of the most heartfelt takes on the stroppy teenage girl tropes and best thing in season 1. As for the writing, Tina Fey's scripts carry all the quick wit and absurdity of 30 Rock but add a powerful feminist undertone. All of which builds up to a controversial finale in which Kimmy returns to her home-town to face down her abuser, a great guest turn from John Hamm. While there are a couple of undoubted missteps here that knock the joke ratio down, it's impossible to ignore the fact that it was a plot turn that was absolutely necessary. And while Kimmy's victory was not a laugh riot, it was rewarding in a very different way. Females are indeed strong as hell (dammit!)  11. Arrow (CW) Last Year: 1 Two years, three archenemies, two major character deaths, one resurrection, two crossovers and one Ray Palmer later, Arrow's reign as my favourite show has come to an end. Arrow has received a lot of hate in 2015 and it's not entirely unjustified. The tail end of season 3 was certainly the weakest run in the show's history. However, season 4 has seen the show make a turn around in quality rarely seen from shows in their advancing years. The writers have done a great job of listening to the criticism of the previous season and fixing those problems. Oliver might still retain a little of the old self-righteous hypocrite in him but he actively recognises that and tries to be better. Laurel's transformation from alcoholic hot mess to rear end-kicking superhero is complete. Felicity has mostly put aside the histrionics and returned to being the quippy comedy relief that we all loved in the first place. And then there's the new big bad, Neal McDonough as Damien Darhk. Ridiculous name aside, Darhk brings a burst of energy and fun that the show was sorely missing. While Merlyn and Slade were strong dramatic presences, Darhk's sheer pleasure in being evil is a joy to behold. It's not just in the writing and the acting that the show has improved, season 4 has seen a noticeable return to form in the stuntwork, one particularly expansive recent fight involved Thea and her opponent traversing half a factory including an elevator ride. It's clear that interest in Arrow has waned in TVIV over the course of this year but those who have dropped the show are doing themselves a disservice. The first half of season 4 is the show running almost as strong as it's ever been.
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Dec 20, 2015 14:49
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Here goes. I really don't know how some of you have so much time to watch TV. Honorable Mentions Mr. Robot: I saw 3 episodes of you on a plane, you seemed cool. I'll watch the rest when I have some free time. Hannibal: Frequently one of the most beautiful, shocking and poetic shows on TV. However, far too prone to art-school flights of reverie and elliptic pseudo-intellectual wankery that just didn't do it for me. Parks and Rec: Not the heights of S2/S3, but a fitting send-off to one of the best comedies of the decade. Brooklyn Nine-Nine: I like it! It's funny! It's just a little paint-by-numbers sitcommy at times, but buoyed by an incredibly strong cast. The Walking Dead: I want to like it more, and it occasionally hits heights like in "Here's Not Here". But then it pulls crap like the Glen fake-out and still can't develop most of the new characters for poo poo. Community: Better, still some great lines, but glad it ended when it did. RIP. 7 Days in Hell: Hilarious. Going Clear: Terrifying. Need to Watch: Show Me a Hero, True Detective (season one at least), Nathan For You, Mad Men, Veep Top 10: 10. Silicon Valley Loved season 1, season 2 kept it up. I've done some work in the valley too which makes every subtle joke and jab at the culture there land even harder. 9. You're the Worst The two leads shacking up is usually the death knell for a comedy, but season 2 found some hilarious, fascinating, and frequently tragic new paths to explore. Still joyfully inappropriate. 8. Game of Thrones A step down versus previous seasons, but still the closest thing to appointment TV in today's cultural zeitgeist. Few shows have as much potential in terms of scope and ambition, and "Hardhome" might get my vote as episode of the year - as thrilling as anything on TV these days. 7. The Jinx Complete surprise and proof that life is sometimes stranger than fiction. That ending... 6. Banshee Just keeps doubling down on the insanity and being as balls out as possible. Barely even recognizable as a Cinemax property given that any prior gratuitous nudity has been dialed right down, and it's turned into a study of incredibly angry people in a town where anything goes and no plot is too crazy not to pursue. And that Nola-Burton fight was brutal... 5. Justified Farewell sweet prince. Fully recovered from a weak previous season and delivered a real fitting send off to the world and the characters. I'll miss the dialogue and bit-parts more than anything - new additions like Garret Dillahunt's character, Boon and Choo-Choo were all stand outs and seamlessly fit the cast and dialogue. We dug coal together show. 4. Better Call Saul Far better than it had any right to be, and "Five-O" was a devastating hour of television that should earn Jonathan Banks a deserved Emmy. Really curious to see how Season 2 goes given the show's now-necessity to shift the story in a different direction. 3. Review Watch it. Five stars. 2. The Americans This might be cheating since I haven't seen season 3 yet, but I finally caught up with seasons 1/2 and they were incredible, and season 3 is meant to be as good if not better. I'd be remiss to not give The Americans some credit given that it's been responsible for some of my best TV memories of 2015. 1. Fargo Better than the first season? I had a hard time at first really getting into the new characters, but from "Rhinoceros" onward it was flawless.
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Dec 20, 2015 17:09
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1) Rick and Morty 2) Archer 3) Rick and Morty 4) Archer 5) Rick and Morty 6) Archer 7) Rick and Morty 8) Archer 9) Rick and Morty 10) Archer
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Dec 21, 2015 09:51
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You managed to gently caress that list up in about 4 different ways.
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Dec 21, 2015 10:52
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| # ? May 25, 2024 23:01 |
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Which way is thinking Archer could possibly deserve a place in the list this year
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Dec 21, 2015 12:27
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