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Just wanted to say I love reading and writing these lists every year, thank you for allowing me to taint the averages! It's looking like another year where I haven't seen the thread's fave (Severance) but I really need to get on that. Without further ado: 10. ZIWE “This one goes out to all my poors out there.” Ziwe’s Instagram Live show was appointment viewing in the lockdown of 2020. I mean, did you see Caroline Calloway's? The premise was an interview with non-Black famous people and baiting them with questions like “how many Black friends do you have?” Often the answer was akin to a trainwreck in a schadenfreuden attempt to preserve their image. Ziwe brought the show to a half hour streaming format where it involves more sketches and satire. However, the best moments now are when the ‘iconic guest’ on the show, say Chet Hanks or Julia Fox, are not in on the joke and are so insane that even Ziwe is speechless.  9. RIVERDALE “Harlot of Babylon behaviour.” Evergreen disclaimer: this show is not good in a quality way but amazing in a memorable way. No other CW show (Rest In Peace) can reach 100 episodes and still match their level of crazy consistently. What started as an alternate universe anthology arc in season six turned into a canon holy grail war ending with a super-powered sacrifice to stop an armageddon event that reversed time back to the 1950s, all while singing a Billie Eilish cover. Where the gently caress else are you going to see this on TV?? Other out of context highlights from this season include Betty being a descendant of the Whore of Babylon (and also chainsawing a serial killer in her garage), a union-busting 446 year old wizard, and Cheryl Blossom joining Sabrina The Teenage Witch’s coven. There's also an episode called 'Angels in America' where Tabitha Tate time travels to end racism in Riverdale with the help of the angel Raphael. I’m genuinely excited to see if this show goes back to what made it good in S1 or just gives up for the last season.  8. ATTACK ON TITAN: THE FINAL SEASON - PART 2 "There weren’t any devils on this island. They were just people." The best comedy of the year just because this ‘season’ is never-ending but at this point living in a world without ongoing AoT feels alien. I'm still thinking about that final scene. MAPPA animates the titans crossing the ocean and making landfall in such a horrifying way. It reminds you of the sheer scale of these beings. 80 episodes in you become desensitized to the violence but it was like seeing episode one again.  7. WESTWORLD “There’s time for one last game. One last loop around the bend. I choose to give her the chance.” RIP. You strayed too far from the park. Westworld’s now final season definitely improved on the bad S3 and it looked like it was just getting back to what made it good in the first place: a rancher’s daughter in a game.  6. DERRY GIRLS “If they want catholics to join they’re going to have to find something that works with our complexion.” One of the funniest shows on TV in the last few years and easily the most rewatchable ended somewhat disappointingly for me. I think it was their least comedic and most dramatic, not really what the writing excels at! The show also ends in a current day time-skip Chelsea Clinton cameo that makes sense story-wise but is so jarring that it ruined the series finale upon impact for me. But ultimately, a coming of age story about childhood ending just as the Troubles in Ireland ended was extremely my poo poo. Derry Girls also has maybe my all-time favourite soundtrack from a TV show ever?  5. THE WHITE LOTUS “Sometimes I think I should have started that spa for poor women with the girl from Maui. Maybe she put a curse on me.” This juuuust made my list after watching both season one and two in a week. This show is like a primetime soap opera dramedy in the vein of Desperate Housewives. Watching The White Lotus is fun all the way through but it never seems to stick the landing when it comes to narrative comeuppance. Killing Jennifer Coolidge off feels like a wasted opportunity and is tragic in terms of the story. But I love the anthology concept and its potential with the number of locations and themes. I hope next season is set in an ayahuasca retreat.  4. SEARCH PARTY “Hot dog, no bun, just relish, cup style. Hurry! I just had therapy.” If you would’ve told me the journey this show would go on after season one I would not have believed you. Search Party started out as a story about a group of friends looking for a missing person and ended in a world-ending zombie apocalypse. All because of the actions of the main character. Honestly I love how they just completely bent genres and said “gently caress it” for their final season. Despite all that, the ending of Search Party is actually very fitting. The camera lingers on Dory as she’s looking at a wall of missing people posters and shows no emotion. Pure evil.  3. HOUSE OF THE DRAGON "What is this mortal life, if not the pursuit of legacy?" I promised myself I wouldn’t get invested in another incest dragon show but here we are, clown makeup on my face. I don’t think the families at war are all that compelling as the original GoT but the war leading into next season will probably spice it up. Hot take? This has better debut acting roles than Game of Thrones S1 did in Paddy Considine and Olivia Cooke. HBO is also very liberal with burning money for all that dragon CGI compared to the original series, more of that please!  2. STRANGER THINGS 4 “I don't know you that well, kiddo, but I'm betting the fate of the planet that you're one of the good ones.” It’s hard to deny the sheer appeal of Stranger Things—and this was their strongest season yet. I think the show’s cast has grown too large for its own good and suffers from Scooby Doo “let’s split up gang” syndrome, but when the separate storylines merge together it’s magic. This season also had one of the most best TV villains in a long time. Vecna is a worthy overarching baddie and I can’t wait to see what happens now that the Upside Down has advanced past the realm of a couple of kids in middle school out into the greater world. Running Up That Hill and Kate Bush getting their flowers was worth it alone!  1. THE MOLE “I don’t trust you. And my gut is telling me that you’re the shithole Mole.” The majority of my TV time this year was devoted to watching reality competition shows (notice how little there are in my list?) Netflix sometimes gets it right in this genre. Yes, this is a reboot of THAT Mole from network TV in the early 2000s. The cast understood the assignment and the editors left the whodunnit mystery up in the air for as long as possible. The reality character of the year has to be Joi, a commercial airline pilot (that can't read a map), and her entire chaotically nonchalant gameplay. I was invested until the very end. This was the most fun I had watching TV in 2022.
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Jan 18, 2023 00:17
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| # ¿ May 10, 2024 13:53 |
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