|
Another year, another exciting year of television. Hey, did you see The Golden Bachelor? That was amazing, right? Anyway, before I get started with my top 10 list. I have to bring up some of the "memorable game show" things that happened this year. First, Jeopardy. It was the "season of never ending tournaments" because of the writers strike, and ultimately, Mayim Bialik would leave in favor of just Ken, Ken Jennings. Stephen Fry is hosting the UK version next year January as well as Australia. Wheel of Fortune, nothing much new to report, Pat Sajak's final year, then it's going to be the start of Ryan Seacrest in what might be a few years. Graham Norton is hosting a UK version in January, as well as Australia. The Price is Right moved from CBS Television City to Haven Studios, which has become the hub for most Fremantle productions, so Press Your Luck, Let's Make a Deal Press Your Luck celebrated it's 40th Year with "The Big 40" where somebody could win 40... Somethings! TASKMASTER continues it's conquest for world domination by having an Australian version with "Hard Quiz" host Tom Gleason. With news of a "Junior Taskmaster" and VR game in 2024. Takeshi's Castle got rebooted on Amazon Prime! I'm sure somebody said they wanted a reboot of MXC sometime in the last year, so just assume you are hearing Kenny Blankenship and Vic Romano on that. But here are my TOP 5 GAME SHOWS OF 2023 (THAT DON'T COUNT) 5 - 007 : Road to a Million https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9mYj1etf70 I'm not the biggest James Bond fan, however, I do love the attention to detail the producers gave to locations and props from the James Bond universe to make what is essentially a "go to a place to do a fear factor stunt to win the right to answer a trivia question" , hosted by McRib Spokesperson Brian "gently caress Off" Cox. 4 - Squid Game : The Challenge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O61C8zc8Znk Squid Game was a pandemic-era watch about the struggles of capitalism and how reality television and game shows prey on those vulnerable people in an over the top, cruel way. So the Torment Nexus was built, and Studio Lambert decided to make it a luck based game show with the thrill of cut throat eliminations from time to time. Million Dollar Rock Paper Scissors is real. 3 - Deal or No Deal UK https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hk1zCMO9LhI The best version of Deal or No Deal wasn't with Howie, but with Mr. Blobby's Creator, Noel Edmonds. This isn't the Noel Edmonds Cosmology Hour as it once was, and the budget on the show is slashed so badly it's no longer a "Dream Factory" but "Make Rent" factory. However, Mulhern makes due and the contestants they booked are still very likable in a very lackluster version of the big money random draw. 2 - The Traitors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3rqVPKOKfQ The Traitors was "The Hot New Reality Series" at all the format places in 2022 (heads up, next year it's The Floor and "Destination X") and this year, America and UK were lucky to have a version of the show that can best be described as "Big Money Mafia" - a group of 20, a few are traitors, games are played for money to build a bank, then they vote out somebody they think is a traitor, then the traitors will vote out somebody out in secret. Rinse Repeat until you get this really thrilling final round where traitors can throw each other under the bus for a bigger share of the money. 1 - The Devil's Plan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtaLR2G-zmc The Devil's Plan is from the creator of The Genius and in many ways is a longer, Netflix-Friendly version of the show. Instead of a main match death match situation, it's a group play, but then the two lowest go to jail while the others play a group challenge to build the pot. At the end only the two highest will play Nine Men's Morris for the pot. It's fascinating, it tickles those Lateral thinking that The Genius had, but there is no "right" way to break the game. They also did Werewolf for an episode, so it's like The Traitors as well. ITV will bring The Genius to TV next year, but they also have Big Brother now, so, yeah... And now, let's begin the actual TOP 10 TV SHOWS LIST 10) Adventure Time : Fiona and Cake https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94gpIscW0Mc This is the year of metaverses, and TV shows are no exception. Fiona and Cake took the fanservice finish episodes of Adventure Time and turned them upside down to make it more of a personal struggle of reality and escapism that comes with growing up, at a time when most likely the "target demo" of Adventure Time has graduated high school, just finished college and are now anxious as hell. 9) Game Changer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuhWCCvcO6Q 2023 was the year CollegeHumor officially renamed itself to Dropout. It was a big year for them with Dimension 20. However, I decided to break from the "no game shows" tradition, to hand one to Game Changer for episodes like "Escape the Green Room" and "Battle Royale" that took the "Out of the Loop" format and continue to twist and turn to make it one of the must-see Internet series when they release. (I would also have given this slot to "Jet Lag: The Game" - But I only have room for one Sam on this space, and it's the one that took it's FYC Emmy Budget and donated it to Entertainment Community Fund 8) Poker Face https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4x2NzusLAqk Rian Johnson's Columbo was one of my favorite shows of this year. Yes, some episodes were a rough watch to get through, however the comedy timing mixed with the dramatic beats of the show really makes Natasha Lyonne more than just "The Old Navy Spokesperson". You go into it watching a raspy drunk lady call "bullshit" on cheats, and leave knowing why sometimes we lie to cover up our darkest moments. 7) The Curse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tui5vl13Gqg One of my guilty pleasures in television is well-written satire. It's my favorite type of sketch, it's my favorite type of movie, because a crap-satire and you get the "Epic Movie" bombs, but "The Curse" you get something that shines a light on not just HGTV renovation shows, but sometimes the cruel nature of false charity, and much like Squid Game - the people who capitalize on the most vulnerable people. I found myself feeling the anxiety, the cringe and Nathan's attempt to force story beats on his reality show, and the backfire it causes. I sometimes wonder how a season two could top it. 6) Jury Duty https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMhLNJ2Tf9U Amazon FreeVee being the place that has this and not proper Prime Video was my biggest "huh" moment. Normally a show that's straight to a FAST channel are seen as lesser, or, admittedly the kind of shows and movies one would go to first for a "find a bad movie to riff on" for one of your MST3K attempt nights. Jury Duty is a much better show than most streaming services offer. It's a hidden camera prank show, but it's also a delicate balancing act of actors and writers, and interweaving a mockumentary style show with the reality of one guy seeing the craziest trial in the jury. James Mardsen playing himself is probably the best character of the year, because we all loved him in, uhh... Sonic the Hedgehog? 5) Twisted Metal https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QNZ44zKzjo It turns out video games are great to adapt into TV shows. While I'm positive "The Last of Us" will get it's TVIV love and admiration. I'm more impressed with Anthony Mackie's Wasteland Delivery Character in Twisted Metal. It's not a show that tugs at the heartstrings, it's not a marvel series or a star wars thing, it's simply an over the top action show, with the big baddie being the Ice Cream Clown from the Game. It doesn't need to be 1:1 adapted to work, it didn't get a Calypso to Twist the Wish or have a grimdark reboot with a woman with a plastic mask on her head. It's instead a comedic, fun, colorful series that reminds me "wait a minute, TV can be fun!" And brings the strapnel. It's stupid, but fun stupid. 4) I Think You Should Leave https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3m_pbSzeqI Every season, I keep thinking "okay, this is the final season, it can't just be Tim Robinson screaming" and yet, I find myself laughing at the "Pay it Forward" sketch, before, like many skits before it, it gets quoted and memed all over the Internet. My favorite this year, was the mine that challenges it's audience to make him talk, and they just get more and more belligerent to throw him off and anger him. It never out stays it's welcome every year, and I think that's why I keep coming back for more. You only get a few episodes and then it just leaves for 11 months. 3) Scott Pilgrim Takes Off https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLvRvqByxUI I will be honest, I never really thought about Scott Pilgrim since the movie. I played that video game on Xbox 360 so long ago. So when I saw this pop up, I wasn't really thrilled. "Oh, it's just a retelling of the manga" I watched episode one and, there's Michael Cera talking Sonic, oh there's the Patel fight but... then he lost? That's when the show actually hooked me. It's a retelling of the Scott Pilgrim story that not only brings up how hosed up that Knives Chau thing was, but also, nerdy impulsiveness shouldn't really be admired. It goes into a revision while still keeping the Bryan Lee O'Malley style, and the music of metric as well. 2) One Piece https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ades3pQbeh8 One Piece fans have come a long way from it's beloved anime and manga series. It used to be a laughing stock with it's "Don't Give It Up, Luffy" and this year, it's a balloon at the Macy's Parade and one of the best anime adaptations ever created. Usually when you hear "Hey Netflix is making a live action version of (anime)" it's pointed at the Death Note movie from years back, or the somewhat forgotten Cowboy Bebop from years ago. Hey, did you know the stranger things producers are doing one with Death Note? Anyway, One Piece. This first season is a bunch of origin stories for the Straw Hats, get to see Sanji's culinary start, see Nami's village get plundered, and Zoro's quest to be the best swordsman, while this very inclusive cast brings the colorful world to life. This is a great version of Luffy, he's a leader that wants you to believe in yourself, and strangely enough the gum-gum stretchy powers aren't irritating like you would expect from, say, Inspector Gadget 2 with French Stewart, it's actually a fight sequence that means something when used. While each episode does have a fight sequence, like it's Titans or Power Rangers or Ashoka. It's not without an accompanying soundtrack and fight style that matches that character. It took it's source material and somehow carefully balanced enough to keep die-hards happy with the fanservice, and just enough to bring newcomers into the Grand Line. This might be the show that overtakes Naruto and Bleach on the Shonen Jump ladder, and given nobody wants to remember any live action Dragon Ball, you could also make a case Luffy is better than Goku as well. But I'm not an anime nerd enough to get into that slime. I'm just here for the Mihawk Fan Cams on the TikTok. 1) Black Mirror https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jY1ecibLYo Yes, phones but too much, is my number one show. We've pretty much forgotten that black mirror decided to bring back Anthology, and shows it's inspired by - The Twilight Zone, etc. Came and went. While Black Mirror was usually "hey, you're on your phone too much", this time around. It decided to go into tech through history and alternate universes to tell its story. Joan is Awful is the most meta version of the reality-tv style recap that goes into how we consume, but then vomit the content to get consumed into a content ouroboros. Loch Henry plays into that true crime podcast & documentary style that plays in similar notes to Rear Window (or Suburbia if you're just young) Beyond the Sea is the "head trip" of the season, that will most likely be an actual movie in two years about lonely astronauts and one taking over a clone body on earth and the consequences. Mazey Day is the least black mirror episode as there is no real "Technology Bad" premise, as much as it's about a Paparazzi and a Werewolf story, and almost felt like an "Inside No. 9", but was welcoming. And finally, the reason it's on the top of the list - Demon 79. They decided to make this an actual film under the "Red Mirror" banner. It's final episode of the season transformed the entire show and premise that if Netflix decided to continue, they can branch off and no longer need to put bandersnatch easter eggs or get Simpsonsed enough to say "hey, they predicted the future". They can simply have a silly movie about a devil trying to get a woman to kill people so stop the world from ending. With comedic results. While none are as good as San Junipero, it is a delight to finally see Black Mirror return, even if most people have forgotten about it. Thank you so much goons for the wonderful 2023. I hope to see you in 2024 when I'll probably watch Deal or No Deal Island and throw up!
|
#
¿
Dec 27, 2023 09:38
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 10, 2024 14:57 |
|