Not much time for TV this year — which is a good thing! — but here is what we Yes, “we”. Watching TV is for me a communal thing and the last time I watched any show by myself was finishing up Veep in mid-2014 during my last few night shifts as a fellow. watched, in no particular order:
- Station Eleven (HBO)
- Magpie Murders (PBS, Britbox)
- Slow Horses (Apple TV+)
- The Mysterious Benedict Society (Disney+)
- Wednesday (Netflix)
- Only Murders in the Building (Hulu), which I didn’t write about but Season 2 was even better than the first and I have every reason to believe Season 3 will be even better. There is nothing with Steve Martin and Martin Short in it that I haven’t loved, and Selena Gomez was a wonderful surprise, Only Murders… being the only live action thing of hers I saw.
- The Afterparty (Apple TV+), which between the murder mystery plot, the cast, the jokes, and the production values should really take the number one spot as my favorite show of the year overall.
- Star Trek: Lower Decks (Paramount+), which is, let’s all agree, the best Star Trek show since the original series.
- Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (Paramount+), which is the second best Star Trek since TOS.
- The Great British Baking Show (Netflix), which continues being the perennial favorite, despite the humor, the baking, and the charm all slipping away year by year ever since the pandemic.
And yes, looking back at the list I have to wonder what it would have looked like if we did have time for TV. Geez.