I don't know if this is true, but truly this might be the best set of a Top-10 yet. I'm sure if I actually looked back I could find a year to rival it, but more than anything what I love about my Top-10 this year is how damn all over the place is - from sitcoms to dramedies to dramas to whatever the hell it is Tim Robinson and Nathan Fielder are doing. Anyway - let's get to the Top 10.
On the one hand, this was probably outright the most "drama" or "story" heavy season of Gemstones yet, culminating with that incredible staged shootout at their summer estate. But when taht shootout also involves and already shot Jesse and Judy Gemstones are crawling across the floor to reach chekov's gun? Well, you've still got yourself gold. I did like that the season went to the root of how the Gemstone dynasty was created - from of course ex-Civil War turncoats and robber-barons. It also explore a lot around adult depression, loneliness and loss. The show was always more intrested in exploring religion and psyche than it was given credit for - none better than the alternating raunchiness and sadness around Eli's relationship with Lori. Also - of all the guest stars, my God was Sean Williams Scott brilliant as Corey. He is someone that needs a second career at this point, a good 25 years on from Stiffler. And of course, I can't leave this without talking up Baby Billy, which remains one of my favorite sitcom characters ever, and the role that even more than Boyd Crowder that Walton Goggins was born to play - hearing him say about his nanny that "we're not paying her to put on fashion shows. We're paying her to nan!" will remain with me long after this show has now left the air. Looking back, I appreciate that the early seasons were actually far more interesting about the question of if these churches are good or bad (there was more pro-church stuff than people will remember in those early episodes) but ultimately, mega-churches suck, but man as Gemstones showed, are they lampoonable.
9.) The Chair Company (Season 1, HBO)
I don't know if I Think You Should Leave is ever coming back, but if Tim Robinson has graduated to stuff like this (which combines the outright lunacy of ITYSL well with the serialized nature of The Detroiters) than I'll forgive him for it. The Chair Company was at its best when it didn't really know how close to ITYSL zaniness it should get - the best part being that conflict playing up mostly in Tim's own character - balancing a perfectly funny but staid sitcom type family life with a ITYSL everything else. Episodes like the fifth where we go to the bar and all hell brakes loose starting with the guy with a hole in his head. Like most best ITYSL stuff, writing plot points and siliness in text is a fool's errand to describe just how amazing it all is. What really impressed me though about the season was the mystery aspect. Yes, on its face Ron thinking there is a grand conspiracy against him because his office chair broke on stage is ITYSL stupid, but damn if he didn't figure out a way to make it compelling noir-type theater, from scary phone calls to voyeurs to actually revealing he was to some degree right about it all (after the brilliant drug-smuggling red herring). The season ended setting up multiple potential mysteries for Ron and daughter Natalie to explore with the other bunch of zany characters, and God I'm already smiling thinking of what ridiculous nonsense Tim Robinson will stuff into this crazy world of midwest Ohio.
8.) Dept. Q (Season 1, NETFLIX)
We go from a noir played for comedy with just enough noir / mystery brilliance to keep you coming back to a noir played for dark as fuck topics, with just enough verve and fun to keep you coming back. Department Q flew way under the radar when it came out, but from word of mouth it grew into a surprise NETFLIX hit. In recent years, NETFLIX has done so well co-producing English/BBC stuff (Bodies, Adolescence) but Department Q may have been the weirdest to really succeed. The Wire meets Veronica Mars (though, to be fair, not as good as either), the show really showcased some small moments so well, while exploring PTSD, racisim, biases and so much more ailing police work around the world. The idea behind it was fairly novel, but its approach of putting a gruff leader-type managing a team of wackos wasn't all that novel. Either way, it combined to something special (and a graet theme song to boot). By the end of it, when it revealed just how dark the plot at its center was, it almost washed over you, focusing us all more on the success of this ragtag group actually cracking the case. Few characters have been more captivating than Matthew Goode's Carl Morck. Really curious where this show goes - flash of pan shows like this that get renewed have a mixed track record, but there are so many more cold cases to explore, so many more weird randos to run into in the weird world of Scotland, that I'll be happy to be along for the ride. Just maybe next time no holding humans hostage for years on end.
7.) The Bear (Season 4, FX)
My #1 show in 2023 deservedly fell on the list quite a bit last year in its misbegotten Season 3. It wasn't bad, but was way up its own ass, and truly not all that funny. Well, it's fourth season was an amazing return to form - from the comedy, to the heart, to the lack of famous chefs who can't act (a very annoying part of its 3rd season). It seems clear that Christopher Storer realized what made this show special in its first two seasons, and what made it a bit of a mess last year, and stripped it back. This was the restaurant being fairly normal and successful (apart from computer's countdown clock) but focused back on the core group off characters - from Carmie's realization on his self-destructive streak turning away Claire, to a brilliant Richie storyline of him coming to terms with his ex re-marrying and sharing affection for his daughter with her new stepfather, to even the nice storyline of the beef window being the only real profitable part of the company. The season set its sights so far more narrow than bringing in Thomas Keller types as guest stars - focusing on The Bear, making it finally a working restuarant worth visiting, and just given the characters an air of professional competence that allowed us to better appreciate their personal incompetence and failings. It may never reach the singular beauty that was its second season, which had still the best character-showcase episodes, but I'm heartened how much The Bear's creative team seemed to learn from the poor press its third season got to scale it back and sharpen it back to something so lovable. The fourth season ended with its best cliffhanger yet, with Carmie ceding the restaurant fully to Sydney and (reluctantly, of course) Richie, but we know he's coming back for something great, much like the show will itself.
6.) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 17, FX)
Alan Sepinwall recently released his list of his 10 best TV shows of the year. The list shares some overlap - three of my Top-5 were on his list, including a shared number one. Surprisingly, he had Sunny rated higher than I do. Not sad in any way - if anything I love it - the show deserves it flowers. It's great reassurance that I wasn't crazy thinking how insanely good this season was. I'm honestly not even trying to grade them on a curve given the show is 17 years in and no other live action sitcom other than Curb has come within a decade of them season wise in a while. What was so incredible about this season was the consistency - there were no bad episodes. Hell, there were no average Sunny episodes. To me, they ranged from above average (e.g. Thought Leadership: A Corporate Conversation) to all-timers (Mac and Dennis become EMTs). The finale focusing on Frank finding love on the Golden Bachelor was also just a truly brilliant episode mixing normal Sunny sophomoric hilarity (Cock Chewah!) with poignancy that has been present often for Sunny at its best in recent years (Frank pouring his soul out to Carole King!). Between that, we got Mac and Charlie at a dog park, Frank as cake, a weirdly great Succession riff, their whole journey at Abbott Elementary (which worked perfectly despite me not watching that show), to Rob and Charlie accosting Cricket about if he ate a dick. This was Sunny distilled into something brilliant - to me their best 8-episode season yet (Season 14 to now). Technically, they're contracted to do an 18th and seems certain that such a season will exist. It's a bit of an unknown after that. One day this show will end, but it's clear at this point when it does, it will be because Rob, Charlie and Glenn chose to stop it, not because they lost an ounce of their brilliance.
