NFL 2019: Post Regular Season Rankings & Review

Part 1 - A Look Ahead for the 20 non-Playoff teams

32.) Washington Redskins  (3-13  =  266-435)

Biggest Focus point for 2020: Let someone else run the show. They've already started this by not just reassigning Bruce Allen but letting him go outright. That's a good first step. Apparently, they are all set on hiring Ron Rivera, which to me is a great move, but it will be a huge challenge to see if Rivera can bring some stability back, and how long it will last. The last time they went the veteran old coach was when they brought in Mike Shanahan. It was probably the most professional years for the franchise but even then Snyder and his cronies meddled. Let Rivera run the show. Let him get in a good OC to improve Haskins.


31.) Cincinnati Bengals  (2-14  =  279-420)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Draft Joe Burrow and let him cook. Honestly, they may as well start negotiating a contract with Burrow on Tuesday, January 14th, the day after his LSU team plays in the National Championship. There are warning signs - mainly his lack of elite production prior to this season, but he is the most clear-cut a #1 I can remember. Hopefully AJ Green will be back which will give Burrow a solid top weapon to work with. The Bengals if anything have great timing. They've rarely bottomed out like this, but when they have, after their 2-14 season in 2002 they got Carson Palmer, and after the 4-12 season in 2010 got AJ Green.


30.) New York Giants  (4-12  =  341-451)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Make sure the new coach/OC combo works with Daniel Jones. Honestly, I am fearful the new guy may want his own guy, especially if the new coach is a Matt Ruhle type. Daniel Jones was erratic but few rookie QBs have ever had so many good games, including three with 4 or more TDs and no picks. Again, no rookie had done that before. He has decent weapons around him like a breakout in Darius Slayton as well. There's something here, just have to hope the new coach doesn't try to reset too soon.


29.) Detroit Lions  (3-12-1  =  341-423)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Go back on your decision to keep Matt Patricia. Honestly, what has Matt Patricia done to deserve another season. He inherited a decent roster and a team that went 9-7 in back to back seasons (the first time the Lions have been >.500 in two straight years in like decades) and then proceed to take them to 9-22-1 over two seasons. Sure, he had to deal with Matthew Stafford getting injured, but outside of that they were fairly healthy over the course of the season. Out of all the Belichick protoges, honestly Patricia may be the worst.


28.) Carolina Panthers  (5-11  =  340-470)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Don't get too cute, though they probably will. Getting these young 'masterminds' that knew Sean McVay once or coached a dynamic team in college jsut isn't a guaranteed recipe to success. It just isn't. You just know the team owned by the hedge-fund guy is going to think this is all the rave and pick up some wunderkind. As it is the Panthers were comically bad the second they fired Ron Rivera. Like truly awful. It may not get better just because they go with an offensive mind instead of a steady hand like Rivera.


27.) Miami Dolphins  (5-11 =  306-494)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Draft Tua or Herbert, trade up if you have to. The one thing this team is missing is a solid long-term QB option. They have a nice mid-tier option in Fitzy, but that may actually be a great blessing with Tua maybe needing a redshirt season recovering from his brutal injury. This is a reasonably talented team with tons of cap space and draft picks. They seemingly have their coach. They need a QB, and of course a lot of defensive help, but the amount of defensive help you need lessens a whole lot if Tua works out.


26.) New York Jets  (7-9  =  276-359)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Cut bait quick if Gase can't improve the offense. Look, they're already deciding to give Adam Gase another go at it. Not sure why. That team stumbled to respectability mainly because of a defense that improved and Darnold overcompensating for the limited, boring, abjectly poor offensive style. The only thing keeping Adam Gase employed really is the Jets not wanting to look foolish and the fact Manning helped him get to 55 TDs in 2013.


25.) Jacksonville Jaguars  (6-10  =  300-397)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Start over from a mentality side. The Jaguars built something pretty cool in 2017, and probably deserved to go to the Super Bowl if one of a few things doesn't happen in their AFC Title Game loss to New England. They tore it down so quick, starting from the second they gave Blake Bortles money, compounding it by giving Nick Foles a ton of money, and letting a dominant defense beef and fester its way away to madness. They still have talent, but need a completely different management style.


24.) Oakland Raiders  (7-9  =  313-419)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Just settle on a QB. I know this is something that is against everything that Jon Gruden stands for. Tinkering with his QBs is basically what Jon Gruden is most known for. Anyway, if Derek Carr isn't his guy, then fine. But pick someone. The team has a good allotment of young talent, but stability at QB is imperitive for them to take their next step in an upward progression.


23.) Arizona Cardinals  (5-10-1  =  361-442)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Grow that defense. Kyler will improve. Sure, teh OL needs work but the weaponry and the brains behidn that are settled. The defense needs a whole lot of work though - even if like their coordinator. They have some draft capital, are probably a potential trade down candidate, and can really invest on that side of the ball.


22.) Cleveland Browns  (6-10  =  335-393)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Grow the eff up. Seriously now. They still have a lot of talent. Yes, the central figure in that 'talent' of Baker Mayfield has to improve, but the player who was so good in 2018 is still there somewhere. The real key factor  is professionalism, especially on defense. Way too many penalties. Way too much buying into your own talent. Myles Garrett needs to calm down, as do so many others. A new coach will help, or should but I do question their hiring practices under Jimmy Haslam.


21.) Los Angeles Chargers  (5-11  =  337-345)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Find a new QB, cut the cord. Philip Rivers was a great QB, but at this point, after his 20 INT campaign, there is a major emphasis on 'was'. His style of throwing has not allowed him to age well at all. It is OK though. This team is  one year removed from a 12-4 season, and its underlying numbers are more of an 8-8 team. They can get there, but the choice at QB will be an interesting one. I just know it isn't Philip Rivers.


20.) Indianapolis Colts  (7-9  =  361-373)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Don't pat yourselves on the back too much. The fact this team went 7-9, were nearly 8-8 on underlying stats, despite losing Andrew Luck preseason. Yes, that is a good end result, and it is a credit to Ballard and Reich. What is not a credit to Ballard and Reich? Jacoby Brissett not developing much. They overcame his flaws to start 5-3, and fell into them late into the season. Brisset is not the answer, no matter how many people like him. He's a fine backup, but they need to realize 7-9 still isn't great and the path forward has to be with someone else.


19.) Chicago Bears  (8-8  =  280-298)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Make sure this is Trubisky's last chance. Yes, you drafted him #2 and gave up a lot to get him. But you also gave up a lot to Khalil Mack and then paid him. The team is in win-now mode aside from a QB that is holding them back and didn't improve at all after their 12-4 season last year. Some of this is on Matt Nagy, but a lot needs o be on Trubisky as well.


18.) Atlanta Falcons  (7-9  =  381-399)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Improve organically isntead of keeping on waiting for the year everyone stays healthy. For three years now since their close Super Bowl loss, the Falcons have been waiting for their talented roster of defenisve players to not all get injured. It hasn't happened. Three years later, they need to start improving the team rather than hoping guys stay healthy especially now when they are older.


17.) Denver Broncos  (7-9  =  282-316)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Work with Drew Lock. He brought some excitement to the late season for the Broncos. Their defense remains solid, if not a Top-10 type unit. Lock can go in so many directions, but the Broncos need to put him in a better position to win, be it coaching, or playmakers, or more control of the offense. He should end up way better than Osweiler, but the infrastructure around him hasn't improved much since the Osweiler / Semien days.


16.) Pittsburgh Steelers  (8-8  =  289-303)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Have a plan B in case Roethlisberger doesn't come back 100%. There's an easy line for the Steelers to take right now, pairing a great defense with a returning HOF QB, but there is a noin-zero chance a late-30's, recently injured Roethlisberger is not the solution. For sure he'll be better than Duck Hodges or whatever, but to me the bigger risk is that he gets hurt again. Even if Roethlisberger is healthy, he probably doesn't have more than a couple years left. A plan B is needed at some point, and may be 2020 itself.


15.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers  (7-9  =  458-449)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Get Jameis back on a smart contract. Clearly, Mr 30/30 wasn't good enough to get a huge deal, and there's no real value in bringing him back on a 1-year deal. Why don't you take the opportunity to bring him back on a two or three-year deal at mid-market value. The talent is still there, as to 5,000 yards and 33 TDs attest. Of cousre the 30 INTs point ot the lack of decision making, but Bruce Arians has done wonders corralling gunslinger types in the past. Maybe not to this exent, but he can get early 2010s Roethlisberger production, maybe not 2015 Palmer production.


14.) Los Angeles Rams  (9-7  =  394-364)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Let Goff get some credit. Look maybe Jared Goff's strong 2017 and 2018 seasons were purely products of McVay. But assuming they aren't, if they are going to be great in 2020 they need Goff to be good enough to get some of the credit himself. Statistically, Goff still had a great season, but too many screens and check-downs and stuff that seem force-fed from McVay to less success in 2019. The Rams have been built to win in 2020-2021, and to that, they need a true franchise QB that is allowed to play like one.


13.) Dallas Cowboys  (8-8  =  434-321)

Biggest Focus Point for 2020: Get an established coach. It seems like Jason Garrett is finally done for this world. It's about time. What it also seems like is that the Cowboys may want to go the boy-wonder approach. Maybe that does work, but in reality, it isn't playcalling or system that is the issue here. It's game and situational management. And that is where a lot of boy-wonder types struggle. The Cowboys have everything but a smart coach who can adjust to game situations. For that, getting someone experience (Ron Rivera, but alas) is the key.

My 25 Favorite TV Show Seasons of the 2010s: #10 - #1

10.) Bojack Horseman - Season 4 (2017 - NETFLIX)

I'm not going to lie, I struggled with the question of it this was a better season than Bojack Season 3, but ultimately, I think the fourth season excelled at a few things that the third was slightly less good at: namely, focusing the psychology lessons and character studies on a larger set of people. This season had a stronger Mr. Peanutbutter and Diane plot with their marriage breaking over his attempt to run for governor. You had a truly great Princess Caralyn plot around her romance with a mouse and miscarriage, leading to a truly heart-wrenching episode told from the perspective of Princess Caralyn's mis-carried child had she been born and grown up. You had great Todd episodes. You had everything. The focus went more away from Bojack which was needed to push the show further. The creation of Hollyhocck and Bojack realizing what it means to be a father was also a great season-long arc that took the focus away from his career for a year. Bojack crested with its most daring season yet, and truly cemented its place as a Pantheon-level comedy.


9.) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Season 7  (2010 - FXX)

It's amazing to think of given we are now closing in on the end of Season 14, but at the start of the decade, the show was old enough that co-creator Rob McElhenney felt they needed to mix things up, so he went out and decided to gain 60 pounds. Given how the seasons have more and more started to blend into each other, this one will always be known as the 'Fat Mac' season, but even outside of the humor they mined out of Mac's weight, the shows 7th season was so good. It was the final season to have 13 episodes (they would go to 10 starting in Season 8). It produced a handful of incredible episodes that showcased the show's shift towards larger storytelling than hijinks at a bar.

Admittedly, the show was smarter and more nuanced than that early on, even as far back as Season 3 with episodes like 'The Gang Solves the North Korea Situation' but they leaned into it heavily in Season 7, looking at the misgivings of Social Media ('The Anti-Social Network'), child peagents ('Frank's Little Beauties') the unfairness of the civil rights movement (the much debated 'Frank's Brother') to how media creates controversy ('The Storm of the Century'). The show was at its best that year, and while the satire and smarts would get even more pointed, for Mac gaining 60 pounds alone and the show starting its now decade-long pivot into Social Commentary, this season gets all the plaudits it so heavily deserves.


8.) Chernobyl  (2019 - HBO)

Here's a weird take on Chernobyl - it actually is a damn uplifting show. In the face of such fascist, totalitarian rule (e.g. all the 'Soviets couldn't have built a bad reactor' stuff) a group of scientists, career politicians, and hundreds of poor volunteers worked together to save permanent global catastrophe. If anything, it showed the power of humanity if they can work together and sacrifice for the greater good.

The amazing characters the show painted was staggering, be it the spectacular casting, writing and performances of our three 'leads' in Valery Legasov, Boris Scherbina and Ulana Khomyuk (the only one not based on an historical figure). The career beaurocrats were swimmingly toxic. The workers who messed up to lead to the catastrophe were painted so unrelentingly beaten by the Soviet mindset. The whole show was so well constructed.

Ou of all the shows I';ve ranked #1 over the years (Fargo S1, Veep S4, People v. OJ, The Young Pope, Succession S1), this is probably the hardest one to rewatch, and the least 'entertaining' in teh traditional sense, but there is an argument that it is the best. It is a historical drama, but takes all the small moments - be it the people who didn't want to leave Chernobyl, the human trauma of using coal workers to pick up pieces of graphite one-by-one, to the mercy killing of dogs, to so much more. So much of TV in 2019 was negative and pessimistic - which led to a lot of great shows - and nothing came close to Chernobyl in its effectiveness.


7.) Veep - Season 4 (2015 - HBO)

This was the only comedy I ever ranked at #1 for an individual year, and as the best season of the best comedy of the 2000s, it was an easy choice. The 200s were defined by drama, but Veep was purely incredible in its seventh season, one that had Selina as President while also actively campaigning for it. The addition of Hugh Laurie as Tom James was perfect to mix it up a bit after we got used to the same people in the same roles. This season mixed it up completely, with Jonah trying to resurrect his career, Dan and Amy as lobbyists and Selina running around like mad.

The show did shine a cruelly beautiful light at what a president actually does - and of course while it is satire, it was probably showcasing a fake president who gave a lot more to the job than our current real one. What really set the show apart, and provided arguably its apex as a series, was that series of the episodes to end the season. First with B/Ill showing the true side of congressional lobbying, and the incredible game of politicking to get a bill signed. Then of course was maybe the shows best ever episode in 'Testimony' watching all of our favorites take part in a congressional hearing, with such brilliant moments as Mike pretending not to know how his notes app works, and of course the listing out of Jonah's many, many nicknames.

The season ends with the ridiculous convolution (based on real law) that the VP would take over the presidency because there was an electoral college tie - something that of course can happen. As with everything great about Veep, it exposed the stupidity of our government, in the funniest, sharpest, most cutting of ways.


6.) Succession - Season 1  (2018 - HBO)

Remember when I said about Stranger Things that few shows were more surprising to be hits. Well, Succession was one of those shows. HBO dropped it randomly over the summer. There's literally no headlining actor or actress, with just a few semi-known character actors thrown in. It even started somewhat slow, with an Arrested Development like opening of the old patriarch not giving up control of his company to his fake golden child son. Then Logan had a stroke. Then he woke up, and mustered the energy out of nowhere to stake his claim in full. Then his son tried to oust him and failed, and Logan shouted 'You Lose. I'm Trying to turn a FUCKING TANKER AROUND' and then we were treated to maybe the best five straight episodes of television in a standard TV series of any in the decade. From the moment Kendall lost the vote of no confidence, through the finale with tears streaming down his face while Logan calls him his 'number one boy' was about as good as television as you can have.

For a quick reminder, those episodes featured a whole lot of Cousin Greg and Tom (eating birds whole under a hood), a bachelor party in an underground club where Greg does a whole lot of coke, a trip to Connor's scenic desert retreat, a couple trips to Europe, and so much more. The corporate manuevering that was the plot was interesting, but so was watching this group of hilariously greedy, awful people interact and back-stab each other time after time. A lot of people couldn't get into teh show because of how terrible the people were, but much like its comedy counterpart Arrested Development (seriously, the similarities are jarring) watching terrible people be terrible is a whole lot of fun. More than anything else, the show oozed fun, it oozed entrapment, it oozed brilliance.


5.) Game of Thrones - Season 4  (2014 - HBO)

I underanked Game of Thrones at the time. I've done my ranking of Top shows in 2014-2019. The Top-eight in this ranking includes the six #1 shows I had, a show that was on in 2013, and then this one. Game of Thrones was the pinnacle of TV in terms of modern consumption in the 2010s (last season shenanigans excluded), and its best season to me was its 4th, where the main story focused almost exclusively on the political machinations in King's Landing, with the death of Joffrey, the Trail of Tyrion, and his final killing of his father. The stuff outside of King's Landing was interesting too, with the Watchers On the Wall, all the Baelish/Sansa/Lyssa stuff, and Dany's continued reign. But at its heart, to me Game of Thrones was best when it focused on the political stuff, and in that it was truly great.

Everything in King's Landing in Season 4 was note perfect. The memories of watching Tyrion's trail, and his final speech before being sentenced to death is still a highlight of Game of Thrones as a show. All scenes with teh Red Viper were special. Those last moments with Joffrey at his best/worst shocased a truly great young actor who sadly has been typecast into that role. Everything around Olenna Tyrell was amazing. The show was incredible at its best, and in its fourth season with the show about as large as it would ever be (few characters were introduced after this) it was as good as it would ever be.


4.) American Crime Story: The People v. OJ Simpson  (2016 - FX)

The first time I did a list like this was in 2014, when I put Fargo at #1. To me, that was an easy call. It was the show that best defined television in 2014, that best showcased the medium - and ultimately it was a wholly surprising given how hard it was going to be to pull off, to create a TV show in the same universe with the same tone as a beloved cult film. In many ways, The People vs. OJ Simpson was so similar. Nothing was more memorable about TV in 2016 than this, and nothing was more surprising. Unlike the other OJ piece, this was not a documentary, this was scripted, original material. This was a show with actors playing the part of real people - people that themselves became celebrities during the OJ ordeal. This was such a daunting task, I was skeptical from the start. The skepticism went away quickly, and was replaced by sheer joy.

One of the links between Fargo and The People vs. OJ Simpson (and so many other great shows including my #2 this year), was just how much fun they were to watch. I don't know if any show was as good as this in that regard. Like all shows it starts with the acting. Everyone was great. Few shows have such a star-studded cast, and, putting aside Travolta's Shapiro for a minute, while most of the big names got smaller parts they were all amazing, like Nathan Lane's F. Lee Bailey. Of course, the stars were Courtney B. Vance's amazing portrayal of Johnny Cochrane, and Sarah Paulson's great, complicated view of Marcia Clark. While the documentary focused on the larger picture, The People vs. OJ Simpson focused in on the trail and the main players, and did an incredible job. The courtroom scenes were great. The emotional arcs of Chris Darden and Clark were great. The infighting in OJ's circle was so well scripted and played. The largest flaw people seemed to have was Travolta's portrayal, but even that I thought hit the spot given how larger than life Bob Shapiro considered himself. My main takeaway from the show ended up being just how incredibly entertaining it was. The hours flew by, and after each one I left my chair with a large smile on my face. Nothing was better, few were even close, to The People vs. OJ Simpson in 2016.


3.) The Young Pope  (2017 - HBO)

There are three distinct aspects to The Young Pope that I think they did better than any show I have ever seen. First is cinematography (or maybe lighting, not sure what the right term is). The airy way the show was shot fit so well into the almost heaven-like nature of the show. Some of those scenes were so airy, so dream-like, which fit so well with the show as a whole. Second, the music. Man that score, such a perfect mix of EDM to House to Folk. The star was probably 'Recondite' the synth-heavy track that was used so well, but all the music was perfect. Best example actually is the theme, with All Along the Watchtower setting the scene so damn well.

Finally, and it must be said, was Jude Law's performance. The smarm, the delivery, the charm, all of it was so damn on point from episode 1. Seeing him interact with various people was always such a brilliant experience. Most memorably was every interaction with bespectacled Cardinal Vieollo, but so good also were his interactions with the other Cardinals, the Prime Minister of Italy and the President of Greenland. Every moment was so good in that large, empty hall he sat in.

The plot also should be mentioned. While the marketing leaned heavy into the 'Hey, its a Pope, but he's young and HOT!' angle, teh show itself turned that around 180 degrees, with the genius idea to make Pope Lenny a staunch conservative Pontiff wanting to take the Vatican back centuries, a brilliant spin that gave the show life. It was a joy to watch the inner workings (however distorted they may be) of the Vatican, the politics, the intrigue, and, of course, the kanagaroo of it all.


2.) Breaking Bad  - Season 3  (2010 - AMC)

Breaking Bad is forever lost to the same fate that espoused say Zinedine Zidane - a player who's peak was 1998-2006. Never really tied to any one decade. Breaking Bad started in 2007 and ended in 2013. It's third season that aired in 2010 just sneaks into eligibility here, which is great because it will remain my favorite season of the shows run, and the only one I would put up against the best season of The Wire Season 1 or 4 (or Arrested Development Season 2, or my show at #1 here). As a quick reminder, this season first peeled back the world's awareness to Walt's cruelty, with Skylar knowing about his meth-making. It also toed between the woebegone RV days (the RV was destroyed during the season), and the Super-Lab being built (the season ending with Gale being killed). It was the only season to showcase every part of Breaking Bad's brilliance, to the small-show buddy-cop comedy, to the high stakes of the Cartel. It was as wide as Breaking Bad would get, and could show it could explore a ton of areas, much like The Wire.

Outside of just seeing Walt's continued devolving mental state, the season had the best Hank storyline, with his PTSD making him unable to take the transfer to El Paso, and then beat up Jesse which put him the position to be ambushed by The Cousins - leading to maybe the best ever dramatic scene in TV history for pure excitement and drama. You had a great Jesse season as well, with him dealing with teh fallout of losing Jane and wallowing into madness. There was no bad storyline or even bad moment in the season.

Aside from the large storylines, the season also gave the show some of its most memorable episodes, if not the most memorable standalone episodes of the decade in The Fly, the bottle episode set in Gus's super-lab, which was a masterpiece in small, quiet but anxious storytelling. Vince Gilligan never seemed as much in control of his world as it did during Breaking Bad season 3. To me, there's always a difference between plot and story. Plot is getting from A to B, and story is showing C, D, E and F as well. The Wire was the best ever at showing story - at times the plot was entirely secondary. At a high level, Breaking Bad was highly plot driven - which is not bad, but Season 3 was the closest it got to showing story, showing a world, and it did it incredibly well.


1.) Fargo  -  Season 1 (2014 - FX)

I probably only did my rankings in 2014 because I wanted to extol just how incredible Fargo was. That show should have never hit the air. But Noah Hawley had an idea, to set a show with the tone and vocabulary and style of the Coen Brothers most beloved property, and damn did it work.

I also do want to mention I think Fargo is underrated in its overall impact. Before Fargo, the idea of a few 'film' stars coming together to film a limited series seemed ludicrous aside from a HBO prestige project every few years. Fargo re-invented that fully with its show prescribing Martin Freeman and Billy Bob Thornton into lead roles. Fargo was such a monstrous hit it swept the 'miniseries' awards in the Emmys, something that quickly became the most hotly contested category year after year (e.g. People v. OJ or Big Little Lies). Fargo set a tone that so many others would try to copy for the rest of the decade: trying to find a perfect balance of follow-able plot, and so much verve and magic.

Fargo's first season was perfect storytelling, really. The world it built almost immediately, through the eyes of the monster of Lorne Malvo, the middling husband of Lester Nygaard, and of course the eyes of the viewer, the daring Molly Solverson (played brilliantly by Allison Tolman). The mythology and nuance they added was so special. The side-plots were perfectly Cohen-esque without ever seeming to outright copy what they did - no better example than the endlessly fun sideplot of the 'King of Supermarkets' and Glenn Howerton's dumb-putz gym trainer Don.

Fargo was probably simultaneously the most influential show of the decade, the most impactful, and when viewed in isolation, the best as well. It changed tones enough for its second season, and dropped enough in quality in its third, that it probably won't get the legacy it deserved. That said, for a show that most people thought never should have been made, there is a reason it got universal critical aplomb, set the stage for a solid half-decade of mini-series being pushed down our throats, and to showcase that a big-stage cast in a small-screen world can work magic.-

My 25 Favorite TV Show Seasons of the 2010s: #25 - #11

**Quick note, so I started ranking my favorite TV shows in 2014, but there are a few shows from 2010-2013 on this list - admittedly less as I don't have as many good memories**

**Quick note 2: I limited to a maximum of 2 seasons per show - so there's a few seasons that aren't on this for that reason - like other Breaking Bad seasons**


25.) Veep - Season 3  (2014 - HBO)

Veep was probably in my view the best show that both premiered and ended in the 2010s. It probably gets beaten by a few shows that started in teh 2000s (e.g. Breaking Bad) and may get passed by shows that will end in the 2020s, but maybe no show defined the decade in TV more than Veep. It perfectly satirized politics in the Obama era, and I think I'll rate its work by far to be most effective during those years. The show in Season 3 was the first to truly expand the purview beyond 'veep' and to Selina running for and getting the Presidency (due to resignation), and grew the problems she and her team would face to larger scale. From episodes like London, where she wades right into international geopolotics, to the incredible debate episodes. It also started showing the exodus out of the White House, starting with Jonah and Ryantology. The show started really understanding all its characters. It showed the show could scale up, paving the way for a truly pantheon-level season the next year when she was President and running for it simultaneously - needless to say way up this list. Veep is the first of four shows that I have with multiple seasons on the list as well.


24.) Bojack Horseman - Season 3 (2016 - NETFLIX)

To me, Bojack is the best pure streaming TV show that has been made so far. It doesn't get the hype or pull of Stranger Things or Narcos. Despite it getting increasingly popular over the last couple seasons, NETFLIX CEO Reed Hastings has openly said that it has only lasted this long because it is his personal favorite show that they've done. Anyway, Bojack Season 3 was the show beginning to reach its fully grown form of perfectly balancing incredibly nuanced comedy with incredibly nuanced look at human psychology, fame and depression. The third season had the year-long arc of Bojack being nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of Secretariat, but the best focus of the season was it increasingly becoming about Bojack realizing fame doesn't make him happy. The season had some truly astonishing episodes, like 'Fish Out of Water' taking place fully underwater and without dialogue, to 'Brap, Brap, Pew, Pew' a truly deft hilarious take on the abortion debate. The show was probably never funnier than it was in its third season, the one that cemented it as an all-time worthy show.


23.) Narcos - Season 2  (2016 - NETFLIX)

A long time ago, VH1 ranked the Top 100 Songs in Hard Rock. They ranked Van Halen's Running With the Devil at #8. There is no way it is the 8th best Hard Rock song ever - but they ranked it there because they wanted to honor Van Halen and picked maybe their most influential track. That is what thsi ranking is, honoring one of the streaming OGs, the one that crossed nations and backgrounds and became, allegedly, NETFLIX's most-watched original series. The second season grew from the more lecture and history lesson style of the first season, paired back the story to just the cops and mostly Pablo Escobar's slow desolution and isolation. It was a great character study, truly something close to Breaking Bad level. The show also continued with its astounding cinematography and flair. Yes, the acting was inconsistent and the (admittedly, translated) dialogue a bit on the nose at times, but the legacy of Narcos, and Wagner Moura's brilliant portrayal as Pablo, more than make up for it.


22.) Happy Endings - Season 2  (2012 - ABC)

Every few months, some outfit like the AV Club or Vulture will put out a list of shows that went away too soon. The candle-bearer in the 90s was Freaks and Geeks, and then probably something like Firefly in the 2000s. Well, for the 2010s, it has to be (for me at least) Happy Endings. It took a full season for the show to find itself, but once it stripped away the 'plot' of a fried group reacting to a husband-to-be leaving his bride at the altar, and became a simple joke-machine, the show shined. The writing was great, the wordplay was better, the acting was excellent, using a lot of talented people in better ways than any other show has before or since (see people like Casey Wilson, Adam Pally and, most obviously, Elisha Cuthbert in their other comedic work). Episodes like their Halloween party - fit with Casey Wilson and Adam Pally in a baby bjorn costume - or their portrayal of a gay couple played straight or episodes like Big White Lies, a smart showcase homage to shows like Three's Company. It was smart, it was fast, it was great, and yes, it died way too soon.


21.) Better Call Saul - Season 1  (2015 - AMC)

I don't know if the first season of Better Call Saul was its best. I do know, however, it never seemed so magical as it did, when we were still spellbounded that we could return to this world, take a character that was largely played for comic relief, and make him the lead of an hour-long drama. It worked, and it worked spectacularly. I don't want to compare it to Breaking Bad, but Vince Gilligan has such a laser focus on how to build a show. They smartly kept Mike and Saul (Jimmy) apart for most of the first season, slowly meting out cameos in a way they stopped being so cautious with in later seasons. This was probably the only season it was mostly about Jimmy, the half of the show that always appealed more to me. Better Call Saul remained great, and finished its 2010s portion with Jimmy saying 'Better Call Saul' for the first time, but it was never as true to its ethos as its first season.


20.) Stranger Things - Season 1 (2016 - NETFLIX)

It's hilarious to realize given how ridiculously hyped it was by the time the third season came about in 2019 that Stranger Things got basically zero publicity the first time around. It was dropped without much fanfare, and gained support through random 30-somethings watching it for the nostalgia. It perfectly paid homage to basically everything great from the 80s without going too on-the-nose (something later seasons would tie the line a bit more on). The first season of Stranger Things was just so perfect. The kids too young to be annoying, characters like Nancy so well drawn. And of course there was Winona Ryder and David Harbour's amazing chemistry. The plot itself was tightly wound and didn't go too apocalyptic like it would in its second and third seasons as well. Hawkins seemed like any middle-America town in the best way, and the show pulled all the right heartstrings. Other than maybe one or two shows I have ahead of it, there was no better sudden surprise than the first season of Stranger Things.


19.) Game of Thrones - Season 1 (2011 - HBO)

The first season of what would be the show that would commercially define the decade on TV was hyped in a way, but was nothing like the world-wide phenomenon it would become somewhere around the Season 5 or so time. That said, the reason it ever ended up there was because Season 1 was so good. Again, the best drama centered around King's Landing, with the slow reveal of Stupid Nedd Stark leading to one of the more shocking moments on TV in the decade when he was beheaded. The action in other areas, notably Dany's empowerment arc, also added to a rich canvas that would only keep expanding as it went on. It took a while for the show to match/surpass its incredible start - tough to top it when you get a pilot that starts with incest and a boy getting pushed out the window, and climaxes with a beheading and the birth of dragons.


18.) The Loudest Voice  (2019 - Showtime)

The best horror series of the decade, The Loudest Voice was so good in showing just how horrifying the rise and terroristic reign of Roger Ailes was. All in the name of strong numbers, he forever ruined American news, while also being a horrible monster. While the story was true horror, the performacnes and craft behind it were brilliant. Russell Crowe was amazing as Roger Ailes throughout his life from powerful, power-hungry junior executive, to head honcho, to aging monolith. The character actors playing the Murdoch's, Roger's various right-hand-men, and especially Gretchen Carlson were all strong, as the show pivoted well into #METOO discussion. It was written and performed well enough you still exhibited a strong smile of glee when the Murdoch's finally canned Roger Ailes for sexual abuse even though we know it had no real impact on FOX News and its ability to tear this nation apart. There's a movie more or less based on the same source material coming out, but I highly doubt it will be as engrossing as the show.


17.) Babylon Berlin - Season 1  (2018 - NETFLIX)

Yes, I realize almost no one in America watched this series about Germany at the tail end of the Weimar Republic (between WWI and WWII). It was a hit in Europe however, and for the few that did watch it in America, they were treated to a spectacular period piece of a time no one really wants to know about - the pre-WWII Germany, where the Nazi's were slowly rising to combat open communism and the still-breathing democratic structure the Weimer Republic tried to espouse. The acting was great, particularly the three leads of Gereon Rath, Bruno Walter and Charlotte Ritter. The small moments, though, were the best, like the showtune to close out the 2nd episode, the first "damn, this is special" moment of the show, to Charlotte's slow attempt at becoming a part-time inspector. NETFLIX spared no budget - the most expensive foreign-language show ever, allegedly - and it showed with resplendant sets, great action sequences and a largesse in plot and characters that was endlessly entertaining.


16.) Nathan For You - Season 2  (2014 - Comedy Central)

One of the defining shows of the Twitter era, Nathan For You probably had more meme-able and gif-able moments than most shows from its era. It's cult following was tremendously big, probably pushing it to four incredible seasons. Its second season was probably its most memorable, cresting with 'Dumb Starbucks' the first single-idea episode the show did, and the first one that was actually covered as a legitimate news story way prior to it airing on Comedy Central. The season leaned into its first season idea and started mocking Nathan himself, something that became an integral part of the shows third and fourth seasons. This season also started to showcase just how far Nathan would push an idea, with the prime example being having random people pretend to be extras in his film to bring business to a souvenir shop (man do these ideas just sound so hilariously dumb when typed out). Nathan For You somehow lasted four seasons, and a lot of that was on the satirical strength it showcased in its second.


15.) American Vandal - Season 1  (2017 - NETFLIX)

The Office may have been the first show I've seen the term 'mockumetary' used to describe it. Apparently, 'Mockumentary' basically meant every so often you have people talk to the camera directly interview style. That's not a mockumentary, or at the very least nothing compared to what American Vandal released. There may never be a better pure mockumetary ever than two high school kids trying to figure out who drew the dicks. What American Vandal did so well was just play it straight - the people in teh show were really serious about figuring out who drew the dicks. It was played as a true investigative documentary - coming a couple years after Serial begat Making a Murderer. It was brilliant - take a ridiculous farcical premise but play the show as if everyone was 100% serious. Outside of the central plot, the show actually brillaintly constructed and satirized highs-school dynamics better than most shows that are set in high schools, especially when looking at teacher-student dynamics. The show was hilarious, it was smart, it was introspective. It was effortlessly satirical, and it did all of this with basically zero known stars or showrunners.


14.) Parks and Recreation - Season 3  (2011 - NBC)

Parks and Recreation started out as a pretty mediocre show that tried to copy The Office too hard. Then it modified and became a great show in its second season. In its encore, it finally entered true greatness by stripping away a misplaced character (Mark Brendanawicz), replaced his role with the tag team of Adam Scott and Rob Lowe, and catapulted itself into TV Sitcom legend. The third season focused mostly on Leslie's push for the Harvest Fair, a great vehicle for teh season to drive towards, to have a clear local-government type goal. It mixed in so much else though that would ground the show forever, with Andy and April getting married, the introduction of muiltiple Tammy's, so many great scenes at The Snakehole lounge, the launch of Entertainment 720, the first sign of Eagleton and of course Li'l Sebastian. The show peaked in its brilliant third season, the one that probably set the bar for network sitcoms in the 2010s.


13.) Breaking Bad - Season 5.2  (2013 - AMC)

There's a few seasons on this list that will probably seem low, where I have to somewhat defend my intentions and rationale. This is probably one of them, a season that was largely seen as one of the best final seasons of an all-tiem great show ever. And while it was great (let's remember, there was a lot of truly awesome TV on in the 2010s), I had one large issue with the season that will always gnaw at me (and kept it from a Top-10 ranking). This issue was that I just never cared about Todd and the Nazis as a Big Bad. The show should have ended with Walt vs. Hank. It didn't - though it gave us some great material between those two. The Nazis were just so outsized in their evil. The show stopped being about meth. And while you can argue it was just a character study, and seeing Walt's world completely crumble against this enemy was the natural end point, I would have it rather have even come against the cartels than a random plot of nazis who apparently could do what a billion-dollar cartel industry could not. That all said, man were some of the moments so good. The acting was ludicrously good as always, same with the cinematography and the writing. Vince Gilligan was truly a master by this point, and gave the show the ending it deserved.


12.) Fargo - Season 2  (2015 - FX)

Many people thought Fargo's second season was better than it first, a bit more tightly packed with a few more interesting characters that played central to the main story (unlike teh scores of side-plots in the first season). I disagree, but only because I have unnatural fondness or Fargo's first season. Anyway, this second season was pure magic again, a thrilling period piece with as many strange characters, as many brilliantly drawn archetypes, and once again just amazing acting and writing. The whole Gerhardt family was masterfully cast, including an amazing performance by Jean Smart as the matriarch. Bookem Woodbine was a revelation as Mike Milligan. Patrick Wilson was maybe better than he has ever been, which isn't saying all that much, but you can make the argument the same applies to Ted Danson, which is saying a whole hell of a lot. The story was a bit more intricate than in its first season, with the trade-off being fewer sideplots. I was fine with that trade-off as it left a truly brilliant plot behind, with again the central story of why Fight or Flight should rarely ever fall in the 'Fight' camp.


11.) Watchmen - Season 1  (2019 - HBO)

I've read the comic. I actually enjoyed the movie. I had no real expectations for a Watchmen TV show, and that was before I realized it was something of a faux-sequel. And then I actually watched it and realized Damon Lindelof's Watchmen world was something truly incredible. It was about 5% too complicated and too weird a show to go any higher than this - the two shows ahead of it are pointedly based on real material. But compared to a show like Legion, Watchmen was perfectly weird, perfectly distinct, and perfectly special. The slow reveal of who Dr. Manhattan is, how it is all connected, how Manhattan's circular existence is the cause of so much of the pain: all of it worked. It ended with a flurry of reveals of how everything tied together, down to the flaccid baby squid attack in the first episode - the first sign that this show was something beautifully strange.

My Top 20 TV Shows of 2019: #5-1

Quick Look Ahead at returning shows in 2020:

The New Pope (#1 in 2017) - returns January
Curb Your Enthusians (#9 in 2017) - returns January
Better Call Saul Season 5 - returns February
Fargo Season 4 - returns sometime in 2020
Babylon Berlin (#2 in 2018) - returns sometime in 2020



5.) Bojack Horseman  (NETFLIX - Season 6.1)

Bojack went the route of Breaking Bad or Mad Men, splitting its final season into two parts. It gives us more episodes than a conventional Bojack season (16 vs. 12), but the wait for the second half is going to be excruciating after how good the first half still was. It was probably even darker than it ever had been before, with all characters in various states of disarray. Most notably, seeing Bojack actually work through rehab was a beautiful touch, getting deeper into his dark, deep demeanor. The other characters also all found themselves in darker positions than in the past, with Mr. Peanutbutter realizing he too is depressed, Princess Carolyn overwhelmed with caring for her child. Todd even getting a darker plot arc with the introduction of his parents. The show was still riotously funny, but it was amazing to see how naturally it could go to its natural dark concluding point.

The sight gags, the small background jokes, the sharpness, all of that was still there. THe show portends a truly great ending season, where I do hope they lean a bit more on the comedy side of the equation, but Bojack has been so easily able to toe the line between comedy and drama. The best thing the show did in the season was make everyone take their situation seriously. Bojack actually improving through rehab. Mr. Peanutbutter throwing away his happy-go-lucky shield. All of it. Its hard to call a show with so many sight gags and jumor as raw, real and socially relevant, but here we are.

4.) Succession  (HBO - Season 2)

Succession Season 1 was my top ranked show last year, with maybe the greatest run of episodes I've ever seen in its second half, starting with Kendall's failed vote of no confidence. Season 2 was more hyped - I've never seen a show grow in promotional value in a year like this one. And guess what, it was still fantastic as ever. Logan even more powerful. Machinations and moves upon machinations and moves, from Logan, from Kendall (with the ultimate knife-in-the-back moment in teh finale) from Shiv, from even Tom and Greg. The show was excellent, with such good acting and interplay between the characters. The show leaned more heavily on drama this season than comedy, but it remained harrowingly funny at times, particularly small side-plots like Connor's failed run for president and Tom and Greg's continued buddy-cop drama. The final episode, with everyone fending for themselves and back-stabbing each other around the dinner table on a private yacht was everything great about this show, which remains one of the most unlikely but awesome hits in recent years.

The show was more plot forward in this season, with so many more backroom dealings and simultaneous scheming. The new additions, especially Holly Hunter as the competing CEO, were all great, expanding the universe a bit from the first season's sole focus on the family. Sure, some things were a little too predictable and silly - more than anything Roman's tryst with Gerry. But even that was played more straight than just for laughs, showing Roman as someone who needs a mother figure, needs maturity to force him to grow up. The season ending, with Logan getting knifed out in public by Kendall, in a move that may have been coordinated between him and Shiv, was special, and sets the show up for potentially another great season to come.


3.) Watchmen  (HBO)

I've read the comic. I actually enjoyed the movie. I had no real expectations for a Watchmen TV show, and that was before I realized it was something of a faux-sequel. And then I actually watched it and realized Damon Lindelof's Watchmen world was something truly incredible. It was about 5% too complicated and too weird a show to go any higher than this - the two shows ahead of it are pointedly based on real material. But compared to a show like Legion, Watchmen was perfectly weird, perfectly distinct, and perfectly special. The slow reveal of who Dr. Manhattan is, how it is all connected, how Manhattan's circular existence is the cause of so much of the pain: all of it worked. It ended with a flurry of reveals of how everything tied together, down to the flaccid baby squid attack in the first episode - the first sign that this show was something beautifully strange.

I only have two as-minor-as-possible quibbles with its brilliant first season. First, as already mentioned it was slightly too weird - even if a lot of the weirdness would be brought back around and explained by the season's end. Second,, while the show was not the same as the comic or movie, by the end of it, we had basically seen every key character, all with significant arcs, aside from Rohrsach. It started out something like Fargo - very much in the world but wholly different, but by the end took the Better Call Saul approach of being far more invovled in the source material than expected.

That all said, it was so good. The drama and direction were incredible. The acting was great. The plot itself was intricate, expansive, while also being so painfully and perfectly cultured to create a lasting throughline through the show. By the end, we had a masterpiece, one that surprisingly may not continue - at the very least probably won't with David Lindelof as its muse. There are some unanswered questions - such as what happens with Viedt, and if Sister Night does indeed inherit Dr. Manhattan's powers, but even if this is it, we have on our hands a true masterpiece.


2.) The Loudest Voice  (Showtime)

My little line about The Loudest Voice was calling it the best horror show on TV, as it was mystifyingly scary to see Roger Ailes's rise, his hatred of minorities turn Fox News into a propaganda machine starting with Obama's election (more than it already was), and his final fall. The show was incredibly well made, even if the subject matter was about an institution that has led to so much pain and trouble in our country. The peerless way they showed Ailes slow devolvation from somewhat interested newsman into maniacal right-wing nut was horriyfingly engrossing. It is hard to call it entertaining, but when you put aside the subject matter and its very real world impacts, you are left with so many awesome performances, particularly Russell Crowe's scene-stealing performance of Roger Ailes.

The show was so incredibly well done that by the very end, when Murdoch's sons finally got to oust serial abuser Roger Ailes, you still cheered despite knowing it wouldn't really fix the corrective rot at Fox News. The Gretchen Carlson side of teh show was horrifyingly interesting to watch as well - watching a talented woman first be turned into a shill, and then work up the courage to rebel against a man who was able to run roughshod over people as powerful as Rupert Murdoch and sons for years. All in the name of ratings.Somehow, the world is getting a FOX News movie this year as well, but I am certain it won't be as engaging and enthralling as the best horror show on television in years.


1.) Chernobyl  (HBO)

I knew Chernobyl was great when I first watched it, but be it second screen or just the dense plot, I didn't fully understand it the first time. I then saw so many people I respect call it incredible, so I watched it again with devoted attention (on a plane) and I have to say: it was truly incredible. Yes, it is dark, but aside from a few scenes dealing with medical patients, it isn't horrific. We don't see the actual impact moment of the explosion, just the lead-up and the aftermath.

Here's a weird take on Chernobyl - it actually is a damn uplifting show. In the face of such fascist, totalitarian rule (e.g. all the 'Soviets couldn't have built a bad reactor' stuff) a group of scientists, career politicians, and hundreds of poor volunteers worked together to save permanent global catastrophe. If anything, it showed the power of humanity if they can work together and sacrifice for the greater good.

The amazing characters the show painted was staggering, be it the spectacular casting, writing and performances of our three 'leads' in Valery Legasov, Boris Scherbina and Ulana Khomyuk (the only one not based on an historical figure). The career beaurocrats were swimmingly toxic. The workers who messed up to lead to the catastrophe were painted so unrelentingly beaten by the Soviet mindset. The whole show was so well constructed.

Ou of all the shows I';ve ranked #1 over the years (Fargo S1, Veep S4, People v. OJ, The Young Pope, Succession S1), this is probably the hardest one to rewatch, and the least 'entertaining' in teh traditional sense, but there is an argument that it is the best. It is a historical drama, but takes all the small moments - be it the people who didn't want to leave Chernobyl, the human trauma of using coal workers to pick up pieces of graphite one-by-one, to the mercy killing of dogs, to so much more. So much of TV in 2019 was negative and pessimistic - which led to a lot of great shows - and nothing came close to Chernobyl in its effectiveness.

My Top 20 TV Shows of 2019: #10-6

10.) Mindhunter  (NETFLIX - Season 2)

This was my biggest miss maybe ever as I just completely forgot to include it in my 2017 rankings, where it probably would have been placed around the #8-#5 mark. Anyway, it took a while for David Fincher’s love-child to make it back, but it came back strong, shifting its focus to an ongoing case, mixing in some more legendary serial killers (including Manson played by the same guy who played Manson in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood). There were some interesting storylines this year that expanded to the personal lives outside of the unit, including Tench’s failing marriage and Carr’s lesbianism being unearthed. Mindhunter actually working on an ongoing case simplified the serial killer mental examination half of the show, but introduced mind-bending dramatic moments and tension, which the show did just as well as those pulsating interviews that defined its first season.

9.) The Deuce  (HBO - Season 3)

The Deuce ended in 2019, showing the end of the ‘deuce’ street in New York, with bright lights of Time Square replacing the seediness of the past. The only shame of the show moving from pimp-lined streets straight through the rise of pornography and the modernization of the city means the show sadly stripped away a lot of its black characters. Still, though, the final season was a perfect paean to old New York, the struggles and the beauty. The focus on painfully ending character arcs like Lori realizing she’ll never escape the ills of work in the business, to Candi realizing she’ll never be respected outside of it, to Vinny losing his brother and his religion. The show was painfully depressing at times in its last season, but that was meaningful, it was real, it showcased a really tough time in the cities, and he nation’s history with loving care. And I do have to talk about that ending, Vinnie’s dream-like walk through current-day Time Square, replete with Elmos and H&Ms, showing every character that played a role in the show, from Method Man’s pimp through Thunder Thighs, the prostitute that memorably died in the opening episode. By the end, I was ready to re-evaluate my overall love of this in that I didn’t love it enough at the time. It is no The Wire, to be sure, but David Simon created a show with a lot of care and a lot of love.

8.) Veep  (HBO - Season 7)

Veep also ended this year and while the show didn’t reach the heights in its second, third or fourth season (the 4^th one was my #1 show for 2015), it was a great return to form with Selina on the campaign trail, featured some truly memorable moments, and had a great final episode, with Selina winning but selling her soul. The show started in the Obama era – technically in his first term. It ended knee-dump into the Trump era. The show evolved to go more down the path of Selina being a truly awful person, but to some degree it needed to. The Veep of S2-4 (Obama years) wouldn’t have made sense in a post-Trump world. What the show did really well this season is mix in guest stars and giving all the main cast good beats to play, from Mike as a failing-upwards blogger-come-talk show host, to Amy selling out and being Jonah’s campaign manager. The whole idea of Jonah running semi-successfully (in polls at least) for Congress would have seemed absurd to the Season 2 Veep, but it made sense now. They also quite well spoofed some of the most inane moments of the Trump presidency. Overall, Veep left on a high-note – especially the closing montage of Selina’s funeral with so many incredible gags (Richard as three-term President, Dan still horndogging, and of course Tom Hanks’s death). It left its mark as the best comedy of the 2010s, cementing the legacy after two average seasons in a post-Iannuci world.

7.) Stranger Things  (NETFLIX - Season 3)

They took their sweet time coming back, and had a very different slant on the next acopalyptic tale to hit Hawkins, but man was Stranger Things still really good. I didn’t love the fact early on that they split the main characters into three distinct groups, but the energy it created when they all finally did come together in Hawkins Mall was special, and it isolated one of the weaker parts of the season (Dustin slowly turning into a whining brat) and built a truly special portion with Steve, Robin and Erica, the two female characters being instantly likable and awesome. Naturally with a show that started out with key characters (and their actors) being 10-12 years old, there were some interesting choices as they aged, but they kept in keeping with the awkwardness of growing up. The show will come back – it is too successful not to – and it promises to split the group up outside Hawkins (including the inevitable return of Hopper) but the three ‘small’ seasons in Hawkins won’t be forgotten, including the incredible monents of Eleven reading Hopper’s note to her. It was all incredible for a show that only gets bolder, even if some of its characters are stuck in a state of stasis. To be fair, that has a lot of similarities to growing up in general, no?

6.) Pose  (FX - Season 2)

Pose was such a surprise in its first season, shining a light on a really interesting, troubled time in America's history in the start of the LGBTQ movement. What was so great about teh show was how optimistic it was despite such troubling and depressing subject matter. When the showcase of nearly episode is a resplendent ball with brilliant costumes and dances, it is hard to be too negative. None of that changed in its second season, but what did was the stakes becoming a bit higher - as a larger portion of the show's populous were starting to get afflicted with / suffer from HIV and AIDS. There were a few more deaths and a few more truly negative moments. However, there was also as much family as much heart, as much growth, whether it be one of the characters having a brief run as a ad model, or Blanca continuing to grow as a house mother. They stripped away some of the less effective storylines in Season 1, like the white couple with teh husband testing out his queer side, and focused on heart, on family on hope, and kept the show at its pert best.

My Top 20 TV Shows of 2019: #15-11

15.) Big Mouth  (NETFLIX - Season 3)

I should have watched seasons 1&2 during the years they were first on, as Big Mouth was great then, and basically as good in its third season as well. It took a Bojack-like approach in its third season having more contained episodes showing characters they hadn’t shown as much in the first two seasons, pushing the focus increasingly away from Nick, Andrew and Jessi. Whether it was the parents, more of Jay and his family or expanding the world of the hormone monsters, the show continued to look inward more and more and be less about the raunch that still gives it its humorous base.

14.) Surviving R. Kelly  (Lifetime)

It always is funny to me that Lifetime, a channel known for soft after-school special type fare, delivered one of the most heartbreaking, poignant and darkly honest documentary series of the year - of many years, to be honest. In theory, there was nothing new that came out in Lifetime's show, but as someone who wasn't so closely following the events of the case, it was eye-opening just how honest and raw they were in retelling Kelly's horrors. The show spared no mercy, giving many victims much deserved and needed screen time. It was clear that Kelly is a monster, which he is, but also showed in painful detail how those around him enabled it, if not completely looked the other way. It was well done, it was informative, it was intense, it was a perfect documentary.

13.) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia  (FXX - Season 14)

It's Always Sunny wasn't as good or as poignant as it was last season when it was centered around telling the story of Mac truly coming out, but its latest installment, the one that put it in 2nd place all-time for longest running live action comedy, was stil plenty good. Their satire was as good as ever, with great episodes satirizing modern communication and the abortion debate. Of course, their biggest swing this year was a fully black-and-white noir episode which was so good in how it mixed its Sunny-ness. Always Sunny remains one of the smartest, sharpest and most innovative shows on TV. It's finale, which openly commented on its future as a show and the fact how the stars should hold onto its greatness with dear life, portends a bright future as it maybe enters its second-half of its second-decade.

12.) Veronica Mars  (Hulu - Season 4)

The crowd-funded movie was fine, but it was also very openly about fan service. That made sense – the movie only came to be because fans donated to a Kickstarter campaign. This season, though? This was pure Veronica Mars (grown-up, of course), and while they weaved in nearly every character from the show’s run (save for the good ol’ Kane family) it was played straight, played as noir as the show’s initial run, and was pure bliss. The new characters they added, particularly the teenager Veronica-to-be, were all so well cast and written. The tone of the show returned almost instantly with Rob Thomas’s signature dialogue and pacing. A restrained Logan was an interesting choice, but the show then gave us the complete curveball of his seeming death at the show’s end. I don’t know if there will be a 5^th Season, but out of all the shows that dusted off the mothballs after a decade of being off the air (again, movie excluded) I don’t think any show did as good of a job as Veronica Mars in recapturing the magic and brilliance of what made the show great in the first place while also creating something that can stand very much on its own.

11.) When They See Us  (NETFLIX)

This was the show I mentioned earlier as doing a better job than Unbelievable at telling a seriously dark story. It was a tight show, it didn’t harp on the sadness, it wasn’t overwrought, it didn’t hold anything back. Felicity Huffman – in her last role she filmed before she was exposed in the college bribery scandal – was great as an evil, careerist lawyer. The kids were all so well cast even as they graduated to adults. I liked that they didn’t focus too much on their time in jail, but put exacting detail on how they were all falsely charged, coerced into making up confessions on each other, and then, most bleakly but most pointedly, showcasing the troubles of acclimating back into society once released – even when you are released innocent as wrongly convicted. The show opened on eye on one of the darker moments in criminal justice in modern times, deftly weaving in our idiot in chief’s views on the matter as well. If this was Ava Duvarney’s first take on the small screen, she showed an ability that should last for years to come.