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 5th 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.
