15.) Beef (Season 1, NETFLIX)
Great concept, great execution, and two far more complex and interesting performances from Ali Wong and Steven Yuen than I was expecting. NETFLIX had quite a good 2023 overall (a few other shows - some co-productions - are way up the list). The show really shone in its later episodes, once we got to know all the players and it really started turning the heat on the two characters mostly. Their interplay was great, but as good as the two leads were, the unmotivated brother just cracked me up every time. The story itself was wonderfully sweet center hiding behind a whole lot of messiness and drama, which again was something I wasn't expecting from this vehicle. It all worked though.
I'll admit, I was fully hoping it would earn a spot higher up this list. Justified was a show I never watched when it was first on, but binged at the very start of the pandemic. The return was not bad for sure. From Tom Olyphant just becoming Raylan so quickly, even in his fish out of pond set-up in Detroit, to anything that Boyd Holbrook was doing as a great villain (if a bit cartoonish). Yes, was I sad to see Justiified return without so many of the characters from the original show? Of course, but at its heart it kept its gothic style so well. At times it dawdled a bit, and while it was cute to see Olyphant get to act alongside his daughter, she was a bit part at best. But it crescendoed perfectly with both Raylan being quicker at teh draw in the final showdown, and of course the little bit of Walton Goggins's Boyd Crowder at the end. No guarantee it seems that there will be another season, but even if not, I am glad we got a bit more of Raylan and that amazing Olyphant performance.
13.) Winning Time (Season 2, HBO)
I'll start off by just saying it pissed me off that it got cancelled. I get that the ratings weren't as strong as HBO expected, but more than anything it just sucks that the show ended with the Celtics winning the 1984 title. This year was a bit all over the place, intentionally so with having to race from their triumph in 1981 through three seasons of ups and downs. The key parts, be it Pat Riley finally taking over as coach (and Adrien Brody was amazing in that role), the Magic Johnson v. Kareem bitterness, was played superbly. The show tamped down the Buss palace intrigue a bit this seasons which also was probably a good thing. In the end to me it was (a) a greatly entertaining show, and (b) had maybe the most realistic, best basketball action scenes ever filmed. Having to cover so many years was always going to make it seem a bit strained vs. the prior self-contained NBA season in Season 1, but I was more than happy that this show existed in our world.
12.) It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 16, FX)
When Sunny last aired its 15th season, it ended it with a 4-episode jaunt through Ireland which had one of the most emotional moments within the show's run of Charlie finally meeting his Dad. The 16th Season was relatively lighter from a emotional stakes standpoint, it was arguably even funnier from a jokes standpoint. Everything Danny Devito did in the Russia Chess spoof episode was incredible. Dennis was as incredibly crazy as always. Den was brilliant in the bowling episode. Even Charlie in the Cryptocurrency episode got some incredible monologues being able to play the smart character for the first time in a while. But in the end, two things will stay with me from this seasons (again, this is season six-fucking-teen of this show!). First was the incredible two min back and forth with Mac, Deniis and Frank where Frank explains inflation to them. They haven't done one of these really quick pointed takedowns of the real world in a while, and it was brilliant. The second was the entire final episode with Dennis lashing out at people all day in a dream sequence. Sunny is better than maybe any comedy ever of doing these contained weird episodes, and it shone there. Another incredible season for the Gang.
11.) The Righteous Gemstones (Season 3, HBO)
It took me a minute or two to really get into the big bad this year of Peter and his cult with the bumbling cousins, but man did it crescendo really well at the end. The show went darker this year, both with that storyline itself involving domestic terrorism, kidnapping and death, but even with teh interplay with the characters being more biting and caustic than prior seasons. I would be remiss on not mentioning the incredible payoff to Baby Billy's Bible Bumpers game show he was forcing on everyone for the year. That's how you bring things full circle. While prior seasons may have been funnier, I don;t think any of the prior two found such a good place tonally, and did so well in introspection - particularly any scene with Goodman and Kristen Johnson as May-May. They keep expanding this universe, while keeping it within the family, and it has worked wonderfully so far.
