The term "Peak TV" is a hokey cliché at this point, but behind the artifice lies a kernel of truth. Prior to 2010, television was a self-contained medium with a small number of outlets for artistic output. In the decade since, everything has changed. The number of scripted series more than doubled. Entirely new streaming platforms appeared out of thin air and quickly matured. The very definition of what is TV began to come into question. And a character created for TV became president. Past decades gave us some all-time great shows and the future will give us...something. But the way TV as a whole reflected the ongoing change in our society is something will likely never be replicated.
Part of this change is that television is something entirely different than what it was ten years ago. The era of The Wire and The Sopranos led to an expansion in both the depth and breadth of television. But for all the variety on the air today, nearly all of it lives in the shadows of those past greats. This leads to our present situation where there are more good and worthwhile series than one can possibly watch, and yet very few great or essential ones. As part of this realization, I resolved to watch less and stop doing my typical year-end countdown. But I still have a lot of thoughts about what I do watch and want to write about that. This means that I have spent 2019 counting down my favorite shows of the past ten years*. There are 14 shows that made the cut, and they are a representative collection of every strength the televisual form has to offer. I do not make any assertion that this is some sort of definitive list of what must be watched or what is "best" whatever that means - it's simply a collection of what I consider to be the most intriguing, thought-provoking, and enjoyable things that aired in the past decade.
*Many series spanned the past two decades. Rather than maintain a firm cut-off at 2010, I am simply giving more weight to shows by the decade they ended. As a result, there's only one show on my list that hasn't concluded as of 2019.
Before starting the list in earnest, here's a few notes on the shows I considered for the list that ultimately didn't make the cut:
The Perils of Autobiography
At the time it aired I very much enjoyed Louie, the vehicle for disgraced comedian Louis CK. Yet, it probably wasn't good enough to make the list on its own merits, and when you consider that a lot of his work seems to serve as apologia for his bad actions, everything is poisoned and can't be seriously considered as something worth anyone's time. In a similar vein, Transparent was both a masterclass in efficient storytelling and an unflinching portrait of the LGBTQ world that is undone by its fundamental flaws (ie. casting cis actor Jeffrey Tambor as Maura) that seem to be the direct result of its creators' cluelessness. If you're looking for a semi-autobiographical half hour that is both good and non-problematic, stick with One Mississippi.
It's Satire!
The long-term narrative goals of television don't always mesh with the no-holds-barred nature of satire (which is often best deployed in more ephemeral mediums). So while Veep, Silicon Valley, and Catastrophe have to wage that internal conflict constantly, they all do a great job sending up our most sacred institutions of politics, capitalism, and family, respectively. Black Mirror benefits from its anthology format, as the best episodes ("White Bear," "Hang the DJ," and "The National Anthem") are able to transcend the surface-level interpretation to incisively critique more universal aspects of our society. One of the best satires though was the most specific: American Vandal used our recent fascination with true crime to both shine the light on why this obsession is less than healthy and tell a lot of really good dick jokes.
"Reality" TV
Much like those true crime narratives, I've never been much of a fan of reality/competition TV. But one show straddled the uncanny valley perfectly and that show was Work of Art: The Next Great Artist. No show laid out the inherent conflicts (reality vs television, competition vs individualism, art vs commerce) as well as it did. And it didn't hurt that Bravo managed to find a cast full of delightful weirdos that were game to play along.
Flawed but Great
Orphan Black's near-perfect first season was a distillation of everything great about sci-fi; nevermind the bloated mess that came after. The Girlfriend Experience had one amazing season and one awful season. The Knick might be the best use of visual storytelling in the history of the medium, but did so in service of a story that mostly lacked originality or intrigue. Hannibal was the most disgustingly audacious and beautiful thing to air on network TV. Mad Men is a great rumination on the successes and failures of the American ethos that disappeared up its own behind a little too often. The Americans always left me a little cold, but stuck to its guns and managed to tell one of the most complete, human stories about the Cold War.
The Most Difficult Omissions
These shows should probably have made the list, but I had to cut it somewhere. Fleabag weaved a very peculiar and specific story, pulled the same "trick" twice, and ended on its own terms. Every series should be so lucky. BoJack Horseman is both funny and profound, but where it really shines is in how it executes its "gimmicky" episodes better and to greater effect than any other show. When the show bears its heart on its sleeve in "normal" episodes, it can feel slightly clinical and less than artful. When it filters its message through parables (ie. BoJack chasing the lost seahorse in "Fish Out of Water"), it becomes one of the best artistic statements on depression and finding one's place in the world. Atlanta tells the story of black America in a way as captivating and revealing as possible. I am probably slighting it because it's only had two seasons thus far - blame our stupid base-ten counting system. And finally, Justified pays the ultimate respect to Elmore Leonard by following all-time great character Raylan Givens as he battles his past by going up against every possible iteration of small-town crook.
THE LIST:
#14 - Parks and Recreation
#13 - Treme
#12 - Looking
#11 - Nathan For You
#10 - Better Call Saul
#9 - Community
#8 - Enlightened
#7 - Twin Peaks: The Return
#6 - Review
#5 - Eastbound & Down
#4 - Party Down
#3 - Breaking Bad
#2 - Rectify
#1 - The Leftovers (essay coming...sometime)
