There were a number of A- shows this year, but once again I do not feel the need to remark upon them further. These shows were quite compelling and you should watch them: Ramy, Pen15, Barry, Tuca and Bertie, Lodge 49, Mindhunter, Big Mouth, Handmaid's Tale, Sorry For Your Loss, and the final seasons of Veep, Catastrophe and Mr. Robot. Also, the Deadwood and Breaking Bad movies were fantastic.
And now for the A shows:
#6 - Russian Doll (Netflix)
High-concept stories aren't well-suited for TV. The need to sustain everything over the span of episodes and/or seasons often leads to too many complications and excess silliness. Take Orphan Black, which went from a taut thriller in its first season to a muddled mess later on. But Natasha Lyonne and friends managed to pull off a neat trick with Russian Doll. They did it by being brief, having a lot of fun with it, and basing the drama on the characters instead of an endlessly labyrinthine plot. What a concept.
#5 - Fleabag (Amazon)
The second and final season of Phoebe Waller-Bridge's creation is great throughout, but I want to call attention to the first episode which takes place entirely over the course of a single engagement dinner. While it might not be the defining episode of the year it's probably the best because it demonstrates everything great TV should be without breaking a sweat. Re-familiarizing us with the characters and the story? Check. Telling a compelling self-contained story? Check. Introducing the hot priest and setting up all the conflicts for the season? Check. Using its unique storytelling device (the in-time confessional cutaways) for maximum affect and comedy? Yup. Both seasons of Fleabag conclude in devastating fashion, but those endings are made possible by flawless beginnings and great storytelling.
#4 - I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (Netflix)
Saturday Night Live is the Pizza Hut of sketch comedy in that I'm not sure if it's gotten worse or my tastes have improved. As currently construed it often aims for the lowest common denominator, has an unhealthy obsession with current events, and has too superficial of a worldview to say anything meaningful anyway. Which all might explain with the seemingly brilliant Tim Robinson didn't last very long there. It's all for the best anyway, because ITYSL is possibly the most consistently hilarious show of its kind since....Mr. Show? Short and sweet, goofy as hell, and not afraid to crank up the absurdity all the way....that's the stuff.Tim Robinson: Check out my latest sketch, in which a group of people try to ignore a clearly unhinged lunatic in their midst, but are instead gradually subsumed into his lunacy— Will Stancil (@whstancil) August 21, 2019
America: Hilarious! where does he come up with this stuff
#3 - Unbelievable (Netflix)
For most of the eight-episode run of Unbelievable, I had to keep telling myself that all of this actually happened. The story of Marie, a pseudonymous rape victim who was actually fucking charged with false reporting, is so full of incompetence, ambivalence, and rancor that it's often, well...unbelievable. But the way the show handles its righteous anger is what elevates it to greatness. If it simply spent all its time chasing the bad guy and sticking it to the people who failed to believe and/or support Marie, it would certainly be compelling. But it would also be incomplete (and given the subject matter, a little gross, too). What instead makes Unbelievable transcendent is its concurrent focus on both the personal cost of such institutional failure and how restorative justice can offer a path forward. This dichotomy is never more evident than at the end of the penultimate episode which shows the detectives finally connecting the dots at the same moment Marie shares the depths of her despair with her therapist. "Even if they really care about you, they just don't," she says as its made clear her name will finally be cleared. Gutting, ultimately hopeful, and maybe the most necessary show of the year.
#2 - Chernobyl (HBO)
Chernobyl, the five-episode miniseries about the disaster of the same name, is poorly served by its promotional materials. Take the tagline that reads "What is the cost of lies?" Not only does this appear to draw a dumb parallel to the literal elephant in the room (if only Trump told the truth all the time everything would be great!) but more importantly it misses the point of a rich and deeply-layered series. Chernobyl takes great pains to convey that the myriad causes of the disaster were not just simple moral failings. And much like the previous entry on this list, the blame game isn't even its primary focus. By taking a holistic view of how the (literal) fallout affected everyone and how those same people came together to pick up the pieces, Chernobyl works best as a tale of the strength of human hope and perseverance in the face of impossible adversity.
#1 - The Righteous Gemstones (HBO)
At first blush, The Righteous Gemstones looks like a logical continuation of the McBride/Hill oeuvre. The first few minutes of the pilot reveal that the evangelical Gemstone family is an entitled force of nature that, in the grand tradition of Kenny Powers, makes everything around them worse. But even though I absolutely loved Eastbound & Down, there's a pretty good chance this will end up as the masterpiece of the form. This is partly because the subject matter (megachurches) is more germane to our society's rot than are athletes or vice principals. Even more though, Gemstones excels because its centering of the Gemstone family (rather than one or two main characters) allows it to explore every iteration of this pathology. The oldest son trying to maintain his birthright, the uncle trying to wedge his way in, the overqualified daughter still hoping to fit in, and the patriarch lost without his partner. This wide focus adds depth to both the text and the subtext of the show and makes it the best thing of the year. Oh yeah and it gave us the best brainworm of a phrase ever with "Uncle Baby Billy."
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