If you missed it, on Monday, I posted my top ten comedies of 2016 along with some strong honorable mentions. I was honestly not truly expecting to add any show to this top ten between then and now. Technically speaking, I hadn't made this top ten yet. I had 11 shows in mind and I needed to cut it down to 10. In the process, I was watching another show, thinking it would be a strong honorable mention at best.
Well, I entered today needing to watch the final three episodes of that show so I didn't write a single word. I knew if this particular show would make my list, it would be on the bottom part of the list and I tend to want to write these in order. So once again, I'm making this post after having cut it down to the wire. By the time I post this, I will have finished my last top ten show just two hours before and I hadn't written a single word when I finished the finale of that show. Luckily, the hard part of this post is watching tons of hours of television and not actually writing the post itself.
#10 The Girlfriend Experience (Season 1, )
Model Episode: "Separation"
Without spoiling, the finale was an incredibly bold piece of television. It's not bold for the reason you'd assume a finale would be bold either. For one thing, it's been revealed that this show is an anthology show. So nothing that would theoretically happen in a conventional finale would carry over into season two. So it's not really the firework type of finale. But it's off-putting and surprising and probably divisive as hell.
In fact, while I put The Girlfriend Experience here, I'd have to know your specific tastes to recommend it. It almost seems anti-television. It took me a few episodes to understand what it was doing. In the process, it was beautifully shot. Just absolutely gorgeous cinematography. It's a part of the series' design, but this show was really cold. The protagonist - she's not really a good person and the tone of the series mirrors her personality. So for one thing, don't really go towards this show if you have an eye towards connecting with characters. You'll feel for her at times - especially when the show takes sort of a thriller vibe - but you will probably not understand her all that well. And as for the supporting characters, they don't get really get ANY characterization. It's hard for me to explain the appeal of this show to be honest.
#9 Game of Thrones (Season 6; HBO)
Model Episode: "The Door"
I said this in my comedy top ten for a different show, and it applies here as well. Game of Thrones isn't on this list because it improved significantly from season 5 to season 6. (You could probably argue it declined, but I've never really looked at Game of Thrones all that critically so I'm not going to be the one to do that.) It's on this list, because six of the ten shows I put in my top ten last year did not air a single episode in 2016. How crazy is that? Three of them ended, one of them was a miniseries, and the other two just couldn't get their season done in time for 2016. (Which again led to some difficulty in the top half of my list)
I'm shortchanging Game of Thrones. Honestly, it suffers from something that plagues a few series I consider: I mostly forget about it by the time this list rolls around. I remember Game of Thrones by the big moments, but forget just about everything else. The big moments are admittedly really great television. I included "The Door" instead of "Battle of the Bastards" because that final scene hit me like a ton of bricks in a way very few shows have done. A characters' death still being capable of doing that to me is a good sign for Game of Thrones.
#8 Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (Seasons 1-2; CW)
Model Episode: "When Will Josh and His Friend Leave Me Alone?"
Talk about an impossible show to compare to other shows. This show basically ruins the concept of a top ten for me. Because I don't know whether to call it a drama or a comedy, but it's an hour long so that's easy enough for me. (For what it's worth, The Girlfriend Experience is a half hour, but that is clearly a drama) If you're into musicals, watch this show for sure. I'm not really into musicals, but the music is a key element of this show. Each episode will usually have two musical numbers. Here's the show's most expensive element from the second season premiere. I don't think context will be needed to watch that one. That is NOT from the episode I picked as the true musical number I would have picked would be a huge spoiler.
Anyway Rachel Bloom navigates a complicated character who has some serious issues. Nobody else could play her. I mean she's the creator of this series so it seems like she already had this character in her head before this ever became a show. And if you want to have an idea of the type of humor Bloom has, just look at any of her Youtube videos, pre-Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. The second season has somehow been an improvement over the already pretty great first season, with more of a reflection on the friendship between Rebbeca (Bloom) and Paula (Donna Lynne Champlin). Their relationship centers the second season in much the same way that the love triange centered the first. Watch this show because the ratings are LOOOOW and I don't really want it to get cancelled. Thank you.
#7 Stranger Things (Season 1; Netflix)
Model Episode: "The Flea and the Acrobat"
Confession: I guessed on that episode. I didn't really think of Stranger Things has having one particularly great episode because the whole show is too connected to think of it that way. I'm sure one of the episodes is the standout. I watched it six months ago though. It mostly could have been any episode. Besides, if you're watching Stranger Things, you're not skipping to the fifth episode for the model episode; you're watching all eight.
Strictly speaking, from a critical sense, this is probably too high. But I had more fun watching it than I do watching most things. David Harbour (Hopper) should have his career explode now. Similarly, Millie Bobbie Brown will go on to have a great career as she does some very difficult things as Eleven. I mentioned this in my review of Stranger Things, but the one disconnect between how most people who perceived Stranger Things and how I did was Winona Ryder's performance, which I didn't feel was all that great. But that's mostly a minor thing.
#6 Jane the Virgin (Seasons 2-3)
Model Episode: "Chapter 51"
If you're wondering, I just picked the most recent episode of Jane the Virgin. Jane watches Alfred Hitchcock movies to improve her writing, so the show takes breaks from reality at points in the episode and then shoots the show like Hitchcock is the director for short snippets. It's a perfect encapsulation of the appeal of the show. They do whatever the hell want. There's also a strong telenovela storyline with Rafael trying to find details from his past, Jane feeling like she's lost a connection to religion, and Rogelio trying to find a baby mama. It varies wildly in tone and it makes them seamlessly fit together.
If I was a betting man last year and I needed to bet on whether Jane the Virgin would be on this list this year, I would easily bet that it would not. Not only does it repeat, but it's actually one spot higher than last year. Sure, part of that is due to the mass exodus of most of the shows in front of it, but another part of it is that Jane the Virgin might just be the most consistent show on television, an amazing thing to say for a show that navigates as many storytelling devices as they do for 22 episodes! Here's hoping it lands on this list next year and I'm not as sure that I would make the same bet.
#5 Rectify (Season 4; Sundance)
Model Episode: "Pineapples in Paris"
It's really too bad the show didn't begin season four as strong as it finished it. The finale was naturally a bit too long, but given the circumstances, I certainly can forgive it for that. Besides the inflated length, the final four episodes were some of the strongest Rectify episodes they've had. If the first four had been as strong, Rectify would be making a strong case for a higher ranking (probably not #1 though)
But it speaks to the power of the show that I'm able to say something like that in an eight-episode season and still rank it #5. I've said it many times, but Rectify is among the most emotionally devastating shows on television and it does so quietly. The things that make you teary-eyed in Rectify would usually not make you teary-eyed on normal shows, but Rectify is so well-written and so well-acted that it can blindside you with the simplest things, like someone getting a job or someone asking for a divorce.
#4 American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson (Season 1; FX)
Model Episode: "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia"
Man this show really blew up when it aired, didn't it? I'm sorry to inform you guys that season two will suck. Of this I am certain. Ryan Murphy had NOTHING to do with season except as a producer. The guys who wrote this season? They gone. Murphy is back to writing for the second season in this anthology series. Whether you're a fan of his or not, I can't really see how American Horror Story or Glee or Nip Tuck or any other show he's done in the past would fit into the tone that the first season of American Crime Story did. So appreciate this season while you can.
Oh right I guess I should talk about this show. Well I have it at #4 for a reason and most of that reason has to do with the acting, whether it be Sarah Paulsen as Marcia Clark (hence my pick for the model episode), Sterling K Brown as Christopher Darden, and Courtney B. Vance as Johnnie Cochran. I mean damn all three of those people have a good case for winning an acting Emmy and I really couldn't argue with it about it. John Travolta plays Robert Shapiro very weird, but it somehow works, and David Schwimmer manages to evade the character Ross in playing Robert Kardashian. Cuba Gooding is a weak spot in an otherwise great ensemble, but this series focuses on the trial and OJ isn't a huge part of that so it's not an issue.
#3 Better Call Saul (Season 2; AMC)
Model Episode: "Klick"
More confession time: Better Call Saul got screwed over last year. It probably should have been in my top ten somewhere. Again, and I'll try to figure out a way around this next year, it is simply a matter of recency bias, or lack thereof in Better Call Saul's case. Its season starts in January and ends in April and by December, so many other shows have entered my mind that the greatness that Better Call Saul hits escapes me. I suffered that too this year. I needed to look up the episode descriptions to remember how great this season was. In this case, the disappearance of six of the shows from last year is a blessing. Better Call Saul may very well have been forgotten if I wasn't forced to look harder for a top five.
However, I'm making it sound like the second season isn't better than the first and it clearly is. So yes, I feel bad, but I don't feel too bad, because it should have been in the bottom half of the top ten and most of those shows end up interchangeable with how close in quality they are. Jimmy is edging ever so closer to becoming Saul Goodman, but if that's what you're looking for, expect to wait longer. The creators love Jimmy and want to delay his "transformation" for as long as possible. They want to see more Jimmy and I can't say I blame them.
#2 OJ: Made in America (Miniseries; ESPN)
Model Episode: Episode 5
I really didn't want to have two OJ Simpson focused television shows on my list. I watched the first two parts in June and kind of forget about it until December. I was struggling with whether to watch it when considering my list. I reasoned "It probably won't make my list anyway because I have no interest in having to OJ Simpson shows on here. They'll be too alike." Well obviously I decided to watch the whole thing. I don't know what happened over the summer to get me to stop watching, but I'm glad I picked it back up. Obviously. It's #2 on this list.
I also quickly found that there was no way I could combine both OJ properties onto this list because they are entirely different entities. They simply aren't the same. This documentary is higher because of its scope. It's way bigger than just the trial. Also, we get a really great look into OJ Simpson, which American Crime Story didn't do at all. That's why I felt I needed to separate the two series. Because they aren't trying to accomplish the same things at all. This documentary is a freaking masterpiece.
#1 The Americans (Season 4; FX)
Model Episode: "The Magic of David Copperfield V: The Statue of Liberty Disappears"
Man Gabe really couldn't go with an easier episode title. There's a simple reason that The Americans is higher than OJ: Made in America, which I called a freaking masterpiece just two sentences ago. That reason is time and being scripted. That's it. I figured out that, in minutes, The Americans had more minutes in its season than the documentary had in its five parts. I consider them on mostly equal footing, I just hold a wholly original creation slightly higher than a documentary, no matter how good.
So this will not be the year that The Americans is unseated. I'm guessing it would not have been my #1 show in 2014, but I wasn't making these lists then. For the sake of my enjoyment, I hope it never leaves the #1 spot. I have nothing else to say except "WATCH THIS SHOW IF YOU AREN'T ALREADY GOOD GOD WHAT DO I NEED TO DO TO CONVINCE YOU PEOPLE"
Honorable Mentions
Orange is the New Black - I held Orange is the New Black's fourth season in a similar vein as I did to Game of Thrones' sixth season. I had a desperate want to include it on my list somewhere, but it became increasingly clear only one of them could make it. I feel Game of Thrones is a tighter show.
iZombie - I also pretty desperately wanted this show on my list. The aforementioned 11 shows I needed to cut into 10 shows included this show. Then The Girlfriend Experience came into play and iZombie got lost in the shuffle. It definitely suffers because for some reason, its newest season doesn't begin until 2017, which is highly unusual for a network drama.
Mr. Robot - Mr. Robot's first season would have made it on my top ten if it aired a year later. But the second season wasn't quite as good - it was pretty much all set-up really - so I couldn't include it here.
Vikings - Vikings is a very daring show that I thought could make my list. If the entire show was as compelling as any scene Travis Fimmel is in, it would make my list, but unfortunately the other aspects of the show aren't nearly as strong.
The Path - This really only gets an honorable mention because I want to call attention to a solid show produced by Hulu! It probably isn't in my top 15 shows of the year, but it's a good watch about a cult.
The Crown - This series surprised me. I really didn't expect to like it as much I did. There really is just not room for it on my list unfortunately.
No I did not forget about this show
Westworld - Well there's always going to be one show where I disagree with the vast majority of people and/or critics. Last year, it was The Leftovers. This year, Westworld. So this isn't a true honorable mention so much as an acknowledgement that somebody might complain about this show's omission. I reviewed this show if you want my thoughts on it.
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