2019's Top Ten Dramas

A few weeks ago, I posted my Top 50 shows of the decade, and I expected my top ten list of the year to follow soon after, but it turns out that Christmas and New Years falling in the middle of the week is extremely inconvenient for posting purposes.  It did not hurt that I was able to finish watching certain shows by waiting either.

A couple of important points to make before I get to the list.  There are about 500 shows out there, and I may not have seen your show.  I am pretty selective with what shows I watch, even though I watch a lot, and I hate to say it, but me happening to read one bad review at the wrong time could put me off that show forever.  So I'm sorry if your show didn't make the list, but if its any consolation, this is a stacked year for drama, to the point where a couple of no brainer shows at the beginning of this process did not end up making the final list.

#10 Stranger Things - Season 3 (Netflix)

If one were to attempt an objective top ten list, I don't think Stranger Things would have made my top ten.  But that's also not possible.  I ultimately included it over other shows - shows that are going to be in the honorable mention - because I tend to watch those other shows with significantly less investment than I do when I watch Stranger Things.  I'm not even necessarily criticizing those other shows, I just approach and watch those shows differently than I do Stranger Things.  Stranger Things is a more fun viewing experience for me.

#9 Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - Season 4 (CW)

I grade shows based purely by the episodes aired in this year, which makes it a bit confusing when dealing with network shows that air from fall to spring.  Crazy Ex only aired eight episodes in 2019 so I'm only grading the show by those eight episodes.  I'm not sure my ranking would change really - the show finished very strong with most of these episodes being great, but it did at least make it easier to keep it at the bottom of the list with fewer episodes.

#8 Lodge 49 - Season 2 (AMC)

Unfortunately, season 2 was its last season, unless the show gets picked up by another network, which is rather unlikely.  But this is a relaxed, confident show that provides laughs, mystery, and great acting.  The show is not in any hurry with its plot, but the plot provided is good anyway.  And Paul Giamatti makes a great recurring player in this season as well.  So if I can't convince you it's good, hopefully you like Paul Giamatti enough to watch the show.

#7 On Becoming a God in Central Florida - Season 1 (Showtime)

Watch this show.  Please.  The acting as a whole is really good, but Kirsten Dunst steals the show as the lead.  People who've taken the time to read this have probably seen her in Fargo already, but she remains underrated for now.  If you're wondering about the premise - because it leaves a lot to the imagination - it's primarily about a pyramid scheme in the 90s that suckers in people and well it ends up impacting Dunsts' character in an interesting way.

#6 Succession - Season 2 (HBO)

This list really is ridiculous for me.  With the exception of Stranger Things, I would have hoped to get the rest of this list in the top 5.  I'm being serious.  I think this list would be more to my expectations if I excluded miniseries/limited series, but I don't make a top 10 miniseries or limited series list.  I don't even watch five of those a year, and have gone years where I've watched none at all.  I recommend my entire list to anybody and I don't think I could say that about most years.

#5 Chernobyl - Limited Series (HBO)

The only thing this show has against it for a list like this is it's only five episodes.  If I had a complaint, and it's as minor as it gets, the episodes kind of blend together into a whole.  Which I imagine is the point of a miniseries, but a later entry makes much more defined episodes to great effect in my opinion.

#4 Jane the Virgin - Season 5 (CW)

One of the most consistent shows I've ever watched.  It made my top ten every single year I've made top tens, which I think coincide with the beginning of the show.  Unlike Crazy Ex, it benefits from having its entire season this year, as the premiere episode didn't air until March.  One of the rare shows where if you're not "in" by the pilot, the show probably isn't for you and if you are, again ridiculously consistent show, especially given the juggling of tones.

#3 Mr. Robot - Season 4 (FX)

Honest truth - I would never have guessed Mr. Robot would have made this list before the last season aired.  None of the first three seasons did - though the first season certainly deserved to, it just got lost in the shuffle - and I didn't see any reason to think my opinion of the show would change.  But this last season is maybe the best season of all, with a strong ending.

#2 Watchmen - Season 1 (HBO)

Oh man I bet you're really curious about #1, and.. you've already scrolled down.  You're no fun.  Watchmen was nearly perfect in this season and if I had a complaint, the ending was a little too neat.  It didn't seem like the type of show that would have such an ending, though I understand why it did.  It also made me instantly aware that this show was never planned for more than one season and that made me sad.

#1 When They See Us - Miniseries (Netflix)

For the first five years of my rankings, I have listed The Americans as my #1 show.  I unfortunately cannot include The Americans for another year as that show has ended.  And seeing as When They See Us is a miniseries, next year's #1 will be different again.  As for comments about this show, wow.  If you think you know the story about the *exonerated five* you aren't getting the full picture until you watch this series.  The first episode is one of the most frustrating and infuriating episodes of television I've ever watched.  The last episode had me crying like a baby.  Seriously, do yourself a favor and watch this show.  But it's not an easy watch.  It's a necessary one.  But not easy.

Honorable Mentions
Legion (FX) - I did think the third season was a massive improvement over the second, but the weirdness of this show keeps me from truly connecting to the characters.  It didn't help that the original main character is completely detached from reality.

The Deuce (HBO) - Another case where, for whatever reason, I never really got fully invested in this show.  It could have been the time-hopping, but I don't know.  Some truly excellent episodes, but not a great final episode.

Orange is the New Black (Netflix) - Here's a show that I originally wanted in my top ten, along with the above two, but it became clear very quickly that I just had no room for it.  Good ending, certainly better than I expected given Weeds.

Marvelous Ms. Maisel (Amazon Prime) - Again, it was basically a competition for the 10th spot for these shows along with Stranger Things and I just like Stranger Things more.  Because the top 9 weren't going to leave my list.

Arrow (CW) - Most years my honorable mentions were never intended to make my top ten, and I never did come particularly close to adding Arrow, but I do wish I could have somehow found a spot for it.

Mindhunter (Netflix) - Pretty disappointing second season, so I hope the third season can course correct and just forget about the son being a future serial killer.

Counterpart (Starz) - I like the second season more than the first and this season had truly one of my favorite episodes of the year, but only so much room here.

Mandalorian (Disney+) - This is a fun show, but I don't know that I'd like it great.  Short amount of episodes, about half of which were essentially standalone, so it didn't have a great case to make this list, but worthy of mentioning.  This is pretty much my typical honorable mention, a show I want to highlight but I never intend to make a top ten.

2018 Top Ten Dramas

If you need an introduction to my top ten lists, here is comedy first.  I feel like a top ten list is fairly self-explanatory though and by no means is it necessary to read that first.

Drama seemingly had a weak year for the second year in a row.  I think it's weak only relative to my expectations and that in the past, I've had shows that I had watched for a few years that I sort of expected to make my list that did, such as Mad Men, Justified and Fargo.  The sort of show that I instantly know will make my list when I start this project.  Few of those shows were present in 2018 for me, which made compiling a top ten list feel weaker.  But honestly, I think this is just a misconception that I have for whatever reason.  Looking at my past years' lists, it's not like all ten shows would wipe out this year's shows.

The list is much different this year.  Alias Grace, The Leftovers, FEUD, Stranger Things, and Fargo did not air anything in 2018 and all made my list last year.  I chose not to watch Handmaid's Tale, which made my list, because the reviews for season two pretty much aligned with my fears about the season after watching the first, which I even said last year in my top ten post.  I watch a lot of shows so I have to be stingy when it comes to choosing what to watch.  And onto the list!

#10 DC's Legends of Tomorrow (CW)
Model Episode: "Here I Go Again"

Oh how far this show has come.  Never in a million years would I have dreamed this show would ever have a chance to make a top ten list back when this first aired.  I probably would find it hard to imagine the show even being better than the other CW superhero shows.  But it unquestionably the best of the bunch now.

Legends of Tomorrow is an absolutely ridiculous show and it sure knows it.  They have the "Why not?" approach to storytelling, to take something absurd and just put it in the episode because it'll be fun.  And it is!  The show has weathered cast changes throughout this process, but as long as Caity Lotz is still the center of the show, it can probably suffer a few more changes.  I picked "Here I Go Again" because I love Groundhog Day episodes.

#9 Haunting of Hill House
Model Episode: "The Bent-Neck Lady"

This show had a terrible ending and could have been higher if not for that.  But at the same time, that tells you about the first nine episodes, that I still have it on the top ten even with a bad ending.  I do not like horror stories.  I do not understand the want to watch something that will deliberately scare you.  However, I will watch horror movies if they are trying to accomplish something other than "scare the shit out of you."  My favorite horror movies are the meta ones, which should tell you something.

Haunting of Hill House justifies its horror gene in other ways than just trying to scare you, which makes its scares more effective.  The episode above is something that is going to stick with me, not necessarily because I was so freaked out by episode - though I was - but because just the idea of what happens in that episode is tragedy at its finest.  It also features child actors who look remarkably like the adult actors so the time shifting narrative is not nearly as jarring as it otherwise might be.

#8 Jane the Virgin (CW)
Model Episode: Chapter 77

Jane the Virgin, a telenovela that can change tones and genres every week, somehow has managed to remain consistent enough through its first four seasons to land on my top ten list every year I've written one.  Honestly, when I included on my list in its first season, I fully expected that to be the only year.  I sometimes will gives shows extra credit when they are new and original and do something different over an established show that might be a similar quality.  Nonetheless, Jane the Virgin has consistently been on the back half of this list.

There's really only so much I can say about this show at this point that I haven't already said three times.  I will say, if you see this show on this list and wonder if you'd like it, the show was pretty much good from the beginning.  If you don't like it right away, you probably never will.  So give it a few episodes, see what you think, and whatever you think is roughly how you'll respond to the show for the rest of its run.

#7 Homecoming (Amazon)
Model Episode: "Protocol"

If you had one complaint about Homecoming, it's that it peaks a little early.  There are ten episodes and it peaks a couple episodes before the last episode.  It's mainly a mystery show and the show does deliver on the questions it presents, but it ends up climaxing a couple episodes before its actual ending.  Homecoming started as a podcast - it was a fictional story told in podcast form.

Amazon or the television people at Amazon knew what type of show they had on their hands and went all-out on the casting and directing.  Sam Esmail, of Mr. Robot, directs every episode.  If you enjoy Mr. Robot and how it is filmed, you'll probably enjoy this.  There are Hitchock homages and while the show can sometimes be slow, Esmail leaves plenty of breadcrumbs for people who are into that.  Julia Roberts, Bobby Cannavale, Shea Whigman - even minor roles are played by Jeremy Allen Shrier of Shameless and Dermot Mulroney.  Stephan James, who I'd never seen in anything before, was nominated for a Golden Globe and it was well deserved.

#6 The Marvelous Ms. Maisel
Model Episode: "Vote for Kennedy, Vote for Kennedy"

I have not seen Gilmore Girls, the previous series created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, but I know all about some of the complaints against the otherwise good series.  She has a blind spot to certain characters.  Her dialogue can be a bit too whimsy.  It's an otherwise beloved show and I think I know why based off my feelings towards The Marvelous Ms. Maisel.  Yes, she has a blind spot to a character (Joel) who should be nowhere near as prominent as he is and yes, the dialogue gets too whimsy.  But I also know why people put up with that when the show is this good.

It's a decision made for the betterment of the show, but the stand-up comedy element of this is.. pretty unrealistic.  I don't consider myself an expert on standup comedy history, but I'm fairly certain her jokes are about 20-30 years ahead of her time.  In 1959, standup comedians would have the same 10-15 minute set for multiple years and Midge ends up having a different set every episode.  Which again, is fine.  It's not like we want to hear her say the same thing every episode.  I also tend to think this show portrays standup comedy as much easier than it actually is because Midge very frequently goes on stage and just talks about what she did earlier that day without any sort of preparation for how she would deliver it.  And with the exception of a unplanned wedding set, the audience pretty much always loves her.  I think a little more struggle sprinkled in would go a long way with me personally.  Not the "someone is blackballing" her struggle, but the actual making people laugh part.

#5 The Deuce (HBO)
Model Episode: "We're All Beasts"

I left The Deuce off my list last year and for one main reason: it is somehow forgettably excellent.  The show is well done, there's no question about it.  David Simon and I assume everyone who followed him to make The Deuce are all so good at their jobs that this show tends to fall under my radar.  The Deuce is a perfect example of why it's very hard to make these lists.  It's somehow easy for me to forget about the show and what makes it great just a few months later.

Nonetheless, I made sure to put it on my list this year.  I remember specifically when I watched the second season that I noted to myself to put it on the list in case the same apparent amnesia fell over me when compiling the 2018 list.  It isn't higher because the same exact thing happened to me this year.  It is just not a show that sticks with me for very long and I have no idea why.  Though fair or not, the next two shows on my list were all watched in the past month, so I'm lying if I pretend that doesn't make a difference.  Which is unfortunate.  The Deuce might still be here if I had watched in the past month though, so it's no guarantee.

#4 Lodge 49 (AMC)
Model Episode: "Full Fathom Five"

Lodge 49 has an almost impossibly appealing tone.  I say it's impossible, because when I describe the tone, it probably doesn't sound that appealing.  Its tone is basically what I imagine SoCal personified to be, laidback and not in a rush to get anywhere.  The show has a mystery throughout the first season that is to be clear, interesting, but the show's tone makes it almost seem beside the point.  It's the journey that matters, not the destination.

See how much of an idiot I sound trying to sell that tone as a good thing?  But it unquestionably is, as two characters who lost their father - as in his body has not been found in a year and is suspected dead lost.  Never finding the body never gave them a sense of closure and that defines where the characters are at the beginning of the season.  They are lost, looking for direction, not sure where to go with their lives or what it can deliver.  Until Dud - yes Dud - finds Lodge 49.

#3 My Brilliant Friend (HBO)
Model Episode: "L'isola (The Island)"

My Brilliant Friend is an Italian-American production about two friends, told from the perspective of one of the friends.  Both are brilliant and very good at school, but end up taking different paths because of their home life.  Neither are rich, but one has a more supportive family.  Thus, My Brilliant Friend follows these two young girls from adolescent to their teenage years, reflecting on female friendship in 1950s Italy.

As you can imagine, this would hardly seem to be something that would appeal to me, a white mid-20s American male.  But it is very well told, in eight installments, and it passes through time so much, that it never feels boring.  The first episode is when the two girls are in 1st grade, the second in 4th, and then they skip to the teenage years.  The casting is impeccable, but between the foreign language and the pure amount of characters, it can sometimes be hard to follow who is who at certain points.  Because all the kids are played by different actors at two different ages.  But if you are able to watch foreign language films, I'd recommend this show.

#2 Better Call Saul (AMC)
Model Episode: "Winner"

Boy do I need to rewatch the entirety of this show before next season.  I sincerely hope I have time to do that.  In the past, Better Call Saul aired at the beginning of the year and by the time December rolled around, I had different shows more clear in my mind, which made it hard to include on a top ten list.  This year, the last episode aired in October, so it's a little clearer, but I still want to watch the entire show again.  I have watched every season right after it aired, but never rewatched any episodes.

Better Call Saul, to date, has the misfortune of airing at the same time as one of my favorite shows of all-time.  Said favorite show - which you should be able to guess if you have read any of these lists - ended in 2018, so Better Call Saul will have the chance to be #1 next year.  I can only hope it achieves that lofty goal.

#1 The Americans (FX)
Model Episode: "START"

Thus The Americans, one of the greatest series to ever grace television, ends.  If I'm being honest, I probably shouldn't have put The Americans #1 last year.  It was clear they were setting up for the endgame, and while I enjoyed the season, it was mostly a set up season.  However, because I did, The Americans has been my #1 show for four straight years.  Even with said acknowledgement, The Americans WAS my favorite show all four years too so I can hardly say I made a mistake.

The Americans, as a series who is among the greats, had a very big hurdle to climb.  They needed a good ending.  A bad ending can destroy a series.  Just look at Dexter.  I'm happy to report The Americans has a great ending.  An ending appropriate to the type of show The Americans was.  I will recommend this show to anybody who listens, but I'm just happy that people who ignored me did not lead to it being prematurely cancelled.  Thank you FX.

Honorable Mentions

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - I still enjoy the show, but I feel like needing at least two original songs for every episode has caused a slight decline.  It was close to making this list however.

Legion - I hope that Noah Hawley goes back to making Fargo, because this show is just a little too weird and out-there for me.  I will still watch a season three if it airs.

Sharp Objects - I wanted to include this but I really didn't like the ending very much.

Castle Rock - Showed potential, but was kind of all over the place, quality-wise.  Hopeful a season two, if there is one, has more consistency

Maniac - Given the names behind it, I really expected this show to be better than it was.  Very weird show though.

This is Us - This show really is better than it has any right to be in my opinion.

2017's Top Ten TV Dramas

Welcome to my third annual top ten list where I cover both dramas and comedies in separate lists.  I split these up for a very good reason: I have absolutely no ability to distinguish quality between a comedy and a drama.  If you asked me to compare the fifth season of The Simpsons with the first season of The Sopranos, I would be utterly incapable of ranking them against each other.  It's like two different languages for me.  Plus, I tend to favor dramas whenever I do force myself to compare it and I just don't want to make a list with 15 of 20 shows being dramas.  The fact is that dramas have more stakes and more stakes mean I have more investment in what happens, and that leads me to deeming a certain show better.  I don't want to do that.

With that said, this is probably one of the first years where there would be a very real danger that I'd have more comedies than dramas in a top 20 list.  I can't be certain of course.  But I really struggled to create a top five for drama, partly because I just didn't feel passionate about five shows that were worthy of a top five ranking.  I'd go through the list and sort of mentally note "top five," "back half of top ten," and "potential top ten show."  For comedies, I legitimately had seven shows that I thought were worthy of a top five placement and for dramas, I ended up labeling a ton of shows as back half and not many in the top half.

Anyway, this is just an odd year to me at least.  A fair number of shows that appear on most end of year lists were shows that I thought were good, not great - or great, but with glaring flaws.  Some of those shows will make my list still.  I've introduced this long enough, and so I'll get on with the post.

#10 Jane the Virgin - CW
Seasons 3-4 (20 episodes)

Model Episode: "Chapter 61"

Jane the Virgin wins out on the #10 spot for essentially two reasons: the first is that it has more episodes than the other shows I was considering and maintained quality in those extra episodes.  You'd be surprised at how few episodes most of the seasons on this list have.  20 is by far the most of any show on this list.  The network drama is dead, that is except if it airs on the CW.  (With that said, this is the lone representative from that network and only one other show was seriously considered, but I do watch SEVEN shows from this network)

The second reason is that they handled a major death of a character in pretty much the best way possible.  It is a little annoying that this character had to die simply because that was always the plan, BUT they did one of the more fairly smart narrative choices I've seen.  They skipped ahead three years.  Long enough to where the pain was mostly gone, but they still dealt with the death in a smart way and found a way to seamlessly put it into the story.  The model episode above is one such example.  I also included that episode because it is deals with the grandmother being an illegal immigrant in a thoughtful way.

#9 Fargo - FX
Season 3 (10 episodes)

Model Episode: "The Law of Non Contradiction"

Two years ago, season 2 of Fargo found its way on my list.  It was the second best show on my list and really, it very easily could have been #1 on my list no problem.  2015's top ten dramas was an enormously and inconceivably stacked year.  There is absolutely no way that the third season of Fargo would have made that list.  The third season is a clear step down from the first two seasons in my opinion, but clearly it's still a very good show!

If I were to pinpoint my main two issues with this season, it would be the villain and the police chief.  Both were played by wonderful actors who were in no way at fault.  VM Varga, played brilliantly by David Thewlis, was an obnoxious villain in exactly the way the show intended.  But he was too omniscient and too brazen.  He knew everything and he would do everything in broad daylight.  It makes you wonder how the fuck the guy has never been caught.  He's not charming.  He's not fun to watch.  Basically, the way he acted was at odds with what happened.  If it was revealed that it was all a ruse, that this guy was no master criminal, it would have made a lot more sense to me.  And the police chief, as played by Shea Whigman, was the worst kind of plot device.  He literally only existed because if he didn't, Gloria Burgle (Carrie Coon) would have figured out the whole thing in two episodes.  So that's why it's all the way down to #9 for me.

#8 Stranger Things - Netflix
Season 2 (9 episodes)

Model Episode: "Chapter Six: The Spy"

Usually, when a season of television goes so off the rails as "Chapter Seven: The Lost Sister" does, it would cost the show a spot here.  I'm curious as to how I would rank this if it weren't for that episode to be honest.  But I decided to keep it in because I admired the ambition and I do think it was a genuine need on a character basis for Eleven to have.  The fact that it was largely not very good doesn't harm the show as much as it could have for those two reasons.

If I had to pretend that episode didn't exist - and for rewatch purposes I will - the second season is just as good as the first season.  I have a few little quibbles with the show like Dustin's stupidity driving the plot instead of it making sense and the probably realistic but still irritating behavior of the boys towards Max.  Overall though, it's thrilling.  It probably peaks in Chapter Six, which makes the random detour in Chapter 7 all the more blunt and unwelcome.  Still, I'm mostly along for the ride with this show and it's a pretty great ride.

#7 The Handmaid's Tale - Hulu
Season 1 (10 episodes)

Model Episode: "Late"

The Handmaid's Tale was a season of two halves.  The first half was legitimate "best show of 2017" quality.  The second half... would not be on this list at all.  Thus, a tough conundrum for myself seeing as most shows more or less remain consistent throughout seasons.  This season was somehow simultaneously great and makes me think a second season won't be very good.  Because - having not read the book - apparently the show struggled when it deviated from the book and it deviated from the book largely in the 2nd half of the first season.

But that's next season.  This season taught me that Alexis Bledel can act.  No joke there.  I didn't know she could before "Late" and now I at least know that she can with the right part.  (I haven't seen Gilmore Girls so my opinion is based off her appearances in Sin City and Mad Men).  Anyway the first half is fantastic.  If I could, I'd probably edit the first season down to six or so episodes and then just pretend it was a great miniseries.  Unfortunately the further expansion of the world building past what was in the book just left more questions than answers.

#6 FEUD: Bette and Joan - FX
Season 1 (8 episodes)

Model Episode: "And the Winner is...(The Oscars of 1963)"

I'm not sure that Feud would be on this list if it weren't for Susan Sarandon.  I haven't seen that many Bette Davis movies and I am not familiar with how she acted in real life so I'm not exactly qualified to say this, but she seems to embody the spirit of Davis near perfectly.  Jessica Lange isn't bad, but she's more or less competent.  Where I can't imagine Davis being played by anybody else, I can fairly easily see somehow else playing Joan Crawford just as effectively.  But I digress.

Anyway this is basically a classic feud, the perfect subject of what I imagine Ryan Murphy wants to do every season.  Two enemies who are more alike than different who nonetheless let the few differences between them consume them and transfer it into hate.  One big difference that is probably accurate but makes it very easy for me to take a side is that Crawford was more concerned about looking like a movie star and Davis was more concerned about the craft.  The show was also able to use the time period to examine the sexism that contributed to their feud.  And I can't forget about the wonderful work that Alfred Molina does as Robert Aldrich in this series.

#5 Legion - FX
Season 1 (8 Episodes)

Model Episode: "Chapter 5"

Calling Legion a comic book series - which it technically is - doesn't seem to do it justice.  I don't say this because comic book series aren't capable of greatness, but the differences between this and, say Arrow, are so great that they don't seem to belong in the same genre.  Legion is a commentary on mental illness disguised as an X-Men series.  It is an expert use of the unreliable narrator, which I think is a very difficult point of view to capture in a way that's not endlessly frustrating.  Our main character's mind is so unstable that we can't truly know what's real and what's not.

Like I said, that has the potential to be ridiculously frustrating, but it's all in the execution.  Legion is something that couldn't have existed effectively 10 years ago.  I've been watching Pushing Daisies, which aired on a major network and largely looked fake as shit.  This series has some of the best special effects ever seen on TV.  I can't imagine they have a large budget either.  I have to give special props for the performance of Aubrey Plaza in this season.  If you had any suspicions that her character on Parks and Rec was her not really acting, just watch this series and see her be amazing in it.  Dan Stevens, a true bore in Downton Abbey, is also genuinely amazing here.

#4 The Leftovers - HBO
Season 3 (8 episodes)

Model Episode: "It's a Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt World"

It feels a bit weird for me to include The Leftovers here.  I have typically been separated from the popular critical opinion on this show.  I almost don't know what to do with myself now that I don't have to explain why this critically beloved show is off my list.  I genuinely think a few things changed though.  This is an altogether weaker year than normal for me.  And The Leftovers cut the crap.  They stopped focusing on the Guilty Remnant, a huge burden for me from fully embracing the show.  Basically, in the first season there was the good parts of The Leftovers and the parts that I tolerated.  In the second season, there were more good parts and still parts that I tolerated.  There wasn't much that was just tolerated in the last season.

I still feel like I'm more down on this show than the people who love it, a weird thing to think since I placed it #4.  I've always absolutely loved the episodes that was from the perspective of a single character ever since the show started.  I believe the first ever one of those episodes featured Christopher Eccleston's character, Matt Jamison.  So it's only fitting that my model episode in the last season is also focused on him.  But in reality, most of the main characters get a comparable episode, even an unexpected one focused on a tertiary character, Kevin Garvey Sr.

#3 Alias Grace - CBC
Season 1 (6 episodes)

Model Episode: "Part 2"

Remember when I said that The Handmaid's Tale would stand a good chance of being near the top of my list if it was condensed into a 6 episode miniseries?  Well, here's an example done right.  Developed and written by former actor Sarah Polley - who seems to have stopped acting seven years ago at only 31-years-old despite being the lead in a fair number of movies, this series didn't have as much choice admittedly.  Watch the series and you'll understand why it's a miniseries.

It's a little difficult to explain the appeal of Alias Grace because I want to share as little as possible.  It's no spoiler that in the second episode, Alias Grace explores the difficulties of being a woman in the 19th century, even for a smart one who knows men are up to no good.  I mean that's essentially what the whole series is about for the most part, but this one has a harder punch.  The ending of the series is also bound to be at least a little divisive - at least for the people going in who haven't read the novel like myself.  Like I said though, I'm purposefully sharing as little as possible here so you can experience it like I did.

#2 Better Call Saul - AMC
Season 3 (10 episodes)

Model Episode: "Chicanery"

Better Call Saul remains two different prequels and thus almost like watching two different shows.  It works though because both characters are going through a moral deterioration.  Granted, I probably would have come up with a different title, because it makes it sound like it's only Saul Goodman's show.  It's also about Mike, the lovable cleaner for Gus Fring in Breaking Bad.  Both of their worlds are getting closer and closer throughout the third season.  I wonder if at any point, it will feel like the same show no matter whose perspective its from?

I obviously have no issue with the two different shows part of Better Call Saul since it is #2 on my list.  The main conflict - and most emotionally engaging - remains Chuck vs Jimmy.  And I think the series high occurs during "Chicanery" which is the courtroom episode of the third season.  I'll be interested to see how many more seasons this show has in it, but they appear to be more than halfway done based purely off how Jimmy has slowly progressed into Saul.

#1 The Americans - FX
Season 5 (13 episodes)

Model Episode: "Dyatkovo"

Sigh.  You know I really do want to put a different show here for once.  I'm starting to approach fanboy territory.  It's just I can't physically put another show here as long as The Americans remains at the top of its game.  This show is just on my wavelength at all times.  It didn't help that any show competing with The Americans for the #1 spot had less episodes.  I feel compelled to give shows that have a harder responsibility - making more excellent episodes and following through with it - more props than shows that "just" need to make eight excellent ones.  No worries though.  The Americans only has one more season in it and I actually really do hope that it keeps the #1 spot.

Here's a fun fact.  There have been two - TWO - shows that have been on my top ten for all 3 years of me doing this.  The Americans has been #1 all three years.  The other show?  Jane the Virgin somehow.  I'll feel some pressure to keep those streaks going for next year (I can't imagine The Americans not at least making an appearance even if it's not #1 again, but Jane the Virgin has its work cut out for it)

Honorable Mentions
Could Easily Be On This List

The Deuce - This show probably suffered most from not really having identifiable episodes to distinguish from each other.  In making this list, I looked at standout episodes to determine a peak and with the exception of a shocking ending to one of them, the whole show just kind of morphed together for me.

MINDHUNTER - Call it the weak pilot effect.  I was engaged in the pilot because of David Fincher's direction, but the show didn't really get interesting until episode two.  There was just a whole lot of exposition to go through in the pilot episode that probably could have been condensed.  Listen, my reasons for excluding these shows are flimsy as hell, but that's why they're on this section.

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - It's sort of tough to grade a show like this against the rest of the shows since I'm only including 2017 episodes.  So I'm not actually grading a full season, but the end of one and the beginning of another.  You can see how that would be a negative towards landing on this list.

Just Didn't Have Enough Great Episodes

Big Little Lies - If I could pinpoint why this show didn't make my list, it's probably The Leftovers problem (pre-season 3 at least).  Parts of it REALLY worked and other parts weren't all that compelling.  Reese Witherspoon is very good in here, but her character just pales in comparison to the abuse storyline - well both abuse storylines.  And she's not a minor part of the show!

Mr Robot - I kind of feel bad that I left season one off my top ten back in 2015 because I was truly as into Mr Robot as every other big fan.  Then season two kind of left me cold.  I thought season three was in an improvement, but I'm just not as into this show as I once was.  This season weirdly peaks in the middle.

Game of Thrones - Oh boy.  The tight narrative plotting of George RR Martin is nonexistent in this latest season and I say this as someone who got through half of the first book and gave up.  I've never thought of Game of Thrones as a turn off your brain show, but it kind of is now.  You just can't think too hard about anything happening or it falls apart for me.  Certain individual one-on-one scenes still work as well as they always have and the battle scenes are amazing so it's got that going for it.

Other shows of note
These shows were never truly in consideration, but I feel they are good enough to be worth mentioning.

Sneaky Pete - Got a Justified hole in your heart?  Well here's a show that's not as good, but the names involved alone should sell you on it: Bryan Cranston, Margo Martindale, Graham Yost is the showrunner.

The Crown - This show's greatest weakness is ironically the reverence it has for the crown, thus making it incapable of ever truly criticizing the principal players or analyzing them too deeply.

The Girlfriend Experience - The creators did something truly interesting this year and that's having 7 episodes following one person and 7 episodes following another story.  It wasn't as good as the first season, but I admire the audacity.

That takes care of my top ten TV dramas for 2017.  I'm sure there's a show you like that I did not mention and the chances are either don't watch that show or I didn't get a chance to watch it in time.  For example - not that I think it would make my list - I am not caught up to Shameless at the moment so it wasn't considered.

Top Ten Dramas in 2016

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.

2015 Top Ten Dramas

I made the foolish decision to make an end-of-the-year top ten list.  Most top ten lists come out before Christmas, but there was just no time for me to watch what I felt I needed to watch in order to come up with the best possible list.  Given that the holidays provide loads of opportunity of free time, it was also more convenient.  I don't regret that decision either.  The list today, the top ten drama, could have been ably made without the extra time, although a couple shows are in the top ten that I just watched in December.  The comedy list on the other hand would have looked a hell of a lot different.

For my order, I decided to list them backwards from 10 to 1 and then afterwards list the honorable mentions.  I feel by abstaining from listing the honorable mentions until afterwards, you might actually have some doubt as to what will come towards the top.  Also, I don't want to list your favorite show in the honorable mention, you'll get mad and then not read the rest of the post.

Both lists are what I think are the best, but I will admit a certain element of how much I enjoy the show comes into play.  By that I mean, there are a few shows that could technically be described as better than some in the top ten, but whenever I put them in there, it just felt wrong.  It felt like I was putting it in there only because I felt it was supposed to be in there and not because I thought it was one of my top ten shows of the year.

Anyway my opinions are my own and there's really no need to be offended that I didn't include your favorite show.  There's a decent chance I don't even watch it too.  I don't have a specific example for dramas, but I'm fairly certain Bob's Burgers most recent year would be strongly considered for comedy, but I'm just not caught up to the show and it was not possible for me to do so.  I've wasted enough words introducing this list so let's just get on with it.

*I only count episodes that air in 2015.  Most of the shows in this list have the entire season air in 2015, but for shows like The Flash that still follow the traditional network television format, 2015 covers one half of two different seasons.  To stay on that example, I'm not technically counting the first nine episodes of the first season of The Flash.

#10 The Flash - CW (Season 1-2)

I consider this show's placement on the list to be an upset.  I hadn't planned on putting this on my top ten.  I wanted to put it in my top ten, but then I went through the list of shows that I was considering and I didn't seem to have any room for it.  The more I thought about it though, the more I realized it had to be on the list.

The Flash is unlike just about every other recent superhero show or movie in that it purposefully goes for a lighter tone acknowledging that being a superhero would be pretty fucking awesome, especially one who runs at lightning speed.  It's a show well aware of its origins and it embraces those origins.  It has the cheesy, pun-related and comic book dialogue while also retaining an emotional core thanks to a strong cast led by Grant Gustin and Jesse L. Martin.  Plus, it appeals to both comic book fans and people who have never read a comic book in their life (like me).  I've seen enough comments and read enough reviews to know you might actually enjoy this more if you're into the comics, because the creators are well-versed in its history.  But seeing as this is number ten on my list, it obviously appeals strongly to novices in comics too.

There are reasons to watch The Flash and then there is THE REASON to watch The Flash.  That reason is Tom Cavanaugh.  Words can't adequately describe just how good of a performance he gives, specifically in the first season.  He's Barry's mentor and he seems sincere in his intentions, but he also has hidden motives and is clearly not totally on Barry's side.  He's able to play these seemingly contradictory points to near perfection.

Model Episode: "Fast Enough" (S1 E23)

So far the best episode of the show was the season one finale.  One of the joys of The Flash's first season was that it was able to seamlessly blend its monster of the week and its season long narratives.  It all culminates in, frankly, a batshit insane finale.

#9 - Making a Murderer - Netflix 

Given that this was released two weeks ago and I've seen nothing like the cultural impact that The Jinx did when that aired, most of you probably haven't watched this.  (Edit: Well, when I wrote that, it was a true statement.  It's seemingly blown up recently though.)  Well, I'm going to need to take this opportunity to say that you should.  It is very hard for me to put a documentary series on this list - The Jinx wasn't anywhere close to making it - and yet I can't deny that this belongs here.  The show is about Steven Avery, a man wrongfully convicted back in 1985 of sexual assault.  He later gets released and well... find out the rest of the story by watching the documentary.  If you think that was a spoiler, he gets released by the end of the pilot episode and it was also apparently a very famous case.

The Manitowoc County police department is clearly corrupt, BUT this series does show certain things even honest cops might do that terrify the shit out of me.  Like when interviewing potential witnesses, accidentally give them crucial information that they otherwise would not know.  Although if you've seen this series, what I'm referencing is nothing short of despicable.

Model Episode: "Indefensible" (S1 E4)

It's hard to pick a specific episode, but I believe this episode had the biggest impact on me.  It's one of the hardest things I've ever had to watch, mostly because it really happened.  Again, I don't want to spoil, but I'm just getting angry thinking about it.  If you watched it, I'm talking about what happened to Branden Dassey and his appointed lawyer.

#8 - Sense8 - Netflix (Season 1)

This show is responsible for one of my favorite scenes of the year, when the group of sensates all sing along to "What's Up" by 4 Non Blondes.  I don't think my feelings towards that scene can be replicated because I tried to watch it on Youtube and it's just not the same as that first time.  That was the moment I fell in love with the show.  Sense8 is about eight different characters around the world of different ethnicities, sexual orientations, and genders.  They are able to communicate with each other gradually, through their special abilities.

There's something so different about this show.  It's full of the celebration of human life, of the differences in human beings and how we should celebrate those differences.  It's a show with eight characters that couldn't be more different using their differences to overcome the threat to their lives.  It could be characterized as slow and the characters themselves could be characterized as cliches.  To an extent, they do start out that way.  I'm starting to come around to the idea that being a cliche isn't necessarily a bad thing by itself as long as you develop the characters.  Also you could argue it's necessary with such an ambitious idea to familiarize the audience with the characters as soon as possible by creating known character staples.

The cast is quite good despite being full of relative unknowns (full disclaimer: the foreign actors might be well-known elsewhere, but I'm pretty good with actor's names and I've never heard of any of the eight principal characters so I feel comfortable saying they aren't well-known in the US).  Anyway, none of them are weak links.  If there is a standout actor, I'd have to give it to Miguel Ángel Silvestre, who plays Lito.  For the entirety of the show, his story is pretty much completely unrelated to anything else happening and due to him (and Alfonso Herrera and Eréndira Ibarra) it's arguably one of the most compelling.  And Doona Bae, who plays Sun, is also pretty good by virtue of playing my favorite character.

Model Episode - "What's Going On?" (S1 E4)

There's really no way for me to pick any other episode.  This is an episode that takes full advantage of its premise by having every character sing along to a... well it's not a very well-respected song critically speaking.  (I don't mind it, though I was literally one-year-old when it was popular and I have a feeling it being overplayed is a huge factor in why it's disliked among certain circles).  I also rarely can point to one specific episode that makes me love a show and how can I resist picking the episode of Sense8 where everything clicked.

#7 - Jane the Virgin - CW (Season 1-2)

It says a lot that two CW shows made my top ten list.  Seriously, when did the CW become so good?  (Also, I'm sorry iZombie fans, but this won't make my list and it's entirely due to the fact that, hey some really good shows needed to be left off this list).  Jane the Virgin distinguishes itself from other shows I watch because it is entirely different from every other show I watch.  It juggles different tones constantly between being a melodramatic telenovela, a multigenerational family drama, a romantic love triangle, a crime mystery (easily the weakest part, but hey you need to keep Michael involved), and I'm probably missing something else.

I'm not going to write a review of this show anywhere else so I need to say it here. One pet peeve of mine about this show is Jane's writing career.  In order to keep the show somewhat in reality, the writers clearly intend for some things to be realistic, like the familial bond, and some things that could come out of a telenovela.  I get the impression, and I could be totally wrong here, that her writing career is supposed to be at least semi-realistic.  I don't know what it is, whether it's my jealousy at how easily she's able to go back to school post-graduation (I would love to take the graduate program she did, but due to the price and lack of foreseeable income it would generate, I can't) or the fact that the show isn't all that convincing in portraying her as this great writer she's supposed to be, but it just rings false to me.

Anyway, I just had to share that.  I have to give credit to the show for creating a love triangle where both men seem like actual competition instead of the usual love triangle where it's pretty obvious which one is the better option.  (For what it's worth, due to the fact that Rafael's strengths are mostly pretty face and rich, I'm #TeamMichael)  Gina Rodriguez is perfectly cast, able to change her performance for whatever the tone of the scene requires.  Yael Grobglas's performance is so good that the writers know that no matter how bad her actions are, the audience will sympathize with her character.  Lastly, Jaime Camil takes an over-the-top telenovela star whose performance fits that characterization and makes him a character... somehow.  It's great.

Model Episode - "Chapter 28" (S2 E6)

Since I watched the first season in literally less than a week, it was kind of hard to pick a standout episode.  But ultimately I went with an episode that proved the writers were unafraid to try new things.  This episode occurs over three months, a pretty drastic change from its usual format.  I also could have chosen the episode when the "bromance" between Rogelio and Michael starts or the season one finale, which is probably a better representation of everything that makes Jane the Virgin great.

#6 Mad Men - AMC (Season 7 Part Two)

The first four shows on this list represent shows in their first season, so its fitting that I break the trend here with a show in its very last season.  There's not really anything new I can add that hasn't already been written about Mad Men.  Not many shows could have nearly every episode put an end to a character's journey.  Essentially, each episode seemed to have an episode where if if they were the main character, that episode would function as their de factor series finale.  They may have appeared in later episodes, but they did have a specific episode end their character journey.

I don't find anything particularly unique about Mad Men's final season (part two) compared to its previous seasons.  Obviously, given its placement on this list, that isn't a complaint.  I just mean to compliment the virtues of Mad Men's final season (part two), I might as well be complimenting what makes Mad Men, Mad Men.  While I hold the first four seasons higher than the following three - including the final season - what is "average" Mad Men is quite a bit better than everything else on television.

Plus, I think Mad Men stuck the landing for the finale.  I consider the journey more important than the conclusion (which is why I think Lost is still a great show), but I've found instances of picking this list where the finale factored a lot more into my thinking than I thought they would.  It ties everything together.  Hell - and this will probably sound blasphemous to some - it's significantly lowered my opinion of Breaking Bad (at least in terms of best shows ever).  So, thank you Mad Men, for ending the show on a good note.

Model Episode - "Person to Person" (S7 E14)

Well, it'd be really weird if this wasn't my pick after my whole last paragraph said how great it was that Mad Men ended the show on a good note, wouldn't it?  Anyway, I've always found it hard to tell apart Mad Men episodes from each other except for the select few that seem to end up on the "Best Mad Men Episodes" list.

#5 - Rectify - Sundance (Season 3)

I'm going to guess most people have either never seen this or if they did, thought it was too slow.  It's also only six episodes.  How do judge a show that only has the burden of making six episodes over a show that has to make 22 episodes?  Well, there are two ways I'm justifying this ranking.  First thing is first, not many shows have truly great episodes.  I mean you really enjoy a season and usually there's one or two episodes that you can pick out later when you make your "Best Episodes" list in your head.  But most of the time, you enjoy the show for its status quo.

Part of my rankings honestly were looking at the episode titles, reading about them if necessary, and then seeing how many episodes I instantly remember loving.  The whole episode comes into my mind and I want to go back and see that episode.  Mad Men hurt itself because I know a Mad Men episode that blows my mind and none in season seven really did it.  It probably set too high of a standard.  As for the Rectify, I have no problem in saying that there were more very good episodes in this six-episode season than most shows.  In fact, I had this ranked higher, but realized I couldn't simply make the argument that it was true for any of the shows above it.

Rectify is responsible for possibly my pick for the greatest scene of the year.  I would link it to you if I could find a link.  A drunk, depressed Teddy confesses to his nephew about something he did when he was younger.  Clayne Crawford is just spectacular in this scene.  It's one of those scenes where everytime I think of it, I just feel horrible at how often this likely happens.  Great piece of writing.  Great acting.

Model Episode - "Thrill Ride" (S3 E2)

This episode obviously contains the aforementioned scene I was talking about above.  As Brandon Nowalk of the AV Club says "This episode does for Teddy what Rectify does for Daniel."  We see things from his perspective and through other people.


#4 - Justified - FX (Season 6)

Full disclosure: Justified's last episode aired in early April so it's pretty hard for me to specifically remember some of this season.  If you're wondering why it's as high as #4, well I had the same problem with similar shows that ended so early in the year.  I'll have the same problem with some of the upcoming shows as well.  But I did read the episode descriptions for this season, and it brought me back the feelings I had for this season.

Remember that thing I said about how the ending was more important than I thought?  Justified's final season is a prime example of that.  Hearing the names Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins alone should probably be the end of my argument, but this season also featured Mary Steenburgen, Sam Elliot, and Garrett Dillahunt.  There's also the return of Kaityln Dever as Loretta from season two (the series' best season), the always reliable Patton Oswalt, the hilarious Jere Burns (this show is funnier than quite a few comedies actually), and Mykelti Williamson.  The only person missing from the Justified All-Stars is Margo Martindale.  And that was never going to happen.

Justified's sixth season is a season of master plotting.  Sometime in the middle of the season, the plot ramped up to where it seemed like anyone (except for Raylan or Boyd) could die and each successive episode somehow kept the tension as high as could be.  It was to the point where it was the eighth episode and hard to imagine how they could keep up the pace they were at - it really seemed like they'd need to either stall or have the last few episodes be quiet reflection with most of the characters dead or in jail.  And yet, they managed to believably keep the action and tension high into the finale.

Model Episode - "Fugitive Number One"(S6 E11)

Really, you could probably put any of the last few episodes of the season here and not be wrong.  This one stands out to me at least because of two death scenes that are brutal to watch.  For fear that not everyone reading has seen this series - and because I think everyone reading should watch this series - I'll not spoil the deaths, but both scenes just add to this sense of impending doom.  Both were also pretty heartbreaking to me, though none of the characters were "good" people.

#3 - Hannibal - NBC (Season 3)

Rectify made the top five based off its writing, for the most part.  Justified made the top five for its dialogue, pacing, and plotting.  Hannibal makes this list based off its directing mostly.  Put it this way: this director of this movie directed five episodes and the cinematographer of Pan's Labyrinth directed three episodes.  Directors come in and experiment with things to see how they can make use of a presumably small budget.  I think I read a quote from Bryan Fuller telling directors to make it like a pretentious art film.  (He was probably joking)  I can see how the directors followed that, but it's also underselling how good the show was.

Hannibal was perhaps worried about cancellation so the back end of the season dealt with the television show's interpretation of The Great Red Dragon.  Honestly, that's most of what I remember about the season.  Richard Armitage being effectively creepy and strangely sympathetic.  He gives a performance worthy of the character of Francis Dolarhyde.  The show also improves by giving a greater role to Gillian Anderson - always a good move - and making Alana Bloom a much more active and more interesting character.

Hannibal is essentially talented directors with free reign with the writing of Bryan Fuller brought to life by fantastic acting from the regulars to the supporting players.  Hugh Dancy, Laurence Fishburne and Mads Mikkelson - which is the definitive Hannibal Lecter performance for me anyway - all are as reliable as they've always been. Then good luck picking the best supporting actor of this group: Rutina Wesley as Francis' blind love interest, Nina Ariande as Will's wife, Katherine Isabelle as Margot Verger, or any of the actors I've mentioned above.  Seriously, all of them are making me run out of adjectives to describe them.

Model Episode - "Digestivo" (S3 E7)

I'm going to choose the bridge between the two halves of the season.  The first is focused on Will finding Hannibal and the second on the Red Dragon.  Both are good, but here is where we get exposed to an episode of Mason Verger (I didn't give Joe Anderson enough credit for Verger, but I sadly prefer season two's Michael Pitt).  At the end of the episode, the show reframes Hannibal's capture by law by having him give up to spite Will instead of actually being caught.  It fits in perfectly with the show.

#2 - Fargo - FX (Season 2)

I find Fargo and Justified pretty similar in terms of why and how they're good.  They both have unusually excellent plotting that lets the tension stay high.  Both shows make it seem like characters would have to die before the finale, manage to prolong it to the end of the season, and not make it seem like they stalled or faltered along the way.  Both have excellent dialogue that allows it to go slower than you might otherwise expect.  And both have quite the cast to boast with some of the best performances coming from the people you wouldn't expect.

If season one of Fargo was the Billy Bob Thornton showcase, season two is the Bokeem Woodbine showcase.  And the Kirsten Dunst showcase.  And though he wasn't in the whole season, the Nick Offerman showcase.  (Seriously, he was amazing in his drunken state trying to convince Bear Gerhardt to back away from the police station.  There's also Patrick Wilson, Jean Smart, Jesse Plemons, Ted Danson, and the list goes on.  Zahn McClarnon as Hanzee turned out to be a much better character than he initially seemed.

Model Episode "The Castle"

Here's another show where I don't really think you can necessarily go wrong with any answer.  This is the episode where everything turns to shit.  Basically, this is the episode where Hanzee turns on the Gerhardt family, the police are ambushed at motel, Ed and Peggy end the episode running away ("It's just a flyer saucer, Ed. We got to go."), and Betsy falls ill at home.  Again, I don't necessarily know if this is the best episode, but this is definitely the episode where the most seems to happen and that's as good of a choice as any really.  Nearly any episode would apply.

#1 - The Americans - FX (Season 3)

Come on, did you really expect any different - at least for those who follow me on Twitter?  This had to be the choice.  Fargo was a strong contender for #1, but ultimately I was pretty sure that it was mostly due to the fact that it was the series I JUST saw.  I'm a little worried it's too high still.  But The Americans third season was perhaps their best season to date.  (Season two's ending kind of breaks down the more you think about it and season one wasn't as great as either at keeping the story momentum.)

Due to both the viewership and the fact that - outside of people who I've met through the internet - nobody I know has ever watched this show (that I'm aware of at least), I'm not going to go into too much detail about what makes this season great.  The two protagonists, Phillip and Elizabeth, face a dilemma put upon by the Soviet government.  (If you aren't aware of the premise, Phillip and Elizabeth are married undercover Soviet spies living in America who speak perfect English)  One of the characters has no intention of following through on their orders while the other encourages it. Basically, this show excels at identifying perhaps the most important element of marriage - trust - and then making both skillful liars and spies, obviously making trust extremely difficult.

This season also really hammers down the toll that killing and lying and the things required of an undercover spy would have on a normal person.  We FEEL what the characters are feeling.  The show has built up two seasons worth of sympathy to the point where we root for them over the Americans.  This season features a dead body being put inside a suitcase, the most painful and intimate tooth extraction you'll ever see, and many deaths.  Oh and this season also features the dad needing to seduce a girl his daughter's age and it's actually worse than it sounds when you know why specifically he struggles with this.

Model Episode - "Stingers" - (S3 E10)

Wow it's going to be impossible to say why this is the episode without spoiling.  For people who've seen the show though, it's the episode where the primary conflict of the whole season - the conflict that it appeared would last at least to the final episode - is revealed in this episode.  The writing in this episode exceeds even the usual Americans episode as the characters behave as realistic as I can imagine in a situation nobody has surely ever experienced.

Honorable Mentions

Shows once in my top ten
The Leftovers - I would have felt dishonest if it were in my top ten.  I just don't really connect with this show as most seem to do.  I don't want to levy this criticism towards it, but I can't think of a better word: it's just a little too pretentious for me.  I don't think this is true of everyone in the sense that I don't necessarily think other people will find it pretentious.  I just find frequently watching the show that I'm not buying the events are as important as they show is trying to convey.

Looking - I really did want to include this in my top ten, but then I watched Sense8 and then I watched Making a Murderer and it just became impossible to include it on my list.  I don't think I'll get many complaints about this one though.

The Knick - I wasn't really planning on putting it on the list, but then the ending of the second season was about as good a conclusion as you can hope for to any series.  So then it made it's way on, only to again be knocked off by my recent watches.  Anyway, if I had to pick a reason why this isn't on the list, it's probably that I don't find the writing that great.  This show is being considered almost solely due to the director, the setting and the acting.  Sometimes the writing is great, specifically the season two finale, but most of the time it's only average.

The Rest
I enjoyed the third season of Banshee and it had a few of the best action sequences of the year.  I really liked the first season of Better Call Saul, but if I'm being honest it was never seriously considered.  I can't really say why either.  It's just one of those things when I was making the list and highlighting certain shows, and this pretty much immediately was highlighted as an honorable mention show.  The same is said for Game of Thrones fifth season.  I've always thought of this as a good (with occasionally amazing episodes), not great show.  Nothing changed in the fifth season.  iZombie, despite its awful name, is a Rob Thomas show and he's got a pretty good track record.  This is a much better show than you think it is.  Jessica Jones was brought down by mostly one episode, an episode with narrative shortcuts and contrivances.  In fact, I think it's probably the worst episode of any of the shows mentioned on this post. (Edit: I forgot to mention Mr. Robot as another show that is on honorable mention.)

That is my list.  Tell me what you think.