Top Ten Dramas of 2020

 I have a process for how I make my top ten lists, and one of the first things I usually do is look at the past year's list.  After all, great shows normally have more than one good season.  I look at the placement of the shows, see if they had a similarly great year this year, and that helps me begin to formulate my list.

Slight issue: none of my top 10 dramas in 2019 aired a season in 2020.  Not a one of them.  Three of them were limited series, another three ended their run in 2019, two of them got cancelled, and the other two shows took 2020 off, possibly pandemic-related.  

While I'm getting used to at least half of the shows disappearing from the roster, I think all of them disappearing is a first for me.  There is one show that took 2019 off that has made an appearance every year of its existence and another show that would have made my 2019 list had I watched it in 2019.  But aside from that, I really couldn't have foreseen no new season of Succession or that On Becoming a God in Central Florida would be cancelled.

On to the list.

#10 - The Boys - Season 2 (Amazon Prime)

This has been such a long year that I didn't even realize I watched season one and season two of The Boys this year.  The Boys' first season would probably have made my list, but I didn't get to it in time.  I like the second season a little less than the first - I think it starts off a bit slow and the ending wasn't totally satisfying, but in between it was probably as good as the first season. 

#9 - Doom Patrol - Season 2 (HBOMax)

I had a better reason for not watching Doom Patrol in 2019: I didn't have a DC Universe subscription.  Once HBOMax bought it as an original series, I binged all 29 episodes.  Similar story to The Boys actually.  I thought the second season was weaker - the loss of Alan Tudyk was really felt - but this is still a superhero show unlike any other that primarily focuses on the broken down characters and trying to do at least one extremely silly thing per episode (there's a reason for this I swear, but ghosts fuck in one episode).

#8 - The Queen's Gambit - Limited Series (Netflix)

It's this low, because the story it tells does not really support it being seven episodes.  Which is not to say that the show's "extra" episode(s) are bad or anything, but you can definitely feel the story being stretched beyond what it probably should by the penultimate episode.  Things could have been condensed is what I'm saying.  There's not a whole lot I could say about this, seeing as everyone reading this has watched it since it's the most watched Netflix drama ever.

#7 - Perry Mason - Season 1 (HBO)

I don't think Perry Mason would have made my list had it not come up with a great ending.  It's got a central, driving mystery that moves the plot along for its first season, culminating in a trial to wrap things up.  So a lot of the quality of the show is relying on the ending to deliver the promise of the first seven episodes.  And as convoluted and confusing as the mystery could be, I think the show ultimately delivered on that promise.

#6 Mrs. America - Limited Series (FX on Hulu)

I both enjoyed this as entertainment and as sort of a history lesson.  And by history lesson, I mean I would look up to see what was accurate, not that I took what happened on the show as face value.  For the purposes of this list, the entertainment part is the important part.  You get to see the important players in the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment, with Phyllis Schafly played by Cate Blanchett as the primary villain who fights against it.  The rest of the cast, which includes Margo Martindale, Rose Byrne, Sarah Paulson, and Uzo Aduba, tend take their turn in the spotlight, but the show never deviates from Schafly, who according to this show at least helped the ERA fail to be ratified.

Also, the theme song is "A Fifth of Beethoven" and I listened to that for like two straight months thanks to this show.

#5 The Plot Against America - Limited Series (HBO)

You only need to hear one name to convince you to watch this: David Simon.  Also his writing partner Ed Burns, but there's an actor named Ed Burns and that may confuse you.  Also half of the six episodes are directed by Thomas Schlamme, who directed quite a lot of The West Wing episodes and some of the better episodes of The Americans. Yes, I have made it my duty to insert The Americans into anything I can with the slimmest of justifications.

The Plot Against America is firmly alternate history, but an alternate history that is frighteningly easy to imagine.  The context in which this is being released certainly helps, although the book was actually written in 2004, so good job Phillip Roth.  Essentially the question this series posed is: what if Charles Lindbergh was able to actually make political ground with his anti-Semitic views?  The series somewhat mirrors current day although I cannot stress enough that it's based on a book that was written well before now.  It's just apparently not hard to predict America getting pushed into fascism.

#4 I May Destroy You - Limited Series (HBO/BBC One)

I avoided watching this show, because I largely expected it to not be a very fun watch.  The show did not hide what it was about so I knew I was watching a show about a woman trying to deal with getting raped.  It's about more than that though.  The show deals with various types of sexual assault, about consent, and about different types of victims.  The show is listed - when you google it - as a comedy-drama.  I don't think that's accurate.  I think this is just a drama - with some comedic elements.  The comedy aspect may just indicate the tone is not quite as heavy as you'd expect, but to be honest, it's not particularly funny.

It had the potential to be higher because it has supporting characters that it sort of ignores.  The main character, played by Michaela Coel, has a clear arc.  It's about as well done as you can get.  Her friends have the makings of an arc, but get dropped or don't get enough screen time in the end to really be satisfying.  It feels like she could have spent a little bit more time on them to complete their stories.

#3 My Brilliant Friend - Season 2 (HBO)

Every year when I make these lists, I have trouble remembering shows that aired early in the year except for broad outlines.  Now this was true before 2020.  2020 has felt like 10 years.  My Brilliant Friend's last episode was March 16th, which was either right when everything shut down or immediately before it.  I'm saying this to say that I remember feeling the same way about season 2 as I did about season 1, but I cannot specifically tell you details of the second season without looking at an episode synopsis.

Seeing as My Brilliant Friend season 1 was listed as #3 back in 2018, this feels like a good placement.  It's about two smart girls who end up taking diverging paths, because of their home life back in 1950s and 1960s Italy.  One of them is (probably) smarter than the other, but had less supportive parents and had to stop going to school.  The other didn't exactly have supportive parents in the modern day context, but they allowed her to keep going to school which qualifies as supportive then.  They both end up envious of the other, because they want what they do not have.  I need to rewatch this before the third season, whenever that happens.

#2 Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist - Season 1 (NBC)

Do I... do I like musicals?  First Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, now this.  Weirdly, I don't have a particular affinity for movie musicals, but I can't for the life of me think of a musical-like moment done in a TV show I was watching that I didn't like.  If I had to guess, movie relies on songs to flesh out its characters, TV shows typically involve musical numbers after the characters are already fleshed out.  Essentially, movies end up relying way too much on the quality of the song for me, while the quality of the song is less important in TV as long as the emotion is there.  I rarely get invested enough in the characters in musicals during movies to really care about what's happening.

The musical element isn't why it's here.  Well it's partially why it's here.  But the premise of the show is that Zoey has a dad who has a condition that leaves him unable to interact with his family - he just stares straight ahead all day.  It's a real condition based on the creator's real life father.  Zoey, through a medical mishap that is no way realistic, begins to hear characters spontaneously sign pop songs to hear to express what they're really feeling.  It's not a spoiler to say that the dad eventually sings to her.  I can guarantee you will cry watching this show.  That or you have no soul.

#1 Better Call Saul - Season 5 (FX)

Back in 2018, I wrote: "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."

Well, it didn't have a season in 2019, but as soon as it finally aired its fifth season, it accomplished the task of replacing The Americans.  Back in my Top 50 shows of the 2010s - hate to keep referencing my own work here - I said it has a chance to better than Breaking Bad.  I wrote that before the fifth season.  And since I wasn't all that satisfied with Breaking Bad's ending, a truly fantastic ending to Better Call Saul may very possibly surpass its predecessor as the better show.  For now, it's a better show than anything else airing.

Honorable Mentions

Fargo - The show is suffering from hitting some of the same beats that it has.  I still enjoy the show and I definitely feel weird not including it in my top 10, but this may just be a case of having too high of expectations.

The Mandalorian  - This show, to quote Ryan Theriot, is what it is.  It's good for what it is.  And if season 2 didn't fiddle around for its first few episodes, I may have even ranked it.

Lovecraft Country - It is completely bizarre to me that with modern TV comes a new type of show - a show that has an episode or two that can stand with the best of TV and the rest is... a mess.  Off the top of my head, Master of None's second season, Handmaid's Tale's first season, and The Leftovers first season all had this.

Good Lord Bird - A show I wanted to include in the top ten purely for being a show about John Brown, but the show's less about him, and more about a character in his orbit.  

Marvel's Agents of Shield - Another show I wanted to include, it being its last season and its last season being a step up from what came before.  In fact, its last season reminded me of

DC's Legends of Tomorrow - This is one of those shows where its quality doesn't necessarily occur to you when watching it - you just go with the flow.  It's a top 10 entertaining show of the year ever year since its first season.

The Crown - This is the same show it's been since it started, with some standout episodes and a nagging feeling that it could be better.

Stargirl - I was very surprised this show was as good as it was, and part of that is thanks to a strong selection of villains.

Homecoming - A departure from the Julia Roberts first season, the second season tells a story of a woman (played by Janelle Monae) who wakes up having no idea where she is or who she is and the rest of the season is her discovering that.  Not a great ending to the season though.

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.