Best Shows of 2018
- A Series of Unfortunate Events (Season 2)(Netflix)
Synopsis: The Baudelaires (Malina Weissman, Louis Hynes, and Presley Smith) find themselves in increasingly dangerous and dismal situations even as they get closer to unravelling the mystery of VFD and their parents’ secret past.
Part of the difficulty of crafting a good-vs-evil narrative is that, for the sake of drama, evil needs to be besting good 2/3rds of the time without good being so inept and stupid that we stop rooting for them. This is an even harder balance to strike in a show like A Series of Unfortunate Events in which evil wins more like 5/6ths of the time (at least). For the most part the show succeeds at walking that tightrope, not letting its characters’ mistakes overshadow their heroism even if those mistakes end up being fatal. It also confronts the problem head on by having the Baudelaires themselves wrestle with the idea that sometimes being good isn’t good enough.
Also I want to be part of a secret organization that primarily reads books. - Animals (Season 3)(HBO)
Synopsis: Three years after the death of all the humans in New York City, Mike (Mike Luciano) and Phil (Phil Matarese) explore the new animal kingdoms of the city and debate the most important issue of the modern era: Jim Carrey or Adam Sandler? Meanwhile, in a secret military bunker, Mike (Mike Luciano) and Phil (Phil Matarese) monitor the animals while slowly losing their minds.
Season 2 was a little rough in places, but when this show’s on the ball, as it was this season, the combination of cleverness and absurdy is just comedy gold. This season also had the most running gags I’ve seen outside of Arrested Development or Community, and a compelling, well-developed, and legitimately surprising season arc to boot. - Atlanta (Season 2)(FX)
Synopsis: Alfred, a.k.a. Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry), tries to balance his ambition with his fear of fame’s dehumanizing nature. Earn (Donald Glover) struggles to prove himself as a manager and keep Paper Boi from hiring someone with more experience. Van (Zazie Beetz) tries to figure out what she wants from life. Darius (Lakeith Stanfield) just kinda does his own thing as per usual.
True story: My boss said she couldn’t watch Atlanta because it was too depressing, and I said I didn’t think it was that depressing, and then I started watching Season 2 and realized it’s a little depressing. Season 2 goes dark, and while its dip into horror caused a lot of buzz, I think the darkest moments were those that were the most realistic, and the most human. That being said, Glover continues to use surrealism masterfully, never to obscure or distract but only to enhance. - Bob’s Burgers (Season 8)(Fox)
Synopsis: Bob Belcher (H. Jon Benjamin) just wants to run a successful restaurant but keeps finding himself drawn into the antics of his wife Linda (John Roberts), their kids Gene, Louise, and Tina (Eugene Mirman, Kristen Schaal, and Dan Mintz), his friend Teddy (Larry Murphy), and his landlord Mr. Fischoeder (Kevin Kline). This season those include a high-stakes game of hide-and-seek, the case of the missing christmas tree ornaments, and coaching a kids’ soccer team.
To be honest, Bob kind of takes the back seat in this season, with the kids really taking front and center. But I didn’t feel like trying to rewrite the synopsis so there. Anyway, it’s still a fun, charming show. - BoJack Horseman (Season 5)(Netflix)
Synopsis: BoJack (Will Arnett) is set to reboot his career with a starring role in a gritty detective show, “Philbert,” but he thinks the show sucks, so he asks Diane (Alison Brie) to come on as a script consultant. Princess Carolyn (Amy Sedaris) tries to balance producing “Philbert” with trying to adopt a baby. Diane and Mr. Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins) try to move on from their divorce in their own ways. Todd (Aaron Paul) becomes President of Ad Sales for WhatTimeIsItNow.com, the company producing “Philbert.” Also Mr. Peanutbutter gets cast in “Philbert.”
I don’t think they were ever going to top Season 4, a.k.a. my favorite season of tv in 2017, but they certainly kept the momentum going. The show continues to plumb the emotional depths of its characters in inventive ways that are equal parts uplifting and heartbreaking, while still serving up a hilarious helping of jokes and gags (I know I don’t sound believable when I say this, but it really is a very funny show. It just also happens to make you feel things a lot.)
Some stray observations, since I don’t really have an overarching theme other than “this show is still amazing:” For a show that tends to have a lot going on visually (which is why Season 3’s mostly silent “Fish Out of Water” works so well), it’s surprising that one of this season’s best episodes (though there are no bad episodes so that doesn’t mean much) is “Free Churro,” which consists almost entirely of a close-up shot of BoJack delivering a monologue. It’s also interesting that the 2-part finale of this season harkens back to Season 3, and somehow plays as darker despite not ending in someone dying. Also David Sedaris playing Princess Carolyn’s mom is such the right choice that I would have been disappointed had it been anyone else. - Doctor Who (Season 11)(BBC 1)
Synopsis: New Doctor (Jodie Whitaker), new companions (Tosin Cole, Mandip Gill, Bradley Walsh), new adventures, new showrunner.
I’ll be honest, this season was a bit uneven, what with everyone being new to the job, and balancing three companions for the first time since the early days of the show. But it started strong enough, getting me to actually care about the companions, and Whitaker could not have been a better choice, giving the character a level of excitement and whimsy to match the new tone of the show (pivoting off of Capaldi’s dark and dour run) while still maintaining the requisite level of gravitas when it counts. I’m hoping now that they’ve got their sea legs they’ll have a more consistent second season, and maybe this time they’ll actually stick to their “No Daleks” rule. - DuckTales (Season 1)(Disney XD, whatever the heck that is)
Synopsis: With the rent due and nothing to pay it with, Donald Duck (Tony Anselmo) and his three nephews, Huey, Louie, and Dewey (Danny Pudi, Bobby Moynihan, and Ben Schwartz), move in with Donald’s wealthy (and estranged) uncle, famed adventurer and entrepreneur Scrooge McDuck (David Tennant). Together with Scrooge’s driver Launchpad McQuack (Beck Bennett), his housekeeper Mrs. Beakley (Toks Olagundoye), and her granddaughter Webbigail Vanderquack (Kate Micucci), they all go on adventures and it’s great.
Ok, I know this is technically a kid’s show but you can’t put both David Tennant and Danny Pudi’s names on something and expect me not to watch it. Also frequent guest stars include Jim Rash, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Beloved Character Actress Margo Martindale. And it’s a fun and smart kids’ show so there. - Full Frontal With Samantha Bee (Season 3)(TBS)
Synopsis: News commentary and satire featuring Samantha Bee and correspondents.
The thing that always makes Full Frontal stand out is that they put the anger first—in a good way. Where other shows might be, “Ha ha we’re all gonna die,” Samantha Bee is more, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore,” but with jokes. Maybe it’s that she stands the whole time—there’s something about being behind a desk that just takes some of the bite out of whatever you’re saying. - GLOW (Season 2)(Netflix)
Synopsis: Debbie (Betty Gilpin) and Ruth (Alison Brie) take on more involved roles in the show, but have to deal with Sam’s (Marc Maron) resistance, much in the same way he has to deal with trying to raise his newly-revealed teenage daughter, Justine (Britt Baron). Boom, 1-sentence synopsis. What’s that? There are how many more characters? Oh for—
Synopsizing ensemble shows is hard. Debbie, Ruth, and Sam were positioned pretty early as the ostensible main characters (in terms how much of their POV we get in the early episodes), and it does make sense given they are arguably also the most important to the show within the show. That being said, the rest of the cast aren’t bit parts; the show is clearly committed to making us care about the supporting cast, with really only two of the wrestlers being so underdeveloped that we don’t give a crap about them (Stacey and Dawn (Kimmy Gatewood and Rebekka Johnson), who get no POV and are basically just there to annoy the other characters)—even playboy manchild Bash Howard (Chris Lowell) gets a couple more dimensions (and his arc is also a great example of how (and why) to show, not tell). All in all, this season did exactly what it needed to: expand the world, deepen the characters, and push the narrative to new places. - Last Week Tonight With John Oliver (Season 5)(HBO)
Synopsis: John Oliver does news commentary and satire and now Daniel O’Brien is one of the writers.
I mean, I think it’s great. Statistically, you probably do to. Woo. (At this point I assume you either watch it or you don’t, right?) - Legion (Season 2)(FX)
Synopsis: After being kidnapped by a mysterious orb thing, David (Dan Stevens) is found by the rest of the gang—2 years later. They are now working with (for?) Division III in order to fight Oliver (Jemaine Clement) and the Shadow King (I think this would actually count as a spoiler?). David wants to join in, but the others aren’t sure if they can trust him. Also some weird time travel stuff happens and Jon Hamm narrates a bunch of short bits about insanity ‘cause theeeeeemes. Oh and there’s a dude with a basket on his head.
Maybe the weirdest thing about this season is that for all the crazy stuff that happens I actually can remember most of it without having to read episode synopses. Probably because it’s so good. Everything they did great last season they do even greater this season (including the dance scenes), and some of the problems with last season get improved, most notably in regard to the female characters, who are actually, like, real people now (well, as real as anyone else, it is still a heavily stylized show). Still the most interesting thing happening in the world of superhero stories on screen. - Love (Season 3)(Netflix)
Synopsis: Career-wise, Gus (Paul Rust) finally makes his movie, Mickey (Gillian Jacobs) deals with professional success (and workplace drama), Bertie (Claudia O’Doherty) runs some disappointing focus groups, Randy (Mike Mitchell) is really good at cooking but that’s not actually going to lead anywhere, and Chris (Chris Witaske) finally gets to do a stunt on film. Relationship-wise, Gus and Micky meet the parents, and Bertie finds herself between a Randy and a Chris place.
I wouldn’t have thought of Love as a show with twists and foreshadowing and whatnot, but the reveal of Gus’s secret past in this season was a great twist, and really well foreshadowed…and whatnot. Granted, there’s no telling if they actually had that planned from the beginning, but it works either way. Mickey already had her crisis point, and the story was never going to really progress until Gus had his. Their arc ends perfectly: when they started they couldn’t communicate at all, and at the end it just takes one look for them to agree on the next step. The main weakness of this final season is that the Bertie/Randy/Chris arcs don’t really get tied up in the same way. - Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Season 5)(ABC)
Synopsis: The team (minus Fitz (Iain De Caestecker)) find themselves on a space station in space—and also in the future, a future in which Daisy “Quake” Johnson (Chloe Bennet) is said to be responsible for the destruction of the Earth.
Time travel is hard for any show to really do justice to (even Doctor Who misses the mark occasionally), and while Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s take was occasionally frustrating (Mack’s (Henry Simmons) one-note view got real boring real quick), it was still better than many other shows who either get lost in the complexities and end up having to hand-wave away a bunch of plot holes, or avoid the complexities altogether and just oversimplify the entire premise. But mainly I’m just happy both that I was clever enough to predict that they would kill off my favorite character and that, because time travel, they didn’t actually kill off my favorite character (though not as clever as the person on Twitter who realized exactly how they were going to not kill him off months before I did). And the seemingly random Star Wars references were great. - Patriot Act With Hasan Minhaj (Season 1)(Netflix)
Synopsis: I’ll give you three guesses and the first two don’t count and also the third one doesn’t, I mean who’s counting, I’m not.
Of all the Daily Show alum, Minhaj probably hews the closest to his Daily Show persona on his first solo gig, but hey, if it ain’t broke. Which is to say, if you liked him on The Daily Show, you’ll like him on this, and his choice of topics is on par with Last Week Tonight in terms focusing on things that aren’t necessarily in the spotlight but are still important. - Penn & Teller: Fool Us (Season 5)(The CW of all things)
Synopsis: Magicians from around the world come to Las Vegas to try to fool Penn & Teller. Hosted by Alyson Hannigan.
I like magic, this show has good magic. If you don’t like magic probably don’t watch this show. - QI (Series P)(BBC 2)
Synopsis: Sandi Toksvig welcomes three panel guests (and permanent panelist Alan Davies) and quizzes them on some quite interesting facts. This season’s topics include Peril, Picnics, and Procrastination.
Comedy and trivia in one exceedingly British package. What’s not to like? - Silicon Valley (Season 5)(HBO)
Synopsis: Richard (Thomas Middleditch) finds that leading a bigger company brings its own set of challenges. Dinesh (Kumail Nanjiani) invests his entire self-worth (and net-worth) in a Tesla. Gilfoyl (Martin Starr) fears the robot uprising. Gavin (Matt Ross) comes back to Hooli to launch the Signature Box. Jian Yang (Jimmy O. Yang) sells his Pied Piper rip-off. Jared (Zach Woods) finally gets the recognition he deserves.
While Richard, Dinesh, and Gilfoyl’s foibles are still funny, Gavin and Jared definitely steal the show this season. Ross and Woods’s commitment to those characters is just too good to ignore, and they both get a lot of well-deserved screen time. While I was hoping that the departure of T.J. Miller’s Erlich Bachman would lead to Jian Yang having a more expansive role (now no longer limited to just being a foil for Erlich) I felt that he was a little under-used (though this may be due to the shorter season). - The Break with Michelle Wolf (Season 1)(Netflix)
Synopsis: Like a late night talk show but this time with *gasp* a female host. Segments include opening monologue, desk pieces, games with celebrities, and fake ads.
This show was really funny and I don’t know why it was cancelled. Wolf is perfect as a talk show host—she’s sincerely having fun, and established her own twist on the talk show aesthetic right from the start (having written for Seth Meyer for two years she’s got some experience in the form). Hopefully someone was paying attention who can give her job. - The Daily Show (Season 24)(Comedy Central)
Synopsis: I mean, come on now.
If I’m being honest my favorite parts of the show are still Roy Wood Jr. and Ronny Chieng’s pieces, but Trevor Noah has come into his own as host. - The Good Place (Season 2)(NBC)
Synopsis: Eleanor (Kristen Bell), Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Jason (Manny Jacinto), and Tahani (Jameela Jamil) *spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler* Janet (D’Arcy Carden) *spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler* Michael (Ted Danson) *spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler* burrito.
I like this show too much to spoil it for other people. So…yeah. That one part? That was so good. And that other part too. Hilarious. Top notch stuff. - The Mash Report (Season 3)(BBC 2)
Synopsis: It’s like The Daily Show but British.
I first encountered Nish Kumar (the host) as a frequent guest on The Bugle (satirical news podcast formerly co-hosted by John Oliver), so when I found out he hosted a news satire TV show I was pretty confidant it would be good. What I did not know was how good the correspondents would be, most especially Rachel Parris, whose sarcasm is sharper than Damascus steel. - The Opposition with Jordan Klepper (Season 2)(Comedy Central)
Synopsis: The globalist conspiracy discovers the bunker’s location and has the show cancelled for some stupid reason.
I really don’t know why this show failed (in terms of ratings (I assume) not quality). It was tapping into the same vein as The Colbert Report (updated for modern times by satirizing Alex Jones instead of Bill O’Reilly) but was better at not getting lost in its own premise, or abandoning the premise entirely for the sake of a joke. Still, at least Klepper already has another show lined up. - Trial & Error (Season 2)(NBC)
Synopsis: The newly minted Josh Segal (Nicholas D’Agosto) and Associates (Steven Boyer and Sherri Shepherd) take on their first case defending East Peck royalty Lavinia Peck-Foster (Kristin Chenoweth), who is accused of murdering her husband. Meanwhile, Carol Anne Keane (Jayma Mays) has to balance being pregnant, running for D.A., and prosecuting the most beloved woman in town.
Man, this show can be so dumb sometimes but it’s just so fun. Kristin Chenoweth hams it up to the max as only she can, and the inclusion of the Serial-esque true crime podcast was a great touch. - Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas (Season 1)(HBO)
Synopsis: Wyatt Cenac (lately of The Daily Show) makes his long-awaited solo debut with a whole season focusing mainly on policing in America, though it touches on other subjects as well.
It’s not just that Cenac is smart, and funny, and takes what Last Week Tonight has made their hallmark and stretches it out to a whole ten episodes instead of just the second act; it’s that he’s also really weird. Like, no other current-events show combines this level of serious, nuanced examination of a subject with this level of surreal hijinks. It’s great.
Honorable Mentions
- Archer (Season 9)(FX)
- Billions (Season 3)(Showtime)
- Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee (Season 10)(Netflix)
- Star Trek: Discovery (Season 1)(CBS)
- Teachers (Season 2)(TV Land)
- The Blacklist (Season 5)(NBC)
- The Librarians (Season 4)(TNT)
- Would I Lie To You? (Season 11)(BBC 1)
Best Entertainment Specials of 2018
- James Acaster: Repertoire (Netflix)
I think James Acaster might be my new favorite comedian. This special (really, four specials linked together) is not just a series of good jokes with the occasional clever segue or callback. This is an intricately woven network of related stories, with so many well-executed callbacks that at that point they’re not callbacks, they’re just part of one long extended bit that is the whole special. I would go so far as to say that Repertoire is the DAMN. of comedy specials. - Derren Brown: Miracle (Netflix)
This show is so good it made me enjoy mentalism, which is my least favorite form of magic. It also raises interesting questions about the power of belief and the ethics of using that power. - Cameron Esposito: Rape Jokes (Currently free on her website though that may change)
Rape Jokes came out right around the same time as the much-talked-about Nanette, which is unfortunate, because I think the latter overshadowed it when they’re both worth talking about. Both comedians are at the peak of their writing and performing abilities and with important stories to tell, and both take a long hard look at the profession in which they’ve made their careers. - Hannah Gadsby: Nanette (Netflix)
But yeah, I mean, Nanette is undeniably powerful, a truly amazing work. Like, when you step back and look at the arc of that set, the fact that she could start where she does and get to where she ends and make it all tie together and work as a continuous piece with callbacks is phenomenally impressive. - John Leguizamo’s Latin History for Morons (Netflix)
Okay, so Leguizamo can be a little bit offensive in that “I’m making fun of everyone so it’s fine” kind of way, but I think it’s worth bearing those moments for what you can learn and for the story he tells. - John Mulaney: Kid Gorgeous at Radio City (Netflix)
So, I remember really liking this special when it came out, but Nanette, Rape Jokes, and Repertoire all came out afterward, and as good as Mulaney is, those are just on another level. Still a fun show though. - Ron White: If You Quit Listening, I’ll Shut Up (Netflix)
Okay, bear with me. I’m not saying you should watch this. Probably you shouldn’t. Most people, if they know White at all, know him as part of the “Blue Collar Comedy” crew, along with Bill Engvall, Jeff Foxworthy, and Larry the Cable Guy. So, you know, not the best associations. But back in middle school when I first started eating up copious amounts of stand-up comedy, I came across White’s “Tater Salad” bit, and that thing is solid gold. My friend and I still reference that bit to this day. So when I saw there was a new Ron White special I got curious. And I gotta say, he’s not as racist, sexist, homophobic, and transphobic as you’d think he would be. And he is, objectively, a very skilled stand-up comedian. So, again, probably you shouldn’t watch this. Probably it will just make you angry. But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think it was an above average special, for what it is.
Certain of Eventual Failure 