Television Last Year

 

Here's some of the TV I enjoyed the most last year:

The Penguin - Considering how much I DIDN'T like the Batman movie, it's shocking how good this show was. Only weird issue is how little Batman is mentioned, and that he doesn't show up at all given all the crap going down in Gotham City. And yeah, Colin deserves every award he gets for the acting here--you literally cannot tell that it's him.

Bad Monkey - I used to read a bit of Carl Hiassen, always enjoyed his books. This show's based on one--don't think I read it, and it's great. Funny with some great acting.

From - Another excellent season, though some cracks are starting to show. Still, looking forward to the next season, which apparently won't drop until 2026(?!?!)

Shogun - It's winning a ton of awards, and rightfully so. Completely engrossing, I blazed through this one in a couple of days.

Baby Reindeer - Had no idea what this was going in, but I think that works in its favor. 

Shrinking - The show continues to get better with season 2.

Star Wars Skeleton Crew - We're only 3 episodes in, since I have to wait for the kid to come over to watch an episode, but we're enjoying it. Light fun.

Fallout - This was good, but not quite as great as I thought it would be. Incredibly faithful to the game though.

The Boys - still one of my favorite shows on TV

Superman and Lois - Turned out to be a very fun show, now finished in season 4. 

Hysteria - Very fun show set in the 80's. Not sure if it'll get a season 2, but I'll be there if so. 

The Traitors season 1 - started slow, but by the end, man was I into it. Still don't quite understand how it ended though--some weird hijinks went on.

Cobra Kai - Listen...this show is really starting to go 

House of the Dragon - took me a little while to figure out who everybody was again, but soon was back into it. Not as good as season 1, but still good.(the ending was terrible though, as they're building up to a big battle and then...a trailer for next season...)

3 Body Problem - Didn't love this as much as a lot of people, but enjoyed it. And that boat scene...wow...

Presumed Innocent - solid adaptation, and there's some changes from the movie so expect surprises.

Teacup - Terrible name, decent show.

Tulsa King - You really gotta suspend the disbelief for this show, but it's fun.

Yellowstone - ending wasn't great, but wasn't as bad as some said. I have some sympathy for the writers though, as I'm sure this wasn't their original plan. They had to change things up once Costner wasn't coming back.

Ted - By no means a good show, but I enjoyed it.

Shows I did NOT enjoy:

True Detective Night Country - This is a gigantic piece of shit cloaked in some moody, nice cinematography. The script is the real garbage here, because it's an interesting setup with some weird shit happening, that gets explained in a super stupid reveal.

Terminator Zero - to be fair to the show, I only watched about 20 minutes of the first episode. But it starts with a terminator chasing a girl down a STRAIGHT path, and he's firing a fucking GATLING gun, and he doesn't hit her once. Like...wtf kind of terminator can't hit a running person 20 feet in front of them when they're spitting 50 rounds per second?

Lord of the Rings - You honestly couldn't pay me to watch this show

Star Wars Acolyte - Watched the laughably-bad first episode, and that was good enough for me. Later, saw the wrap-ups of some episodes and realized I chose SUPER wisely.

Scare Tactics - How does Jordan Peele fuck this up? This show was fun, both previous installments. Peele turned this into a show with 20 minutes of set up, and then 30 seconds of BOO! It's stupid. It's like they're so afraid to traumatize the people on the show that the SECOND they start freaking someone out they're like "Hey, it's not real, it's a prank show!"

Umbrella Academy - The previous seasons have all been pretty good, but this one just feels...unnecessary. I'm not even done yet, but it's been a slog to get through.

Before - Now, I didn't HATE this show...it should really have been 5 episodes. Too many dream/nightmare sequences showing the same thing. Too long to get to the resolution.

haven't watched yet but prolly will:

Only Murders In The Building season 4

Squid Games season 2(think it's technically 2025 anyway)

Silo season 2

What We Do In The Shadows final season - saving this for when I'm REALLY depressed.  

Sweetpea

Day of the Jackal

Agatha All Along - we watched the first episode, but got sidetracked and haven't gone back yet. Not usually a good sign. 

Landman

Cross

The Gentleman - watched some of these and enjoyed them, but it's on Netflix, and I forget that exists a lot.

Nobody Wants This - on my list

Dune Prophecy - will probably give it a try