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My TV watching over the past year

Over the past year, for no good reason aside from chronic tiredness, I've been reading less and instead watching a lot of old and new TV. Here's what I've watched in (very) rough order from best to worst. The shows in the bottom half of the list mostly suffered from getting a little tiresome toward the end.

Liked a lot:

  1. Deadwood
  2. Ozark
  3. Boardwalk Empire
  4. Travelers
  5. Rome
  6. Orange is the New Black
  7. Bridgerton
  8. Money Heist
  9. Perry Mason
  10. Lost in Space
  11. True Detective
  12. The Wire
  13. Bosch
  14. The Boys

Liked:

  1. Game of Thrones
  2. Umbrella Academy
  3. Mad Men
  4. Broadchurch
  5. Clarkson's Farm
  6. Night Sky
  7. Queen's Gambit
  8. Watchmen
  9. Chernobyl
  10. Painkiller (thanks entirely to Uzo Aduba)
  11. Bodyguard
  12. Halt and Catch Fire (first three seasons)
  13. The OA

Not bad:

  1. The Sopranos
  2. Behind Her Eyes
  3. The Peripheral
  4. Russian Doll
  5. Succession
  6. The Leftovers
  7. Mare of Easttown
  8. The Expanse
  9. Bodies

Meh:

  1. Band of Brothers
  2. Beef
  3. Wheel of Time
  4. The Mandalorian
  5. 1899
  6. In From the Cold
  7. Counterpart
  8. Squid Game
  9. The English (though it had an odd charm)
  10. The Magicians

No good:

  1. Archive 81
  2. Lupin
  3. His Dark Materials
  4. The Book of Boba Fett
  5. Man in the High Castle
  6. Jack Ryan
  7. The Witcher
  8. Dead to Me

This list doesn't include shows that I gave up on after watching a few episodes, including: Station Eleven, Ballers, Entourage, Barry, The Pacific, The Deuce, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Larry Sanders, Breaking Bad, The Diplomat, Shadow and Bone, Mr. Robot, Schitt's Creek, Veep, Emily in Paris, and Silicon Valley.

72 thoughts on “My TV watching over the past year

  1. EddieInCA

    2 on your "No Good" list are on my Top 10 list:
    Lupin
    Man in the High Castle.

    And several of those you didn't make it through are amazing:
    Barry
    Breaking Bad
    The Diplomat
    Mr. Robot
    Schitt's Creek

    Here's afew you should check out:
    Peaky Blinders
    Treadstone (based on Bourne books)
    The Night Agent
    Fubar
    Reacher (seasons 1 and 2)
    Twisted Metal
    Severance
    Ted Lasso
    Poker Face

  2. Crissa

    I've found a bunch of the shows you didn't make it through are better paced than binged.

    I've rather liked Gilded Age, Lessons in Chemistry, and the Star Wars serieses, tho each is a ever so slightly different genre, so you kinda have to realize that and skip the ones that aren't yours. The first season of Julia was also really good, the second kind of struggled to find a voice against the history.

    I mostly watch Anime tho; Bocchi the Rock was excellent tho I also enjoyed Scavengers Reign (I had to pace that one) there were a few others... Given your list, I'd suggest Odd Taxi as it has a decent dub now.

    1. Salamander

      Well, definitely different. I really like "The Expanse" (although I've read the books). The first episode of "His Dark Materials" was amazing, but the rest, less so. The Man in the High Castle was, in my opinion, superior to the excellent book.

      1. lkladd

        The Sopranos is “not bad”? Succession is “not bad”? The Boys is “ very good” if you’re a 15-year-old basement boy. What a sad list.

        1. Jasper_in_Boston

          The Sopranos is “not bad”? Succession is “not bad”? The Boys is “ very good” if you’re a 15-year-old basement boy. What a sad list.

          I don't "get" Kevin's list at all. His tastes and mine vary considerably. But nor do I consider it "sad" when another person and I have different likes and dislikes.

        2. cmayo

          I disagree about The Boys - it's very clearly meant as a depressing as fuck satire of modern politics and social structures. All the superhero and scifi stuff is just window dressing.

  3. Leo1008

    Curb Your Enthusiasm seems to be a love it or hate it show. I know people who think it’s the best show ever, and I’ve spoken with others who seem to carry a deep and visceral sort of dislike for it.

    I personally love the show, but I can in fact understand how someone might stop watching after a few episodes. The dialogue, apparently, is unscripted (though the stories are all carefully plotted), and, as with any type of improv, it can be hit or miss. That’s part of the show’s style. But when it hits, it really hits. And it’s worth watching for those times.

    I can also see how the culture of the show (for lack of a better term) may not appeal to everyone. Even though it’s mostly set in Southern California, it may be the most New York show I’ve ever seen. It certainly must be the most Jewish American TV show in history.

    It’s basically Seinfeld on steroids. Imagine if George Costanza made a billion dollars and moved to CA. That’s more or less the premise of the show (especially since the George Costanza character is based on Larry David, and David did in fact make a billion dollars - from Seinfeld - and then move to CA).

    But not everyone cares for the northeastern culture of the show. It can be rough and abrasive. Nevertheless, I relate to it completely. I’m from NJ, and I grew up surrounded by Larry Davids.

    I have also spent time in CA, and I have often joked that traveling to and from NJ and CA is essentially an international trip: there’s a change in currency, culture, language, climate, time zone, and diet. And people from these two distinct regions don’t always get along.

    A friend of mine from Brooklyn was let go from his job at a tech firm in Silicon Valley. He said he couldn’t stand the laid back vibe and the forced politeness. He also seems aware that most people there don’t seem to like his outspoken and blunt nature. But back in the Northeast, he’s no longer the default rudest person wherever he goes.

    So I recommend giving Curb another chance. It may take some time to acclimate to the show, but the effort pays off in the end.

    1. Jasper_in_Boston

      So I recommend giving Curb another chance.

      I happen to enjoy Curb Your Enthusiasm a great deal. But, there are like, seven trillion scripted shows available for viewing these days. Why force yourself to watch something you're just not into? Life's too short.

  4. Martin Stett

    When I switch on the streamer, I usually start at Mhz, the European drama and mystery ap. Of course there's genre drift; 'Montalbano' and 'Barlume' are frequently more comic than most purported comedies. 'Paris Police 1900/1905' are gritty procedurals based almost incredibly on real life. They have the original Nordic noirs that the ones on Netflix et al derive from.

    Mhz never gets any oxygen from the What's On review sites. They must not send out free memberships.

  5. wvmcl2

    Recently watched an Irish series on Britbox "Love/Hate" about drug dealing gangs in Dublin which I thought was pretty brilliant, comparable to "The Wire" and "The Sopranos."

    Most of what I have been watching recently is on Britbox, one of the best collections particularly of crime and detective shows but lots of other good stuff besides, like the hilarious general knowledge quiz 'QI' and the brilliant Shakespeare comedy "Upstart Crow." With Britbox and PBS Masterpiece, I feel zero need for Netflix.

    If you haven't seen "Line of Duty", also on Britbox, it's probably the best police drama of the last decade.

  6. Ogemaniac

    Here’s what I watched this year:

    A few championship level sportsball games, so I wouldn’t be clueless at work the next day. In all cases I was simultaneously reading a book so that my time wouldn’t be wasted. I did take a half day of my life to watch Oppenheimer at the IMAX, the first time in 5+ years I watched a non-children’s movie at the theater.

  7. lancc

    We've been watching reruns of Rizzoli and Isles. Some of the best writing and acting we've seen on television. There is a lot of wry humor.

  8. Atticus

    Band of Brothers is perfection and the greatest mini-series ever made. How could you possibly not rate this higher than “meh”?

    Also, surprised Sopranos isn’t at least one tier higher. And, Lost in Space? I watched the first few episodes and it didn’t seem like anything special. Maybe the later episodes made up for it.

    1. rick_jones

      I wouldn't call Band of Brothers perfection, it didn't have enough A-20 Havocs in it 🙂 But damn good. My guess is Kevin wouldn't be fond of much of anything which had a hint of hagiography for things military. As for Lost in Space, I'm going to guess it is a nostalgia thing.

      1. Atticus

        Did you fly A 20s? (Not sure of your age.). I never served and am too young to have been in WWII if I had. My grandfather was in the Pacific, most of his time spent in Guinea.

        1. rick_jones

          My father did. European Theatre, 410th Bomb Group, Ninth Air Force if memory serves correctly. Joined-up in January of '41 and stayed in until the mid-1950s.

    2. Jasper_in_Boston

      Band of Brothers was superb, agreed, but not quite as good as the less hyped but markedly more lyrical The Pacific, produced a few years later by the same people (Hans, Spielberg). If anyone somehow missed it but is into WW2 dramas, I can't recommend it enough.

      1. Atticus

        Pacific was excellent but I didn’t think as good as BofB. But I only watched it once so maybe I should watch again.(I’ve probably seen every BofB episode at least ten times.) I’m also very excited for Masters of the Air. Guess I’ll have to shell out for an Apple TV subscription.

        1. Jasper_in_Boston

          I'm looking forward to Master's as well.

          I think BoB and the Pacific are close in quality. I watched both a long time ago, when they were first released, and couldn't remember which I prefered, so I re-watched both of them in 2023. I definitely give Pacific the edge. It drives home the horrors of war a bit more effectively, I think, and it's more poignant.

  9. MikeTheMathGuy

    I have no idea of your particular taste, but as a general proposition I'm going to say you gave up on Schitt's Creek too early. It's a show that grows on you, because unlike so many shows -- including some big-buzz, highly praised ones -- the characters genuinely grow and develop over the entire arc of the series. It was the favorite pandemic-watch for my wife and me.

    1. joey5slice

      I strongly agree with this. I recall many reviews said you could skip the first season and be ok, and while I thought the first season was enjoyable and did a good job giving the backstory of the characters, I’d hate to think that someone gave up after the first season when the show clearly hit its stride in its second season and got better with every season that followed.

  10. Goosedat

    I can watch an old Perry Mason anytime and thanks to Pluto episodes are available all the time. The Last of Us (bad) and Beef (OK) were the only new programs watched in 2023. The Stand and Squid Game were the only other series watched in the previous year and both were compellingly entertaining.

    1. Salamander

      I suspect Mr D was referring to the NEW "Perry Mason", which ran for two seasons. There's zero resemblance between it and Raymond Burr's thing.

  11. J. Frank Parnell

    The New Zealand detective series "Brokenwood" on Acorn is one of my favorites. It's as much comedic as a detective series, each episode dealing with some aspect of NZ culture, but coming out of the pandemic I realized I had had my fill of dark brooding noir detective series.

  12. cmayo

    I think the biggest surprise to me here is Umbrella Academy. I never would have figured anybody older than me would watch it.

    1. joey5slice

      I watched the first two seasons while my now 1.5 yo son was a newborn and was up a lot in the middle of the night.

      I couldn’t get into it! I really tried, but it felt like you had to already like the characters from what I assume is a pre-existing comic series to appreciate the show.

  13. geordie

    Look people like what they like, but, really Lost in Space? I have to agree on Lupin being bad though and I wish I understood why. It has a good premise.

    1. Jasper_in_Boston

      "Lupin" has been recommended by several of my (French) teachers. Haven't given it a go yet. I strongly recommend "The Bureau" (Le Bureau des Legendes), though, if anyone is into the "moody noir-ish French suspense" genre. Binged all five seasons in 23. Probably the best thing I watched all year.

    1. jambo

      That’s one I kind of forget about but I really enjoyed it when it was on. Not groundbreaking in any way, but good solid entertainment. I did think Alison Janey was a little hard on Mike, tho!

  14. Jasper_in_Boston

    Wow. Taste is a weird thing. Dude gives up on Breaking Bad and The Pacific (I thought the latter was superior to the more hyped Band of Brothers).

    1. illilillili

      He didn't really like Band of Brothers and The Pacific is very similar genre-wise and story-wise. I too gave up on Breaking Bad.

    2. cmayo

      I liked The Pacific more as well, but my partner (a female!) thinks BoB is a top 5 of all time. It's good, and I do think it does a better job of sticking with certain people, but I think The Pacific just requires more knowledge of some of the context. BoB covers events that people are a little bit more aware of if they don't have in-depth knowledge of WW2, whereas I've always been a Pacific war nerd.

  15. MindGame

    A couple which are worth a try:

    For All Mankind - A very imaginative sci-fi series. After the first half-dozen somewhat unengaging episodes, which basically are there to introduce the characters of its alternate history of the Space Race, the drama and tension really crank up.

    What We Do in the Shadows - Excellent satirical vampire comedy in a mockumentary style.

    It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - Amazon Prime in Germany just started including this comedy series in its "free" offerings, and I'm really enjoying finally getting to see it. It's very funny.

    1. Jasper_in_Boston

      It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

      I could never get beyond the hyper obvious aping of Seinfeld. Yeah, I know everything's derivative, nothing new under the sun, etc, but this particular ripoff seemed jaw-droppingly blatant. But obviously a lot of people have enjoyed it.

      1. cmayo

        I don't really see how it apes Seinfeld.

        For starters, Seinfeld was mostly just a delivery vehicle for stand-up comedy jokes. Always Sunny is very much not. They both did/do social commentary, sure, but I'd say Always Sunny is superior.

        Also, Seinfeld was annoying.

  16. cld

    Just saw Gen V, it leads into the next season of The Boys.

    What The Boys did for the Justice League this does for the X-Men.

    And, it's funnier.

  17. Jasper_in_Boston

    Kevin: You might want to look into Better Call Saul. It's a prequel to Breaking Bad, but, because it is indeed a prequel, I'm pretty sure it can be viewed on its own without any undue difficulty. A lot of us think it's superior to BB.

    1. cld

      In Better Call Saul, after all the diabolical, frightening characters that have appeared, when Walter White finally shows up it's such a shock to realize what an incredible specter of death he was, and Jimmy just doesn't see it.

  18. rjeffersonp

    Our likes & dislikes line up pretty well. Your list gives me a couple of new ones to try!

    Three that you might like:

    Jack Irish
    Orphan Black
    Justified

    It's been a long time since I watched these but they all have action plot lines and quirky/interesting characters.

  19. D_Ohrk_E1

    Things I watched and enjoyed in 2023 that can only be found on Netflix in the US:

    - Love, Death & Robots
    Specifically, the last 'episode', "Jibaro", is a stunning piece of animation based on rotoscoping. This is a must-watch.

    - ZOM 100
    It's not just another zombie anime. The protagonist, living in the moment, starts a list of 100 things to experience before they become zombies.

    - Blue Eye Samurai
    The animation is superb, replicating in-camera visual tricks, and the narrative is built on the common experience of "hafu" in America, from the viewpoint of a "hafu".

    - Wes Anderson's series of short films of Roald Dahl's short stories
    A series of adult short stories presented like a personal stage play replete with scene changes.

    - Disenchantment, Season 5
    What? I love everything from Matt Groening.

    - The Pope's Exorcist
    Better than The Exorcist, in that this is about a real, Vatican exorcist, Gabriele Amorth. Naturally, things may have been exaggerated a bit.

    1. Salamander

      Thanks for bringing up Disenchantment!

      There are a lot of these I've wanted to see, but we didn't have the cable/streaming services: Reservoir Dogs, Dark Winds, Black Sails, What We Do in the Shadows ...

      If Mr Drum was "meh" about "Game of Thrones", he'd never get "House of the Dragon", which is a very political thriller ... with dragons!

  20. The Big Texan

    Lost in Space is a fantastic series. Kevin is talking about the series, not the movie that was released about 10 years ago.

  21. rachelintennessee

    Nobody mentioned Dark? One of the best time travel shows ever (much better than Travelers, which started getting repetitive). Plus gloomy Germans.
    I admit the third season may have gone too far, but I generally loved this show.

  22. jambo

    I think it’s funny that the three shows that top almost every Best Ever list get spread over three categories for Kevin. The Wire is sui generis, and arguably the best television show ever made. Mad Men was fantastic and Don Draper is maybe the most fully realized fictional character in television history. I’m one of the handful of people remaining who have not seen the Sopranos but enough people put it at the top of the list that I’ll take their word for it. And eventually watch.

    The Deuce, while not as good as The Wire, was pretty good. Simon’s other recent show, Treme, is also well worth watching.

    I have to assume Lost in Space was the original series from the 60s. I tried the new one and it seemed fairly unwatchable.

  23. jambo

    I think it flew under the radar but Shrinking was a pretty enjoyable show. Nothing earth shattering or hilarious, but likable characters in amusing situations.

  24. alzeroscaptain

    We have been streaming Prime through a VPN for several years now, britbox, Acorn and MHzChoice. Favorites currently are
    Homicide Hills, Brokenwood in Germany.

    Astrid, about an autistic detective in Paris,

    Deadly Tropics, crime and cops in Martinique with great female leads.

    The Undertaker, about a Swiss undertaker who solves crimes,

    Inspector Rex, a surprisingly dark and adult show about a police dog!

    The original version of The Bridge,

    the original Professor T,

    Murder by the Lake, Austrian cops with a fascinating female lead.

    In English:

    Midsummer murders

    Brokenwood

    Signore Volpi

    Shetland

    Annika

    Vera

    Madame Blanc mysteries

    Sister Boniface and Father Brown

    Death in Paradise and Beyond Paradise

    1. alzeroscaptain

      More:

      Dalzeil and Pasco

      Frost

      The Last Detective

      Morse and Inspector Lewis

      Crime is Her Came, two good female leads, French

      Deadloch, a lesbian murder mystery set in Tasmania with the most annoying and fantastic female character in all of television.

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