Shows may come and shows may go, but great TV will never leave us.
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Jen Chaneys Top 10 Shows
10.Beef
10.
9.The Last of Us
9.
8.Barry
8.
Read Roxana Hadadisreview ofBarryseason four, Ben Rosenstocksrecaps of the season, and Devon Iviesinterview with star Sarah Goldberg.
7.Party Down
7.
6.Somebody Somewhere
6.
Read Jen Chaneysfull review ofSomebody Somewhereseason twoand Maggie Fremontsrecaps of the season.
Turns out sometimes TV can still be intellectually challenging and fun as hell.
Read Jen Chaneysreview ofMrs.
Davis, Kathryn VanArendonksinterview with creators Tara Hernandez and Damon Lindelof, and Sean T. Collinssrecaps of the series.
4.The Other Two
4.
Few comedies in 2023 made me laugh so deeply and so frequently.
3.Reservation Dogs
3.
They are the elders, and without them, the rez dogs, andReservation Dogs, could not exist.
2.The Bear
2.
The second season ofThe Beardefinitely did.
ReadKathryn VanArendonks review ofThe Bearseason twoandMarah Eakins recaps of the season.
1.Succession
1.
It also happens to be the truth.
Nothing else on TV offered such a rich combination of Shakespearean drama and corporate buffoonery.
Nothing else demanded to be analyzed so urgently after it was viewed.
or convinced me that playing a game calledBitey could be freakishly hot.
ReadNicholas Quahs review ofA Murder at the End of the WorldandBen Rosenstocks recaps of the season.
The promises we make and fail to keep have a long memory, andFull Circlewouldnt let us forget.
ReadBen Rosenstocks recaps ofFull Circle.
Read Kathryn VanArendonksfull review ofPerry Masonseason twoand Andy Andersensrecaps of the season.
Style can sometimes trump substance, butDead Ringershad both in gushing spurts.
Read Rachel Handlersinterview with Rachel Weisz and Alice Birchand Jackson McHenrysinterview with actress Jennifer Ehle.
6.The Righteous Gemstones
When I rankedThe Righteous Gemstones second season as my No.
ReadScott Tobiass recaps ofThe Righteous Gemstonesseason threeandRoxana Hadadis interview with Skyler Gisondo.
ReadRoxana Hadadis full review ofTelemarketersandNate Joness interview with the creators.
4.The Bear
Expectations forThe Bears second season were huge, any way you sliced it.
Narratively: What would happen to Carmy and Syds restaurant and partnership?
Technically: How to outdo season ones notorious one-take episode?
Musically: How much more alternative rock from the 90s could one series hold?
And, you know, thirstily: Could Carmys white T-shirt get … tighter?
But the series second season didnt limit itself to what fans might have wanted.
ReadRoxana Hadadis full review ofIm a Virgo.
2.Succession
Depiction is not necessarily endorsement, example infinity.
It isnt, and it never was.
Its the beauty of this concept: Every season is its own unpredictable snarl.
No other dating reality show has the same range.
ReadAli Barthwells recaps ofLove Is Blind, andVultures emergency discussion.
Its lead police investigators are two women who hate each other.
Its grisly murders are cases that seem to swing wildly in possible interpretation: Are they vicious feminist retribution?
Are they blunt male jealousy?
Best of all,Deadlochtakes pleasure in needling all sides.
The whole season is a treat.
This is not why people watch legal dramas.
It had all thatandhe rode around on a little motorbike!
Davis
Its likely that TV is heading into an era of AI stories.
Its impossible that any of them will be as weird and funny and imaginative asMrs.
Seriously, have you not seenMrs.
Theres a pope and a whale and a heist and magicians!
One or two of its lovely departure episodes wouldve been enough to make the season a standout.
But all of them together, especially the fantastic Forks, make it undeniable.
Its aGullivers Travelsidea; its contours can feel overdetermined.
One of those wasTelemarketers, HBOs splashy and appealing gonzo-style true-crime memoir.
LikeTelemarketers,Last Callsets aside any false sense of cold objectivity.
It is both expansive and personal, a model more true crime docuseries should aspire to.
ReadKathrynVanArendonks full review ofLast Call.
As with the first season, though, the shows secret weapon is Jeff Hiller.
There are two chief achievements ofSuccessions final season.
With any justice,Reservation Dogswill jump-start multiple astonishing careers.
Many of those selections appear above in our top-ten picks.
All of those things remain true inScott Pilgrim Takes Off, created by OMalley and BenDavid Grabinski.
ReadNicholas Quahs interview with the creators ofScott Pilgrim Takes Off,his full review, andOliver Savas recaps.
Is there any way to make music and remain friends, as Shawna and Mia struggle to do?
Celebrity is never easy, butRap Sh!tmakes its difficulties a pleasure to watch.
There are long speeches, yes, and some jump-scares, yes; Flanagan is still himself.
R.H.
ReadRoxana Hadadis full review ofTheFall of the House of UsherandScott Meslows recaps.
Chucky
Halloween may be over, butChuckyis eternal.
ButGen Vhas blown me away and encouraged me to actually get into the show that spawned its existence.
Its rollicking, cutting, brutal, and blissful.
Netflixs live-actionOne Pieceis faithful, up to a point.
It hits the major beats but zooms through story that in the anime took hundreds of episodes to unfold.
Yetn somehow it doesnt feel rushed or unearned in the process.
Luffy is radically different from other pirates.
(I was hoping for more visual buoyancy and a greater use of color.)
It hasnt reached the heights of theOne Pieceanime thats at over a thousand episodes and counting.
But I think the series has the potential to get there.
ReadAngelica Jade Bastiens full review ofOne Piece,Daniel Dockerys series explainer, andRafael Motamayors recaps.
The mess is also the appeal of it.
Theres a surface level story about this young directors flaws.
How much of that is actually what causes this movie to be lackluster?
The series depicts a mild trainwreck, but piecing apart the root causes is precisely what makesProject Greenlightso fun.
ReadKathryn VanArendonks full review ofProject Greenlight: A New Generation.
And that was always enough.R.H.
ReadRoxana Hadadis full review ofMiracle Workers: End Times.
Would viewers embrace weekly episodic stories on a platform known for its binge releases and serial dramas?
(Jurys still out on whether enough people are signing up for Peacock to watch it.)
Its a generally light show, but season two has embraced more pointed story lines.
ItsAmerican Autoat its best.
There are lovable, often well-intentioned characters, doing their best while being total corporate nightmares.
Read Devon Ivies interview withAna Gasteyer onAmerican Auto.
R.H.
Read Roxana Hadadisfull review ofThe Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House.
EnterThe Traitors, the American adaptation of a Dutch production.
That choice kept viewers on their toes, too, makingThe Traitorsimmersive, entertaining viewing in nearly every way.
R.H.
Read Brian Moylansrecaps ofThe Traitors.
Read Hershal Pandyas piece onthe perfect stupidity ofCunk on Earth.
The waiting is the hardest part, but theres no doubt well get there eventually.
After all, partially thanks toall those awards-season wins, season three is already in the works.
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