Best of 2019: Top Five Television Shows
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My best of 2019 week continues today with my top 5 tv shows of the year. This was probably the most difficult one for me to pair down to just five shows. There are so many streaming services and new shows and just flat out solid tv being made right now. I legit feel like we are in a golden age of tv shows. I left out a ton of shows that I watch every week, and it was hard for me to do that. There is no "Good Place", "The Other Two", "The Mandalorian", "Game of Thrones", which I really liked, "Big Mouth" or 'Veep". And as I said, I really, really liked these shows a lot. But, I guess that is a good thing that we have so many different options now. At times it can be overwhelming, but as my kids have gotten older, I have found it nice to be able to catch up on stuff and find something new. With that being said, lets get to the list.
At number 5 I have "The Righteous Gemstones". I am a big time Danny McBride fan, and when he, Jody Hill and David Gordon Green get together for a tv show, it usually works. "Gemstones" might be their best show to date. The way they send up the whole televangelist world was perfect. It was so funny, and I bet, pretty close to reality. You then get McBride's comedic, and dark lean on it, and it adds a whole other level. The show is hilarious, but some of the stuff was pretty damn dark. But, it worked out so well. The fact that McBride's character is caught on video doing cocaine, and that a hit is put out on him, isn't the craziest thing speaks volumes to the depths this show goes, and I was in for every second of it. John Goodman and Adam Devine were wonderful, as was Walton Goggins. But the star of the first season, for me, was Edi Patterson. She was so foul mouthed and dirty and childish, and it all worked. She is on her way to stardom with this show and this role. I love this show. I cannot wait for season 2.
At number 4 I have the most recent season of "Black Mirror". Sure, there were only three episodes, but they were all poignant and well made and acted and told a tragic and not too distant futuristic story that was completely believable. The first episode, "Striking Vipers" was a wild story about infidelity in a video game setting between 2 men, one single, one married with a child. It seemed simple enough at the beginning, but then it takes a whole turn with the video game, and I was there for the story. I bought in. The episode with Miley Cyrus was a bit on the nose, but I thought she did a great job, and the robot toy that saved the day, how is that not supposed to be Alexa or Siri? Those robots are just as real as the one in Cyrus' "Black Mirror" episode. But, the cream of the crop was "Smithereens". That episode has stuck with me for such a long time. The story, how we are so addicted to screens, was too perfect for this time in history. The acting was also top notch. Topher Grace was awesome. So was the dude from "Snowfall". But the main guy, from "Fleabag", he was prefect. He was so angry and sad and frustrated and just wanted out and wanted people off their screens. Ending the episode with people staring at their phones as they walk and not interact with one another, and the song "You're Just Too Good to be True" playing over the credits was amazing. Simply perfect.
At number 3 I have "What We Do in the Shadows". I loved, loved, loved the movie, and when Jermaine Clement and Taika Waititi gave their blessing for the show, I was in. I love the premise, vampires living in modern days sharing an apartment. It shows all the little things that bother roommates. We all have had crummy roommates, and to make them vampires, it is just so god damn funny. The actors were wonderful, especially Matthew Berry. He was simply amazing. Also, the "energy vampire" was a thing of comedic genius. To see him just suck out the energy from humans was one of the funniest things I have seen on TV in quite some time. I also loved the episode where they go out on the town with the head vampire, and he gets so wasted that he gets left out in the sun and dies. I also loved the episode with the town hall meeting, and the one with all the high ranking vampires, including Wesley Snipes calling in via Skype. This show might not have worked had Clement and Waititi not be involved, but since they were, it goes off like gangbusters. I am so very excited for season 2. It cannot come soon enough. FX is really doing some cool and inventive things with modern TV. Props to them.
At number 2 I have "I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson". This is the best sketch show on TV. It is so much better than "SNL" or anything that the late night talk shows try and do with sketch. Sketch comedy is real hit or miss, and "ITYSL" hits every time. Be it the sketch with the wiener mobile guy, the guy that eats the receipt, the focus group, the extended spine relief commercial, the "honk if you're horny" sticker, the job interview, the baby pageant, just all of them, they are all home runs. I find myself going back to the show time and time again, and it gets funnier every single time. Tim Robinson never really got a fair shot on "SNL", and then his show he co created with Sam Richardson, who is awesome, "Detroiters", also got wrongfully canceled, but now, he is shining. He is getting to do what he wants, he controls the sketches and he makes every last one of them a winner. I do not think I have laughed this hard at a show since I was a kid. This show brings me back to a time where absurdity made me laugh harder than anything else and Robinson is currently the best at it. I adore this show, and it seems like a lot of other people do as well. Robinson is finally getting is due as a comedy actor and writer.
And coming in at number 1, I have "Watchmen". RD was right. He said that if people wanted to do this story right, they would make it a television series. Well, Damon Lindelof must have heard him and he went out and did it, and he crushed it. The show is so creative. I love that they still have some of the original heroes from the graphic novel, but they added new heroes, and the show takes place in modern times. It was the best way to do the show. It makes it so the movie that Zack Snyder did is all but washed away, and that you haven't had to read the book to get into these characters. Regina King is amazing, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has one of the coolest, and most unexpected surprises of the season. Jeremy Irons and Louis Gossett Jr are perfect in their roles. Tim Blake Nelson is the greatest character actor of all time. And Jean Smart, she is a master. They are finally doing the graphic novel justice with this show, and I couldn't be happier. I just watched the season one finale, and I hope there is more, but if they decide to stop, this season of "Watchmen" could go down in history as one of the greatest season's of tv of all time. It was a masterpiece.
As far as disappointments for 2019 in tv, I don’t really have any. Like I said at the top, it has been a great year, and even a great decade for tv. If I had any gripe, I would say that there is almost too much. But that isn't really a problem. People will watch what they want to, and make time for what they want to watch. TV is having a moment right now.
Okay, that does it for TV in 2019. Come back tomorrow for my top 5 podcast/podcast episodes of 2019.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. Get ready for next year when Ty has the Saved by the Bell reboot/continuation on his best of 2020 tv year end review.
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