I have preferences just like everyone else, and there are shows I enjoy and those I can't get enough of, and with more time than ever to watch television this year, even some stuff I loved didn't make the cut.
To be clear, and oh boy I can't believe I'm going to admit this, I watched over a hundred seasons of television last year. In some cases, I started from the beginning and watch multiple seasons of the same show (I'm finally caught up on Better Call Saul. It's good. But I was never that big of a Breaking Bad fan. Rhea Seehorn though? Incredible.)
Some of the series were trashy reality shows and some are prestige drama. I don't have any hang-ups about admitting which trash I enjoy, and one of those programs even made my list.
This is also not where I'm going to have the argument about what separates a tv movie from a movie-movie. When it comes to identifying actual films from straight-to-streaming phone-in's, I think it's what the Supreme Court once said about pornography--
I know it when I see it.
That being said, American Utopia was incredible, but it's not on my Movie or TV list, because it isn't quite a movie and it's not quite television. Same with What the Constitution Means to Me, but I recommend you watch them both.
The biggest omission is probably I May Destroy You, and that's only because I think the British-ness of it made it a little more difficult for me to connect with it, but it is, indisputably, excellent, and I marvel at Michaela Cole, who should immediately shoot to the top of the A-List.
If I'm being honest, there would be way more true crime documentaries on here, but they might be my only real guilty pleasure, only because of how much of them I consume. I am never not game to spend eight weeks with ominous music and a woman in a sweater investigating a serial killer. Keep 'em coming, as far as I'm concerned. Some made the list, but there are very few I don't like.
I liked Seduced more than The Vow. It's trashier, and yet, somehow more dignified. I can't explain it.
Love, Victor would be on my list if any of those actors were played by actual gay men, and if you're bothered by that being a deal-breaker for me, jump off a cliff.
I'd also like to make a plea to television writers and producers to please consider humor regardless of how serious the subject matter of their show is. A dash of it would have helped a show like Perry Mason immensely. A movie can be grueling because it's over in two hours. You can't ask me to watch ten weeks worth of despair. Again, that might just be me.
Mark Ruffalo is so great in I Know This Much Is True, but when I say it was bleak, it was bleeeeeak.
Same for Dead to Me. They keep calling it a comedy. It is...very much not a comedy. But it's also not a very good drama? And everyone on it is just...awful to each other? And there's so much crying. I don't know. Not for me.
Small Axe is on this list because it's a television anthology. Steve McQueen is a genius, and I respect that he wants to say he made five films, but five interconnected films that were never going to play in theaters, that are each around an hour long?
That's called an anthology series.
And there's nothing wrong with that. It almost seems like that old discrimination filmmakers have against doing television. Television is, consistently, outperforming movies. You made an amazing television show. Be proud. Also, everyone is talking about "Lovers Rock," and I get it, but some of the episodes in the series are even more impressive, particularly it's very first one "Mangrove," which would, ironically, do a better job of making the case that these are films.
Cheer is on the list, but I feel like it needs a big asterisk after it because, well, you know, Google Jerry. (2020 didn't let us have anything.)
King Tiger belongs on the list, because anything that fundamentally changes a culture the way that did deserves it's due, but I don't feel like hearing all of you yell at me, but just know that only would it be on the list, it would be VERY high up on the list.
I was also very tempted to put The Connors and Mad About You on the list. I know the contemporary wisdom these days is that standard sitcoms should be extinct, but The Connors is currently the only show I can think of that regularly looks at blue-collar issues, and Mad About You is a great example of how sitcoms, when they were at their best, were like little plays. It's comfort food, but it's also landing more jokes than most of the shows HBO gives us that it qualifies as "comedies."
I am not nearly as keen on Better Things as Hollywood is, because Hollywood loves shows about Hollywood, and acting like Pamela Adlon's character on that show is your average mom who can afford a mansion and a guest house, but I will say that the New Orleans wedding episode was one of my favorite episodes of television all year, and I still watch the clip of Randy Rainbow (another asterisk there) singing "Martha" at least once a day.
Okay, that's everything you need to know before you begin arguing with me.
Here's the list:
My Favorite Television of 2020
50. The Floor is Lava - Unapologetically stupid, so I won't apologize for it.
49. The Midnight Gospel
48. The Babysitter's Club
47. Harley Quinn
46. Upload
45. On My Block
44. Picard
43. Little America
42. Woke
41. McMillion$
40. Big Mouth
39. Love Fraud
38. Never Have I Ever
37. Normal People
36. A Wilderness of Error
35. Taste the Nation
34. The Good Fight - I so wish they had gotten to do a full season.
33. Lenox Hill
32. Ozark - Laura Linney's back must be breaking from holding up this show on her shoulders.
31. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
30. Mrs. America
29. Small Axe
28. The Pharmacist
27. Unorthodox
26. I'll Be Gone in the Dark
25. Lovecraft Country - I know consistency was an issue, but man, when it was good, it was really good. And even when it was bad, it was taking some really interesting risks. You all have Ryan Murphy jumping off narrative cliffs once a week, so I won't apologize for rewarding a show that nails the landing more often than it doesn't.)
24. How To with John Wilson
23. The Good Lord Bird
22. Dave - I started out hating the show, and by the end of the first episode, I was madly in love.
21. Saved by the Bell -I cannot believe how well they did reinventing this show. Tracey Wigfield was the perfect fit for this.
20. The Crown - The best season they've done so far. Give Gillian Anderson every award.
19. P-Valley - I know you haven't seen this show, and you really, really need to.
18. Schitt's Creek
17. The Good Place
16. The Great - I know that "In the style of The Favourite" is growing old for some people, buuuut not for me. Anachronistic irony meets revisionist history? More please.
15. Hunters
14. Sex Education - The show comes out in January, so usually we forget about it once we get to the end of the year, but it's second season was even better than the first, and, again, Gillian Anderson.
13. We Are Who We Are
12. The Mandalorian
11. Ted Lasso - This show has no business being this good. It has the spirit of Parks and Recreations, and you know that, coming from me, that's a huge compliment.
10. The Queen's Gambit
9. Last Week Tonight - The fact that John Oliver's show is regularly excellent sometimes means we forget to give him his flowers. He deserves all the flowers.
8. City So Real
7. What We Do in the Shadows - The Jackie Daytona episode may be my favorite episode of comedic television this year.
6. The Last Dance
5. The Fight Attendant
4. Pen15 - Two of the best actors on television, hands down.
3. Ramy - Mahershala Ali not winning the Emmy for this was a disgrace, but he should have been in the Drama category, even though he was on a comedic show. This is why we need to reexamine categories, because the lines keep blurring, and what he pulled off with this will go down in history as one of the best guest arcs in history.
2. La Veneno - Stop whatever you're doing right now and watch this show. Once you start, you can't look away. Absolutely ground-breaking in every way. I had tears streaming down my face during the finale. I love when something shouldn't work, and yet it does. This exceeds all expectations. It's vibrant and vivacious, and I wish there had been ten more episodes.
1. High Fidelity - I wrote an entire essay about how much I loved this show, and I will never, ever forgive Hulu for cancelling it. It was funny and moving and challenging and had all the potential to break-out, so I can't understand what the logic would be in cancelling it before it could reach that potential. Go watch it and see what I mean.
And I look forward to arguing with you in the comments.
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