Sean’s Top 10 TV Shows of 2017

I went into 2017 hoping that The Defenders would live up to Daredevil and Jessica Jones, and it really didn’t. Harmonquest‘s second season was a disappointment, but at least it survived the Seeso-geddon which has denied the world an already completed second season of Take My Wife. And then there was the longest, most inexplicable hiatus in Steven Universe history, right when we needed it least. Yes, there were many disappointments in the last year of TV, but there was even more to enjoy. Here, let me list 15 great shows to prove my point.

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Girls No More

Going into its final season, there seemed to be a lot of thinkpieces characterizing Girls as the show that launched a million thinkpieces (if you can wrap your mind around that). That said, I really didn’t do a ton of writing about Girls on this blog (apart from a season 3 review) despite being a fairly unabashed fan of it from nearly the beginning. And maybe it’s that unabashed fandom that oddly enough deterred me from writing about it. Continue reading →

R.I.P. Mary Tyler Moore

I feel like we’ve eased up a bit on our abundance of “RIP posts”, possibly because of the overwhelming volume of boomer-era celebrities dying in the last year or so. But I still have a lot of admiration and adoration for the woman known simply as MTM, even despite the fact that I am a male and missed the ‘70s by a pretty large margin. Because unlike probably around 99.9% of my generation, I’ve seen every episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show (and a pretty decent chunk of The Dick Van Dyke Show for that matter), and I can attest that despite its very ‘70s aesthetic, is still one of the best comedy series ever made. Continue reading →

Colin’s Top Ten TV Shows Of 2016

I started writing this last night, just after we finished recording our top ten TV shows of 2016 podcast, kind of in the hopes that all the thoughts I’d had about 2016 TV while recording it were still fresh swirling around in my head. And then I took a break and wrote the rest tonight, feeling like yeah, what ever thoughts I’d had about these shows were a lot more fresh in my head after we recorded that podcast. So I apologize if the second half of this is a little undercooked.

But regardless of that, 2016 in TV was anything but undercooked, though I feel like there was plenty more shows I could have enjoyed from this year if I had just been a bit more diligent of a binger, but I guess I’ve just never had that in me. Also, this year was kind of a weird one for me TV-wise, since a lot of the shows from the past few years I’d really loved ended last year (meaning 2015), and so I think I was a bit hesitant to seek out new shows to call my favorites. But here are a few of the new discoveries I made this year as well as a few old favorites that managed to get even better.

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Sean’s Top 10 TV Shows of 2016

We continue to forge onward into the digital future of the television medium, and it continues to look brighter and brighter. In 2016, Hulu and Amazon both made huge commitments to creating their own shows, which, along with Netflix and newcomer Seeso, challenges HBO and other broadcast channels for the best selection of original programming. This was the year that frustrations with Comcast finally led me to cancelling cable, and I’m still quite optimistic about streaming throughout this next year and beyond.

After all, I still haven’t found the time to watch 11.22.63, Black Mirror, The Crown, and countless other shows I probably should have. Beyond my honorable mentions, there are a few others shows I’d like to shout out, starting with Agent Carter and The Grinder, both of whom were cancelled too soon. If you do start a Seeso subscription, four other shows I’d recommend are The UCB Show, Hidden America with Jonah Ray, Harmonquest, and Bajillion Dollar Propertie$, which was a nice rebound for Paul F. Tompkins after No You Shut Up! was cancelled. Also, HBO’s big comedies, Veep and Silicon Valley, were another couple of narrow misses, as was Comedy Central’s best comedy, Broad City. The Venture Bros. came back for a short, solid sixth season, that show has been going since I was in junior high. Also good: Documentary Now!, Luke Cage, Transparent.

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John’s Top Ten TV Shows of 2016

So many great shows so little time. I remember a day when I had to struggle to find good shows. A time when My Name is Earl and The Office was the most solid block of TV available all week. Times have changed. Every day we have more and more ways to watch great television. I hate to say it, but I think TV has finally edged out movies and I don’t see it ever going back. But can there be too much of a good thing? As I ponder this question why don’t you check out my list of shows that I actually watched and enjoyed.

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