Others will disagree, but I rather fear we’ve run out of the Golden Age of television.
Granted, I do not and cannot watch every single television show that aired during the year. No one has time for that. I also found it incredibly difficult to watch some harder-edged series this year, no matter how critically acclaimed they were. The reality of 2022 proved challenging enough without having to throw myself into thematically or politically depressing television. Therefore, much of my favorite television of the year centered in uplifting or thrilling escapism with a few notable exceptions, series too strong to ignore no matter how emotionally challenging they proved. I find as I get older I have less time for things of the ponderously pretentious. Give me laughs. Give me worlds I’ve never seen before. Give me something fun. That’s what appears to have captured my attention this year, again, with a few huge exceptions.
Before I launch into my top ten, I want to mention a handful of series that either I admired in parts or haven’t been able to shake for various reasons. The Bear, She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, Only Murders in the Building, Hacks, Russian Doll, The Boys, Fleishman Is In Trouble, Loot, Moon Knight, Gaslit, The Dropout, and Women of the Movement each provided strong moments, even if their wholes didn’t necessary resonate with me. In particular, The Bear didn’t necessarily blow me away when I first saw it last summer, but I’ve not been able to put it fully out of my mind. I’m not sure why I didn’t love it. Perhaps it has something to do with the world’s insistence on calling it a comedy (it is emphatically not a comedy), but it is compelling enough to instill some excitement in me for its second season.
I have started but have not finished Andor, Welcome to Chippendales, and The White Lotus, among others. Maybe one of them may bump something off my top ten. Then again, if they were in danger of that, then wouldn’t I have finished them by now?
Anyway, here’s the full list:
10. Kevin Can F**k Himself (AMC)
In 10 years, some will look back on this criminally undervalued drama series and reappraise it the way many have Mike White’s Enlightened. Perhaps the gimmick of re-evaluating CBS’s male-centered comedy series through a dramatic, Breaking Bad-style prism became too much the focus. Perhaps audiences (and critics) just didn’t get it. Perhaps AMC buried it so deeply that it never found the right audience. Whatever the cause, Kevin Can F**k Himself deserved far greater than it received. As it finished its 2-season run, a series that started as the brutally honest examination of a dysfunctional marriage ended as the shockingly uplifting celebration of female friendship. Given career-best performances, stars Annie Murphy and Mary Hollis Inboden soared in their roles, giving us the real Thelma & Louise-style friendship we truly deserve. I also applaud the series for going as far as it did with its series finale, finding the courage to give us a controversial ending that forces the audience to find relief in an untimely death. Bravo ladies.
9. The Crown (Netflix)
The Crown‘s fifth season is its weakest, that’s for sure. It has the misfortune of coming on the heels of its very best. It also has the misfortune of needing to balance the object of the series (Queen Elizabeth II) against the object of audience obsession (Diana). It also had an incredibly ill-timed premiere date, falling weeks after the death of its subject. But taken as an individual entry, season five does have its very strong merits. Elizabeth Debicki gives an outstanding, awards-worthy performance as Diana, so insanely eclipsing the ill-cast Dominic West’s Prince Charles that it hardly seems fair. Additionally, there are a handful of episodes that stand amongst the series’ best including the emotional “Annus Horribilis,” the engrossing “Ipatiev House,” and the incendiary “Gunpowder.” It’s a shame that, after a season that finally finds its footing, it whimpers to a lackluster conclusion.
8. Under the Banner of Heaven (FX)
FX dropped this complex and heavy limited series at the tail end of the eligibility year, but it needed time to breathe, time to unveil itself and give the audience room to absorb it. Naturally, the Television Academy ignored it. A shame given it’s the second-best limited series of the year. Elevating the ludicrously overused true crime genre, Heaven tells the story of a brutal murder within the Mormon community. But that’s not really what the series is about. It explores fundamentalism and unresolved questions of faith. It cleverly draws parallels between the 1980s-set case and our modern day political cults. Additionally, it features some of the best performances of the year courtesy of Andrew Garfield, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Gil Birmingham, Billy Howle, and Wyatt Russell. I suspect, had this been a fall release, Emmy would have embraced it, particularly the excellent sixth episode “Revelation,” brilliantly directed by Isabel Sandoval.
7. Barry (HBO)
It’s a challenge to continue finding humor in the increasingly dark, violent saga of Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) amidst the countless occurrences of real-world gun violence. Yet, you can’t help but admire how deeply Hader takes his story into darkly comic territory. Ironically, Sarah Goldberg, the third season MVP, provided the season’s biggest laughs and yet failed to merit a well deserved Emmy nomination. But Hader’s extremely cinematic style and love for over-the-top set pieces continue to amaze. It isn’t either the best drama or the best comedy on television, but it more often than not provides a full meal of visual treats.
6. Julia (HBO)
I’ll fully admit that my love of Julia comes in the details. I love the scenes of preparing delicious meals. I love the period decor and costumes. I love the score and the general, most definitely idealized, vision of the late 1950s and early 1960s. I also loved the performance of Sarah Lancashire as one of the most influential women of the 20th century, Julia Child. Every episode is a perfectly designed confection. Throughout all of 2022’s television, I’ve rarely seen a series more full of joy than this one.
5. Severance (AppleTV+)
Ben Stiller brings a unique sense of visual flair and a love of genuine storytelling in this drama series. I’ll admit to not fully understanding every single choice, but I’m not sure I need to have everything explained. Severance is the kind of series that constantly teeters on the edge, but Stiller never lets its complex plot fall into ridiculousness. It helps that the series gets better as we breathlessly race to its cliffhanger conclusion. I’ve no idea where this goes in season two, and I almost don’t want to know. Still, season one ranks among the very best television of this or any year.
4. The Gilded Age (HBO)
I’m not going to defend my love of this series. I know people hate it. I know it’s a patchwork attempt at American history. I know the dialogue and stories are not great / largely stolen from Downton Abbey tropes. Yet, I’m obsessed with this gilded world. Its architecture, its customs, and its penchant for social drama. It’s the guiltiest of pleasures for me.
3. Reboot (Hulu)
Few 2022 series gave me as many belly laughs as Hulu’s unexpectedly great Reboot. Filled with an extraordinary cast of comedy greats including Paul Reiser, Judy Green, Keegan-Michael Key, Rachel Bloom, Calum Worthy, and yes Johnny Knoxville, Reboot sends up comedy series as frequently as it lovingly wallows its tropes. None of it would work if the ensemble cast didn’t sell it so brilliantly, giving us the best new comedy series of 2022. My one complaint: it needed to be far longer than eight episodes. Guess they’re fully subscribing to the age-old adage “Always leave them wanting more.”
2. House of the Dragon (HBO)
I hate prequels. I generally do not care how we got to a destination once we’re already there. I don’t need to know how Darth Vader or Saul Goodman came into existence. I’ve seen what they’ve done. Give me something new, I say. That said, House of the Dragons operates in a bit of a different world, in my mind. Yes, I know that by the time we get to Game of Thrones there are but a handful of Targaryens left, but I don’t know how their dynasty collapsed. I don’t know how the dragons died off. I’ve heard whispers of the story in Thrones, but the great Targaryen civil war remains an expansive enough story to provide a fully and completely successful prequel series. By the time the doomed Viserys makes his final march into the great throne room of Kings Landing, I realized how deeply and emotionally involved in the series I’d become. Yes, it’s like watching Game of Thrones all over again but with a tighter, narrower focus. Is it as good as Thrones’ first season? Definitely not. But it provides more than enough justification for its existence. Plus, I just love watching dragons fly. I’m a simple man.
1. Five Days at Memorial (AppleTV+)
The best show of 2022 is one of the most challenging of the year. Watching such intense human suffering on a near-documentary level isn’t entertaining. It isn’t light or cheery. It isn’t any of the things I needed in 2022. But it’s a thoroughly compelling, brilliantly written, and stunningly acted document of one of America’s greatest failures. It asks questions that audiences largely don’t want to consider. It forces you to recognize the social injustices baked into the very core of the American experiment. Five Days at Memorial is more than just the best television series of 2022. It’s the most important television series you’ll see all year, anchored by a transcendent performance from the great Vera Farmiga. Completely unforgettable.
