A lot of people have mentioned what a great year 2023 was for film, but television definitely held its own too. Like every year, I might catch up with something brilliant (finishing something like FX’s A Murder at the End of the World has been gnawing at me for weeks now), but I still had a hard to narrowing this list down. We say it almost every week on the podcast, but you can find great TV pretty much everywhere. Without further ado…
Honorable Mentions
- Tiny Beautiful Things for showing how drastically different human emotions hum side by side
- Shrinking for reminding us that it’s okay to laugh as we grieve
- The Great for an intensely bold performance from Elle Fanning (I hate that this show ended, but I now love the series’ final scene even more)
- Red, White & Royal Blue for giving us queers a fairy tale that we sorely have been missing
- Beef for allowing us to scream in the face of our enemies and exploring the roots of rage
- And Just Like That… for leaning in and telling the hates to shut the fuck up
I present my top ten list of 2023. Let’s see how long it takes for someone to tell me that it’s horrible! Also, I lured you here under the pretenses of a top ten when it’s really…a top ELEVEN! (cue evil laugh…)
11. HBO’s Somebody Somewhere
We do not deserve this show. People say that all the time about different kinds of programming, but the effortlessness brought forth by Bridget Everett, Jeff Hiller, Murray Hill, and Mary Catherine Garrison (and the entire producing, writing, and directing teams) should be studied. The rift between Sam and Joel felt like being shoved by your best friend, and I need every single pillow that Tricia sells in her shop. In its second season, Somebody Somewhere shows us that we can all be immature, we can all hurt, but we can all triumph. Would you try St. Louis Sushi?
10. HBO’s The Gilded Age
How does an entire season devoted to warring opera houses become one of the most riveting and satisfying arcs of the season? Julian Fellowes corseted drama has found even more assured footing in its sophomore season, and the dueling performances spaces was a fantastic, real-life anchor to hold it all together. As Marion stumbles towards romance and Peggy comes face-to-face with her own future, we were delighted by the Ada finding love (however brief) and the introduction to Twitter’s newest obsession: Clock Twink.
9. Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building
After every season of John Hoffman and Steve Martin’s silly, slap happy Only Murders in the Building, we turn to our fellow viewers and say the same thing: ‘That was great. How the hell are they going to top that?’ The third season of the Hulu phenomenon delivers its most star-studded ensemble yet with the additions of Paul Rudd, Jesse Williams, Ashley Park, and, of course, Meryl Streep. Much like one of the twisty corridors of the Arconia itself, the show takes a harsh left turn as we spend most of our episodes in preparations for a new musical set to premiere on Broadway. Confession: I have listened to “Look for the Light” more times than I care to admit. It never loses it whacky, snappy rhythms or its heart. I cannot wait for season four.
8. Netflix’s The Crown
It felt like audiences delighted in seeing Peter Morgan’s royal opus stumble in season five (I liked it more than most) but the series’ closing season is one of its best. The streamer wisely split this sixth season in two to give Princess Diana (a remarkable Elizabeth Debicki) an ending that she deserved, but then it roared back in December to focus on Elizabeth’s loneliness as she near the end of her reign. Were we harsher on Morgan’s series because the public has been bolder in sharing their feelings with how the monarchy is out of touch and we are more comfortable with confronting the darkness of our histories? Perhaps. At the center of The Crown is Elizabeth, portrayed by three very different actresses through the years, but they have all shared the same heart and mind. Seeing Imelda Staunton, Olivia Colman, and Claire Foy on screen together was one of the most indelible moments of the year. I will miss this show dearly.
7. Amazon Freevee’s Jury Duty
A true lightning in a bottle, if I have ever seen one. It’s part reality show but part workplace comedy as we meet actors who are pulling one of the biggest cons in comedic television history…on one person. Creators Lee Eisenberg and Gene Stupnitsky could’ve made Ronald Gladden the butt of a huge prank, but, instead, they reveal his goodness and his humanity. Seeing the truth revealed to Gladden was one of the purest moments on television in the last few years, and Jury Duty invites the audience in for such a silly embrace. Give James Marsden everything–he’s that great.
6. FX’s The Bear
FX’s culinary comedy didn’t feel like a comedy in its freshman go-around. That’s not a criticism, but I was constantly scratching my head as people told me over and over again that they found the first season hilarious. I recognized a lot of its comic roots in season one, but the first season broke my heart. Season two, however, is a totally different story. As Carmy and the gang race against the clock to get the restaurant up and running, we feel like stepping out of our houses and making sure we are first in line for the grand opening. The comedy and drama are brilliantly balanced, and The Bear has widened its net in terms of comedy and its breadth of characters. Those cameos! The Bear is a redemption comedy. We hungered for more after season one, and FX has delivered a fresh, meaningful dish.
5. National Geographic’s A Small Light
We can never stop telling stories of the Holocaust, because that monumental horror cannot happen again. Joan Rater and Tony Phelan’s limited series shifts the focus of the capture of Anne Frank’s family to Miep Gies, Otto Frank’s charismatic, intelligent secretary. Miep had the freedom to move around Amsterdam but she felt enormous pressure to make sure all of those in hiding had enough food or could keep quiet. It’s all on Bel Powley’s face and in her eyes. She has to keep everything afloat while remembering that she can be caught at any moment, and the penultimate episode (directed by Phelan) is the most harrowing hours of television you will ever see. It is a series about sacrifice and the need to help your fellow man.
4. Max’s The Other Two
This show was made for me. Sure, the gays online think it was for them, but I know the truth. There is an episode dedicated to parodying 1998’s Pleasantville. There’s an almost fully operational Applebee’s used to deceive only Molly Shannon. A play called 8 Gay Men with AIDS: A Poem in Many Hours skewers our performative viewership of “important” stories. Hell, even Drew Tarver’s Cary pissed on his likable persona allllll for the sake of landing a choice role. Brandon Scott Jones’ Curtis gives him the verbal smackdown he deserves–a great moment that we all cheered for–and Heléne Yorke proves once again that she is a force to be reckoned with. The Other Two sometimes felt like a gloriously gay, hilarious mirage, and we shouldn’t be sad that it has ended. We should be thankful that something so silly, pointed, acidic, and unapologetic existed in the first place.
3. Showtime’s Fellow Travelers
I am sure many of us tuned into Fellow Travelers to see the steamy bits, but the storytelling kept a lot of viewers glued to their screens. As anti-gay and anti-trans rhetoric ramps up in this country, Ron Nyswaner’s tribute to the men and women who pushed down their desires and their love is a meticulously crafted and beautifully acted slice of American history. Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey have such an animalistic, unspoken charge from the first time they lay eyes on one another, and I don’t remember another series where we see that flame never die out. It’s a passion that evolves and transforms but is never extinguished. Bomer is dashing and confident, but he is also a tragic figure–the American dream of a man forced to live his life in the shadows. Bailey is, all at once, eager, petulant, determined, submissive. His Tim Laughlin deservedly wants the world, but the world doesn’t care about his happiness. Everything from the costumes (from Joseph La Corte) to the production design (from Anastasia Masaro and Ian Brock) take your breath away. Fellow Travelers will not let you forget its history, and it will not go quietly.
2. HBO’s Succession
There isn’t really more to say about HBO’s Shakespearean dark comedy series. The wedding. That balcony fight between Shiv and Tom. Roman at his dad’s coffin. “I’m the eldest boy!” A legendary end to a solid, beguiling run. This final season was a truly communal experience, and we probably won’t see anything like it for a long time.
1. Prime Video’s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
For five seasons, readers of ADTV have heard me gush and fawn over Amy Sherman-Palladino’s transcendent comedy series, but, somehow, it never landed at the top spot on my top ten list. Since the fifth and final season was one of the comedy’s best, there’s no time like the present. By flashing forward to secure Midge’s success, the episodes create a new sense of tension by alleviating our expectations of how far she goes in showbusiness. Midge doesn’t have to worry about her big break as much as Rachel Brosnahan has the privilege of coloring her character’s life with complex comedic shades. Dan Palladino helmed “Testi-Rostial,” an episode dedicated to Susie’s managerial ruthlessness and guile, and he handled her history with respect and aplomb. What I love about this final season is how much I can feel Sherman-Palladino’s affection for these characters. When Midge is delivering her precious four minutes on The Gordon Ford Show, the lights dim but the volume of the Gaslight invades our ears. We are witnessing a remarkable moment in history…Midge Maisel’s voice is reaching millions of people. It’s a fictitious character on a fictitious late night show, but it’s so magical that it feels unbelievably real and relevant. Everything about this final season hits. The costumes (by Donna Zakowska), the production design (by the incomparable Bill Groom), the music (Jesus H. Christ, give Tom Mizer and Curtis Moore that Emmy already!) and the cinematography (M. David Mullen working in gorgeous shades of pinks and blue) go out entirely such operatic highs. The writing of Midge and Susie’s biggest blowout shows how much the Emmy-winning creator knows that pride and hurt can swirl around and mingle. These two women can hurl the most painful things towards each other because they love each other so much.
There is so much of this season that feels like the pinnacle of a great, big belly laugh, and we have been hurtling towards these moments year after year. Sherman-Palladino goes out on top, and it’s truly the end that Midge and Susie deserve. Thank you, and goodnight.
