[For more of Collider’s Best of 2016 lists, clickhere]
2016 may have been a year filled with many sad and unfortunate events, but one thing that we can be grateful for is the quality of TV escapism. The Platinum Age of Television has come out of the (somewhat unsettling) phenomenon of Peak TV, and it’s genuinely impossible to watch everything. That’s why I decided this year to do one list combining comedies, dramas, and miniseries (many of which have blurred the boundaries of those old categorical distinctions anyway), and not limit myself to a Top 10. There’stoo muchgreat TV for that.
On the other hand, there’s the reality that of the 450+ shows that aired this year, I watched all or some part of about 120 of them. Even though that’s just a fraction of the total, it’s anenormousamount of shows. This ranked list of what I consider to be the 25 best of the year (having seen a lot of junk, and a lot of mediocrity outside of it) is not exhaustive. Still, in this era of Peak TV, it’s about as close as one can get. It’s also worth noting that there are still a lot ofvery good showsthat aren’t on the list, but are still fun to follow. Some that are listed in the honorable mentions are there just because they provide something new and entertaining. And even then, there are at least 10 more I could add that I never got the time to finish, but liked how they started (Quarry, as one example).
Most of the series below are in their premiere seasons or sophomore seasons, proving that (1) we’re getting a fantastic, somewhat overwhelming influx of new TV every year and (2) the sophomore slump isn’t always true (though it alsohasn’t totally gone away). Only a few shows are still shining bright deep into their run, which is maybe a suggestion that that the British model of “leave them wanting more” is something we should take more to heart in the U.S. Whatever the case, there’s a lot to think about and celebrate for 2016, which gave us a truly outstanding year of television.
(A note onspoilers: I’ve tried to keep things pretty general, but if you have any doubts then skip on to the next!)
Related:The Best TV Shows of 2017
25) Poldark
Network: PBS
Creator: Debbie Horsfield
Cast: Aidan Turner, Eleanor Tomlinson, Ruby Bentall, Jack Farthing, Heida Reed, Kyle Soller
There are shows that are great, and then shows that are great at what they do.Poldarkis partially the first and mostly the later (Supergirlis another example). The sweeping historical romance / drama can be predictable, but it’s also Comfort Watch Television — despite the fact that this season dealt with a death, a near-hanging, marital infidelity, and an accidental shooting. Ross Poldark (Turner) isn’t as easy to like this season as he was in Season 1, but the show is all the better for exploring the nuances of such complicated characters. And whileThe Americansis often praised for its realistic portrayal of marriage,Poldarkis overlooked for doing the same in Season 2. Watching the leads all struggle with the fallout of bad decisions and whether or not to stay with their spouse was heart-wrenching, and never rushed.
ButPoldark’s biggest trick may be how it makes viewers really,actuallycare about mining, and the value of finding copper versus tin. The series is gorgeously filmed and expertly acted, and it has a whirlwind pace both in its editing (scenes rarely last more than a minute) and in the passing of time (babies grow up awfully fast). It’s engaging and dramatically potent not just when it comes to violence and misery, like so many other TV dramas make the mistake of doing, but also in moments of earned joy and triumph, and in its genuine portrayals of friendship. It remains on of television’s best-kept secrets.
24) Supergirl
Network: The CW
Developed By: Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler, Andrew Kreisberg
Cast: Melissa Benoist, Mehcad Brooks, Chyler Leigh, Jeremy Jordan, David Harewood, Chris Wood
Too often TV is defined as “serious” or “worthy” only if it’s dark. Maybe we can thankThe Sopranosfor starting that trend, but it’s time for a revolution.Supergirlis a joyous show to watch. It’s happy. It’s uplifting. It tackles dramatic storylines (including a difficult subplot about race, as well as a coming out story that was given actual time to develop and unfold), but it’s also not afraid to be bright, colorful, and fun. A lot of this is thanks to star Melissa Benoist, whose charm and charisma drives the series. But since its move to The CW,Supergirlhas truly embraced its light tone and a humor that sets it apart from the other DC series on the network, and frankly, from most TV shows.
The Season 2 episodes that featured Superman also did a lot to restore that character’s legacy, after it was essentially been defamed byBatman vs. Superman. DC is doing so many things right on the small screen that it is messing up big time in its movieverse, andSupergirl’s characterization of Supermanwas one of the brightest points of this season so far. Dark, violent, brooding, melancholic … that’s not always what we want a superhero to be, especially one that was always meant to be a force of good; a Messiah with a distinct humanity.Supergirlgives us all of that.
23) Blunt Talk
Network: Starz
Creator: Jonathan Ames
Cast: Patrick Stewart, Adrian Scarborough, Dolly Wells, Timm Sharp, Jacke Weaver, Karan Toni
Blunt Talkwas exceptionally, well,bluntabout a lot of things (most of them sexual), but it was also one of the sweetest series on television. It cared deeply for its weird, flawed characters — most of whom were walking Freudian neuroses — and it made us care about them, too. Though Patrick Stewart shined so brightly as TV newsman Walter Blunt (he was a father figure but childlike, creative, passionate, yet hobbled by insecurities), his co-stars each found their own way to not exist only in his shadow, especially in Season 2. The show’s satire of cable news was never as finely wrought as its joy in letting its characters be completely free in their personal actions (which were often hilarious, but sometimes very tender), and ultimately the show’s niche appeal eventually led to its cancellation (the season ended with a cross-dressing caper which I never would have guessed, and yet, somehow it felt natural). But it’s not too late to catch up on the show, whose season finale worked very well as a series finale. It’s an example of a show that wasn’t meant for everyone, and why that can be a very good thing.
22) Bates Motel
Network: A&E
Developed By: Carlton Cuse, Kerry Ehrin, Anthony Cipriano
Cast: Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore, Max Thieriot, Olivia Cooke, Nestor Carbonell
After meandering through a few seasons that contained moments of excellence hidden by padded-out subplots and a quirky sense of story pacing,Bates Motelreally came into its own in Season 4. With a series end date in the site, the show really focused in on Norman’s (Highmore) transformation, and how Norma (Farmiga) was affected by it. Though the series has tried to push away from that relationship at times, it’s the core that keepsBates Motelat its best (though I would offer that “Dylemma” was a happy development as well).
Bates Motelhas always been uniquely atmospheric, with Oregon’s grey, rainy days and foggy nights truly defining the show. It also has the secret weapon of Farmiga, who has consistently given one of the best performances of the yeareveryyear the show has aired (and will surely continue to do so, even though Norma now is not the Norma we knew before). “Forever” was a definitive moment for the series not just narratively, but also as a way to show offBatesat its most emotionally devastating, before turning to its season finale, “Norman,” which was an exercise in the macabre (and yet, wonderfully so). It’s rare that this late into a show’s run it would have such a finely wrought season to bring back viewers who might have left the series, but Season 4 did exactly that.
21) The A Word
Network: SundanceTV
Creator: Karen Margalit
Cast: Morven Christie, Lee Ingleby, Greg McHugh, Max Vento, Christopher Eccleston
One of the year’s most complicated, raw, and honest dramas came from the U.K., and followed a closely-knit family whose youngest child is diagnosed with autism.The A Wordnever backs away from the difficulties the family faces in the wake of the revelation (especially since putting a name on behavior doesn’t change the struggle with the behavior), nor does it skip out on exploring young Joe’s (the excellent Vento) specific needs. Some family members are in denial, others are insecure, and others put their energy into “fixing” things. Just because one’s heart is in the right place doesn’t mean it’s the right course of action, though, andThe A Worddeals with family politics — even outside of its decision of autism — in a way that is unique and deeply affecting. And yet, it does so in a particularly British way where there is a gloss of humor that keeps things from ever being too dark, and a sardonic tone that acknowledges life is both exceptionally hard and undeniably joyous. The show’s small-town setting and layered family story also offer some unique narrative perspectives that helped makeThe A Wordsuch a stand-out series.
20) Mozart in the Jungle
Network: Amazon
Developed By: Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Alex Timbers, Paul Weitz
Cast: Lola Kirke, Gael Garcia Bernal, Saffron Burrows, Bernadette Peters, Malcolm McDowell
Mozart in the Junglechecks two major boxes of criteria for great TV this year: it’s a show that embraces its niche and doesn’t attempt to be everything to everybody, and it’s also a series with a unique setting and perspective. One of the series’ most admirable traits is how it wants to make classical music accessible, and yet, doesn’t compromise its story or vision in achieving that. There are long musical interludes (but not as long as a series likeTreme, which often pushed the boundaries of patience — we are watching a TV show, after all, not a music documentary), but they are bookended by the stories of compelling characters that are presented as wonderfully passionate but never cartoonish. For a show about creative pursuits,Mozartspends an awful lot of time focused on funding and labor disputes, but that’s also a rather fantastically grounded choice. It’s a realism that helps temper some of the series’ more fantastical elements, though the end result is something that is both easily digestible, and something that stays with you. Its episode “Not Yet Titled,” which was a break in form, is a perfect example of how all of this works so well together — the humor, the music, the creativity, and the emotional resonance.
19) The Grinder
Network: Fox
Creator: Jarrad Paul, Andrew Mogel
Cast: Rob Lowe, Fred Savage, Mary Elizabeth Bellis, Natalie Morales, William Devane, Steve Little
The Grindermay be the rarest kind of show to find on a year-end Best Of list — the one that was cancelled in its first season. But Fox has all too often pulled the trigger to cut shows just as they start to get interesting, although inThe Grinder’s case, it was always good. The comedy had so much going for it: an exceptional cast, a show-within-a-show format that actually worked (and was often a highlight), kid actors who were genuinely hilarious, and a formula that miraculously never got stale. Not every episode was perfect, but the show had an admirable consistency given the difficult demands of the broadcast schedule. It even excelled when it came to its guest actors (Timothy Olyphant’s episodes became their own recurring joke within the show — when this show went meta, it went at ithard).The Grinderwas fun and funny, and perhaps ultimately too smart for its own good.
18) Search Party
Network: TBS
Creator: Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers, Michael Showalter
Cast: Alia Shawkat, John Early, John Reynolds, Meredith Hagner, Ron Livingston
This one surprised me. The comedy, which works very well as an extended movie consumed in one sitting, is a kind of Millennial Miss Marple. But it’s also deceptively layered. One the one hand,Search Partyrevolves around a group of young adults who get caught up in a mystery that sends them on New Wave-y kinds of adventures, but it it also a extremely biting satire that trades upon that trickiest of prospects: finding one’s own identity. The series reveals truths about its characters as they go deeper into what they believe to be a dark conspiracy, and yet, it ultimately lands in a cynical place about the lies we tell ourselves even after we’re exposed. It’s extraordinarily thoughtful even when it’s at its most ridiculous. If it was ending here, it might be close to perfect, but the promise of a second season complicates things. Even still,Search Partyis a bizarre diamond in the rough that highlights how right a show can go when a network is willing to let it just be what it wants. (Also of note, there’s a scene that utilizes the phrase “just to piggyback off of that …” that will resonate with anyone in a college discussion group circa 2005. The show isthatwonderfully specific in its references).
17) Fresh Off the Boat
Seasons: 2 and 3
Network: ABC
Creator: Nahnatchka Khan
Cast: Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, Ian Chen, Lucille Soong
Fresh Off the Boatis a comedy that works on three very distinct levels in a way that feels seamless. It’s a family comedy, a 90s show, and series that highlights the specific experience of a Taiwanese family living in America. It also tackles each with aplomb. The show was unfairly maligned early in its run by Eddie Huang (on whose memoirs the show is based) for being what it was — a broadcast sitcom — yet it has continued to push the boundaries of the bizarre and avant-garde, particularly in Season 3. Few comedies can handle its adult and kid-focused stories with equal weight and humor, butFresh Off the Boatsucceeds in this and in extraordinarily well-rendered nostalgia jokes (Zoobooks! Tamagotchi! The Browns almost leaving Cleveland! Shaq Fu!) that never feel forced or like overkill. Plus, it cannot be overstated how much it matters that this is a show about an Asian family and exploring Asian culture — that was also very long overdue.
16) Catastrophe
Creators: Rob Delaney, Sharon Horgan
Cast: Rob Delaney, Sharon Horgan, Carrie Fisher, Ashley Jenson, Mark Bonnar
There are many, many TV shows about how marriage and having kids and keeping everything afloat is hard, but there is not a show as brutally honest and scathingly funny about those subjects asCatastrophe. Season 1’s brief run ended abruptly with a fight, honing in on the fact that the show swoops in and out of these lives to show the vignettes it wants to, and then poof! It’s gone. Season 2 was also a tragically short 6 episodes, and started in a similarly confusing place, with a time jump and the introduction of our characters in a family that was fully established rather than just starting out. It plays by its own rules, and makes no apologies. There were many new challenges, all explored with fantastic wit and bracing honesty, not just for Rob and Sharon but for their friends Fran and particularly Chris (Carrie Fisher as Rob’s mother will be so very missed in this series, as well).Catastropheis the kind of series that can be uncomfortable to watch because of how true it can feel, but it tempers those moments with exceptional humor that is also just as real.
