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[Cornballer]

1. The Americans; Another great season from my favorite show. Their ability to continue walking the tightrope in terms of writing the show is fantastic. It'd be really easy to screw up, but it instead continues to improve. Dylan Baker was a great addition to the cast. I'm excited for what the final two seasons bring.
2. Search Party; I dislike just about all of the narcissistic millenial characters on Search Party, but the show is great. It's a noir mystery comedy mashup that manages to hit all the right notes and keep you guessing until the very end.
3. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story; The superb cast and careful writing managed to address a number of difficult issues with surprising grace.
4. Better Call Saul; Much like The Americans, it's a joy to watch a cast, writers, and crew put together a great show. It really does everything well from the acting, the writing, the clever camerawork, the pacing, etc...
5. Atlanta; It's difficult for me to pin down exactly what the show is about or why it's so affecting, but the genre-busting surreal debut season is certainly worth a look. "The price is on the can, though."
6. Stranger Things; This thrived on nostalgia, but let's not overlook the well written family dynamics and youthful friendships that buoyed the show.
7. The Expanse; SyFy's recent foray into adapting popular source material has paid good dividends with The Expanse (and The Magicians.) While it takes a few episodes to get going, the amusing characters and large scale action turned this into one of last year's biggest suprises for me. It'll scratch your space opera itch.
8. Vice Principals; Come for the gut-busting cringe humor and stay for the clever character inversions. Much like Eastbound and Down, Vice Principals subverts your expectations in a number of ways. Goggins is a national treasure.
10. Black Sails; Arrrr! The soon-to-be-completed Starz pirate show works on a very large scale - the action and effects are impressive. The cast ably delivers entertaining characters that will be missed.
9. Catastrophe; Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney are a wonderful writing/acting team. I find Catastrophe difficult to watch at times because it hits so close to home, but the brutal honesty on adult relationships is ultimately what makes the show.

Other shows that I enjoyed:
Insecure - "Maybe it's really rough; maybe it's had enough"
The Night Manager - Can we have Olivia Colman in everything, please?
Togetherness - It never really hit great heights, but I don't think it was meant to either. Looking forward to whatever the Duplass brothers do next for HBO.
The Last Kingdom - The protagonist being a colossal dumbass is only part of the fun.
The Magicians - Well, that escalated quickly. A very adult show about magic with a well balanced cast.
You're The Worst - A little hot and cold this year, but they are subtly ambitious with what they're doing each episode.
Game of Thrones - For my money, this is the most impressive production on television. The fact that they deliver ten episodes every year while boasting this many speaking roles and shooting on three continents is remarkable. D&D deserve a break.
Westworld - Some of it works and some of it doesn't, but I applaud their ambition as they swing for the fences. Messy but a lot of fun. It's at a weird crossroads in terms of fan engagement where I'm not sure if I want to dive into the absurd theories or experience it in a vacuum.
The Night Of - Falters towards the end, but it had some nice moments. I'd like a Box & Weiss spinoff.
Veep - Survived the transition to new showrunner this year, but I'm not sure where they're going next season.
Man Seeking Woman - Goofy and poignant. Tanaka!
Silicon Valley - I expect it to be clever and funny, and it is.
Archer - It feels like the show is running out of steam, but it's still hilarious on a regular basis.
Colony - Marital drama! Aliens! Sawyer!

Acting shoutouts:
Keri Russell (The Americans), Sarah Paulson (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story), Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta), Walton Goggins (Vice Principals), Evan Rachel Wood & Jeffrey Wright (Westworld)

 

[TripOpt55]

Okay. Here are mine. Not real sure about this exact order after number 1 because I had two separate lists for favorite comedies and dramas and essentially mixed them together!

1. iZombie ; This is just so my kind of show. The out-there premise that finds a zombie medical examiner helping to solve crimes by eating the victims’ brains? Incredible. The way it so deftly blends procedural elements with the on-going mythology? Perfect. The chemistry of the cast? Delightful. That one-of-a-kind dialogue and banter that you only get in a Rob Thomas show? So full of snark and wit, it makes my heart sing. I love it all. Only the back half of Season 2 aired in 2016, but it was so, so good. There were more interesting personalities for Liv from the humorous (stripper brain) to more sobering (drug addict brain). There were some wonderful guest turns from Rob Thomas’ old show Veronica Mars (including Kristen Bell in voice form and Enrico Colantoni) and a delightfully meta cameo from Rob Thomas himself… but the other one, of Matchbox 20 fame. They even went the route of more traditional zombie fiction in the finale to spectacular results. This show never lets me down and was my easy choice for favorite TV show of 2016.

2. The Good Place ; While the heart and humor present in The Good Place is reminiscent of some of Michael Schur’s previous work like Parks and Rec, it just as often reminds me of serialized genre shows like Lost. Despite the comedy-slant and half-hour format, it is not afraid to embrace long-form storytelling or even end each weekly installment with a cliffhanger ending. Along with this unique structure for a network comedy, the series’ fantasy setting helps it stand out. The premise finds a woman mistakenly placed into the heaven-esque “good place” which allows the show to do some things just not available in more grounded series. Of course, one can’t talk about The Good Place without touching on the wonderful cast. Kristen Bell and Ted Danson are, as expected, turning in great performances, but the lesser-known cast including William Jackson Harper and D’Arcy Carden are equally game, not to mention a perfect guest turn from Adam Scott as a hilariously douchey envoy from the bad place. Throw in the series’ penchant for posing interesting questions of morality and the way it got better and better as the season rolled on and you end up with not just the best new show of the year, but one of the best series on television in 2016 period.

3. Black Sails ; I don’t think the third season of Starz swashbuckling, Treasure Island prequel series quite matches up with Season 2, but it comes pretty damn close and remains the premiere action show on television. Looking back so much happened on Black Sails this season. Brutal storms at sea and the discoveries of secret colonies, pivotal death scenes and harrowing duels, plus all the slippery maneuvering, treachery and backstabbing you’d expect from the pirate series leading up to the finale’s bombastic one-two punch battle sequences fought on both land and at sea. And despite all this, it at times felt like it was merely setting up the series final season airing later this month. Black Sails managed to put together another highly entertaining season while preparing perfectly for its final voyage.

4. Rectify ; On paper, this doesn’t seem like my cup of tea. I tend to prefer dramas with action and sci-fi and so on to this sort of slow-paced prestige drama – I’ll take Fringe over The Wire any day of the week. And yet, Rectify has been one of my favorites each of these past four years. During its final season, it delivered more of what I’d come to expect from the series. A show filled with small, affecting moments. One with touching, realistic dialogue that also isn’t afraid to let silence speak for it when necessary. Some of the very best acting performances on television – Aden Young delivers one for the ages in the lead role. And yet it managed to surprise me too, giving me more closure than I expected when it came to the central crime and what Daniel’s future might hold. It was a beautiful end to a beautiful series. I will miss it.

5. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt ; This continues to remind me of the creators’ previous show, 30 Rock, in all the best ways. It’s the manner in which it hurls jokes at viewers in that similar blink-and-you’ll-miss-it fashion that had me rewinding when one tried to fly past me. It’s the wacky characters and clever sense of humor. It’s even those familiar musical flourishes that pepper scene transitions. Ellie Kemper is once again giving one of TV’s strongest lead performances in the titular role. Her bubbly attitude in spite of her past remains as delightful and humorous as ever as she adjusts to life after years of being held captive. The series also wasn’t afraid to dive deeper into that dark premise with Kimmy seeking therapy with creator Tina Fey playing opposite her in these sessions – in a much better role than her guest spot in the first season in my opinion. While much of this is played for humor, there were definitely some poignant moments to go along with the all the laughs. It all made for a stellar sophomore outing for the Netflix comedy.

6. Person of Interest ; It was a bit sad to see CBS burn off Person of Interest’s final episodes so unceremoniously at the end of last network season. It along with The Good Wife have been the bright spots among their drama line-up for years, a cut above their usual, older-skewing procedural fare. And whereas The Good Wife faltered down the stretch, Person of Interest soared with a sensational farewell season for the series. During this final lap, POI brought more vigilantism from some of TV’s foremost badasses while tackling the same kind of complex issues it has from the beginning, things like artificial intelligence and post-9/11 national security. And I couldn’t be happier with how things came to a close. The finale was the perfect way to end Person of Interest and joins the likes of Scrubs, Spartacus and Friday Night Lights as my favorite series finales of all-time.

7. Game of Thrones ; I fell in love with Game of Thrones the moment I started watching it. Then I got into the books and started reading all the crazy theories and my love grew deeper. For four years, it was consistently one of my favorite things on TV. And then came Season 5. I was disappointed. Because of this and the fact that the writers wouldn’t have finished books for reference from here on out, my excitement was somewhat muted going into the sixth season. But I’m happy to say this was a bounce back year for HBO’s medieval fantasy series. I think where it succeeds the most is in setting up the final stretch of episodes. The last two outings of Season 6 rank among the series’ best delivering one of GoT’s epic battle sequences as Jon faced off against Ramsay in “The Battle of the Bastards” and just about everything I could have asked for and more in the explosive season finale “The Winds of Winter.” I couldn’t be more excited to see where Game of Thrones goes next which is back to exactly how I should be feeling in the offseason.

8. Silicon Valley ; Last year I stated that I just wanted to say that Silicon Valley was on the list because it is so damn funny and leave it at that. That is certainly why the HBO comedy finds itself on my list this year. While I could once again make note of the intelligent writing and brilliant comic performances that drive the show, I think this year I will just recount a few of the countless gags that had me laughing during Silicon Valley’s third season. There was the sales team, including Jan the Man and Doug (who is shadowing Keith), constantly repeating their names. There was the subtle callback of Monica re-donning her bad news sweater. There was the flurry of insults hurled Dinesh’s way over his chain. And then there was everything involving the Pied Piper varsity jacket. My favorite bit though is when we learned that Russ Hanneman was right about Jared when he said, “This guy fucks.” A perfectly executed punchline a year in the making. Silicon Valley… just so damn funny.

9. You’re the Worst ; Despite not being as fresh as its first season or as relatable to me as its second, I still found myself glued to You’re the Worst’s modern take on the rom-com week in and week out in Season 3. Perhaps it is because I am so invested in Jimmy and Gretchen’s relationship. Or maybe it is because I just love YtW’s brand of mean-spirited, caustic humor. It didn’t hurt that this was the series’ boldest season yet, unafraid to toy with its structure (having two episodes cover the same time period), direction (Episode 11’s long-takes reminiscent of The X-Files “Triangle”), or diverging the focus from the core couple to side characters (like in the Paul and Vernon outing). On top of all that, it didn’t shy away from tackling tough subject matter either like this year’s PTSD-slanted ep “Twenty-Two” buoyed by Desmin Borges’ stellar performance. The possibly last Sunday Funday was super fun too.

10. Search Party ; If I were trying to sell this show to someone, I’d describe it as Broad City meets Veronica Mars in the form of a dark comedy. Search Party follows Dory, played wonderfully by Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat, who throws herself headlong into the search for a missing girl as she tries to find meaning in her own life. The way it mixes genres is impressive, switching between biting satire, noir elements and laugh-out-loud comedy at a moment’s notice. I found myself absolutely hooked on the ongoing mystery at the show’s center – I binged the whole season in two days – and the way it all wraps up feels so perfectly in-line with the rest of the show, I couldn’t help but love it. Much like USA’s Mr. Robot last year, I wasn’t expecting to find one of the year’s best shows on TBS, but Search Party was a pleasant surprise to say the least.

Honorable Mentions: Life in Pieces, Jane the Virgin, The Americans, Stranger Things, American Crime, and Mr. Robot.

Most Disappointing: Banshee, The X-Files, The 100, Penny Dreadful, and UnReal. These had their share of bright spots (for instance, the were-monster episode of The X-Files would probably make a list of my favorite episodes of the year), but none of them lived up to my expectations.

Okay that will do it for me this year.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Two days left! Vote vote vote!

Look, some of us are taking our time.

 

[SpideySenses]

1. Stranger Things ;
2. American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson ;
3. Better Call Saul ;
4. The Americans ;
5. Marvel's Daredevil ;
6. Supergirl ;
7. Atlanta ;
8. Person of Interest ;
9. The Night Of ;
10. Limitless ;

Fail of the Year
1. Game of Thrones ;

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Look, some of us are taking our time.

Better late than never!

 

[Gila]

1 | Westworld | Man what the fuck. I had to watch each episode multiple times to understand and it's still huge. Production, score, narrative were top notch.

2 | Daredevil | I thoroughly enjoyed the second season more than the first (I'm one of the few that hated Kingpin's performance) so to see the performance from the Punisher was redemptional. Whoever does the fight choreography should be knighted. It is also great to see the things outside of Hell's Kitchen and the role they play in the grander scheme.

3 | Stranger Things | I was born just a hair too late from the wonderful era of the 80's scifi scene. Like many in my generation though, we really appreciated the atmosphere of what those movies/tv shows accomplished. Stranger Things delivered a strong sense of that. From the title to the end credits - we were on a nostalgia trip. Some of the best child active I've seen and actually scary set designs, it was a wonderful ride.

4 | Mr. Robot | Still some of the most unique framing, and I love it just for that. It is also accompanied by great performances and a plot done well. It was my favourite show last year, while it has lowered this year, it is still quite enjoyable for me.

5 | Better Call Saul | A great second season. I can't wait to see how this story unfolds (I mean we know the outcome) but damn, It's cool to see the twists and turns he does to get there.

6 | Chef's Table | There's something about a good personal story and amazing visuals that gets to me. Chef's Table delivers again. This is one of Netflix's great documentary series that more people should watch.

7 | The Night Of | Character development finesse. Pacing was good for what it was, while slow, it did burn at the end. Riz Ahmed is growing fondly in my books.

8 | Atlanta | A raw comedic masterpiece, wasn't expecting this gem at all.

9 | Game of Thrones | Personally I enjoy all the seasons so far, while some are clearly more enjoyable than others - I haven't gotten off this train yet. S6 continued to drive it forward at even a greater speed. Hardhome hit home and the king is back.

10 | The Crown | Typically not a fan of historical drama pieces, especially from the UK. But this took me by surprise. And that production though.

 

[Messofanego]

5. Veep; The best current comedy on air, no question. An alltime cast, killer writing, the best characters - Veep has it all. Every single award is justified and then some. If you're not watching Veep, you're missing out. And yes, it even trumps fan favourite Sillicon Valley by miles and miles.

It helps that it's by Armando Iannucci, the creator of amazing shows like The Thick Of It and his own existential surreal The Armando Iannucci Show.

 

[KonradLaw]

Right before the deadline

1. Person of Interest

The best show on TV came to an end. And what an ending it was. It always has been the most consistent thing on the air and season 5 didn't disappoint. So immensely satysfing and tense. Managed to also wrap up most of the loose plot threads (the only thing missing was the british mercenary villain. Shame he never returned). It offered beautiful plotting, but also amazing character's endings. Characters always were the primary strength of the show and each one got what they deserved, making me cry couple times.
What a ride Person of Interest was. Wish CBS would allow Jonathan Nolan to take it for 7 seasons, like it was originally planned, but I'm still grateful they at last let it have a final season to wrap up the story. This is a show that I see myself returning regularly to for the next ten years. Hats off.

2. 12 Monkeys

This is the masterclass in time travel storytelling. It's rules are clearly laid out and followed to the letter. They evolve with time, but any changes are always for a clearly laid out reason (tech upgrade, enemy with different device etc). It also goes all out into the time travel, using the full potential of it's tropes. The whole story is being told in a series of interlocking loops, both big and small. It's set up in such way that it allows the viewer to figure out things shortly before the character does, which is immensely satisfying.

Plus despite all the plot goodness the show anchors everything with extremely strong characters that grow and evolve as show goes by and never act out of character. You really care about those people and even characters that at first might be off putting eventually can win you over (Deacon and Jennifer being the prime examples). Not to mention it's such a damn pretty show. They obviously don't have a lot of budget, but they make miracles with what they have.

Now that Person of Interest is done 12 Monkeys takes over the „amazing sf show that most people are missing out on" spot. This is the best SF on air right now, much better than Expanse or anything other channels have to offer. Before it premiered I thought it was a stupid idea to turn 12 Monkeys into a show, but just like with Hannibal they took the premise and ran with into fresh territory, ultimately delivering something vastly superior to the source material.

3. Quarry

This was my most anticipated new show of the year and it didn't disappoint, although it did end up being a surprise. The novels are one of my favorite running series at this moment, but the show ended up very different. While the novels are full of humor and focus on assassination jobs, the show is all about one man's soul drying up, slowly turning him into the bastard I know from the books.
Different doesn't mean worse though. It makes for a perfect companion to the books, allowing you to understand the lead character a lot better, while also being bloody amazing show on it;s own. The writing, acting and most of all direction were all bloody amazing. It's a slow show, but every episode kept me glued to TV. I really really hope it gets second season.

4. Man in the Hight Castle

Wonderful second season of one of my last year's favorites. It kept the depressing hopeless atmosphere, but finally got characters moving. The plot increased in speed, but the character development and world building didn't sufler. The characters I liked before I've grown even more fond off and I started to like characters I didn't before.

But damn...I still couldn't watch more than one episode per day. Beautiful, solemn and ambitious show, but way to heavy for a binge

5. Westworld

So yeah, Jonathan Nolan is obviously TV genius. While Person of Interest remains the best thing he did this year, Westworld was brilliant start for a new series. It made be think about the issues raised and delivered basically a huge fascinating puzzle that I could try to put together on my own through the season, before the answers were finally given to me.
If it wants to reach higher next year I will need to start caring about more characters though. This time I've only really cared only about two and

Spoiler

they both turned out to be the same person.

6. Lucifer

I know it's procedural and has nothing in common with the comics, but it's just ridiculous amounts of fun. Lucifer is one of the most fun characters on TV right now. Pure joy to watch and makes me laugh more than most TV comedies do, while at the same time making me like him enough that when some heavier drama comes in I genuinely care.

7. Bosch

Had a blast with season 1 and season 2 was even better. It lacked the immediately strong villain of the sort S1's serial killer was, but the crooked cops crew ultimately ended up being far more terrifying. The plot got more complex, it stopped being all about Bosch himself and we got beautifully painful arc for police Chief. It also delivered some surprisingly good action scenes.

Still, the main attraction of this show remains Bosch himself and it works because he's such a great character and Titus Welliver play him perfectly. This isn't a pleasant man or charming rogue. He's hard-ass and can be asshole, but if you give him time you will fall in love with him, just like his friends in the show did.

Best Cop show on TV right now.

8. Hap and Leonard

This came out of nowhere. I try to follow what's happening in TV industry, but I completely missed this one and had no clue a show like this existed. It was recommended to me by one of the friends who know I love TV adaptation of crime novel series and I'm really glad he did, because it was a pure blast. Weird, quirky and very fun show, that at the same time can be extremely brutal when needed. And all that craziness is anchored by great two leads, who not only are well-developed characters, but whose actors have great chemistry with each other.
Also congratulation Jimmi Simpson by somehow managing to star in three shows from my top10 of 2016. You sir have a fine taste when it comes to picking roles

9. Longmire

This is another one of those crime novels turned into TV shows genre I like so much. I enjoyed the show from the moment it started, but it steadily became better and better each season. This one was the first when they had full Netflix freedom of creativity (S4 was Netflix, but had to wrap S3's threads in first few episodes) and they delivered in spades, while also not succumbing to ustal problems Netflix show have. The season was tight, tense and very satisfying.
They also had a lot of balls for making the beloved lead fallible big way. He always was very human, but at the very his detective instincts were always spot-on. Here we saw him for the first time Letnin his prejudices negatively impact the job, which was risky, but worked well.
Also...I usually don't ship. But I sure as hell ship the hell out of Walt and Victoria

10. Preacher

I didn't think you could translate the crazy energy of Preacher comic into TV screen, but the show succeeded at doing that, while also making characters seem more human than in original. It was a bit slower than I would have liked, but it manager to achieve something comic never did, which was to genuinely like Jesse.
It was also incredibly creative and funny. Surprisingly it had by far the best action scenes out of all shows of 2016.
With base set up like this in S1 I really can't wait to see what they will do once they get into adapting the actual arcs from comic.

Notes:
Others show I loved: 23.11.63, Penny Dreadful (aside from ending), Gotham, Jack Taylor, Wallander, Outcast, Zombie, Goliath and Strange Things.

Biggest Disappointment:
Banshee's final season. S3 remains one of the most fun seasons of TV I have ever seen. S4 gave me nice ending emotionally, but all the eps before it were luke warm, wasted time and had extremely disappointing action scenes, which is tragedy, seeing as S3's is still by far the benchmark for action on TV

Biggest surprise:
Arrow S5. After extremely uneven S3 and S4, which started well, but fell apart, S5 is shockingly good so far. Best string of episodes the show ever had, or that any superhero show had last year.

Worst cancellations:
Penny Dreadful. I don't buy it for a minute they didn't originally plan on more seasons. Real tragedy, since there was obviously so much more story to tell.

Damien: I can't blame the network, because first 4 eps were pretty terrible. But from episode 5 it miraculously became the best horror show on tv. Creepy, dark and often disturbing.By the final episode it was heading into insane direction, so I'm sad I didn't see what happened next

Best addition of new regular into established show:
Mon-El in Supergirl. Dude made me the whole show better for me.

Punisher was also amazing, but he doesn't deserve a win, because he actively made the whole show seem much worse when he wasn't on the screen.

 

[spekkeh]

This was my favorite TV year ever. The breadth and depth was incredible, and the number one is probably my new all time favorite.


1. Stranger Things ; probably the only series in recent memory where I never looked away from the screen even a second. Completely engrossing from the first shot to the end credits. Also that theme music hngg.
2. The Get Down ; completely ridonkulous guilty pleasure
3. The Expanse ; fuck I love hard scifi. Why is there so little hard scifi. This'll do though, this'll do.
4. Narcos ; second season as good as the first
5. Game of Thrones ; really happy GRRM got sidelined, finally it's going somewhere! It's still schlocky but now sometimes also moving.
6. House of Cards ; Season 4 did a lot to mitigate the mediocre 3, glad to see some of the old whip back. Show still drags a bit here and there but Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright are still a delightful tour de force.
7. Designated Survivor ; pulpy, contrived, technobabble, but also novel, intriguing, well acted and occasionally tense as all hell.
8. Daredevil ; the Punisher episodes are easily the best thing Marvel has done so far. Sadly the rest was less up to snuff. Still a lot better than Jessica Jones and Luke Cage.
9. Bojack Horseman ; don't act like you don't know.
10. Better Call Saul ; Continues to be better than Breaking Bad. The turn to Saul Goodman is starting to take its time though.

Other series I liked: Orphan Black, Luke Cage, Orange is the New Black, Marco Polo, some more I'm probably forgetting.

Just okay: The OA, Sense8 Christmas special

Fail of the year:
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt ; I don't really know what happened here. I loved the first season, but with the main conceit out of the way, it just waffles around a bit and the energy becomes tiresome. I liked the anti-gentrification hook, but aside from that it was a bit meh and also started to get a bit preachy for its own good. Don't know where to go from here.

Still need to see: Westworld, Mr Robot s2

 

[deafmedal]

I'll post a short quickie on the last day

1. Game of Thrones. Absolutely loved S.6. Tis my favorite show
2. Stranger Things. I think I'd like some Eggo's now.
3. WestWorld. Hot robots are hot.
4. The Man in the High Castle. I'm a sucker for Dick.
5. The Grand Tour. *shrugs shoulders*
6. The Night Of. Dem feet doh.
...
...
...

Fails
1. Vinyl. I actually enjoyed most of the music and there was lotsa bewbs, but none the less disappointing.
2. TWD. Only watched Ep. 1, will binge the rest later but just wasn't feeling it.

 

[Yomidi]

1. Better Call Saul
2. Game of Thrones
3. Bojack Horseman
4. Narcos
5. Steven Universe
6. Westworld
7. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

 

[maeh2k]

1. Rectify
2. Game of Thrones
3. Stranger Things
4. Person of Interest
5. Westworld
6. Daredevil
7. The Expanse
8. The Night Manager
9. Limitless
10. BrainDead

 

[choco-fish]

1. Game of Thrones ; will always be number one for me, it's an event not a TV show.
2. Stranger things ; for me 80s nostalgia done right, but it transcends that as my whole family loved it. A great show regardless.
3. Daredevil ; the punisher stole the show, doesn't top S1 but it's still fantastic
4. Planet Earth ll ; just beautiful to watch and gotta outrun dem snakes
5. Luke Cage ; highly enjoyed this, last episode wasn't amazing but what a ride.
6. Orphan black ; not the best season but the lead is still fantastic in her roles
7. The Shannara chronicles ; cast almost too good looking, and the episode with the night clubbing teens almost broke the fantasy setting but the majority of the time it got the fantasy setting perfect, great action scenes and Manu Bennett!
8. The Flash ; best of the arrowverse shows by far, show really landed on its feet this season.
9. Fleabag ; fantastic play and brilliantly translated into a TV show, funny, cringe and heartbreaking, you can see early on how it will play out but you still get dragged along for the uncomfortable ride.
10. The great British bake off ; solely because it sends my wife into baker mode when it's on, I get two months of amazing home baked treats.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Awright y'all, today is the final day for voting! Get your votes in before I have a mod lock it later tonight!

 

[GeeTeeCee]

1. Westworld. High concept television that lived up to the hype. If only I hadn't spent so much time on forums I might not have robbed myself of some of the reveals later in the season.

2. Game of Thrones. It's nice finally watching a season and having no idea what's going to happen in advance. It's also nice when the season is a marked improvement over the last year.

3. Stranger Things. I went in aware of lots of early high praise, and expected that it couldn't possibly match it. I was very wrong.

4. Daredevil. The Devil of Hell's Kitchen meets The Punisher and a buttload of Ninjas. The best Marvel Netflix show by a major margin, mostly because it doesn't collapse in the second half like the others.

5. Better Call Saul. It takes its time to roll out the plot at its own comfortable pace, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

6. The Expanse. SyFy does a good job at adapting a book I really like. Seriously, this was was better than I had any hope for when it was first announced.

7. Narcos. Not sure how the next season is going to match this.

8. Black Sails. Somwhere during the season prior to this one Black Sails transformed from "trashy Spartacus clone on the high seas" to genuinely good television.

9. Mr. Robot. Not much to say here, but there's very few shows like Mr. Robot right now.

10. Preacher. A lot of fans of the comic said it didn't live up to expectations. Luckily, I've never read the comic.

Honourable mentions: Luke Cage (great first half of the season), Marco Polo (RIP), Person of Interest (I haven't actually seen the final season - it hasn't aired in the UK yet. I feel comfortable handing it a mention anyway...), Orphan Black, Atlanta.

Fail of The Year: Penny Dreadful, or how a disappointing season finale can make you regret the time you spent watching an entire television series.

Honourable fails: Luke Cage (good lord that second half of the season), The Walking Dead (the zombies aren't the only thing shuffling along aimlessly).

 

[Scott32020]

1. Westworld
2. Person of Interest
3. The Americans
4. The Man in the High Castle
5. House of Cards
6. Designated Survivor

 

[Stumpokapow]

Out of Gas Award: Brooklyn Nine Nine. Jesus, half the fucking episodes are theme episode sequels to previous theme episodes. Talk about comfort food. Also, every character has been Homerized; dumb characters are now mentally deficient, conservative characters are now robots, immature characters now can't clean their own diapers. Find some god damn human grounding. The quality joke-writing is being very let down by the total foolishness. If I wanted a cartoon, I'd write a fan petition to uncancel Futurama.

Speaking Of That, 2017 Most Anticipated: How can this not be DuckTales? It looks visually great, it has some of the best talent in animation today working on it, the voice cast is great and seems enthusiastic about their jobs, and the original series was stellar. Can't wait.

Worst Paid Subscription Video Service Award: This award will always go to SeeSo.

Best Episode of the Year Bojack Horseman - Fish Out of Water. Fish out of water episodes--that is to say, episodes that take main characters away from their normal environments--are always the best episodes of any TV show, because it shines new light on the old characters. Except that lost episode right before the ending, that was dumb. Anyway, with Bojack we both get substantial and thoughtful worldbuilding--how would an underwater society work?--emotional resonance, and introspection about the character. And the near-silent film aesthetic is beautiful. I didn't get a lot out of this season of BJH, but this episode really does deserve the praise it got from critics.

It's Good, But Honestly, I'm A Little Tired Of Hearing About It Award: The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story. The cutesy nods to the Kardashians being modern reality TV fixtures; the insufferable Kato Kaelin; "The Juice". Yes, I get that the entire original sordid affair was larger than life, I have pretty good recollection of the coverage from when I was younger. But this is a show that knows exactly how clever it is. Also, all the acting is scenery chewing. (Runner up: Documentary Now; I'm convinced people only like this to feel superior about having watched the source material. This is just bizarre.)

Please Don't Pelt Rocks At Me Until I Die Award: Full Frontal is a good TV series but honestly I think it could be a lot better if there was just a little less yelling. I feel like the series succeeds at giving angry people some emotional catharsis, and if that's what they're going for, then great... but I feel like a better job could be done if they're trying to convey information. There are a lot of segments that basically just rely on being mad at bad people. I was never much for the Daily Show, and something I liked about the first season of Last Week Tonight is that it avoided most of the traps of that format and focused on discussing under-discussed issues that most everyone could agree on. Last Week Tonight has since fallen back into covering scandal-du-jour stuff and Full Frontal never tried to avoid it at all. I guess I'm not the target audience. I still watch and I think Sam Bee is a real talent, but it doesn't connect with me much.

Okay I Get That TV-on-DVD is Dead and TV-on-Blu-Ray never took off, but how does this not have a high definition home video release, seriously? Award: Over the Garden Wall. It's a transcendent classic, it looks beautiful, and Cartoon Network re-aired it this year and have done some merch runs with Hot Topic, so they seem to care. Pity that they can't make the production economics work on this.

Billy Eichner Is Really Very Annoying So It's Surprising That This Show Ends Up Being Tolerable Award: Difficult People. Something about the tone of the show makes his absolutely intolerable shrieking banshee personality tolerable. Although there are actually somehow two characters on Difficult People that are more shrill than Eichner, so they're working very hard to ensure I feel hate in my gut when I watch.

Fail of the Year: NBC renewing Celebrity Apprentice with the President-Elect as a Producer. Ugly on so many levels, and the show has been a flaming pile of shit that celebrates everything that's bad about America since the first season.

 

[Boogs31]

1) Horace and Pete - Even though it takes place mostly in a bar, to call this show a sitcom would be doing it a great disservice. The subject matter and the depth at which the show delves into said subjects is unlike anything I've ever experienced on tv.
2) Atlanta - This show pulls off the impossible balancing act of being deathly serious and hilarious at the same time.
3) Rectify - The last season was good throughout but it's only this high because of one of the greatest finales of all time.
4) Stranger Things - Absolutely fabulous child actors and terrific direction. It's sci-fi fun with hints of King, Carpenter and Spielberg.
5) Better Call Saul - Every season of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul thus far have been worthy of top ten lists. Better Call Saul season 2 is no exception.
6) Game of Thrones - Significant improvement over season 5 and most of the war scene shots were incredible.
7) Daredevil - Season 2 was on par with season 1 thanks largely to Jon Bernthal's take on the punisher.
8) Togetherness - HBO canceling the show right before the finale of season 2 definitely hurt the end product. But it was still one heck of a ride.
9) Bojack Horseman - The episode titled "Fish out of Water" is the best episode of television I saw all year.
10) The Night of - While it tried to do a bit too much, it still did an admirable job at showcasing the step by step process of being arrested and detained that most crime related shows/movies gloss over.

Honorable Mentions - The Good Place, American Crime Story, Better Things, Westworld, Black Mirror, Divorce and The Night Manager

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Awright y'all, today is the final day for voting! Get your votes in before I have a mod lock it later tonight!

Thanks for doing this Ratsky! Just looking through this thread at all the people who didn't follow the formatting though.

:-(

You deserve a medal.

 

[Snake]

1. American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson ; Already discussed at length.
2. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend ; Season 2 is struggling in a lot of ways, but half of season 1 was in 2016, and its overall merits outweigh the missteps.
3. Better Call Saul ; Solid.
4. iZombie ; Season 1 did not grab me at all. It felt like a competent show, but a waste of potential and Rose McIver couldn't pull off the comedy and her American accent at the same time. Season 2 stepped it up and, while not perfect, deserves credit for most-improved show of the year.
5. Scream Queens ; Season 2 was a step down for the series, but it's still good enough to earn these valueless TV Show of the Year points!
6. Devious Maids ; Consistently entertaining, maybe the most disappointing cancellation of the year (plus an unresolved cliffhanger)
7. Jon Glaser Loves Gear ; I know.
8. The Magicians ; A much better SyFy offering than The Expanse, which singlehandedly cannot be placed on this list due to Tom Jane's hair+hat. Will never forgive that hat.
9. Difficult People ; "Nine Lives" star Kevin Spacey finally gets the recognition he's due.
10. Braindead ; Probably a better offering from the Kings than the last two seasons of the Good Wife.

Fail of the year: Sleepy Hollow

 

[dead souls]

Last day better get around to doing this. It was pretty tough since I had to leave a lot of shows I truly love out of my top 10 but there was simply too much good stuff that aired in 2016.

1. Rectify ; Not merely the best show this year, one of the best of all time.
2. Shameless ; There is no show I look forward to watching more than Shameless. Emmy Rossum is consistently excellent and the rest of the cast shines too. Special shout out to non-Gallagher Kev (Steve Howey) who is one of the funniest characters on television. The fact that we got two seasons in one year might just be my favorite thing about 2016 TV.
3. American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson ; A Ryan Murphy produced show about this trial with some wacky casting choices (Travolta? Schwimmer? Cuba Gooding Jr. as O.J.?) had me skeptical, but I've never been more wrong. This show was wonderful. Sterling K. Brown and Courtney B. Vance were standouts, and Sarah Paulson continues to be able to do no wrong.
4. Halt and Catch Fire ; Has there ever been a bigger turnaround than this show? Season one is borderline unwatchable but the other two seasons are must-sees. Season three was the best yet. Donna (Kerry Bishé) is one of my favorite characters on television.
5. Better Call Saul ; Completely different from Breaking Bad, yet nearly as good. Why doesn't Rhea Seehorn have a damn Emmy?
6. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee ; Move over John Oliver, the hero we need has arrived.
7; Baskets ; I'm tired of comedians getting half hour 'comedies' so I wasn't hyped at all for this, but I'm glad I decided to give it a shot. Simply amazing. Louie Anderson's Emmy was richly deserved, since Mama Baskets absolutely makes the show.
8; Fleabag ; Seemed to come out of nowhere and absolutely knocked me on my ass. Unbelievably funny, and moving too. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is immensely talented.
9. Catastrophe ; Simply hilarious. Season 2 was even better than the first.
10. Atlanta ; I'm not really a Donald Glover fan, but he even won me over with this show which was staggeringly good. FX had an amazing 2016.

Fails of the year

1. Westworld ; HBO does it again: assembles a decent cast and a massive budget yet somehow manages to make one of the most dull shows I've ever watched. Absolutely terrible scripts that could only be interesting to people who have never thought, watched or read any other science fiction about robots. Hell either season of AMC/Channel 4's Humans is infinitely more interesting than this and it's nothing special.
2. Vinyl/Roadies/sex&drugs&rock&roll (AKA if rock isn't dead somebody please put it out of its misery) ; Where to even start with these three dumpster fires? Vinyl features one of the worst lead performances I've ever seen on a premium drama in Bobby Cannavale's Richie Finestra (familiar to HBO viewers for inexplicably winning an Emmy for an awful one note performance on another HBO mediocrity Boardwalk Empire) among other problems. Roadies was sappy treacle with absolutely no teeth. Denis Leary's sex&drugs&rock&roll was more ridiculous wish fulfillment that makes me wonder why I even liked the first few seasons of Rescue Me.
3. DC's Legends of Tomorrow ; Overall it's been a pretty great year for comic book shows. Arrow season 5 is the show at its best, Supergirl season 2 is an improvement over a weak season one, Flash is still decent, Gotham continued its post-season one metamorphosis into a batshit crazy Monday night highlight that I look forward to every week, iZombie was great and would have made my top ten if it had aired more episodes in 2016 and Daredevil and Luke Cage had their moments as well. All of that said, there is almost nothing I hated watching more in 2016 than Legends of Tomorrow. I hate almost everything about this show. It ruined characters I liked on other Arrowverse shows, its budget is too low and its writers too poor to make decent use of its time-traveling premise, and worst of all it's wasting fucking Victor Garber. I wish I could travel back to before it premiered and tell myself to not bother watching. Oh and a stealth bonus fail for comic book fans: Preacher sucked too.

 

[Barrage]

1) Atlanta(Season 1-FX); Glover proves he is an entertainment tour-de-force.
2) Better Call Saul (Season 2-AMC);
3) Horace And Pete (Independent);
4) Bojack Horseman(Season 3-Netflix);
5) Black Sails(Season 3-Starz);
6)Black Mirror (Season 3-Netflix);
7)Game of Thrones (Season 6-HBO);
8) Man Seeking Woman (Season 2-FXX);
9) Insecure(Season 1-HBO);
10) Baskets (Season 1-FX);

It's crazy how incredibly varied FX and FXX's outputs have become. They may be my two most watched channels right now,and I didn't care for OJ at all.

 

[Messofanego]

Yo, don't close the thread until I put my ballot in. Give me an hour.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Yo, don't close the thread until I put my ballot in. Give me an hour.

There's still plenty of time!

 

[RustyNails]

So fucking sad to see no one mention MARS. Its really good guys.

 

[Stumpokapow]

There's still plenty of time!

I think in the past I've locked around night time pacific, whenever I go to bed.

 

[Karu]

It helps that it's by Armando Iannucci, the creator of amazing shows like The Thick Of It and his own existential surreal The Armando Iannucci Show.

He left after Season 4, he wasn't part of the recent fifth season - which makes it even more incredible that the show didn't tank but argueably stayed on the previous level of quality! (Maybe you know this, can't tell )

 

[RatskyWatsky]

I think in the past I've locked around night time pacific, whenever I go to bed.

Sounds good!

I'll try to get my top 10 in before then

 

[Stalactite]

1. Black Mirror series 3 ; Several of this series of episodes are probably going to be some of my top rated TV ever, like San Junipero, Shut Up and Dance, Nosedive
2. Luke Cage ; Almost perfect casting, fantastic opening theme (and music in general), even though it wears out its' run with a few too many episodes. Mike Colter has room to grow as the main character, and Alfre Woodard, Mahershala Ali, and Theo Rossi give great performances as the villans.
3. Limitless ; I miss this show so much; they took the typical 'film becomes procedural tv series' show and gave it an injection of fun. So many asides, references, and some fourth wall breaking.
4. Stranger Things ; I'll admit, it took awhile for this to click for me, but when it did, it clicked big. Winona Ryder was great, and I'll always remember Eleven's bad, bad wig.
5. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt S2 ; Kimmy came back with higher highs and lower lows, still not quite as evened out as it should be, but still great fun. Titus is the best.
6. American Horror Story: Roanoke ; AHS had a very strong season, even if the last episode sort of petered out at the end (and they almost always do).
7. Steven Universe ; One of the best shows ever on Cartoon Network; the scheduling for it is all over the place (Steven Bombs vs. regular weekly airings), and it's still a great show even if there are a few filler episodes.
8. Agent Carter S2; Sad to see this go, as S2 was a big improvement over S1, especially the musical episode.
9. iZombie ; I am very LTTP to this one; it's really damn good.
10. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life ; to be honest... it almost made fail of the year for me, if not for Emily and Paris.

Fail of the year
1. cancelling Limitless
2. cancelling Agent Carter
3. Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again - Let's not.

 

[Messofanego]

He left after Season 4, he wasn't part of the recent fifth season - which makes it even more incredible that the show didn't tank but argueably stayed on the previous level of quality! (Maybe you know this, can't tell )

Yeah, I'm sure the writing team helped stay the course of excellence.

 

[lamaroo]

1. Rectify
2. Bojack Horseman
3. Game of Thrones
4. Better Call Saul
5. Westworld
6. Stanger Things
7. Narcos
8. Luke Cage
9. Daredevil
10. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Rushed this list together, turns out I didn't watch much TV this year. I'm not finished Narcos, but I'm enjoying it and put it in.

Nothing comes close to Rectify anyway.

 

[Sadsic]

1.) Rectify Season 4 - A richly positive end to a prestige drama about some of the most realistically traumatic fiction i've ever seen
2.) Bojack Horseman Season 3 - A continuation of the greatness of Season 2, probably the best fiction ever created about a talking horse
3.) Steven Universe Seasons 2.5, 3 and beginning of 4 - While maybe not as strong as Steven Universe in 2015 overall, the material this year for Steven Universe stayed just as compelling and groundbreaking as it has ever been, even reaching new highs with the introduction of many new elements in the series
4.) Black Mirror Season 3 - An uneven season overall, but with one of the best pieces of sci-fi I have ever seen
5.) The Americans Season 4 - A somewhat transitional season of a fantastic drama overall
6.) Game of Thrones Season 6 - A very solid season of the phenomenon drama, with multiple great episodes
7.) Better Call Saul Season 2 - A very good followup to Season 1, going in a different direction than expected
8.) Search Party Season 1 - An interesting, intersectional show somewhere between Girls and True Detective that left me feeling intrigued
9.) Westworld Season 1 - A solid sci-fi drama that ultimately left me a little unsatisfied, but still a quality show overall
10.) The Night Of Season 1 - An intriguing little miniseries with HBO quality production, with a fun appearance by Michael K. Williams

Stuff I haven't watched yet that might've been on this list:

The People vs. O.J. Simpson (American Crime Story)
Atlanta
Insecure
The Last Panthers
Fleabag
Veep
Halt and Catch Fire
The Crown
Mr. Robot
The Night Manager
Better Things
Horace and Pete
Gomorrah
Baskets
Girls
The Affair
Quarry
Luke Cage
The Path
The Get Down
Documentary Now
You're the Worst
High Maintenance
Cleverman
Transparent (Season 3)
Orphan Black (Season 4)

basically theres too much tv

 

[ekimneems]

Best shows of the year

1. Rectify
2. The Americans
3. The Girlfriend Experience
4. Westworld
5. Transparent
6. Fleabag
7. Veep
8. Catastrophe
9. Better Call Saul
10. Stranger Things

Fail of the Year

The Walking Dead - ugh, this show is so so so bad now. Completely unwatchable.

 

[LaNaranja]

Fail of the year:
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt ; I don't really know what happened here. I loved the first season, but with the main conceit out of the way, it just waffles around a bit and the energy becomes tiresome. I liked the anti-gentrification hook, but aside from that it was a bit meh and also started to get a bit preachy for its own good. Don't know where to go from here.

This one was easily my number 4 fail. It really is a damn shame how far it fell from the first fantastic season. The constant references to the Kardashians were not funny at all to me because I don't watch that show and thus the references meant nothing to me. Same thing where they spend like five minutes at a gas station on a super long joke that I think was a reference to Dawson's Creek? Not funny at all since the reference flew right over my head. The whole show was just a shitty drag and the characters ended up feeling more annoying than anything else. It was a real delicate balance that first season struck to make sure you fell in love with all the characters. This season just completely dropped the ball.

 

[Messofanego]

When I'm watching TV, I'm mostly a comedy kind of guy cause I get all the serious stuff from movies. 2016 has been tremendous for comedy!

1. Mr Robot ; This show just decides to go surreal, subversive, and plain bonkers for the second season. Yes, the show is about hacking and fighting against corruption but also shows the cracks in the fighters. This season is all about the lack of control, and shows the vulnerabilities in each of the characters, especially the previously cold-blooded Joanna. Out of the new characters, Dominique "Dom" DiPierro (Grace Gummer) is easily the standout and the most fun to follow as the most "normal" character, being empathic FBI agent who's sorting through all this mess. Of course the aesthetics are still on point from the negative space loving cinematography to the eclectic music. There is a scene at the end of this season that is to do with a traffic light and biker that is one of the most memorable scenes I've seen in a TV show in years thanks to excellent filmmaking. There are also the twists and turns this show goes through, as we're in the unstable and unreliable head of Elliot. Angela ends up in a place that is positively surreal (a young girl and a retro phone is all I'll say). The 90s sitcom episode is just one of quite a few twists. There's one major reveal about just the location of Elliot that changes everything about the season to just brilliantly throw you off the loop. This show can go absolutely anywhere.

2. Lady Dynamite ; Surreal, depressing, heartfelt, and life-affirming fits Lady Dynamite just like it does the amazing comedian, Maria Bamford. Thoroughly examines Maria's mental illness in various stages of her life, and makes for a very relatable experience. Plus, sentai fights.

3. Fleabag ; Subversively brilliant, 4th wall breaking, quarter life woman crisis. If you wanted a female Peep Show or just more dark comedy, here it is. Not getting enough attention, but I can see this becoming a cult classic.

4. Bojack Horseman ; Just when you think this show can't get any funnier and gut-wrenching in Bojack's inevitable self-destructive spiral, it does. Features Aaron Paul in easily his best performance since Breaking Bad. That "it's you" speech just shook me to the core, in one of the most defining moments of the show. I have to imagine the next season will be the last.

5. Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle ; I'll miss this series, because much like The Armando Iannucci Show, this is geniusly meta, satirical, and relevant work by one of the best comedians of our age.

6. Black Mirror ; The great thing about this darkly satirical and relevant techno-paranoia anthology series is, everyone can have different favourites from the seasons. "San Junipero" is an easy recommendation because of its neon 80s nostalgia paired with a surprisingly uplifting LGBT relationship in a touchy life situation. "Nosedive" is the most light-hearted the series has ever been and its very believable people-rating app won't be forgotten. "Shut Up And Dance" is almost too miserable, as elements of revenge porn are mixed with webcam hacking to proceed into blackmail of the highest order. The VR videogame episode "Playtest" is quite chilling in combining your deepest haunted house fears with backpacking estrangement and is maybe the best videogame-related movie you're going to get. "Hated In The Nation" deserves mention as not only the one with the biggest scope involving a pretty solid crime procedural involving mass surveillance drones in the form of bees but also featuring the talents of Kelly Macdonald as the the stellar foul-mouthed Scot detective Karin Parke at the center of this framed tragedy. Whether you like one episode or not, you have to watch it.

7. Man Seeking Woman ; One of the most surreal and absurd comedy shows about relationships stays absolutely stellar. One of my favourite episodes is when Josh goes on a "nice guy" spiel about having put in the man hours and has a law passed that requires women to date "nice guys". It backfires in the most splendid of ways. I'm uneasy in how the new season goes with Josh being in a stable relationship, feels like an illusion of safety . Why are you not watching this show?!

8. Veep ; With how 2016 has been in the political landscape, I think we all need to laugh with top-notch political satire.

9. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia ; This is still my favourite dark comedy series in the past decade, and it's primarily down to how many paths and subversions the show goes through thanks to its premise. Even the first episode of the new season 12 is an example of that. Anyway, "Mac & Dennis Move to the Suburbs" is worth the price of admission alone just to see Dennis' descent into madness.

10. Broad City ; The two most goofy gals of New York continue their misadventures in dating, weed, and life in general. It's incredibly irreverent and always puts me in a good mood.

I'm going to check out Atlanta and Love, sounds right up my alley. Silicon Valley was great, too. Female-centric comedy was at an all time high, Chewing Gum also deserves mention for black british female comedy that's really good.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

This one was easily my number 4 fail. It really is a damn shame how far it fell from the first fantastic season. The constant references to the Kardashians were not funny at all to me because I don't watch that show and thus the references meant nothing to me. Same thing where they spend like five minutes at a gas station on a super long joke that I think was a reference to Dawson's Creek? Not funny at all since the reference flew right over my head. The whole show was just a shitty drag and the characters ended up feeling more annoying than anything else. It was a real delicate balance that first season struck to make sure you fell in love with all the characters. This season just completely dropped the ball.

I couldn't even get through the pilot of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt.

 

[LotusHD]

I think I heard something about how the first season of Unbreakable was supposed to be on NBC, but that didn't end up happening. It ended up on Netflix, but since NBC presumably has stricter rules/guidelines/whatever, the first season of the show was more light-hearted, for lack of a better word. Whereas with the 2nd season, they knew they were sticking with Netflix, and as such it seems like they decided to make it darker in tone and such. At least, that was my impression, because I too felt like the 2nd season felt... off at times.

 

[Lan Dong Mik]

1. Game of Thrones
2. American Crime Story: The People vs OJ
3. Stranger Things
4. Black Mirror
5. Quarry
6. Silicon Valley
7. Westworld
8. Daredevil
9. Atlanta
10. Veep

Fail of the year: The OA - I still can't believe how this ended lol

 

[Grazzt]

1. The Expanse. This is a surprise for me, I have never heard about this show until I saw it on Netflix. Decided to give it a try and ended up binge watching it in one day. Love the story and the protagonists. The special effect is surprisingly good for a TV show as well.

2. Bojack Horseman. Season 3 might be my favourite so far. That episode 4 is a classic. And then the episode 11 :'(

3. Stranger things. Simply fantastic.

4. Daredevil. The Punisher is the MVP of this show, but everything else is still quite good.

5. The travelers. Like the Expanse, this one is also a surprise. While the Expanse scratched the hard sci-fi itch, this show focuses on the soft side, which is not a bad thing at all.

6. Agents of SHIELD s4. Easily the best season of the show. The Ghost Rider and supernatural stuff, and AIDA are some nice new things on the show.

7. Westworld. This show has the best actors/actresses. I have mixed feelings about the plot, but overall it is still very promising. Looking forward to season 2.

Fail of the year:
Agents of SHIELD s3. They got rid of Bobby and Hunter simply because they wanted to do a spin-off no one wanted. So stupid.

 

[blainethemono]

1. Rectify
2. Black Sails
3. Horace and Pete
4. Halt and Catch Fire
5. Atlanta
6. Better Call Saul
7. Stranger Things
8. Vice Principals
9. Quarry
10. Search Party

 

[RatskyWatsky]

All this Rectify love

 

[Toothless]

No time for elaboration at the moment:

1. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
2. BoJack Horseman
3. Stranger Things

That's all I got this year; not a lot of TV I watched

 

[morningbus]

A good portion of this list is symbolic votes, and does not necessarily reflect where I'd place them on a top ten.

1. Arrow; Greatly improved this season and deserves some recognition.
2. iZombie; Last season ended on a crazy cliffhanger and I'm excited to see where they go in the 3rd in April.
3. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend; The lowest viewed broadcast TV show is also one of the best shows anywhere.
4. Jon Glaser Loves Gear; Such a bizarre comedy show that I think barely anyone watched.
5. Legends of Tomorrow; Also greatly improved from last season.
6. Comedy Bang! Bang!; Aired its final season this year and it went out with some of its best episodes yet.
7. Bob's Burgers; I feel like this show gets forgotten about because of how steady of a performer it is.
8. Broadcity; Still some of the best comedy on TV.
9. Supergirl; A marked improvement to a rough first season.
10. The Flash; With signs of improvement coming, a rough third follows up a rough second season.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Honourable Mentions, in alphabetical order:

The Americans; Catastrophe; The Detour; Fleabag (this certainly would have made it if I watched the whole thing in time); The Girlfriend Experience; Happy Valley; Horace and Pete; La Vengeance aux yeux clairs; Lady Dynamite; The OA; Planet Earth II; Togetherness; Trailer Park Boys Out of the Park Europe; Vice Principals​

Miscellaneous Awards in another post

1. The Good Place ; Besides the virtue of having Kristen Bell and Ted Danson on screen together, The Good Place is excellent because it maintains a high level of literacy and existential thoughtfulness about its subject matter: a woman dies and is brought to "heaven" as a result of a bureaucratic mixup about her identity. It is not religious, or even really spiritual, but it is concerned with being and with being good, which is something that's rare on television. It is also rare because it is a serialized comedy. Among supporting performances, D'Arcy Carden as Janet, a sort of heavenly version of Amazon Alexa, really does a good job of being just human enough to evoke sympathy. Finally, the fantastic premise allows the show to get away with broad physical comedy and unbelievable situations which would seem too stupid on a more grounded show. Genuinely surprised at how well this came together within its first few episodes. As a big fan of all Mike Schur's previous work and a major hater with how it all turned out when it was renewed too long, I really hope this gets the chance to tell the story it wants to tell and then be put to rest while it's still beautiful. (NBC; one season)
​

2. Search Party ; Here we have the underrated Alia Shawkat as the lead in something that mixes the annoying millennial sad sack characters of Girls, the stoned comedy of Broad City, and an intensely serious murder mystery... and somehow balances the three very very well. It is gorgeous to look at with well-lit and well-designed Brooklyn loft spaces and excellent fashion. Watching Shawkat's Dory desperately search for meaning by injecting herself into the disappearance of a long-ago acquaintance is a joy. But the best part of this murder mystery is the ending, which absolutely rewards viewer investment in the most appropriate way it could. Special credit to Ron Livingston's excellent recurring character, an unscrupulous private eye who helps Dory in her search. (TBS; one season. renewed)

3. The Night Manager ; A thoughtful and tense spy thriller that personally connected more with me than Bond or Bourne have. Tom Hiddleston (surprisingly talented when he's not forced to act in Marvel garbage) plays a thinly drawn super-spy who is brought into a plot to arrest Hugh Laurie's Richard Roper, an international philanthropist and as it turns out arms dealer, set against the backdrop of the excitement and failure of the Arab Spring. Beautiful helicopter shots of Majorca made me want to vacation there, but the tastiest sequence of all is a demonstration set up for an arms deal, wherein an almost impossible amount of bombs and explosions go off while Laurie sits back and laughs. The show wisely avoids the "is he really evil" question by setting up Laurie to be a bad guy from the beginning. Although I think the final ending is a little too made-for-TV, snappy dialogue, great performances, and a six episode order make this very easy to digest. (BBC/AMC; one season, ended)
​

4. Stranger Things ; I could tell from the first episode that this was going to take off like a rocket. Netflix launched it with limited promotion, relying on word of mouth, and I think by all accounts it might have ended up being the most popular and culturally resonant show they've made. As many people have described it to their friends, the show is like Goonies mixed with Spielberg's ET or Close Encounters, with just a little bit of horror. As opposed to The Goldbergs or Fresh off the Boat which constantly use wink-wink references to their time periods, I felt like Stranger Things inhabited the 80s in a relaxed and comfortable way. Everyone is so easy to like and enjoyable on screen that you forgive how stupid the overall plot is, but the real strength is Winona Ryder's totally unhinged mother. Whenever she was on screen, I felt like screaming "oh my god you crazy person", which ordinarily I might chaulk up to poor acting or characterization, but here felt very earned. (Netflix; one season. renewed)

5. The Crown ; If you don't have any interest in the monarchy, or period pieces, or courtroom intrigue, or England, or really anything, I still highly recommend this show. I have no idea if Queen Elizabeth is actually the compelling figure she is made out to be by this series (or if Churchill and King Edward were as shitty as they are made out to be--the editorializing is really, truly aggressive) but allowing for a second some dramatic license, as we do to Shakespeare in his plays about historical figures, this story was truly interesting. Excellent acting and gorgeous, cavernous sets (reportedly this may have been the most expensive TV series of all time, and even accounting for Netflix's unique economic situation, it shows) make you interested in the micro-dramas of Philip having to kneel before his wife or take flying lessons. As a Canadian, I have a back and forth relationship with the monarchy but I came out of this engaged and interested in the old and mysterious institution. Much can be said about Matt Smith's Prince Philip or John Lithgow's Winston Churchill--Lithgow is maybe a foot taller than Churchill was--but Claire Foy as Elizabeth was the highlight to me. A certain intelligence, a certain cunning, but also a doe-eyed innocence and nervousness are the perfect balance for a young Queen and it helps that she is strikingly beautiful to look at. (Netflix; one season, renewed)

6. Black Mirror ; As a season I think this was mainly just okay, but since it's an anthology series we can ignore the also-ran episodes and focus on the highlights. There are two, as far as I'm concerned. "Nosedive" (Bryce Dallas Howard, directed by Hannah's Joe Wright and written by Mike Schur and Rashida Jones) is a story about the consequences of a world where Yelp for humans governs social interactions, so everyone is obsessed with getting likes. This seems too on the nose, except for the fact that someone actually tried to launch a Yelp for humans this year. Besides looking great, I think the real strength of this episode is how Howard's upper-middle class Lacie has a few bad interactions only to completely spiral out of control and end up institutionalized and muttering. My takeaway was not just about social media likes, but the more insidious idea that maybe we're only nice because there are consequences to being mean, and people uninhibited by those consequences would be awful. I like to think I'm nice just because, so this was a little unsettling to me. "San Junipero" (Mackenzie Davis and Gugu Mbatha-Raw) has gotten the bulk of the critical praise, deservedly. Mixing a sort of VR second life, time travel, 80s nostalgia, love after death, and the meaning of being alive, the show builds an unconventional romance around the sexual awakening of two gay women. The visuals are stunning, like an alternative past Blade Runner washed in darkness and neon. Absolutely brilliant execution of the concept--the only thing that makes me sad is that I wish it was a 2 hour film rather than a one-hour episode of a TV series. (Netflix; third season, renewed)​

7. BrainDead ; The pitch here is "what if there was a show with snotty late night comedy jokes about how partisanship is ruining America, but also it's an incredibly gross body horror show about alien ants eating peoples brains, oh and it's kinda also a conspiracy comedy like maybe The Lone Gunmen, oh and also for some reason Jonathan Coulton does geeky intro songs to every episode". If you're wondering why such a thing would ever air, it's because Robert and Michelle King, creators of the Good Wife, are apparently in CBS' good books and managed to get this greenlit for the summer. From the episode names to the dialogue, I think writing this involved a certain thoughtful wonkishness that hasn't come through in any political show I've watched since The West Wing. Mary Elizabeth Winstead (definitely the best-dressed character on television this year), Danny Pino, and a villainous Tony Shalhoub imbue the show with a soapy pleasure. This really shouldn't work, but I think it did. (CBS; one season, cancelled)

8. States of Undress ; Actress/model/journalist Hailey Gates hosts a travel show built around the cultural politics and fashion industry of far-flung places. I have very little interest in fashion, to be honest. I also have very little interest in the detached "I feel depressed and indifferent while bombs explode around me as I'm high on krokodil" VICE tone that permeates so much of their travel journalism. But I found this connected with me in a real way. The episodes take place in Pakistan, Congo, Venezuela, Russia, Palestine, and China. The fashion week segments are surprisingly interesting, but Gates' willingness to talk to Russian fascists, Islamic radicals who won't look her in the eye, and many more surprising characters really give the stuff an authentic colour. The common theme is people struggling to express themselves, no matter where they are. After watching the show I looked up Gates and it turns out that she's a 20th generation rich person, but I think the opportunity has allowed her to educate herself. She's an effective TV presenter, obviously has a striking look (she's a quite famous model), but also I think she's a bit of an intellectual. She frequently offers interesting insights and I'd love to hear more from her voice in the future. (Viceland; one season, renewed)​

9. The Night Of ; Despite the troubled casting and development process, I think this is a very interesting and worthwhile show. The intersection of race and crime is very exposed right now thanks to OJ, American Crime, real-life police violence cases, the election of a white nationalist, Serial, and other cultural touchstones. Here, we have a Muslim-American arrested after panicking when he awakens to find his one night stand has been murdered. The show is at its best when it can offer commentary about how an outsider adjusts to tough jail conditions, how conservative parents have difficulty understanding second-generation immigrants integrating into society, race and the justice system, and the genuine civic service motivations of prosecutors and defence attorneys alike. It's at its worst when it's a court case show or talking about prison gangs, tattoos, and drugs. Visually, the show is beautiful. Every set has enormous, high ceilings and dark, inky black paint. The courtrooms and jails feel suitably oppressive. The strongest performances are John Turturro as an emotionally committed but frankly strange defence attorney (scenes dealing with his eczema are strange but gave the show an odd reality and helped keep Turturro's character empathetic if not pitiable), and Riz Ahmed as the defendant, Nasir Khan. I think you could probably configure the series' 8 episodes into 7 by jettisoning superfluous stuff in the back half of the show, but regardless I was interested in the murder and more importantly Nasir's experience going through the justice system. In sum, the show presents a pessimistic picture about the possibility of rehabilitation and the brutal experience of pre-trial detention--topical given the recent coverage of abuse and overcrowding at Rikers Island. (HBO; one season)

10. Schitt's Creek ; I have a moral obligation to vote for a Canadian show at some point. Schitt's Creek is an alternate take on Arrested Development: a family of rich idiots who lose their wealth due to malfeasance and are forced to adjust to real life. The basic story is that while rich, the family purchased a small town called Schitt's Creek as a joke, and after the feds seize all their assets they are forced to relocate there for survival. So along with the Arrested Development comparison, it feels a little bit like Parks and Recreation in that it exists in this bizarre hyper-real hellhole of a down--but unlike P&R, I don't think the show is ever mean to the town. You're always meant to think these are good people trying their best and the tension comes from the poor fit, not from the town actually being a bad place. The entire family misses the glamour in their own way. Starring Eugene Levy and his real life son Dan as well as Catherine O'Hara, all of the performances are unique and enjoyable in their own way. O'Hara is a Lady MacBeth character who barely looks human and certainly doesn't behave it. Dan Levy is the standout star--he plays a bisexual or certainly questioning (the show wisely defers until late in the first season to say anything about his sexuality) young man accustomed to pampering, high fashion, and getting what he wants. This season was the second season, wherein we see the characters begin to adjust for living this way in the long haul. Dan gets a job, Eugene starts a business, O'Hara runs for town council. This show is so Canadian, but very loveable and unique. (POP in the US, CBC in Canada; two seasons, renewed for a third season starting this week)​

Fail of the Year: NBC renewing Celebrity Apprentice and keeping the president-Elect as producer.​

One thing I loved about this year of television is that there's no shortage of female leads. I made the list without reference to gender or anything, just thinking about what I enjoyed, but #1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8 all have female leads who play very different sorts of characters. I don't think there's anything near gender parity on network television, but one of the benefits of having 500 shows airing is that you can find stuff you're drawn to.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

1. Rectify; One of the best dramas to ever appear on TV came to a beautiful end. What more could you ask for?

2. Better Call Saul; Two seasons in and it's already better than Breaking Bad (was at this same point in its lifespan). Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould are masters of slow paced story telling.

3. Stranger Things; The most gripping show of the year. With perfect pacing and a winning cast, Stranger Things grabbed me and wouldn't let go until its 8 hours were up. This was one of the rare throwbacks to actually capture the magic of the era and properties that inspired it.

4. Search Party; What Stump said.

5. The Americans; Another fantastic season of FX's best show (and the most devastating yet). The noose around the Jennings' neck is only getting tighter and the show is all the better for it.

6. Baskets; Sort of an adult cloon version of Napoleon Dynamite. Off beat and strange as they come. Louie Anderson as Mama Baskets was a revelation.

7. Fleabag; Melancholy and pensive as it might be, make no mistake - Fleabag is the smartest, most biting and funniest comedy on TV. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a star and Olivia Coleman is viciously funny as her wicked stepmother.

8. Halt and Catch Fire; A hidden gem if there ever was one. This is one of the rare shows that keeps getting better and better the longer it goes. For a show that virtually no one watches, it's unbelievable that AMC is actually giving them one more season to wrap things up with.

9. Quarry; It's seedy and violent - the pulpy successor to Banshee - and also probably the most beautifully shot show on TV.

10. The A Word; A painfully honest and humane look at one family's struggle with the autism diagnosis of their youngest child.

Shout Outs:

Black Sails; One of those under appreciated shows that people years from now will discover and then ask themselves why they didn't watch sooner. The modern day 'Rome'.
BoJack Horseman; BoJack continued to be one of the most deeply affecting shows on TV in its third season. Newer and flashier shows pushed it to the 'honorable mentions', but make no mistake, this is still, easily, one of the best shows on TV.
Broad City; Consistently one of the funniest shows out there. It never fails to brighten my day.
Catastrophe; The two leads are hilarious - a match made in heaven. They bounce so well off each other, you'd think they were married in real life. (real married people bounce off each other this well right)
Chewing Gum; It's a deeply silly (yet relatable), cartoonier, British version of 'Insecure'. It's also much funnier.
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency; A bizarre, zany, and totally unpredictable roller coaster ride seated with a ton of endearing characters. Max Landis successfully navigated through the extremely complicated mythology and absolutely nailed the landing.
Fuller House; I know. But it hit me in the nostalgia bone hard. It's one of the few shows to literally make me feel like a kid again, one that can instantly lift my spirits when I'm having a bad day.
Grace and Frankie; A comical yet moving piece featuring one of the most underrepresented demographics on TV - senior citizens. The show filters all manner of issues through the lens of the modern day senior, including divorce, dating, sex, rebirth (reinventing yourself late in life), and coming to terms with death. It has one of the best casts in all of TV (Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Martin Sheen, Sam Waterston, Ernie Hudson, and more!) and is far funnier and more clever than anyone gives it credit for.
High Maintenance; Still one of the most incisive shows around. It didn't skip a beat in the jump to HBO.
Lady Dynamite; A surreal and over-the-top, yet honest exploration of mental illness. Hilarious and relatable.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt; Season two was a marked improvement over season one. Pure sunshine in TV form.


Fails:

1. Banshee Season 4

A colossally disappointing conclusion to the best action series of the past decade. After 3(ish) seasons of slickly produced, fast paced high octane action, Cinemax decided to gut the budget of their biggest show, leaving the writers scrambling. What they inexplicably came up with for the final year was a generic, mostly actionless, serial-killer-of-young-women mystery drama. Now, a murder mystery might not have been so bad if they had put a Banshee spin on it, but this was about as unimaginative and by-the-numbers as they come - like something you'd see from a 1980 episode of one of the many interchangeable CBS procedurals.

Oh yeah and the season long murder mystery literally turned out to be nothing more than an irrelevant red herring in the end. The worst part was that you could see it coming from a mile away.

2. Vinyl

Hilariously out of touch and dramatically inert, this period piece somehow cost HBO $100 million dollars.

3. Mr. Robot Season 2

Season 2 was a good example of what can go wrong when you give an auteur carte blanche.

Filled to the brim with obnoxious navel-gazing, this was a season that crawled so far up its own ass that no amount of backdoor hacking could fix it.

When the writers are constantly trying to pull one over on you, to the point where you have no idea if any of what you're seeing is real or not, it makes it impossible to care about anything that's happening.

 

[PoeticProse22]

1. Rectify ; Displaying a restraint that is both familiar and exceedingly impressive, the fourth and final season proved immeasurably rewarding, as it concluded Daniel's journey with a level of complex naturalism that was beautifully handled. This is, quite possibly, a masterpiece of dramatic television, as the writing skillfully wove a contemplative narrative with a quietly unsettling, yet hopeful realism that rarely, if ever, faltered. Aden Young's performance was, as always, masterful, particularly in the opening and closing episodes.

2. Black Sails ; As a piece of genre television, Black Sails continues to be sublimely enjoyable. The incredibly well-realized action and special effects captures a scope that heavily emphasizes the adventurous nature of the story in a manner that I wouldn't have thought possible in the early stages of the first season. The inevitably climactic events of the final season have been methodically established, as a myriad of threads were confidently directed toward their crescendo throughout the third season. Toby Stephens and Luke Arnold delivered especially great performances, particularly in the final episode.

3. Halt and Catch Fire ; Having been somewhat disappointed by the squandered potential of the first season, I hadn't expected the series to become nearly as well-written and compelling as it has, improved even further by this latest season. The character work has been consistently impressive throughout the previous two seasons. Considering how little acclaim or attention it receives, It's rather remarkable that it will be receiving a fourth and final season. Though this season would have served as a very satisfying conclusion, I'm excited to see the story end on its own terms.

4. The Hollow Crown: The Wars of the Roses ; Following a surprisingly strong opening trio of Shakespeare adaptations, the second season of these kingly tales is perhaps even better. Benedict Cumberbatch as Richard III is exceptional, particularly in the final episode, as he delivers a brilliantly haunting performance. The intense brutality depicted by Dominic Cooke throughout the last episode is captivating, affording this particular adaptation a type of savagery that feels altogether unfamiliar and refreshing.

5. The Young Pope ; This was a delightful and exceptionally well-executed show, excelling in nearly every area, from Paolo Sorrentino's superbly idiosyncratic direction to Jude Law's brilliant performance to the effortlessly clever writing. The cinematography is often breathtaking, which is benefited by the impeccable set design. The characters are richly compelling, as each of them is, at times, bewildering, complex, and riveting.

6. The Crown ; This quickly became my favorite Netflix series, as the entire season was beautifully crafted, from the absolutely incredible and suitably lavish production values to the terrific performances from John Lithgow, Matt Smith and, in particular, Claire Foy. Though the pacing is certainly methodical, the writing complemented this manner of storytelling surprisingly well. Exploring that particular period of time could have easily been dull and uneventful, but tedium is almost entirely absent.

7. The Americans ; The increasingly suffocating tension that this show manages to convey is highly impressive. The manner in which each season evolves from the last feels exceedingly organic, as the Jennings family hurtles ever closer to their seeming end. Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys continue to give magnetic performances. Though there were several slight narrative missteps throughout the season, the consistency of the show remains surprisingly intact, avoiding any significant failures.

8. O.J.: Made in America ; This is certainly one of the best 30 for 30 documentaries, quickly proving to be thoroughly comprehensive and insightful. By deftly weaving the cultural turmoil of Los Angeles in the 90's through O.J. Simpson's life, career, and infamous trial, this documentary provided a morbidly effective exploration of something that could have so easily felt rote and overly familiar.

9. Endeavour ; Though not quite as consistent in quality as the superb second, this season of Endeavour was considerably enjoyable nonetheless, concluding with the most emotionally effective episode of the series. Shaun Evans and Roger Allam continue to provide excellent performances, thoughtfully portraying a dynamic that continuously serves as the emotional heartbeat of the show. Morse is an enormously compelling character and Evans has gradually come to depict his complexities with seemingly effortless confidence. The writing in this season was a bit less polished than in the previous two, as it too often undercut its mysteries with contrivances, but the character work remained exemplary.

10. Person of Interest ; This appears on my list primarily due to its beautifully executed finale. The fifth season as a whole served as a fairly enjoyable, albeit decidedly rushed, conclusion, as several narrative threads were rather hastily resolved due to, it would seem, the shortened length of the season. The final episode, however, was immensely satisfying, as it confidently balanced rapidly escalating tension, several dramatic threads that the series had built towards, and, most impressively, thematically earned conclusions for nearly every character, particularly Reese and Finch. In fact, Root, Reese, and Finch's characters were expertly handled throughout the entire season. With such a well-crafted end, this is unquestionably one of the stronger shows that broadcast television has had to offer in some time.

Honorable Mentions:

11. Planet Earth 2 ; As a follow-up to the brilliant original, this documentary impressed in nearly every area, creating an often breathtaking glimpse into the world and it's exceedingly diverse and fascinating ecosystem. Though occasionally diminished by a needlessly dramatic score, this proved to be nearly as riveting and beautifully crafted as the original, anchored by Richard Attenborough's dependably excellent narration.

12. Stranger Things ; A show so thoroughly comprised of nostalgic trappings wouldn't typically interest me, but, due to its highly likable cast of characters, brisk pacing, and superb acting from the entire cast, this managed to become a consistently entertaining homage to the 80's, King, and Spielberg. The story wasn't particularly well-written and several of the narratives were poorly handled, however, which lessens my fondness of it. Surprisingly enough, the children were some of the best and most endearing characters, all of which were very well-acted. Though Winona Ryder's character could be rather irritating, I thought her performance perfectly captured the distraught and frenzied hopelessness that the script routinely asked of her. I'll certainly be interested in a second season, even if I think it unlikely that it will be able to capture this particular style of nostalgia as well as this season did.

13. Westworld – Despite the slightly disappointing nature of its storytelling, this was a unique and intriguing piece of science fiction, buoyed by some stellar performances from Anthony Hopkins, Evan Rachel Wood, and Jeffrey Wright. Several of the most prominent mysteries weren't as clever as they initially appeared, striving for a thematic complexity that the writing never quite attained. There was also a surprising lack of substantive character development. However, the rather surprising events of the final episode leave room for a considerably bolder and more imaginative second season, so this show certainly seems promising.

14. The Get Down ; Despite its numerous flaws, this was an enjoyably energetic show. 1970's Bronx is a stylistically superb setting and its largely used to great effect throughout, accentuated by some excellent music. I've always been quite fond of Baz Luhrmann's directorial ostentation, particularly with Moulin Rouge, so the theatrical excess prevalent throughout the opening episode satisfied me greatly. As such, it was frequently overwrought with its sentimentality, but endearingly so. Though several of the following episodes displayed a gradual diminishment of these flourishes and were, as a result, less compellingly unique, the final two episodes were terrific.

15. Penny Dreadful ; I could have quite easily relegated this to the fail of the year category, due to its frustratingly abrupt and bizarrely inconclusive ending. Though the final episode featured one of the most beautifully haunting moments of the year, there seemed to be little attempt to craft a proper conclusion for many of the characters and narratives that had been methodically constructed throughout the prior three seasons. Nevertheless, this season still managed to be refreshing with its macabre sensibilities and appropriately tragic characters, elevated, as always, by Eva Green's remarkable performance. For what was ultimately a wonderfully unique series filled with intriguing and sympathetic characters, it's unfortunate that it wasn't afforded an ending of worth.

There were quite a few shows that I haven't started that could have very well made my list, such as, among others, The Good Place, Atlanta, Fleabag, National Treasure, Peaky Blinders, The Night Manager, War and Peace, and Search Party. Needless to say, this was a great year of television.

 

[Ampersands]

1. Westworld; Most riveting TV show I've watched in a while. Beautiful, thoughtful, and intruiging, this show had it all. There were lows but the highs made for some of the best TV I've seen.
2. Atlanta; A hotly anticipated show for me that really came through. Inventive and well-shot but most of all, real. We need more shows like this.
3. Saturday Night Live; I hadn't tuned in for the past couple of years but their political coverage reminded me why I love it. The new cast is finally settling in and the writing is starting to find its groove. Looking forward to it coming back soon.
4. Man Seeking Woman; One of the most underrated shows of the year. It's got some crazy and smart ideas but it manages to back those up with great editing and the comedic chops of its actors. For a show this experimental, I'm amazed at its hit/miss ratio. It just had a great start to its 3rd season. I implore anyone who likes comedy to check out this show.
4. Silicon Valley; Not as great as the previous season but still head and shoulders above most other comedies.
5. Lady Dynamite; I was pretty flakey on Netflix shows this year (couldn't get past the first eps of House of Cards or Stranger Things) but I binged this one in a day. Great fun altough the second half got a bit predictable.
6. Last Man on Earth; Not really sure what they know what to do with the show now but I'm still watching. I think this is the only network comedy that I consistently watch but it could really do better somewhere else.

Fails:
1. Vinyl; It's pretty embarassing that this show failed to get renewed on a premium cable channel given all the talent behind it.

 

[Stumpokapow]

I'm getting in bed about 10-15 minutes if anyone has a last-minute post.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Thank you to everyone who voted! Once the thread is closed I will begin the slow and careful process of tallying the votes by hand.

Expect the results thread sometime in the last week of this month!

 

[firehawk12]

Thank you to everyone who voted! Once the thread is closed I will begin the slow and careful process of tallying the votes by hand.

Expect the results thread sometime in the last week of this month!

I always just assumed that GOTY counter thing was open to everyone. Or does it only work for game titles or something?