Then came the ongoing storm of unfathomable anti-semitism.
Leave it to Bravo’s hysterical luxury-yacht franchise to create 2022’s funniest love sexagon.
Logically, I know theBelow Deckphenomenon is oversaturating itself with five ongoing shows.
Kanye West in ‘Jeen-yuhs’.Netflix
But I can’t deny how much I enjoyed the windiest spinoff’s third season.
Captain Glenn is a calm, even-keeled kind of manager.
Chef Marcos cooked great food despite a massive head wound.
FX
We all learned a valuable lesson about anchors dragging: They shouldn’t!
One deckhand was actually named Barnaby, and one stewardess was actually named Scarlett.
Pair it with the latestWhite Lotusand make a run at decide which is more tragic.
Laurent Basset/Bravo
(At least onWhite Lotussome of the rich people die.)
It’s a workplace sitcom about a flailing non-profit!
No, it’s a multigenerational Mexican American family tale!
Jamar Malachi Neighbors, Frankie Quinones, and Chris Estrada on ‘This Fool’.Gilles Mingasson/Hulu
even as they merrily run circles around the case-of-the-week format.
TheAmerican Vandalcreators go deep intoLeague of Legends, a global subculture about which I know zilch.
Personalities this vivid require no strategy guide.
Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+
Assassin-for-hire Barry is unshaven and unhinged, taking murder jobs while dodging vengeance bullets.
His face seems to scream, simultaneously,Hug MeandKill Me.
Ironically, the show around him has never been purer entertainment, embracing ticking-clock tension andwas-that-a-panther?violent absurdity.
Arrow Dong-Hyeon, Michael Miko Ahn, Misha Brooks, Da’Jour Jones, and Youngbin Chung, on ‘Players’.Scott McDermott/Paramount+
Helpful example: This feverishly imaginative, heart-explodingly emotional prehistoric survival tale.
Tartakovsky embraces a Darwinian strain of ambiguity, rife with gaudy massacres of hurt people hurting people.
But he also finds moments of grace, suggesting even the most monstrous worlds contain redemptive wonder.
Henry Winkler, Bill Hader, and Eli Michael Kaplan on ‘Barry’.Merrick Morton/HBO
Hell yes, I’m talking about those cute baby dinosaurs.
Then this famously leisurely yarn suddenlyLosted across timelines, blendingBadold days into the black-and-white Omaha future.
Odenkirk got to play every angle of corruption: Repressed conscience, gleeful high-times vanity, hunted horror.
Jon Bernthal on “We Own This City”.Paul Schiraldi/HBO
Come on, Hulu, where’s the renewal?
LockRebootdown now, and I’ll forgive you for that regrettable rehash,How I Met Your Father.
It ended with the best season finale of the year, a thrilling, suspenseful feat of race-against-the-clock agony.
Adult Swim’s ‘Primal’.Adult Swim
(Was there a sweeter TV couple this year than Turturro’s Irv andChristopher Walken’s Burt?)
After a group of female authors explain to her the difference betweenwritingandtranscribing, it finally clicks.
“I understand,” she says.
Greg Lewis/AMC
“Respect is earned, not stolen.”
and failing to introduce her to that famous comet like he promised.
“I can’t keep being selfish,” he sighs.
Rachel Bloom and Keegan-Michael Key in ‘Reboot’.Michael Desmond/Hulu
The world ofLos Espookysis bizarre and fantastical, but the heart behind it is 100 percent real.
Even at its absolute weirdest,Los Espookyswas scary good.
“The meanest thing that can ever happen to you is your kids grow up,” she laments.
Zach Cherry, Britt Lower, John Turturro and Adam Scott in ‘Severance’.Apple TV +
Life doesn’t end when the nest is empty.
“I like where I am,” she marvels.
“I’m just realizing this right now!
Ana Fabrega, Julio Torres, and Cassandra Ciangherotti in ‘Los Espookys’.Pablo Arellano Spataro/HBO
(Full review)
6.Hacks(HBO Max)
“Read it to me.”
Those four words, delivered with chilling quietude, prefaced the most emotionally devastating scene inHacksto date.
“I used to believe in progress,” frets Diane Lockhart (Christine Baranski).
Celia Imrie, Hannah Riley, Olivia Edward, Mikey Madison, and Pamela Adlon in ‘Better Things’.Suzanne Tenner/FX
“But here we are.
Like the last 50 years never happened.”
No series has ever understood our country more.
Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder in ‘Hacks’.Karen Ballard/HBO Max
4.Better Call Saul(AMC)
“Go ahead!
Put on your hair shirt.
See what it gets you!”
Christine Baranski and Audra McDonald in ‘The Good Fight’.Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+
And what does it get her?
3.Barry(HBO)
The beauty ofBarryis in its contradictions.
But somehow, season 3 ofBarrywas also one of the funniest shows of the year.
Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn in ‘Better Call Saul’.Greg Lewis/AMC
It’s said that comedy equals tragedy plus time, but onBarry, they coexist brilliantly.
“Listen up, little f—er.
I’m trying to give you some ancestor teachings here.”
Bill Hader in ‘Barry’.Merrick Morton/ HBO
You have our attention.
“Most people think if they can flick the handle just right, they will win.
But they have no control over the outcome.
Devery Jacobs, Lane Factor, Paulina Alexis, and D’Pharoah Woon-A-Tai in ‘Reservation Dogs’.Shane Brown/FX
Shamefully snubbed by the Emmys (psst, votersthere’s no rule against nominatingtwoKorean dramas!)
but blessedly renewed for a second season,Pachinkois the year’s biggest TV triumph, odds be damned.
But this year, the industry cranked out an embarrassing number of series that existed solely as awards bait.
Minha Kim as teenage Sunja in ‘Pachinko’.Juhan Noh/Media Res/Blue Marble Pictures/Apple TV+
kindly let 2023 be the year that the limited series genre finds its way back to fiction.
I can’t handle any more truth.
Big dumb stupid prequels
Did you know Sauron was a babe?
Michelle Pfeiffer in ‘The First Lady’.Murray Close/SHOWTIME
And did you know that young Princess Leia hung out with Obi-Wan Kenobi?
Absurd money flowed into pointlessly backwards franchise extensions this year.
Miscast actors say “funny” banter that is only creepy.
Ewan Mcgregor and Vivien Lyra Blair in ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’.Lucasfilm Ltd.
The time travel mechanics are over-explained yet incoherent.
Everything cute is disturbing, while everything disturbing is hilarious.
You’ll laugh at mom’s decapitation; you’ll laugh at the amputated feet.
Theo James and Rose Leslie in ‘The Time Traveler’s Wife’.Macall B. Polay/HBO
Westworld(HBO)
Wrong to beat a dead horse, I know.
Shoot it again, pa. D.F.
The old throwaway charm is completely gone, replaced by sub-Eastwood squints and unconvincing flexes of beefy sorrow.
Aaron Paul and Thandiwe Newton in ‘Westworld’.John Johnson/HBO
Chris Pratt in ‘The Terminal List’.Amazon Prime
