Critics Kristen Baldwin and Darren Franich pick their favorite television from their least favorite year.
Plus: Bad television, and two essential Blursts.
This wretched year is almost in the rear-view mirror.
Jon Pack/HBO Max
This year also brought us a special viewing phenomenon: The Blurst shows of the year, a.k.a.
Newcomer Maitreyi Ramakrishnan is a marvel as Devi Vishwakumar, a 15-year-old girl beset by hormones and grief.
Nothing about that juxtaposition makes sense, but just about everything inNever Have I Everworks.
LARA SOLANKI/NETFLIX
Love of silly rhymes (see: Yarn Barn, “Pimento hasMementodisease!").
Love of ludicrous wordplay (“Bullets Over Broadwaywas on TV.
I came down with a big old Dianne Weist infection”).
Eddy Chen/NBC
(“I’m sorry, it just slipped out!
“)Brooklyn Nine-Nineis a series created with and responsible for a lot of joy.
What a heart-swelling return to a heart-sinking truth.
Patrick Harbron/CBS
By the way,The Good Fightalso figured out what really happened to Jeffrey Epstein this season.
What haveyourshows done for you lately?
6.Better Things(FX)
Can a TV show feel like home?
Suzanne Tenner/FX
It can, andPamela Adlon’s visionary portrait of middle-aged female personhood absolutelydoes.
Ribs, carbonara, eggs and bacon, asparagus doused with olive oil and garlic.
Sam Fox is a sustainer and a survivor.
Alison Painter/HBO MAX
Once again, Adlon has served us a feast for the eyes and the soul.
When she finally explodes, her anger is exquisite.
And premier league football?
Des Willie/Netflix
But only as it relates to integrity, stage musicals, and the beauty of effortless gratitude.
(Danny Rojas!)
To quote the Coach himself: “Ain’t nobody in this room alone.”
HBO
1.Better Call Saul(AMC)
All along, we’ve been asking the wrong question.
How did Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) become Saul Goodman?
We’re way past that now.
Apple TV +
The real mystery at the heart ofBetter Call Saulis this: Where does Kim Wexler go from here?
Whatever turn Kim takes in the end, she’ll always beSaul’s better half.
Their ascendant tangent-prone chatfest became the outraged (and outrageously funny) masterpiece of the At-Home era.
Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television
Special shoutout to Harvey Guillen, who’s transforming Guillermo into the best vampire slayer since Buffy.
Or a crazy-beautiful kids'-hookin-up romance with a great soundtrack and ludicrous clothes?
The serialized mystery was messy, and cut short by COVID.
DC Universe
“They want us for our Black faces on their diversity reports.”
Another savvy observation, from a show about brilliant people trapped in chaotic times.
The boldly surreal finale requires (and rewards) a dozen rewatches.
‘Desus and Mero’.Greg Endries/Showtime
It ends on a tense election night.
For America andAmerica that night never ends.
3.PEN15(Hulu)
The best teen series ever?
Natasia Demetriou as Nadja, Matt Berry as Laszlo, Kayvan Novak as Nandor.Russ Martin/FX
This Y2K throwback makes a convincing case.
“Let’s be together forever, hey?”
young Maya begs Anna.
HBO
Seventh grade is awful; their friendship is magic.
The finale features the voice of his late mother, a resurrection worthy of the original Gospel.
Netflix: Order season 2, yo!
Patrick Harbron/CBS
When does a very good show become a great show?
“I travel in worlds you’ve got the option to’t even imagine!”
the crooked lawyer yells, rasp echoing through the Bernalillo County courthouse.
HBO
“I’m like a god in human clothing!
Lightning bolts shoot from my fingertips!”
The joke is he’s never looked worse: A tiny man loudly explaining what a somebody he is.
Michele K. Short/HBO
There’s so much to love aboutSaul your critics agree!
The Worst
3.Westworld(HBO)
The eeeeevil Frenchman.
Computer god-spheres (plural).
Anna Konkle and Maya Erskine in PEN15.Hulu
Constant re-deaths.AndAaron Paul as a terminally bland new hero?
It didn’t.KB
1.
Quibi
Shame on any celebs and, okay, media outlets who fronted this 10-figure boutique YouTube nobody wanted.
Netflix
Reese, Kiefer, Chance, Lena, Liam, Chrissy: Money isn’t everything!
Thankfully, Quibi was just a quick bite of nothing.DF
The Blurst: No apologies!
For real, though: The romances farewell, critical dignity were extremely compelling.
Illustration by Chris Buzelli for EW
(Dear Vinny and Maria: You’re in love, you dopes!
John P. Johnson/HBO
Aaron Epstein/Netflix
Nicole Wilde/Quibi
Lily Collins on ‘Emily in Paris’.STEPHANIE BRANCHU/NETFLIX
MTV
