Here are the five best series
of 2023. I chose to watch two of them on the same night that Succession was
airing and I still believe both were better shows. I’d also like to give a
shoutout to Somebody Somewhere the third series that made up the Sunday
night block for April and May for HBO. It was a real night of great TV; the
best they’ve done in years.
5. Abbott Elementary (ABC)
It strikes me as somewhat
odd considering that Abbott Elementary started January of 2023 by
winning basically every award in sight – the Golden Globe, the SAG Award, the Critics
Choice Awards, the Image Awards – in the last several months the momentum for
it at the Emmys seems to have slowed. It took both the Peabody and the GALECA awards
in the summer but in the last few months, critics seem to feel that for some
reason the final season of Ted Lasso, which most critics and audiences
thought not only was mediocre but diminished the legacy of the show, is somehow
going to manage a three-peat. I can not for the life of me comprehend their
reasoning, particularly given that it wasn’t as if the second season –
certainly the part that aired until April – was just as magnificent as the show
that everybody loved last year.
Quinta Brunson’s
masterpiece – no, it’s not too early to call it that after just two seasons –
continued to flourish in its sophomore year. We watched as Janine and Gregory
spent the better part of the year both trying to deny, then accept, their
attraction, drunkenly kiss, breakup with their respective others, finally admit
their attraction – and have the viewers hearts collectively break at the end of
the season when Janine finally acknowledged she needed to be on her own. We
know this will eventually play out, but we also know Brunson has created a
character who has so much baggage of her own to work through. We finally met
both her sister (Ayo Edebiri must have heard Brunson call her and said: “Yes!”
before she even learned the role) and her troublesome mother (Taraji P. Henson has
to get the Emmy this year) and understood her a little better.
As always Brunson made
sure that all the good lines went to everyone else. Sheryl Lee Ralph and Lisa
Ann Walter continued to make me love them both as the ultimate ride or die
friends, working to save Abbott from becoming a ‘legendary school’ (Lamar Odom
was wonderful). Janelle James continues to own every scene she’s in as Ava,
with every line she says a classic laugh, yet still demonstrating surprising
depth when she realizes, even to her own shock, that she likes her job and she
wants to be good at it. Tyler James Williams is perhaps the greatest actor I’ve
seen since Jack Benny at being able to say so much just by looking at the
camera; I hope he gets the Emmy this year. And Chris Perfetti has become
downright lovable as a character who could run the school if he wanted to – he is
so brilliant at building bridges.
I wrote a series on
education this year and how so many times pop culture paints schools that most
Americans would rather go to then the ones they live in. Abbott Elementary works
because it is the school all of us do attend and none of the teachers are
remotely superhuman. I recognize a lot of these teachers, not because they are
superhuman but because they are all flawed and broken, trying to do their best
in a system that is fundamentally weighted against them. Brunson knew this when
she created the show which is another reason is has become a phenomena – as well
as the fact that its also hysterically funny and has been one of the factors to
completely revive the network comedy. I’m confident Abbott Elementary will
triumph at the Emmys next month. It is the show for the era that we need on so
many levels.
4. Beef (Netflix)
I’ll admit that for all
the astonishing power of Beef I’m not convinced it’s the Best Limited Series of 2023. I think Fellow Travelers was
incredible and Love & Death was a more potent piece of acting and
overarching narrative. But I would still consider Beef one of the best
shows of 2023 because the themes of the series may deal with Korean-Americans,
but they are still universal.
Danny and Amy get involved
in a pathetic road rage incident at the start of the series and will spend the
entire show escalating it, lying about it, and ultimately wrecking their lives because
they can not let go of their rage. It becomes clear very quickly just how
broken Danny is – he wants to commit
suicide at the start of the series and breaks down emotionally when he
goes to church. But there’s a part of Danny that is clearly not only
self-destructive but also aggressively bullying, and completely willing to do
what he has to achieve the American dream. He somehow thinks that if he does so
it will bring him the happiness he has sought all his life. He’s astonished
when it does and he still feels like a piece of him is missing.
Amy does have it all at
the start: she’s rich, she has a husband and a daughter and is on the verge of becoming
wealthy beyond her wildest dreams. But it’s just as clear there’s some part of
her that is missing and that is the part that needs to be violent and disruptive.
There’s a part of her that likes the idea of blowing up her life and actively
enjoys causing the suffering of others. The irony is that each of them is the
only one who can fully understand what is wrong with them, and they only feel
whole when they are destroying the other.
Steven Yeun and Ali Wong
give incredibly dark and hysterically funny performances as two people who want
the American Dream but not even achieving that can make them whole. That is
among the reasons I feel that for all the talk about how brilliant this series is
when it comes to discussing the Asian experience in America, the themes in Beef
are something anyone can understand. The way that are rage commands us, the
way we feel that wealth and prosperity will fill that hole in us, the part of
us that sometimes like stomping on other people, the problems with our mental
health that we utterly refuse to face. What happens to Amy and Danny quickly
escalates to what some may consider utterly unbelievable by the end, but I feel
that every step of their actions is still plausible in the human character who
can not let go of their rage. Maybe that’s why, unlike many others, the ending
wasn’t as disappointing to me as it was to some. Both of them have let their
rage consume them so much that they have destroyed every aspect of their lives
and are wandering lost in the wilderness, with nothing but recriminations and
rage to guide them as they head towards death. Maybe that’s the metaphor we
should take away from Beef rather than psychedelic elements at the end.
Beef is the heavy favorite to
triumph at the Emmys and almost every other awards show wrapping up 2023. I don’t
have an objection to that. There are many other great shows on TV but I don’t
think any on this list hit me at a gut punch. We could all do the things Danny
and Amy do in this series. If you don’t think so, you’re lying to yourself.
3. Barry (HBO)
I spent the spring of 2023
convinced that the best show that was ending this year was not Succession but
the one that aired directly after it. I have since acknowledged that Succession
may very well be a great show. I’m still convinced that my original point
still stands and that after watching the final season of Barry, I don’t
think anyone could disagree what a masterpiece it was.
Bill Hader has officially
become one of the greatest hyphenates in TV, and I can’t think of anyone short
of Donald Glover who has such a command of blending genres. The difference
between the final season of Atlanta and this was mainly that Hader ended
Barry’s journey not only in a darker place, but in a far more relentless
picture of his vision.
By the start of Season 4
Barry was clearly broken beyond repair, and we could see how damaged he was by
his trauma and everything around him. What Hader did masterfully was show that
almost like poison, his trauma absorbed everyone who came in contact with him.
This was true of Sally, Barry’s girlfriend who spent the first half of the
season being even more damaged just by being the girlfriend of a serial killer,
found no contact with her parents and found her dreams of acting finally
destroyed. She was so emotionally damaged that when Barry escaped she ran away
with him.
Just as horrifying was
watching Noho Hank. Anthony Carrigan’s work in the final season was one of the
great performances of 2023. Still recovering from the horrible trauma that was
part of the most graphic part of the season 3 finale, we saw him trying so hard
to build a future with Christobal of legitimacy. But not only that trauma but
his certainty that Barry had betrayed him led to him destroy everything he
loved and in a horrifying scene, let the only man who loved him be murdered for
his own safety.
In the most daring move of
any show this year, the final half of Season 4 took place eight years in the
future. Barry and Sally were living in isolation; Sally so traumatized there
didn’t seem to be a person there and she barely seemed to notice her son. They
went back to Hollywood when it turned out a film was being made of Barry’s life
which led to everything playing out.
There have been few darker
endings for any show than the series finale – not even that of Succession. Noho
Hank was in confrontation the Raven but proved that he would rather die
horribly that admit his own flaws – which is what happened. Gene, who was Barry’s
greatest victim, ended up being blamed for almost everything that happened over
four seasons. Barry went to kill Gene and before he seemed about to change his
mind, Gene killed him. And the denouement was the darkest thing possible as it
gave a Hollywood ending to the story that we’ve watched for four years.
Bill Hader assembled one
of the great amounts of talent both in front and behind the screen to create
one of the greatest shows of any type in TV history. Hader has already won two
Emmys for acting and was nominated yet again and justifiably was nominated yet
again for writing and direction. I would like to see Hader win at least one
more Emmy as a final act, but I think he would be fine going home empty handed.
But that’s okay. He has now revealed that he is one of the great talents in
history; as brilliant a creative force as Jordan Peele and the Coen Brothers (Stephen
Root compared him to both and he should know.) I don’t know what Hader’s going to
do for an encore. But if it’s a tenth as good as Barry, it’ll still be a
masterpiece.
2. Cruel Summer (Freeform)
Two things. I was devastated
when Freeform cancelled this show, but when I learned it was only supposed to
be one and done, I was grateful to get it. And I acknowledge it wasn’t at the
level of the first season. But the story it told riveting me all through this
summer. Of all the shows on this list, I imagine many of you might not know what
it is unless you’ve been reading my blog. So I’ll speak in vague terms.
The story that unfolded at
the end of this century in a town in the Pacific Northwest told the story of a
love triangle between Luke and Megan, two childhood friends and Isabella, an
exchange student from Europe. But what made it deeper than that was that it
told the story of an innocent love that was destroyed by two forces who were
fully and completely selfish.
Paul Adelstein added to
his role of monstrous performance as Steve Brent, a rich and powerful man who
believed purely in image and cared nothing for what it really was. He had the
same contempt for his elder son who made sex tapes and his younger son who
tried to make them public. He wanted to control every element of his life; his
son’s future, the town’s future and could not show warmth for anyone else
except through money. Luke’s entire life had been the subject of the control of
his father and everything that happened at one point was an act of rebellion to
try and control his own destiny. It just made things worse for everybody.
The other destructive
force was Isabella. Lexi Underwood gave one of the most frightening performance
I saw all year as a teenage girl, who in her own way, wanted to control
everyone around her as much as Steve did for her own benefit. She spent the
summer manipulating Megan so that she could become her ‘partner in crime’,
flirted with Luke then broke up with him so he could be with Megan and then
spent much of the interim trying to pull Megan towards her over Luke. In the
aftermath of Luke’s disappearance she spent as much time trying to protect
herself and then tried to convince Megan that their working together was the
same thing as fun and loyalty. Isabella walked away from the horrors that she
created completely and there is no sign
she showed any remorse or guilt for her actions. It is not until the final
image that we see just how much of a monster she truly is.
Cruel Summer worked magnificently on
many levels, partially because of its overwhelming female vibe, the portrayal
of the cast and just how well in captured the end of 1990s. The soundtrack, the
hairstyles, the idea of hacking, even the theory that we had that Y2K would
bring about the apocalypse, an idea that seems almost naïve looking back.
Combined with the flawless editing and cinematography as well as a compelling
mystery, this series was one of the critical shows that got me through a long period
of uncertainty during a summer that had its own cruel nature.
I also list it here as an
elegy for the end of Freeform as a force in Peak TV. As I mentioned in an
article announcing its cancellation, the network is getting out of the original
series business entirely. I will mourn two other series unlike any I saw this
year: Single Drunk Female, a searing comedy that dealt with recovery
from alcoholism from the perspective of one’s family this season and The Watchful
Eye an intriguing thriller that kept me captivated through the start of the
year. Over the last decade Freeform has been a reliable utility performer in
Peak TV with such brilliant masterpieces as grown-ish and The Bold
Type among its player. Its loss will mean little to most, but just like the
period in Cruel Summer, its departure is the end of an era.
1.Yellowjackets (Showtime)
The other more important
reason I chose to forego Succession was that the second season of Yellowjackets
ran opposite to it during its final season. Even had I been in love with Succession
from the start, it wouldn’t have been a hard choice which show to watch: Yellowjackets
is without question the first masterpiece of the decade and suffered
nothing resembling a sophomore slump.
There is no show on TV,
cable, streaming, anywhere, like Yellowjackets. The closest parallel is Lost
but I don’t think Darlton would have dared go as far as Yellowjackets was
willing to go in its first season, much less its second when they finally acknowledged
in the second episode what was basically implied in the pilot – that the
survivors had engaged in cannibalism – in what took the form of a Roman
bacchanalia. Somehow that seems to be the least horrifying thing that they did
over those eighteen months – and there’s a good chance they’ve blocked it so
completely in their adult lives they don’t even remember what happened. What is
clear is that all the survivors we have met as adults are going through trauma
so severe that they have no way to deal with it and have spent lives not only isolated from each other, but
not even wanting to talk to each other. When they finally reunited near the end
of the season, we quickly learned that they are just as deadly to each other
together as they are apart.
Two full seasons into Yellowjackets,
we are no clearer to what the end goal of the writers is. We know they have
a picture of what rescue will look like but that doesn’t begin to spell out
what the survivors will have to do to heal. In a sense the show is like Lost
because after every episode we have more questions than we do answers – how
many of the girls did make it back alive? What was the force that kept them
isolated for so long? Is there anything truly supernatural about what happened
to them out there or is there a rational explanation for everything? Lotte,
played by Simone Kissell as an adult, seemed to have a link to the divine, but
it’s just as possible she is genuinely insane. There seem to be forces driving
Taim, played by Tawny Cypress, as a child and an adult, but that could be some
advanced mental disorder. The series has been amped up to eleven since it
began, but the writers still haven’t told us if the craziness that unfolds the
action is just because the characters themselves are crazy because of what
happened to them.
I also know that at this
point, I could not give a damn about the answers because Yellowjackets is
also absolutely one of the most fun shows on television. And most of this has
to do with two sets of the greatest casts of female performers ever assembled,
the teenagers eerily looking like the adults. Sophie Thatcher and Samantha Hanratty lead a cast of incredible
performers in the crash, and they are matched by four of the greatest actresses
working today, including the peerless Melanie Lynskey as Shauna. My mourning at
the shocking death of Juliette Lewis in the series finale (which I’m still not
over) is at least made up on the hope that Thatcher is still there and the
brilliant work by new additions Lauren Ambrose and Elijah Wood.
There is another reason, aside
from the fun I have and all the nominations the show has gotten. Showtime is in
a period of transition. Starting in January, it will be rebranded as part of
its merger with Paramount and the head of original programming left the network
this summer. It is possible that this is an end of an era too and that the
network that brought us such pop culture landmarks as Dexter, Weeds and Homeland
and such undervalued gems as Brotherhood
and Masters of Sex will never be the same source of invention it has
been for more than twenty years. It may be that Yellowjackets is the
last iconic show to come out of Showtime. If it is, it’s a hell of a note to go
out on.
Tomorrow I will deal with
some series that I believe are worthy of a jury prize, many of which I’m pretty
certain were casualties of the strike.
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