Best of 2021: TV Shows
It’s hard to believe we’re entering the third week of December. For as long as 2020 felt, 2021 kept moving along faster and faster. That’s why I’m so late to my annual best-of lists: I couldn’t believe it was December already.
Without further ado, here are my 10 favorite new shows we watched this year. Keep in mind that if I’ve included a show on a previous year’s list then I’m not repeating it here, which explains glaring omissions like Season 3 of Succession (which has been brilliant as always) or Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. Here are a few runner ups that didn’t make the list: Reply 1997 (good, but not as good as Reply 1994), Last Man on Earth (series started off strong but then lost focus around Season 3), and an anime called Ping Pong.
10. Doctor Who (Season 12)
Jodie Whittaker’s second full season as the Doctor is a return to form after a rocky and uneven first season. Whittaker feels more comfortable as the Doctor, and the stories are overall more interesting than in Season 11. I know the hardcore Doctor Who fandom was in a tizzy because showrunner Chris Chibnall introduced some rather big canonical changes to the Doctor’s backstory, but I was all for it. For a show that could easily feel stale and repetitive after all these years, Chibnall finds ways to keep things fresh.
I haven’t had the chance to see the COVID-shortened latest season, but if it picks up the momentum and intensity of Season 12, then it should be pretty great. I’m just sad that as a result of the pandemic, Whittaker’s last full season is such a short one.
9. Steins;Gate
I love a good time travel story. I’m not sure if it’s because I was obsessed with Back to the Future as a kid or what, but if your movie or TV show has to do with time travel then I’m interested. Steins;Gate is a 2011 anime adaptation of a visual novel with the same name. It follows a mad(ish) scientist named Okarin who stumbles upon a way to travel back in time. Or, more accurately, a way to transmit his current consciousness into the consciousness of his past self. Imagine if Sam Beckett from Quantum Leap could leap into himself from 48 hours ago — that’s kind of like what happens with Steins;Gate.
Of course, since this is a time travel story then things have to go wrong and Okarin has to figure out a way to fix them. This adds a Groundhog Day element. But because this is a 24 episode anime, we really get to know and care for the characters. Sure, there are a few cringey moments that feel like fan service (or just Japan’s strange fascination with, say, young women dressed up as cats), but each character ultimately gets a real, honest, human moment, and I appreciate that.
8. The Problem with Jon Stewart
Although it’s only been four episodes, I’m so happy to have Jon Stewart back on TV. The Problem with Jon Stewart is still finding its footing, and it’s hard not to compare it to The Daily Show and the many Daily Show alumni projects, but there’s a great premise here and I’m excited to see what other topics they tackle. It’s a fun mix of Daily Show-esque commentary, roundtable interview, and field pieces. Some of my favorite segments so far have been the digital shorts between segments, particularly Jenifer Lewis’ bit from the “Freedom” episode.
7. Scenes from a Marriage (1973)
Although Ingmar Bergman’s original miniseries is my favorite, I think Hagai Levi’s adaptation is also commendable. But I’m going to focus on the 1973 Swedish original because I liked that one more. First of all, it was a lot funnier than I thought it was going to be. This being Bergman, I was bracing myself for six hours of intensity. And while the miniseries is unquestionably intense, it’s not oppressively so. It certainly has moments of levity. I give most of this credit to Liv Ullmann, whose portrayal of Marianne is phenomenal. Her range — anything from self-doubting to angry to self-assured — is incredible. Ultimately, though, the success of a six-hour miniseries that’s mostly just two people talking hinges on its script, and I really loved Bergman’s words. Or, rather, the translation of his words.
Scenes from a Marriage is what Season 3 of Master of None wanted so badly to be but couldn’t achieve.
6. Ted Lasso (Seasons 1 and 2)
Season 1 is great, Season 2 is still really good. My main qualm with the second season of this ensemble comedy is how they treated Nate’s character. For a show that is very much a spiritual successor of Parks and Rec, it’s odd to have a character that even remotely feels like a villain. The closest we had to a villain in Parks and Rec was Councilman Jamm, but he was never a main character or focus of the show. This made sense, because Parks and Rec’s ethos was earnest and upbeat and positive. Ted Lasso is of this mold, which is why it’s so easy to love Ted and Coach Beard and Sam and Higgins and Keeley. Even characters that at first feel like they could be antagonists — Rebecca, Roy, Jamie — become more endearing by the end of the first season.
But Nate! Why must he be the one they turn into a villain in Season 2? I have a hunch it’s because they know how beloved Nate was in Season 1 and they wanted to flip our expectations. To which, yes, they succeeded. But it’s one of those successes that doesn’t feel satisfying as a viewer. Or maybe I’m just taking this too personally since there’s no question that Nate is the character I most identify with on the show.
5. In Treatment (Season 4)
This continuation of the Gabriel Byrne series was a perfect show to reboot during COVID production. Like the original three seasons, each episode is two people talking: a highly skilled therapist with their own personal problems (in this season, that’s Dr. Brooke Taylor, played by an amazing Uzo Aduba) and one of their patients. Or, in the last episode of every week, the therapist’s mentor. Season 4 follows the same template as the original but finds new ground by making the therapist a Black woman and the people she speaks with largely people of color. Unlike in Season 3 or 2 of the original, where some of the patients were less interesting than others, I was really invested in Eladio, Colin, and Laila’s stories. Their narrative arcs made this series feel even more fresh and contemporary.
One of my biggest quibbles with this season is how they repeatedly hinted at the existence of Byrne’s character, Paul Weston, but Paul never showed up! It was such a tease. Hopefully that just means Byrne will sign on/be invited to join Season 5. (Which better happen, HBO!)
4. Search Party (Seasons 1-3)
We binged all four existing seasons of Search Party in something like two and a half weeks, and that’s factoring in the almost week it took us to get through the slog that was Season 4. I won’t spoil anything, but Season 4 shifts pretty dramatically both in terms of tone and narrative, and I didn’t enjoy it. Conceptually I like what Season 4 does by turning the tables, but I think it was a story that dragged on for way too long.
My coworker Melissa recommended we check out Search Party. One thing she mentioned was how economical the show is with its story — they really pack a lot into each 22-minute episode. I completely agree with Melissa: Search Party is a tight, fast-moving show. One of my favorite things about it is how quickly they established the four main characters. The pilot episode had so many strong specific moments that illustrated who these people were and what they were like. Season 1 as a whole was like that — packed to the brim with story. So much story! So much great story, too. The first season hinges on the disappearance of an old college acquaintance, and the show sucks you in just as much as Dory gets sucked into solving the mystery.
Search Party is also really funny. For a show whose circumstances often feel very heavy, it has lots of levity, largely thanks to the amazing performances from the leads. In fact, Dory, the main character, is my least favorite character simply because she feels so empty compared to Elliott, Portia, and even Drew.
All of which brings me back to Season 4. Unlike the previous seasons, this one had too little story to tell, so the 10 episodes dragged in a way that previous seasons didn’t. It felt like maybe the writers were running out of ideas and had to stretch. Season 4 is also considerably darker and less funny than the others. I’m hoping that the fifth and final season brings things back to form, because Seasons 1-3 of Search Party were some of the most engrossing TV we watched this year.
3. Quiz
There was one big reason I wanted to watch this 3-episode British miniseries about a real-life Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? scandal: Matthew Macfadyen. Macfadyen plays Tom Wambsgans on Succession, and he’s one of my favorite actors on a show that’s stacked with amazing performers. I love Macfadyen and was really interested in seeing this.
Quiz is a brisk and highly enjoyable miniseries with a perfect three-act structure: Episode 1 introduces the characters and situation, Episode 2 goes into the scandal, and Episode 3 is the fallout. That kind of tight, clean narrative structure is emblematic of the rest of the series: the dialogue, the acting, the pacing. It all feels very satisfying and is of utmost quality.
2. St. Elsewhere (Seasons 1 and 2)
There’s always a certain amount of risk when watching old shows. Even shows and movies from the early/mid-2000s can feel horribly outdated. That’s why I was more than a little skeptical about asking Kaitlin to watch St. Elsewhere with me, an ensemble medical drama that premiered in October 1982. 40 years is practically ancient in terms of television. But holy shit — not only is St. Elsewhere great, it feels surprisingly contemporary.
St. Elsewhere focuses on a team of residents at St. Eligius hospital, a poorly funded and decaying teaching hospital in Boston known dismissively as St. Elsewhere. It’s a story about a group of big-hearted doctors (not without their flaws!) who do what they do because they love it — not for the money or fame. The cast is full of talent, including Denzel Washington, Ed Begely Jr, David Morse, Howie Mandel, and the absolutely incredible William Daniels as brusque Chief of Surgery Dr. Mark Craig and Ed Flanders as the paternal mentor and Director of Medicine, Dr. Donald Westphall. The whole cast is great.
Here’s what makes St. Elsewhere feel so contemporary: First, the ensemble is pretty diverse, especially for a show from the early ‘80s. Denzel Washington isn’t the only Black character, and Kim Miyori and Kavi Raz both play Asian characters who get top billing. Second, the show punches in the right direction. For example, in a Season 1 episode, brusque Dr. Craig discovers that one of his old college buddies is at St. Eligius for a sex change operation. I was fully bracing myself for the show to use this setup to make cheap jokes at the expense of the college friend, but the opposite happened: Dr. Craig has to confront his own prejudice and intolerance in order to ultimately accept his friend’s decision. Something similar happens in Season 2 when Dr. White treats a patient with AIDS. The show is incredibly sympathetic toward the AIDS patient — it’s Dr. White who is at fault.
Moments like these are fairly common, and it’s such a relief. Add to this some incredible dialogue (the show is often just as funny as it is dramatic) and St. Elsewhere is a powerhouse of a show. Now, it is almost 40 years old, so a couple caveats if you choose to start watching: The show hasn’t been restored/remastered. I’m just happy to have the ability to stream the whole six-season series on Hulu, but be warned that the show sometimes looks rough. There were some nights we went from Ted Lasso to St. Elsewhere, and the drop in video quality is substantial. Thankfully, the show isn’t really a visual marvel. Like most TV shows, it’s really just a means of getting people in a room to talk, so the lo-fi visuals don’t bother me too much, but I may be in the minority. There’s also some pretty wild fashion and some cheesy music (most likely to replace licensed music used in the original broadcast). Still, all things considered, St. Elsewhere has been my favorite drama we’ve watched all year.
1. How To with John Wilson (Seasons 1 and 2)
This hard-to-categorize show is hands-down my favorite comedy of the year and also my favorite show of the year. We watched Season 1 at the end of December 2020 (after I had published last year’s Best Of) and the second season just recently premiered. Altogether, I’ve only seen eight episodes of this show, but that’s a testament to how good it is.
As the name implies, How To with John Wilson is ostensibly a show to teach you how to do whatever that episode is about: making small talk, improving your memory, appreciating wine. But that’s just a facade — each episode goes in so many funny, interesting, strange, and unexpected directions. For example, last night we watched the episode about appreciating wine, and it featured segments about a guy who eats long expired MREs (Meal Ready-to-Eat), the NXVIM cult, a trip to a bowling-ball-making factory, and an energy drink called Bang. And yet somehow the episode itself feels incredibly cohesive and flows together nicely.
Which brings us to the editing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show where the editing process has been as central and integral as it is here. One of my favorite things about How To with John Wilson is that it is the most New York City show I’ve ever seen. By that I mean, this is REAL New York, not TV New York. Wilson is a documentarian, and he carries his camera everywhere he goes. He films all of the strange and bizarre and weird moments that you really only see by walking around the city on a day to day basis. The thing is, Wilson must have an archive of like a hundred thousand hours of raw footage. Each episode has John narrating, and his words are perfectly paired with a clip of his footage. So if, for example, he’s talking about how much of a struggle it is to do something, he’ll speak that over a clip of someone with their head buried in their hands, or maybe someone who’s trying to move a huge piece of furniture all by themselves. The visual clip is a metaphor for the words we’re hearing. This is why editing is so integral to the show, and it makes me wonder how in the world Wilson catalogs his footage in order to find those pairings.
Watching this show makes me miss New York City more than any other movie or show. That’s maybe an odd thing to say considering how utterly unromantic Wilson makes the city look, but I think that’s precisely why it’s as effective as it is. New York City’s motto is “I don’t give a fuck,” and How To with John Wilson reminds you of that every time you see a trashcan overflowing with trash, or puke on the subway, or aLtErNaTiNg CaPiTaLiZeD lEtTeRs for apartment listings on Craigslist. These are the tiny details that make New York City real, and Wilson captures them all.
Finally, each episode is full of humanity. It’s really quite beautiful in its own quiet way. The show is produced by Nathan Fielder, so if you liked Nathan For You then you’ll absolutely love How To with John Wilson. But whereas Nathan For You could veer pretty hard into cringe territory, How To with John Wilson always places heart over cringe. It’s strikingly original and my favorite show from this year.
