Best of 2023: TV Shows

I’m making a controversial decision this year: I’m not including any shows which we haven’t seen all of the available episodes. There are three series we’ve spent part of this year working our way through, and they very much deserve a spot on this list, but I’m going to wait to add them until next year (when we’ve presumably watched all the episodes). This is in sharp contrast to years past when I’d include just the seasons we had seen thus far.

Also, a note on omissions: I’ve included shows like Succession, Barry, and Ten Year Old Tom on previous lists, so I’m going to exclude them here, even though each of them had really strong seasons that debuted this year. So let’s get to it!

10. Clone High (2002, 2023)

We started with the original, which ran for a single season from 2002-2003, then watched the brand new season/reboot. Let me say this: The first season is aggressively early 2000s. Not necessarily in a bad way, but holy shit does it feel dated. In some ways I found myself enjoying the first season more, if only for the charm of such a different time.

That said, the new season had some absolute triumphs, including “The Re-Education Song” I mentioned a couple weeks ago. But I think the most jarring thing about the reboot is the addition of so many new cast members to make the show more diverse. Don’t get me wrong: liked Frida Kahlo, Harriet Tubman, and Confucius, but then there was a (somewhat superfluous) new antagonist in Candide because Christa Miller, the original voice actor for Cleopatra, is white, so they recast Cleo and created the new role for Miller. The new season wasn’t quite able to mix together the old and the new in a way that felt cohesive.

9. Quantum Leap (2022)

I love the original Quantum Leap. It’s one of my comfort shows. That’s why I was very excited when I heard they were doing a reboot. Sure, it’s a shame that Dean Stockwell died and that Scott Bakula chose not to return, but the premise of the show itself is solid enough that it can continue beyond their absences.

Raymond Lee does a great job playing the new protagonist, Ben Song. He’s very personable, and he handles the mix of comedy and drama well. I also really like Mason Alexander Park as Ian, one of the technicians. But one of the drawbacks of this new series is that it spends a little too much time in the present and not enough on Ben's leap. I get that the show is trying to do something new: by focusing on the team trying to get Ben home then it creates a more serialized form of storytelling that we’ve come to expect from dramas. But that choice comes at the expense of the leap itself, which is the core of the show.

Look, this isn’t an amazing show by any means. If it weren’t for my nostalgic love of the original then it probably wouldn’t make my Top 10. There are times when it feels like it’s being written by A.I. rather than a human. And the “this is clearly an episode about an issue” leaps (the trans basketball player from season 1, the L.A. riots episode from season 2) feel soapbox-y and don’t work as well, although I appreciate they’re including more diverse stories. But then there are times when everything aligns and I’m reminded of how smart and good this show can be.

8. Cunk on Earth

A comedy from Charlie Booker, the creator of Black Mirror? I’ll admit: I was skeptical. But within minutes of starting this short 5-episode series/special, all doubts were wiped from my mind. Diane Morgan absolutely kills it as Philomena Cunk, the host of a David Attenbourgh-esque show about world history. The catch is that Cunk is less Attenborough and more Ali G. She bumbles her way through interviews with experts by asking absurd questions with a straight face. How Morgan doesn’t break is truly astounding.

Folks in the UK have already been treated to a handful of other Cunk specials, but I believe Cunk on Earth is the first to be released here in the US. I can’t wait for more. In the meantime, pump up the jam!

7. Abbott Elementary

One thing I love about Abbott Elementary is that it proves you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to be successful — sometimes all you have to do is take an existing formula and do it extremely well. In this case, it’s easy to see Abbott’s influences: it’s a combination of The Office with the positive charm of Parks and Rec, but in a predominantly Black elementary school in Philadelphia.

Quinta Brunson is a triple threat: Creator, writer, and actor. The life and energy she brings to playing Janine Teagues is infectious, and the rest of the ensemble is fantastic. It’s a real joy watching these characters interact with each other: the will-they/won’t-they tension between Janine and Gregory, the utter chaos that follows principal Coleman, and (probably my favorite character) the Puritanical kindergarten teacher Mrs. Howard. Sheryl Lee Ralph is so, so good in that role.

It’s a shame that the strikes mean we’re not getting more episodes until February of next year, and a shortened season, at that. Still, I can’t wait for this show to come back.

6. Paul T. Goldman

And then there are some shows that are all about reinventing the wheel. Paul T. Goldman is a six-episode miniseries. It’s also the best Nathan Fielder project that Nathan Fielder wasn’t involved with. Jason Woliner (who has directed, among many other things, the Borat sequel and episodes of The Last Man on Earth as well as Nathan for You) brings us the true (???) story of Paul T. Goldman, a regular guy who becomes convinced his wife is a prostitute and part of a sex trafficking ring.

The show mixes together true-crime-style interviews, dramatized reenactments adapted from Goldman’s self-published memoir about the events, and behind-the-scenes footage. In some ways the show is both a true crime documentary and a parody of true crime documentaries. It’s hard not to get swept up into Goldman’s world even as you question the veracity of everything he tells you.

The last episode is a truly amazing end to an amazing series.

5. Jury Duty

This is another very Nathan Fielder-y show, but it has a lot of heart. The premise is akin to The Truman Show: Our hero is Ronald, a completely normal guy showing up for jury duty. What Ronald doesn’t know is that everyone around him — his fellow jurors, the lawyers, the judge, the entire case — is completely fake. They’re all actors.

The joy comes from watching Ronald confront the absurdities that the show throws at him. Now, in different hands a premise like this could be exploited to treat the unknowing mark cruelly. Thankfully the show respects Ronald (and us the viewers) enough to ensure that he doesn’t suffer any unnecessary trauma as a result of this experience. A really entertaining highwire act that blurs the line between art and real life.

4. Timeless

This two-season time travel show somehow escaped my attention when it premiered in 2016. The premise is pretty simple: A tech genius (played by Peep Show’s Paterson Joseph) invents a time machine. While it’s still in the experimental stage a terrorist steals the time machine, presumably to go back into the past and mess with history. Thankfully there’s a beat-up “lifeboat” time machine available for our heroes (a history professor, a soldier, and one of the technicians on the project) to go after the terrorist and make sure he doesn’t alter history.

It’s an interesting enough premise, but there are a few fun twists: The technician is Black, and in his words, there’s basically no time in the past that’s safe for him. The story also develops really interesting layers as the team gets into trickier and trickier scenarios. It’s a show that only had 28 episodes, and while I wish there were more, it’s hard not to feel like things could have quickly spiraled out of control had it gone on longer. When I think of shows that really drew us into their world, this was one of the most addictive.

3. Party Down (Season 3)

Here’s one of the most amazing things about the third season of Party Down: It doesn’t feel like 13 years have passed since the second season. The writing is just as sharp and funny as the original run. The actors slide right back into their roles. And the best part? There’s a smooth integration of the old and the new. Unlike with Clone High, there’s only a net of two new characters this season, and they both fit in with the original crew so well.

I love Tyrel Jackson Williams as Sackson, the team’s resident Gen Z-er who wants to go viral. Zoë Chao plays an aspiring celebrity chef who takes food artistry to a whole new height. Both of these characters are distinct from the original cast but work so well as part of the team. Their presence doesn’t feel obligatory.

Yes, it was sad that Lizzy Caplan wasn’t able to be a part of this season. Jennifer Garner steps in to play Henry’s love interest, and she does a very good job, but it’s not the same as the Henry/Casey dynamic. It just means that a season 4 (and more!!) have to happen so that Caplan can get back into the groove with everyone else. A testament to the fact that revivals don’t always have to be disappointing.

2. The Last of Us

Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann pulled off a nearly impossible task: Translating a critically acclaimed video game into a critically acclaimed TV show. It helps that Druckmann was the writer and creative director of the video game and that Mazin wrote critical darlings such as The Hangover Part 2, The Hangover Part 3, and Scary Movie 3. I kid! (Even though he really did write those.) Chances are you recognize him from an actual critical darling: the Chernobyl miniseries.

Even still, this was no shoo-in. The game’s central characters, Joel and Ellie, are forever immortalized by their video game actors, Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson. When people think of Joel and Ellie, they think of Baker and Johnson. So that’s why it was a good sign when Pedro Pascal and Bella Ramsey both proved by the end of episode 1 that they, too, could embody these characters. I appreciate how both Pascal and Ramsey didn’t try to mimic Baker and Johnson; instead, their performances felt true to the characters while letting them have their own take on who Joel and Ellie are.

A lot of credit goes to the writing, which figured out ways to trim the video-game-y bits of the game and really hone in on key plot points. I purposefully chose to wait to replay the game until after I had seen the entire first season. When I went back to play the game, I was struck by how unnecessarily bloated it felt — so many encounters with clickers, so many fights. It’s a testament to how good the show was that I liked the game less as a result.

1. Beef

First, the elephant in the room: A few weeks after Beef premiered, comments that one of the actors, David Choe, made during a 2014 podcast resurfaced. Choe had joked about sexual assault — statements that he later apologized for, although it’s highly problematic that he made them in the first place. By the time this all came to light, we had already seen all 10 episodes. It’s such a shame that Choe made those tasteless jokes in 2014 and that it ended up overshadowing the series as a whole, because Beef deserved to be the focus of the conversation, not Choe’s comments.

I think Steven Yeun is the most interesting actor working today. He’s played a wide range of roles in both TV and movies, and he’s been the highlight of everything I’ve seen him in — especially as Ben in Lee Chang-dong’s Burning. Yeun brings his A-game to this show, totally embodying Danny, a struggling contractor who wants his part of the American Dream in order to provide for his family.

Danny is contrasted by Amy, played incredibly well by Ali Wong. Amy is a business owner who seemingly has it all: a caring husband, a daughter, and a successful business. Amy and Danny cross paths as a result of a road rage incident, and their ensuing beef with one another is the focus of the show.

There are moments that I still remember so clearly, even though we watched this eight months ago. Just one example, and it’s such a throw away moment: At one point Amy learns where Danny lives and ends up driving over to his apartment complex. While sitting in her car in the parking garage, she sees Danny take out the trash. He’s wearing flip-flops and a hoodie and has big headphones on. He’s singing along to the music when he tosses the trash into the dumpster — only to miss the dumpster and have to pick up the garbage bag and try once again. I love this moment because it’s doing so much at once: It shows how nothing in Danny’s life is easy or goes as planned; it shows Amy a vulnerable side of Danny that she hasn’t yet seen; and for us, the viewers, it’s one of those moments that feels straight out of real-life but you never see committed to film.

There’s a lot to unpack in this show. Sadly, a lot of it has already left my mind because we saw it so long ago. But it was so liberating to see East Asian characters on a TV show be petty, be messy, be angry. The writing was top-notch, the acting was top-notch, and it was beautifully filmed. It’s funny, it’s suspenseful, it’s dramatic, it’s touching — Beef has it all.