My Top Ten TV Shows of 2016
It was an incredible year for genre television.
10. Angie Tribeca
Do you miss Police Squad? I miss Police Squad. And so does this show.
9. Atlanta
Curb Your Enthusiasm for black people. This interesting, hilarious, quirky comedy has its own unique take and style from episode to episode mixing satire and sitcom with dexterity. Donald Glover’s enthusiastic but grounded-in-reality personality comes through in every frame.
8. Brooklyn Nine Nine
It can’t stop. It won’t stop.
7. Mr. Robot
Not as good as season one, but season one was, like, my favorite show of last year. Still amazing. Still insightful. Still mind-blowing.
6. Stranger Things
I could make this whole post just about the typography (and some have). But every element from the music to the posters on characters’ walls to the plot lovingly remixes Stephen King, Steven Spielberg, and John Carpenter works of the 80’s to create something new and engaging. All of this would mean nothing without characters we care about, especially the crew at the center, who exhibit the best. team. dynamics. ever. The brilliance of the show is to take these different genres and assign them to different groups on the show (having trouble finding the reference on this, but someone on Tumblr came up with a kick-ass analysis along these lines), so that as they come together the perfect mash-up arises.
5. Last Week Tonight
John Oliver tried, valiantly, to escape the gravity of Trump-mania early on, but as he realized Trump was going from joke to threat, he recognized his obligation and doubled down. One can only imagine what that’s going to have to look like in the years to come.
4. The Walking Dead
One of the harshest, and yet necessary depictions of brutality in the show’s history, debuts the character of Neegan, played to sneering, smug perfection by Jeffrey Dean Morgan. His rise echoed that of Trump’s, making already good episodes all the more uncomfortably relevant.
3. Game of Thrones
In a year where women were marginalized and fought back on a seemingly weekly basis on the electoral landscape, Game of Thrones showed us a world where women were literally fighting back week to week and making amazing, if hard won, gains. The season where we went beyond the books showed us the promise of an arc where women would decide the fate Westeros.
2. Luke Cage
As a black man, I’m biased to overlook the sometimes cheesy dialogue in this series because it’s our first opportunity to see A BLACK MAN BUY A NEW YORKER! WE DO THAT PEOPLE! WE REALLY, REALLY DO THAT! Seriously, though, discussions between black folks about crime novels in a barbershop. This happens. Also great action and a story about a fight for the soul of Harlem and the best ways to revitalize a community. This happens in a Marvel show about a bulletproof black man, a premise that, all on its own, is kind of important right now. Put simply, everyone needs to watch this show while reading Between the World and Me and THEN we can have a discussion about race. Oh, and not for nothing, a LOT of important conversations happen between women of color in this show which, again, not common in genre television.
1. Westworld
Another show about ALL OF THE THINGS. AI, inclusion, abuse, identity, what makes us human, what makes consciousness consciousness, gender equality, and on and on and on. All while being hugely entertaining and expertly acted, especially by Evan Rachel Wood, who has to do things like experience emotion without showing it. Also, best last shot of a pilot ever.
