No, before you ask, HBO's Succession did not make my list. This might invalidate my list to some.
On my personal blog, I crafted a list of 20 programs that I really enjoyed, along with 10 TV movies and individual episodes from non-listed shows. The list is more reflective of my individual tastes and might not be for everyone. It's also one that is more concerned with representation and depicting a different and wider range of experiences. Others are just compelling pieces of comedy or drama.
10. PAINKILLER (Netflix) - Over two years ago, Hulu released the series Dopesick (2021), which received 14 nominations at the 74th Primetime Emmy Awards. It was specifically about the opioid epidemic and the legal case against Purdue Pharma, the company charged with greatly contributing to that epidemic through its pushing of OxyContin. This series is basically a retelling of that same story. Most people highly regarded Dopesick, so many of them would not think that this series could be as good or even better. Yet, it does and is. It's aided by incredible performances from Uzo Aduba whose character immediately grabs the audience and pulls them along this six-episode story. She was nominated for a SAG Award. She'll likely be nominated later this year for the 76th Emmys. The series was directed by Peter Berg and features another incredible performance from Taylor Kitsch. Both Berg and Kitsch reuniting from their days on Friday Night Lights (2006).
9. SAM A SAXON (Hulu) - Thanks to streaming services, Americans are able to see TV shows from various countries around the globe. Some of the most popular have been Korean-language shows, Spanish-language shows and even some French-language shows. Aside from Dark (2017), I haven't connected with a lot of German-language shows. This one was briefly promoted as being part of Disney + and Hulu. For his lead role here, Malick Bauer was nominated for Best Actor at the German Television Awards or Deutscher Fernsehpreis. Bauer portrays the real-life Sam Meffire, a Black man or Afro-German who went from cop to criminal, as he got caught up in the racial politics that came in the wake of the fall of East Germany.
8. NEON (Netflix) / RAP SH!T: SEASON 2 (HBO) - There is a tie here because I enjoyed both these shows, which are both about the same topic. Both are about young people pursuing the music business independently and the struggles that they have, as they try to make a name for themselves while also trying to stay true to themselves and their culture. Neon (2023) tells that story from the perspective of a Puerto Rican who goes to Miami to become a reggaeton star. It feels very much like HBO's Entourage (2004) but if Vincent Chase were a young Latino, played buoyantly by Tyler Dean Flores (Miguel Wants To Fight and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier). Rap Sh!t (2022) tells that story from the perspective of a two Black women who are also in Miami hoping to make it as rappers with Aida Osman and KaMillion basically doing a version of Issa Rae and Yvonne Orji in HBO's Insecure (2016).
7. THE CROWN: SEASON 6 (Netflix) - The final season of this series focuses on the final hours of Princess Diana, played extraordinarily by Elizabeth Debicki (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 and Tenet). It imagines conversations she had with her star-crossed lover, Dodi Fayed, played heartrendingly by Khalid Abdalla (The Kite Runner and United 93). It also reckons with the teenage life of Diana's sons, Prince William, played by Ed McVey, and Prince Harry, played by Luther Ford. The ending of the series was changed in order to reflect the fact that Queen Elizabeth II died Queen Elizabeth II is played by Imelda Staunton (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Vera Drake). It concluded her story in a way that was respectful and honored her, as well as the themes the series tackled all throughout.
6. THE DIPLOMAT (Netflix) - Keri Russell was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for her role here as Kate Wyler, a U.S. State Department employee who becomes the U.S. Ambassador to the U.K. The series gives insight into how political relations are handled between the two countries, the bureaucratic issues that arise. The series is propelled with an international mystery, but underlying it is a critique of the sexism inherent in the institutions at play here.
5. BODIES (Netflix) - This is the British adaptation of the graphic novel by Si Spencer. It's a crime drama, as well as a science-fiction mystery. It takes place in four different time periods in London. The first is 2023. The second is 1941. The third is 1890 and the fourth is 2053. What connects all four time periods is the fact that a dead body, the same dead body, the same naked dead body in the same position and in the same location is found in four time periods. The entire cast is amazing. Two of the standouts were Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (The Great and The Queen's Gambit) who plays "Whiteman," a corrupt police detective in 1941, and Kyle Soller (Andor and Poldark) who plays Inspector Hillinghead, a closeted, family man in 1890.
4. STAR TREK: PICARD - SEASON 3 (Paramount +) - I am a trekkie. I've been a fan of the Star Trek franchise for all of my life or for over 30 years. Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) has been my all-time favorite. That series has been off the air for nearly 20 years. This series was conceived as a direct sequel, which picks up with the titular character, played by Sir Patrick Stewart. Unfortunately, the first and second season didn't really incorporate any of the other main characters from the 1987 series, except for Brent Spiner who played Data, the android. This final season changed things and was basically a reunion series for all of those main characters from 1987 and I think the show did a good job in that regard.
3. THE LAST OF US (HBO) - After years of The Walking Dead (2010), which I abandoned after the fourth season, I figured that I would never be interested in any series or even film that was essentially about zombies. This one, which is an adaptation of the Sony PlayStation video game, was nominated for 24 trophies at the 75th Emmys, the second-most nominated of any program in 2023. As a result, it made history. It's the first video game adaptation to be nominated for Outstanding Drama Series. Pedro Pascal is only the second Latino to be nominated for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. Bella Ramsey is the third non-binary person to be nominated. Ramsey goes by they/them pronouns after Emma Corrin and Carl Clemons-Hopkins. Keivonn Woodard was nominated for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series, becoming the youngest nominee in that category and the second-youngest Emmy nominee at age 10. Woodard is the first Black deaf actor to be recognized and the second deaf actor overall. Nick Offerman was nominated in the same category as Woodard and won for his one episode "Long, Long Time," which became a cultural phenomenon of an episode.
2. THE BEAR: SEASON 2 (Hulu) - Created by Christopher Storer who works mainly as a director and whose from Chicago, this series was nominated for 13 Emmys. It won 10, breaking the record of the most wins for a comedy in one year. It focuses on a Chicago restaurant and the family that owns it. It's run by a chef who was trained in New York who takes over the business after his older brother dies. The show follows this chef, named "Carmy," played by Jeremy Allen White (The Iron Claw and Shameless), as Carmy attempts to renovate and re-imagine the place. Ayo Edebiri plays Sydney, his sous-chef who has to learn to navigate his crazy Italian family and their chaos in the kitchen. Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Punisher and Girls) is the other standout as "Ritche," the manager to the restaurant and Carmy's "cousin" who is very much brash and a loudmouth and is probably the funniest character on TV right now.
1. BEEF (Netflix) - This series was also up for 13 Emmys this past year. It won eight, including Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series. Korean-American writer-director, Lee Sung Jin created the show about a working class Korean-American man named Danny Cho, played by Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead) struggling to make it in Los Angeles when he has an incident of road rage with an Asian woman named Amy Lau, played by Ali Wong (Always Be My Maybe). Amy is wealthier and more successful who decides to seek revenge against Danny after he decides to seek revenge for the road rage incident. The series follows the war that breaks out between the two, as it escalates higher and higher and to even more ridiculous lengths. It's dark comedy at its best.
