Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed in this review are solely those of Marlon Wallace and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of WBOC.
10. DOPESICK (2021) (Hulu) – Michael Keaton has already won the Golden Globe and the SAG Award for this series. He’s likely to get nominated and win the Emmy for the same performance. Because the series got nominated for PGA and DGA Awards, it’s likely to get Emmy nominations as well, particularly for Danny Strong who is the creator of this series and head writer. That being said, this series reminded me of the Oscar-winning film Traffic (2000). Yes, Keaton is the star, but this series is an ensemble, which tackles the real-life scandal of Purdue Pharma from various angles and feels very comprehensive. Kaitlyn Dever, as a drug addict, Rosario Dawson, as a DEA agent and Will Poulter, as Purdue salesman, are especially good in the cast.
9. QUEER AS FOLK (2022) (Peacock) – In 1999, Welsh writer, Russell T. Davies created a British series about three gay men living in Manchester, a young man new to the gay community, a man who was a hopeless romantic and another who was very promiscuous and cynically so. In 2000, Showtime did a remake that followed the same formula as the original. Yet, it focused on five gay men living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Now, over 20 years later, we have another remake. This time, the series focuses on a diverse group of people in the LGBTQ community. We have people of color, including non-binary and transgender characters, along with people whose sexuality is simply fluid. It’s a grand step forward in representation, but it also has strong writing beyond its casting, which tackles the issue of a mass shooting, akin to the one at Pulse Nightclub back in 2016.
8. WE OWN THIS CITY (HBO) – This series was made by the same writer who created HBO’s The Wire (2002). Based on a book by a news reporter, it tells the story of Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force, a corrupt police unit. The series centers itself around Wayne Jenkins, played by Jon Bernthal who gives a great performance. Jenkins was a sergeant in GTTF. The series starts in 2017 when Jenkins was charged with a series of crimes. The series then jumps back in time, all the way back to 2003 when Jenkins first became a cop and we see how he was corrupted. The series also inter-cuts a timeline starting in 2015, the year of Freddie Gray’s death. In that timeline, we follow an agent from the DOJ as she pursues an inquiry about the consent decree, which sought to improve the police with respect to the civil rights of the city’s citizens.
7. LAW & ORDER: SPECIAL VICTIMS UNIT: SEASON 23 (NBC) – This show has run hot and cold over the decades. It felt pretty cold for a few seasons, until it got a jolt of energy back in 2021 when Christopher Meloni returned to the series. Meloni’s character left the series in 2011 after the 13th season. He returned for Season 22. He was given his own series but it somehow invigorated this one. This past season resulted in some incredible episodes, including “The Five Hundredth Episode” and “Confess Your Sins to Be Free.”
6. PROMISED LAND (ABC) – It’s a primetime soap opera or telenovela that turned out to be one of the best-written dramas I’ve seen in a while. It was all about a Latino family that runs a vineyard in wine country, northern California. The main character is a Mexican immigrant named Joe Sandoval who is now in his 50’s. The series is told in two timelines. One is the present where Joe’s adult children who are in their 20’s or so are vying to take over the company. The second is where Joe was himself in his 20’s and how he came to this country and took control of the vineyard. It’s a powerful story with good characters that really had me hooked.
5. THE ORVILLE: SEASON 3 (Hulu) – What started out as a spoof of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) has now become the best Star Trek series that isn’t Star Trek on television right now. This season continues some of the issues established in the previous season. Each episode focuses on a different crew member and explores their character in deep and profound ways. Creator Seth MacFarlane also brilliantly uses science-fiction to tackle real-world issues, such as transphobia and even Trump era politics.
4. SUPERMAN & LOIS: SEASON 2 (CW) – There are plenty of TV shows about super-heroes. Most of them focus on young people discovering they have powers and how they handle them. I don’t think I’ve seen too many shows that deal with the question of what if a super-hero had kids, particularly teenage boys. This one shows Superman as you don’t normally see him. You see Superman as a father.
3. OUR FLAG MEANS DEATH (HBO Max) – Rhys Darby is a New Zealand comedian who’s probably best known for Flight of the Conchords (2007) or his brief role in Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017). Here, he stars as a gentleman living in the 18th century who has a wife and child but he abandons them to become a pirate. Yet, he doesn’t like the uncivilized way that pirates operate, so he tries to bring a more civilized way to them. Things change when he meets the infamous Blackbeard, played by Oscar-winner Taika Waititi, in what turns out to be an amazing same-sex romance.
2. STRANGER THINGS 4 (Netflix) – Yes, the hit series is back and it’s bigger and certainly longer than ever. It’s 80’s nostalgia in its prime. Yes, there are still references to Stephen King and Steven Spielberg all throughout. There’s great horror and great thrilling spectacle. There’s also incredible heart that keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. The first few episodes of this season might seem a bit slow, but it culminates in what is a jaw-dropping narrative. If anything, this season pays the most to A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) with a Freddy Krueger-like villain. Robert Englund who played Krueger for decades even guest stars this season. It’s scary and yet sentimental and it’s mind-blowingly good.
1. THIS IS US: SEASON 6 (NBC) – The final season of this hit drama went out on the sweetest note. The lead-up to that finale though did what every good episode of this series did and that’s make the audience reach for the tissues. Yes, every episode still continues to make me cry. It’s not that it’s sappy. It’s simply that the drama is so well rendered. It’s heartbreaking but in a good way as we watch the Pearson family deal with break-ups, break-downs and ultimately death. However, there’s so much life here, as it always has been with a large ensemble cast that is wielded in such a great way. Sterling K. Brown has been the standout actor at the Emmy Awards. This year, it needs to be Mandy Moore whose performance as Rebecca Pearson really brought the house down.
Honorable mentions: MacGruber (2021) on Peacock and 4400 on the CW.
