
Favourite TV 2024
20. High Potential – The star-power of Kaitlin Olson, and good writing, elevates what could have been just another one of those standard, dime-a-dozen, person-with-a-special-ability-helps-the-police-solve-crimes shows.
19. A Man on the Inside – The detective plot – about a man who goes undercover in a seniors’ facility to solve a robbery – is just the delivery system for a sweet, low-key, gently humorous, richly drawn character study.
18. Lincoln Lawyer – This David E. Kelley-produced show is as good and satisfying as a legal procedural can be.
17. The Old Man – I love a show that contains insanely competent characters that are always thinking multiple steps ahead of whatever’s going on. The only problem is, The Old Man’s not getting a third season, so you’ll just have to imagine what happens next after season two’s cliffhanger.
16. The Diplomat – Intelligent characters, cussing and scheming and talking cleverly, plus one heck of a great cliffhanger = a terrific series.
15. Curb Your Enthusiasm – There’s tremendous enjoyment to be had watching Larry David and Co. contend with society’s annoying obstacles, petty frustrations, and mild inconveniences.
14. Sugar – Colin Ferrell is a movie-obsessed PI on the case of a missing woman in this moody mystery with a great twist.
13. Dark Matter – Smart sci-fi that delivers on its heady, complicated premise about a man who’s forced to contend with the multi-verse.
12. English Teacher – This is the rarest of shows: It’s a genuinely laugh-out-loud funny sitcom that was fully formed from the get-go.
11. Shrinking – It’s a testament to everyone involved that what may read as sitcomy on the page (i.e., the dialogue often follows the standard set-up/punch line structure) never plays the least bit sitcomy on the screen. Hilarious a lot of the times, it can turn on a dime and be moving and heartbreaking, too. Ted McGinley and Jessica Williams are particularly good amongst an exceptionally great cast.
10. The Day of the Jackal – This show is soooo much fun. I particularly appreciate that, while there’s an overarching goal/mission to the season (this being the assassination of a tech billionaire by the titular Jackal), each episode contains its own specific goal/mission. As such, the audience usually gets to experience a degree of resolution (or, in some cases, an aborted resolution) at the end of every hour-long chapter, as opposed to being perpetually frustrated by a lack of closure.
9. Nobody Wants This – In a romantic comedy, it’s obviously important for your two main characters to have great chemistry. Kristen Bell and Adam Brody, the stellar stars of Nobody Wants This, have this in abundance. As a much-appreciated bonus – you could call it the show’s extra special secret ingredient – we also get a second pairing of actors who have equally great chemistry, albeit of the non-romantic kind, this being Justine Lupe and Timothy Simons, who play the put-upon siblings of the two leads.
8. What We Do in the Shadows – I don’t know if this is the best show in terms of line-by-line hilarity (Arrested Development, 30 Rock, and Seinfeld would all be worthy contenders of this mantle), but it might just get the prize for most consistently hilarious line readings. Matt Berry’s ability to manifest humour from even the most banal of words, such as “New York City,” is well acknowledged. I’d argue that his co-stars Kayvan Novak, Natasia Demetriou, and Mark Proksch are equally adept at spinning comedic gold from just about anything.
7. Reacher – Big, violent, limb-cracking, neck-snapping pulp at its absolute best. I hope they never stop making this show. Here’s also hoping that Alan Ritchson scales back a bit on his pre-season training, because his second-season bulk-up was too much even by Jack Reacher-standards.
6. Life & Beth – Filled with wonderful characters (all of who, no matter how seemingly incidental, are given their own special moments to shine), Amy Schumer’s quasi-autobiographical, sadly cancelled show is, as you’d expect, a very funny comedy. To its credit, it’s also more than willing to get raw and messy and uncomfortable, which is also what you’d expect from a Schumer joint.
5. Mr. and Mrs. Smith – Initially, I had no interest in watching this. I figured it was going to be just another lame, half-assed attempt to bilk an IP. Boy, was I wrong, as I was thrilled by this show’s originality. Donald Glover and the other creators fully understand the source material, and they use this knowledge to constantly subvert audience expectations to delightfully entertaining ends.
4. Slow Horses – The only person who might be having even more fun than Gary Oldman (who plays the shrewd, slobby, aggressively flatulent Jackson Lamb) in this immensely engaging show about a bunch of MI5 rejects, is Christopher Chung (who plays the wannabe douchebag/techno wiz Roddy Ho).
3. Ripley – Written and directed by Steven Zaillian and shot by Robert Elswit, this black and white adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s Ripley novels is one of the best-paced, most gorgeously photographed and composed shows I’ve ever seen.
2. Evil – I have never watched a show as exhilaratingly unpredictable as Evil. Creators Michelle and Robert King, plus actors Katja Herbers, Mike Colter, Aasif Mandvi, Michael Emerson, and Andrea Martin, deserve immense credit for fully committing to, then following through on, the show’s totally bonkers, demon-centric premise. Damn the powers-that-be for not renewing this.
1. Somebody Somewhere – As exciting as it is to watch something about, say, a superhero trying to stop the world from being destroyed, or a detective trying to catch a slippery serial killer, or a brilliant surgeon trying to cure a mysterious ailment, or a clever lawyer trying to free their client from a legal quagmire, when done right, there’s nothing more interesting than seeing a regular someone simply trying to figure out how to live their life. The stakes just don’t get any higher than that, and shows just don’t get any more imperfectly perfect than Somebody Somewhere. It boils my blood and chaps my hide that, like far too many shows on this list, it, too, will not be getting any more seasons.