‘Agatha All Along’
The best Marvel TV show (WandaVision) got the best follow-up to date, as the great Kathryn Hahn reprised her role as the evil (or at least wildly self-involved) witch, Agatha Harkness. From the Mare of Easttown parody that kicked off the season, to the brilliant and moving episode which sent Patti freaking LuPone’s Lilia ping-ponging through her own memories, AAA delivered a small, specific and highly idiosyncratic peek into one dark corner of the Marvel Universe. — Glen Weldon
Where: Disney+
Genre: Comedy, Kid Friendly, Science Fiction and Fantasy
This new adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel The Talented Mr. Ripley relied on outstanding work from star Andrew Scott as well as stunning black-and-white cinematography. This is an older, darker Tom than the one Matt Damon played in 1999, but he’s just as frightening and manipulative. A stretch of almost 20 wordless minutes in the third episode that deals with the logistics of murder was one of the most inventive and darkly funny things I saw this year. — Linda Holmes
Where: Netflix
Genre: Drama, Horror and Thriller
On the surface, it’s still yet another Batman-without-Batman show. But spend even a few minutes with it, and it starts to reveal new, satisfying depths. The central performances of Colin Farrell (as mob underboss Oz Cobb) and Cristin Milioti (as the would-be head of a crime family) are given room to breathe, and complicate, and surprise. The world of Gotham is pulpy but psychologically complex in ways that have nothing to do with a weirdo who dresses up at night to punch crime in the face. — Glen Weldon
Where: Max, Video on demand
Genre: Drama, Science Fiction and Fantasy
‘Photographer’
For those tempted to dismiss National Geographic shows as televised coffee table books, this series shatters those assumptions with revealing tales on the lives and work of seven astoundingly talented visual artists. My favorite story: Paul Nicklen, who was raised among Inuit people in the Arctic, and Cristina Mittermeier, who grew up in Mexico City and faced down racism and sexism throughout her career, have become a couple hailed as iconic ocean photographers, fooling oil rig workers to get crucial, breathtaking photos. — Eric Deggans
Where: Disney+, Hulu
Genre: Biography, Documentary
‘True Detective: Night Country’
Rising above this anthology’s inconsistent history and some inexplicably ungrateful critiques from its creator, Nic Pizzolatto, director/showrunner Issa López crafted a brilliant fourth season centered on Indigenous culture and women, while tipping a hat to the origins of a notoriously male-centered franchise. López also gave us the spellbinding team of Jodie Foster and Kali Reis as two misanthropic officers forced to rely on each other in a way that was groundbreaking and indelible. — Eric Deggans
Where: Max, Video on demand
Genre: Action, Drama, Horror and Thriller
Cate Blanchett is dynamite as a woman who receives a mysterious self-published novel in the mail and realizes the story is based on a terrible memory she’s tried to forget. She struggles to keep the incident from resurfacing and destroying her life with her husband and son, while unbeknownst to her, the man who sent the book to her (Kevin Kline) closes in. The series explores the slipperiness of what’s true and false, and the notion that people live in different realities based on the information they have. — Linda Holmes
Where: Apple TV/Apple TV+
Genre: Drama, Horror and Thriller
Any therapist worth their salt would strongly advise against coercing estranged family members to help process your childhood trauma for a prestige docuseries. But Jerrod Carmichael admits that the camera has always been his security blanket, and for that, we get this fascinating, maddening portrait of a Black queer artist who wants desperately to repair his familial relationships. It’s unclear whether this was good for Carmichael, but it just might have helped someone else watching at home. — Aisha Harris
Where: Max
Genre: Biography, Documentary
After bubbling under the radar, Mickey Down and Konrad Kay’s pulpy melodrama finally had its Brat moment, and it couldn’t have happened in a more bonkers season. The fictional investment bank Pierpoint faced rocky institutional challenges, while Gen Z upstarts Yas (Marisa Abela), Harper (Myha’la), and Robert (Harry Lawtey) all encountered death in a myriad of ways. In a show about strivers, there were obvious winners and losers; by the end of the season, it was less clear who, if anyone, maintained any semblance of a soul. — Aisha Harris
Where: Max
Genre: Drama
This was the biggest swing the TV industry took this year: A sprawling series, set in feudal Japan, centered on the politics of the time, while de-centering the perspective of the British sailor at the heart of the James Clavell novel and 1980 miniseries. Thanks to towering performances from Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada, along with note-perfect work from an army of writers, artisans and technicians, Shōgun is an affecting, landmark drama about duty, love, culture and changing times. — Eric Deggans
Where: FX, Hulu, Disney+
Genre: Action, Drama, History
The funniest show on TV — FX’s vampire mockumentary — is going out with a bang, as the world’s most feckless vamps are seized with a renewed sense of purpose. Their new focus takes them variously into corporate America, monster-making, flailing attempts at world conquest and (shudder) the world of Airbnb. These characters aren’t the sort to learn and change, but the final season is making room for small moments of sweetness amid the ever-growing body count. — Glen Weldon
Where: FX, Hulu
Genre: Comedy, Science Fiction and Fantasy, Horror and Thriller
Donald Glover and Maya Erskine have developed distinct comic identities, including on their respective shows Atlanta and PEN15. Here, they play a pair of spies who don’t know each other but are recruited for a project that sends them undercover, posing as a married couple. As they complete missions, a real relationship emerges, but it’s constantly imperiled by all that they don’t know about each other. A cool and sexy comedy-drama-thriller that’s delicious throughout. — Linda Holmes
Where: Prime Video
Genre: Action, Comedy, Drama, Romance
‘Rachel Bloom: Death, Let Me Do My Special’
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t all that long ago, but the passage of time can lend itself to forgetting or ignoring. Rachel Bloom’s poignant special is a necessary reminder that the scars from that period never fully disappear. In it, through humor and musical numbers (of course), and with a little help from a Crazy Ex-Girlfriend co-star, she candidly addresses becoming a mother in the early days of lockdown and the sudden passing of her friend and collaborator Adam Schlesinger. — Aisha Harris
Where: Netflix
Genre: Biography, Comedy, Drama, Music and Musicals
‘A Man on the Inside’
Michael Schur knows how to balance heartwarming comedy with sharp, irreverent observations, and this project is no different. Here he reteams up with his The Good Place star Ted Danson, who plays Charles, a lonely retired widower hired by a private investigator to be a mole at a senior living facility. Charles is meant to be on the hunt for stolen jewelry, but he befriends the quirky residents while learning to cope with aging and grief. Great cast (including Sally Struthers!), delightful, and moving. — Aisha Harris
Where: Netflix
Genre: Comedy, Drama
‘Fantasmas’
Gay hamsters. A cowgirl toilet. A litigious North Pole elf. Julio Torres’ comedy series Fantasmas is ostensibly about his character’s search for an earring he lost at a NYC nightclub. But it’s also stuffed with absurd characters and situations that have no business cohering — that would, on any other show, fight for our attention. Not so here, because every aspect first passes through the filter of Torres’ comic sensibility. Happily, that sensibility turns out to be an offbeat and idiosyncratic one. — Glen Weldon
Where: Max, Video on demand
Genre: Comedy
‘Shrinking’ Season 2
This affecting comedy moved beyond the simple pleasures of its first season, which unleashed ace players like Jessica Williams and Michael Urie while deftly leveraging Harrison Ford’s legendary crustiness. For Season 2, we got a potent take on forgiveness, as Jason Segel’s psychotherapist character meets the guy who killed his wife in a drunk driving accident, played by Ted Lasso alum Bret Goldstein. That doesn’t sound particularly sidesplitting, that’s true. But somehow, they found the funny to accompany the painful reach toward acceptance. — Eric Deggans
Where: Apple TV/Apple TV+
Genre: Comedy
No other series on TV can make as much out of a fart joke. But it’s not just the flatulence from Gary Oldman’s deliberately slovenly MI-5 agent Jackson Lamb that is so compelling; it’s how he uses that sloppiness to disguise his dedication to the misfit agents under his command, especially Jack Lowden’s River Cartwright. When River’s granddad, a magnetic Jonathan Pryce, is caught in crisis while suffering dementia, the only thing that could ratchet up the drama actually happens: Hugo Weaving appears as River’s toxic dad. — Eric Deggans
Where: Apple TV/Apple TV+
Genre: Action, Drama, Horror and Thriller
It was inevitable that the flurry of documentaries revisiting ’90s pop culture would reach Nickelodeon’s kids TV empire. Investigation Discovery’s series explored allegations of toxic work environments fostered by superstar producer Dan Schneider on series like All That and The Amanda Show. It also sparked headlines as former Drake & Josh star Drake Bell detailed the sexual abuse he suffered by a dialogue coach at the channel. (Schneider has since apologized for some behavior, but also denied other allegations and sued the series producers and Warner Bros. Discovery for defamation, claiming the show unfairly implies he was involved in abuse.) — Eric Deggans
Where: Max, Discovery+, Video on demand
Genre: Documentary
‘Hacks’ Season 3
This may have been the strongest season yet of Hacks, because it stepped away from the idea that Deborah (Jean Smart) and Ava (Hannah Einbinder) are constantly at war and made them — for now — allies and friends. The sharpness of the dialogue continues to delight, and the fact that both women are lovable and flawed (and less mean to each other) goes a long way. While a twist at the end of the season seems to risk a disappointing reset in their relationship, this show has earned the benefit of the doubt. — Linda Holmes
Where: Max
Genre: Comedy
‘Fight Night: Million Dollar Heist’
Pulling together a blaxploitation-inspired, gangster-fueled series with heavyweights like Terrence Howard, Taraji P. Henson, Don Cheadle, Samuel L. Jackson and Kevin Hart is an achievement. But using them to tell the true story of the dopest heist you never heard of — when powerful Black gangsters got robbed after watching a 1970 Muhammad Ali fight in Atlanta? With Jackson as a fire-breathing Black Godfather and Hart as a fast-talking hustler? That is pure, uncut TV genius. — Eric Deggans
Where: Peacock, Prime Video, Video on demand
Genre: Action, Drama
Set in a fantasy world where hyper-competent government officials fight disaster free of toxic partisan politics, Netflix’s series found new territory this year. West Wing alum Allison Janney was a surprisingly sharp vice president, complicating efforts by Keri Russell’s no-nonsense ambassador to uncover a conspiracy inside the British government. With scene-stealing performances from Rory Kinnear as the U.K.’s insufferable prime minister, it all built to a diabolically transformative twist ending. — Eric Deggans
