"The new golden age of TV" continued to deliver in 2019, with the sad asterisk being a whole lot of great shows came to an end this past year. With a kajillion new streaming services launching and more competition than ever, it'll be harder than ever for new offerings to become breakout hits. Will 2020 rise to the challenge? For now, let's look at my faves for one of the best years in television history:
9. The Good Place (NBC) - Mike Schur is a sitcom visionary, and The Good Place could well be his opus. It's funny. Really funny. Like, pee your pants funny. But behind the laughs beats a show with a massive brain and bold heart that holds a mirror to society and gets SERIOUSLY deep about what it means to be a good person in the modern era. At times silly and goofy, at times an emotional rollercoaster, there's truly nothing else like it. When it ends its run later this year, it'll leave a hole that won't be filled until Schur's NEXT project gets unveiled.
8. Life in Pieces (CBS) - Shame on CBS for never giving Life in Pieces a fair shake. This smart, sharp family sitcom was seldom given a good timeslot to shine, and when they burned through the final season in two episode bursts, the axe of cancellation was inevitable. What a shame, because it was a real gem. Originally written off as a copycat of ABC's Modern Family, Life in Pieces flourished while Modern Family floundered. I hope the reruns land on a streaming service where others can discover and love it as much as the show deserves.
7. His Dark Materials (HBO) - No matter how much the theme song and title credits may try to mimic it, His Dark Materials is not the natural successor to Game of Thrones -- but it's still awfully good. This year, HBO and the BBC gave the big-budget treatment to the acclaimed young adult novels of Philip Pullman, and it didn't disappoint. Stylish, dark, and full of wonder, it's a world you can lose yourself in, whether you're a young adult or a grown man-boy laying on his couch on an otherwise boring Monday night.
6. Silicon Valley (HBO) - HBO took a hit this year with the final bows of pretty much all its beloved shows. Silicon Valley was an especially hard loss, as I can't imagine a world where I no longer get to root for the hapless losers of Pied Piper as they wade through the pitfalls and trappings of the modern tech world. The finale (a word that still pains me to think of with this show) was especially perfect and poignant, but that's about all I can say without spoiling things.
5. Game of Thrones (HBO) - Okay, so the finale wasn't everything we wanted it to be. But even at its worst, Game of Thrones flew fire-breathing circles around most everything else on TV. People don't get worked up over a show's ending unless the show was truly something special. In the wrong hands, Game of Thrones could have been little more than "hot babes on dragons." Instead, we fell deep into the world of Westeros and the greatest fantasy epic since "Lord of the Rings." Every episode was a mini-movie that cost more to make than your average theatrical release. The bar of television will forever be raised. Game of Thrones (as well as most of its characters) is dead. Long live Game of Thrones.
4. Rick and Morty (Adult Swim) - Despite having been renewed until basically the end of time, Justin Roiland and Dan Harmon only release new episodes of Rick & Morty when they're good and ready, and the wait always seems to pay off. With its trademark lightning-fast jokes within jokes within jokes that are actually meta-commentaries about television, society, and life, Rick & Morty remains the most inventive and clever show on TV.
3. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (The CW) - Who would have thought that a light-hearted musical comedy-drama about mental illness would survive four seasons on network television? All credit must go to the CW, who listened to the critics and kept renewing Crazy Ex-Girlfriend despite cultishly low ratings. But what a cult to be a member of! Challenging social stigma through song and dance is a tough order, but co-creator and star Rachel Bloom somehow made it work. Despite a perfect finale, I keep writing fifth season plotlines in my head, but I can't carry a tune half as good as Rachel.
2. Los Espookys (HBO) - What on Earth IS this show? Created by stars Ana Fabrega and the hilariously deadpan SNL writer Julio Torres, Los Espookys was the weirdest thing on TV in 2019. Set in a never-identified Latin American country, the always subtitled half-English, half-Spanish sitcom centers around a group of down-on-their-luck friends who turn their love of horror movies into a business, providing lo-fi campy frights for profit. It's absurd gothic fun fueled by tenderness and charm. Somehow, some way, it got renewed for a second season and I can't wait.
1. Sex Education (Netflix) - Not nearly as tawdry as the title suggests, the best show of 2019 was a sleeper hit on Netflix whose second season arrives in just a couple weeks. It's a coming-of-age story centered around Otis, an inexperienced high schooler who's smitten with Maeve, the class rebel. She's the only one who knows Otis' secret: his mom (played with glee and gusto by Gillian Anderson) is a famous outspoken sex therapist. Maeve hatches a plan to turn Otis' lineage into cash by making him the school sex guru, dispensing paid advice from a run-down lavatory. The subject matter gets a little racy, but it's a funny show with morality and a HUGE heart. Purposely vague in both setting and era (the kids are British, but the town looks like New England and they wear American letter jackets), it's the kind of show I'd imagine John Hughes putting a hearty stamp of approval on. It was the best thing I saw all year.
Dear 2020, bring it. Sincerely, your favorite couch potato.
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