As the television landscape keeps expanding outward, these are the shows that are pushing it forward.
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If it can pull off all three, even better.
What every selected series has in common is an interest in pushing the boundaries of the medium forward.
JenChaneysTop10Shows
10.Reservation Dogs(FX onHulu)
10.
But this time its actually true.Reservation Dogsis not like any other show on television.
9.Work in Progress(Showtime)
9.
OUR BAD, begins one of her ditched drafts and Abbys earnest desire to be a better ally.
Its a comfort that is not afraid to deal with the uncomfortable.
8.The Underground Railroad(Prime Video)
8.
Along the way, Jenkins captures imagery that ranges from gorgeous to brutal.
7.Hacks(HBO Max)
7.
Hacksis a show about a well-known stand-up comedian, but its comedy is not rooted in stand-up.
The dynamic between Einbinder and Smart crackles with love-hate energy as they approach and retreat from vulnerable places together.
(A favorite, from Ava: Everyone in L.A. has such great style.
I cant tell whos Haim and whos just three people.)
Her performance takes an already really good show and makes it something that should not be missed.
6.Evil(Paramount+)
6.
Emerson is always good, but in this season ofEvilhe acts his face off.
5.Mare of Easttown(HBO)
5.
That sitcom is one of the best ones that appeared on TV this year.
It was a place where you lived for one hour, every week, untilits shattering finalewas finished.
4.WandaVision(Disney+)
4.
As this year comes to a close, some of us may be feelinga bit of MCU fatigue.
But think back to the beginning of this year and the spark of joyWandaVisionignited when it arrived on Disney+.
Under the supervision of showrunnerJac Schaefer, there was a slight taste of the usual Marvel.
made this the first must-watch show of 2021 and one worth returning to in the years ahead.
3.The Other Two(HBO Max)
3.
(Carys an aspiring actor, Brooke a talent manager).
2.The White Lotus(HBO)
2.
There are a lot of metrics critics can use to determine which shows wind up on their top-ten lists.
But the truth is that what puts one series in, say, the No.
6 spot vs. No.
2 or 3 is a little arbitrary.
One consideration I take into account is: How quickly did I want to devour the episodes?
In this case the answer is: really fast.
1.We Are Lady Parts(Peacock)
1.
Why is this British series about an all-female Muslim punk band at the top of this list?
For a lot of reasons, but two that really pushed it into the No.
And pure, simple (albeit fleeting) happiness felt like a precious commodity in 2021.
Every one of them is gorgeous and real and the opposite of a stereotype.
(At least as I did.)
My only complaint about this series is that I do not have more of it to watch.
Two characters [redacted] on the [redacted]!
Wearing only [redacted]!It took me hours to recover.
Nevertheless, there are few shows that are this good at running in place.
This season is also notable forthe excruciating sadnessof the family court jester, Tom Wambsgans (Matthew Macfadyen).
Tom keeps season three from losing sight of the consequences.
Its careful hold on the humor only deepens its depictions of grief and longing.
(Plus, it has the best guest-casting game on TV.)
Still, it is rare to find an adaptation quite this exquisite.
Every beat of it is considered, every sweater and muddy puddle and recalcitrant-looking hog is filmed with care.
More and more of the new releases are slipshod or underbaked, and some are out-and-out appalling.
If only more docuseries were made with such diligence and grace.
What makesUnderground Railroadfeel so distinct, though, is how intensely it insists on moments of pause.
It invites the viewer to experience the characters gaze, to see the characters beyond their too-simple symbolic meanings.
What couldve been a headlong race through trauma and terror becomes meditative and contemplative.
2.Reservation Dogs(FX on Hulu)
By its second episode,Reservation Dogsis clearly something remarkable.
1.Station Eleven(HBO Max)
For so many reasons,Station Elevenshould be a disaster.
It is an adaptation of a pandemic novel at a time of peak pandemic exhaustion.
It skips around a timeline, uninterested in signposting its way through the complicated, oblique connections between characters.
It feels like a gift.
), the fluffiness of a perfectly cooked omelet.
(Plus, an interior life for Rahul Kohlis Muslim sheriff!)
Watching is recommended; eating before watching (especially before the standalone siege episode), not so much.
every time he appears on screen inFor All Mankind, a full decade afterThe Killing.
5.I Think You Should Leave(Netflix)
I dont even want to be around anymore.
4.The Underground Railroad(Prime Video)
Prime Video fumbled the bag onThe Underground Railroadrelease strategy.
With its final message of self-forgiveness,Mare of Easttownshowed us the peace in letting go.
The White Lotuswas never really a story about the haves and have-nots.
There has never been a show likeWe Are Lady Parts.
Smart about everything, including the fine points of the creative process.
Terrence Malick never made a sports movie, but if he did, it might feel like this.
Many of those selections appear above in our top-ten picks.
Its an indictment of the society that makes them suffer, but its also a celebration of their joy.
Contestants were still extremely competitive, but they were also collegial, and open to learning.
Its true that the finale has come witha sour twist; nothing is ever perfectly sweet in reality television.
Things needed to happen; there was an impulse to have driving events for its characters to respond to.
What more could you possibly ask for in a TV show?
At its worst, it can be exploitative and gross, and even decent ones tend to be performative.
that theyve been aching for since season one.
Given how intense this show has always been, thats saying something.
And thats the point.
The songs are loaded with perfectly dumb lines so what are you waitingfive?
while also being uncannily good takeoffs of the mid-aughts girl group sound theyre spoofing.
Sara Bareilles is great as the slightly off-kilter straight woman.
The writing is sharp, and the whole show is both nimble and dense.
If you havent checked it out yet, truly, whatareyou waiting five?
JC
In Treatment
Its always worth watching Uzo Aduba, in anything.
Its hard to walk away with any scene anchored by Uzo Aduba, but Ramos absolutely does.
KVA
Master of None
The third season ofMaster of Nonebears little resemblance to the previous two.
But Ansaris Dev only appears on-camera a few times.
Its one of the best episodes that 2021 andMaster of Nonehave produced.
Oh, you cant?
What am I, Osaka asks at one point, if Im not a good tennis player?
As you move through the three episodes, it feels as though youre moving through the world with Osaka.
JC
Schmigadoon!
Sincere, heart-on-your-sleeve, utterly corny musicals are a polarizing genre.
Theres also something magnetic about a show that owns its earnestness.
Being trapped in Schmigadoon does seem like a nightmare, but spending six episodes withSchmigadoon!is just lovely.
To its immense credit, season two ofTed Lassochooses a different path.
It makes an already good show richer and more complex.
Its too many things, especially for a short six-episode season.
JC
Maid
Its one thing to depict what its like to live in poverty.
Its a whole other thing to make an entire audience feel the nonstop stress of being poor.
But showrunner Molly Smith Metzler and the rest of theMaidteam commit to coating absolutely nothing in sugar.
JC
The Baby-Sitters Club
The first season of the Netflix adaptation ofThe Baby-Sitters Clubwas a surprise.
It was more assured, warmer, more lovingly made than expected.
Pen15
Middle school is often brutal and sometimes bittersweet.
Love U 4 Eva, Mai and Na.
JC
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