There Was Almost Too Much TV in 2023. Here’s the Best of the Best.
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In a year of almost too much television, assembling a list of the best of the best to watch was daunting, to say the least. Shows wrapped and new fan favorites emerged, altogether forming a delectable grab bag of CGI-infused fantasy romps and period pieces with extravagant sets and ornate craftsmanship.
From a historical standpoint, the year also saw seismic shifts across the television landscape, as networks consolidated, unions went on strike, and Max’s catalog continued to raise more questions than it ever answered. On that same network, hits like Barry and How To With John Wilson wrapped, while The Gilded Age and And Just Like That… reemerged with triumphant second seasons. On Netflix, One Piece defied all odds as the landmark live-action adaptation of a worldwide anime sensation.
As the winter break looms, and the sheer amount of television released this year threatens to overwhelm even the most serious of viewers, Bazaar has curated a helpful list of the very best programming on offer on screens everywhere.
Abbott Elementary
While Abbott Elementary’s second season technically premiered in 2022, it ran through April 2023, so I’m including it because I have total authority here and it’s a fantastic show to boot. After the first season catapulted Quinta Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph onto lists of Hollywood’s new power players, the second season continued that winning streak. Set in a predominantly Black Philadelphia public school, the ABC series follows teacher Janine (Brunson) as she contends with rowdy kids and equally rowdy co-workers.
Barry
If you heard collective wailing near the end of May, that was likely television critics across the world mourning the end of Barry. Created by Alec Berg and Bill Hader, the HBO series stars Hader in the title role, as a traumatized soldier turned hit man. When an assignment lands Barry in an acting class in Los Angeles, he soon finds himself—and everyone he comes into contact with—pulled into his web of lies, suffering, and death. Beyond its often shocking plot elements, however, the show is also an incisive commentary on gun culture, the evils of war, and Hollywood itself.
Beef
Beef burned bright and hot upon release, bulldozing the internet with takes, discourse, and infighting about its plot and characters. Centered on a road-rage incident that slowly unravels everyone involved, the Netflix show made such a dramatic impression for a reason.
And Just Like That…
Controversial take: And Just Like That… is actually good, if you consider it a horror story about being cursed to live in Manhattan as an extravagantly rich author who writes grocery-store romance novels. I kid, of course, but the Max series received mixed reactions from fans who expected Carrie Bradshaw’s long-awaited return to television to be like Sex and the City. While the first season struggled to overcome the restrictions of the early COVID-19 pandemic, season two hits its stride, and features enough memorable outfits for the revival to qualify as appointment television each week.
Dead Ringers
This spooky Prime Video miniseries based on the classic Cronenberg flick stars Rachel Weisz as twin gynecologists whose procedures on infertile women push the limits of science, morality, and humanity itself. Creepy, gruesome, and only six episodes long, Dead Ringers makes for a perfect weekend binge.
How To With John Wilson
While it’s not a scripted show like the others on this list, the HBO docuseries might as well be, given how outlandish Wilson’s life becomes over the course of its three seasons. Each episode features a supposed self-help guide to a particular topic, but Wilson and his subjects rarely stay on message for very long. Besides the humor and ridiculous documentary footage, though, How To is also a deeply moving portrait of humanity, and of life in New York City.
I’m a Virgo
Having cemented himself as one of the most innovative filmmakers of our age, Boots Riley had to go and make a TV show. Created and directed by Riley, the Prime Video series centers on the life of a 13-foot-tall teenager in Oakland whose parents hide him away from the outside world until his identity is accidentally uncovered. Sheltered his whole life, he seizes the opportunity to learn what the real world is all about.
Minx
Raise your hand if you have a crush on Jake Johnson. If yours is up, you’ve been drafted to watch Starz cult favorite Minx. The show started on Max, was briefly canceled, and then moved to a new network during Discovery’s confusing shakeup of its digital catalog. As such, Minx got slightly lost in the shuffle, which is a shame, considering it’s some of the best television in recent memory. Set in 1970s L.A., it follows the exploits of an eager feminist and a scummy publisher as they create a porn magazine for women.
One Piece
One Piece came out of nowhere this year—except for readers of the long-running manga by Eiichiro Oda, like myself. The barrier to entry with manga and anime are sometimes too difficult to overcome, for whatever reason, so Netflix helpfully air-dropped this live-action adaptation into people’s living rooms. The premise: Luffy is a boy who wants to grow up and be king of pirates in a world where an authoritarian military controls the high seas. Gradually, he enlists a crew of lovable weirdos to tag along on his quest to find the fabled One Piece and achieve his dream. Netflix’s take, which Oda oversaw, is slightly condensed, with various plot elements rewritten for the silver screen. But the classic tale of swashbuckling pirates with supernatural abilities is still as good as ever.
Poker Face
Leave it to Rian Johnson to singlehandedly reinvigorate the episodic murder mystery! Poker Face stars Natasha Lyonne as a woman on the run with the unique ability to tell, unfailingly, when people are lying. Each episode of the Peacock series centers a new murder slash mystery, with a cast of legendary actors and setups even Agatha Christie herself might feel stumped by.
Reservation Dogs
Hulu and FX’s breakthrough series about the life of Indigenous teens in rural Oklahoma entered its third and final season this year, leaving fans on a bittersweet high note. No spoilers, of course, but the premise is simple: A group of teenagers decide there are bigger things out there for them than life in their small Muscogee Nation community, and set out to steal and scrounge to get themselves to California. Of course, nothing is that simple—but it’s about the journey itself, right?
Somebody Somewhere
Bridget Everett’s poignant, uproariously hilarious Somebody Somewhere is also partially autobiographical. Based on her life in Kansas before breaking through in television and theater, the HBO show is stacked with comedic standouts: Jeff Hiller, Murray Hill, Mary Catherine Garrison, Tim Badgley, and Everett herself. When Everett’s Sam moves back home to help her family after the death of her sister, she encounters a secretive, queer performance troupe masquerading as a late-night church gathering. Needless to say, that fateful meeting changes the course of her life, and the community around her, forever.
The Gilded Age
There is something so satisfying about Carrie Coon and Christine Baranski doing some of their best character work ever in ridiculous costumes against ridiculous backdrops. Were I asked to explain the plot of The Gilded Age, I’d say the HBO series had something to do with 1880s New York City high society, and the war between the old money and the new. Beyond that, my brain starts to fizzle out, as I’m too preoccupied with the cast and what they look like onscreen each week.
The Righteous Gemstones
The Righteous Gemstones is one of the most underrated comedies in modern television history, and I’m not afraid to say it again for those in the back. The HBO cult fave comes courtesy of the now-legendary group of North Carolina School of the Arts alums that includes Danny McBride, David Gordon Green, and Jody Hill, and is an explosive satire of Southern televangelists and evangelical grifts. Centering on the Gemstone family of preachers, each season ups the ante in truly ridiculous ways. It’s can’t-miss TV!
What We Do in the Shadows
Based on Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement’s movie of the same name, FX’s What We Do in the Shadows is gruesome, hilarious, and fabulously costumed. Set on Staten Island, the mockumentary follows a crew as they capture the going-ons of vampires in a dilapidated mansion, assisted by a troubled, vampire-obsessed butler.
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