Category: miscellaneous

Top 10 TV shows of the Last Decade

It’s said we are currently experiencing a Second Golden Age of TV. There are more TV shows and channels than ever before vying for our time and fandom. Below is a list of some of the best shows of the decade that are absolutely worth anyone’s time if they happened to miss out on them.

10. American Horror Story (Seasons 1-4) (2011-)

AHS is not the show it once was. It has reached a point of being just bad. However, it still needed to be included because of how strong the first few seasons were. Season 1 “Murder House” was released in 2011 and there was nothing like it that had ever been on TV. It was legitimate horror that was on our televisions, not camp, but creepy and gory horror. The different ways that people have been killed or other awful things happened to them, on FX is shocking to see. The first season deals heavily with a school shooting. The second season focuses on mental health and sexuality, which we hadn’t gotten as much as we do now. They have always been quick to address social issues. AHS went four strong seasons before going off the rails. We regularly see anthology shows that have self contained episodes or seasons such as Fargo or Modern Love now. AHS was one of the first popular shows to pioneer this format. Each season was a stand alone story that cast the same actors in different roles. Throughout these seasons, showrunner Ryan Murphy built a powerhouse regular cast that included the likes of Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, and Sarah Paulson. 

9. Watchmen (2019-)

This show was released just in time for the decade. It was difficult not to include too many late 2010’s shows but this one needed to be here. Damon Lindelof was given the keys to this IP and was told to do whatever he wanted with it. Lindelof has done some interesting things in his career with Lost and The Leftovers. Lindelof isn’t interested in answers for his shows, it’s the journey that is the actual entertainment. Watchmen takes place a few decades after the comic and movie and viewers aren’t really given a lot of direct context of where the universe is at now. It takes focus to watch this show to catch up. Lindelof made this show for himself, and lucky for us, he gets to share it with everyone. In only one season, Watchmen is able to create images which will stick with viewers for a long while. Judd Crawford, played by Don Johnson, being found at the end of the first episode; Young Looking Glass, played by Philip Labes walking out of the fun house at the beginning of episode five, I could name a dozen more here. Lindelof has said he won’t be doing a second season which is very unfortunate to hear. Hopefully, if HBO continues without them they can try to capture at least a bit of how great the first season was.

8. Big Little Lies (2017-)

The cast alone gets this show on a best show of the decade list. Imagine if someone told you 10 years ago that Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman, and Laura Dern would be on a show together. Not only was the aforementioned cast amazing, it provided excellent performances by Shailene Woodley and Zoe Kravitz who held their own sharing the screen with the giants. If the first season wasn’t impressive enough, they returned with a second season and dropped a nuclear bomb by adding Meryl Streep to the cast. Streep creates many iconic moments in the second season, but my favorite would be her screaming at the dinner table. In an age of memes and gifs being so popular, this show really churns out a lot of quality moments. Putting the cast aside, this show blends the tone, music, and message to make a high quality show that deals with timely topics around domestic abuse, assault, and harassment.

7. The Good Place (2016-2019)

The fact that the Good Place has gone four seasons, let alone aired at all is very impressive and shows the change in major network’s sensibilities to their shows. Unique and rule breaking shows such as Community struggled if they did one episode that followed a typical sitcom format. The Good Place does full seasons that bend the rules of a network sitcom and we didn’t have to worry about sudden cancellations ending their story early. Each season finds a new way to reinvent itself to keep the seemingly limited story going, but not in a desperate “keep making paychecks” way. In a world of generic half hour comedies, this show was a breath of fresh air that changed the game for future sitcoms. Ted Danson plays a character named Michael, who is not human. He is an architect of The Good Place, a place for good people to go to when they die. Eleanor, played by Kristen Bell, ends up at The Good Place. She immediately knows this is a mistake because she was a bad person on earth. All of the actors have amazing chemistry with one another, especially Kristen Bell and William Jackson Harper who plays Chidi.

6. Ozark (2017-)

My favorite way to describe Ozark is “The Perfected Anti-Hero” story. If Ozark came out in the mid-aughts we would have a season or two where Jason Bateman’s character is just a normal accountant who is presented an opportunity and over time starts becoming wrapped up in the criminal world and craziness ensues. Ozark cuts all of that. Right from the beginning, viewers are introduced to Bateman having no issue laundering money for drug cartels. It saved us from seasons/episodes of boring buildup and gets us right into the thick of the drama. The location of the show is beautiful and gets us out of the big cities that regularly accompany drug cartel shows/movies. Julia Garner’s performance needs to be mentioned, she really steals the show despite sharing the screen with established stars Laura Linney and Bateman. There is constant drama and twists that always catch the viewer off guard. I would love to list some, but want to avoid spoilers for a show that is probably pretty overlooked since it’s Netflix and they are bad at advertising. 

5. Atlanta (2016-)

Atlanta breaks all the rules of television. You will have an episode that ends in a situation that needs resolution and expect it with the next episode. Instead you’ll have two episodes that have nothing to do with the main story and are essentially stand alone episodes. Atlanta does episodes that have built in commercials that if you aren’t paying close enough attention look like legitimate commercials, not jokes. The episode this takes place in is one of the main characters Paper Boi played by Brian Tyree Henry as a guest on a local TV talk show, the entire episode of Atlanta is as if you are watching an episode of Montague, the talk show. Donald Glover has never liked rules or doing what is expected. Such as being a regular cast member on a network sitcom and quit in the middle of the run. Or following up a successful rap album with an experimental electronic album. With Atlanta, he is constantly looking to do distinctive and quirky things while also providing social commentary by highlighting issues that will have a wide audience on FX and reach demographics that it otherwise may not. FX has, rightfully, given him full creative control over this project and allows him to do whatever he wants and it has resulted in some amazing product over the last couple years. The only downside is the wait between seasons. Season 2 ended in May of 2018 and it could be the end of 2020 or 2021 before season 3 is released. 

4. Girls (2012-2017)

Girls took four privileged, millennial, mostly unlikeable women and created a very touching well crafted show that HBO showed trust in by continuing the show’s run longer than the creator expected. Lena Dunham was one of the pioneers of Mumblecore cinema and after the indie success of Tiny Furniture, HBO greenlit her show Girls. It follows the lives of four women living in New York City after college maintaining their friendship and relationships. Some of the best moments of the series are bottle episodes that feature one of the main characters in a stand alone adventure. Take for example Season 5 Episode 6 “The Panic in Central Park” where Allison Williams’ character Marnie runs into her ex Charlie, played by Christopher Abbott. The series started with them being together and Charlie being a secondary character. He was phased out after a couple seasons but brought back for an episode to see how his life has changed. The episode builds slowly as Williams is stepping out of her life for a moment, only to be met with deep disappointment in the end. Girls had a lot of great guest appearances throughout, like Patrick Wilson in another well done bottle episode “One Man’s Trash” season 2 episode 5.

3. Justified (2010-2015)

Headlined by Timothy Olyphant and Walton Goggins, this show was almost guaranteed to be a hit. The entire series centers around how Olyphant and Goggins’ characters, despite being a US Marshall and a criminal, are more alike than it appears. Olyphant and Goggins characters used to work in a coal mine together when they were younger and that kind of work builds brotherhood. Throughout the 6 seasons Olyphant is pursuing Goggins, while also thwarting other bad guys’ plans, while also having a mutual respect for each other. Justified has a very classic western feel to it that is palatable to those who aren’t fond of that genre. The very first scene of season 1 episode 1 is Olyphant shooting a drug dealer because he didn’t get out of town in the 48 hours he was given, about as classic a western sheriff trope as you can get. The series begins with a “Case of the week” feel that is much more procedural than the show becomes. Eventually, they create season long villains, who are cast very well. A couple examples of these villains are Margot Martindale (Season 2) and Michael Rapaport (Season 5). 

2. Game of Thrones (2011-2019)

Game of Thrones gets a bad rap these days. They had difficulty sticking the landing of the final season and people have really soured on it. Honestly, there is probably no way they could have ended it and made a majority of their fans happy. Regardless, the iffy ending shouldn’t negate just how important this show was. For almost the entire decade it was a driving force of discussions in popular culture. It was nearly impossible to escape all the conversations and theory surrounding each episode’s release. Fans had to watch the episodes air live so nothing was spoiled, which no longer really applies to any show due to the popularity of streaming services. Moments like The Red Wedding and Battle of the Bastards rocked the culture almost as much as real events. The Battle of the Bastards is the best battle sequence I have seen, including film. Even if you have no interest in the story, I would recommend checking this battle out just for the quality. Adding in the complex woven story, great performances, and unparalleled production quality you have an absolute hit of the decade.

1. Succession (2018-)

I went back and forth a lot on Game of Thrones or Succession taking the top spot. I ultimately had to go with this order. On the surface this show can appear shallow and frivolous. Who wants to see a bunch of rich people having problems? But rather than being a soap opera of well-to-do idiots, it’s actually a chess match of verbal sparring and wit. Throughout the two seasons, people who are part of the family, and not are all jockeying for position to succeed after the patriarch can no longer lead the family business. It’s not possible to find a weakness in the cast and just watching them all go off on camera is pure joy to watch. The MVP of the show would have to be Kieran Culkin who plays the youngest son of the family Roman Roy. He is smarmy and his delivery of insults is masterful. Succession isn’t getting the attention that it deserves yet, but with the second season being even better than the first, it will surely win some awards and get people talking about it more.

Black Mirror Season 5 is Poop

It feels like years since I have last written. Survivor ended, I wasn’t feeling writing about Bachelorette, so here I am going on my third week straight doing nothing. Big Brother doesn’t start for a couple more weeks and I wanted to bust something out to stay in practice!

Nothing has really “wow’d” me the last few weeks to write about. I mean, the Game of Thrones finale was solid. Even though everyone likes to complain and say how bad it was, you’re wrong, but that’s okay! Everyone is entitled to their opinions, even the wrong opinions ;p. Still, I didn’t really feel like writing about it. This week was particularly bad with watching things I had high hopes for and they really fell apart. I’m going to discuss the worst, so here we go!

I love the whole vibe of Black Mirror. The eeriness, the messages, the quality of the show, all really drew me in. I was a little late to the party and didn’t start watching until the first couple seasons came out, but every time new episodes come out I get pretty pumped. There are some valid concerns of the newer seasons not being as good, but I still keep watching and enjoying. Black Mirror released Bandersnatch a few months back I was blown away by the creativeness of it, despite it having some poor plot issues, was still very impressed.

All last week my girlfriend Alli and I were excitedly waiting for Wednesday so we could start checking out the new season. Wow, were we disappointed.

Striking Vipers S5E1

Striking Vipers wasn’t too bad actually. It really captured the Black Mirror feel. Crazy situation, great acting, decent writing. I wasn’t too upset with anything in the episode. It definitely still had faults with the writing and gave us some red flags but figured it wouldn’t be a trend throughout the season. The concept of VR into a fighting game was a neat take. Also, it was funny seeing our new Captain America in a Black Mirror ep. I don’t want to go in to much detail what this one is about because it’s a fun ride. Check it out!

Smithereens S5E2

This is not Black Mirror. This was an episode of some cop drama that was accidentally snuck in when it was released. Any day now we are going to get an announcement of the mix up and we will get an actual episode of the show we all love. Nothing in this episode can be considered science fiction, nor does it involve any new or weird tech.

A man kidnaps an employee of a social media company called Smithereen (Twitter) by using a rideshare app Hitcher (Lyft/Uber). They eventually end up in a police standoff where the man talks to the creator of Smithereen and explains how he looked at his phone and caused a car accident that killed his fiance. That’s it…that’s the twist. We were led to believe the drunk driver involved in the accident caused the death of his fiance, but it was him looking at his app.

The episode is just really late. Maybe if this episode came out a decade ago before distracted driving stats got as bad as they are, it would be more impactful. Black Mirror just prides itself so much on being ahead of the curve on technology and social criticism but instead ended up sounding like a grandparent scolding their grandchild before they hit the road. In 2014, Black Mirror made us consider if a copied computer program personality of ourselves being forced to program our house is ethical or not (White Christmas). That same show is now giving us “back in my day kids weren’t so into their phones!”. Lazy take.

Rachel, Jack and Ashley Too S5E3

Lol…….What a steaming pile of crap.

For the record. I like Miley. I don’t want my criticism of this to come off as an uninspired “he didn’t like it because he doesn’t like Miley!”. Credit where credit is due, it sure did a hell of a lot better than Smithereens where it was actually about technology. My issue with Smithereens is that it wasn’t an episode of Black Mirror, but it was at least a cohesive story and for an episode of NCIS: London, it is serviceable. This episode is just nonsensical. Multiple times throughout the episode Alli and I looked at each other like “what the fuck is happening…?” Alli even compared it to a Lifetime movie.

It’s about a 15-year-old, named Rachel, who is way too obsessed with a pop star played by Miley Cyrus. Miley’s character doesn’t want to sing the meaningless pop songs anymore, but at the same time, her manager/Aunt is releasing little robot doll versions of the singer, called Ashley Too. When Miley reveals to her aunt she doesn’t want to sing this anymore, her aunt slips pills into Miley’s food, putting her into an “irreversible coma” and extracts songs from her unconscious mind. Somehow, the 15-year-old and her sister unlock the robot so that it becomes Miley’s full consciousness, and they work together to expose the aunt.

When I was watching these episodes I didn’t take notes, so I won’t have as much detail in my complaints as I would normally like, but this episode had a few that were so glaring I didn’t need notes. Black Mirror does a lot of amazing stories. Their attention to detail is something I always admire when watching older eps. The season as a whole suffers from some of the attention to detail aspects, but this one especially.

To touch on a few:

One of the biggest examples was when they unlocked the Ashley Too robot to reveal all of Miley’s consciousness in it. Rachel’s sister is an angsty teen who plays guitar. Nothing about her makes it seem like she has any tech skill. In order to make the Ashley Too robot into a fully functioning conscious person, they plugged it into the computer, saw a red dot, highlighted it, and pressed delete. The idea being that literally not a single person plugged their robot into a computer and saw an obvious error looking red dot. None of these people thought to highlight it and press delete? Maybe Rachel’s robot was different than the rest, but we wouldn’t know because there is nothing implying this.

After Rachel, her sister, and the Ashley Too robot wake up Ashley (Miley), they need to rush to thwart her aunt who is revealing a hologram version of Ashley so they can still perform. There is almost no establishment of stakes. When the aunt’s accomplice finds Ashley awake, but secured to the bed she tells him to put her back to sleep, that she needs to be alive until after “they sign”. Whatever that means. Once Rachel and company knock out the accomplice, they pile a severely atrophied Ashley to their truck and fly through traffic doing all sorts of dangerous stunts, being chased by police to bust into the stadium for the grand reveal. There is literally no reason for them to rush there. Why not call the police right from the house when Ashley was saved? When the police were chasing them, why not stop? Everyone in the world knows who this pop star is and how she has been in a coma. Explain to the officer what her aunt did. Episode is done.

These are only a couple of the many examples of how the entire episode was so sloppily written. There is no care or thought into the writing to make an actual interesting story. It’s as if they were able to cast Miley and were so excited, the story didn’t actually matter as long as they could cram her image and voice in as much as possible.

At this point I’m having a hard time having any excitement for the potential of a 6th season. I thought I remembered seeing this was going to be their last, but I can’t find anything confirming that now. I just hope that if they do another season they will try a lot harder than this to get back to what they are capable of. We actually ended up watching White Christmas right after we finished the season because we needed to enjoy an actual great episode of the show.

That’s all folks! I was considering writing about Ma which we saw on Saturday and that was a shit show of a story, but I decided to stay on just one topic today. Hopefully you made it through the season unharmed and we will wait nervously together for the next season. Watch Big Little Lies season 2 premiere tonight and I’m sure you’ll feel a lot better! Bye!