April-June
Each year, I make a quarterly breakdown of the 10 best television series, leading to a top 20 for the year. To be considered next quarter: The Righteous Gemstones, On Becoming a God in Central Florida, Mr. Inbetween and virtually everything that's been streaming the last couple of months. I'm behind.
1. Succession (HBO)
2. Fleabag (Amazon)
3. Euphoria (HBO)
4. The Loudest Voice (Showtime)
5. Years and Years (HBO)
6. Easy (Netflix)
7. Last Chance U (Netflix)
8. Dead to Me (Netflix)
9. Baskets (FX)
10. Cobra Kai (YouTube)
If you regularly read my quarterly rankings (weird) a common refrain is that Show X had 8 good episodes in it or a full season, but then started to slide. That's dog bites man, I appreciate, but when you watch enough television, particularly in an era where there is a lot of content, it's an unavoidable pattern.
Succession is not that. Succession improved steadily over the course of S1 and has been better than that in S2. We'll see how things finish up as there are multiple episodes to go, but it sure feels like the best show on television.
That's an upset - because at the end of Fleabag S2 (which was the best show on television in it's first season) I would have given it the trophy. It remains the best half hour, although I did prefer the first season; it had a level of immediacy that just can't be recaptured. It gets tougher after that as the next three shows really could be ordered in any way. I went Euphoria for fearlessness, the Roger Ailes show for the unbelievable Russell Crowe performance, and then Years and Years, which correctly centered popular resistance as the only way through fascism and is the sharpest portraryal of our current historical moment which I've seen.
Easy is unusual; it's been an inessential program in prior seasons - and then suddenly turned into a good companion for a terrific anthology like High Maintenance. I'm a sucker for a sports documentary; Last Chance U remains strong. Dead to Me was a little broad, but a lot of fun to watch. Baskets finished up it's run - and Cobra Kai had enough good moments (every time Billy Zabka's on the screen) to slide into that last spot. I don't know if they've got Elisabeth Shue for a season three, but that would be a heck of a good idea.
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