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: Cobra Kai, Dead to Me, Fleabag, Easy, Sneaky Pete and any show which is just beginning its season now.
1. Pen15 (Hulu)
2. Barry (HBO)
3. Better Things (FX)
4. Superstore (NBC)
5. Shrill (Hulu)
6. Catastrophe (Amazon)
7. Fosse/Verdon (FX)
8. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (NBC)
9. Veep (HBO)
10. The Adventures of Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
The Pen15 conceit, adult women playing very young teenagers is super creepy in concept (and a little creepy in execution) but gives the show a pathos that appropriately aged actors would find it hard to find. Barry maintained its season one level of excellence, which is a real test for late period premium television. There's nothing on TV at the same frequency as Better Things; it has developed its own mood. Shrill was a lively debut, telling a rarely heard story. The joke telling on Superstore has remained strong and the show really reclaimed its political sensibility in a particularly impactful fashion, those politics keep it the stronger half to its also funny companion Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Fosse/Verdon is the only hour long that makes this quarter's list (considered, Killing Eve, Black Mirror, Billions) the lead performances and an able look at process carries it. And the three series that wrapped up - Catastrophe kept more of its value than did Veep or Kimmy Schmidt, the later two on a noticeable slide (in Veep's case, since the departure of the show's creator, in Kimmy's case, since S1; both shows make it though, unlike Arrested Development, which was mistyfingly not funny).
