best AND THE TV SHOWS OF 2018 ARE ...

There have never been more options on television. It’s worth keeping this in mind while reading from the end-of-year bemoaning that this year’s crop of series has been a sorry display. Truth be told: there’s simply too much to make a call. Any concept of “catching up” was left behind in 2017. From animation to drama to even procedural, the options are limitless as cable and streaming networks continue to duke it out in not only the battle for the best but the most.

While that certainly leaves a lot of space for a lot of trash (of which we saw plenty this year), there have also been dozens of gems. Here’s a smattering of the best:

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Barry (Crave) It’s long been said that the greatest comic talents have the deepest reserves of drama. In Barry, Bill Hader plays a depressed assassin who follows his latest target into an acting class, suddenly propelling him into dreams of a new life as a (very bad) actor. That is, if the mob who hired him lets him go. It’s a delicious new era for Hader, who captures a man seemingly devoid of emotion, so desensitized to the crime around him.

10 Pose (FX Canada) Pose is a visual, musical and poetic feast of personality. One of Ryan Murphy’s many television offspring, it tells the tale of the New York City drag scene in the late ‘80s. The AIDS epidemic lingers as we watch the poor and the privileged intersect behind closed doors with a genuine, un-exploitative eye. Pose also happens to feature the largest LBGTQ ensemble ever gathered for a scripted series, with Mj Rodriguez, Dominique Jackson and Indya Moore, all trans women of colour, leading the way. Each episode packs an emotional punch.

9 A Very English Scandal Forget Mary Poppins. The greatest English comeback of the year has been Hugh Grant’s. Here, he plays the two-faced Jeremy Thorpe, a British MP who, in 1979, was accused of conspiring to murder his former lover, Norman Scott (a similarly two-faced Ben Whishaw), when homosexuality was still illegal. The melodramatic three-episode miniseries follows what transpired after Scott threatened to expose Thorpe post-breakup. The entire affair is a promising sign of where Grant’s resuscitated career could take him, transforming his once indelible rom-commy charm into something much scarier.

8 Divorce (Crave) You won’t see Divorce turn up on many end-of-year lists. Consider it’s overlooked status among the greatest crimes in television this year. Here are just a few reasons it’s a must-see: the series was created by Catastrophe’s great Sharon Horgan; it stars the charming-as-ever Sarah Jessica Parker in her first return to television since Sex and the City; her ex is played by the delightfully dopey Thomas Haden Church. This season, the series smartly diverged the pair’s divorce into a story about two people learning to live apart and rebuild, rather than attempting to reignite any flames. The hilariously acerbic dialogue is delivered expertly by a cast that includes Molly Shannon, Tracy Letts, Dean Winters and Talia Balsam.

7 Real Housewives of New York (Hayu) There are rare watershed moments — such as the 10th season of RHONY — when reality television bleeds so far into the profound and naturally unhinged that it surpasses anything prestige television has to offer. As the most electric franchise of the batch, this season had everything: a “boat trip from hell” in Colombia, explosive diarrhea, numerous alcoholics in denial caught on camera at their lowest, a former countess’ New Year’s Eve arrest, Bethenny Frankel’s charity journey and simultaneous custody battle, the death of long-time castmember Jill Zarin’s husband Bobby and much more. Somehow it never felt like too much. In fact, at 22 episodes, one wonders what gems were left on the cutting-room floor.

6 Casual (Crave) Casual, Zander Lehman and Jason Reitman’s Hulu series, has flown so far under-the-radar that, when it came to a close this year with its fourth season, it hardly made a sound. A shame, because Michaela Watkins and Tommy Dewey effortlessly leading each episode as sardonic co-dependant adult siblings navigating their dysfunctional family rang more true than any other show on this list. Siblings are a rare character dynamic on television, but Casual proved the level of emotionality and complex history to be mined there. Watching this pair grow felt like a personal invitation; watching them go, however, felt like the cruelest goodbye.

5 Forever (Amazon Prime) The uniquely delightful Maya Rudolph knocks it out of the park with Amazon’s Forever, a dreary comedy about the commitments we make and how they determine the course of our lives. The series pitches a few twists right off the bat, and throws the general structure of your average sitcom right out the window. Wonderfully different, Forever is a neat eight episodes, but if it’s hitting you right, you’ ll need binge breaks just to emotionally recover.

4 Homecoming (Amazon Prime) It’s a special kind of treat to see Julia Roberts gracing the small screen, particularly in a hightension drama like this one. With touches of Hitchcock, creator Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot) packs a very big mystery into 10 taut half-hour episodes following the case of a military facility that supposedly helps soldiers transition back to civilian life. When the Department of Defense comes calling, we wonder if Roberts’s caseworker is hiding something or just another victim. More has never been so well-accomplished in so little time.

3 Sharp Objects (Crave) HBO’s miniseries Sharp Objects, adapted from Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel, stars Amy Adams (at her most heartbreaking) as Camille Preaker. When Preaker returns to her small southern town to report on a series of local girls who have gone missing, the mystery begins to strike a little too close to home as she revisits her manipulative mother (played by a searing Patricia Clarkson), stepfather and half-sister. After watching the relentlessly dark eight episodes, don’t forget to stay for the finale’s chilling after-credits scene. Marvel only wishes it could cut so deep.

2 Succession (Crave) Succession is perhaps the best example of the many series that found themselves drowning amidst this year’s fatty television menu, even as an HBO heavy-hitter starring a ferocious Brian Cox as the headstrong, nasty patriarch of a wealthy family. Things get messy when his health begins to fail, and it becomes clear his media empire is in need of an heir. Naturally, competition begins. It’s an almost Shakespearian test of family loyalty and company greed, boasted by powerful performances across the board, with Jeremy Strong as the eldest, finally getting an opportunity to chew some scenery. Throw in former Mr. Darcy, Matthew Macfadyen, going impressively against type, a snarky Kieran Culkin and a revelation in the form of Sarah Snook, and you’ve got the greatest ensemble of 2018.

1 Killing Eve (Crave) Sandra Oh, Sandra Oh, Sandra Oh. How do we love thee? Let us count the ways! The supporting actress who, along with her commanding mane, spent her Grey’s Anatomy tenure stealing scenes out from under the soap’s sprawling cast, finally takes the lead in television-drama queen Phoebe WallerBridge’s (Fleabag) latest series. Killing Eve follows a psychotic assassin (a revelatory and fascinatingly slapstick Jodie Comer) and the MI5 agent (Oh) hot on her heels. Hot is the key word, as tension heightens, twists abound, visuals entice and the pair find themselves with a different kind of fire growing between them. Forget cat and mouse. This is lioness vs. lioness.

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