The best so far this year in television shows
Winners and a few losers from the small screen, from American Crime to Veep
If the first half of 2017 is prologue to the second, then we’ve got some celebrating to do. On TV at least, these past six months have been good ones, full of interesting diversions and the occasional indispensable one, too.
The Leftovers completed its three-season run by making a solid case for an Emmy (or two). Twin Peaks returned after 25 years to baffle the world while hooking some old (and new) fans. Ryan Murphy launched another anthology and another winner. Dave Chappelle returned from the comedy witness protection program. We could go on, but please read the list instead.
1. The Leftovers (HBO) Few watched the last season, but those who did got a first-class ticket to Australia in search of answers, closure and the meaning to all that came before (hey, two out of three’s not bad). This remarkable series managed something that few usually do — a fusion of human love with spiritual yearning, along with a powerful, moving payoff.
2. Better Call Saul (AMC) And speaking of third seasons, this one secured the prequel’s claim as worthy — indeed equal — companion to the rootstock, Breaking Bad. This one further enriched and deepened the meaning of Bad, while turning Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) into a tragic hero every bit as complicated as Walter White (Bryan Cranston).
3. Twin Peaks: The Return (Showtime) Of all the reboots of these reboot-y times, this is the rebootinest-tootinest of the lot. It has rebooted the original flavour, the original oddness and especially the original disdain for logic, meaning, order or viewer expectations. David Lynch promised he and Mark Frost would finally do the show they always wanted to do. So far, promise kept.
4. Feud: Bette and Joan (FX) To crib from my review (if you don’t mind), “Full of joy, humour, brilliant writing and performances, and a deep unabiding love for what really makes Hollywood great — the women.” Susan Sarandon (Bette Davis) and especially Jessica Lange (Joan Crawford) were outstanding. Lange will likely win her fourth Emmy, too.
5. Downward Dog (ABC) With Fargo breakout Allison Tolman as the human and Martin as the dog, Ned, these two put out a short (now cancelled) series full of warmth, joy and psychological insight — both human and canine. Meanwhile, dogs do say the darndest things.
6. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert (CBS) Colbert has mounted the single biggest turnaround on TV, one of the biggest in late-night history. With a little help from his friends — most notably the president — Late Show is now indispensable viewing. The other big late-night winners: The Daily Show, Late Night With Seth Meyers and Jimmy Kimmel Live, whose host unforgettably wept for his ill newborn and for his comedy hero, Don Rickles.
7. The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu) Elisabeth Moss turned in a performance that will finally— after six lead-actress nominations for Mad Men and one for Top of the Lake (but who’s counting?) — win her a best-actress Emmy and a standing ovation at the September ceremony.
8. Veep (HBO) Veep long ago ran out of words with which to be praised, but the current season has offered a whole new salad bar of choices. Crazy, outrageous, scabrous … still great. Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), now the ex-president, is without portfolio, and funnier than ever.
9. This Is Us (NBC) Would have gone higher except for the freshman season finale, which was a disappointment. Setting that aside, Us is one of the most exciting new dramas on a major network in years — also smart, thoughtful, interesting, intricate and emotionally complex.
10. Time: The Kalief Browder Story (Spike) This six-parter, about a 16-year-old arrested for allegedly stealing a backpack and who then spent the rest of his short life in Rikers Island prison, was a remarkable tour through a notorious system, and helped launch the ongoing efforts to finally reform it.
11. Big Little Lies (HBO) While based on a David E. Kelley script that reminded everyone why he is such a celebrated TV writer, the brilliant female cast really carried this off: Reese Witherspoon, Shailene Woodley, Zoe Kravitz, Laura Dern and Nicole Kidman. Each could be up for an Emmy, while either Witherspoon or Kidman
could win one if Lange doesn’t. Tough — no, impossible — to say who is more deserving.
12. The President Show (Comedy Central) A very soft launch on Comedy Central meant this didn’t get much press, but those who did pay attention saw the best Donald Trump impersonator around — Anthony Atamanuik — headline a funny, brutal takedown of the White House. The sketches here — like a tour of one of President Donald Trump’s nightmares — are sharper than just about anything on that other late-night show.
13. 13 Reasons Why (Netflix) Television doesn’t always take teen angst seriously, relegating it to either soap or horror. Brian Yorkey’s adaptation of the Jay Asher novel chose a third option — tragedy. “I’m about to tell you the story of my life,” explained Hannah (Katherine Langford) in one of the breakouts of the year so far. Also the story of her rape, and suicide.
14. Saturday Night Live (NBC) SNL will win a bunch of Emmys this September, while Alec Baldwin’s Trump is as much a lock on Emmy glory as any single star in recent history. SNL was spotty this season but nevertheless became part of the conversation, and an important one. To have missed an episode of SNL this season would have been to have missed a chunk of the weekly zeitgeist. The best of SNL 42? Melissa McCarthy’s Sean Spicer. Who else?
15. Planet Earth II (Discovery) Eleven years after the original, II comes along to remind us all that Earth is still here, and still beautiful, magical, glorious and surprising. This edition was abetted by new technology, including drones — which improved even on a bird’s-eye view.
16. Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds (HBO) This deeply moving portrait of a famous daughter and mother had a Grey Gardens quirkiness, but the searing emotional component was actually sealed by HBO, which moved this up from scheduled spring airdate to Jan. 7, or just about a week after Reynolds’ death on Dec. 28 — which followed her daughter’s death by a day.
17. Age of Spin (Comedy Central) Dave Chappelle’s return to TV (which included a second Netflix special, Deep in the Heart of Texas) was raunchy, offensive and very funny — and mostly a reminder of all that talent from so long ago. Avoiding politics, Chappelle stepped right back into the culture wars, sparing no one — including himself.
18. American Crime (ABC) The third and final instalment of the John Ridley anthology about an America most Americans never see starred Regina King, Cherry Jones, Felicity Huffman, Benito Martinez, Timothy Hutton, Connor Jessup and Ana Mulvoy Ten — who turned in another ’17 breakout performance. The third, set in Alamance County, North Carolina, was about a father who travelled illegally from Mexico in search of his missing son and stumbles into a life of servitude — the lot of most other migrant workers.
19 The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (HBO) Oprah Winfrey turned in a powerful performance as Lacks’s daughter Deborah, trying to come to terms with her mother’s legacy and (most of all) her mother’s death. Fine cast and script by George C. Wolfe helped make this a winner. Henrietta died in 1951 at the age of 31, but before her death, her cells were replicated and found to be “immortal,” or self-replicating, creating the famous “HeLa” line used in dozens of medical breakthroughs over the years.
20. Fargo (FX) The third season of this improbable success story was, like the first two, engrossing, funny and bewildering (who knew the northern reaches of Minnesota could be so crazy?). Best of all: David Thewlis’ treacherous capitalist (with a Marxist streak), V.M. Varga.
What I’m Looking Most Forward To
Star Trek: Discovery (CBS All Access) — Will Discovery stream smart, important, groundbreaking stories week after week, much as Voyager, Deep Space Nine and The Next Generation did for a combined 21 seasons? Or will this be another ST: Enterprise? Big questions and why this is the most exciting new series of 2017 after Twin Peaks. The showrunners know the challenge. Here’s hoping they meet it. My hunch: They will.
The Worst So Far
1. The Celebrity Apprentice (NBC) When Donald Trump’s replacement, Arnold Schwarzenegger, uttered his own special severance catchphrase — “You’re terminated” — we pretty much suspected this version would be as well. The Governator never seemed to take this seriously, and who could blame him when the most vexing decision he had to make was whether to fire Carnie Wilson or Snooki?
2. Super Bowl ads (Fox) Quick, name the best ad from Super Bowl LI. Great game, right, surely a great ad or two? Surely not. This was one of the most disappointing commercial Super Bowl bonanzas in memory. Advertisers mostly played it safe, and the result was humdrum.
3. Summer House (Bravo) Not the series, so much — which was really kind of tame — but the idea that this was somehow based in Montauk, New York. Battling an old image as party central, Montauk ran Summer House out of town before it even had a chance to set up house there. But Bravo still pretended this all took place there. Montaukers knew better.
4. When We Rise (ABC) This miniseries about the history of the LGBT movement managed to turn important history into dull history, or — to quote the Newsday review — “you suspect, then fear you are settling in for eight hours of moralizing there are moments — too many of them — when that fear is justified.”
5. The Mick (Fox) Not to pick on The Mick — with an exception or two, this has not been a great year so far for broadcast comedies — but this sitcom about a reprobate hired to care for some Connecticut trust-fund brats was first off the block. (It launched Dec. 28.) Too vulgar, too offensive, too dumb. Seems like a miss for a funny actress (Kaitlin Olson) even if Fox did renew the series.