USA TODAY International Edition
Best of 2019: Television’s big and bright year
In a sea of scripted shows and streaming services, USA TODAY offers its top 15 series.
After 2019, TV will never be the same. ❚ This year, TV got bigger than we ever could have imagined back when there were only three channels. Over 500 scripted series premiered new episodes, two major new streaming services ( Apple TV Plus and Disney Plus) debuted, “Star Wars” and Meryl Streep came to TV and “Game of Thrones” ended with massive ratings but disappointed fans. And yet we still are mostly talking about where we’ll be able to easily access reruns of “Friends.” ❚ But there were some really fantastic TV series we hope some of you managed to watch between all the Twitter reactions and marathons of Disney animated movies. And spoiler alert: “Thrones” and its terrible ending didn’t make the cut. ❚ You still have plenty of time before New Year’s Day to catch up on USA TODAY’s top 15 series of 2019.
15. ‘ The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’ ( Netflix)
This prequel to Jim Henson’s 1982 film manages to go above and beyond the beloved original. On aesthetics alone, the series is a huge achievement, but it also tells a fantasy story as lofty and politically complex as “Game of Thrones.” That “Crystal” manages to make fully- realized characters and plots through mesmerizing puppetry rounds out a superb epic.
14. ‘ The Crown’ ( Netflix)
God save the Queen, whoever happens to be playing her. Netflix’s British royals drama proved it can go deep into the reign of Queen Elizabeth II by successfully swapping its original cast for an older set of actors, including Oscar winner Olivia Colman in the lead role ( previously played by Emmy winner Claire Foy). The third season has a few bumps, and struggles to make Elizabeth the center of her own story, but the addition of a young Prince Charles ( Josh O’Connor) and his romantic escapades makes up for Colman’s brief screen time.
13. ‘ Superstore’ ( NBC)
Like a cheap bottle of wine at Target, “Superstore” just gets better with age. NBC’s workplace comedy is smarter and funnier every season, and 2019 episodes represent the show at its peak. “Superstore” kept its stories and character dynamics fresh this year by promoting Amy ( America Ferrera) to manager of the Cloud 9 big box store, changing her socioeconomic status in an instant and drastically altering her relationship with her co- workers, including boyfriend Jonah ( Ben Feldman).
12. ‘ What We Do in the Shadows’ ( FX)
Based on the cult 2014 film from Jemaine Clement (“Flight of the Conchords”) and Taika Waititi ( who directed “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Jojo Rabbit”), “Shadows” is the funniest show this year, an outright bacchanalia of vampiric failures, energy draining and nerdy virgins. The comedy moves its focus from hapless vampires in New Zealand to an even more inept clan in Staten Island, New York, with lofty goals such as taking over the world via city council meetings.
11. ‘ The Good Place’ ( NBC)
The philosophical afterlife comedy hasn’t been quite as brilliant in its fourth and final season, but even at 85% strength, “Good Place” is still smarter and funnier than most shows on TV. Nailing an ending to a series that asks questions as big as this one does ( what does it take to be a good person?) is always tricky, and most crucially the series is staying true to its delightful characters.
10. ‘ Shrill’ ( Hulu)
At last, “Saturday Night Live” standout Aidy Bryant has a starring role worthy of her talents in Hulu’s “Shrill.” The actress finds a quieter side of her comedy in this Portland, Oregon- set series based on writer and fat- acceptance activist Lindy West’s memoir. It marks the best portrayal of life as a plus- size woman on TV, neither patronizing nor unrealistic, and tells stories beyond its protagonist’s weight on a scale. With just six hilarious episodes, it’s one of the few TV series that would have excelled if it had expanded.
9. ‘ Unbelievable’ ( Netflix)
True- crime stories can be many things: seedy, enthralling, vindicating, angering or satisfying. Based on a Pulitzer Prize- winning ProPublica article, “Unbelievable” is both infuriating and triumphant, highlighting the deep flaws in our criminal justice system while also celebrating the work of two genuinely heroic policewomen. With a stellar cast, “Unbelievable” tells the story of a rape victim ( Kaitlyn Dever) who isn’t believed by police, and the two detectives ( Toni Collette and Merritt Wever) who bring her attacker to justice years later – after he raped several more women.
8. ‘ Undone’ ( Amazon)
As deeply emotional and affecting as it is unsettling, Amazon’s animated series gets under your skin, in a good way. The series’ rotoscoping technique, in which animation is drawn over live footage, provides an eerie edge as it tells a magic- realist story of a stagnant 20something woman ( Rosa Salazar) who can travel in time and communicate with her dead father. But for every psychedelic trip Alma takes, she also takes a more grounded one as she tries to repair damaged relationships and plot her next course.
7. ‘ Dead to Me’ ( Netflix)
Christina Applegate gives her best performance in Netflix’s black comedy about a widow who unknowingly befriends the woman ( the great Linda Cardellini) who killed her husband. Twisty but not gimmicky, “Dead” is addictive. The series has an abundance of acting talent, including James Marsden, who finally gets a role that takes the sheen off his perfect smile.
6. ‘ Watchmen’ ( HBO)
Although it started off a bit unsurely, HBO’s very loose adaptation of the graphic novel has blossomed into one of creator Damon Lindelof ’s best series, and from the man behind “Lost” and “The Leftovers,” that’s some achievement. The series has a superb cast – including Regina King, Jean Smart, Jeremy Irons and Tim Blake Nelson – that elevates smart scripts that get better as the season progresses. Lindelof and his writers find surprising ways to bring the superhero story from the 1980s into today’s culture, helping “Watchmen” upend the comic book formula once again.
5. ‘ When They See Us’ ( Netflix)
Ava DuVernay’s striking miniseries gives voice to the so- called Central Park Five, a group of five black and Latino youths wrongly convicted of assault in one of the biggest trials of the 1980s. With an extremely talented group of young actors as the falsely accused adolescents – Asante Blackk, Caleel Harris, Ethan Herisse, Emmy- winner Jharrel Jerome and Marquis Rodriguez – the series brings the story to the screen as a brutal, unrelenting tragedy.
4. ‘ Back to Life’ ( Showtime)
This British tragicomedy, starring and created by Daisy Haggard (“Episodes”), focuses on Miri, a woman who returns to her small seaside village after spending 18 years in prison for a crime that’s explained as the series progresses. Although Miri has left iron bars and jumpsuits behind, her small town is a prison of its own, where she is hated by all but her parents, her new boss and her kindly neighbor. Touching on themes of forgiveness and deception, the series is breathtaking in its emotional scope, despite the small story it tells over just six episodes.
3. ‘ Chernobyl’ ( HBO)
The brilliance of this historical miniseries, which chronicles the 1986 nuclear disaster at a power plant in Soviet Ukraine, creeps up on you as you watch its five episodes. Despite portraying so much death and despair, “Chernobyl” is never crass or exploitative, but rather it simply, anger- inducingly explains the failures and hubris that led to the disaster, and the people who tried to mitigate its consequences.
2. ‘ Leaving Neverland’ ( HBO)
Among 2019’ s many true crime documentaries that made viewers question established media narratives and powerful people, this one – about two men who accused Michael Jackson of sexual abuse when they were children – stood out. Wade Robson and James Safechuck were given a platform to tell their harrowing stories, and director Dan Reed is unflinching as he captures the pain and suffering of the men and their families. Tough to watch, it’s also an eye- opening look at the lasting effects of abuse, and the way the media handles allegations against powerful men.
1. ‘ Fleabag’ ( Amazon)
Could there be any other choice for No. 1? Phoebe Waller- Bridge’s dark comedy ran away with the 2019 Emmy Awards for good reason. Few series have ever been as emotionally affecting and brilliantly written as “Fleabag” in its second season. The story of a self- hating and self- destructive woman ( Waller- Bridge) falling in love with a Catholic priest ( Andrew Scott) was both a shocking sequel to the first and an exquisitely perfect ending to Fleabag’s tale. We’ll miss her dearly.