With so many TV shows to choose from, on broadcast networks, cable channels and various streaming services, there is no shortage of dramas and comedies, and those that are a mixture of the two, which means that there are also a lot of great ones. Since I watch a fair amount of those TV shows, all over the map, I like to highlight the stand-outs for me, every year, that rise above.
And just because something isn’t on this list, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t deserve to be. It just means that because of the embarrassment of riches that is Peak TV, I can’t possibly watch all that there is, which means that I not only likely miss some good ones, but some great ones. Given all of that, here are my selections for the biggest stand-outs of 2018.
TV Series of the Year: Atlanta Season 2
The FX seriesAtlantais truly remarkable. On its surface, it’s a great half-hour comedy series, but underneath that, it’s so much more, with its perfect blend of excellent storytelling, pitch-perfect performances and exquisite direction. Whether it involved a giant alligator, money problems, relationship drama, trying to do something as simple as getting a hair-cut, being trapped with a strange and eccentric man who is unsettling enough to give you nightmares, getting lost in the woods after being mugged, ending up at a frat house determined to humiliate, or having to relive your adolescence, Season 2 never failed to deliver.
Atlantais a TV show that fits into no box, and for that I am truly grateful. It had a great first season and an absolutely stellar second season that was so next level, I can’t wait to see what they do next, in Season 3… whenever that ultimately happens. And as hard as it is to wait for that next season, if it’s as good as what they’ve already delivered, I’ll be patiently awaiting its arrival.
Best Episode: “Teddy Perkins,” Atlanta Season 2
Two words: Teddy Perkins. No episode of TV this year made an impression like the sixth episode of the second season of the FX seriesAtlanta. What seemed like a harmless trip to pick up a piano became one of the most unsettling 30 minutes when Darius (Lakeith Stanfield) met the strange, eccentric Teddy Perkins (Donald Glover). The retired jazz piano players unnatural appearance and weird personality are unnerving in a way that creates a tangible level of unease and tension that you could cut with a knife.
“Teddy Perkins” is an episode of television that must be experienced to be believed. It is weird, strange, uncomfortable and haunting, and still has me thinking about it, nearly nine months later. Talk is that Glover, in full white-face make-up, went method and stayed in character throughout the entire filming process, but even with as far as he took his performance for the episode, equal recognition must also be given to Stanfield for rising to the occasion, on every level.
Best New Series: The Haunting of Hill House
From directorMike Flanagan, the 10-episode supernatural drama seriesThe Haunting of Hill House(available to stream on Netflix) wove an unsettling tale focused on five siblings who grew up in the most famous haunted house in America, while showing audiences how that experience affects them now as adults. Reunited by the tragic suicide of their youngest sister, the Crain family finds themselves forced to confront the ghosts of their past, but when it comes to Hill House, that could also mean some real ghosts are lurking in the shadows.
The acclaimedShirley Jacksonnovel of the same name has been told before, but this modern reimagining is a masterful take that works on every level, with characters to root for, scares around every corner, and one of the most terrifying things that you’ll ever have to face – the fear of failing your own family. The acting performances from the actors playing the older and younger versions of the characters are all spot-on, and the massive undertaking that is Episode 6, which is an emotional roller coaster meant to feel like it was all shot in one long take, is sheer perfection.
Best Final Season: The Americans Season 6
It’s rare for a TV series to stay solidly excellent, throughout its run. It’s unicorn level rare when a TV series that’s already excellent just gets better and better with every season, and that perfectly describes the FX seriesThe Americans, which ended its run in 2018.
Compelling storytelling and exceptional performances from everyone in the cast made its end bittersweet, as it’s always sad to say goodbye to such a great TV show, but the creators were able to write the ending that they wanted and part on their own terms, which is really all you can ask for. Over its six seasons,The Americanstook us on the roller coaster of whether Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth (Keri Russell) Jennings would return to the motherland of Russia, whether their daughter Paige (Holly Taylor) would follow in spy footsteps of her parents, and whether FBI Agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) would ever learn who his neighbors turned friends truly were, all while we wondered what the ultimate outcome of the Jennings family could possibly be. And while the consequences of their actions hurt to watch, it was certainly worth the journey.
Best Season Finale: Dear White People Season 2
I have to admit, when I watch an excellent first season of a TV series, while I am excited to see how the showrunner and team of writers follow that up in the next season, I am also very nervous that they’ll never recapture the magic that made it so great. Thankfully, there was no need to worry, when it came to Season 2 of the Netflix seriesDear White People.
The half-hour series is funny, poignant, socially relevant and can even draw out a tear or two. And to cap off a truly top-notch second season that gave everyone in the main ensemble of the cast their own chance to shine, with each rising to the occasion accordingly, was a season finale so wild that it was gasp worthy. When the series’ narrator (voiced byGiancarlo Esposito) became an actual flesh-and-blood character who also happens to be the leader of Winchester University’s black secret society The Order, everything was flipped upside down. Thankfully, school will be back in session for a third season because I can’t wait to see how that will play out.
From executive producer/directorNash Edgerton, the six-episode half-hour Australian crime dramedyMr. Inbetween(which airs on FX) follows Ray Shoesmith (Scott Ryan, who also wrote the series), a hitman who’s trying to navigate parental responsibilities, a sick brother and a new relationship, all while earning a living in the criminal underworld. Ray is the type of man who demands respect and doesn’t tolerate anyone who violates his very clear code of ethics, and if you find yourself on the wrong side of that, he has no problem with taking care of you, permanently. In other words, he’s a character that you really don’t want to fuck with, but also can’t help but want to hang out with over a beer. This criminal for hire’s world is inhabited with colorful characters, and for a man who just wants to handle business and get on with it, having an 8-year-old daughter who charges him for every swear word he utters complicates everything.
Best Half-Hour Drama Series: Homecoming
From visionary directorSam Esmail(the creator ofMr. Robot) andEli Horowitz&Micah Bloomberg, the creators of the critically acclaimed podcast of the same name, the psychological thrillerHomecomingfollows Heidi Bergman (Julia Roberts, in her first starring role in television), a caseworker at the Homecoming Transitional Support Center who helps soldiers deal with returning home from war. As she works with a young veteran named Walter Cruz (Stephan James) and they bond over his desire to rejoin civilian life, the two also develop a complex relationship while working through his experiences. Four years later, when a Department of Defense auditor (Shea Whigham) finds Heidi working as a waitress and living with her mother (Sissy Spacek) in a small town, his questions about her departure from her old job begin to unravel the reality that she has come to rely on.
It’s a series that keeps twisting and turning, as the two timelines weave around each other, until you’re left wondering what to make of it all (in the best way possible), by the end. It’s a fascinating story to watch unfold, as it focuses on pineapple, a fake sequel calledTitanic Risingand goldfish, all while Heidi tries to remember what she can’t remember.
Best Sci-Fi Series: Lost in Space
The Netflix family adventure seriesLost in Space, set 30 years in the future, follows the Robinson family – John (Toby Stephens), Maureen (Molly Parker), Judy (Taylor Russell), Penny (Mina Sundwall) and Will (Maxwell Jenkins) – as they try to make a life for themselves in a new and different world, after they must leave Earth behind. But when they find themselves off course, they must quickly learn to adapt, work together and form new alliances, if they’re going to survive in an environment with dangers around every corner.
Along with a cool robot, bad-ass female characters, some awesomely resourceful kids and a real live chicken, the best things aboutLost in Spaceis that it’s a show you can watch with the whole family, with a family at its center that you can really root for.
Best Hitman: Bill Hader (Barry)
Bill Haderserves as co-creator (along withAlec Berg), executive producer, director and writer on the eight-episode, half-hour HBO dark comedy seriesBarry, in which he plays a depressed hit man from the Midwest who stumbles onto a love of acting while on a job in Los Angeles. Although he only ends up in the acting class by following a mark, he is instantly drawn to the group of students and their beloved teacher (Henry Winkler) and begins to question every aspect of his life of crime while trying to juggle both worlds.
Throughout the season, Hader truly gave the performance of his career, showcasing Barry’s struggle with falling in love with a woman from his acting class who was unaware of his day job, his inability to escape his previous life, and a series of self-deceptions that ultimately forced him to confront his reality in a way that was particularly chilling.
FromPhoebe Waller-Bridge(Fleabag), the BBC America seriesKilling Eveis centered on two women – Eve (Sandra Oh), a bored but smart MI5 security officer who’s forever stuck at her desk job, and Villanelle (Jodie Comer), a talented killer. When these two women happen to cross paths, they become equally obsessed with each other and find themselves in an epic and thrilling game of cat-and-mouse.
Villanelle is a lethal assassin who takes pride in her work and seems to almost enjoy it too much, while Eve is clearly in need of some excitement and inspiration in her life. The exciting thing aboutKilling Eveis the fact that Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer turn in performances that make the other stronger, even though they rarely share the same space. They are both electric to watch, as you wonder whether one will ever truly gain the upper hand over the other.
