THE BEST OF 2016 - The Best TV Of The Year

THE BEST OF 2016 - The Best TV Shows of The Year

- It's old news at this point to talk about Peak TV, but things truly reached a critical mass in 2016. There was not just a lot of TV to watch, but a lot - too much! - *good* TV. It's funny, because in a year in which some very old favorites returned (hello, X-Files), I thought a lot about TV-watching habits now vs. then. There used to be a dozen or so really good shows, and a small handful of really great shows. Now, the number of great TV shows is completely overwhelming. Netflix Originals alone - who could keep up with all of them? 

On one hand, you almost wish that the rate of content production would slow down - at some point, it becomes a zero sum game where nobody watches anything. Already, it's hard to find a real-life fellow fan of most shows, given how fragmented audiences are. And even powerhouse pop-culture sites like The AV Club have been forced to slow TV coverage - overwhelmed by the sheer volume of series that demand weekly reviews. 

On the other hand, the breadth of content that we're getting continues to be pretty exciting. What I love is how outlets like Netflix - that have the freedom to experiment - are continually able to prove conventional programming wisdom wrong. STRANGER THINGS is case in point: so many stories about the series having been pitched to various networks, all of whom rejected it based on assumptions like: "a show for adults can't work if it has kid protagonists." And yet, Stranger Things went on to become *the* buzziest show of 2016. Especially in a Summer where many big-screen blockbusters disappointed, this retro sci-fi series was the pop-cultural event of the season. This wider breadth of content has meant TV that doesn't conform to rigid genre lines, but also more diverse representation. This is still a major issue for both TV and film, but things have been getting better. 2016 series like ATLANTA and BETTER THINGS showcased perspectives that we don't see enough of on TV. But of course, the secret is that (as any writer knows) specific stories are often, ironically, the most universal.

So let's dive in. Obviously there are going to be shows that I miss here (hello, all the Marvel Netflix shows). But by the same token, I'm guessing there is stuff below that you missed. The good news is that we truly live in a golden age where TV can be binge-watched at your leisure. So if you're behind, well, here's a to-watch list that should only last you about thirty years or so. 


DANNY'S TOP TV SHOWS OF 2016:


1. PENNY DREADFUL

- One of the most shocking TV moments of 2016 was the surprise end of Penny Dreadful. For the series faithful, it seemed unfathomable that this cult-fave could end after only three seasons. After-all, the nightmarish, gorgeously-gothic world that series creator John Logan had so carefully crafted seemed so rich, so endlessly filled with storytelling potential - how could it end before every nook and cranny of his universe had been fully explored? But end it did, with no forewarning, but with an undeniable air of finality that left me reeling. This was a show that had gotten better with each successive season, and Season 3 was a true epic - careening between Victorian London, the Old West, and other exotic locales. But what made the show so memorable were the characters - unique spins on literary classics, re-defining the likes of Dr. Frankenstein, Dorian Grey, and Dracula with instantly-iconic re-interpretations. In Season 3, Rory Kinnear's take on Frankenstein's lowly and broken Creature - now known as John Clare - was an absolute highlight. An awards-worthy turn that culminated in an all-timer episode in which we learned more about Clare's pre-resurrection backstory, and previous connection to Eva Green's Vanessa Ives. That standalone episode - set in a white-walled asylum - stands as one of the greatest episodes of a TV drama I've seen. Going into S3, Penny Dreadful had already established a tradition of one-off episodes that essentially served as a showcase for the always-amazing Eva Green and her now-immortalized character of Ms. Ives. But to now have her paired with Kinnear - it took the show to new heights, as the two delivered a master-class. Green was the engine that powered the show - a true force of nature, perfectly capturing the show's theatricality in her performance, and helping to make Ives a character for the ages. She was helped by a supporting cast that was absolutely stacked, with players like Kinnear and Billie Piper (delivering a powerfully gripping performance in S3 as the monstrous Lily) doing best-ever work this season. Many of you, I'm sure, are seeing Penny Dreadful as my #1 TV pick for 2016 and wondering how this show that you've barely heard of could be the best of the year. Just trust me - this show's cult will only grow with time. It wasn't always perfect, but when it was firing on all cylinders this show did big, epic, serialized, character-driven, mythology-filled TV better than any other show of the Peak TV age. Farewell, Penny Dreadful - until we meet again. 

2. BLACK MIRROR

- Black Mirror S3 felt like the most vital scripted series of this crazy year - a Twilight Zone for the social media age, this is a series that I sincerely hope continues for a long time to come. The story of how a third season of this show came to be - thanks to Netflix - is fascinating in and of itself - but the biggest revelation here is how great so many of S3's episodes were. Most notably, there were two installments that stand as two of the greatest pieces of television I've ever seen, and may actually surpass anything from the show's first two excellent seasons - the premiere, "Nosedive," and Episode 4, "San Junipero." Nosedive is an absolute must-watch - an alternatively hilarious and terrifying look at a near-future in which today's social media norms dominate our entire lives - real and otherwise. It's also got a career-best performance from Bryce Dallas Howard in the lead role (seriously - who knew she had *this* in her?!). Meanwhile, San Junipero is the rare Black Mirror episode that's actually life-affirming and uplifting - an incredibly-done piece about identity, love, and life-after-death in a digitally-created heaven. If the closing moments of this one don't give you chills, you may be a robot. But seriously, Black Mirror is the TV we need heading into the (cough, vomit) Trump age - a stark reminder of where we are and where we could end up if we're not careful.

3. THE AMERICANS

- The Americans has been so consistently good for so long now that it feels easy to take it for granted. But this past season may have been the show's best yet - delivering Breaking Bad-esque intensity on a regular basis. What could have been a huge misstep - having teen daughter Paige become privy to her parents' true identities - was instead a stroke of dramatic genius, driving a good deal of the season's storytelling. And this was also the season that things with poor Martha finally came to a head. But what we have to talk about with this show is the acting triumvirate of Matthew Rhys, Kerry Russell, and Noah Emmerich - who just kill it year in, year out. They deserve all of the awards. I could go on about this show, but fear doing so for fear of spoilers. If you've not yet watched it though - get on board immediately. This really is the best TV drama going.

4. GAME OF THRONES

- Game of Thrones had one of its best seasons yet in 2016. With the light at the end of the tunnel starting to shine through, we're now starting to see some huge stuff - stuff that's been building for years - start to transpire. Pieces are being put into place. And what fun it is to see the board prepped for the inevitable end game. I mean, talk about epic - this season's finale was one of the most jaw-dropping episodes of TV I've ever seen - a true stunner that ranks among Game of Throne's finest moments. This season also saw the epic Battle of the Bastards. And the rise and fall of Jonathan Pryce's High Sparrow. And the union of Tyrion and Daenerys. And the return of the Hound (featuring Ian McShane!). This season quite simply delivered one epic moment after another, and - after having passed the books in its story - there was a tightness to the narrative that hadn't always been there before. Game of Thrones was flat-out awesome in 2016. 

5. WESTWORLD

- The Best New Series of 2016, no question. I have not obsessed over a show's mysteries like this since Lost was in its prime. Westworld was smart, thematically-rich, challenging, thought-provoking TV. The cast was completely stacked, with a new actor - Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Harris, Anthony Hopkins, Jeffrey Wright, Thandie Newton - seemingly stealing the show each week. The sprawling sci-fi narrative mixed was the perfect sci-fi narrative for 2016 - a prescient mediation on morality in a synthetic age. How do we act in virtual or artificial worlds? Does it matter? At what point does an artificial intelligence become something more? To what extent are we constrained by our own pre-written "narratives," and how can we break away from them. Are we human or are we dancer? Okay, kidding on that last one. But Westworld asked so many big questions in such intriguing ways - you've got to love it. This is a show that had me racing to read reviews and commentary and theories. And it was that rare TV text worthy of all the analysis and think-pieces. Westworld was, deservedly, the nerdy obsession of 2016. 

6. VICE PRINCIPALS

- The most must-watch comedy of 2016. No surprise, given that it came from the same comedic geniuses who brought us Eastbound & Down. And it was a pleasure to have a product of the Danny McBride / Jody Hill team on TV again - these guys were much-missed. Nobody else does dark, &%$*-up humor like they do. And few other comedies would dare go to the depraved places that Vice Principals went. What you've got to admire about McBride and Hill is their total willingness to give us protagonists who terrible and unlikable - and yet, have enough humanity and authenticity to tempt us to root for them regardless. Because, no question, Vice Principals' Neil Gamby and Lee Russell were fairly horrible people - and yet, McBride and the great Walton Goggins brought them to life so well that we can't help but feel like we know these guys, we've seen these guys, and if we're not careful ... we could become these guys. No show was more laugh-out-loud funny or downright shocking this year. Bring on Season 2. 

7. GILMORE GIRLS: A YEAR IN THE LIFE

- Those who dismiss Gilmore Girls based on its title are missing one of the funniest, most moving, smartest, most brilliantly-written and performed series in TV history. That said, as much as I loved the show during its original run, I was definitely a bit skeptical about its Netflix-sponsored return after a ten year hiatus. Could the show really re-capture its old magic? Turns out, the answer is yes. And turns out, creator Amy Sherman Palladino was actually able to create a legit TV epic - something that in some ways surpasses the TV show, given the show's bigger budget and increased creative freedom. Palladino made the choice to center the show around the death of family patriarch Richard Gilmore - after the actor who portrayed him, Edward Hermann, passed away. Richard's death colors the entirety of A Year in the Life, in a way that provides for rich story and character growth. In particular, Kelly Bishop shines as the now-widowed Emily Gilmore, who must come to terms with life without her husband of fifty years, and must re-evaluate who she is and wants to be. But even amidst the drama (including numerous moments that will make you reach for the nearest box of tissues), there is so much humor - the show's trademark banter, nonstop pop-culture references, quirky supporting characters (including a show-stealing return for Liza Weil's one-of-a-kind Paris Geller). It's just a fantastic return to Stars Hollow and a great, satisfying bookend to the original series.

8. BATES MOTEL 

- This one is a surprise. I was not 100% feeling Bates Motel in Season 3 - the show felt rudderless, and had lost a lot of the momentum it had built up in its first two seasons. But then came Season 4, and Bates Motel decided to kick things up a notch. Or three. I don't want to spoil things, but suffice it to say that S4 finally took us much, much closer to the Norman Bates of Psycho - and series stars Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga stepped up to the challenge and did series-best work. Every scene shared by Highmore and Farmiga was a creepy, unsettling joy. If you haven't gotten into Bates Motel or dropped it, just trust me - this is one you want to binge on asap. In 2016, it was one of the absolute can't-miss series.

9. STRANGER THINGS

- I freely love Stranger Things. Sure, this show felt like it was engineered in a lab to appeal to all of my biggest geek sweet-spots: 80's nostalgia, weird sci-fi, underdog heroes ... but the fact is that Stranger Things could have easily been a failure if the execution was not there. You've got to give the show credit for it's fantastic characters, fun story, and for all of the little details it got just exactly right. From the already-iconic opening credits/theme to the spot-on homages to 80's pop-culture archetypes and storytelling tropes, Stranger Things was the sort of homage to 80's movies and TV I've always wanted. Why? Because it reminded us of something we've lost in the years since those simpler times. Meaning: in an age where everything must be darker, grittier, more sophisticated - Stranger Things was a callback to the long-lost but still-potent power of a story about kids on their bikes venturing out into the unknown. And trust me - this could have gone wrong (see: JJ Abram's well-intentioned but ultimately forgettable film Super 8). But Stranger Things melded something old with something new - by reaching into the past, the show felt like the freshest series of 2016. 

10. ATLANTA

-  In the post-Louie era of semi-biographical, socially-conscious comedy - Atlanta feels poised to take the genre to a new level. Donald Glover's FX series almost immediately felt like something special - in large part because it was so hard to categorize. At times hilarious, at times depressingly bleak, and always unpredictable - Atlanta quickly became a must-watch because every episode felt like some sort of pop-culture truth-bomb - anchored by a fantastic performance from Glover as struggling, would-be music mogul Earn. The show was also not afraid to throw curveballs - from an episode that focused solely on an awkward dinner between Van (the mother of Earn's child) and an old acquaintance, to a full-episode B.E.T. parody where series breakout Paper Boi (played to hilarious effect by Brian Tyree Henry) is interviewed about transgender issues. I can't wait to see where this show goes - undeniably a breakout of 2016.


The Next Best:

11. AMERICAN CRIME STORY: THE PEOPLE VS OJ SIMPSON

- A supremely well-acted, constantly riveting account of the biggest celebrity scandal in American history - this one really surpassed expectations, taking full advantage of a loaded cast (including Sarah Paulson destroying as Marcia Clark) to deliver something special. 

12. DOCUMENTARY NOW

- Comedy genius from Bill Hader and Fred Armison. Season 2 of the series delivered some new classics - including the hilarious "Juan Likes Rice and Chicken,"Globesman," and the sublime Talking Heads spoof "Final Transmission."

13. BETTER CALL SAUL

-  Better Call Saul turned in another great season in 2016, continuing to both differentiate itself from Breaking Bad while also slowly and satisfyingly leading Bob Odenkirk's Jimmy McGill down the path that leads to Saul. To me, the hero of this season was Michael McKean, who just killed as Jimmy's brother Chuck. McKean's efforts to overcome his tinfoil-wearing, shut-in ways were a season highlight. Get this man an Emmy, stat.

14. THE UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT

-  In a post-30 Rock world, Kimmy Schmidt continues to be TV's best source for hilarious, eminently-quotable dialogue that is destined for comedy immortality. Not only that, but Kimmy continues to be quietly inspirational - the story of a woman overcoming great trauma who starts fresh and always sees the sunny side of life. Ellie Kemper, Titus Burgess, Jane Krakowski, and the rest of the show's amazing cast continue to shine. There's so much I could say about this great series - but ultimately it boils down to it being one of the flat-out funniest things on TV, with brilliant writing and winning performances.

15. LOVE

- Judd Apatow's latest was an at-times frustrating, at times spot-on, at times hilarious look at a relationship between two insanely broken people. Personally, I was won over by its look at the less glamorous and more mundane side of LA living. I really dug the way it told a relationship story in a complicated way about not-always-likable characters. I sort of loved Love.

16. SEARCH PARTY

- Continuing this year's Showalter-ssance, this awesome little gem of a series came to us from executive producer Michael Showalter, who also hit a home-run this year with his movie Hello My Name Is Doris. In any case, Search Party is a surprisingly dark, often funny mystery series about an aimless woman who finds meaning by devoting herself to the search for a friend-gone-missing (a friend she barely knew, from college). It's got a great central performance from Alia Shawkat. It's a great look at Millennial ennui and I can't recommend it enough.

17. MR. ROBOT

- Following a jaw-dropping first season, Mr. Robot had a tough act to follow with Season 2. And for a while there, things looked a little worrisome - with the show trying to repeat its nothing-is-as-it-seems trick that blew minds last year. Luckily, S2 rebounded as it headed towards the home stretch - delivering Lynchian weirdness, status-quo-shattering revelation, and letting Portia Doubleday steal the show as morally-conflicted Angela. Under the singular guidance of series creator Sam Esmail, Mr. Robot remains one of the most interesting things on TV.

18. CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND

- Crazy Ex is so smart, funny, and consistently inventive that it's hard to believe it exists and is on The CW (not a knock against CW, just that smart, hilarious musical-comedies are not something they've really been known for ... okay, I guess no one is known for them, but you get my drift). In any case, each episode of the show reaffirms that Rachel Bloom - the creator and star of the show - really can do it all. Bloom kills it on the show, but the secret is that her heightened comedy perfectly captures the everyday absurdities and struggles of modern life. Rare is the comedy that both swings for the fences with its humor *and* feels like a dead-on portrayal of the daily grind. This show does it all.

19. BETTER THINGS

- Another spawn of Louie, Pamela Adlon's new series is nonetheless its own, pretty amazing thing. Adlon brings the often-heartbreaking comedy of Louie and meshes it with a unique perspective - that of a single mom trying to raise three kids while balance a career. And as with Louie and Atlanta, FX has given Better Things the latitude to do whatever. Episode structure and themes have been all over the map - and that's the beauty of the show - it's a sharp, unique, unpredictable look into the darkly comic mind of Adlon. 

20. BROAD CITY

- Broad City continues to be a breath of fresh air on TV - two hilarious women being brilliantly stupid. This season saw such highs as Abbi and Ilana meeting Hillary Clinton - the ultimate "yass, queen!" moment for the pair - and emblematic of the show's subtly progressive message that the women we should be admiring are the nasty women who get %&$# done (even if Abbi and Ilana's comedic personas don't exactly fit that mold). But really, what makes the show work so well are all the little moments between its stars - the random banter and anything goes humor that surfaces as they roam NYC in search of adventure.

21. THE GOOD PLACE

- The Good Place was my most anticipated new Fall TV series going into this September - and why not? It was from Parks and Rec / Brooklyn Nine Nine creator Mike Schur, featured Kristen Bell and Ted Danson, and was a high-concept comedy about the afterlife. The show pretty much lived up to its pedigree and potential, giving us a bit of a slow build but really ramping up as it went (shades of Parks and Rec there). What's interesting to me is that Schur has compared the show's slowly-unraveling world-building to the likes of Lost - meaning, we have only just begun to go down the rabbit hole with this one.

22. AGENT CARTER

- Man, am I going to miss this show. Peggy Carter feels like a character that Haley Atwell should play forever - a can-do, kick-ass woman whose pulp adventures mix old-school movie-serial stylings with Marvel U imagination and superheroics. Season 1 of this show was all potential, but Season 2 really upped the show's game - matching Atwell's awesomeness with a fun plot and a great villain. Atwell was so born to play this role - she feels sort of wasted in anything else - certainly, anything more mundane than the two-fisted adventures of Agent Carter. Netflix, can you hear me?!

23. THE GOLDBERGS

- Sure, The Goldbergs is total comfort-food TV - a fairly traditional family sitcom that might as well have been created by me (A movie-loving geeky Jewish kid in the 80's? Dude.). But after some serious slump-age earlier this season, The Goldbergs has been on a real hot streak to close out 2016. How? By toning down mom Beverly's constant overbearingness just a tad, and instead focusing on coming-of-age stories centered around the cast's three teen characters - all played to great effect by the talented cast. And let's give credit where it's due - when was there last a live-action sitcom character with more reliably-funny schtick than Barry "Big Tasty" Goldberg? You might have to go back to Cosmo Kramer to find an answer.

24. THE LAST MAN ON EARTH

- One of the most awesomely weird comedies on TV - I'm still sort of baffled how this continues to be a show on FOX. But what I love about Last Man is how it pretty much gives zero &%$#'s. It dares to be stupid, dares to make its lead character an insufferable moron, dares to spend whole episodes on complete randomness, and dares to go uber-dark and not shy away from the fact that it's a comedy about the end of the world as we know it. Will Forte is so good here - a comedic tour de force. Boom.

25. SUPERGIRL

- I debated what show to give the last spot on my list. Orphan Black had an only-okay season, but damned if I don't still sort of love the show for it's great characters and what Tatiana Maslaney brings to them. Silicon Valley is still one of the best comedies on TV, but this past season was more pretty-solid than great. Maron had a great final season, but it never quite went over the top to become a classic. New Girl and Brooklyn Nine Nine were reliably funny, but both feel like shows that have, perhaps, already peaked. And The Flash stalled a bit in its second season, going out on sort of a whiff and then struggling to regain momentum in S3. But - Supergirl! This show is flawed. It's sometimes cheesy af. It occasionally suffers from serious CW-itis (even now that it's actually on CW!). And yet ... the show is so damn full of heart and good intentions that I can't help but include it. Melissa Benoist is already iconic as Kara Danvers - alternately adorkable and heroic (seriously, was there anything better than her exclamation of "ice cream!" in that first crossover episode with The Flash?). And the move to CW has allowed the show to get geekier - with more DC Comics mythology than before, more action and adventure, and more fun. Supergirl may not always nail the details, but it does 100% "get" what makes Supergirl super. And that alone earns it the last spot on this list.

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

- Silicon Valley
- The Flash
- Orphan Black
- Masters of Sex
- Maron
- New Girl
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine
- Portlandia
- Inside Amy Schumer


SPECIAL MENTIONS:

a.) THE X-FILES, "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster"

- I could easily write a whole blog post (or five) on the return of The X-Files and what went wrong. It sucks, because I was so, so excited for the return of my favorite TV series ever. More than that, it felt like the time was right - it felt like in 2016, we needed The X-Files again. We needed to hear Mulder's take on the alt-right and the dark net, on the way in which his brand of conspiracy-theory-thinking has been co-opted by sinister forces. We needed Scully to return and show us again what being an empowered, kick-ass woman was all about. The time felt right - and my excitement was at a fever pitch when, this past summer, I attended an X-Files fan event at the Cinefamily in LA. Hosted by uber-fan Kumail Nanjiani, the event was an X-Files-phile's dream - a screening of six of the best-ever episodes of the show, with appearances and commentary from all the big creators and writers, and then, the capper, a first-look at the new season. Based on that first look - I was pumped. "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster" was exactly what I'd dreamed new X-Files could be - a new masterpiece from visionary writer Darin Morgan, in the vein of his quirky classics like "Jose Chung's From Outer Space." If this was what we could expect from The X-Files' return, I was all in baby. But alas, it was not to be. The rest of the six episodes ranged from just-okay to embarrassingly bad (the finale was an all-time head-scratcher, courtesy of the seems-to-have-lost-his-mojo series creator, Chris Carter). I still hold out hope that the show will return with some fresh blood at the helm, and that it can, finally, go out on a high note. Us X-Files fans have had a rough go of it - enduring the underwhelming series finale, the even more underwhelming second movie, and now this. But! "Were-Monster" alone almost made it all worth it - a brilliantly satirical look at modern life's absurdities - with a great guest appearance from Flight of the Conchords' Rhys Darby - it was vintage Darin Morgan, and vintage X-Files. So yeah, even if I'd like to forget most of X-Files 2016 ... hey, we'll always have "Mulder and Scully Meet the Were-Monster."

b.) LAST WEEK TONIGHT WITH JOHN OLIVER

- The most vital show of the nightmarish 2016 election season was undoubtedly John Oliver's. Oliver grabbed the mantle of "America's truth-teller" from John Stewart, and put things in vital perspective as rational-minded people everywhere tried to sort through the mountains of BS that spewed from the likes of Donald Trump and others over the course of the campaign. Sure, Oliver was likely, often, preaching to the choir. But if nothing else, Oliver reminded us - with humor and smarts - that all of this was not normal - but that, thankfully, there were still sane people out there even in these insane times.

c.) CONAN

- I almost always mention Conan in these wrap-ups, but with good reason: he remains ridiculously funny even as his TBS show gets overlooked by many. Just recently, he's been on fire with his show's hilarious Trump/Obama phone conversation bits - another example of how Conan and his genius writers continually come up with awesome new bits. Also, Conan's increasingly-frequent travelogues are always must-watch. His recent Berlin special was an instant-classic (find it online if you've not seen it!). Point being, I like Fallon, Colbert, etc. - but to me Conan will always be "the man" when it comes to late night comedy.

d.) LUCHA UNDERGROUND

- Finally, I'd be remiss if I did not mention the craziest show in existence, El Rey network's Lucha Underground. A hybrid wrestling show / serialized grindhouse movie, LU is one of the most entertaining things on the air - an awesomely over-the-top melding of high-flying lucha libre - with a stacked roster of talented performers - and comic-book storylines that feel lifted from producer Robert Rodriguez's fever dreams. Seriously - the show gives us undead warriors, serpent-cults, undercover cops, and evil conspiracies. What more could one want? 

e.) CHILDRENS HOSPITAL

- I never know how to rank Childrens Hospital in my Best-Of lists. For several years, it's been one of the most consistently brilliant and hilarious comedies on the air. But with its 15-minute running time and over-the-top absurdism, it feels weird to even compare it to anything else on TV. It was its own little slice of weird-comedy nirvana. And so, man, I am going to miss this show. With the involvement of folks like David Wain and Ken Marino, it felt like a definite spiritual successor to The State. Certainly, Childrens had an absolutely all-star cast, including some of TV's funniest women - Malin Ackermann, Lake Bell, Erin Hayes Megan Mullally, and more. It had some of the cleverest jokes and sharpest writing of any comedy of the last five years. It had an all-star line-up of guest stars. It was unpredictable and unusual. A comedy masterclass. So long, Childrens Hospital - you will be missed.


INDIVIDUAL AWARDS:


The Best TV Heroes of 2016:

1.) Vanessa Ives and John Clare - Penny Dreadful
2.) Kara Danvers - Supergirl / Peggy Carter - Agent Carter
3.) Eleven and her friends - Stranger Things
4.) Delores - Westworld 
5.) Jon Snow - Game of Thrones


The Best TV Villains of 2016:

1.) Cersei Lannister - Game of Thrones
2.) Lily - Penny Dreadful
3.) The Demogorgon - Stranger Things
4.) Phillip Price, CEO of Evil Corp - Mr. Robot
5.) Madame Masque - Agent Carter


The Best TV Anti-Heroes of 2016:

1.) Philip and Elizabeth Jennings - The Americans
2.) Saul Goodman and Mike Ehrmantraut  - Better Call Saul
3.) Angela Moss - Mr. Robot
4.) Neil Gamby and Lee Russell - Vice Principals
5.) Maeve - Westworld


Best Actress in a Comedy:

1.)  - Rachel Bloom - Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Runners Up: Alia Shawkat - Search Party, Ellie Kemper - Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Gillian Jacobs - Love, Pamela Adlon - Better Things


Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy:

1.) Jane Krakowski - Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Runners Up: Claudia O'Doherty - Love, Kristen Schaal - Last Man on Earth, Kimberly Hebert Gregory - Vice Principals


Best Actor in a Comedy:

1.) Donald Glover - Atlanta

Runners Up: Danny McBride - Vice Principals, Will Forte - The Last Man on Earth, Bill Hader/Fred Armisen - Documentary Now


Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy:

1.) Brian Tyree Henry - Atlanta

Runners Up: T.J. Miller - Silicon Valley, Andre Braugher - Brooklyn Nine Nine, Walton Goggins - Vice Principals, Titus Burgess - The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt


Best Actress in a Drama:

1.) Eva Green - Penny Dreadful

Runners Up: Keri Russell - The Americans, Evan Rachel Wood - Westworld, Sarah Paulson - American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson,  Tatiana Maslaney - Orphan Black, Lauren Graham - Gilmore Girls: A Year In the Life


Best Supporting Actress in a Drama:

1.)  Kelly Bishop - Gilmore Girls: A Year In the Life

Runners Up: Vera Farmiga - Bates Motel, Lena Heady - Game of Thrones, Portia Doubleday - Mr. Robot, Alison Wright - The Americans, Thandie Newton - Westworld, Billie Piper - Penny Dreadful, Liza Weil - Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life


Best Actor in a Drama:

1.) Matthew Rhys - The Americans

Runners Up: Freddie Highmore - Bates Motel, Rami Malek - Mr. Robot, Bob Odenkirk - Better Call Saul, Cuba Gooding Jr - American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson


Best Supporting Actor in a Drama:

1.)  Rory Kinnear - Penny Dreadful

Runners Up: Anthony Hopkins - Westworld, Jeffrey Wright - Westworld, Jonathan Banks - Better Call Saul, Michael McKean - Better Call Saul, Noah Emmerich - The Americans

BLAIR WITCH is an Enjoyable But Unremarkable Retread

BLAIR WITCH Review:

- Growing up in a small town in suburban Connecticut, the world of Hollywood movie-making seemed like something that happened a world away. Though I loved writing and being creative, it didn't quite occur to me as a kid that "making movies" was in any way a valid potential career path. But several movies that I saw in high school and college began to change my perception, and made me think "hmm, maybe I could take a crack at that." One of those movies for me - and, I've got to imagine, for a whole generation of would-be filmmakers - was The Blair Witch Project. The idea that someone could go out into the woods and shoot a movie on a standard-issue video camera, in a home-movie style, but still tell a scripted, narrative story that was compelling and downright scary - that to me was an irresistibly awesome concept. Soon after seeing The Blair Witch Project, some friends and I - fellow camp counselors at the summer camp I worked at - took a camera into the woods behind my house and began crafting our own Blair Witch parody. I mean - wow! - we could make a movie on our own that looked just like an actual movie playing in theaters. Pretty damn cool. Plus, The Blair Witch Project completely fed into my growing fascination with stories that blurred the line between reality and fiction. Horror by its very nature bleeds into real-life. Made-up stories cause real fear, real phobias, real anxieties. Stories presented as folklore and urban legend make us unsure what's true and what's embellishment. So the logical extension are horror stories that present themselves as real. The Blair Witch Project did everything it could to present itself as real, and back then, in the days before social media, it was hard to debunk the movie's mythology. If you wanted to believe, you could. So while The Blair Witch Project wasn't the greatest horror movie, per se, it was and is one of the most influential. And now, we have another.

Unlike the quick-turnaround Blair Witch 2 - which tried to quickly capitalize on the success of the original by going full traditional-horror movie - BLAIR WITCH is a return to the found footage horror genre that the first film pioneered. In fact, BLAIR WITCH is a legit sequel to the original, picking up years later and following the younger brother of Heather from the first movie - now searching for his sister in hopes that she may still somehow be alive.

BLAIR WITCH comes to us from two of the absolute best in the biz right now when it comes to innovative genre filmmaking - director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett. I'm a huge fan of this team, having previously raved about their horror movie You're Next and its follow-up, the genre-mash thriller The Guest. I was really excited to see what these guys would do with the Blair Witch franchise. But unfortunately, whether it was due to their own decision or due to studio mandate, what they do is essentially stick to the formula. BLAIR WITCH is almost too reverent of the original film - giving us extremely similar story beats and moments, but without the kind of innovation that would have allowed it to really stand on its own. Sure, there are the obligatory technology upgrades - our protagonists now have GPS and drone-cameras - but those additions feel somewhat tacked-on. It's a good example of innovative storytelling vs. simply modernizing. I think about the third Paranormal Activity movie, which wowed with the simple addition of its characters placing a camera on a rotating fan. Simple, but ingenious. Here, there was never that one amazing moment where I thought "wow, really cool use of that drone" or "clever way to integrate GPS into the story." If nothing else, all the tacked-on tech seems to sort of undermine the bare-bones, lost-in-the-woods feel that made the original so memorable.

My other issue here is that the movie is jump-scare overload. Which is weird, because Wingard's You're Next was part of the whole modern indie horror movement - a movement which seems to consciously try to avoid an over-reliance on jump-scares in favor of clever plotting and psychological depth. But yeah, BLAIR WITCH is jump-scare city, and worse, it's got tons of "fake" jump-scares that ultimately don't amount to anything - one of my biggest pet-peeves of the horror genre. That sort of speaks to the movie's overall feeling of messiness. I get that part of the whole found-footage aesthetic is the idea of making the viewer feel disoriented. But there's too much in BLAIR WITCH that feels random and arbitrary as opposed to part of a larger whole. Too many times when a loud noise gets everyone scared, where some unseen force causes the ground to quake, where an invisible entity drags someone around without any seeming endgame. It gives the movie a real funhouse feel. And I'm guessing that's what Wingard was going for - but again, it seems to be trying to pay homage to the original, yet missing a lot what made the original so effective. This movie's constant barrage of sound and fury and nonstop pace made me better appreciate the more methodical, grounded approach of the original.

What might have made BLAIR WITCH more interesting is if it really went full-tilt in another direction from the first film, and just went as weird and trippy as possible. The movie shows hints of a strange side that never quite materializes. There are a couple of scenes of gross-out body horror that don't ever really reach a notable climax. There are some interesting concepts around time and time-loops (seriously) that momentarily perked me up, but that are never really developed. Basically, you kind of get the sense that Wingard and co had some out-there concepts that they wanted to explore in this movie, but ultimately we mostly just get teases that don't really pay-off.

So is the new BLAIR WITCH a total dud? I wouldn't go that far. It's entertaining for what it is - a shake-you-'til-you're-dizzy thrill ride. The characters all work well, and the dynamic between them is strong. James Allen McCune and Callie Hernandez are solid leads. And what actually works best about the movie is its first half - when things are still mysterious and we're getting bits and pieces of the movie's mythology doled out to us via hushed campfire chats and friendly banter that takes a turn for the spooky. When BLAIR WITCH does allow time for quieter moments, it really seems to work well. I'm just not sure that it does as well with its more frenetic segments. Overly long and dizzyingly-staged, the movie's chase and escape scenes don't exactly play well to the strengths of found-footage.

I enjoyed BLAIR WITCH overall - and I'm guessing that those too young to have seen the original will get an extra kick out of seeing this concept play out for the first time. Certainly, there are moments in this one that bring to mind the magic of the first film. But there also isn't all that much that's truly unique or memorable. A fun ride and a serviceable nostalgia trip, but also a bit of a step backwards for the Wingard/Barrett duo (the most Wingard/Barrett thing about the movie was probably its stealth, viral marketing campaign - in which the movie formerly known as "The Woods" was revealed to in fact be a surprise Blair Witch sequel). When given free reign to innovate, these guys are among the best in the biz. But even they can't make this Blair Witch retread a must-see.

My Grade: B-

THE SHALLOWS Has Unexpected Bite

THE SHALLOWS Review:

- Believe it: THE SHALLOWS is one of the most purely fun movies of 2016 so far - a knowingly ridiculous thriller that is pure pulpy goodness. Director Jaume Collet-Serra is the real deal - a pop-art maestro who crafts a film both gorgeous to look at and unafraid to play up the absurdity inherent in its premise. On the surface, THE SHALLOWS may have looked, via its standard-issue marketing, like a standard-issue shark-attack movie. But dive deeper, and you'll find an expertly-crafted popcorn flick that proved to be one of the best see-it-with-an-audience movies of the summer. 

The premise of the film is extremely simple: Blake Lively plays Nancy - a thrill-seeking surfer who travels with her friend to a secluded beach, in search of its legendary waves (Point Break-style). But Nancy ends up surfing solo when her friend gets sick. Bad move: it turns out that these waters are shark infested - with one particularly sinister shark intent on preying on any human stupid enough to invade its turf. Nancy learns this lesson too late, and finds herself hopelessly stranded on a protruding rock far from shore. Now, she's got to figure out a way to get out of the ocean without becoming shark-food. 

Without spoiling too much, I will say that what makes THE SHALLOWS so fun is that it falls into maybe my favorite sub-genre of horror movie: one in which the would-be victim gets tough and decides to fight back against his or her tormentor. Blake Lively's character has major agency in this movie, and the result is that a film that could have been generic horror instead becomes a two-sided fight to the finish. One of the script's smartest moves is making Nancy a capable med student who has the ability to treat her own wounds as well as, in general, think on her feet. That's not to say that Nancy doesn't spend a lot of the movie in grave danger. But it is to say that this is ultimately a survival movie - and a lot of the fun comes from Nancy thinking through her situation, coming up with ways to elude and outsmart the predator that stalks her in the open water.

Fun is a great word to describe THE SHALLOWS in general. The movie fully embraces its pulpy sensibilities, with a dark sense of humor that I wasn't expecting. When I saw this in the theater, one guy sitting near me kept laughing in a semi-disgruntled fashion, thinking he was smarter than the movie. How wrong he was. THE SHALLOWS is a movie that knows exactly what it is and what it's doing, and intentionally goes big with moments meant to illicit shock and laughter. There's one darkly funny moment - in which a particularly obnoxious local gets his just desserts - that is one of the greatest "holy $%&#!" moments of any movie I've seen this year. Similarly, the climactic Nancy-vs.-shark battle is just so satisfyingly done. Over the top and pretty silly, sure, but in a way that is just spot-on in terms of knowingly-winky, B-movie awesomeness.

For her part, Blake Lively is quite good in this. I haven't always loved her performances in other films, but she is perfectly cast here - and I think her experience on a self-referential CW show like Gossip Girl comes in handy in THE SHALLOWS. Lively handles the film's B-movie tone well. And, let's face it, she is pretty much the embodiment of the quintessential surfer-girl - so she seems at home playing this character. You've also got to give her credit for handling the movie's rough-and-tumble physicality with ease and style.

Jaume Collet-Serra makes the movie - for all its B-movie pulpiness - look absolutely amazing. No way would THE SHALLOWS work as well as it does if not for Collet-Serra's ability to mix gorgeous tropical scenery with a palpable sense of dread and horror. And like I said, the guy has a sense of humor to boot. But man, this has to be one of the best-looking B-movies ever made.

I can't emphasize enough how pleasant of a surprise THE SHALLOWS was. Just an incredibly fun, tightly-spun woman-vs.-shark survival thriller. Watch it with a group if you can.

My Grade: A-

GHOSTBUSTERS Doesn't Quite Answer the Call

GHOSTBUSTERS Review:

- No other movie this summer was the subject of more controversy than Ghostbusters. A remake of a beloved classic is always going to push the buttons of fans of the original - but the vitriol towards Paul Fieg's franchise reboot took on especially ugly tone - as a contingent of fans zeroed in on the new movie's all-female cast as the subject of their scorn. There's a lot to unpack here, for better or worse. So let's take a step back and look at the context in which this new Ghostbusters came to be. The thing is - personally, I don't like remakes and reboots, and wish Hollywood would produce less of them. Sure, you occasionally end up with a great movie - but even in those cases, you wonder if the material would have been better served creatively if it was allowed to be its own thing. Surely, there must be someone out there who has a wholly original take on supernatural crime-fighters that would not be beholden to what has come before. Then there's the issue of the Ghostbusters franchise itself. I'll be honest, I've never been 100% onboard. The fact is, the first movie is a really fun, funny example of genre-blending - mixing the snarky comedy of 70's/80's-era SNL with the high-concept, big-budget event-driven filmmaking that, at the time of the original film, was reaching its nadir. But as much as I enjoy Ghostbusters, it was never a movie that, for me, screamed "franchise." Maybe that's partly due to the disappointing second film. Maybe it's because, in general, comedies tend not to work as franchises. Maybe it's because it's now been decades since the original film, and Ghostbusters, in 2016, felt more like a piece of 80's nostalgia than a living, breathing fictional universe. Point being: whether the new movie was a sequel, remake, reboot, whatever - it would have taken something really cool, really creative, to get me that excited for more ghost bustin'.

But here's the flip-side: if you take the view that Hollywood will inevitably remake everything, then the extension of that is that, hey, they might as well do so in a way that's new and different and perhaps more inclusive of women and minorities than the original source material. So even if the idea of more Ghsotbusters never really excited me that much, period ... well, it's still cool that there are girls who will be getting four new jumpsuit-clad heroes of their own with this new movie.

But all of that meta-baggage aside, there's still the basic question of: is the movie good? And as far as Paul Feig's GHOSTBUSTERS goes, the movie is ... sort of okay. Ultimately, this is a movie that is 100% carried by its funny, uber-capable cast - an all-star lineup of some of the funniest females on the planet. Kristin Wiig, Melissa McCarthy, Leslie Jones, and most especially Kate McKinnon elevate the movie and bring it to life by sheer force of will. Because, unfortunately, the script here is pretty inert, and the jokes tend to fall flat more often than they hit. But McKinnon, in particular, kills despite that, crafting a memorable character by constantly giving us little, outside-the-script moments that make us laugh, smile, and pretty much love everything about her insane and insanely-awesome character of Holtzmann. Holtzmann wins us over with each successive wild-eyed glance, mischievous smile, and gun-licking quirk. She's the best thing in the movie, and a testament to McKinnon's ability as a comedic performer. She's been SNL's MVP for the last few years, and should easily and quickly make the post-SNL transition to bonafide movie star. She's the real-deal.

But especially now, as I write this with the benefit of hindsight, I think back and am sort of amazed at how little of GHOSTBUSTERS has stuck with me in the weeks since I originally saw it. Really, the main takeaway for me was, to re-state the obvious, that Kate McKinnon was/is awesome. But that aside, what else does the new GHOSTBUSTERS really have to offer?

Certainly, it does not give us a memorable villain. Neil Casey's squirmy Rowan is utterly forgettable, and his convoluted evil plans make little sense. There are very little emotional stakes in the Ghostbusters' fight with him, and he's just sort of ... lame. At least the movie occasionally dazzles from a visual perspective, giving us some cool-looking ghosts for our heroes to do battle with. But even there, the film provides some short bursts of inspired visuals (like Holtzman's climactic slo-mo ghost-battle late in the film), but at times, it also feels a bit flat and less atmospheric than it should. I'm not asking for Crimson Peak here (okay, I guess I sort of am), but the movie almost never feels genuinely *creepy* in the way I wanted it to.

It also, sadly, struggles with comedy. Like I said, the movie's funniest moments are the ones that feel improvised - that feel like off-script stuff thrown in by McKinnon, etc. But the overall joke writing here is somewhat flat. There's no "cross the streams" moment that will be quoted for the rest of time immemorial. Weirdly, the movie also seems to put some major restraints on its talent. While McKinnon gets to be the breakout weirdo, and Lesli Jones gets to be Lesli Jones (a good thing, no question), Melissa McCarthy and Kristin Wiig both seem underserved by the script. They play straight-women to an extent that is sort of surprising. Wiig's Erin Gilbert is a tightly-wound professor who's long repressed her obsession with ghosts due to the level of professional embarrassment it caused. So of course, it's only a matter of time until she cracks and comes out of her shell, right? Not really. Other than one sorta-funny dance scene, Wiig spends the whole movie playing a pretty boring character. Trust me, I am all for Wiig playing more nuanced, subtle characters. I was a giant fan of her work with Bill Hader in the movie Skeleton Twins, for example. But this is GHOSTBUSTERS. This is not the movie in which I want a restrained Kristin Wiig - or a Wiig, for that matter, who barely even gets off a great comedic line of dialogue for the movie's entire running time. Surprisingly, it's Chris Hemsworth - as the Ghostbusters' dimwitted secretary - who gets the movie's most over-the-top and consistently funny lines. Hemsworth is great here, no question. But mostly, his stuff feels tangential to the main movie. As funny as he is, the movie would have been better off devoting less time to Hemsworth's antics and more time to its leading ladies, to its plot, and to its villain.

I don't want to undermine that, on one level, this version of GHOSTBUSTERS is a success simply in that it presents a mostly pretty-fun comedic romp starring some very naturally funny and charismatic women. Perhaps there is a net positive here in that girls will watch this movie and find the same sort of kick-ass, lovably weird role models that a generation of guys found when the original movie was released. Maybe that's enough. But I'm also not sure that this movie is really good or funny enough to leave that same sort of cultural impact in its wake. Time will tell, I guess. But if this movie is not the touchstone that Feig and co. wanted it to be - well, that's okay. Girls don't need a dusting-off of a decades-old franchise to be their touchstone. Someone out there will create something new and different and better that will be that thing. It's only a matter of time.

My Grade: C+