THE BEST OF 2024 - The Best TV Of The Year

 

THE BEST OF 2024 - The Best TV Shows of The Year

- And so it begins. I say that in reference to me sitting down, here at my desk, to write my annual Best Of lists ... but also in reference to an unpredictable new era of TV that we find ourselves about to head into (because, by the way, this is my Best TV of 2024 list ... so we're here to talk TV!). 

We are now in a world where the TV landscape is changing dramatically - and poised to change even more so in the year ahead. NBCUniversal is planning to spin out most of its cable networks into a new offshoot company. WB may end up doing the same. And most of the big players in sports (including wrestling) are entering 2025 with dramatically re-structured TV deals, in which leagues like the NFL, NBA, WWE, and AEW are all going to be abandoning traditional cable - at least in part - in favor of shiny new streaming deals with platforms like Netflix, Amazon, Peacock, and Max. It's a brave (and somewhat scary) new world indeed.

 

Post-strikes, 2024 saw a lot less content overall than what we've come to expect. And it appears that the studios and streamers are taking a more selective approach, especially with regards to original scripted content, going forward. This contraction is not great for the TV industry overall, and has already lead to less work for writers and other creatives, as well as corporate consolidation and layoffs. It remains to be seen if this will continue in 2025. My gut says that the movie business will rebound to a large extent, but that the TV business will remain somewhat diminished. Because as great as the initial streaming / content boom was for many, it was clearly unsustainable in the long-term. With that being said ... what happens next?

 

In a lot of ways, TV is becoming more and more like the movies. Less content, much of it IP-driven. We see that now with Disney and its cascade of Star Wars and Marvel series, WB with its movie spin-offs like Dune: Prophecy and The Penguin, etc. At the same time, I think that as a lot of these streamers "go back to basics," we'll see a return to a lot of the tried and true TV genres. Stuff that doesn't require knowledge of decades of lore to enjoy. We are starting to see that shift occur now when you look at the kinds of shows that have gained popularity on Netflix and elsewhere - both in terms of new content and classic series, i.e. Suits, that continue to enjoy second lives on streaming. Hopefully this means a return for great sitcoms. With the end of What We Do In The Shadows this year, there's a huge void in terms of great TV comedies. It will be interesting to see if it's a "if you build it, they will come" sort of scenario, or if comedy just continue to gets largely ignored in what is a more fractured marketplace.

But the biggest shift may be us now, truly, entering a post mono-culture era. With major sports leagues going to streaming, you have to wonder if those leagues will put up huge numbers initially, but eventually become lost in the streaming scroll bar purgatory. I mean, anyone over 30 will tell you how differently we watch things now vs. way back when, in the days when we channel-surfed and found ourselves suddenly immersed in a good NBA game or other random bit of programming that wasn't necessarily "appointment viewing." But now ... what even is appointment viewing? The vestiges of that era - HBO Sunday Night TV, for example - have slowly been chipped away at and absorbed into the streaming sludge. People are watching what they want, when they want - and hibernating within their self-created pop-culture bubbles. This makes it harder for real news to penetrate the mainstream consciousness with the same effectiveness it once did. It makes it harder for sports and other TV events to reel in casual viewers. 

 

And yet ... you never know. The power of social media means that things can go viral and become mass-viewing events. If it's the right event, and a big enough platform ... then yeah, you can perhaps achieve the kind of crazy viewership that Netflix did with its Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul fight. Netflix hopes that live events like that, doing huge numbers, will be its new normal in 2025. But that remains to be seen, as does the future of the entire industry in general. And of course, I say all of this not even really getting into the Trump of it all and the way that our next President's vindictiveness could change the way TV is made under a more authoritarian-esque government. Ugh. It's going to be a monumental year for TV - for good or bad - in 2025.

 

But putting all that aside, there were, as always, some amazing TV series in 2024. So let's celebrate that. On with the lists - and a one-two punch of vampires, no less!

DANNY'S TOP TV SHOWS OF 2024:


1. WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS

- One of the best TV comedies concluded its amazing run this year in What We Do In The Shadows. I wasn't planning on this being my #1 show of the year ... but this week, as I watched the brilliantly hilarious series finale, I realized that I needed to give this all-timer comedy its due. I mean, six seasons of laugh-out-loud greatness, capped off by one hell of a final season that included several instant-classic episodes and numerous incredible moments. What a cast. What top-tier writing. What a great sitcom. If you've not yet indulged in What We Do In The Shadows - it's high time to binge-watch through the best vampire comedy ever made. It will be missed.

2. INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE

- Somehow, the best comedy and drama of the year were both about vampires. Indeed, the blood-sucking monsters of myth really had a moment in 2024. Because the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Interview With The Vampire, in its second season, was my pick for TV's best drama in 2024. Killer acting, stunning twists and turns, and an unforgettable S2 setting of 1940's France's Théâtre des Vampires. I can't say enough about the quality of this series, and S2 only upped the ante from S1 and set things up for a potentially insane S3 (with the vampire Lestate poised to enter his rockstar era). If you're not all-in yet, time to catch up.

3. SHOGUN

- Shogun was THE TV event of 2024 - a stunningly shot and impeccably acted miniseries (except now with a Season 2 on its way!) that re-imagined the novel as Game of Thrones esque epic (except without the dragons).I couldn't wait for each new episode, and I couldn't wait to see the unfolding dynamic between Cosmo Jarvis' John Blackthorne and Anna Sawai's Mariko evolve. The way the show handled the "translation" scenes involving Mariko was truly brilliant, and Sawai's acting made it all work impeccably. 

4. THE PENGUIN

- I was a big fan of Matt Reeves' THE BATMAN, and really dug Colin Farrell's transformative version of The Penguin in that film. But holy lord, in the spin-off The Penguin series, Farrell takes things to a whole other level. For episode after episode, Farrell BECAME this character in a way that can only be described as remarkable ... one of the craziest feats of all-in acting I've ever seen. And yet, his performance was matched in terms of broken brilliance by Cristin Milioti's turn as Sofia Falcone, Gotham's crime heiress. The show was a true crime epic in the vein of The Sopranos, often darkly funny and with, of course, the heightened vibes of being set in the Batman universe. This one really surprised, and was among the absolute best TV series of the year.

5. TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY

- I've been a fan of True Detective from the beginning (well, excepting the very mixed bag that was S2) - but man, Night Country was something special. Under the guiding hand of showrunner Issa López, this was a tour de force crime/detective series featuring an absolute stunner of a central performance from the great Jodie Foster. Night Country captured what made the first season of True Detective such a breakout - that sense of existential, supernatural-tinged horror that lives alongside the gritty, lived-in storytelling and characters. But it also did its own thing, telling a story about oppression and abuse of power that had a real social impact.

6. ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING

- With each new season, I grow to appreciate Only Murders in the Building more and more. It really is a new classic - a show that delivers time and again with its unique mix of comedy, heart, and intriguing mysteries. Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez were once again brilliant this season, and they were joined by a cavalcade of great guest stars - from Meryl Streep to Paul Rudd to Kumail Nanjiani to Eugene Levy to Richard Kind. But what got me about this season were the moments where you realized just how much you cared about its central trio. At this point, they're the kind of extended TV family that you just don't get anymore.

7. 3 BODY PROBLEM

- This show was very much my jam - a hard science-fiction alien invasion story, that had me constantly rushing to Google to research the far-out concepts it presented in every episode. Each episode of this series had me dying to know what would happen next - and the show rewarded that curiosity by being extremely unpredictable (well, at least for someone like me who hasn't yet read the books) and very frequently mind-blowing. Filled with great actors, the show truly delivered some epic sci-fi moments. I can't wait to see where it goes from here.

8. RIPLEY

- I wasn't sure what to expect from this new adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley books (that spawned a Matt Damon movie in the 90's), but what I got was one of the great TV shows of this past year. Filmed in incredible-looking black and white, the show takes us on a picturesque journey to 1960's Italy - as we follow the manipulative machinations of con-man and killer Ripley - played here to awkward perfection by Andrew Scott (in one of the truly standout performances of 2024). A slow burn that nonetheless kept me on the edge of my seat, I can't recommend this Netflix series enough.

9. HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

- House of the Dragon soared in its epic second season, as we pushed towards all out war between the green and black factions of House Targaryen. The show was consistently really, really strong in S2 - with numerous standout moments and consistently excellent performances from Emma D’Arcy, Olivia Cooke, and the rest of the cast. All I can really say is that this show is now generating equal levels of excitement and anticipation from me as the original Game of Thrones series. When that theme song hits, you know you're about to see something special.

10. THE DAY OF THE JACKAL

- If you haven't yet seen this recently-launched Peacock series, it's well worth checking out. It's one part prestige British spy thriller, one part 24-style over-the-top actioner. But what holds it together is the A+ central performance from Eddie Redmayne as mysterious assassin The Jackal. Redmayne feels perfectly cast here, and he's got a good foil in Lashana Lynch as an MI:6 agent pursuing him around the globe. With great action, fun twists, and killer cliffhangers ... this was one of the best TV series of 2024.

 

The Next Best:


11. SILO

- One of my favorite series of 2023 is currently in the midst of Season 2 ... so it's a little tough to rank it. The good news is that the last few episodes have really crushed it, and I have a feeling we're headed towards a barn-burner of a season finale. But man, this show is a throwback in that it's a weekly sci-fi mystery series that, in Lost-esque fashion, has me eagerly guessing where this is all going. Thank the folks at Apple TV for delivering a top-quality show like this. And thanks to the show's brilliant cast - including lead Rebecca Ferguson and top-notch supporting players like Tim Robbins - for really bringing it each and every episode.

 

 

12. THE GREAT NORTH

- Fox's perpetually underrated animated comedy The Great North deserves your attention! Because this show is awesomely weird, consistently hilarious, and often has surprising amounts of heart to boot. The voice-cast on this show - including Nick Offermann and Will Forte - is SO good. And the look at life in Alaska has an eccentricity but also a King of the Hill style authenticity. 

 

 

13. CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM

- This year was the end of an era, as one of the great TV comedies ever - Curb Your Enthusiasm - came to an end. Sure, the show was, like Larry, a bit past its prime - but it still delivered plenty of great moments and memorable episodes in its final run (including some hilarious but bittersweet final scenes for the late, great Richard Lewis). Pret-tay, pret-tay good.

 

14. CONAN O'BRIEN MUST GO

- Finally, Conan O'Brien returned to TV in 2024! Taking the fan-favorite travelogue format from previous specials and doing a series out of it was a great idea, and Conan remains absolutely hilarious when riffing with ordinary people in situations where he's decidedly out of his element. There are so many comedy-gold moments in the new series. And each episode has an intro narrated by Werner Herzog. Comedy perfection.

15. EVERYBODY'S IN L.A. WITH JOHN MULANEY

- One of the weirdest, coolest comedy things of 2024 was John Mulaney's experimental live Netflix talk show ... which played like some strange Twilight Zone deconstruction of what a talk show even is and can be. The show captured the off the wall energy of classic Conan or Letterman, with bizarre guest groupings, Richard Kind as a sidekick, random but awesome musical performances, and humor and discussion topics that were very, very specifically LA-centric. Which may not be for everyone, but as someone who's now lived in LA for 20 years ... this all hit big. More, please.

16. BABY REINDEER

 

- Baby Reindeer could be very hard to watch at times. Dark, disturbing, and undeniably cringe. But ultimately, in a good way? The show dealt in brutally honest fashion with some very difficult topics. It could be darkly funny and it could be deeply unpleasant. But it felt so raw, so unflinching, that I couldn't stop watching.

 

 

17. THE BEAR

- I still really like The Bear. And Season 3 had moments - whole episodes even - that reminded why this show is one of the best TV series of the last few years. At its best, the show has brilliant writing, brilliant acting, and a teeth-grinding intensity that's not quite like anything else on TV. Yes, S3 got a bit indulgent and a bit draggy and a bit too emo. But I'm excited to see what S4 brings.

18. STAR WARS: SKELETON CREW

 

- Star Wars meets Stranger Things? Sign me up, baby. I was feeling a bit burnt out on Star Wars this year (and didn't love the uneven-feeling Acolyte), but Skeleton Crew reignited that old sense of awe and wonder and fun that I was looking for from this franchise. Yes, this show is not subtle about what it is - it wears its 80's influences and aesthetic loudly and proudly - but for me, that is 100% something I can get behind. I love the retro vibes, love the show's cast of lovably mismatched kid characters, and am really enjoying this one overall.

 

 

19. ENGLISH TEACHER

- English Teacher kind of came out of nowhere for me, but ended up being a really pleasant comedy surprise. It worked better once it clicked for me that this was a show about pretty awful teachers who are also not great people. Once you come to terms with that, you can laugh at the awfulness and just appreciate the sharp writing, on-point humor, and satirical look at the failings of Millennial teachers vs. the failings of the generation of high school students they try to teach. 

 

20. INVINCIBLE

- Again, maybe I'm a bit biased here because Robert Kirkman's INVINCIBLE is one of my favorite comic book series ever. But I still got a huge kick out of this show's second season and how it so perfectly captures the quirky, unique tone of the books. It's a superhero story that isn't bound by convention and can therefore go to the craziest and most mind-bending places imaginable. And the characters can grow and change and evolve. And Kirkman and co can be as weird, as violent, as bizarre as they wanna be. 

 

21. MR. & MRS. SMITH

 

- This show, anchored by two fantastic lead performances from Donald Glover and Maya Erskine, was a clever update on the movie version's premise. Here, two rookie spies are paired together and asked to pose as a couple ... and so each spy mission essentially functions as a first, second, third date (and so on). A lot of awkward humor ensues. And a lot of timely commentary on love and romance in 2024.

22. CREATURE COMMANDOS

 

- The first official entry in the new, James Gunn led DC cinematic universe, the animated Max show Creature Commandos - like Peacemaker before it - is distinctly a James Gunn joint. And if you, like me, dig Gunn's offbeat humor and go-for-broke sensibilities, then you will probably dig this show. And hey, it also doesn't hurt if, like me, you're a diehard DC fan who loves the way the show uses a motley crew of DC's C and D-listers. 

 

23. FALLOUT

- I was a little up and down on Fallout - but overall, I appreciated the show's ability to capture the vibes and aesthetic of the game series while also fleshing out the lore to create a pretty compelling post-apocalyptic storytelling universe. And then of course you had the great Walton Goggins tearing it up as an evil mutant gunslinger. Sure, he's basically playing an irradiated version of Boyd Crowder, but hard to complain about that.

24. X-MEN '97

- A blast of 90's nostalgia, X-Men '97 was a super cool update to the beloved X-Men animated series of many of our childhoods. The show cleverly infused the 90's-era superheroics of the old kid-friendly series with a dose of more adult sophistication - creating a show that could shock and surprise with some of the places it went with its storytelling. 

25. COBRA KAI

 

- While Cobra Kai has felt a bit scattershot in its latest batch of episodes, the first half of S6 was a rollicking way to kick off the beloved series' final run. You just have to go with the flow when it comes to the show's pro-wrestling esque barrage of face and heel turns, and its incorporation of key storytelling beats into its crazy melee fight scenes. There's nothing else quite like it, and I'll be sad when the show ends later in 2025.

 

INDIVIDUAL AWARDS:


The Best TV Heroes of 2024:

1.) Toda Mariko - Shogun
2.) John Blackthorne - Shogun
3.) The Star Wars: Skeleton Crew kids (Fern, Wim, KB, and Neel) - Star Wars: Skeleton Crew
4.) Juliette Nichols - Silo
5.) Jin Cheng- 3 Body Problem

 

The Best TV Villains of 2024:

1.) Santiago - Interview With the Vampire

2.) Tom Ripley - Ripley

3.) Bernard Holland - Silo
4.) Terry Silver - Cobra Kai
5.) The Ghoul - Fallout

 

 

The Best TV Anti-Heroes of 2024:

 

1.) Toranaga - Shogun

2.) Louis de Pointe du Lac - Interview With the Vampire
3.) Rhaenyra Targaryen - House of the Dragon
4.) Liz Danvers - True Detective: Night Country
5.) The Bride - Creature Commandos