The Best of the 10's - Danny's Best Movies of the Decade!

- Well, we did it - we made it to 2020! At times though, it felt like we just barely got there. And the great films of the decade often reflected the anger, the angst, the anxieties of the times we live in - as well as the need to preserve things like truth, and compassion, and empathy, and hope.

The decade saw new movies from legendary filmmakers - Scorsese, Spielberg, The Coen Brothers, Paul Thomas Anderson, David Fincher, George Miller, Quentin Tarantino, and more. But it also saw the rise of countless exciting new voices. People like Steve McQueen, Greta Gerwig, Bong Joon Ho, Ava Duvernay, Alex Garland, Ryan Coogler, Taika Waititi - and so many more.

These past ten years have, in many ways, flown by. The previous decade, for me, was marked by change. I graduated from high school, and college, and moved to LA. This decade - well, it's been more about plugging away, grinding it out, and figuring out how to build the life for myself that I want. But one thing is clear: almost no experiences were better, or more memorable, or more meaningful than the times I had with the movies.

Here's to a great decade ahead.


THE BEST MOVIES OF THE 2010's:


1. Mad Max: Fury Road

- The best and most heart-pounding action movie ever made, this improbably amazing sequel from director George Miller is the most incredible cinematic experience of the decade. It's filled with memorable characters, jaw-dropping set pieces, all-timer performances, and an urgent message that felt much-needed this decade. And how often, in these crazy last few years, have we all felt like Furiosa - donning our warpaint, bracing for battle, and running/racing/escaping towards a sometimes seemingly-impossible dream of a better future. Mad Max is my pick for the decade's best.


2. The Social Network

- When David Fincher's film was first released, it felt important. Now, it feels vital. A brilliantly-written, amazingly-directed, impeccably-acted film - the movie is a tech-world origin story for our time. Writer Aaron Sorkin's dialogue has never been sharper, and Fincher's direction has never been more confident - he imbues even small moments with a near-apocalyptic intensity.


3. Boyhood

- Richard Linklater's crowning achievement - shot over a decade - is an incredibly moving portrayal of growing up that impeccably captures moments big and small. It's a unique cinematic achievement that may never again be replicated. Linklater created a film that gave us an unprecedented feeling of watching a life unfolding before our eyes.


4. Her

-What was once sci-fi dystopian fiction is now nearly reality. That alone nets Her a spot near the top of this list - but the film is also just incredibly well-made. It's riveting. I remember seeing it in the theater - you could hear a pin drop at certain moments. What director Spike Jonze accomplished with this one is right up there with his other great directorial efforts like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - like that film, this is a movie that will provoke discussion well into the next decade.


5. Inception

- Christopher Nolan's pop-cultural atom bomb shows the director at his pulse-pounding best. The movie nearly vibrates with thunderous intensity, and its twisty sci-fi plot was, is, and will be debated for years to come. 


6. The Wolf of Wall Street

- Martin Scorsese's best film of the decade is also one of the legendary director's all-time masterworks. A scathing satire of Wall Street greed and excess, the film felt like essential art following the economic crash at the end of the last decade.


7. Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse

- The more I thought about this movie, the more I was in awe of it. It's nearly perfect. The way it introduces so many characters, so quickly, yet makes us care so much about each of them. The way it looks. The way it emotionally involves you. The way it gives you so many moments of sheer cinematic awesomeness.


8. Jojo Rabbit

- A minor miracle of a movie, Jojo Rabbit is hilarious and heartfelt and subversive and daring and really, really shouldn't work. But this story about a Hitler-worshipping young boy in Nazi Germany - who slowly begins to shake off the cobwebs and see the error of his ways - somehow becomes both a brilliant satire of times past and a vital reflection of the times we live in now. Well done, Taika Waititi.


9. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World

-Edgar Wright's rock n' roll action-comedy is the decade's ultimate new cult classic. Mixing ultra-stylized visuals, quotable comedy, and a hefty dose of Millennial angst - Scott Pilgrim is, quite simply, one of the coolest movies ever.


10. Inside Out

- Pixar's best movie of the decade, Inside Out was a movie about empathy at a time when empathy was sorely needed. An instant-classic that makes you laugh, cry, and actually come away with a better understanding of your fellow humans. Pretty remarkable.



THE NEXT BEST:


11. Cloud Atlas

- The Wachowski's time-spanning epic is a truly one of a kind film that left me floored. It's a sprawling, ambitious, thematically-rich epic that is practically bursting with ideas, philosophy, high-concept storytelling, and audio-visual fireworks.


12. The Handmaiden

- A true stunner from one of the great directors, Chan Wook Park. The Handmaiden casts a spell from moment one - and despite its length it leaves you wanting more. The entire story turns on its head halfway through, making you question everything you thought you knew about its characters.


13. The Witch

- One of the creepiest and most genuinely disturbing horror movies ever made. Director Robert Eggers made a film that might have been great even without the horror element - but when things ramped up, they *really* ramped up. The Witch almost feels like something you shouldn't be watching.


14. 12 Years a Slave

- A riveting look at a life in slavery, this film featured several star-making turns. Here is a film that is a stark reminder of the horrors of slavery. But man, this is also a cinematic tour de force - an utterly captivating, tension-packed narrative filled with unforgettable moments.


15. The Raid: Redemption / The Raid 2

- Arguably two of the best, most insane action movies ever. Jaw-dropping. Directed by Welsh-born Gareth Evans, these Indonesian-set films, in my view, forever raised the bar for martial-arts action cinema.


16. Planet of the Apes (trilogy)

- One of the greatest movie trilogies ever, the rebooted Apes had everything - great action, great characters, incredible f/x, and a lot to say. These movies transcended being mere blockbusters to become something truly special. They masterfully follows in the grand tradition of the original film (and in the tradition of original Apes writer Rod Serling) - for they are a profound, Twilight Zone reflection of our own world.


17. Eighth Grade

- Writer/director Bo Burnham absolutely kills it with this one - delivering a movie that's hilarious, emotional, and spot-on in its depiction of life as an eighth grader. Sure, some of the details were specific to 2018 - but the genius of the film is that it hits on universal truths that anyone who's ever been 13 can immediately relate to.


18. Parasite

- A searing look at class struggle, Parasite is also just an incredible piece of edge-of-your seat filmmaking. It's a darkly funny thriller that has Hitchock-ian levels of tension, all while delivering some biting, eat-the-rich social commentary.


19. Gravity

- An incredible journey into deep space, seeing Gravity in IMAX 3D was an all-time amazing movie-going experience. Gravity is also a powerful reminder of the human spirit. Space travel has always represented the pinnacle of human achievement, and that to me is what Gravity is really about - the will and desire to literally reach for the stars.


20. The Grey

- One of the most purely badass and downright awesome movies of the decade. A stunning, stirring tale of man vs. nature - more specifically, Liam Neeson vs. hordes of giant, merciless WOLVES. But it's a tale told with style and a surprising amount of substance, ultimately becoming a more-epic-than-expected rumination on life, death, and finding the will to fight on no matter the cost.


21. Uncut Gems

- Uncut Gems will put directing powerhouses The Safdie Brothers on your radar, and it will also remind you that Adam Sandler is a uniquely talented actor when cast in the right film. This movie never stops, never relents, never slows down. It's kinetic, intense-as-hell.


22. The World's End

- More than fitting capper to the thematically-linked trilogy that started with Shaun of the Dead and continued with Hot Fuzz. In fact, this may be the best of the three - a film that's at once an all-too-relatable meditation about how you can't go home again


23. Drive

- Stylish to the extreme (and with a killer soundtrack to boot), Drive was the neon-lit breakout for director Nicolas Winding Refn. It's rare that a film combines the over-the-top badassery of the best B-movies with the sense of artistry inherent in many Oscar-worthy dramas. But Drive is that movie and more.


24. Toy Story 3

- Pixar imbued its Toy Story franchise with incredible poignancy and surprising darkness in this third and best installment. A film that kids and adults can enjoy with equal enthusiasm, Toy Story 3 is another credit to the continued genius of Pixar.


25. Whiplash

- "Not quite my tempo." Damien Chazelle's breakout film was a nightmarish meditation on the pain and suffering that comes with attempting to be the best. Unforgettable. In this film, music is a battle, and Miles Teller's young, would-be-drummer extraordinaire is at war.

THE NEXT BEST

26.) Nightcrawler

- A dark satire of our culture of exploitation, Nightcrawler sadly becomes more relevant with each passing year.

27.) The Florida Project

- An incredible film about the hopes and dreams of those who are marginalized and left behind in our society, I still think about the ending of this movie all the time.

28.) Dunkirk

-  Christopher Nolan's ultra-intense war movie takes you on an unforgettable, visceral journey.

29.) Roma

- Alfonso Cuaron paints an incredible portrait of a life remembered in this affecting, amazingly-directed film.

30.) Phantom Thread

- Paul Thomas Anderson's at times overlooked, not-quite-what-it-seems masterpiece features an all-time great (and possibly final!) performance from Daniel Day Lewis.

31.) Inside Llewyn Davis

- The Coen Bros' best film of the decade is another hard-to-pin-down film from two of the best ever. It's incredibly-written, funny, weird, mysterious, and deeply layered.

32.) This Is The End

- One of the flat-out funniest movies ever, this over-the-top comedy features an all-star cast of celebrities (playing themselves!) dealing with the end of the world in incredibly hilarious fashion.

33.) How To Train Your Dragon

- One of my favorite-ever animated movies, How to Train Your Dragon featured soaring visuals, an amazing score, and an epic mythology - as well as a deeply moving father-son story at its core.

34.) Creed

- Ryan Coogler injected a second life into the Rocky series, casting Rocky Balboa as the mentor to a new generation of fighter. Michael B. Jordan made Adonis Creed into the hero we needed this decade.

35.) Interstellar

- Christopher Nolan brought us to the farthest regions of the universe in this mind-bending, mind-blowing science fiction epic.

36.) Ex Machina

- Alex Garland was one of my favorite directors of the decade. His sci-fi AI film Ex Machina was an awesomely dark and crazy thriller that has to be seen to be believed.

37.) It Follows

- I was such a big fan of this horror movie that it inspired me to try my hand at writing horror movies. The film that helped open the floodgates to the decade's new wave of indie horror movie-making, It Follows is a creepy, fun, atmospheric blast of horror movie magic.

38.) The Irishman

- A fitting summation of a life in crime films. But this time, Scorsese's usual rock and roll filmmaking style is tempered by an elegiac, mournful look at aging characters filled with regret.

39.) Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

- The film is quieter and more contemplative than typical Tarantino fare, but that makes it all the better of a film to live in for a bit and take in all the great little details - from the world-building to the great dialogue moments to the iconic Brad Pitt performance at its center.

40.) The Shape of Water

- Guillermo Del Toro is a filmmaker who I have so much admiration for, and The Shape of Water might just be his best work to date. It's a monster movie, a love story, and an adventure film wrapped in one - but Del Toro's passion and attention to detail is evident in every frame.

41.) Burning

- This Korean thriller is one of those crazy, holy-$%&# movies that is hard to talk about for fear of spoilers. Suffice it to say, it's an unforgettable movie about revenge and presumption of guilt and man, it goes to some dark places.

42.) Hell or High Water

- This badass crime thriller pits two young would-be criminals against a grizzled sheriff in the form of one Jeff by-god Bridges. I mean, 'nuff said - right? But the movie also shows an America - decaying, desperate - crawling towards an apocalyptic end-times.

43.) Moana

- One of the best Disney animated movies of the decade, Moana is a colorful, uplifting journey filled with fantastic music and - finally - a Disney "princess" who feels modern and empowered.

44.) They Came Together

- The comedic geniuses behind Wet Hot American Summer came together again (see what I did there?) for what was, I think, another absolutely hilarious film. If you like weird, absurdist comedy - it doesn't get much better than this.

45.) Moonrise Kingdom

- One of Wes Anderson's best, as the director's whimsical sensibilities play perfectly with a movie about childhood and first loves.

46.) Snowpiercer

- Bong Joon Ho's modern cult classic is an insane journey packed with crazy action, an up-for-anything cast (Tilda Swinton!), and some pretty cutting social commentary to boot.

47.) The Ballad of Buster Scruggs

- The Coen Bros' Wild West anthology of weird tales about life and death is, I think, a low-key masterpiece. It can be riotously funny and also oddly poignant - and it's chock full of great performances.

48.) Black Panther

- Wakanda forever! Marvel's best movie resonates because of the thematic depth that Ryan Coogler brings to the table. The movie's got cool action and the requisite superhero bombast, but it also felt relevant to the here and now in a way that the late, great Stan Lee always strove for in his comics.

49.) Coco

- Another Pixar great, Coco tackles some potentially dark subject matter with wit and humor and heart in the sort of way that Pixar is so incredibly skilled at.

50.) Spotlight

- The searing true story of how a group of determined Boston Globe reporters uncovered the Catholic Church scandal, this one is an important reminder of the power of the press and of a society that values truth above all.


THE NEXT 50:
 

51.) Young Adult
52.) 13 Assassins
53.) Black Swan
54.) Logan
55.) First Reformed
56.) The Hateful Eight
57.) Mission: Impossible - Fallout
58.) Captain America: The Winter Soldier
59.) The Lighthouse
60.) Midsommar
61.) Zero Dark Thirty
62.) Beasts of No Nation
63.) Us
64.) Frances Ha
65.) Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
66.) The Big Sick
67.) Okja
68.) Avengers: Infinity War
69.) Long Shot
70.) Ladybird
71.) Apollo 11
72.) Captain Phillips
73.) Django Unchained
74.) 1917
75.) The LEGO Movie
76.) Green Room
77.) Knives Out
78.) Warrior
79.) Captain America: The First Avenger
80.) Short Term 12
81.) Martha Marcy May Marlene
82.) A Better Life
83.) Star Wars: The Last Jedi
84.) Suspiria (2018)
85.) Big Hero 6
86.) Guardians of the Galaxy
87.) True Grit
88.) Room
89.) Selma
90.) Tron Legacy
91.) Pacific Rim
92.) Edge of Tomorrow
93.) Lincoln
94.) Sing Street
95.) Thor: Ragnarok
96.) Train To Busan
97.) The Farewell
98.) The Conjuring
99.) Nebraska
100.) Searching

30 More That Just Missed The Cut:

The Guest, Attack the Block, Hello My Name Is Doris, Dredd, You're Next, Wild Rose, Mandy, Get Out, The Nice Guys, IT, The Cabin in the Woods, The Shallows, Obvious Child, The Adventures of Tintin, I Don't Feel at Home In This World Anymore, Predestination, Looper, Safety Not Guaranteed, The Way Way Back, Shoplifters, Raw, The Post, Kick-Ass, Locke, John Wick (1-3), The Babadook, Crimson Peak, Three Identical Strangers, Stoker, Fruitvale Station

The Best of the 10's - Danny's Best Comic Books of the Decade!

THE BEST COMICS OF THE 2010's:


1. Saga

- In  the oo's, writer Brian K. Vaughan gave us one of the best-ever comic book series in Y: The Last Man. In the 10's, BKV returned with an incredible follow-up that is already a classic - and it's still going. Saga is a sci-fi space epic- beautifully illustrated by Fiona Staples - that mixes family drama with wry social commentary and an incredible sense of imagination and sense of wonder. Read it!


2. The Walking Dead

- The Walking Dead's long run spanned well over a decade, but man, it was still going strong in the '10's. Early in the decade, writer Robert Kirkman shook up his zombie-apocalypse epic with the introduction of iconic psycho-villain Negan. At the end of the decade, Kirkman shocked fans by surprise-ending the book with a powerfully emotional, full-circle ending. A page-turner to the end.


3. Locke & Key

- Joe Hill's masterpiece, Locke & Key put Hill on the map as a gifted writer with a similar knack for mixing chilling horror with grounded characters as his sorta-famous dad (Stephen King!). The book started in 2008, but ultimately reached its incredible conclusion in 2013. In the end, it was one of the great comic books of the decade, if not ever.


4. Lazarus

-Greg Rucka's near-future, post-apocalyptic masterwork is still running (see one of 2019's top comics, Lazarus: Risen) - but it is, easily, one of the best books of the decade. The series imagines a scenario where mega-corporations rule all - and it feels like an all-too-plausible scenario given the world we live in.


5. Sweet Tooth

- Sweet Tooth made me a fan for life of writer/artist Jeff Lemire - multiple works of whom are on this list. But Sweet Tooth - a sprawling, coming-of-age sci-fi epic - is, I think, his magnum opus. It introduced us to Gus - an unassuming boy who's half human, half deer. Gus' strange journey of self-discover leads to an unlikely adventure that's an all-time comic book classic.


6. Ms. Marvel

- The best and most vital superhero fiction of the decade, G. Willow Wilson gave us the Marvel superhero we needed in the 2010's. Kamala Khan was and is awesome - a geeky teen girl, who also happens to be Muslim, who also happens to have stretching powers as a result of an encounter with Terrigan Mist. Kamala is completely ordinary, yet also unlike any superhero we've ever seen before. And her message of hope and unity is so important.


7. Alex + Ada

- Over the last ten years, I became a huge fan of the collected works of the Luna Brothers. I went back and read through their entire back-catalog (Girls, The Sword, Ultra, etc.), and excitedly picked up each issue of Jonathan Luna and Sarah Vaughn's Alex + Ada as they came out. The series was a thought-provoking sci-fi story that covered similar ground to TV series like Westworld and Humans - but with that humanistic touch that the Lunas are so good at.


8. Hawkeye (Matt Fraction / Alex Aja)

- Even if you have no real interest in superheroes or Marvel, I'd still highly recommend this series. Matt Fraction took the least-powerful Avenger and recast him as a down-on-his-luck protector of a shabby New York neighborhood. The series was funny, innovative, and just incredibly well-written.


9. Southern Bastards

- Jason Aaron's southern-gothic crime comic is one of my all-time favorites. It skewers Southern culture while also paying tribute to it. The overarching story - about a folk hero who returns to his backwoods town to clean things up once and for all (targeting a gang led by the town's villainous high school football coach!).


10. Kill or Be Killed

-Ed Brubaker has been one of my favorite writers for the last 20 years or so. And he continues to be at the top of his game, putting out maybe his best work yet in the form of Kill Or Be Killed. This hard-boiled crime comic - with a possibly-supernatural twist - tells the twisted tale of a mentally-unbalanced man convinced he has to kill people, or else fall victim to a vengeful demon who controls his fate. It's weird, crazy, and something that only Brubaker could make work.


THE NEXT BEST:


11. Punk Rock Jesus

- This politically-charged series put writer/artist Sean Murphy on my radar - and he's since gone on to become one of my favorites.


12. Animal Man (Jeff Lemire / Travel Foreman)

- When DC rebooted itself early in the decade with the New 52, the early standout was Lemire's haunting, strange take on Animal Man. 


13. Batman (Scott Snyder / Greg Capullo)

- Speaking of the New 52, writer Scott Snyder gave us one of the definitive runs on Batman following the DC reboot - introducing such instant-classic villains as The Court of Owls.


14. Jonah Hex / All-Star Western

- Writer Jimmy Palmiotti began writing the adventures of DC's classic Western hero Jonah Hex some 15 years ago, but his extended run continued into this decade with many additional years' worth of classic stories.


15. Batgirl (Brian Q. Miller / Lee Garbett)

- I will always have a soft spot for this sadly short-lived run on Batgirl. It took the fan favorite, girl-next-door character of Stephanie Brown - also known as The Spoiler - and promoted her to Batgirl in a run that was a constant delight (and with awesome Lee Garbett artwork to boot).


16. Paper Girls

- Brian K. Vaughan's *other* great work of the decade was Paper Girls. This time-travel adventure took a page from 80's classics like The Goonies, transporting a group of street-smart paper-delivery girls on a time-spanning journey that looked back across the decades to tell us who we were then, who we are now, and who me maybe, just might, be in the decades to come.


17. Invincible

- As for Robert Kirkman's other long-running comic book epic, Invincible began well before 2010, but finished up its long, celebrated run in 2018. In that time, Kirkman used the creative freedom of writing an independent superhero book to age his characters - telling the story of how super-powered Mark Grayson went from awkward teenager to dedicated husband and father. 


18. Silver Surfer (Dan Slott / Mike Allred)

- Dan Slott's take on the Silver Surfer was a whimsical, inspirational cosmic odyssey and an unlikely love story. Mike Allred's one-of-a-kind artwork made the book that much cooler.


19. Multiversity

- In one fell swoop, Grant Morrison re-invented the DC Universe and left it forever changed. Only Morrison could introduce DC's 52-world multiverse with so much imagination, awe, and wonder.


20. Injustice

- One of the most unlikely awesome comics of the decade, to be sure. What could have been a cash-in videogame tie-in instead became one of the best DC Universe epics of the decade, thanks to the great writing of Tom Taylor. 


21. Black Hammer

- Jeff Lemire does it again. Lemire's superhero deconstruction led to an entire universe of stories that played with and subverted decade's worth of comic book tropes and cliches. Lemire's work was both homage and satire, and it was brilliant.


22. Fatale

- Another of the decade's many great Ed Brubaker books, Fatale was a supernatural noir that mixed a classic femme fatale story with Lovecraftian cosmic horror.


23. The Wake

- Scott Snyder writes. Sean Murphy draws. A comic book dream team if ever there was one. This underwater thriller combined Lost-like mystery with crazy monster-horror. 


24. Royal City

- One more from Lemire. This more grounded, personal comic tells the story of a family torn apart, and then reunited under difficult circumstances. Lemire tells a moving, haunting story that is among his best.


25. Mister Miracle

- Writer Tom King and artist Mitch Gerads take Jack Kirby's classic New Gods characters and reinvent them as ... regular people? Well, actually - what's brilliant about this series is how it deftly, sometimes hilariously, mixes everyday issues with the cosmic drama of Kirby's Fourth World.


JUST MISSED THE CUT:

- Superman (Peter Tomasi)
- Batman Inc.
- House of X / Powers of X
- Criminal
- The Fade Out
- Trillium
- Sex Criminals
- Black Magick
- Jupiter's Circle
- Darth Vader (Kieron Gillen)

The Best of the 10's - Danny's Best TV of the Decade!

THE BEST TELEVISION OF THE 2010's:


1. Breaking Bad

- The gold standard. Breaking Bad was the peak of peak TV - and though it premiered prior to 2010, it was also the first series to make binge-watching catch-up marathons a widespread cultural phenomenon. No series was ever more intense, more impeccably written or acted or saw through from beginning to end. This was the show that knocked, the king of kings.


2. Black Mirror

- An obscure British series that became a viral hit in America thanks to Netflix, Black Mirror is nothing less than the modern day Twilight Zone. No other streaming series has left me waiting in more anticipation for new batches of episodes. And what episodes they were - some of the finest TV installments ever produced, including the all-time-classic San Junipero. A thrilling, disturbing, must-watch sci-fi reflection of the times we live in.


3. Parks and Recreation

-The best sitcom of the decade, Parks and Rec was infinitely quotable, endearingly earnest, and laugh out loud funny. With an all-star cast and an all-star writing team, the show kept getting better and better, up to and including its phenomenal final season in 2015.


4. Game of Thrones

- No other TV series, ever, was more epic. GoT brought sprawling fantasy storytelling TV in a way that had never been seen before, and in doing so produced some of the greatest and most jaw-dropping moments in the medium's history. The last great water-cooler series, the end of Thrones marked the end of a TV era.


5. The Americans

- One of the all-time great TV dramas, The Americans never quite got the fan-following or the critical buzz it deserved. But the show will go down as a classic - a Cold War story that spoke to the troubles and tensions of that era as well as this one. The show was a slow-burn that you couldn't look away from, culminating in perhaps the greatest series finale in TV drama history.


6. Justified

- Speaking of all-time great finales, Justified also gave us one of the best ever. But more than that, the show was a deceptively layered drama filled with iconic characters and memorable locales. A modern Western that never skimped on the badassery, Justified was one of the true can't-miss series of the decade.


7. Community

- A series ahead of its time, Community was constantly on the verge of cancellation - even as it developed a passionate fandom that recognized it as one of the funniest and smartest shows ever. An episode of Community could be anything - and episodes of Community *were* everything. Six seasons and a movie (we still need that movie!).


8. Nathan For You

- Nathan For You is easily one of the strangest, darkest, and most hilarious things I've ever seen. Once you plug into the deadpan wavelength of Nathan Fielder, the only conclusion one can draw is that Nathan For You simply operates on a level of meta comedic genius rarely seen on television.


9. Penny Dreadful

- Those who stuck with Penny Dreadful through its three seasons of gothic Victorian horror were rewarded with one of the most mesmerizing, awe-inspiring, darkly poetic TV series ever made. The series gave us fascinating, re-imagined takes on classic monsters while also introducing Eva Green's iconic Vanessa Ives - tragically struggling with her literal inner demons. And that struggle, man, it made for some incredible TV.


10. Fringe

- The only show in my Top 10 that was *also* on my Best of the 00's list, Fringe started off really good, but ultimately became *great.* What started as a cool new take on X-Files monster-of-the-week procedurals evolved into an epic sci-fi saga that centered around an interdimensional war. The show got better and better as it got more ambitious, and ended up being something unique and unmatched - the decade's ultimate geek-out TV adventure.



THE NEXT BEST:


11. Twin Peaks: The Return

- What an unexpected blast of surreal brilliance this series was - a triumphant return to TV for David Lynch and Mark Frost, revisiting the cult-favorite TV series that had become a pop-culture sensation thirty years earlier. You never knew what Lynch and Frost had in store for you week to week, and that was part of the fun. In fact, it made for some damn fine TV.


12. Mr. Robot

- A series uniquely suited to this decade, Mr. Robot was a mind-bending show that functioned as both a more conventional cyber-thriller and as a meta-journey into the fractured psyche of its main character. Tackling modern political and social issues head-on, Mr. Robot was, ultimately, a bold look at the past decade and a call-to-arms to face the challenges of the next.


13. Brooklyn Nine-Nine

- Nine-Nine! After his incredible sting behind the scenes of Parks & Rec, Mike Schur went on to help create the other best sitcom of the decade - the still-going-strong (and somehow getting better with each season!) B99. Every year, the chemistry of the cast gets better, the joke-writing gets sharper, and I get increasingly annoyed that the great Andre Braugher still hasn't won an Emmy for this show.


14. Fargo

- This show should not have worked. The Coen Bros' cinematic classic did not seem to lend itself to a spin-off TV show ... but creator Noah Hawley proved that there were great stories to be mined from diving back into the snow-covered world of Fargo. And with Seasons 1 and 2 in particular, he gave  us some of the decade's best TV.


15. 30 Rock

- One more holdover from the previous decade - don't get me wrong, 30 Rock is one of the greatest sitcoms of all time. But I also would make the argument that it was just as strong, if not stronger, in the latter half of its run as in the first - producing multiple seasons of hilarity post-2010. Oh how I miss this show. I'm still trying to live every week like it's Shark Week.


16. Eastbound & Down

- Eastbound kicked off in 2009, but a few years later it would go down as one of the craziest, most boundary-pushing, most hilarious TV shows ever. Since the end of the series, we've seen the team of Danny McBride, Jody Hill, and David Gordon Green go on to produce so much great television - but this was really the show that started it all ... and the saga of Kenny Powers remains a comedy classic.


17. Boardwalk Empire

- With an incredible cast and an incredible pedigree of creators behind the scenes, this Martin Scorsese-produced, Prohibition-era crime drama showed the origins of organized crime in the United States - and in so doing showed us a lot about the origins of the world we live in today. Filled with memorable characters both real and fictional, this one was an underrated epic that demands to be binged.


18. Better Call Saul

- Breaking Bad set such a high bar ... it seemed like folly to try to follow it up with a prequel series. But never doubt Vince Gilligan and co. They've made Better Call Saul, in its own way, nearly the equal of Breaking Bad. The show tells a similar story of a good person's slide to the dark side, but it does so with a lighter touch and a more contemplative pace. In the end, Saul will be considered nearly the classic that Breaking Bad was.


19. Silicon Valley

- Incredibly spot-on at all times, always, Silicon Valley was a biting satire of the tech-world culture that has shaped so much of the last decade. Mike Judge again proved his comedic genius here, and the cast was so funny and so good.


20. New Girl

- Another great comedy series, New Girl was a joke-machine with some of the sharpest writing of any recent comedy. The main cast was so good and so funny, and the show did a great job at capturing elder-Millennial issues and anxieties.


21. True Detective

- While True Detective had a bit of a sophomore slump, it was absolutely killer in Seasons 1 and 3 - delivering a certain brand of gothic-noir crime-story I really hadn't seen on TV before (and certainly not done this well). Attracting A-list talent like Matthew McConauhey, Woody Harrelson, and Mahershala Ali - this show at its best was a tour de force.


22. Rick & Morty

- This infinitely creative animated series manages the impossible task of being both laugh out loud hilarious and a genuinely mind-bending sci-fi adventure that never skimps on the science-fiction. In fact, the show's willingness to go all-in on its crazy sci-fi conceits is part of what makes it a legend it its own time.


23. Review

- Hopefully, this under-seen Comedy Central series lives on forever as a genuine cult classic. It's one of the strangest, funniest, craziest shows I've ever seen. Andy Daly plays Forrest McNeil - a man who, for some unknown reason, is forced to host a TV show in which he *must* review any life experience that viewers ask him to. The result is a shockingly dark and daring comedy the likes of which may never be seen again.


24. The Good Place

- Set to finale in January 2020, it will feel like we're all in The Bad Place when this modern comedy classic comes to an end. The Good Place dared to bring high-concept, Lost-esque serialization to a sitcom - and it brilliantly mixed smart philosophical discussion with some of the best comedy writing around. That Mike Schur guy is pretty good.


25. Westworld

- In its twisty, time-jumping first season, Westworld rocked the pop-cultural landscape and set the internet on fire. And with good reason: it gave us some of the most compelling, thought-provoking, can't-miss sci-fi television of the decade. Its return in 2020 for Season 3 is easily one of my most-anticipated TV moments of the upcoming year.

THE NEXT BEST

26.) American Vandal

27.) The Handmaid's Tale

28.) Vice Principals

29.) Sherlock

30.) Bates Motel

31.) Atlanta

32.) Orphan Black

33.) Louie

34.) Key & Peele

35.) The Goldbergs

36.) Stranger Things

37.) American Horror Story

38.) An Idiot Abroad

39.) Documentary Now

40.) Broad City

41.) Children's Hospital

42.) Terriers

43.) Portlandia

44.) The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

45.) Big Mouth

46.) Fleabag

47.) Barry

48.) Big Mouth

49.) Fosse/Verdon

50.) Veronica Mars
 

SPECIAL MENTIONS:

a.) 24: Live Another Day was a legitimately great season of 24. Jack Bauer was sorely missed for much of this decade.


b.) The Walking Dead's first season from 2010 truly kicked-ass. But the show's quick downhill slide made it hard to include on this list from a big-picture perspective.


c.) Riverdale was one of the most fun semi-guilty TV pleasures of the decade.


d.) The Righteous Gemstones had an incredible Season 1. I have a feeling this show will, in short order, be a modern classic. But it felt too early to include quite yet.


e.) The Flash, especially early on, provided some awesome comic book-inspired moments. I really loved the show when it first premiered.


f.) Watchmen was one of the most compelling new series of 2019. I'm still digesting it. It just barely missed making the list.


g.) Chernobyl was another show from 2019 that barely missed the cut. It's amazing television.


h.) Gilmore Girls: A Year In the Life was another one that just barely missed the list. A mostly-great return for one of my favorite series ever.

i.) Humans - when this show was on its game, it was genuinely amazing. It faltered at times but I really dug its look at AI.

j.) The Haunting of Hill House just missed the cut ... only one season and it took a few episodes to get great ... but when it was at its best it was truly fantastic.


SHOWS I NEED TO CATCH UP ON:

- Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Bojack Horseman, The Marvelous Ms. Maisel, Succession, The Magicians, Mad Men, The Crown ... and probably about 500 others!