Top 12 of the year in TV

1. BoJack Horseman (Netflix)-What was once a quirkily-structured universe of Hollywood has-beens and visual animal puns has now attained rare levels of multi-layered humor that will be collectively remembered, celebrated and memed for years to come mixed in with the kind of rare psychological insight from generational depression, to self-fulfilling prophecies of failure, to asexuality. When I wrote a piece on the critical community needing to break itself out of its limited view of diversity, this is the kind of show I was referring to. The fourth season saw BoJack coming back from his worst to achieve a cathartic level of self-moderations with hints that this sitcom has-been taking steps to becoming a better person.  Carolyn, Todd, and especially Mr. Peanut Butter and Dianne have had introspective arcs with the Mr. Peanut Butter/Woodchuck Coodchuck Berkowitz (that name alone should put this at least in any sane person's top twenty) race providing a hilarious government satire that is desperately needed in crazy times like these.
2. Good Place (NBC)-Few comedies have ever aimed this high conceptually and managed to avoid melting their metaphorical wings after a few episodes. By the first season finale, this show had us all collectively by the by the balls (or whatever the female equivalent is) and the show has continued to give us only the most tenuous view of what’s in store for its four denizens of its rapidly fluctuating version of the afterlife. The comic tics for each character have become finely tuned in the second season: In addition to unpredictable Stepford smiler Janet, fussy Chidi, and self-congratulatory Tahani; Jason Mendoza can carry the episode's laugh content single-handedly with his boundless stupidity and Michael has proven just as fun on the dark side as he was as a bumbling klutz. And then there’s Eleanor Shellstrop. Credit Kristen Bell’s fine performance and the crafty writing, but Shellstrop is an anti-hero for the ages with a backstory that’s filled with endless stories of being a hilariously terrible person and the slowly creeping potential inside of her to redeem herself from all of it.
3. Trial and Error (NBC)-This small-town courtroom drama burst out of the gate with a strong sense of place and hilarious characters to populate it with.  Seasoned sitcom pro John Lithgow plays to his strengths as the epitome of eccentricity with Jayma Mays doing her darndest to make you forget she ever played as prissy of a character as Emma Pillsbury in Glee. Nicholas D’Agosto, Sherri Shepherd, Steven Boyer, and even Krysta Rodriguez all are given a lot to work with and they all deliver characters that are memorable, comically sound, and endearing. 
4. Bates Motel (A & E)- The idea of Norman Bates’s character spread out over five seasons must have been a tough sell but the show worked beautifully as an idyllic small-town concealing a cesspool of voice and a sweet young man with a psychopath brewing inside. Over five seasons, Bates Motel accelerated ever so smoothly from a simmer to full-on terror while remaining tonally consistent and keeping an eye out for the long game. The fifth season brought us up to speed with overlap from the events of the landmark 1960 film with Rihanna unexpectedly connecting as Marion Crane and Dylan picking up the slack of the noirish detective. Would good or evil triumph and would either character make it out alive? With all deviation from the source material fair game, it was a nail-biting ride to find out. Hitchcock would have been proud. 
5. Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)-Raise your hands if you even knew stand-up comedy existed in 1958? Me neither and that’s why this show makes all the other comedians-playing-themselves entries look vain by comparison.This show is all that and a bag of matzah brie. Yes, it’s a little heavy on the Ashkenazi Jewish stereotypes (and mazels to Tony Shalhoub on your recent conversion to Hollywood Judaism, was Alfred Molina taken?) but it also has an endearing cultural specificity and a strong sense of momentum. While the show is about comedians, it’s very comfortable with its dramatic beats. The stakes are high – the protagonist goes from being excited about landing the rabbi for Yom Kippur to losing her husband, her home, and getting arrested in the span of a few days—and that’s just the first episode alone. As a period piece, this show allows for relevant feminist overtones without being preachy and also creates a superhero worth rooting for.
6. Glow (Netflix)-This show might be the greatest send-up to the joy of wrestling TV has ever produced but I’d have no idea as a complete noob to the sport. Instead, I see a show about raw pluck, girl power, and a docudrama about a ragtag group of underdogs (complete with the economics of constantly being screwed) all wrapped in a delightful 80’s time capsule. Like Jenji Kohan’s other main work of the Netflix era, “Orange is the New Black”, this show is a hodgepodge of diversity in the best sense with Indian and Cambodian characters and even a spoiled rich white guy worth rooting for. Make no mistake, though: Marc Maron (this guy was an actor??) and Allison Brie steal the show
7. Black Mirror (Netflix)-Creator Charlie Brooker’s series works best when tapping into our luddite fears about the future’s advances in technology wielding as much potential to hurt us as it does to help us. This year Brooker really found his groove in terms of delivering consistency (for my money, there was a humongous dip in quality after Nose Dive and San Junipero last season) and infusing his twist endings with the kind of bittersweet poignancy that allows the themes to resonate. The show also mixes emotional tones and genres whether it’s a sci-fi send-up that will make Trekkies drool (USS Calister), a psychological thriller (Crocodile), a cautionary tale framed as family melodrama (Arkangel), a futuristic love story played straight (Arkangel), a meta-commentary on the horror genre (Black Museum), or a Coen Brothers/Soderberghesque look at dystopia (Metalhead).
8. Crashing (HBO)-Pete Holmes is the kind of break from the mold to show us that not all comedians are degenerate, self-obsessed, foul-mouthed slobs. Well OK, some of Pete’s friends are, but that's what makes Pete Holmes (the character, although I'm assuming the person) such a breath of fresh air with his adorable naivete. It's a show about comedy but it is also a show about redefining your relation with your faith, parents, friends, and the concept of adulthood itself.
9. Orphan Black (BBC America)-Full disclosure: As someone who’s not a hard-core binge watcher, I drove myself to exhaustion by the time I set out on my project to go from the pilot to Season 5 within the span of less than a month. By the time I got to the end, my head was spinning whenever I was asked to discern the difference between neolution, Dyad and Castor and Gemini or Kabbalah or whatever, so I’m not necessarily the most reliable judge of the 2017 portion of this series, but this show is a smart thriller that is both tightly-paced and capable of juggling multiple storylines. It’s mostly known for the superhuman acting feat of Tatiana Maslany playing multiple parts at once but it’s been one of the best stories on TV for the past five years.
10. The Mick (Fox)-From the creators of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, this show engages in the same kind of duality of lovable yet deeply offensive characters as its sister show (which is still going strong, even if it didn’t make my list). The show started out as an unremarkable vehicle for Kaitlin Olson to reprise her role as a Dee-like character (maybe the producers will release her from  Charlie Work if she logs in enough hours?) and it’s now one of the most dependable sources of humor on TV. Carla Jimenez is a bona-fide scene stealer as Alba and Jimmy is equally funny as a guy who has no practical use to the Moing-Pemberton household but has managed to stick around thus far. It's the ultimate mix of privilege and cluelessness and the best found family on TV.
11. The Real O’Neals (ABC)-A modern renegotiation of the classic sitcom mold that was really beginning to find its groove before the axe came tumbling down. Curse you, trigger-happy ABC overlords!  The show’s handling of its gay teenage protagonist (Noah Galvin) went under-acknowledged during its three-season run but the show also deserves credit for allowing its progressiveness to coexist with more right-wing elements. Like the new breed of smart sitcoms that’s been reinvented on network TV in the past couple years, this show has the edge to power through gooey sentimental plots with a healthy dose of irony, but it’s ultimately a show about togetherness that this country sorely needs.
12. Schitt’s Creek (Pop TV)-With each season, this Canadian import becomes more assured in its characters and richer in its sense of place. As a result, the (primarily character driven) humor is richer in Season three with Catherine O'Hara leading the way in the laughs department as the ex-soap opera star still coming to terms with her fall from grace. Season Three is an unapologetically happy one with the Rose family finding themselves by embracing their adopted backwater town and at this point it's earned its cheesy feel good vibe. Much like how turning from black-and-white into color is something different for everyone in "Pleasantville," there's a bit of romance for David, a modest professional resurgence for Johnny, and a rededication to her education for Alexis.

Ten Honorable Mentions:

13 Reasons Why (Netflix)-The show has some pretty heavy pluses and minuses (do high school students really talk like that? If Hannah was so self-aware that she'd do all that, it never occurred to her to get a therapist?) but it evens out to a TV show that's eminently watchable and provocative enough to at least launch a discussion.
Adam Ruins Everything (TruTV)-A friend who get better grades than I did in high school often told me that "it's all about appearance and presentation." This reminds me of how Adam Conover (AKA the guy with the funny haircut and pocket squares on TruTV commercials) and his cronies from College Humor manage to make this mythbusters-type show so engrossing: With visual ingenuity and a narrative arc (know-it-all educates a rube that they're initial assumptions about topic X are wrong) that's been perfected to a T.

Baroness von Sketch Show (IFC)-This IFC show isn’t just sketch comedy from a woman’s perspective but from a middle-aged woman’s perspective. Whereas many comediennes (Amy Schumer, Sara Silverman, etc.) make it a point to go blue to try to show they can be dirty in a man’s realm, these women are just organically comedic. What makes the show stick out as that this quartet-Meredith McNeil, Aurora Brown, Carolyn Taylor, and Jennifer Whalen- establish their voice and chemistry very quickly out of the gate.

Brockmire (IFC)-Adapted from a Funny or Die sketch, Hank Azaria plays a down-and-out announcer who's shown that out-and-out alcoholic misery can be fun or at least passable (and perhaps we're all going to hell for watching this)

Fresh off the Boat (ABC)-Constance Wu continues her reign as one of TV sitcomdom's richest mothers while the show continues to be one of the most dependably heart-warming and reliably funny on TV. 

Gifted (Fox)-A welcome entry into mutant lore that kept the momentum going from episode to episode.  

Ingobernable (Netflix)-Part Homeland-style thriller, part steamy Mexican soap opera, lots of Spanish subtitles to sort through. The basic plot is the President of Mexico is murdered, the first lady is the prime suspect, and she has to piece together the conspiracy behind it all while on the lam. Kate del Castillo might not be Clare Danes but she's not that far away.
I Love Dick (Amazon)-Set in a artist's collective in Texas that really puts the avante in avante-garde, this show is pretty out there but has a lot of wayward insight into everything in art from the male gaze to productivity and shines a window on the world of weird art.

Powerless (NBC)-A promising series cut before it had the chance to catch on. Although superhero spoofing is nothing new, the shows found a workable original angle and admirable casting: how often are you going to find a good sitcom vehicle for Vanessa Hudgins and Danny Pudi together?

Room 104 (HBO)-The Duplass brothers have used this loose platform to create some very intense and theatrical half hours of drama. The connecting thread between episodes is next to none which kept the show out of my top twelve, but hey, this is better than Togetherness (note to self: never watch Togetherness again)

Sorry folks, maybe next year (everything else I watched this year):
2 Broke Girls* (CBS), American Dad^ (TBS), Archer*^ (FX), Big Mouth (Netflix), Blind Spot* (NBC), Difficult People (Hulu), Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (BBC America), Emerald City** (NBC), Family Guy (Fox), Feud (FX), Friends from College (Netflix), Full Frontal with Samantha Bee (TBS), Future Man (Hulu), Girl Boss (Netflix), Grace and Frankie (Netflix), Great Indoors (CBS), Hack My Life (Pop TV)* I Love You America (Hulu), It's Always Sunny^ (FX), James Corden (CBS), Jimmy Kimmel Live^ (NBC), Lady Dynamite (Netflix), Last Tycoon* (Amazon), Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), Late Night with Seth Meyers (NBC), Legion* (Fox), Lost and Found (Netflix), Man Seeking Woman (Comedy Central), Making History (Fox), The Mayor (Fox), Me Myself and I (CBS), Modern Family^ (ABC), Mom (CBS), One Mississippi (Amazon), Orville (Fox), Ozark (Netflix), The Path (Hulu), Rick and Morty (Comedy Central), Scandal (ABC), Sense8 (Netflix), Star Trek Discovery (CBS All Access), Stephen Colbert (CBS), Superstore (NBC), Tarantula** (TBS),Timeless (NBC), Time After Time (ABC), Tarantula** (TBS), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt^ (Netflix), White Famous** (Showtime)
 
^ Made my top 12 in a previous year
* Viewed in limited capacity (two or three episodes)
** Only saw the pilot

Orphan Black Season 1 Notes: My Introduction to Clone Club

Credit: BBC America

I recently started watching Orphan Black and have been racing against time to watch the series in the present by the Season finale. In less than three weeks, I have seen three entire seasons of the show and have taken some notes as I've progressed. I took the liberty here in these notes of annotating based on what I know at the end of the third season. 

Pilot:

-Similar to “Terminator” or one of those fish-out-of-water Hitchcock films (“North by Northwest” and “39 Steps” are the most famous examples), the pilot cleverly layers itself with other genres over the hard science-fiction. There’s a stolen identity charade, a underground crime angle, and a buddy cop dynamic.

-The pilot doesn’t have a lot of up-front exposition either but that’s because it has a lot of action. The show gets a lot of mileage out of one hour. Sarah’s status as an orphan, ward of Mrs. S and mother to a little girl named Kira are not things that we know automatically and a lot of things are pieced out as we go along. True, there are some sloppy exposition bombs being dropped, but it’s preferable to slowing down the pace.

-As for the exposition on Paul and Art’s storylines, there’s even less time to establish anything but it’s mostly from the POV of Sarah. Virtually the only character trait we really know about Sarah is that she’s far less disoriented than she should be under this situation

-When watching this on Amazon Prime, you can use the x-ray feature to see when Tatiana Maslany is playing Beth or Sarah and that’s helpful. It’s almost a cheat sheet

Second Episode:
-I’m kind of tired of artistic people like Felix living in swanky lofts that are clearly designated as storage space and not living space (see “New Girl” or “Friends”)

-If Sarah was this intelligent, studious, and amazing at improvising social interaction, you think she would have been employed somewhere with a high paying job already? I have yet to see a TV character that fits in the overlapping space in the venn diagram of drifter and stoner

-Allison is kind of a jerk, yes, but she also sticks out because she doesn’t want to volunteer exposition to Sarah like everyone else.

-The actor who plays Art is emoting so much, it borders on parody. The science-fiction here is layered over other genres but very little effort is expended to make Art’s dialogue not sound like the standardest of standard cop speak.

-I’m also not particularly cool with Art’s confiscation of Beth’s money. Sure, it moves the plot along (or rather, keeps it in an amenable holding point) but it’s wrong on so many levels. If Art is trying to make sure his partner is getting her life back together, how is s—t not going to hit the fan when Paul finds out that $70,000 has been stolen from her account.

-It’s taking a while to get into my head that this show is supposed to be Canadian (the Ontario license plate is tipping me off). Because of Felix and Sarah’s heavy accents and the British punk aesthetic, I was confused for a while as to where this was set. This still leaves questions of how two young adults have not sufficiently been acculturated enough to the Ontario landscape to adopt the accent.

Third Episode:

-Sweet catharsis: Things are finally explained! Here’s what I’m most wondering. I’m more or less watching this in a vacuum, for others guys how much of the clone plot did you know in advance of this reveal?

-Finally, things get a little easier for Sarah! This is a show like “Americans” “Prison Break” or “Breaking Bad” were all kinds of disparate people and organizations are conspiring against one person in entirely different directions to make their life near impossible. It’s in Episode three, that the impossible starts to feel possible. (Ed. Note: Apparently, there’s A LOT more to learn, I was so young and foolish back then to think I was close to learning the truth here)

-Where did Allison come from? She moved her family to Toronto or she was already there?

-I wonder if it alludes to Sarah’s past life that she is adept at flirting to get what she wants with men

-With all her secrets and her mission, why did Beth acquire a live-in boyfriend like Paul?

-Allison strikes me as one of those annoying uber-moms. “I have kids, I’m important!” is her mantra (Ed. Note: This later gets majorly dropped. Allison also clearly has the ability to enjoy and do things for herself. I dub her in later seasons)

   

Fourth Episode:
-Sarah: Paul is dead weight. Dump him ASAP. I would even recommend killing him and disposing his body for all that is at stake

-Why doesn’t Sarah just get “Beth” relegated to the desk as fast as possible? Thee less “work” she has to do the better.

-Helena reminds me of Paul Bettany in the Da Vinci code (Ed. Note: apparently, with her religious upbringing there’s a reason for this)

-As someone who did a semester at the University of Minnesota, the campus does not look like that, but it’s kind of nice to see my sort-of alma mater referenced in television. Much of the show’s hard-core science comes through Cosima and there’s something to be appreciated about the prevalence of a TV character whose dialogue could legitimately be believed as real science as opposed to technobabble

The Rest of Season 1:

On the whole, I think this show and is up there with the best dramas on TV. It's a situation where the protagonist is dealing with pressures from 8 or 9 disparate parties that are trying to kill, extort, expose or use them in some other bad way and they have to keep them all at bay with different sets of lies. “Prison Break”, “The Americans”, some of the serialized storylines in “Burn Notice”, and “Breaking Bad” are examples of this, but there’s a lot to be said of how the protagonists are flexible enough to alter their game plan rather than stick to a mantra of “no, we're never telling anyone anything" and a lot of the show's turns are about revealing truths to different parties as they go on and playing some of these parties who are now in-the-know off each other in strategic ways

In short, it’s a show that differs in that it’s not about characters trying to define themselves through deception of society. Rather, the show builds positively among its characters through openness (sharing of “the big secret”) as time moves on. C

Other Notes: 

-I still think Art isn't played by the best actor, and I’m glad he’s a bit more out of the picture. At least Angie is more outwardly a jerk to others (and Sarah's line "bite me" was one of the best moments of the season)

-I like the budding Allison/Felix relationship. Allison is an adequate character, so far, but not great. I didn't really buy her fall from grace and while she talks about her family a lot in the beginning, bucan't even remember offhand the names of her adopted children.

-Aynsley's death was horrible to witness and hard to excuse. It's really just not human natural instinct if you're not a murderer to let someone die like that. Aynsley never got dealt a good hand in the events of this show. She kind of reminds me of those shallow nosy rich suburban housewife archetypes TV generally likes to diminish to some form of evil but I'd like to think shows like “Desperate Housewives” tried to play with those misconceptions. In any case, it’s interesting to note that unlike shows that feel the need to kill off characters just to keep the suspense going, there’s no such pressure with “Orphan Black”

-My crush on Delphine knows no bounds

-Badly needed: Cosima's origin story. Who are her parents? At what point did she find out she was a clone?