Favorite Shows
21. Love Life (season 2, HBO Max)
Same universe, mostly new cast. This season hit. Protagonist Marcus (William Jackson, aka The Good Place's Chidi) stumbles his way through a number of relationships and modern woes. I'm here for it.
20. Genera+ion (season 1, HBO Max)
SoCal teenagers doing their thing. Making mistakes, dealing with issues present distinctly today. All very Gen Z. It's removed from my personal experience but congruent with what I see with current college students. Wonderfully shot, sound-tracked, acted, and written.
Wonderfully funny and engaging and, of course, opening a lens on a person with a disability's experience.
18. Rupaul's Drag Race (season 13, Paramount+)
Ok, so here's the thing: Since September 2020, I started Rupaul's Drag Race and have caught up on the show, including All Stars and a few seasons of UK and Canada. So, Rupaul has played a large part of my past year and a half. For the latest season, I loved the top five and was very pleased with the winner. The lewks, the kiki-ing, the whole structure of the show. I'm a decade+ behind but I'm all in now.
Wonderfully scripted and explores so much of teenager's (and human's) sex lives. British and Gillian Anderson elevate it. Give us another season or two!
16. Atypical (season 4, Netflix)
Confession: I haven't finished this season but I'm connected to this family and navigating life and it's just good.
15. Feel Good (season 2, Netflix)
This show is hella funny. Lead Mae is perfect, full of insecurities and flaws and so funny. The seasons are real short but pack a lot of plot and humor in, in the best way possible.
14. I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson (season 2, Netflix)
Sketch genius. Bizarre premises, perfect timing, great guests, and just the right amount of sketch wants.
13. Hacks (season 1, HBO Max)
Jean Smart and Hannah Einbinder are fantastic leads. Great writing, great generational comparison.
12. How To With John Wilson (season 2, HBO Max)
This show is brilliant. Documentarian John Wilson wanders around NYC, chooses a topic, and somehow threads dozens of clips into his theme for the week. Funny and human and unlike anything else I'm watching.
The gang is back together. Moving on from "solving a crime" and now dealing with the consequences of their actions. Perfectly Millennial but not annoying about it. The show takes bizarre turns in the best way.
10. Mare of Easttown (season 1, HBO Max)
Watched this hour-long seven-episode season in a two-day period. I'm a sucker for long-form detective shows and this one reeled me in perfectly. Kate is amazing and I'm all about the Philadelphia accents and references.
9. Tuca & Bertie (season 2, Cartoon Network / Adult Swim)
Netflix dropped this gem but thankfully CN picked it up. Ali Wong & Tiffany Haddish as the lead voices. Their work is perfect. The animation is Bojack Horseman style but they've upped the ante in a creative direction. Love these gals.
8. Only Murder in the Building (season 1, Hulu)
Somehow a comedy, detective thriller, inter-generational, and a meta-commentary on podcasts and true-crime. The leads are fantastic and somehow Steve Martin and Martin Short pair perfectly with Selena Gomez.
7. The Other Two (season 2, HBO Max)
NYC sibling seek to elevate their professional careers in the entertainment industry while watching their mother and brother's careers blow-up with little effort. Both a great family relationships comedy and an incisive commentary on modern day definitions of success.
6. Insecure (season 5, HBO Max)
Issa! You and your crew will be missed! As always, a fantastic exploration of a thirty-something making it in the world, trying to find love, and uncompromisingly black. The final season kept it fresh, kept up the perfect sound-tracking, and kept up a near perfect show.
5. Girls5eva (season 1, Peacock)
This show slapped. Tina Fey funny and I'm here for it. A group of women come back a couple decades later to revive their careers. So bizarre and somehow plot driven without being overly-complicated. Yes to a second season!
4. What We Do in the Shadows (season 3, FX on Hulu)
Comedy perfection. The show has fully hit it's stride. So funny and bizarre and exploring unchartered territory of premise (documentary style with a group of vampires living in Staten Island).
3. Big Mouth (season 5, Netflix)
I keep waiting for this show to turn a corner and run out of jokes and premises yet they continue to delve into hilarious topics while being kind and considerate to the (raunchy) puberty themes. The hormone monsters are infinitely quote-able and I'm ready for more.
2. Pen15 (season 2.2, Hulu)
The latter part of season 2 (seven episodes) was just so perfect. I guess I'm a sucker for puberty story-lines written/performed by thirty-somethings (see Big Mouth). Maya and Anna are hilarious middle school girls with all of the charm, annoyance, and illogic of that age. They are infinitely loyal and horny. The last episode was a crowd pleaser and I was more than pleased.
1. Ted Lasso (season 2, Apple TV+)
Along with everyone else, I find this show to be perfection. So heart-warming and good-natured without being saccharine. Each character is fully human and nuanced and they actually have character arcs. Give me season three.
Honorable Mention (listed alphabetically)
- 100 Foot Wave (season 1)
- Bob's Burgers (season 11)
- Brooklyn Nine-Nine (season 8)
- It's a Sin (mini-series)
- Legendary (season 2)
- Loki (season 1)
- Pride (documentary series)
- Making It (season 3)
- Never Have I Ever (season 2)
- Q-Force (season 1)
- Reservation Dogs (season 1)
- Rupaul's Drag Race All Stars (season 6)
- Rutherford Falls (season 1)
- Schmigadoon! (mini-series)
- Shrill (season 3)
- Starstruck (season 1)
- Succession (season 3)
- Wandavision (season 1)
- We're Here (season 2)
- We Are Ladyparts (season 1)
Highly Anticipated (listed alphabetically)
- Betty (season 2)
- The Chair (mini-series)
- Dear White People (season 4)
- Maid (season 1)
- Master of None (season 3)
- The Morning Show (season 2)
- Modern Love (season 2)
- Landscapers (season 1)
- Sort Of (season 1)
- The White Lotus (season 1)
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