Every December, I sit down to reflect on the greatest TV shows of the past year. And every year I get the same nagging feeling: Am I missing something? Did I not watch enough television to give a fair assessment of the year overall? Should I have made time in my viewing schedule to check out this sitcom, or that drama, or one of those other limited series that is allegedly Based on a True Story?
The challenge of keeping up with television has only grown more difficult across the past decade – with the exception of the pandemic-induced hiccup of 2020, the output of TV shows has increased every year since 2009. Final numbers for 2022 have not yet been tabulated, but even if (as data suggests) it will be a slight step down from 2021 – signaling perhaps the zenith of Peak TV is at last behind us – that still leaves us with over five hundred shows to contend with.
I, of course, did not watch five hundred shows this year. The daily grind only allowed me to check out so much, which meant that even the late-year returns of some of my favorite 2021 shows were lost in the shuffle (Apologies, White Lotus and Mythic Quest; I promise to return to you soon.) But the shows that I did make time for told me that this was indeed a strong year for television. While in some prior years, I may have racked my brain to find ten programs I deem list-worthy, 2022 positively overflowed with great TV shows – some shiny and new, others longtime favorites bidding fond farewell. I could have easily expanded the list to 15 picks and felt comfortable, but the soul of wit compelled me to draw the line.
There are still shows I feel I should have made time for. There always are. But I’m glad I made time for these.
10. Peacemaker
James Gunn’s wild, Troma-infused The Suicide Squad improved on its determinative-free predecessor, with chaotic violence and abrasive humor that made it one of the best summer flicks of 2021. And the chaos continued this year with a TV spinoff on HBO Max. Peacemaker saw John Cena reprising the role as the titular “peace-loving” extremist, who here gets tangled up in a government black ops mission involving alien butterflies. By turns shocking, twisted, and irreverent, Peacemaker took a blowtorch to whatever DC sacred cows that Harley Quinn hadn’t yet flambéed, piling one ridiculous character and story twist on top of another. From the opening bars of its spectacular intro (during which the cast dances, stone-faced, to a heavy metal song), Peacemaker presented itself as something different, and quickly became one of the most entertaining TV spectacles of the year.
9. Reservation Dogs
Part coming-of-age tale, part ode to Native Americana, and part experiment in offbeat storytelling, there is nothing on TV quite like Reservation Dogs. Following the stories of four Oklahoma teenagers and their undying quest to escape from the Indian reservation they’re stuck in, the show is by turns humorous (“Decolonativization”), heartbreaking (“Mabel”), and just plain weird (“This is Where the Plot Thickens”). Not every episode works as well as the others, with big swings occasionally yielding big misses, and some of the quirk feels like quirk for the sake of it. But it’s overall a welcome addition to TV’s growing library of distinctive half-hour dramedies from unique talents. It was a strong year for both FX and Hulu originals, and this “FX on Hulu” series (whatever that means) was among the high points for both.
8. The Dropout
Dramatized tech scams were all the rage in 2022 (Inventing Anna, WeCrashed), and the standout among them was Hulu’s buzzy series about the rise and fall of Elizabeth Holmes. Tracing the story of the tech start-up Theranos across eight episodes, The Dropout relays how Holmes built her brand, and how her faulty brand of blood-testing technology fooled the tech industry for years. Sporting a black turtleneck and a purposefully too-deep-to-be-true accent, Amanda Seyfried gave one of the year’s most effective performances as a young woman who begins her career with noble intentions and then slowly loses herself to the draw of the dollar. Exploring topics like sexism in the tech industry and the rocky road of 21st-century feminism, The Dropout was by turns fascinating and eye-opening, and a high water mark among true-crime dramatizations.
7. Atlanta
After four years of hiatus following one of the best TV seasons in recent memory, Atlanta returned this spring for a frustratingly uneven third season, relying too much on standalone stories with one-off characters, and largely lacking the sense of place and purpose of earlier seasons as it shifted the main setting to Europe. But before the year was out, the series returned to form with a fourth and final season that yielded some of the show’s wildest and most innovative episodes yet. Whether satirizing the industrial grind of Hollywood (“Work Ethic!”), the stickiness of copyright in the Internet age (“Crank Dat Killer”), or the disconnected perception of art and commerce (the spectacular “Goof Who Sat By the Door”), Atlanta wrapped up its run with some of its best material, cementing it as one of the most perceptive and bitingly funny shows on television.
6. We Need to Talk About Cosby
Bill Cosby’s life and legacy has been the topic of much discussion these past several years, and that discussion is now the center of a riveting documentary on Showtime. Across four hourlong episodes, W. Kamau Bell details Cosby’s history, from his rise as the nation’s preeminent black entertainer, across I Spy and The Cosby Show, to the dozens of horrifying allegations that ended his career and cast a long shadow over everything that preceded it. Through interviews with other stars, former colleagues, and young comedians, as well as several of the women who came forward to accuse him of assault, Bell paints a complex picture of one of the foremost entertainers of the 20th century, and forces the audience to grapple with both sides of Cosby. His impact and influence on American culture is undeniable, but his actions behind the scenes were untenable – can we still appreciate the work he did for decades, without ignoring the women he scarred along the way? We Need to Talk About Cosby doesn’t aim for concrete answers, but it raises some fascinating questions, providing an intricate and disturbing look at what it means to separate art from artist.
5. Severance
Puzzle-box shows have fallen out of fashion since their Lost heyday, but they made a welcome comeback with Severance, an Apple TV+ drama with one of the most engrossing debut seasons of the year. Focusing on a mysterious corporation, which “severs” the minds of its employees so that their work and home lives have no memory of one another, the series builds up a compelling air of mystery that only deepens as the story progresses. More potently, it poses questions about identity and personhood (to what extent can the lives of the office workers, or “innies,” be considered people on their own?) while featuring darkly humorous commentary about the threat of losing oneself – in multiple senses – to the corporate world. The immersive cinematography and inventive production design, with expansive offices painted in understated colors, was icing on the cake.
4. The Bear
There are shows to watch after a long and stressful day, light comfort food designed to put our minds at ease. And then there is The Bear, a series designed to be among the most stressful and anxiety-inducing shows on television. Set in the world of a Chicago sandwich shop and the chefs who work in its bustling furnace of a kitchen, the story follows head chef Carmy, who inherits the store from his late brother and has his hands full keeping both customers and employees satisfied, all while trying to keep from losing his own grip on sanity. With its tight close-ups, pulsing music, and freewheeling profanity, the series worked up a sense of claustrophobia enough to make even the most casual viewers break a sweat. The show’s peak installment, “Review” – a masterclass of tension designed to appear as one long camera shot – is among the most riveting and harrowing TV episodes of the year.
3. The Rehearsal
Nathan Fielder loves to explore the quirks and idiosyncrasies of human behavior. His previous show, Nathan For You, mined much humor from his oddball character and the (often unscripted) reactions of the people who dealt with him. He now takes things a step further with The Rehearsal, a series that posits the question: “What if you could rehearse major pivotal events in your life before they happened?” Through the prism of advanced preparation, Fielder explores the unpredictability of human nature and the blindness of personal biases. The six-episode season grows more interesting and introspective as it progresses, as Fielder’s character is himself challenged by the insurmountable difficulties of planning the unplannable. How much of the series is scripted remains hazy and uncertain, but it makes for one of the most interesting, though-provoking, and hilarious shows on television.
2. Better Call Saul
One of the rare TV shows that gets better and better with each passing year, Better Call Saul finished its six-season run at the top of its game. As with Breaking Bad, the parent show it has impressively lived up to (and occasionally even topped), the final season had plenty of threads to tie up, both in the Jimmy McGill past and the Cinnabon Gene’s future. But Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould closed out the Saul story in style, with 13 episodes packed with tension, suspense, and shocking deaths, along with the disarming humor that has long been the brand of the show’s universe. Bob Odenkirk delivered some of his career-best work, as Saul dug himself deeper and deeper into the hole of corruption, and his performance was matched by Rhea Seehorn, whose Kim struggled against the yawning chasm between her partner and career. The show’s highly satisfying finale gave Saul a final turn that was both unexpected yet perfectly inevitable, bringing an incredible saga to a remarkable close.
1. Barry
In a year of great beginnings and stellar endings, the show that stuck most with me is currently somewhere in its middle. But what a middle it is. Season Three of Barry took all the things that made the first two seasons so addictive and upped them to new heights, with greater tension and more dramatic stakes all the while. As with BCS, Barry centers on a title character who is inexorably drawn into deeper and deeper trouble of his own making, no matter how hard he tries to break free (“Starting now” is his yet-to-be-fulfilled mantra), and all the problems and secrets that have built up in prior seasons now come to a head. With its terrific cast, spearheaded by Bill Hader as the hitman with a heart of gold and Henry Winkler as the acting coach who now shoulders more burdens than ever, Barry put its characters through chaos, with blood and betrayals at every turn – yet at the same time, it was funnier than ever before. Perhaps no scene in the series – or anywhere on television this year – was as much a technical and tonal marvel than the climax of “710N,” which featured a terrific interstate highway chase on motorbikes. It was thrilling, suspenseful, and hilarious all at once – a microcosm of Barry as a whole. The show took a three-year break between Seasons Two and Three, but the wait was worth it – Barry delivered the goods, making it the best show of 2022.
Honorable Mentions
Abbott Elementary, The Afterparty, Andor, Better Things, Hacks, Primal, Russian Doll, Smiling Friends, Undone, What We Do in the Shadows
Tune in next week for the final article of the year, which highlights the best films of 2022.
Critically Touched 