Favorite TV of Decade

That Golden Age, eh?

Runner-Ups (no particular order): Rick & Morty; Killing Eve; Parks and Recreation; Mr. Robot; Dear White People; Last Week Tonight with John Oliver; Atlanta; Russian Doll; The People V. OJ Simpson; The Leftovers

10. Catastrophe

In a decade where drama and comedy were blended more, no series blended laugh out loud comedy and heartbreak more seamlessly — and without expense to one another — than Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan’s incredible series. Every avenue that could be dramatic turns out to be unexpectedly comedic, reflecting the amusing reality of the situation more so than any “serious” morbidity could.

9. Better Call Saul

There’s a scene late in Season 2 where a major bank acquisition practically collapses because the address is written wrong on the application. Characters get heated, arguments explode and their world begins to slowly collapse inward. Instead of charting the same destructive path through violence, Better Call Saul charts it through the banality of the American legal system. It refuses to indulge in the manufactured drama of similar legal series, and puts its trust in reality, which pays off in more fascinating and delightful dividends.

8. Barry

It would’ve been easy for Barry to simply be a bleak, hilarious tale of a hitman aspiring to be an actor, but co-creators Bill Hader and Alec Burg recognized that there was profound pathos all around. Whether it’s a sad examination of how difficult it is to be a woman in Hollywood that succeeds on her own terms, or how it feels to be a former Marine who is no longer horrified by his own capability to be cruel. Every character is richly written, from the guilt-ridden hitman to even the hopelessly aspirational NoHo Hank. You want to know what happens next, no matter what terrifying thing lurks beyond the corner.

7. The Good Place

“This…is the Bad Place”, and this series immediately proved that not only was this show shocking, but that it refused to play it safe. The series blows itself up repeatedly — sometimes to its breaking point (creator Michael Schur’s reason for ending after 4 seasons) — but it makes it feel all the more alive. In the Golden Age of TV, often dominated by gloomy descents into the worst parts of ourselves, The Good Place shows characters trying to ascend to the best parts of themselves and asks simple yet profound questions on the nature of not just morality but friendship and kindness.

6. Game of Thrones

When this series premiered at the beginning of the decade, it was stunning, original and unlike anything we’ve ever seen on TV. It was thematically challenging with great characters and shocking twists that truly reflected the brutal reality of its world. Though the latter seasons would abandon these qualities in service of self-important nihilism or misguided “fan service”, the first four seasons (in particular Season 4) showed us how powerful television in the Golden Age could be. That’s still worth raising a glass.

5. Fleabag

It’s so easy, in the midst of creator/star Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s well-deserved acclaim, to forget that this show is genuinely great. A deft mix of humor and sadness, bracing with not just wit but profundity, Fleabag is exciting, unexpected and unforgettable. She is not afraid of her ugliness and that of others, but also embraces our hidden strength and how hard it is to bring that into the world. Yet she also asks us if said “strength” is truly strength, and how emotional courage — beyond brilliant witticism — is even harder to summon , but still worth fighting for.

4. Fargo

Who the hell thought this was gonna work? Noah Hawley took a perfect film and wisely extrapolated on its ethos and core. Even if the structure is familiar, the characters are complex, messy, memorable and often original. The stories are thrilling and hilarious in equal measure, with the same moral scrutiny and ruthless catharsis. Season 2 itself is one of the most ambitious, brilliant and deeply moving seasons of television you will ever see with a politically complexity that other stories should strive towards. It was better than any film that came out that year.

3. Mad Men

Sad Don is the best Don. Mad Men’s last few seasons may not have been as overtly memorable as its preceding seasons in the previous decade, but they weren’t any less compelling, fascinating or peculiar. After the stunning Season 4 ending, Don thinks he has created a new him, but he is still the same Don Draper, allowing himself to be whisked into a lie that continues to eat him from the inside. Then we get to the final season, which lights a stick of dynamite under everything and forces its characters to pick up the pieces. There are glimmers of hope (and one genuinely crowd-pleasing moment), but more importantly there is acceptance, or at least more diluted denial.

2. Breaking Bad

What can be said about this series that hasn’t already been said? It’s almost as if you’re talking about The Godfather. The story of an ego-maniacal chemistry teacher turned drug lord, who foreshadowed the narcissistic ignorance of Trump supporters, was groundbreaking, nerve-wracking and frighteningly humane. You look at Walter holding Holly gently in a bathroom…and then you remember every monstrous thing he’s done, and none of it feels incongruous. Masterful.

1. BoJack Horseman

We are the choices we make. Every single moment of greatness, every moment of failing, every moment of joy, and sorrow. This is who we are. But can we change? Can we forgive? Is there a destiny waiting for us where we truly become the people we’ve always believed we are? Or are we meant to be in place, running around in a hamster wheel of perpetuity? Is that such a bad thing? Or are we defined by the dreams that we can never fulfill? Or can we find beauty in who we are?

This is the story of BoJack Horseman, the star of the hit 90’s sitcom Horsin’ Around and the people/animals in his orbit. Existential crises has been the heart of the series since its beginning, though it was layered with so much comedy that it was easy not to notice. By the end of the most recent season, it’s clear that no other series this decade has questioned, or truly deconstructed the human experience as eloquently, fearlessly or audaciously as BoJack Horseman. Bringing serialized storytelling to an often un-serialized style (adult animation), creator Raphael Bob-Waksberg spent the first few seasons breaking rules, even if that meant he would stumble. Yet the payoff would be beyond what he probably imagined — a series that manages to effortlessly balance heartbreaking pathos with zany, wacky comedy. It’s nothing short of transcendent.