MovieManifesto

We’re continuing to rank every TV show we watched in 2023. For prior pieces in this exhaustive, exhausting series, check out the following links:

#s 94-81
#s 80-66
#s 65-51
#s 50-41
#s 40-31

30. Dead Ringers (Amazon, Season 1). The cinema of David Cronenberg isn’t for everyone; sometimes, it isn’t for me. (Much as I adored his mid-aughts one-two punch of A History of Violence and Eastern Promises, I’ve chafed against his more recent films, including Crimes of the Future.) It certainly wouldn’t seem fit for adaptation into a TV series, not least when you’re talking about one of his chilliest and most disturbing works. And yet, this new Dead Ringers is oddly mesmerizing, with moments of haunting beauty alongside all of the predictable blood and pain and venality. Some of that is thanks to the eerie production design; some of it is thanks to the creepy, enigmatic plotting. But most of it is thanks to Rachel Weisz, who plays the role(s) of twin obstetricians with unnerving steel and buried mania. “I can get her for you,” one of Weisz’s brilliant sisters says to the other in the first episode, in a line whose sinister implications will rattle around in your brain for some time. It’s a performance both alluring and upsetting—one that gives new meaning to the concept of double trouble. Read More

As our rankings of every TV show of 2023 march on, we begin to approach high-quality television. If you missed earlier installments in this annual series, you can find them at the following links:

#s 94-81
#s 80-66
#s 65-51
#s 50-41

40. Abbott Elementary (ABC, Season 2.0; last year: 64 of 110)
39. Never Have I Ever (Netflix, Season 4; last year: 14)
Two shows set in school, albeit from opposing perspectives (i.e., teachers versus students). Abbott Elementary has grown into itself and is now thoroughly assured. The writing is steady, the performances are on point, and the messages are meaningful without being didactic. And yet, the whole thing feels a little… easy, maybe? I’m not suggesting that the series should manufacture conflict (the social-media calls for a school-shooting episode are ridiculous) or radically experiment with its formula. But its comfortable rhythms can feel safe as well as polished. Despite the tedious will-they-won’t-they flirtation between Quinta Brunson and Tyler James Williams, Abbott Elementary is a consistently enjoyable show, and I’m happy to spend time in its distinctive universe every week. But it’s more honor student than valedictorian. Read More

Our rankings of every TV show we watched in 2023 continue apace. For the prior episodes, check out the following links:

#s 94-81
#s 80-66
#s 65-51

50. Yellowjackets (Showtime, Season 2; 2021 rank: 21 of 108). A comedown was inevitable; the concept of “girls’ soccer team crashes in the wilderness and they eat each other and also the survivors remain haunted decades later” just wasn’t built to sustain multiple seasons of continuously shocking developments. But even if Yellowjackets’ second go-round carries more than a whiff of creative desperation, it remains furiously watchable, thanks to the terrific cast, some killer set pieces, and a juicy atmosphere (those ’90s needle drops!). That its manufactured plot twists feel artificial, as though the writers are sweatily retconning their original story, is no surprise, but it’s also beside the point; this show has always been less about what happens than how it happens. Forget plausibility—so long as Yellowjackets keeps serving up scenes of explosive violence and catty betrayals, my appetite will be satisfied. Read More

We’re ranking every TV show that we watched in 2023. If you missed yesterday’s initial installments, you can find them at the following links:

#s 94-81
#s 80-66

65. Lupin (Netflix, Season 3; 2021 rank: 63 of 108). Shows about thieves are automatically appealing, and Lupin still sports an engaging lead performance from Omar Sy. But while the premise of a master of disguise constantly thwarting his pursuers would seem well-suited for a sprawling TV series (just who will he pretend to be next??), Lupin shows signs of strain. This new season’s insistence on retconning its backstory—our heroic burglar was once sheltered by a manipulative crime lord, and also turns out his mother is still alive!—suggests a gimmick that’s running out of ways to reinvent itself, and whose time-hopping has grown stale. Many of the set pieces remain satisfying, and Sy’s charisma is boundless. But even his character would struggle to break through the show’s pervasive formula. Read More

We’re ranking every TV show that we watched in 2023. If you missed Part I, you can find it here.

80. The Continental (Peacock, Season 1). I get the idea. The John Wick universe is appealing in part for its intricate mythology, so it’s theoretically possible to derive further entertainment from its lore, even without the grounding presence of Keanu Reeves. The problem with The Continental is that, aside from Mel Gibson’s shameless scenery-chewing, nothing about it is remotely memorable. Its cast feels second-rate, its plotting is perfunctory, and its action, while occasionally kinetic, never comes close to approaching even a third-tier set piece from the Wick flicks. Those movies are about one man’s desperate attempts to fight back against the High Table—the invisible institution that inflexibly dominates his world and restricts his autonomy. Yet The Continental feels like a servant of the Table itself: a piece of corporate property, fulfilling its duty without deviating from its superiors’ instructions. It isn’t a revolutionary, it’s a slave. Read More