MovieManifesto

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

Is TV getting worse, or am I just getting grouchier? This is my tenth straight year conducting this exercise, which has typically functioned as an opportunity for me to flaunt my indecent enthusiasm for television. Movies and TV aren’t a zero-sum game—it’s possible to admire both forms of storytelling without denigrating one in favor of the other—and while I spend the vast majority of my time writing about cinema, this is the one week where I can pay proper homage to the small screen.

So why, in assessing the TV of 2023, am I gripped by a powerful sense of malaise? It hasn’t been for lack of viewing options. True, from a certain self-loathing perspective, the amount of television I consumed this past year was substandard: a mere 94 shows—my lowest figure since 2018 and down dramatically from my pandemic peak of 124 in 2020. That said, watching every episode of nearly 100 different TV shows in a single year probably seems outrageous to your average, healthy, not-completely-obsessed-with-art individual. What’s relatively meager for me is surely obscene for most. Read More