foolish watcher

A very late and incomplete list of the best TV of 2020

Therese Odell
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LISTEN. I KNOW. It is mid- (almost late-) January 2021, and a “Best Of” list of 2020 is beyond late to the conversation. Most critics post these lists at the beginning of December, late December at the latest, and here I come — INAUGURATION WEEK — and dump this in your lap.

But three things:

  1. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but it’s been a little bonkers around here lately. And I’m not just talking about the return of The Bachelor two weeks after The Bachelorette ended.
  2. Can we discuss the critics who post their lists right after Thanksgiving? Like, there’s still a whole month of television left of the year, my dudes. How many of y’all regret posting your lists without having finished the second season of The Mandalorian right about now, for instance?
  3. It’s my blog, I do what I want.

Also, I hate making lists. And because I hate making lists, I’m doing this list a little differently. Instead of just listing 10 or 20 shows in some ostensible order based on my subjective tastes, I’m going to break down the TV series and movies I watched this year by month, highlighting one show or movie in particular. Is it the show that I liked the most that month? If it makes you feel better to think that, sure. Go with it.

I also list the shows that I didn’t get a chance to watch, but which have received glowing reviews elsewhere. There is more TV than ever before, and there are only so many hours in the day, and because of ~gestures broadly at everything~ most of those hours are devoted to MSNBC these days. Also note that some of the shows I’ve listed as ones that I missed I have actually watched one or two episodes, but I don’t want to falsely claim that I can form some strong opinion on them when I just can’t. But feel free to scream at me anyway.

All that said, here you go: 2020 Television, A Half-Assed Assessment.

January

The Outsider

It would be easy to mistake The Outsider — especially the early episodes — for a dark detective procedural instead of a story based on a Stephen King novel. But that’s a large part of what made The Outsider so effective as horror series: it feels very grounded in reality, and the monsters, they look like us. Literally, they look just like us. But the strongest part of The Outsider is the acting. It’s a shame that Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Ervios were overlooked for their work on this show — they deserved more for their quiet, powerful performances. (HBO & HBO Max)

Shows I Missed:

February

Better Call Saul

I’m not sure what to tell you at this point: Better Call Saul has been on for five seasons now and has consistently been one of the best dramas on television in that time. And this season is no exception. As Jimmy continues his journey towards fully becoming Saul Goodman, Kim begins exploring her own limits and dark side and the sense of impending doom is starting to fill the remaining spaces. (AMC & Netflix)

Shows I Missed:

March

Unorthodox

This limited series follows Esther “Esty” Shapiro, a young Hasidic woman who, after being forced into an unhappy marriage flees her insular controlling community in Brooklyn. She runs to Berlin, in search of her mother, and discovers a world that challenges everything she had been taught to believe. This is a beautiful, unforgettable series with a career-defining performance by Shira Haas. (Netflix)

Shows I Missed:

April

Parks and Recreation Special

There were a number of cast reunions of beloved shows during the quarantine, but none of them quite captured the spirit of their original series the way the Parks and Recreation special did. (The less said about the 30 Rock commercial for Peacock, the better.) Sweet, hopeful, and true to its optimistic soul, Parks and Recreation gave us a pure moment of joy during the beginning of a dark time. (NBC originally, now on Peacock)

Shows I Missed:

May

The Great

Elle Fanning shines in this satirical not-quite-historical series about the rise of Catherine the Great and her schemes to murder her inept husband, Emperor Peter III, as portrayed by a hilarious Nicholas Hoult. It’s obviously gorgeous to look at, with the lush 18th-century costumes, sets, and so many wigs, but The Great distinguishes itself from other period pieces with its quirky, modern humor. (Hulu)

Shows I Missed:

June

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark

There are countless true-crime series and miniseries out there, but there has never been one as poignant as I’ll Be Gone in the Dark, the story of true-crime writer Michelle McNamara’s obsessive search for the Golden State Killer. Sensitive and insightful, I’ll Be Gone in the Dark does not lionize the killer the way so many series do, but instead focuses on the pain he left in his wake, and what he took from his victims, including McNamara and her family. (HBO)

Shows I Missed:

July

Unsolved Mysteries

Honestly, this month was the hardest to choose from, and there is definitely an argument that Hamilton, Palm Springs, and Host are all better than the reboot of a late eighties-nineties true-crime series. But if I’m being honest with you, I could not turn off Unsolved Mysteries once I started playing the episodes, and some of the stories still haunt me. The reboot of the classic series is slicker than the loveably cheesy original, and wisely focuses each episode on one story instead of several — but there obviously is no replacement for host Robert Stack and his trench coat.

Shows I Missed:

August

Ted Lasso

If you absolutely forced me to choose one Best Show of the Year, it might very well be Ted Lasso, a sitcom based on a character created for a series of TV commercials. And honestly, that is difficult for me to admit: it’s like saying Cavemen was the best show of 2007 — BUT HERE WE ARE. As a revenge plot, Ted Lasso, a small-time college football coach who knows nothing about soccer, is brought to the U.K. to coach an English Premier League soccer team. But through his sweet nature and positive attitude, Lasso not only wins over his players and bosses, he begins to turn the team around, too. Look, it’s not a complicated plot, you know exactly where it is headed, but the energy of this series is so infectious, so cheery, so … damn loveable, it served as a balm in very bleak times. (Apple TV+)

Shows I Missed:

September

The Third Day

Judd Law and the wonderful Emily Watson star in this miniseries about a mysterious island off the coast of England, its eccentric inhabitants, and their culture’s dark folklore. Bloody and brutal, the series sometimes meanders, but the bonkers revelations at the heart of it are well worth the ride. (HBO and HBO Max)

Shows I Missed:

October

The Queen’s Gambit

Yes, The Queen’s Gambit is about chess, and as many have pointed out, it makes chess look sexy. And it’s also about feminism: a woman breaks into a man’s world and shows them up or whatever. But for some reason, no one talks about how The Queen’s Gambit is a fairy tale. In fact (KINDA SPOILERS AHEAD), Beth shares much in common with Harry Potter: she is an orphan who inherits superpowers from her talented parents who she never really got to know; a series of adults help her unlock said powers; and with her team of friends, she saves the world from a supervillain whose goal was to achieve world domination. Or something. Anyway. Watch it for the costumes and set design, if nothing else. (Netflix)

Shows I Missed:

November

The Flight Attendant

I’m not here to tell you that The Flight Attendant is prestige television — it’s not. But what it is is fun, sexy, and very entertaining. It’s a romp. You can’t take your eyes off of Kaley Cuoco, who is fun and funny and heartbreaking — all at once. Michiel Huisman is sexy as all get-out as the murdered one-night stand who remains alive in her head. And in a subplot, Rosie Perez delivers one of her best performances as a fellow flight attendant who feels unseen now that she has hit middle age. Highly recommend as a very satisfying weekend binge. (HBO Max)

Shows I Missed:

December

The Wilds

The Wilds is Lost fanfic. I am 99% certain that the writer of The Wilds is a diehard fan of Lost who took their own disproved theory and wrote an entire series about it. In fact, I’m fairly certain back in the day, I read a variation of this theory on the Lost fan forums. Just look at this: A group of teenage girls survives a plane crash and struggles to survive on a mysterious island where not everything is what it seems. And if that logline doesn’t already sound enough like Lost, each girl’s past, complete with heartbreaks and traumas, is revealed in flashback episodes. Unlike Lost, The Wilds doesn’t string you along with the mystery for very long, and there are no polar bears. But like Lost, it’s real focus is on the characters and their individual struggles to survive both on the island and off. If you’re a fan of Lost, check this one out and let me know what you think. (Amazon)

Shows I Missed:

That’s it. That’s the list. What did I forget or leave out or malign?

*You can’t talk about 2020 TV without mentioning Tiger King and Cheer, but it should be noted that they are both problematic. Tiger King was a legit TV phenomenon and I enjoyed it, albeit with a certain queasiness over how the show was treating people with clear mental health and substance abuse issues. And Cheer was one of 2020’s most uplifting series until it was marred by a sex abuse controversy surrounding one of its previously most endearing subjects. Jerry Harris’ arrest for child pornography and his alleged abuse of minors is a shocking and horrific postscript to a series that was originally about a group of teens who found escape from their difficult lives through sport, and it is a shame that it will forever taint what had previously been an inspirational story.

**Yes, I know, Cobra Kai actually debuted on YouTube back in 2018, but it didn’t arrive on Netflix until this year, so it’s new to me.

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