Top 10 Seasons of Television

 I realized recently that, at this point in my life, I’m excited for just about one thing per year on average. In 2020, it was The Devil All the Time; in 2021 it was Licorice Pizza; 2022 was Batman and Nope; 2023 was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3; and 2024 was all about Longlegs. Well, so far, 2025 looks to be the year of The Last of Us season 2. 

Two teasers have dropped in recent months, and I’m going to do something I never do and actually embed one of them here for your viewing pleasure:

Just look at it and soak in the hype. 

I’m someone who considers the modern era to be a Golden Age of TV. In fact, I’d go a step further: the 2000s and 2010s completely transformed the way I look at TV (the 2010s especially). I was never into game shows or soaps, barely into sitcoms, fucking despise corporate news, and only enjoy one or two cooking shows. It wasn’t until TV became a longform alternative to cinema that I really took notice. Somebody like Christopher Nolan would say that TV at its best can’t compare to the grandeur and gravitas of the “theater-going experience,” but the truth is that theaters suck. I can count the number of memorably enjoyable theater experiences I’ve had in my life on one hand. But I digress.

The point of this post is to say that when I think about my favorite shows, almost all of them were released in the past 15-20 years. Whenever I see someone compile a Top 50 or Top 100 Shows of All-time, I know I won’t be able to contribute one of my own because 1) I haven’t seen that many, and 2) I’ve always struggled with assessing shows holistically. I find it too difficult to reconcile all the good seasons with the bad ones (assuming a show is uneven, which most are) and come to a definitive, all-encompassing grade or score or ranking. So, instead, I’ve decided to compile a list of my favorite Seasons of Television. 

I like to look at it that way: these aren’t just seasons of separate shows; these are seasons of television as a whole. I associate them as much with each other as I do with their own respective canons. (For instance, I’ll always associate Leftovers season 3 with Twin Peaks: The Return because they both aired in 2017.)  

I assume (not just hope) that this list will change after April, and that’s a good feeling: to have complete confidence that some piece of media is going to deliver based on the material and people involved. The only downside if that happens is that the one thing I have to look forward to this year will have come and gone before 2025’s halfway mark. 

Anyway, here’s the Last of Us teaser again: 

And now the list: 

1. Mindhunter Season 2 (2019)

What’s funny is there’s nothing all that special about this season in the grand scheme of Mindhunter. Objectively speaking, it’s a logical and seamless continuation of season one’s tone, style, themes, and subject matter. Its most captivating qualities are largely incidental: the Atlanta child murders, the late 70s/early 80s soundtrack, Charles Manson, David Berkowitz, et al. In terms of execution, I can’t honestly say it does anything ‘better’ than the first season (though, the absence of Debbie is a definite plus). The only thing I can really say is that if season one was about success then this season is about failure, and the murky, complicated emotions that arise from that create a more palpably menacing, hopeless atmosphere. 

2. Twin Peaks: The Return (2017)

My favorite work by my favorite filmmaker. That’s a big endorsement, sure, but this is a lot like Mindhunter season 2 insofar as it feels sort of incidental for Lynch because this just happened to be where he was at at this point in his career (which just happened to be at the end of said career...). It’s too big and unwieldy to unpack in this little blurb, so I’ll focus on what I feel is the show’s most noteworthy strength: mystery. Lynch’s entire body of work - music and painting included - always seemed to center around the idea of “creating mystery.” His distinct brand of humor and terror and weirdness was always in service of that. To that end, The Return is his most effectively maddening puzzle box. 

3. Arrested Development Season 2 (2004)

I flipped a coin to decide between the first two seasons. Together, they feel like one long season - so much so that, no matter how many times I revisit them, I often forget where one ends and the other begins. Other sitcoms have made me laugh harder or louder, but none have made me laugh nonstop for this long. In terms of laughs-per-minute, it’s the funniest sitcom I’ve ever seen (seasons 1 & 2 specifically). Perhaps even more impressive than that, though, are the tender moments sprinkled throughout which are drenched in irony and undercut by call-backs, puns, and punchlines, yet somehow still manage to work on a sincere, unironic level.

4. Norm Macdonald Live Season 1 (2013)

For all their political incorrectness and bloviating about free speech, “edgy” comedy podcasts of the past 10 years haven’t managed to feel remotely as candid (or as funny) as this. In a world full of comics who “don’t give a fuck,” Norm truly didn’t give a fuck, and his improv skills were, in my opinion, not only underrated throughout his career, but wholly unmatched. All three seasons are brilliant, but the first one is the funniest because Norm wasn’t yet trying to take the show seriously on any level whatsoever. 

5. True Detective Season 1 (2014)

I’ll keep waiting around for another season that’s as good as this one, but the truth is that it was lightning in a bottle. Just like The Dark Side of the Moon or the original Alien, this is the kind of peak that never comes again, to borrow a phrase from Hunter S. Thompson. The desperate and obvious - and, at times, haphazard - attempts to recreate its magic in the later seasons only drew more attention to Nic Pizzolatto’s shortcomings, and the various rip-offs in the years following only solidified how inimitable it was.

6. The Last of Us Season 1 (2023)

“What if The Walking Dead was actually good?”  I’m generally not a fan of post-apocalyptic fiction because it’s rarely done well. Most movies/shows/books in this genre are either too depressing, too pretentious, too hokey, or just plain boring. The Last of Us, on the other hand, somehow finds the sweet spot - it’s everything you’d expect in terms of content and tone, except vastly more engrossing and emotional (and scary). And the performances are some of the best I’ve ever seen.

7. The Leftovers Season 3 (2017)

This was my least favorite season up until recently when I binged the entire series for the first time since it originally aired, and I discovered that that was the proper way to experience it. Watching this season in quick succession makes it feel like an 8-hour finale rather than eight separate episodes which, on their own, can seem somewhat underwhelming compared to previous seasons. That’s because this one is the most subdued of the three; the melodrama is dialed back considerably and the big musical crescendos are fewer and farther between. The final episode, especially, is probably the subtlest Lindelof has ever been. Now it’s my favorite season for that very reason.   

8. Chernobyl (2019) 

Radiation terrifies me. Nuclear weapons terrify me. Oppenheimer tapped into the latter fear; Chernobyl tapped into the former. Together they make for a pretty solid “Double Feature” (even though they’re technically different mediums). Not just because of the subject matter, but because of the tone as well. The palpable sense of doom that permeates every second of this miniseries is something you can’t manufacture; as good a fiction writer as Craig Mazin obviously is, this show’s most riveting quality is the nonfiction element. 

9. Watchmen (2019)

I could write a book on this one, and not entirely for good reasons. There’d be a whole chapter titled ‘How Not To Do A Finale.’ And it’s funny because Lindelof’s reputation for crafting unsatisfactory finales had eluded me up until this point. I enjoy the LOST finale, and Leftovers’ ending is perfect, so the exhilarating brilliance of the first 90 percent of Watchmen served as nothing more than confirmation bias that Lindelof was an underappreciated genius with an unblemished track record... and then he burned me. This show could’ve been my #1 of all-time - it was that good - but it jilted me at the altar, so instead it lands at #9, which is more than it deserves.

10. The Night Of (2016)

This miniseries aired right around the time I was coming to the realization that I’m more than just a passing Zaillian fan; I’m a card-carrying Zaillian-head. And this series marks the biggest, boldest presentation of his style to date. Part courtroom drama, part police procedural, part psychological thriller, all wrapped in a thick atmosphere. And don’t let the opening credit sequence fool you, it’s not a True Detective wannabe (though if it were repackaged as TD season 3 I wouldn’t object). Also, it introduced me to the brilliance of Bill Camp. 

Fear Of The Dawn

Man Made Of Meat

 

TIER LIST: TOOL SONGS

 Click here for a refresher on the "rules." 

S	Invincible, Descending, 7empest, Right in Two, Vicarious, The Pot, Intolerance
A	Fear Inoculum, Culling Voices, Prison Sex, Lateralus, Schism, Stinkfist, Forty Six & 2
B	Pneuma, Disposition, Eon Blue Apocalypse, Sober, Jambi, Reflection, Aenima, Parabol(a), Hooker with a Penis, H.
C	The Patient, Wings of Marie, 10,000 Days, Rosetta Stoned, Lost Keys, Bottom, Faaip De Oiad, Message to Harry Manback, Intermission, Jimmy, Die Eier von Satan, Swamp Song, Disgustipated, Cold and Ugly
D	Triad, The Grudge, Pushit, Third Eye, Crawl Away, Undertow, 4°, Flood, Hush, Jerk-Off
E	Ticks & Leeches, Intension, Eulogy, Sweat, Part of Me, Opiate
F	Chocolate Chip Trip, Litanie contre la Peur, Legion Inoculant, Mockingbeat, Lipan Conjuring, Mantra, Cesaro Summability, Viginti Tres, (-) Ions, Useful Idiot

My Dinner With Skynet

  Two actors, one location, 90 minutes of yapping - a new all-time favorite.

  Both actors work in tandem to carry this but they're flexing different muscles. Madolyn Smith-Osborne is a rumbling volcano who threatens to explode in every scene. Even when she seems fine, there's always some seismic shift in her expression or rumbling in her throat. She goes big because she has to but these aren't feeble attempts to out-act her co-star, especially since he's holding back. Malcolm McDowell isn't doing his typical scenery-chewing but, instead, nibbling and nipping with smarmy cuntiness; he's going to finish his meal on his terms. What they have in common is how they each bring history to these characters while every exchange is another spadeful layer on the lede.

 

  You see, so much of this story is deliberately withheld from us, which made my first watch alienating. Every time I thought I had a read on it, it'd switch things up in ways that left me more annoyed than intrigued. There were editing choices that felt nonsensical and character choices that felt absurd. Because of its initial set-up I thought this was going to be a slasher genre take on War Of The Roses; dialog-driven suspense around gender politics. No, it's much...much more than that. Of course I didn't find this out until the very end, so for 90% of the runtime I was perpetually disillusioned with it.

  I honestly thought it was going to end with me feeling like my time had been wasted. It looks good and the blocking is always dynamic but I feared that'd be all I got out of it. The lumber of doubt I had stacked against this thing was blocking my view of the forest.

 

  The ending, an epiphany of riches, sets everything right with 20/20 vision. It's a twist that feels like a kind of narrative mothership unveiling, revealing every other saucer responsible for my dysphoria. Ultimately, not only did I not feel like my time had been wasted but I willfully invested more by watching it a second time. Every choice that I thought was stupid turned out to be deliberate and brilliant. And, again, it doesn't betray its propensity for mystery because, thankfully, the twist isn't some over-written exposition dump but a necessary kind of information leak that tells us just enough to piece it together ourselves. The dialog simultaneously covers its tracks while also leaving secret blacklight clues for those who are gifted with hindsight.

  I love when movies are able to completely recontextualize themselves after a certain point and The Caller is one of the finest examples.

One mind, any weapon

  I've written so much about Green Room for nearly a decade now and, having been disappointed by Saulnier's follow-up squib load, Hold The Dark, I had certain expectations for Rebel Ridge. Reading that it was gonna be about cops (and assuming it was another siege movie) of course I imagined Green Room 2: ACAB; intense pigbreaking slaughter with the hyper-realistic violence Saulnier has given us since Blue Ruin. But, by his design, Rebel Ridge is the complete opposite: a categorically Less-Lethal thriller.

  Saulnier, who's usually setting sail for arterial floods, deliberately wrote himself into a corner by defanging himself. It's admirable enough on paper but downright respectable since he managed to escape by challenging the notion of what one of his movies can be. Blue Ruin, Green Room, and Hold The Dark are all (for the most part) about how messy and awful violence is while showing us said violence to make that point. Rebel Ridge is Saulnier actually practicing what he's been preaching all these years: restraint. It's like after all the limbs he's lopped off and maimed he's finally applying tourniquets and cauterizing wounds left over. That said: it's only less lethal means of violence. Bones still break in pummeling combat sequences and there's the very real threat of deadly violence from our antagonists. But our hero isn't one of Saulnier's relatable unremarkables facing remarkable terror, he's a highly capable and efficient Marine who's all about de-escalation to keep blood from spilling...and he's out for revenge.

  Turns out this is a siege thriller but turned inside-out.

  What Saulnier does maintain is his signature knack for dialog and verisimilitude. Liiiiiitle by little he stacks the details of these characters and this world, sometimes without us even knowing. The dialog is much more catty and sharp since these are Saulnier's most 'professional' characters. They know how to play games of wit in gripping verbal standoffs that are just as exciting as any of the physical squabbles but it's very different than the panicked exchanges in Green Room.

  Rebel Ridge is a deeply satisfying movie, the kind that makes you want to pace around your living room and holler, but that spatial freedom also sucks in a way: After some incredible theater-going experiences last year (Beetlejuice², Civil War, Furiosa) to be forced to watch this crowdpleaser streaming on Netflix, minus the crowd, it's a fucking shame. This would play so goddamn well in a packed theater but such is the state of things.

So Wizard

  Episodes 5 and 6 of Skeleton Crew turned what is, essentially, a pretty good, cute show, into a potentially exceptional one. It's been charming holiday entertainment but there's a compelling turn at the end of You Have A Lot To Learn About Pirates that made me clench my jaw more than any of the light peril in previous episodes. It's one of those great situations where I saw said moment coming from episode 2 but it's executed so well that it can't be handwaved away with claims of "predictability."

  And episode 6, Zero Friends Again, is a simple transitional episode but it's full of strong character moments to ferry us into the climax. Even in an episode that other shows would neglect as 'filler,' the Skeleton Crew crew treats it with care. Initially, I'd only started watching this to stave off the wait for Andor season 2 but now I'm a bonafide fan.

  I was hooked by the idea of "The Goonies meets Star Wars" because it's refreshing to see live-action Star Wars that isn't ashamed to appeal to kids. It maintains lots of whimsy with tangible danger and moments of affecting disempowerment. Not to mention it actually looks good, unlike the synthetic post-photography of Ahsoka, Obi-Wan, and The Book Of Boba-Fett. 

  With Phil Tippett Studios, Skeleton Crew prioritizes the tangible: puppets, animatronics, make-up, stop-motion, matte paintings and other practical effects. In doing so they give themselves freedom to light their sets, their actors, and puppeteers how they want instead of relying on green screens and other incorporeal aspects that eschew aesthetic integrity.

   With 2 episodes left I'm a bit worried that it'll drop the ball but that's not because of anything specific in Crew, I've just been burned before (Mandalorian, Acolyte). Incidentally, Acolyte's 5th episode, Night, was its strongest but the season on the whole wasn't as consistent as Crew's has been. And while Crew isn't on the level of Andor (nothing is, except maybe Empire) it's still one of the stronger efforts in Star Wars' Disney era.

Nothing else from 2024 compares to Meet The Grahams

  I typically keep my phone's volume on full because my notifications never wake me up, only the next morning is when I see what all I've missed. The only time I turn it on vibrate is when I'm at work or the movies. Hell, my YouTube notification chime isn't all that shrill and my phone is usually close to me when I doze off. So when I say that the notification for Meet The Grahams woke me up from a dead sleep and my phone was on the nightstand for once, trust me when I say that this track is evil.

  And, at the time, I didn't even know how much demon energy was in it, either. I got excited because, I mean, any New Kendrick is worth celebrating, so my heart rate was already pumping as I barreled downstairs to get my headphones. But, as Kendrick's frighteningly calm tone purred out "Dear, Adonis," on top of a sample of wailing cries and ascending, repetitive piano, I was fucking AWAKE. By the time it got to the ghostly choir of layered vocals shouting "YOU LIED," I was actually holding my breath despite how many times I uttered "Jesus" and "what the fuck?". And, again, this debuted in the middle of the night. Like, did I actually hear this song or do I have sleep paralysis?? The balled energy of my excitement converted to anxiety and disgust so I didn't go back to bed for another couple of hours. This is truly a stomach-turning, lip-curling, eye-watering, creepy fucking track that felt, as hyperbolic as this sounds, illegal to listen to (which...was not far off considering Drake has recently taken Kenny to court).

  Meet The Grahams is as harrowing as tracks like u, FEAR. and Mother I Sober because it's one thing to be vulnerable and condemning of yourself but it's another to point out someone else's flaws and vulnerabilities publicly and against their will. And even if the allegations he spews are all bullshit, that doesn't matter: he says it with such palpable venom and imposing nerve that I believe he believes it. The work itself isn't diminished simply because it's still a song, after all, and Kendrick is a stellar performer.

  So it's not like I didn't think K-Dot was capable of a track like this, it's just that he's never projected this kind of despair to anyone but himself. When Humble came out there was speculation that he was dissing this rapper, dissing that rapper, but everyone's theory was wrong because Kendrick was dissing himself. He's always been more introspective and has made so much music about how to love and forgive, not just others but one's self, so color me shocked that he brought us to a place where he taught us how to properly fucking HATE someone. Dismantling Drake with existential disrespect isn't even a braggadocios power move, it comes from a place of angry, demented pity. He even positions himself as the one person who could help Drake while pushing the blade in as deep as it can go as he tells him that he'll never be a better opponent to Drake than Drake is to himself.

  All of that is intense enough but to write letters to his parents and his children, saying he thinks Drake should die in prison, is unbelievable and nothing short of astonishing.

  That's why this is the best piece of media I experienced last year and undeniably one of the best songs ever written. It outshines every movie and show from last year because none of them have stuck with me like this has.