Television of the Year 2023

There has been some quite brilliant TV this year, so I decided to do a Top Ten...

10 - Extraordinary 

I wasn't even going to watch it, yet somehow managed to and was very impressed with what didn't seem to be a particularly inspired idea of a woman who lives in a world where everyone has a superpower apart from her. It could have been a standalone series, but managed to plausibly ensure a season two. It was one of those rare beasts in the 2020s - a comedy that was funny. Extraordinary was an extraordinary series.

9 - Shrinking

Another comedy, this time with Jason Segal and Harrison Ford as psychiatrists who for one reason or another aren't very good at their jobs but also are but in unintentional ways. It's a fine ensemble cast dealing with loss, obsession and sexual tension. Shrinking did a fantastic job of showing how the people who psychoanalyse us have just as many hang-ups and foibles. It was from Apple TV, which should surprise no one.

8 - Barry

What started as a comedy, albeit a very black comedy, ended up being a distraught and bleak thriller. I don't know if it intended to end the way it did when it started back in 2018, but it came as a bit of a shock. It dispelled the myth that Henry Winkler is only the Fonz, as his Gene Cousineau was simply startling - a man who went from being an arsehole to being a complex, paranoid arsehole. Bill Hader was largely expressionless for most of the four series, which only added to the simple brilliance of his Barry. 

7 - The Change 

Bridget Christie's slightly surreal comedy about the menopause and female midlife crises seems to prove the theory that the best comedies turn up when governments and the wake of shite they leave are at their worst. So far this list looks like a list of the best comedies of 2023, but this was very good in a slightly otherworldly kind of way. The Change proved once and for all that comedy was back in fashion, even if there was an important point being made.

6 - Wolf Like Me

Oh look, another comedy, except this Australian series manages to take a very unfunny idea and make it quite brilliant - and funny. The second series of American widower with neurotic child meets a fellow American widow who also happens to be a werewolf was even better because we knew the characters now; it was like dropping in on old friends. This time there was a new baby to contend with and all the will it/won't it be a baby werewolf mystery. All was revealed in what was a really far-fetched finale, but to be fair, the entire concept of Wolf Like Me is a bit daft so you can excuse that.

5 - Loki

What if all Marvel TV and films could be this good? I know people were a little disappointed with a lot of the second season of Loki but I think they weren't watching it like an entire twelve-part story arc; even I missed this point at times. As a 'film' - albeit a very long one - this is possibly one of the best things the MCU has ever done and Loki's redemption arc was allowed to have a start, a middle and then an ending. It was a complete story and there won't be a third series. The finale was one of the best 45 minutes of television I've seen in many many years.

4 - Slow Horses

I didn't even know this existed until about 12 weeks ago. Another almost faultless addition to Apple TV's spectacularly better than good output. This is a series about failed spies, condemned to spend their working lives in a shit hole office doing all the jobs that real spies wouldn't think of and lead by a man who loves his employees but treats them like scummy shit. The first two six-episode series of Slow Horses were proper in your face brilliance; none of this meandering around nonsense; no pfaffing about here, just good stories told exceedingly well and Gary Oldman continues to prove what an outstanding actor he is.

3 - For All Mankind

This alternate history Sci-Fi thriller has reached its fourth season and has been the most consistently excellent TV series over the last five years and if I'd done this before would have been at the top of my list almost every single time. It doesn't make it to the top this year because there have been two unbelievable series that were even better than this. For All Mankind is the story of what might have happened had the Russians/Soviet Union beaten the USA to the moon in 1969 and how that one event changed history in a number of ways. It's interesting because the series jumps about a decade every season and while that might seem to be an annoyance - what about all the things that happened in that decade? - it works perfectly. We're up to 2003 now and the world, from a technological standpoint is about the same as it is in 2023 but in many ways it's way ahead of us. people live on Mars, there's a hotel on the moon and we've had a gay female President of the USA, while the Soviet union still exists and North Korea is one of the richest countries on the planet. If you've never seen it, you should subscribe to Apple TV because it beats the shit out of other streaming services.

=1 - The Bear

Jeremy Allen White is probably the best male actor working at the moment and his Carmy Berzotto is probably one of the best things to hit a TV screen in my life; but it's not about him, it's about this entire series and cast. A Michelin starred chef inherits a sandwich bar in Chicago from his drug-addled brother and goes about transforming it into a fabulous fine dining establishment while taking his rag tag bunch of kitchen wallas with him. It has some of the most outstanding single episodes I have ever seen on a TV screen; it boasts A list guest stars because if you're anyone in film and TV you want to be in this utterly stunning piece of TV. The first series of The Bear was unbelievable and blew everyone who watched it away; series two was even better. I'm not sure there has been a better ongoing TV series in my long life.

=1 - Lessons in Chemistry

Equal first because this is a one-off series and is possibly one of the most delightful things I have ever seen on a television. I personally have had a shit year, but in real terms my friends and family have had it even worse and considering I regard 2023 as possibly the worst in my 61 years you can imagine how bad it has been for those I care about. Lessons in Chemistry on the surface was about Brie Larson's struggle to make it in a man's world in the 1950s; how she overcame her OCDs and borderline autism to have a good life despite having a child out of wedlock, being a champion for black people and standing up for what she believed was right. The thing is, what it was really about was Calvin Evans, the man she loved, the father of her daughter and a man who tragically died in the third episode but never really left the series. He was one of the best TV creations I can remember in my life and his influence and presence was a beacon throughout this utterly brilliant TV show. There were eight episodes and it was another winner from Apple TV; if you ever get the chance to watch it, I expect it will have the same effect on you. This is without equal in terms of one-off shows and it might bring a tear or two to you eyes.