TV Tuesdays Free Talk

TV's been insanely good this year. I used to watch at least 200-250 films a year (my peak was 386 back in 2018) but so far this year I've only watched 19 because of how little time I have left from watching TV shows. I assume this trend will continue for me, especially considering the shows coming up in the pipeline.

So far this year, I loved:

• Atlanta: Best show in TV. I might append ever to that last sentence after its final season this year. They have no right to be that good and that different in every single episode.
• Better Call Saul: Amazing show. Although I do think it's having its worst season so far. Its worst season is by far and beyond better than any average TV show, and I'm excited to see how they'll end it.
• Barry*: As a (or a has been!) film buff, this show separates itself in terms of direction. You can find influences of important films and directors in almost every episode and it's very clear how meticulous Bill Hader is. There aren't any overt nods to Kubrick in these series, but the show have a sense of preciseness to it that really remind me of him.
• Severance: I didn't love this at the beginning but I really like Ben Stiller the director/creator and some of the actors, mainly Adam Scott and Britt Lower (from another great series called Man Seeking Woman)
• Slow Horses: This is like a more crude version of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. It had its ups and downs, but overall it's very good.
• Somebody Somewhere: Absolutely loved every second of this. Some might find its story hackneyed, but if you love small stakes, bittersweet, heartwarming dramas, watch this.
• Succession: Funniest show I've ever watched after The Veep. Hard to find any fault in it.
• The Staircase*: The shows creator, Antonio Campos, directed one of my favorite films. That was enough to make me watch this, but the amazing cast was the cherry on top. I don't think the writing matches either the direction or the acting but given that it's a true story, I think they're doing an pretty good job in their limited space.
• Tokyo Vice*: Ken Watanabe, Tokyo, noir/crime.
• The Dropout / WeCrashed: I grouped these two because they're pretty similar in their story lines. I think The Dropout was significantly better than WeCrashed, but I find value in watching both of them. The Dropout was a great character study both of Holmes and how crooked incentives of unfettered capitalism can affect society at large, whereas WeCrashed was a show that I loved to hate watch. Not because of the show itself but because how irredeemable almost every character in it was. If you have tech bros and the culture around it, you'll have a good time watching this.
• We Own This City*: I've yet to watch The Wire so I can't proclaim like all of the 20 people who watched both about how WotC is the successor to the Wire, but as a standalone show, I cannot recommend this enough. As someone whose not a native speaker, I initially had to rewind a few scenes to fully understand what was being said (the script is very authentic, so characters often used abbreviations that I had not heard before) but once I got used to its dialogue and rhythm, it was an amazing ride. I went into it only knowing David Simon's involvement, so I was shocked when I found out that it was actually a true story.

^{* Shows that are still on the air or whose episodes I watched as recently as last week.}