Top 20 best TV series of 2016

2016 definitely wasn’t great, but TV this past year was pretty amazing. So, in order to escape fulfilling my duties as a good Erasmus student (and writing my essays), I’ve decided to write my own top 20 best TV series of 2016 list (excluding reality shows and talk shows).

The deal is not that I want to pose as a TV critic (because, let’s face it: everybody is one), instead I would like to “sell” the (snobbishly said) “good TV” that I watch, and maybe others don’t know about.

20. BETTER THINGS: one of the many semi-autobiographical seriocomedies that have debuted in past few years; and yes: a TV show about a single mother raising her three daughters can be original and engaging, especially when tackling issues about ageism, gender roles, and women in Hollywood; excellent first season!

19. UNREAL: even though last summer there have been a lot of “haters”, I continued to cheer for this darkly delicious show; if you can accuse the show of something, that will have to be its ambition and fearlessness when it comes to storytelling; also, the fact that they gave us the most fucked-up (& fantastic) surrogate mother/daughter couple ever is undeniable

18. CASUAL: so here’s one for you: a gorgeous seriocomedy about a recently divorced woman, her daughter and her brother navigating life in LA; after two seasons, I still think of it as a lush dessert (its indie movie vibes do help)

17. IDIOTSITTER: I think I have never laughed harder (and with so many tears) while watching a TV show; the first season of this brutally hilarious and sneakishly clever comedy about a rich woman under house arrest and her “nanny” requires multiple viewings

16. AMERICAN CRIME STORY: the first installment of the anthology series (THE PEOPLE VS OJ SIMPSON) was full of stellar performances (yes Sarah Paulson!) and had great writing: subtely exposing issues about sexism, racism, classism, and media portrayal, while presenting the events of the famous trial

15. JANE THE VIRGIN: the metareferential telenovela-hybrid continues to surprise me with its ability to pull of (quite charmingly) ludicrous plotlines even in its already overcomplicated story; and the Latin Lover narrator is still one of the best thing on TV

14. THE PATH: another amazing show that debuted last year, this slow burner drama (from former PARENTHOOD writers) about a fictional religious cult is an endlessly intriguing representation of faith in the modern society; and it features the absolutely very best music score on TV; plus, BREAKING BAD fans might like to see Aaron Paul in another great role

13. YOU’RE THE WORST: it’s quite unbelievable that this cynical romcom has already ended its third season; having even more experimental episodes (one dedicated entirely to Edgar’s PTSD story, one featuring two of the show’s tertiary characters, and one (seemingly) filmed in one long take) and still (de)constructing the idea of modern romance, this show doesn’t seem to get tired

12. ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK: probably its most dramatic season yet, the prison comedy-drama is an absolute force of nature; not only featuring an amazing and ever-expanding ensemble cast, Jenji Kohan’s show is not stepping away from the serious stuff neither, discussing mental health, prison overcrowding, racism; season 5 cannot come soon enough!

11. VEEP: the political satire’s fifth season (and first without its genius creator, Armando Ianucci), felt fresher than ever before; the queen of comedy (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) is still firing on all cylinders, playing phenomenally everything from cluelessness to savviness, from heartbreak to narcissistic joy; and it also featured probably the smartest seasonlong gag (Catherine’s documentary)

10. GIRLS: for all these years, me and my fellow Girls-following friend were wondering if it’s possible for these characters to stoop even lower than they had before; the fifth season gave us the answer: yes! they are awful people, every single one of them, but it’s still so much fun to get invested in their lives even if they are fucking up over and over again; but this season gave us so many experiments: the Marnie episode, Shosh in Japan, Jessa & Adam sort of a relationship, Hannah alienating everyone; so sad the next season will be its last one

9. FLEABAG: this was mad fun! breaking the fourth wall has never been this exquisite; the compact first season (only six episodes) of this dark comedy was an exceptional portrayal of guilt and loneliness; plus: it features quite the poetic and funny recurring joke about anal sex

8. LADY DYNAMITE: I think this show would be best classified as “experimental comedy”; this semi-autobiographical series tells the story of a somewhat fictionalized version of comedienne Maria Bamford (played by Maria Bamford herself) living with bipolar disorder; presented in three different timelines, the show splendidly shifts from absurdist-surrealist comedy to metareferential sitcom, from satire to family drama; and it also features talking pugs!

7. CRAZY EX-GRILFRIEND: I am completely aware that I will get booed for this (having expressed in the past my lack of interest in musicals), but this is something different! yes: it does have usually two or three (very clever) musical numbers per episode, but the show is so much more than that; and don’t let the title fool you! this outspokenly feminist & satirical take on romcoms (its main character is after all a problematic “ex-girlfriend”) offers also fantastic storylines about clinical depression, alcoholism, bisexuality, and a stunning investigation of boundaries in friendships

6. THE AMERICANS: this show keeps getting better and better (even though we keep loosing more and more gorgeous secondary characters); I still consider it more of a marital drama than espionage thriller, since Elizabeth’s & Philip’s “fake” marriage continues to be the most engaging thing on the Cold War themed show; and it’s also the best plot-driven drama on TV right now

5. UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT: even though sold as a comedy, I find it more of a psychological thriller wrapped in a luminous & joyful sitcom; it’s energetic, it’s moving, it’s laughing out loud funny, it’s incredibly quotable, and it has a fantastic cast; this show has declared rightfully that optimism is bliss! and yes: “these females are strong as hell!”

4. AMERICAN CRIME: I’m going to be honest: this second installment of the anthology series is straight up sad, but endlessly beautiful at the same time; although the main plot revolves around a case of teenage sexual assault, John Ridley (series creator) takes the opportunity to question sexual consent, homophobia, ideals of masculinity, classism

3. MR ROBOT: the breakout hit of 2015 didn’t disappoint in its second (slightly longer) season; it got even better; not only expanding its female roles (turns out that these badass ladies actually rules the show), but experimenting even more with its format (the sitcom episode), this so-called techno thriller, while remaining super ambiguous, provides enormous satisfaction each time

2. TRANSPARENT: this show is a poem! although the third season is its least plot-driven one so far, thematically and tonally it’s as cohesive as ever; as its characters continue their identity quest, Jill Soloway’s comedy-drama keeps offering insightful & original moments (the Elizah episode, Josh & Shea on a road trip, Ali’s epiphanies, the retrospective episode, “to Shell-and-back”); plus: it features the very best individual performance of 2016

1. RECTIFY: this is a tearjerker! separating its main character from the rest of the cast might have been a mistake on a lesser show, but here it was the perfect platform for (narrative) independence; masterfully depicting small-scale plots (the fate of the tire store, the ebaying of old stuff, the experience of the first gelato) and sowing them into the show’s more serious storylines (Daniel’s conviction, Tawney & Teddy’s marriage, Amantha’s ennui, Janet’s depression) has never been so gorgeous; the last season of Ray McKinnon’s beautiful Southern Gothic has ended its run the same way it started: without offering answers, and that’s fine, because its last scene did suggest at least the possibility of starting over