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2016 Television Top 10 Lists

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I have yet to check out the OJ trail thing, but I love how that and Atlanta made and nearly topped most of the list... except for the 2 list where neither of them made the list at all.

But these list remind me to also go back and watch Better Call Saul and a few other shows that were on my "ooops forgot to watch that... now it's seasons deep, but I already have too many shows I'm watching right now, but I'll still try to fit it in later" list.

I thought the ESPN/ABC documentary was better than the FX series, but they're not directly comparable as they were two different types of shows.
 

lamaroo

Unconfirmed Member
I found Rectify a lot more enjoyable being able to watch the season in chunks versus every week. Like you said, it's a character study and I think being able to do 2-3 episodes in a row really helps with the story. It's like closing a book when you finish a chapter. Once the series is done I want to revisit it b/c I really enjoyed Season 1 but had trouble getting through Season 2 b/c of what I described.

It does work so much better being able to binge, it's not filled with mysteries week to week to keep you guessing, and discussing. Season two probably could have been condensed to a 6 episode season like 1 and 3, easily the weakest.
 

lamaroo

Unconfirmed Member
Completely agree on the Bojack mentions too, only just started watching it about a month ago, nearing the end of the 3rd season. I honestly wouldn't have ever given the show a chance if I hadn't seen people on Gaf post about it so often in threads like "TV moments that make you sad" etc.

It's a shame that the pilot is its the weakest episode, but the strength of the show is in the culmination of everything that happened, and it has a lot of these moments.
 
My picks
1. The big bang theory
2. The big bang theory
3. The big bang theory
4. The big bang theory
5. The big bang theory
6. The big bang theory
7. The big bang theory
8. The big bang theory
9. The big bang theory
10. The big bang theory
 

Farmboy

Member
Bojack is my favorite show as well (at least until Rick & Morty comes back, and possibly even then).

Tied with Better Call Saul though. I never expected S1 to rival Breaking Bad, but it did. Then after that, I never expected S2 to top S1, but it did. Looking forward to S3 tremendously.

On my to-watch list:
Atlanta
Westworld (really enjoyed some of the loftier ideas in Person of Interest; this looks like it's kind of the prestige TV version with none of the network TV filler)
Mr Robot S2 (what's the GAFsensus: better, worse or about as good as S1?)
 

K.Sabot

Member
Crazy how quickly FX turned from that place what shows Live Free or Die Hard a lot into a place with great programming.
 

lamaroo

Unconfirmed Member
Really should get around to catching up on The Americans. I liked, didn't love the first season, and watched the premiere of the second, but the scheduling made me fall behind on it, and I told myself I'd catch up after the season finished. Forgot about it completely after that.
 
Really should get around to catching up on The Americans. I liked, didn't love the first season, and watched the premiere of the second, but the scheduling made me fall behind on it, and I told myself I'd catch up after the season finished. Forgot about it completely after that.

The first half of the second season is a little sloppy. Wife and I enjoyed season 1, but 2 really lost us. I decided to come back a few months later and powered through and I'm so happy I did. The writers, and actors, do a wonderful job of story telling. Every person has something compelling to be invested in. I'm slowly growing tired of Stan but I think they're "fixing" that based on how the story plays out.

If you enjoy the espionage mixed with life events thing I highly recommend Deutschland 83 http://www.sundance.tv/series/deutschland-83
 

big ander

Member
I don't think FX's quality has been a sudden development or that it fell off for a long time—Sheild ended in 2008, by 2010 they'd added Louie, Justified, Terriers (remains criminally underseen), and Archer. They've certainly had drama duds (Lights Out) and purely-for-profit crap comedies (Anger Management), but overall they've steadily been a network with at least 2 or 3 worthwhile shows at all times.
 

MrS

Banned
It was good, but it wasn't better than some of the others on this list.
It's a lot better than a lot of the shows the list, and it's just the beginning. Season 1 was thoroughly enjoyable and hopefully it will get what it deserves during awards season, especially in the performance categories.
 

Parch

Member
Luke Cage is not the best superhero show, unfortunately.
All of Marvel's street level shows are more like crime dramas than the typical superhero show. When they're making a TV show that is mostly crime drama, that's a genre that is going to get some serious competition.
 

RatskyWatsky

Hunky Nostradamus
The only show that keeps popping up on these lists that I'm a bit baffled by is Veep. The show went from being a sharp satire in its first 4 seasons to a cartoon in its 5th. It was an amusing season, but it was far from being one of the top comedies of the year.
 

Empty

Member
The only show that keeps popping up on these lists that I'm a bit baffled by is Veep. The show went from being a sharp satire in its first 4 seasons to a cartoon in its 5th. It was an amusing season, but it was far from being one of the top comedies of the year.

i agree, such a disappointing season. probably it stayed on people's minds because there was so much politics this year and the stupidity of it all made veep feel more relevant. or maybe they genuinely loved it and i'm being obnoxious by assuming things idk.
 

Parch

Member
there are 500 shows on the tv and the CW basically produces comfort food for comic book nerds *shrug*
Yeah, pretty much fanboy stuff that is never going to be critically acclaimed.

If there's a comic TV show exception, I think it's Gotham. It's not a superhero show, it's a super villain show. All of the other superhero shows mostly do a piss poor job at villain character development. Gotham is over the top with a big dose of silly, but man, I love that show.
 

jetjevons

Bish loves my games!
The only show that keeps popping up on these lists that I'm a bit baffled by is Veep. The show went from being a sharp satire in its first 4 seasons to a cartoon in its 5th. It was an amusing season, but it was far from being one of the top comedies of the year.

JLD is critic and Emmy kyrptonite.
 

reKon

Banned
For episodes into Atlanta and I'm loving it. In the first episode I pretty much said that Darius is best character. So far I'm right
 
The only show that keeps popping up on these lists that I'm a bit baffled by is Veep. The show went from being a sharp satire in its first 4 seasons to a cartoon in its 5th. It was an amusing season, but it was far from being one of the top comedies of the year.

It's not TV, it's HBO.

When they can score a writing Emmy for the bad pussy episode of Game of Thrones you know people have lost the ability to correctly assess the quality of its shows.
 

Arondight

Member
Disappointing with the lack of Black Sails mentions.Last two seasons have been top notch. Silver and Flint probably one of my most interesting relations/interactions I've seen so far in TV.

Other Television I've watched this year that have caught my interest are

Planet Earth II
Westworld
War and Peace
Stranger Things
and though it was not released this year but rather end of last year, I found And then there were None a pretty solid adaptation.
 

number11

Member
Disappointing with the lack of Black Sails mentions.Last two seasons have been top notch. Silver and Flint probably one of my most interesting relations/interactions I've seen so far in TV.

Other Television I've watched this year that have caught my interest are

Planet Earth II
Westworld
War and Peace
Stranger Things
and though it was not released this year but rather end of last year, I found And then there were None a pretty solid adaptation.

War and Peace was amazing. It feels like hardly anyone watched it.
 
I'm hopeful that the lack of Westworld is down to the journos correctly identifying it as mediocre and not just scheduling issues or something.

I stopped watching around episode 5. It bored me to tears. Is the payoff good? I'll pick it up again.

Gotta watch Rectify and The Americans...
 
I stopped watching around episode 5. It bored me to tears. Is the payoff good? I'll pick it up again.

Gotta watch Rectify and The Americans...

The big reveal was figured out within 2 episodes by the internet. You could probably just watch the last 2, or even final, episode and feel caught up.

It's a lot better than a lot of the shows the list, and it's just the beginning. Season 1 was thoroughly enjoyable and hopefully it will get what it deserves during awards season, especially in the performance categories.

There's more to a good show than a performance. The acting was pretty good, especially by Evan Rachel Wood and Thandie Newton, but the actual story telling was bad.
 

sohois

Member
I stopped watching around episode 5. It bored me to tears. Is the payoff good? I'll pick it up again.

Gotta watch Rectify and The Americans...

The payoff is pretty much exactly what you would predict.

Did you ultimately enjoy Lost? Then you'll probably also like Westworld. If you found Lost to be a waste of time in the end, or never enjoyed it, then Westworld is not going to be good enough
 

Peru

Member
The Veep season wasn't its best but it was surprisingly close to its usual level. A positive surprise but then most of its writing staff stayed on.
 
The People Vs O.J. was probably my favorite show this year and Vice Principals was the best surprise.

Westworld is what I call "high fluff", it's beautifully shot, well acted, ultimately disposable entertainment. It's sort of like what Game of Thrones became.
 

KonradLaw

Member
Shame only one mention of Quarry, but with ratings like those it's good even one big source named it :)

Few of the smaller venues picked it up among their tops, like Yahoo. But overall it's easily the most underrated drama of the year, mostly because of how few people saw it.
 

KahooTs

Member
The right shows are recurring, most these lists are credible, certainly more so than the Emmys, which is strange as I thought most the people doing these lists are the people who decide the Emmys, or their ilk.
Possibly, but then why did so many critics list GoT's wretched fifth season last year? That smacked of uncritical bandwagoning to me.
It was a step down, loose and bumpy, but based on the quality of writing in previous seasons they believed in good faith that they were watching the pieces of logically thought out character arcs that would be delivered on in later seasons. This season cured them of their belief.
 

KodaRuss

Member
I was about to say where the hell is Fargo on all these lists but I guess season 2 was last year.

Atlanta is great, must watch Gaf. I agree with a most of the others as well.
 

MrS

Banned
The big reveal was figured out within 2 episodes by the internet. You could probably just watch the last 2, or even final, episode and feel caught up.
Are you referring to the
true identity of the Man In Black? That wasn't the big reveal of the episode. The big reveals were finding out what was at the centre of the maze and finding out what Ford's new narrative was. Neither of those were solved by episode 2.

'You could probably just watch the last 2, or even final, episode and feel caught up.'
This could probably be applied to half of the shows on the list - the last 2 episodes in a season usually tie up a lot of narrative strands, as you know.
 

Altairre

Member
Nice to see those full frontal mentions. Bee has been on a roll and I prefer her to Oliver at this point though I still enjoy Last Week Tonight a lot.
 
The Americans, Bojack, and Rectify were probably my favorites this year. Still need to watch Atlanta. Nice to see Crazy Ex-Girlfriend getting a lot of love too. GoT and Westworld were good this year but not top tier IMO. And I loved season 2 of Mr. Robot after the horrible first four episodes of the season (and I didn't particularly care for season 1).

The one inclusion I don't get is The Girlfriend Experience. I watched all of it and thought it was okay. It reminds me of Mr. Robot in a way where good performances and distinctive cinematography seem to be tricking people into thinking the show is better than it is.
 
A few more:
TVLine Dramas (staff)
1. Game of Thrones
2. Stranger Things
3. Bates Motel
4. The People Vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story
5. This is Us
6. Orange is the New Black
7. Westworld
8. American Crime
9. The Night Of
10. Horace & Pete

TVLine Comedies
1. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
2. Atlanta
3. Difficult People
4. Black-Ish
5. BoJack Horseman
6. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
7. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life
8. Veep
9. Broad City
10. Insecure

Empire Online (staff)
1. Game of Thrones
2. The Night Of
3. Stranger Things
4. The Night Manager
5. Westworld
6. Line of Duty
7. The Americans
8. The People Vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story
9. Peaky Blinders
10. Black Mirror
 
Alan Sepinwall just dropped his list

Alan Sepinwall / Uproxx
1. Horace and Pete
2. The Americans
3. O.J.: Made in America & The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story
4. BoJack Horseman
5. Rectify
6. Atlanta
7. Veep
8. Fleabag
9. Better Call Saul
10. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
11. Halt & Catch Fire
12. Orange is the New Black
13. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
14. Better Things
15. Girls
16. American Crime
17. Transparent
18. Catastrophe
19. Game of Thrones
20. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
 
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