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[RatskyWatsky]

Top Ten

Stranger Things

probably the only series in recent memory where I never looked away from the screen even a second. Completely engrossing from the first shot to the end credits. Also that theme music hngg.

I could tell from the first episode that this was going to take off like a rocket. Netflix launched it with limited promotion, relying on word of mouth, and I think by all accounts it might have ended up being the most popular and culturally resonant show they've made. As many people have described it to their friends, the show is like Goonies mixed with Spielberg's ET or Close Encounters, with just a little bit of horror. As opposed to The Goldbergs or Fresh off the Boat which constantly use wink-wink references to their time periods, I felt like Stranger Things inhabited the 80s in a relaxed and comfortable way. Everyone is so easy to like and enjoyable on screen that you forgive how stupid the overall plot is, but the real strength is Winona Ryder's totally unhinged mother. Whenever she was on screen, I felt like screaming "oh my god you crazy person", which ordinarily I might chaulk up to poor acting or characterization, but here felt very earned.

It is like an amalgamation of Twin Peaks, Silent Hill, and the Goonies. A show in which pretty much every scene is drawing inspiration from something else but it is all executed so perfectly that I can't complain. Whether you understand the references or not is irrelevant to the actual enjoyment of the story which unfolds at a nice pace with its tight 8 episodes. A great professor of mine once said "if you were really smart you would figure out how to say what you want to with smaller words that anyone can understand." This show feels like the embodiment of that. It is an appropriate for all ages horror mystery thriller that doesn't feel dumbed down for kids or like it is filled with dialogue and themes that are only there to be understood by adults.

Game of Thrones

Amazing season. The final two episodes, Battle of the Bastards and The Winds of Winter, both directed by Miguel Sapochnik, are especially worthy of a mention - the first portrayed the best and most ambitious war sequence I've seen on television; the second featured the incredible resolution of many arcs and it set up the ending of the show with a bang. This show isn't flawless, but this season was damn near.

In my opinion, this is the best Game of Thrones season. The story picks up an incredible pace. The characters evolve and of course, the turns do come at breakneck speeds. The North storyline is finally the most interesting (at least for me!). The production set pieces are better than some of the best Hollywood films. This show is still the Undefeated Reigning King of TV.

the pace took off a bit as they shed the slowness of the books and favored a direction toward wrapping things up. In some sense it became a bit much, especially as we see characters practically teleport half across the world from one scene to the next, but there's no doubting HBO is building toward an epic climax for this epic story.

Westworld

Sci-fi and westerns are my two favorites genres, so this was the perfect storm. Great cast, soundtrack, cinematography, intricate plot, etc. I really enjoyed the whole season and it had very few weak points for me.

I binged through Westworld over Christmas, having thankfully avoided all the spoilers and speculation while it was on TV, and thought it was incredible. Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton and Anthony Hopkins are amazing. But my favourite part of the show is it's a real mystery, with clues that lead to a natural conclusion, not a fake mystery with a hundred red herrings and a solution that comes out nowhere. That may make it less of a surprise overall but what it does make for is a far, FAR better story.

HBO scores big with yet another outstanding show. Everything about it worked - stellar performances by a top tier cast, amazingly done special effects, gorgeous cinematography, chill inducing score and of course, an amazing plot

Better Call Saul

I was impressed with the first season, but this season blew my expectations away. Who knew that Bob Odenkirk could do serious so well? Very impressive acting overall, particularly Odenkirk, Rhea Seehorn, Jonathan Banks, and of course Michael McKean. It is a show that is so deft at weaving between intense and hilarious, and one that I can't get enough of. A somewhat unnecessary spinoff conceptually, but it's already rivaling some of the seasons from the main series, to the benefit of all of us. Great stuff.

Almost forgot about it because of how it came out at the beginning if the year, but the writing is just as good as Breaking bad ever was, somehow elevating simple meandering life activity into high tragedy.

The Americans

I think this is the TV show with the best cinematography in my opinion. And the actors and the writing complements perfectly that. It transmits emotions, tension, it can shock you without giving the feeling that it tries too much.

I'm hard pressed to remember any show that has been so constantly good as The Americans. But the best praise I can give this show is that it refuses to go for cheap thrills—aka raising the stakes— logic that plagues a lot of these types of shows. It's a slow burn and that is a really good thing.

Atlanta

This is one of the rare shows that makes me feel like it totally captured how my life is going. Though it's been talked about to death about it being a black show, it's ultimately a black millennial show. Seeing these characters go through a world that's a struggle to live in, and hustle at every turn to find success, is something that our generation knows all too well. And the style, humor, and heart in this show is so magnetic. I had high hopes for this show since I came in being a big fan of Donald Glover, and this show totally knocked it out of the park.

This show was the surprise hit for me and many others. I'm just floored at how incredibly hilarious it was, while also managing to be poignant concerning issues that undeniably speak to me as a black man at the same time. And on a more incredible note, this show just says fuck the rules that most TV shows follow, and instead embraces the surreal. To have a show where its universe can show you whatever the hell it wants, where I had no idea what to expect each week, in its first season no less, is an incredible feat. I thought this would be a simple show about two cousins trying to make something of themselves, but it's far, far, more than that. I don't know if the show counts as slice-of-life or whatever; all I know is that I need the second season to hurry the hell up. Additionally, Episode 7 in particular is easily the funniest TV episode I've watched in years. If you haven't already, please watch it! You're doing yourself a disservice by missing out on this show. Donald Glover deserves all the awards in the world for creating this beautiful world.

The People vs OJ Simpson: American Crime Story

I won't even lie. I clowned this show hard when the trailer came out. Boy, was I wrong. Sterling K Brown, Courtney B Vance, and Sarah Paulson put on an acting clinic. And even though it was cheesy and heavy handed in spots, the material usually met the quality of their performances.

This was a bad idea on every front that didn't deserve to be as good or affecting as it ended up being, but it was. Supremely well-timed commentary, even more so with what's come after it aired.

Person of Interest

The best show on TV came to an end. And what an ending it was. It always has been the most consistent thing on the air and season 5 didn't disappoint. So immensely satysfing and tense. Managed to also wrap up most of the loose plot threads (the only thing missing was the british mercenary villain. Shame he never returned). It offered beautiful plotting, but also amazing character's endings. Characters always were the primary strength of the show and each one got what they deserved, making me cry couple times.

What a ride Person of Interest was. Wish CBS would allow Jonathan Nolan to take it for 7 seasons, like it was originally planned, but I'm still grateful they at last let it have a final season to wrap up the story. This is a show that I see myself returning regularly to for the next ten years. Hats off.

There's something to be said about a show that finds itself on its last legs earlier than expected, but comes away at the end being much stronger for it. There isn't much left in the repertoire of Person of Interest that really needs to be expanded upon after you watch the finale. The final season brings the entire series full circle in nearly every single aspect in what is probably an extremely action-packed, yet also reflective and introspective episode. It almost feels like it would be something planned much further ahead, but ended up coming together almost at a moment's notice. I wrote extensively about the final season of the show so there isn't much left for me to say than to celebrate it one more time.

Rectify

Not merely the best show this year, one of the best of all time.

A richly positive end to a prestige drama about some of the most realistically traumatic fiction i've ever seen

Another one of the truly great shows left us this year. I'll miss Rectify for its contemplative look at contemporary America, I'll miss its characters, I'll miss the writing, I'll miss the directing, I'll miss just about everything about it.

BoJack Horseman

A better drama than most dramas, and a better comedy than most comedies.

To call Bojack Horseman an animated comedy would be doing it a huge disservice. The animal jokes and Todd's dumb ideas were ratcheted up this season, but so was the somber-depressing nature of the show. Oddly enough, it reminds me of Breaking Bad in that I don't know if I want to see Bojack succeed or fail. Either way, it's one of the best shows on Netflix.

11-20

Black Mirror

I was stunned at four of the six total episodes. Incredibly dark, wicked & (in one case) strangely uplifting. Lots of fun.

I've been looking forward to the third season of Black Mirror for YEARS. The season blew me away, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Sure, not all the episodes were A+ and it's only 6 episodes, but I'm so happy it's back and I LOVED most the episodes.

Daredevil

I thoroughly enjoyed the second season more than the first (I'm one of the few that hated Kingpin's performance) so to see the performance from the Punisher was redemptional. Whoever does the fight choreography should be knighted. It is also great to see the things outside of Hell's Kitchen and the role they play in the grander scheme.

The reason this placed so high was the spot-on portrayal of my favorite Marvel character, The Punisher. I didn't think anyone could be more perfect for the role outside of Thomas Jane, but he brings an edge to this show that was sorely needed. The only reason it's not higher is that it takes a pretty big dip in quality as the show goes on, and especially after Elektra is brought in.

Mr. Robot

For some reason people kind of hated this. And I have no idea why as I found this a vastly superior season to the first, to me this felt like the true expression of what the show was trying to get out last time but was hindered by all kinds of fits and starts to the storytelling. The filmmaking craft alone was enough to put this on the list.

This show just decides to go surreal, subversive, and plain bonkers for the second season. Yes, the show is about hacking and fighting against corruption but also shows the cracks in the fighters. This season is all about the lack of control, and shows the vulnerabilities in each of the characters, especially the previously cold-blooded Joanna. Out of the new characters, Dominique "Dom" DiPierro (Grace Gummer) is easily the standout and the most fun to follow as the most "normal" character, being empathic FBI agent who's sorting through all this mess. Of course the aesthetics are still on point from the negative space loving cinematography to the eclectic music. There is a scene at the end of this season that is to do with a traffic light and biker that is one of the most memorable scenes I've seen in a TV show in years thanks to excellent filmmaking. There are also the twists and turns this show goes through, as we're in the unstable and unreliable head of Elliot. Angela ends up in a place that is positively surreal (a young girl and a retro phone is all I'll say). The 90s sitcom episode is just one of quite a few twists. There's one major reveal about just the location of Elliot that changes everything about the season to just brilliantly throw you off the loop. This show can go absolutely anywhere.

Black Sails

I fucking love pirates and this delivers pirates in droves. Great acting, setting, visuals, action, everything. Every season has built upon the previous, final season starts in a few weeks.

It has pirates, tons of scheming and backstabbing, and some of the best directed action scenes I've ever seen on a TV show. Why do the Pirates of the Caribbean movies make like a billion dollars but nobody watches this?

The best genre TV show on the air right now. Game of Thrones gets all the buzz but with a much more condensed cast and focused plot, plus unparalleled set and special effects work, it's hard to beat this swashbuckling Pirate drama. I mean they built real ships and simulate real storms, that's crazy! Season 3 was the best yet and it's a shame the soon to air Season 4 will be its last.

Silicon Valley

Another third season show, Silicon Valley is still probably the funniest comedy on television. Continuing its lampooning of the Bay Area and its tech culture, the season wrestles with the changes going on at Pied Piper following Richard's ousting as CEO. He is replaced by cutthroat mercenary CEO Jack Barker, played excellently by Stephen Tobolowsky. From the excellent bulldog scene to the seeming conclusion of the Hooli arc, Silicon Valley continued to deliver in its third season, and hopefully gives us another start-up of laughter in its fourth.

Silicon Valley is hilarious, it has been its entire run. Even more so because it is so spot on with all of the shots that it takes at the entire tech industry. Every season of this show has been a pleasure to watch and I can't wait to see what they tackle next year. My only complaint is that none of these dudes even consider just hiring a UX Designer to fix their clear issue with the usability of their app.

Luke Cage

Almost perfect casting, fantastic opening theme (and music in general), even though it wears out its' run with a few too many episodes. Mike Colter has room to grow as the main character, and Alfre Woodard, Mahershala Ali, and Theo Rossi give great performances as the villans.

Very different vibe from the rest of the Marvel stuff but I was into it. People shit on Mike's acting but I think he's gine, I dunno. Again, as usual with Marvel shows, its too long and falters a bit nearbthe end but I still enjoyed it. Im just glad these things exist man, my inner child needs it ;_;

iZombie

This is just so my kind of show. The out-there premise that finds a zombie medical examiner helping to solve crimes by eating the victims' brains? Incredible. The way it so deftly blends procedural elements with the on-going mythology? Perfect. The chemistry of the cast? Delightful. That one-of-a-kind dialogue and banter that you only get in a Rob Thomas show? So full of snark and wit, it makes my heart sing. I love it all. Only the back half of Season 2 aired in 2016, but it was so, so good. There were more interesting personalities for Liv from the humorous (stripper brain) to more sobering (drug addict brain). There were some wonderful guest turns from Rob Thomas' old show Veronica Mars (including Kristen Bell in voice form and Enrico Colantoni) and a delightfully meta cameo from Rob Thomas himself... but the other one, of Matchbox 20 fame. They even went the route of more traditional zombie fiction in the finale to spectacular results. This show never lets me down and was my easy choice for favorite TV show of 2016.

I feel like a lot of shows that have solid first seasons end up blowing the second. This wasn't the case with iZombie, in fact I'd say the show got even better and feels like it's found its groove.

The Expanse

SyFy's recent foray into adapting popular source material has paid good dividends with The Expanse (and The Magicians.) While it takes a few episodes to get going, the amusing characters and large scale action turned this into one of last year's biggest suprises for me. It'll scratch your space opera itch.

Basically it's the space show I've been waiting for all my life.

I cant believe SyFy did not mess this one up. I admit it probably isnt the best show of 2015/2016 but dammit its the best thing to a hard sci-fi tv show. While not all the way hard sci-fi I do appreciate the details and consequences of long space flight and weaker then earth gravity has on our society. The premise is nothing new to sci-fi secrete conspiracy, colonist wanting to secede, two powers skating around war, old school politics clutching to the power it has, blah blah blah, but the plot and characters I actually found engaging between the hard sci-fi moments the show dishes out. Season 2 has already been announced and I cant wait.

OJ: Made in America

Everything you could hope for in a comprehensive, engaging, and structurally satisfying documentation of all the craziness in O.J.'s life and how it reflected America at the time. Amazing television.

the best documentary I watched this year by a long shot, and absolutely addictive and harrowing account of the rise and fall of one of the most infamous celebrities of the past 25 years.

Halt and Catch Fire

Been a huge admirer of this show since it started, and seeing it grow from a fledgling show about tech to one of the most engaging and heartfelt shows on TV was such a joy. This season was the strongest it has ever been.

Having been somewhat disappointed by the squandered potential of the first season, I hadn't expected the series to become nearly as well-written and compelling as it has, improved even further by this latest season. The character work has been consistently impressive throughout the previous two seasons.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Top Five

The Walking Dead season seven, part one

The only reason I still pay attention is solely for Neegan. It's not been worth watching except for season premiers and finales. The rest is just filler, and mostly the same thing that's been happening for the past 6-7 years.

Negan really isn't doing it for me. He comes off as a caricature of a villain, and JDM's hammy performance just makes it less compelling for me. He is supposed to be this menace, but he just seems like a dork with a bat.

I just fell out of this show completely. It had a strong start, going a bit too far into torture porn for my tastes, but it totally dropped the ball in the episodes that followed. It's just not interesting anymore to me. Which sucks, because the characters they brought were amazing in the comics. This shows just feels a bit too long in the tooth now.

2016 US Presidential Election Coverage

No one in the media took Trump seriously, despite the heinous things he said, and we all paid for it. The media didn't just didn't do its job. Even when they went after him, it just seemed to put him in the spotlight, and, expect for a few publications and channels, there was an explicit need to make this a horse race so that they could continue to get higher ratings. Hopefully the media learns its lesson after having to deal with the most anti-press candidate in recent years, but I doubt it.

Aside from PBS and a select few people, none of the networks got off of this without looking pathetic and now, they might pay the price. Instead of treating both candidates equally and seriously, they brushed off the jerkass who would win and then just played everyone like fiddles. Also, the constant coverage of the emails, the tweets, and the tape got in the way to what both candidates would actually plan to do. No one in the news actually treated this seriously. And now, I'm banning myself from the national news stuff for likely till the next election. It's fucking appalling.

like come on, you gave free advertising to Donald Trump, enabling him to become President-elect. Even CNN, who covered lots of rallies of Trump, had their CEO realize how stupid they were. Nothing to do, the damage's done.

Westworld

It's by no means an awful show, but such a colossal disappointment given the acting talent and production values.

HBO does it again: assembles a decent cast and a massive budget yet somehow manages to make one of the most dull shows I've ever watched. Absolutely terrible scripts that could only be interesting to people who have never thought, watched or read any other science fiction about robots. Hell either season of AMC/Channel 4's Humans is infinitely more interesting than this and it's nothing special.

People have been raving about this show since it started and after watching a few episodes it just did absolutely nothing for me. My actual problem with the show is it has the pieces to do something great but it just doesn't do anything terribly interesting or all the new with them. If you're going to do a show about A.I. becoming human or at least self-aware then I really would like to see a new take on it. It feels so much more concerned with trying to build up mysteries than actually develop characters in interesting ways.

Penny Dreadful series finale

To quote Krusty the Clown, "What the hell was that?"

If the show didn't ooze so much style, this finale would've singlehandedly ruined the entire series as a whole. In some ways, it still definitely does.

WTF was that ending? Are you shitting me? I LOVED this show, shitty flaws and all. I was so invested in it. And season 3 had amazingly fun stuff going for it. And then that ending happened and it ruined everything for me. It's going to take me ages to get over this.

Great little series that suddenly and sloppily came to a conclusion when there was clearly so much story left to tell

Vinyl

Hilariously out of touch and dramatically inert, this period piece somehow cost HBO $100 million dollars.

How i managed to suffer through this complete wreck of a show i will never know.

I actually enjoyed most of the music and there was lotsa bewbs, but none the less disappointing.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

TV Shows of the Year

FORMAT: Rank, Name, # of votes, # of points

1. Stranger Things - 99 - 679
2. Game of Thrones - 81 - 579
3. Westworld - 76 - 554
4. Better Call Saul - 55 - 369
5. The Americans - 43 - 345
6. Atlanta - 43 - 304
7. The People vs OJ Simpson: American Crime Story - 34 - 245
8. Person of Interest - 31 - 240
9. Rectify - 27 - 229
10. BoJack Horseman - 27 - 183

11. Black Mirror - 30 - 178
12. Daredevil - 37 - 174
13. Mr. Robot - 33 - 167
14. Black Sails - 19 - 144
15. Silicon Valley - 24 - 122
16. Luke Cage - 26 - 120
17. iZombie - 20 - 120
18. The Expanse - 17 - 101
19. OJ: Made in America - 13 - 93
20. Halt and Catch Fire - 14 - 83

21. Planet Earth 2 - 12 - 79
22. The Night Of - 21 - 75
23. The Night Manager - 13 - 74
24. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend - 11 - 72
25. Arrow - 12 - 66
26. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver - 14 - 64
27. House of Cards - 16 - 57
28. Narcos - 13 - 55
29. Horace & Pete - 7 - 54
30. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - 13 - 52

31. Vice Principals - 11 - 52
32. Stephen Universe - 9 - 51
33. Veep - 15 - 50
34. The Walking Dead - 8 - 49
35. Quarry - 10 - 48
36. The Get Down - 8 - 48
37. The Crown - 11 - 47
38. Full Frontal with Samantha Bee - 8 - 45
39. Orange is the New Black - 7 - 47
40. Search Party - 9 - 44

41. Shameless - 5 - 43
42. 11.22.63 - 8 - 42
43. Supergirl - 11 - 41
44. Limitless - 9 - 40
45. The OA - 5 - 36
46. The Good Place - 4 - 36
47. Lady Dynamite - 8 - 35
48. The Flash - 12 - 34
49. The Man in the High Castle - 5 - 33
50. The Young Pope - 4 - 31

51. Archer - 6 - 28
52. Love - 6 - 28
53. The 100 - 6 - 28
54. Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency - 4 - 27
55. Fleabag - 6 - 26
56. Designated Survivor - 9 - 25
57. Bates Motel - 5 - 25
58. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - 9 - 24
59. Vikings - 7 - 24
60. The Girlfriend Experience - 5 - 23

61. The Grand Tour - 4 - 23
62. Baskets - 6 - 22
63. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life - 5 - 22
64. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia - 4 - 20
65. The Affair - 3 - 20
66. Ash vs Evil Dead - 6 - 19
67. Gotham - 3 - 18
68. DC's Legends of Tomorrow - 6 - 17
69. Penny Dreadful - 5 - 17
70. This is Us - 4 - 16

71. Jane the Virgin - 3 - 15
72. Peaky Blinders - 3 - 14
73. Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories - 3 - 14
74. Line of Duty - 3 - 14
75. Orphan Black - 3 - 14
76. Man Seeking Woman - 3 - 14
77. Brooklyn Nine-Nine - 6 - 13
78. South Park - 4 - 13
79. Marvel's Agent Carter - 2 - 13
80. 12 Monkeys - 2 - 13

81. American Horror Story: Roanoke - 4 - 12
82. Broad City - 3 - 12
83. Insecure - 3 - 12
84. Comedy Bang! Bang! - 2 - 12
85. The Last Man on Earth - 3 - 11
86. Louis Theroux: Drinking to Oblivion - 2 - 11
87. Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle - 2 - 11
88. Jon Glaser Loves Gear - 2 - 11
89. War and Peace - 3 - 10
90. Transparent - 2 - 10

91. Happy Valley - 1 - 10
92. Supernatural - 3 - 9
93. Travelers - 3 - 9
94. Colony - 2 - 9
95. You're the Worst - 2 - 9
96. The Hollow Crown: The War of the Roses - 2 - 9
97. Quantico - 1 - 9
98. Galavant - 1 - 9
99. Trollhunters - 1 - 9
100. Black-ish - 1 - 9

101. Girls - 1 - 9
102. Mars - 1 - 9
103. Freakish - 1 - 9
104. Le Bureau des Légendes - 1 - 9
105. Gravity Falls - 1 - 9
106. BrainDead - 4 - 8
107. Preacher - 3 - 8
108. Goliath - 1 - 8
109. The Exorcist - 1 - 8
110. Adam Ruins Everything - 1 - 8

111. Saturday Night Live - 1 - 8
112. Bob's Burgers - 2 - 7
113. Dark Matter - 2 - 7
114. The Shannara Chronicles - 2 - 7
115. Zoo - 1 - 7
116. Hypernormalisation - 1 - 7
117. Haters Back Off! - 1 - 7
118. Catastrophe - 3 - 6
119. Angie Tribeca - 2 - 6
120. Upstart Crow - 1 - 6

121. Secrets & Lies - 1 - 6
122. The Librarians - 1 - 6
123. Containment - 1 - 6
124. Fresh Off the Boat - 1 - 6
125. People Just Do Nothing - 1 - 6
126. Last Chance U - 1 - 6
127. The Family Law - 1 - 6
128. Outcast - 1 - 6
129. Scream Queens - 1 - 6
130. American Crime - 2 - 5

131. Life in Pieces - 2 - 5
132. The Magicians - 2 - 5
133. The Family - 1 - 5
134. Banshee - 1 - 5
135. The Goldbergs - 1 - 5
136. Easy - 1 - 5
137. Please Like Me - 1 - 5
138. Chef's Table - 1 - 5
139. Lucifer - 1 - 5
140. Devious Maids - 1 - 5

141. Hap and Leonard - 2 - 4
142. The Great British Bake Off - 2 - 4
143. Voltron: Legendary Defender - 1 - 4
144. Bloodline - 1 - 4
145. Wynonna Earp - 1 - 4
146. Reign - 1 - 4
147. The Big Bang Theory - 1 - 4
148. Taskmaster - 1 - 4
149. Boy Meets Girl - 1 - 4
150. Bosch - 1 - 4

151. Crazyhead - 2 - 3
152. Killjoys - 2 - 3
153. Longmire - 2 - 3
154. Good Behavior - 1 - 3
155. Red Oaks - 1 - 3
156. Louis Theroux: Savile - 1 - 3
157. The Chris Gethard Show - 1 - 3
158. Detectorists - 1 - 3
159. Togetherness - 1 - 3
160. States of Undress - 1 - 3

161. Timeless - 1 - 2
162. Class - 1 - 2
163. All or Nothing: A Season with the Arizona Cardinals - 1 - 2
164. How to Get Away with Murder - 1 - 2
165. Difficult People - 1 - 2
166. Endeavour - 1 - 2
167. Grease Live! - 1 - 1
168. The Grinder - 1 - 1
169. 3% - 1 - 1
170. Ballers - 1 - 1

171. The Good Wife - 1 - 1
172. Flaked - 1 - 1
173. Pitch - 1 - 1
174. Gomorrah - 1 - 1
175. The Last Ship - 1 - 1
176. Gentlemen & Gangsters - 1 - 1
177. Nobel - 1 - 1
178. Schitt's Creek - 1 - 1
179. The A Word - 1 - 1


Fails

FORMAT: Rank, Name, # of votes, # of points

1. The Walking Dead season seven, part one - 17 - 42
2. 2016 US Presidential Election Coverage - 10 - 28
3. Westworld - 7 - 21
4. Penny Dreadful series finale - 5 - 12
5. Vinyl - 5 - 12
6. The Night Of - 5 - 12
7. Top Gear - 4 - 10
8. CW DC superhero shows - 4 - 10
9. Mr. Robot season two - 4 - 10
10. Agent Carter cancellation - 3 - 6

11. Game of Thrones season six - 2 - 6
12. The Good Wife season seven - 2 - 6
13. CNN - 2 - 6
14. Sleepy Hollow season three - 2 - 6
15. Thursday Night Football - 3 - 5
16. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt season two - 2 - 5
17. The OA - 2 - 5
18. Luke Cage - 2 - 4
19. Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again - 2 - 3
20. The X-Files - 2 - 3

21. Blindspot season two - 1 - 3
22. Twin Peaks season three delay - 1 - 3
23. Canceling shows that Soulfire liked - Agent Carter, Limitless, Galavant - 1 - 3
24. Wayward Pines season two - 1 - 3
25. No Doctor Who, Rick & Morty, or Fargo this year - 1 - 3
26. Agent Carter season two - 1 - 3
27. The Big Bang Theory - 1 - 3
28. Arrow season four - 1 - 3
29. Crisis in Six Scenes - 1 - 3
30. Marco Polo season two - 1 - 3

31. The length of Netflix's Marvel shows - 1 - 3
32. Search Party episodes one-three - 1 - 3
33. The Great Indoors - 1 - 3
34. NBC renewing Celebrity Apprentice with the President-Elect as a Producer - 1 - 3
35. Canceling Limitless - 1 - 3
36. Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. season three - 1 - 3
37. Banshee season four - 1 - 3
38. Doctor Who gap year - 1 - 2
39. Daredevil season two - 1 - 2
40. You're the Worst season three - 1 - 2

41. Canceling Galavant - 1 - 2
42. American Horror Story Roanoke - 1 - 2
43. Netflix - 1 - 2
44. Sleepy Hollow season three finale - 1 - 2
45. The 100 season three - 1 - 2
46. The Walking Dead season six cliffhanger - 1 - 2
47. South Park - 1 - 2
48. Vinyl/Roadies/sex&drugs&rock&roll - 1 - 2
49. CBS' dramas - 1 - 1
50. Moving Crazy Ex-Girlfriend to Fridays - 1 - 1

51. Empire season two - 1 - 1
52. Designated Survivor - 1 - 1
53. House of Cards season four - 1 - 1
54. unREAL season two - 1 - 1
55. Fear the Walking Dead season two - 1 - 1
56. Flaked - 1 - 1
57. DC's Legends of Tomorrow - 1 - 1

 

[biosnake20]

Great job Ratsky. Westworld top 3 and on fail list lol.

 

[Dany]

Of course a JJ Abrams tv show is both great and terrible.

 

[Blader]

Westworld as third best and third worst show of the year... the bicameral mind.

I've really gotta get on Stranger Things. And I assume/hope OJ: Made in America is so low because others treated it as a movie rather than tv.

 

[Bronx-Man]

I should really get HBO one of these days.

 

[Raxus]

Good list. At least one animated show made it this year. LOL at Westworld making the top and bottom list. Says a lot about popular votes. Glad iZombie FINALLY got some recognition.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Thanks for putting this together as usual. The resulting list I think is very very representative of GAF taste with a slight skew towards TV critic taste because the voters are self-selected TV-GAF junkies.

 

[Karu]

Horace and Pete broke the Top 30! That's... something, at least

 

[faridmon]

Sad that not enough people watched Search Party. Definitely top 5 shows of the year

 

[firehawk12]

I can't remember my ballot, but I think the only thing up there that I put on my list is Atlanta and OJ. I'm not into the zeitgeist shows I guess. lol

 

[TripOpt55]

Thanks for all the work tallying it up Ratsky! Always happy to get a blurb included too! The list is really drama-heavy at the top. That may be the norm on here, not sure. Perhaps I just didn't notice it in previous years.

 

[AngmarsKing701]

Excellent job, Ratsky!

Totally bummed that Black Sails didn't crack the top ten, but pretty amazing that with only 19 mentions it got to 144 points. Basically, the people who watch it ranked it pretty highly.

More people should watch it. Best show on TV.

 

[RPGamer92]

Gotham was robbed.

 

[TheAbsolution]

Sad to see This is Us so far down the list. More people should give that show a shot. Otherwise great list!

 

[RustyNails]

Boo @ Westworld. I want 10-12 hours of my life back.

 

[LaNaranja]

I can only assume that 11.22.63 not ranking any higher is because nobody watches Hulu originals.

 

[SchrodingerC]

Glad to see Halt and Catch Fire got some recognition.

Completely agreed with with Penny Dreadful and it's awful ending. I get the creator no longer wanted to work on the show, but goddamn did he ruin a great show with that nonsensical mess.

 

[Schlep]

I can only assume that 11.22.63 not ranking any higher is because nobody watches Hulu originals.

Watched it and felt pretty meh about the ending. It was a good show, but probably more top 25 or top 50 than top 10.

Thanks for all the work Ratsky!

 

[Grizzlyjin]

Thank you so much for tallying up everything and putting together the threads.

Yeah, this shook out how I would've expected it to. GAF loves it some Stranger Things for some reason haha. Penny Dreadful was a show I enjoyed greatly but that ending was puzzling and deserves its spot on the Fail List. And there was no marketing indicating that we would be watching a series finale.

Westworld on the best and worst list. That's...oddly fitting and sums up my feelings on the show too. LOL

 

[Undefined]

damn i shoulda voted. Nice to see black mirror on the list. I would put that as my number just over stranger things.

 

[jfkgoblue]

I will never understand the Stranger things hype. It is a good show, don't get me wrong, but best show of the year? Not even close.

Boo @ Westworld. I want 10-12 hours of my life back.

It was ruined for me by the Maeve arc.

 

[Nobility]

Person of Interest.

Come back pls. ;_;

 

[Rembrandt]

Atlanta should have took it looks, even with black mirror being really fucking good this season, but not one bad episode of Atlanta

 

[StoopKid]

Oj made in America should be higher.

 

[ezekial45]

You spelled my name wrong, Ratsky!

Great job, though. You're truly GAF's secret genius for TV.

 

[PoeticProse22]

Great work on the thread Ratsky. That's a fairly good list, even though my own differed somewhat.The recognition for Halt and Catch Fire, Black Sails, and Rectify is particularly well-deserved. It's quite disappointing that Penny Dreadful's finale so heavily tarnished what was otherwise one of the most unique and enjoyable series of the last few years.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

You spelled my name wrong, Ratsky!

Oops, sorry! Fixed.

 

[Jigorath]

Great work on the thread, Ratsky.

lol @ Westworld being on both lists. I still gotta check it out.

 

[Niraj]

Thanks for putting this together as always!

 

[WaffleTaco]

I think Stranger Things will be looked back on fondly, but over-rated. It's a good show, but it's mainly fuled by 80's nostalgia. Still need to finish Westworld and Bojack. The Americans had their best season yet. Game of Thrones still continues to be this otherworldly television show, in the same league of Breaking Bad now I think.

 

[Violence Jack]

Awesome job as always Ratsky. Stranger Things was great, but GoT followed up a lackluster season 5 by reaching legendary levels in season 6.

So glad to see I wasn't alone on calling out Walking Dead on its formulaic bullshit.

 

[Cornballer]

Thanks, Ratsky!

 

[jett]

People really like Stranger Things that much, huh.

 

[ZeroX03]

4-6 and 1-3 should be swapped. You messed up GAF.

Arrow the top DC TV show, that season five strength.

 

[LotusHD]

Oh nice, I made the OT.


Y'all weird for dissing Westworld though. A fail of the year, really? Should've been The Night Of.

Also surprised Stranger Things won the whole thing, but I recognize its massive popularity, so maybe not that surprising.

 

[YaGaMi]

More people need to watch Narcos.

 

[dead souls]

Great work Ratsky.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Completely missed this thread and didn't get to vote. Oops, oh well. Congrats to Stranger Things and Better Call Saul, those were good shows for sure. And totally agreed on the Penny Dreadful finale being such a huge fail.

A bit sad that Lucifer and Full Frontal aren't getting more love, but oh well.

lol @ Westworld being both in the top 10 and the fails. Polarizing huh? (Haven't seen that yet)

 

[squidyj]

I'm sorry I missed the thread or rectify would have had 28 votes.

That series is number one in so many ways. The greatest shame is that so few people seem to have watched it.

 

[Sober]

Thanks for all the hard work as always Ratsky!

Westworld in top 10 and fails is pure, distilled GAF at its finest.

And if anyone even cares about how bad the Penny Dreadful series finale was just look up my quote/entry in full, because I literally just spoiled the entire ending with almost no exaggeration. To be fair the ending spoiled itself, and at least 75-90% of why I liked the show.

 

[duckroll]

Surprised to see Stranger Things win. I can't really bitch about anything I like that didn't make it though, since I didn't even vote. Westworld is so middling in the end that it couldn't win either show of the year or fail of the year, couldn't even get second place in either! LOL!

Surprised Walking Dead beat Trump coverage though. Can't possibly have been that bad right?

 

[LotusHD]

Surprised to see Stranger Things win. I can't really bitch about anything I like that didn't make it though, since I didn't even vote. Westworld is so middling in the end that it couldn't win either show of the year or fail of the year, couldn't even get second place in either! LOL!

Surprised Walking Dead beat Trump coverage though. Can't possibly have been that bad right?

It was extremely boring (And I agree with being tired of Negan), but it wasn't worse than the coverage, just... I think people mostly stuck to TV shows. I know I did.

Spoiler

And was too lazy to change it

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

The wife and I just finished up ep. 8 in Stranger Things. I'm not qualified to vote since it is the only show from last year that I've watched. I can say that it is quite good though.

 

[RatskyWatsky]

Surprised Walking Dead beat Trump coverage though. Can't possibly have been that bad right?

Of course not. Quality wise, the show is about the same as it's been for the last few years - it's actually been very consistent in that regard. I think the main thing that bothers people is that the show is seven years old and yet there isn't any end in sight. People feel like it's just going around in circles, like it's delivering the same situations and hitting the same themes over and over again.

I know the show is ridiculously popular and that it's following the comics for the most part, which are designed to be an endless parade of horrific survival situations, but I think it'd really behoove the show to come up with some sort of end game and start building towards it, even if it takes 5 or 6 more years to get there. They don't have to try to cure the zombie virus or anything - just give people some specific thing to look forward to (like Daenerys coming to Westeros or the survivors getting off the island or whatever) and I think there'd be major renewed interest in the show.

 

[Voras]

I saw the title of this thread and was bummed out because I didn't vote in it, and then I scrolled down and noticed that I was quoted twice. I totally forgot about voting and writing that stuff. This year had some fantastic shows. I'm glad to see Atlanta getting recognition.

 

[El Topo]

iZombie only #17?

We need to work on that, GAF.

Thanks for all the effort, Ratsky. Great thread.

 

[Zen Aku]

Y'all crazy. Westworld shouldn't even be that high on the bad list.

 

[Sojgat]

More people need to watch The Good Place.