But so much of it is so good! And here I review a few new shows, and then
compile my list of the best television series of 2020 in comparison to the
Metacritic compilation of TV critic top ten lists.
Recently released and coming
in at #10 on that tally is How To with John Wilson (MC-83, HBO),
a pick I heartily endorse. If you’re a
fan of quirky observational comedy, you will love this. If you love New York
(Nathan Fielder’s producing credit here led me to
his own Comedy Central series from 2013-17, Nathan for You (MC-??, Hulu),
in which he inveigles small businesses to take his marketing advice, and then
films the fallout. Start with Sn1:Ep2 to
establish the premise, then watch one of the 32 episodes anytime you want a
laugh and have 22 minutes to spare.)
Not on the Metacritic list,
but definitely on mine is The A Word (MC-76, AMZ), which just
completed a third season on Sundance TV.
I recently wrote about the first season here,
but now that I’ve seen the third and probably final season, I want to make my
praise more fulsome, because I really love this show. Most of what I comment on here, you could
easily have heard of elsewhere, but this show I bet is a find, and I want to
tell you that it is well worth your time to discover it. I won’t repeat my initial description, but get straight to the matter I left out before, the actors’
names. First off, I have to clarify that
Max Vento – the boy who plays Joe at 5, 7, and 10-years old – is not himself autistic,
but definitely convinced me that he was.
Most of the cast were totally unknown to me, and probably to you unless
you’re a dedicated subscriber to BritBox or AcornTV (though first two seasons
of A Word are on Amazon Prime).
That contributed to the authenticity of the entire production for me,
the unquestioned identity of character and performer. The mother and father were played by Morven
Christie and Lee Ingleby; I’ll probably wind up seeing them as detectives in
some British mystery, but they’ll always remain Joe’s parents to me. His grandfather was the only familiar face,
Christopher Eccleston, but my main image of him was as Jude the Obscure in
Michael Winterbottom’s 1996 Hardy adaptation, so this was quite a leap. I won’t enumerate the subsidiary characters,
but each is charming and/or humorous, but also authentic. In each season, there are remarkable
performances in the roles of psychologists and teachers, as well as by those
who are themselves differently-abled.
The writing is sharp, funny, and true to life, and the production makes
evocative use of the Lake
District landscape with its
Fells. The characters are ever-changing,
losing and winning our sympathy, but consistently convincing. I’d gladly watch more, but they certainly
managed a perfect series finale, if it comes to that.
For comparison’s sake, in the
list below I include both the ranking in the aforementioned Metacritic compilation of critics best of the year lists, and also note the rating in
Metacritic’s own (more reliable IMH O)
ranking. But here the best of 2020 is listed in order of the enthusiasm of my own endorsement. And I break out documentaries into a list
without reference to whether they’re considered films or tv programs. (My reviews and links can be found by title through
search box above, or by scrolling through my earlier Stevie/TV posts.)
Top Tube of 2020
My Ten Favorite TV Series of
the Year:
America
America
Five runners-up:
Some dissents, excluding
genre categories in which I have no interest (e.g. sci-fi and horror):
Bojack Horseman (#12, MC91) has gotten sterling reviews that led me to
watch some episodes at random, but never compelled my attention.
Given its general acclaim, I
tried to give Schitt’s Creek (#8, MC95) another chance, but all
over again was immediately turned off by
the style of acting, and could not persist to discover whatever kernel of
quality others see in the series.
In the interest of
completeness, I watched one episode and a fraction of a second before deciding
that The Great (#18, MC74) was not so great for me. I don’t mind some contemporizing of
historical pageant (such as Marie Antoinette), but this series with Elle
Fanning as Catherine the Great took liberties and license too far for me to
stick with it.
I’ll give Ted Lasso (#5,
MC71) and P-Valley (#23, MC85) a chance the next time I make a trial of
their respective streaming channels.
Documentaries
Three of the top four
documentaries count as tv series, and City Hall at 4½ hours could easily
have been a series too. The others are
feature length and the numerical ranking (*) is from Metacritic’s list of best films. I include them as a group but
find myself generally in accord with the MC rating.
City So Real (#24, MC93)
Time (#5*, MC91)
Totally Under Control (#56*, MC80)
All In: The Fight for Democracy (MC78)
However much TV you watch, you ought to find some satisfying viewing among these offerings.
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