Alright, I’m gonna come right out and say that I know there’s a million other awesome shows out there. There’s a reason TV Critics are saying we’re living in the Second Golden Age of Television. Some honorable mentions to this list are The Man in the High Castle
Don’t @ me if your favorite show isn’t on this list, just write a petition like any sane person would do when they’re upset something didn’t go their way.
Barry (HBO):
Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) is a hit man, and he’s really good at killing people. But like so many of us, he’s disillusioned with his job and seeks a way out. Unlike so many of us though, he murders people for a living.
When Barry flies from Ohio to Los Angeles to fulfill a contract on a guy who’s shtupping a mobsters wife, he follows his target into an acting class (taught by Henry Winkler who is hilarious in this I might add) and finds his calling, Barry wants to start a new life as an actor. His boss Fuches (Stephen Root), see’s Barry as his protege and he won’t let Barry walk away so easily.
Killing Eve (BBC America / AMC):
Like Barry, Killing Eve has a lot of humor to go along with the suspense that you would expect with a spy story. The series is based on the eBook series of novellas by Luke Jennings (Codename Villanelle, Villanelle: Hollowpoint, Villanelle: Shanghai, and Odessa). It’s a cat-and-mouse chase by MI5 security officer Eve (Sandra Oh) for the international assassin, who goes by the name Villanelle (Jodie Comer). The acting is great, the story’s great. Give it a look.
Ozark (Netflix):
Marty Byrde (Jason Bateman), a financial planner and money launderer for a Mexican drug cartel. After the cartel was not happy with Marty and his partners work, a few people ended up in some oil drums filled with acid and the fast talking Marty was able to convince the cartel to let him relocate his family (Laura Linney plays Marty’s wife Wendy) from Chicago to a summer resort community in the Ozarks.
This is a wonderful neo-noir where a normal family makes one decision after another that seem innocuous at first but send them further and further into a shitstorm.
Peaky Blinders (Netflix):
Set in post WWI Birmingham, England we follow a fictional gang that’s loosely based on the real Peaky Blinders street gang from Birmingham. Tommy Shelby (Cillian Murphy) is the gang’s leader. The gang is a complicated family of gypsies who work the racetracks and whatever is illicit in the gritty city of Birmingham. The series follows the gangs rise to power as a serious force in England’s Underworld. And the show has some great acting throughout the series; Sam Neill, Tom Hardy, Adrien Brody, Helen McCrory (Draco Malfoy’s mom) it’s well done on many levels.
I’ve got to admit, I always bump on contemporary music in a period piece but it somehow works for this show. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds always pops in my head when I see a bloke in a soft newsboy cap. Before this show, whenever I heard ‘Red Right Hand’ I thought of Lloyd Christmas getting robbed by a sweet old lady in a motorized cart.
Black Mirror (Netflix):
This sci-fi anthology series is set in the very near future and is so well done and so realistic that some of the story elements are coming true. They’re not only predicting the future with this show, they’re changing the TV landscape. Last year they put out an interactive film, Bandersnatch that has 5 different endings depending on your choices. Aside from the Nostradamus like prophecies and interactive viewing, the show is super entertaining and very well done.
