10 best TV shows of 2023
Peter Travers shares his take on the best 10 shows of the year.
TV was on fire this year.
We got to say hello to some terrific new shows, notably "Beef," "I'm a Virgo" and "The Last of Us," that held the strong promise of dazzling us for seasons to come. But what really hurt was saying goodbye forever to "Succession," "Reservation Dogs," "Barry," "Happy Valley," "Billions," "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," "Perry Mason" and "The Other Two," but not -- God save the Queen -- the final season of "The Crown," which stumbled badly at the end by turning its fictionalized but sincerely human look at the royal family into a shoddy tabloid soap opera that mucked up everything but its stirring 10th and last episode.
But no sense dwelling on botch jobs, such as "The Idol" starring he-who-should-not-be-named (OK, it's The Weeknd), when the year in television offered such a bounty. There were standalone episodes of beloved series that most Hollywood movies couldn't hope to match.
I'm referring to the finale of "Succession" that set the Roy family adrift after the death of Brian Cox's King Logan (damn, I loved that lot of schemers) and the outstanding third episode from "The Last of Us" that paused armageddon to give us a taste of love everlasting in the bond between Nick Offerman and Murray Bartlett. Best of all is "Fishes," the singular sixth episode on season 2 of "The Bear" in which chef's high-strung mother (an unmissable, unforgettable Jamie Lee Curtis) has the whole family over for a Christmas dinner from hell.
Yup, TV firecrackers exploded so often in our homes that you probably couldn't keep up. No worries. That's why I'm here with my list of the 10 best TV shows of 2023.
10. "Jury Duty"
For comic originality this year it would be hard to beat this mockumentary starring non-actor Ronald Gladden, a solar-panel contractor called for jury duty in a Los Angeles courtroom where everyone else is an actor doing improv.
James Marsden is a laugh riot playing himself as an egomaniac star. After the hoax was revealed, the two became friends, catching the merry prankster vibe that makes the Amazon Freevee series such a fun ride through the jury system.
9. "Sharper"
Hollywood is so focused on comic-book epics that it's largely forgotten how to entertain us with sleek, sexy thrillers like this one. So thanks Apple TV+ for filling in the gap with this mesmerizing tale of two con artists, played with sweet, sicko treachery by Julianne Moore and Sebastian Stan.
Director Benjamin Caron, who's done astute TV work on "Andor" and "The Crown," keeps you guessing as the show moves from one terrific twist to another. It really is fun to be fooled.
8. "Fargo" (Season 5)
What a fantastic return to form for Noah Hawley's erratic anthology series. The funny and fierce fifth season reminds us of the wonderful 1996 film from the Coen brothers from which Hawley draws his inspiration. Set a year before the 2020 election, this season captures women fighting hard for their rights, especially Juno Temple as a housewife and mother who is running from her abusive former husband, Sheriff Roy Tillman (a wicked good Jon Hamm).
Jennifer Jason Leigh also comes up aces as Dot's monster-in-law, with a feminist agenda that will make you cheer.
7. "I'm a Virgo"
What can you say about a Prime Video series from the great Boots Riley about Cootie, a 13-foot-tall Black teen (the astonishing Jharrel Jerome) who busts out of the overly protective cocoon that his aunt and uncle (Carmen Ejogo and Mike Epps) have trapped him in. Riley's surreal and provoking vision of Black power explodes everything you thought you knew about fast food and the other terrors of capitalism. Riley's one-of-a-kind whatzit is like nothing you've ever seen.
6. "Happy Valley" (Season 3)
In its third and final season on BBC America, AMC+ and Acorn TV, this stunner of a British crime series still couldn't get love from Emmy. So don't share their ignorance since Sarah Lancashire, a Category 5 hurricane of an actress, gives a performance for the ages as Sgt. Catherine Cawood who's tracking down a serial killer (James Norton) in West Yorkshire. The finale has been building for 18 propulsive episodes. And it does not disappoint.
5. "A Small Light"
The true tale of Anne Frank and her diary about hiding from the Nazis in an Amsterdam attic is known by almost everyone. Less known is the inspiring story of Miep Gies (an outstanding Bel Powley), a non-Jew who helped keep Anne (Billie Boullet) and her family, including her father Otto Frank (a quietly devastating Liev Schreiber), sequestered for two years before they were captured. This eye-opening limited series from National Geographic is exemplary for its suspenseful depiction of humanity under siege.
4. "The Last of Us"
No miniseries based on a video game can match this nine-part event phenom on MAX that revolves around a fungus that leaves the world in ruins with most of its infected citizens running around like zombies. Attribute a major part of its triumph to Pedro Pascal, an actor who gets better every time he faces a camera, as a resistance fighter assigned to protect Ellie (Bella Ramsey, beyond great), a sassy 14-year-old girl who knows her way around disaster.
3. "Beef"
Here's the year's best and most addictive new series. This Netflix juggernaut starts in a burst of road rage in a Los Angeles parking lot where Steven Yeun backs his truck into the Mercedes SUV driven by Ali Wong.
This pair rivets attention as series creator Lee Sung Jin careens from the specifics about the haves and have-nots in a mostly Asian community into a universal tale about the anger festering inside a modern world divided by poverty and privilege.
2. "The Bear" (Season 2)
Season 2 of this FX on Hulu series actually goes funnier, fiercer and deeper. Cheers to dynamo Jeremy Allen White, who is back as chef Carmy Berzatto, a walking, talking stress magnet who is trying to convert his Chicago sandwich shop into a fine-dining establishment.
Ayo Edebiri excels as Carmy's sous chef, as does Ebon Moss-Bachrach as his conflicted best friend. Wait, there's more. Oscar winners Jamie Lee Curtis and Olivia Colman turn up in separate episodes to deliver master classes in acting. Showrunner Christopher Storer makes the opening of one restaurant a comic-tragic microcosm for surviving the slings and arrows of a post-COVID world.
1. "Succession" (Season 4)
This fictionalized take on a media empire, much like the Murdochs, is so astounding in every detail that most of us will never forgive creator Jesse Armstrong for pulling the plug on this MAX standard bearer after just four seasons. But the final 10 episodes send it out in a blaze of glory.
Starting with the death of a modern-day King Lear, Logan Roy (Brian Cox at his roaring lion-in-winter pinnacle), the series ends with a battle for control among his backstabbing children, allowing Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Alan Ruck and Sarah Snook to give the performances of their lives and for the series to stake its rightful claim on TV immortality.
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