The Best TV I Watched in 2022, Part 1
Horrible rich people, billionaire tech scammers, strange murders, funny murder attempts, amorous movie stars, fantasy epics, and more
There is simply too much TV now.
I say this as a person for whom, like Kevin McCallister in Home Alone 2, “TV is my life.” I watch a lot of TV, and since we all started staying home all the time a few years ago, I watch even more TV (if that’s possible).
This was a year when my boyfriend turned into my fiancé and we quit our regular cable provider for YouTube TV aka big things happened.
Actually, we quit our regular cable because:
a) we were paying like $200/month for a bunch of channels we mostly didn’t watch
b) of the channels we did get, that $200/month somehow did not also include something pretty basic like BBC America which is important as a Star Trek: TNG and Doctor Who household (except now Disney+ is seemingly going to be the only place Americans can watch Doctor Who including the new season starring Ncuti Gatwa, which sucks because I am not going to sign up for ANOTHER streaming service and give Disney any more money to swallow up more corporations and violate anti-trust laws and become like, the sole entertainment company in America/the world. Also I am conflicted about Disney pumping money into something as historically campy as Doctor Who, because while I like that they’ll have more money to do cool stuff, I also don’t want Who to become so Americanized it loses its very British spirit and guest stars)
c) we have an NYC wedding to pay for (read: expensive) and paying like $60/month for YouTube TV that includes both TCM and BBC America instead of $200/month means we are saving an extra $1700 this year which I guess will pay for maybe part of the catering or musicians or whatever? Did I mention weddings are ridiculously expensive in NYC?
I digress, but all this is to say that I watched a lot of TV and somehow I still did not watch enough because people keep recommending shows to me that I mean to watch but have not yet (and maybe never will). We are past the Golden Age of Streaming and into the Age of Simply Too Much TV and Too Many Streamers and Congratulations Most of You Streamers Are Just Reinventing Broadcast and Cable Television. It’s honestly hilarious that these execs think they’re doing something revolutionary when they’re just basically pivoting back to the tried and true format perfected by execs like, 60+ years ago.
Without further ado, of all the ridiculous amounts of television I watched this year with my boyfriend-turned-fiancé, here’s the best stuff.
The Best TV I Watched in 2022
Somebody Somewhere (HBO Max)
This tender, hilarious, and quietly moving dramedy about Sam (the multitalented Bridget Everett), a middle-aged woman in crisis who returns to her Kansas hometown following the death of her sister is excellent. Anchored by Everett’s captivating performance, Somebody Somewhere is the kind of bittersweet, big-hearted, character-focused story that I love with equal room for flaws and redemption. And Jeff Hiller, who plays Sam’s best friend and co-worker, Joel, is a breakout star. I’m so looking forward to season two with this town of ragtag, rural characters.
Julia (HBO Max)
I’d describe this as a Delightful PBS Drama on HBO Where People Are Also Allowed to be Horny and Say “Fuck.” This was just a joy from start to finish with a completely wonderful cast led by the utterly brilliant Sarah Lancashire (who I’m excited is also returning this year for one final season of U.K. drama Happy Valley) as Julia Child and David Hyde Pierce as Paul Child. The show—and it’s titular performance—are decidedly different from Nora Ephron’s 2009 film Julie & Julia, and that’s a great thing. It has a warm and breezy tone that also allows for more depth and sadness. Lancashire’s Julia feels more three-dimensional than Streep’s sort of aspirational version, not that I really want to compare them, but if you missed out on season 1 of Julia, you’re missing out on a delicious dramedy and performance.
The Righteous Gemstones (HBO Max)
One of the most consistently satisfying and uproariously funny series on television. Season two takes a closer look at patriarch Eli Gemstone’s (John Goodman) rise from teen wrestler in the Dixie Mafia to famous megachurch televangelist while his hilariously inept adult children—special shoutout to Edi Patterson who makes me laugh with just a flip of her hair—continue to scheme over how to wrestle power from their father. Nobody has understood and satirized Southern Evangelical culture better than Danny McBride. I just wish Emmy voters would take more notice.
The Last Movie Stars (HBO Max)
Ethan Hawke’s fascinating, intimate, and moving six-part documentary on Paul Newman’s and Joanne Woodward’s relationship and careers was as thrilling, fun, and sexy to watch as its two stars (and director). A huge part of what makes it so engaging is Hawke’s enthusiasm for his subjects and their love of and passion for the craft. A supreme sense of both curiosity and reverence courses through the documentary’s veins. Via Hawke’s eyes (and his great questions), Newman and Woodward’s relationship and work encapsulate all the highs and lows of not just movie-making but living a creative life. It’s just a perfect marriage of subject and director.
The Staircase (HBO Max)
I’m possibly in the small minority of people who never saw the original Staircase documentary on which this dramatic miniseries is based, but like everyone who HAS seen the documentary, I quickly became engrossed in figuring out what really happened to Kathleen Peterson. The miniseries perhaps fills in some gaps and perspectives left out of the documentary—most crucially, Kathleen’s (Toni Collette in another searing performance) in the days before and surrounding her murder—but there are still no definitive answers. Michael Peterson comes off as an alternately warm and occasionally cruel cipher thanks to Colin Firth’s mesmerizing performance, but Juliette Binoche’s doc editor Sophie proves to be the secret emotional MVP, acting as the audience’s window into Michael’s charms and puzzling behavior. With great supporting turns from Michael Stuhlbarg, Sophie Turner, Parker Posey, Rosemarie DeWitt, and Trini Alvarado, The Staircase offers up a fascinating look at how money, secrets, and resentments build to unspeakable tragedies and change families forever.
Bad Sisters (Apple TV+)
Speaking of family secrets, let’s bring in Sharon fucking Horgan! Her new, darkly hilarious show (that is somehow getting a second season despite its fairly definitive premise and ending) about four sisters trying to kill their other sister’s horrible husband in a series of botched murder attempts and the bumbling insurance agents (who also happen to be half-brothers) investigating the death is yet another homerun from the Irish TV powerhouse. I’ve long been a fan of Horgan’s writing and acting and here she assembles an another all-star cast including Anne-Marie Duff, Eve Hewson, Sarah Greene, Eva Birthistle, Claes Bang, Daryl McCormack (also great in Good Luck to You, Leo Grande), and Brian Gleeson (son of Brendan and brother of Domhnall) for her remake of a popular Belgian series called The Clan. Each sister has a reason to hate John Paul (Bang), but it will take all of them to bring the Prick—as they call him—down. Horgan’s shows seem to slip a bit under the radar in the U.S., but this one really should not be missed.
House of the Dragon (HBO Max)
I need to state for the record that I never watched Game of Thrones and I didn’t expect to wind up being a person who makes House of the Dragon memes because I loved the first season so much, but here we are. I also didn’t expect that I would sour so quickly on Rings of Power, which I expected to love more than HotD, only to wind up loving HotD and being mostly disappointed with the LOTR prequel series. Once I realized that HotD is basically an incest-heavy fantasy soap opera a la all those Philippa Gregory books I used to read in high school and college, I got engrossed pretty quickly. While I could do without constant juxtaposing of grotesque birthing scenes with war scenes to make Some Kind of Feminist Point Despite Being a Show Created By Two Men, I cannot deny that I really dug the King Lear-esque super petty vibes, the gorgeous costumes, and especially the performances from its leading actors (Milly Alcock, Emma D’Arcy, Emily Carey, Olivia Cooke, Paddy Considine, and of course Matt Smith). It was honestly really fun in a way Rings of Power and its deadly serious tone never figured out or attempted.
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