I can’t remember if it was with one of you or on Twitter where I had a conversation that led me to realize– the 2010s had a lot of good TV but precious little great TV. The second wave of Great Second Golden Age Dramas wrapped up, but a couple of exceptions aside, I just didn’t have the love for them the general consensus did. And most of the third wave left me cold (especially Fargo, and not just for its setting).
As you might expect, then, my list is dominated by comedy, in part because I like to laugh, but more relevant to what was “good” in the 2010s, because I feel like the comedy of the era was far more inventive than the drama, which largely seemed to try to imitate the successes of the post-Sopranos generation of Prestige TV. With sitcoms, though, we got everything from standard sitcom fare to high-concept experimental shows to tightly-plotted thrillers and a whole lot in between, including shows both episodic and serialized. Even though I’m generally a comedy fan to begin with, I appreciate great drama as much as anybody; I simply felt the comedy of the 2010s was, in a word, better than the drama of the 2010s.
We’re going to be doing his over four days; today, we’ll get through #61 on the list. Use the “Best TV of the 2010s” tag to view the other articles as they are released.
Now, onward with the list and its criteria.
Eligibility: Any episode that aired between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2019. I will indicate where shows are being ranked on something besides the sum total of their aired episodes, as well as what those shows’ entire run actually was.
(I never finished some shows, either, for various reasons. Those episode lists are underlined.)
Before we kick off the list, let’s run through a few shows that didn’t make it but I felt deserved mention all the same. (I can’t possibly get through every show that deserves mention whether seen or unseen, though, so I had to stop myself somewhere.)
Five shows I didn’t see that are showing up on other lists
The Americans, Chernobyl, Succession, Watchmen, Tuca & Bertie
Whatever. Maybe someday. (At least Chernobyl; it’s short.)
Four shows I want to see that I haven’t yet
Atlanta, Baskets, Documentary Now!, Schitt’s Creek
I did watch three episodes of Atlanta but just fell off and never got back. I loved The War Room parody on Documentary Now! but still need to check out the rest. I did start Schitt’s Creek but haven’t seen enough of it to properly rate it for this list.
Three shows I haven’t seen that get high praise in certain circles
The Eric Andre Show, The Venture Brothers, Lady Dynamite. I don’t know if I’ll ever get to these, but I wanted to make sure they were mentioned, in particular The Eric Andre Show for its audaciousness and for birthing at least one widespread meme of the decade. Lady Dynamite I liked some of what I saw, but it just wasn’t quite on my wavelength enough for me to really stick with it.
Two shows that deserve mention for audacious pilot episodes
The Last Man on Earth – Never quite lived up to its premise, for far too long deciding to go with really trite sitcom fare over truly exploring its concept, and I gave up on it sometime before it was cancelled after season four. Still, though, the Phil Lord / Chris Miller-directed pilot is quite an audacious feat for television, almost the entire episode given to Will Forte indulging his id once he realizes everyone on Earth is gone.
Big Time in Hollywood, FL – Admittedly I never finished this, either, a briefly-lived Comedy Central show that it’s been difficult, if not impossible, to find on streaming (like most Comedy Central shows). But its pilot episode set up incredible dramatic stakes, especially for a comedy, and three years before Barry made it to air. Two twenty-something brothers, delusional about their own abilities and being kicked out by their parents, want to make a film but can’t raise the money. So they hire a local actor to play a drug dealer and stage a kidnapping so they can use the ransom money to fund their lifestyle and film-making. Then the cops kill the “drug dealer.” What a great setup for an intense and wildly out of control drama. It didn’t quite live up to that, but it was still good enough that I was excited to see what came next. Unfortunately, the difficulties of actually finding the show made it difficult to keep up, and I never made it all the way through. One day I will– it’s only ten episodes.
One last-second mention
What Just Happened??! I only really started watching this this weekend, and that was too late to provide it a slot on this list, but so far, it’s so funny. In What Just Happened??!, Fred Savage plays the host of What Just Happened??!, a Talking Dead-style aftershow that follows FOX’s new big (fictional) smash hit sci-fi drama The Flare. Savage’s need to dominate the conversation (he’s a fan of the books, and you gotta read the books to understand what’s going on!), his life slowly crumbling backstage, and the general lack of professionalism of the production would make Alan Partridge proud.
One after-the-bell mention
Letterkenny. Coming to you from the future, May 4, 2020: I didn’t start watching this show until a month after I finished this list, but I’ve been tearing through it. If I had seen it all before I made my list, it would assuredly be in the top 30. (Without thinking too hard, I’d definitely have it ahead of Corporate and definitely behind I Think You Should Leave.) Letterkenny is funny and down-to-earth in a way that recalls King of the Hill; it’s reflective of several other Canadian sitcoms with its small town of oddballs (Schitt’s Creek) with not much to do (Corner Gas) and who occasionally find themselves in the melodramas and problems of a small community (Trailer Park Boys)– and it’s also witty as hell. A rare combination of down-to-earth hangout sitcom combined with a barrage of verbal comedy that make it funnier than many of its peers while never losing either the specificity that makes it unique or the universality that makes it endure.
One show I forgot to mention
Beavis and Butt-Head. I thought the revival was quite good; it may not have quite lived up to the original, but it was updated for its time (2011) about as well as it could be, and it was very funny. I would have included it on this list had I not totally blanked on its existence.
One missed opportunity
Homeland. If Homeland had ended after season one– and, specifically, ended with Nicholas Brody going through with his suicide-bomber plan– it would be remembered as one of the most stunning and daring miniseries of the 21st century. Instead, Showtime mandated that the writers not kill Brody, the show went on and became something of a bloated joke (season eight is currently airing as of this article), CIA propaganda that’s even more blatant now that the Trump era exposes the lie of our best and brightest keeping us safe in the era of never-ending war.
One praised show I will not see
Hannibal. Too much body horror for me. And what little I’ve seen of it just gives me that Scott Evil reaction: “Why don’t you just shoot him? I’ve got a gun in my room, we can do it together.”
One praised show I’m mixed about
Westworld. I plowed through the first season pretty quickly, although the way it ended kind of left me feeling like it might be less than the sum of its parts. I never watched season two, although I might find the time with season three coming up soon.
One praised show that sucks
Fargo. Fuck this overrated underwritten show full of fake cleverness, phony depth, and written so thinly that the writer has to paste his plot together with scenes from other Coen Brothers movies.
Now on to the shows that merited ranking, although there are so many in this early part we’re going to clip through most of them quickly. One note: there is a show that, while being one of my absolute favorite shows period, I considered ineligible for ranking purposes. I’ll explain why at the end. (If you read my “Best TV Shows of 2019” article, it will come as no surprise.) Anyway, that’s why our list starts at 87– well, really, a three-way tie for 85:
85-87: Three Shows on Seeso (RIP)
Harmonquest
Hidden America with Jonah Ray
Bajillion Dollar Properties
I don’t know that I loved any of these shows enough to have a lot to say about them, but they were all fun when I did watch them. Harmonquest was in a lot of ways not that different from a comedian’s panel show but the Legally Not Dungeons and Dragons aspects did make it fun if you’re into that sort of thing (which I am, or, at least, am enough to enjoy it when it comes alongside comedians shooting the shit). Hidden America was a parody of travelogue shows, at its best when Mike Mitchell showed up as a Guy Fieri caricature. And Bajillion Dollar Properties was a reality-show parody about real estate agents, featuring Paul F. Tompkins hamming it up delightfully as the agency’s owner, and featuring a few performers you might have seen elsewhere more recently (Drew Tarver in The Other Two, Tawny Newsome in Brockmire, and Tim Baltz in The Righteous Gemstones, among others).
84. Jon Benjamin Has a Van
1 season, 2011
Comedy Central
A silly little sketch show with some fun bits. Not much to say about it beyond that, other than that Benjamin has a killer cast of guests and regulars in this one. (Among them is a pre-Nathan For You Nathan Fielder.)
83. Not Safe with Nikki Glaser
1 season, 2016
Comedy Central
Sex is a big part of Nikki Glaser’s act, and her briefly-lived Comedy Central show turned the late-night comedian-hosted format into a discussion of sex, dating, and relationships. Glaser is funny, of course, but she’s also compassionate and empathetic on these topics, which makes her a great person to handle the variety of questions and interactions with her guests and in her bits. A good show that varied up the typical late-night format by actually being about something more specific and in-depth than “the day in politics or pop culture,” it was cancelled too soon.
82. Boardwalk Empire
Seasons 1-4
Full Show: 5 seasons, 2010-2014
HBO
One of those shows that I enjoyed well enough but never really felt attached to or compelled to watch. After the most compelling character on the show died, I had trouble motivating myself when the new season came out. It happens. Still a pretty good show on the whole.
81. Arrested Development
Season 4, Season 5 through episode 2
Full Show: 5 seasons, 2003-2018
Netflix (seasons 4 and 5)
Not even sure what to say about the show at this point. I appreciated the audacity and the snowball effect of season 4, but it just wasn’t quite the same show as it was in the classic days. I did watch two episodes of season 5 but never went back. Just wasn’t feeling it anymore. Obviously, the first two seasons (season 3 not as much) are among the all-time classic sitcom seasons. Sometimes you can only catch lightning in a bottle once. Maybe I’ll finish the show someday, but there’s just so much TV nowadays.
80. Black-ish
Seasons 1-4
Full Show: 6 seasons, 2014-
ABC
Really enjoyed this show from the jump, especially the killer cast. Black-ish has gotten tons of praise, so I don’t think I need to heap on more here. What ended up bothering me was that increasingly it became obvious that most of the family’s problems were due to Andre being a spoiled man-baby with a giant ego, and at the end of season 4 this led to a separation arc, but it was reconciled without really addressing the main problem behind the separation. I’d been kind of lagging on it for that reason anyway, but after the season 4 finale I chose not to go back.
79. Benched
1 season, 2014
USA
Another short-lived sitcom starring two veterans of beloved yet underwatched shows, Benched features Eliza Coupe as a former corporate lawyer who joins the public defender’s office, and Jay Harrington as a longtime attorney in same office. Sharp and funny and full of great performances (Maria Bamford!), but like so many of the sitcoms here, never really got to find an audience before being canceled.
78. Inside Amy Schumer
4 seasons, 2013-2016
Comedy Central
Sketch comedy is a naturally uneven medium, but the great thing about a sketch show is, great sketches can do a whole lot to make people forget the… uh… forgettable ones. (Probably the most stark example of this is Chappelle’s Show.) Inside Amy Schumer delivered some hilarious sketches, especially when the show really found its footing in seasons 2 and 3, and a few of them still hold up as classics. (The entire episode devoted to a 12 Angry Men parody is a hoot.)
Season 4 really fell off, unfortunately, perhaps because Schumer’s lead role in Trainwreck left her less time to commit to the show. She’s reportedly still under contract for one more season, although when that will arrive is anyone’s guess. Until then, we’ll always have one of my favorite Aaron Sorkin parodies:
77. The Birthday Boys
2 seasons, 2013-2014
IFC
I actually don’t think I ever got around to season two of this, but I should if I can ever find it again– season one was a lot of fun. (It used to be on Netflix but I think it’s gone now.) The show had some funny ideas and great sketch premises– I’m still a sucker for “Helpful Tips” and “Keepin’ the Beat”– but I think it was missing a little something in star power or performer variety and that might be why it never caught on. (Aside from Mike Mitchell’s fat-guy energy and Tim Kalpakis’ jawline, I couldn’t tell you much specific about any of the other fairly generic white guys in the troupe.) Since Bob Odenkirk produced this one, I’ll compare it to Mr. Show in that regard: Odenkirk and David Cross were more distinct and contrasting presences than these guys, but also the bench offered a great variety of performer type, from Tom Kenny’s voices and rubber face, to Jay Johnston’s unique physicality, to John Ennis’ likeable schlub, to talented and versatile women like Jill Talley and Karen Kilgariff. Anyway, the show is still good and has a handful of memorable sketches. I’ll have to get around to season two sometime.
76. Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp
1 season, 2015
Netflix
Admittedly, and despite my fondness for many things The State has done (especially The State), I didn’t get the Wet Hot American Summer thing when the movie first premiered (I never had the luxury of attending summer camp; perhaps that’s why). Of course, I discovered it to be better than I remembered, and First Day of Camp is a worthy addition to the Wet Hot universe. The dynamite cast of the original is largely back– and still playing themselves as teenagers despite being twelve years older– but with a lot of killer additions too. The fact that they turn one day into eight episodes without getting stale is a feat in and of itself, but it all ends up being really funny, even if you didn’t need an explanation for why Jon Benjamin voices a can of mixed vegetables. (Honestly, I didn’t really care for Ten Years Later that much, or at least certainly not by comparison.)
75. Other Space
1 season, 2015
Yahoo! Screen
Sitcom gets one season, is funny and charming, no one sees it, it gets canceled. Sound familiar? In this case, Other Space was cursed to be on the disaster that was Yahoo! Screen. A shame, because the Paul Feig-created show had a fun and charming cast, led by Karan Soni in the likeable-underdog role as the chosen captain of the ship, but also featuring names like Milana Vayntrub, Eugene Cordero, Neil Casey, and even a bit of a Mystery Science Theater 3000 tribute, casting Joel Hodgson as the ship’s engineer and Trace Beaulieu as his robot buddy.
74. Fresh Off the Boat
Seasons 1 through 5
Full Show: 6 seasons, 2015-2020
ABC
In the long run I liked this more than Black-ish; it started out weaker, but when the real-life Eddie Huang left the show after season 1 (and took his voiceover with him), the show began to focus more and more on the family as a whole. With Nahnatchka Khan (American Dad, Don’t Trust the B— in Apt. 23) as showrunner, Fresh Off The Boat inserted just enough weird humor in the family sitcom to, at its best, combine the funny with the warm and relatable. The show lost steam toward the end– or maybe I just lost interest (as did breakout star Constance Wu, apparently)– but it was still plenty good enough to merit inclusion here.
73. Enlisted
1 season, 2014
FOX
After years of playing the guest-star short-arc romantic interest on some of our favorite sitcoms, Geoff Stults finally landed a lead role! Of course, the show was canceled after one season. And speaking of people who appear in other shows on this list, he’s joined by Chris Lowell and Parker Young. The three play brothers stationed at the same Florida military base; the younger two are in rear detachment, while “supersoldier” Stults was sent home after punching a superior officer in Afghanistan and is now tasked with training up “rear D” to be at least mildly competent. Also starring Keith David and Angelique Cabral; Last Man on Earth‘s Mel Rodriguez was one of the soldiers as well. A really good and funny show all around that deserved better than it got (apparently it was very popular on actual military bases; however, military bases don’t have Nielsen boxes).
72. The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret
Seasons 1 and 2
Full Show: 3 seasons, 2010-2016
IFC
Season 1 of this show was a hilarious series of escalating disasters in a very British-sitcom way (appropriate since it was largely filmed there): Incompetent Todd Margaret (David Cross) is assigned to a new account by blustery executive Brent Wilts (Will Arnett) and has to travel to the UK, where he continually tries to lie and fake his way through everything with increasingly ridiculous and hilarious disasters coming about as a result. Season 2 took this to an even further extreme as to where Todd’s antics lead him and a pretty dark turn as to why this all happened in the first place.
I never saw season 3 beyond the first episode, but it seemed to invert the formula entirely, having Cross as the cocky asshole and Arnett as the insecure and overmatched phony. I need to sometime. Still, pretty funny for what I did see– I must have rewatched season 1 a few times because it sticks in my head much better than season 2– and the rest of the cast is strong, including Spike Jonze and Sharon Horgan.
71. Luck
1 season, 2011-2012
HBO
Horsey drama! Great to see David Milch back on TV, great to see Michael Mann directing, great cast, really compelling. (God damn, I love when Michael Gambon shows up.) Sadly, the show was canceled for concern for the horses, which makes me wish that Milch had picked a subject with fewer safety hazards for what will almost certainly be the final show created and run by Milch. Still, I’m glad we got what we did, and I still find myself humming the theme song from time to time (or at least humming the instrumental part and just saying “boop boop, boop boop ba doop boop…”).
70. Futurama
Seasons 6-7
Full Show: 7 seasons, 1999-2014
Post-revival Futurama wasn’t as good as the original, and I admit I nearly forgot to include it on my list. Still, it’s worth mentioning here, with a few highlight episodes (“The Late Philip J. Fry” is often, and rightly, cited as the best of this run), although a few clunkers as well. While not as good as the show’s first and peak run, it’s still good to see our old Planet Express friends back in action one more time.
69. Another Period
3 seasons, 2015-2018
Comedy Central
Part Downton Abbey, part Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Natasha Leggero and Riki Lindhome created and star in Another Period, as sisters and members of the wealthiest family in Newport, living idly on the family manor while also hoping to become famous. This delightfully absurd show had a stacked comedic cast (Paget Brewster, Michael Ian Black, David Koechner, Jason Ritter, Christina Hendricks, all four actresses who played Hortense) and would frequently skewer social mores and politics from both our time and the early 20th century simultaneously, revealing how absurd some aspects of our modern world would be in another time while also revealing how little has changed since then. A delightfully nasty portrait of the wealthy, too. It was canceled after three seasons– I suspect the premise eventually wore thin– but it was a lot of fun and underrated while it was on the air.
68. Key & Peele
5 seasons, 2012-2015
Comedy Central
I was never a huge fan of Key & Peele, but it’s undeniable the impact of some of their sketches on me (the “Meeeegan!” “Nnno!” routine is common in my home), the culture at large (how many times have you heard someone say “A.A. Ron” instead of “Aaron”?), or both (The East/West College Bowl). Like most sketch shows, it’s a mixed bag, and some hold up better than others; unlike most sketch shows, the highs are still memorable today and so quotable they’ve worked their way into our lexicon. “Aerobics Meltdown” kills me, “Ray Parker Jr.’s Other Hits” nearly had me crying with laughter, and in the end, I’ll always think of Key & Peele as the show that asked, “Where my dookie go?”
67. Great News
2 seasons, 2017-2018
NBC
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was the better-received and more popular 30 Rock follow-up, but this show created by 30 Rock writer Tracey Wigfield and produced by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock was a worthy successor, too. The premise focuses on the delightful Briga Heelan as the professional-achiever-personal-mess producer on a TV news show, and Andrea Martin as her well-meaning-but-overbearing mother, who gets an internship at the show out of a desire to stay active. Sharp and funny jokes abound from a great cast, possibly none more surprising than the anchor team: Of course John Michael Higgins is perfect for the Bill McNeal-esque Chuck Pierce, but Nicole Richie as his co-anchor Portia Scott-Griffith is terrific, which completely took me by surprise. A lot of zany fun that could fill that 30 Rock hole (Fey, after all, originally pitched that as being about a news show), and, not for nothing, arguably the best episode on the subject of the Boomer vs. millennial cultural divide of the whole decade, one that looks at both sides with empathy but still comes down with a clear perspective, in season 2’s “Sensitivity Training.”
66. @midnight
4 seasons, 2013-2017
Comedy Central
Well, I’m a sucker for panel shows and I’m extremely online, so of course I liked this. #HashtagWars is a perfect audience-participation time-waster. Chris Hardwick is an asshole, though.
65. Silicon Valley
Seasons 1-4
Full Show: 6 seasons, 2014-2019
HBO
I’ll give anything Mike Judge does a shot, and I loved this show early on, but found it to have increasingly diminishing returns as the plot continued to spin in circles and the Pied Piper gang invariably ended up back where they started. Still gave us some great moments; the point-to-point dick-jerking presentation in the season 1 finale still stands out as a comedy highlight of the decade.
64. Broad City
Season 1 through Season 3, Episode 8
Full Show: 5 seasons, 2014-2019
Comedy Central
I struggled with the first couple of episodes of this show, but then it hit its stride and really stayed strong for its first two seasons, consistently laugh-out-loud funny. After that, though, season 3 took a turn into territory I didn’t understand or care for, the “What if their irresponsible wacky hijinks are actually signs of them being pieces of shit, and we show the consequences and show them feeling bad?” vibe. I’ve heard it recovers, but weighing volume of TV available vs. time available to watch it, jumping back into a show that fell off is a hard task.
63. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
6 seasons, 2013-
FOX / NBC
This is a pretty steady comfort-food show, that’s stayed pretty consistent for seven years. It’s just never really risen beyond the level of well-made pretty-good sitcom. But it’s good enough and consistent enough to merit its inclusion here.
62. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
3 seasons, 2017-
Amazon
Period pieces aren’t usually my thing, but standup is, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel combines a fun (if somewhat implausible) story of the career rise of a housewife turned standup with an excellent cast and a stylish recreation of 50s/60s New York City. Rachel Brosnahan is pitch-perfect as the sharp Miriam “Mrs.” Maisel, surrounded by other great talents like Tony Shalhoub, Alex Borstein, and Kevin Pollak. The show is a bit of a fantasy, but it’s a fun New York to be transported to, Midge’s vivid outfits and popping wit all set against a backdrop of East Side Jewish life. The third season was the show’s best yet, as Midge grappled with the demands of what being a professional performer really meant. Better plotting and characters being forced to deal with major changes in their lives elevated the show above merely being a vehicle for snappy verve; here’s hoping that continues to do so in 2020 and beyond.
61. Sports Show with Norm Macdonald
1 season, 2011
Comedy Central
“Put Norm Macdonald behind a desk and let him talk” is pretty much an unassailable format for me; I have no idea why Comedy Central canceled this show after one season. As the title implies, this is pretty much Weekly Sports Update.
Check back tomorrow at this same time for part 2.