Top 77 Television and Streaming Video Series of 2019

would like to make it abundantly clear that tt is on her own with this one, even more so than bloody Gilmore Girls, which I gather this is some sort of edgier reboot of

https://i.imgur.com/JittrfS.jpg
#37 (Tie) - Pen15 (Hulu) - 41 points, 6 votes

Your Ten Favorite Shows Currently on Television

Pen15 on Hulu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdt2COuH4Js

That's my 3rd (I think) to show up. Stath Lets Flats is fantastic and I completely ignored it because British comedy until imago's incessant positivity got me interested so props to him

― or something, Wednesday, 12 February 2020 18:41 (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

👌

I barely watch Desus & Mero anymore but that’s more than any other talk show.

PEN15 is great! Thank you ulysses for this one. The pop culture references concerning being a nerdy teen in the early 00s are so painfully on point that I can't not love it. The AIM episode killed me.

https://i.imgur.com/D2FbKtn.jpg
#37 (Tie) - Corporate (Comedy Central) - 41 points, 6 votes

Corporate on Comedy Central

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Gmyg43jE_4

and one more just to get me out for the night

https://i.imgur.com/EQOXB9Y.jpg
#36 - Broad City (Comedy Central) - 45 points, 5 votes

ah fuck it it's the BROAD CITY thread

Broad City on Hulu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNFRG_qGJ3o

(not 100% sure Mordy doesn't mean Desus & Mero!)

xp to Corporate: And another! This season was so strong. The male makeup episode was one of my favourite episodes of anything last year. The soullessness and labyrinthine contours of the office building are some stunning set design.

Didn't see much Corporate but enjoyed what I did

Corporate maybe my 2nd or 3rd vote to show up. Frequently a riot.

Was going to jump in with 'TOO LOW', but saw Mordy's post. The antisemitism has clearly gone straight over my head, but I know the show's creators aren't exactly great with subtlety or nuance, so I'm not super surprised, but can you direct me to what is so off about it so I can understand better?

sorry didn't mean to drop that bomb and then just walk away. it's that its depiction of jewishness - predominately by a non-jewish cast - feels very caricatured and false/superficial to me I could really hardly watch it for this reason. this emily nussbaum article touches on some of the other problems i have with the show. antisemitic is maybe overstating it but there's just an uncomfortable falseness i feel when i watch it and particularly bc of how it portrays jewishness (and judaism) not in an obviously pejorative way but in a kind of superficial + shallow one.

it portrays everything in a caricatured and superficial tone tbh. it's a total fantasia of show business, of wealth, of creativity, of performed comedy, of social progress, and of cultural jewishness.

first season of maisel was good, feeling pretty ok with my decision to not keep up

I did the same, but caught lots of the later two when my housemate was watching them recently and I think it gets better. there were a couple of eps in S3 that I went back and finished myself bcz I got caught up in the bits I'd seen.

Corporate was good, at least the half season I saw of it. Didn’t vote for it cause I still have five episodes to go.

Need to use more exclamation points in my emails!

Considered voting GoT in one those "give the Oscar to someone to acknowledge their previous snubs" type situations, but couldn't do it. man, the last season was disappointing

Leeee summed up my thoughts on the Dragon Prince rather well so I'll just say more people should check it out

I haven’t heard of Stath Lets Flats but I liked Jamie Demetriou in Fleabag

didn’t think the main character’s turn in Season 8 of GoT was surprising at all, they were autocratic and uncompromising from the beginning, and the events in previous seasons seemed to be predicting it

PEN15 and Broad City were my #1 and #3, respectively. The latter arguably provided the former a template, tho filtered thru an uneasy, uncanny recent-part period filter that is never scared to verge on creepy. Broad City, in an age of shows peaking early and burning out quick (Maisel), somehow managed to roll up shop at just the right time and the finale was gut-wrenching.

Shows I voted for: Dark Crystal. Puppets >>> CGI, amazing turn from Simon Pegg as the Chancellor. Tuca and Bertie. I wasn't totally convinced by the middle, but the last episode or two really made
it worthwhile. Shame it was cancelled.
Shows I have seen and didn't vote for: Mortimer & Whitehouse - a bit too gentle for me. The Good Place - made it through half of the first season, meh.
Shows I might have voted for except somehow I missed that they were nominated: Pose.
Shows I have seen earlier seasons of and wish I could have voted for but they moved to a service I don't subscribe to: The Expanse. Have just found a site where I can stream Picard so might see if they have this too.

didn’t think the main character’s turn in Season 8 of GoT was surprising at all, they were autocratic and uncompromising from the beginning, and the events in previous seasons seemed to be predicting it

The turn itself wasn't surprising, but the actual way it happened came completely out of nowhere, and the rather horrific things the character did weren't really justified by anything they'd done earlier.

Executing a friend for being traitor: made sense with how the character had been portrayed before. Mass murder of innocent people, seemingly on a whim: didn't make much sense.

I think they had done plenty in previous seasons, it was clearly a conflict within the character which finally broke in the wrong direction (the mass murder seemed like "fuck it, I'm going to accept this is who I am now"), in writing terms you could see the path to it laid out - it wasn't written particularly well, that's all.

(the mass murder seemed like "fuck it, I'm going to accept this is who I am now"

But that's exactly why it didn't make sense... In earlier seasons the show had done a lot to make even its villains psychologically complex, and to make their actions coherent with their motivations and goals. A character being, like, "well, I guess I'm a villain now, might as well kill all these innocent people who've already surrendered" is the opposite of that.

But people really do behave in that way, the "motivation and goals" method of character development really fails to capture so much about the way humans really work, especially as applied in this show. If it had been written a little better it would have been exactly right.

there's just an uncomfortable falseness i feel when i watch it and particularly bc of how it portrays jewishness (and judaism) not in an obviously pejorative way but in a kind of superficial + shallow one.

That absolutely follows, and that article is generally on point about the show's easy saccharine choices. I enjoy it (like Gilmore Girls) whilst acknowledging the many flaws, including that the creator has an almost surreal need to shower the central character (Maisel, Rory) with levels of praise beyond the pale. But the costumes are so good.

Would be interested to know what shows you think do portray Jewishness well.

For all its myriad flaws, transparent did a pretty good job of representing my personal experience with Reform Judaism (though the Pfeffermans’ was a distinctly west coast version, I’m east coast)

man i have no idea what 90% of these shows are

Truthpoint is one of the shows I watch but didn't vote for, but it's cool it made it.

i love Corporate. it's occasionally a little try-hard in its jadedness but overall the combo of cynicism and absurdism meshes almost perfectly with my personal tastes. "make-up for men" was definitely a stand-out episode, and the one where jake is trying to stay up to go to his friend's rock show is a masterpiece of goofiness.

I'm sad there's only one season left, feels like they just hit their stride.

oh and Goofy Lance Reddick is amazing to watch

https://i.imgur.com/B5UE0no.jpg
#32 (Tie) - High Maintenance (HBO) - 45 points, 6 votes

High Maintenance - Very good web-series. Discuss.

High Maintenance on HBO Website

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTL9hSrMhTQ

I'm sad there's only one season left, feels like they just hit their stride.

― bold caucasian eroticism (Simon H.), Thursday, February 13, 2020 10:18 AM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

really? dang.

Oh I saw the make-up for men episode I think! Great stuff

https://i.imgur.com/k8PtCcU.jpg
#32 (Tie) - Derry Girls (Channel 4, Netflix) - 45 points, 6 votes

Catch yourself on - it’s the Derry Girls thread!

Derry Girls on Netflix Website

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8fH2Lqc8nY

Too low! But I guess it's U.K. only?

I've seen it in my Netflix. (I'm a Yank.)

yeah it's available in the US, and it's fun

https://i.imgur.com/R26wMxJ.jpg
#32 (Tie) - Dark (Netflix) - 45 points, 6 votes

Dark: the German Netflix series that's like an amalgamation of Twin Peaks, Back to the Future, and X-Files (SPOILERS!)

Dark on Netflix Website

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=810CHvSdXOo

I tried with this but it struck me as portentous and leaden in the worst way

I've never heard of this! I'm surprised given how comparatively high up it is and how insistent Netflix are with their recommendations.

https://i.imgur.com/AAPO8TS.jpg
#32 (Tie) - ContraPoints (YouTube) - 45 points, 6 votes

Chapo Trap House and the rise of the dirtbag left

ContraPoint on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdvM_pRfuFM

derry girls is very funny and i voted for it despite each season being approximately 12 minutes long

https://i.imgur.com/OPipxQf.jpg
#31 - Steven Universe (Cartoon Network) - 50 points, 5 votes

Steven Universe

Steven Universe on Hulu Website

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LMGVx31zso

steven universe would've been my #1 pick if we had ranked voting. another show i love because i watch it with my kids but it's so deep that it works on different levels for everyone in our family. it has cracked through my hard shell and given me feelings.

here's some feelings for gen-xers

https://i.imgur.com/aC3hHsE.jpg
#30 - Catastrophe (Amazon) - 55 points, 7 votes

Amazon Prime (not the leader of the Autobots nor an incredible simulation)

Catastrophe on Amazon Website

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKhMoy6sDfU

gonna miss this show.