ILX’s Top 77 Television and Streaming Video Series of 2020

lol, pottery throwdown has become the most emotional show on tv right now for sure. they're so close!

i cried at the end of I May Destroy You.

just dialed up a few episodes including the "Edith and the Rapist" one and here come the waterworks
Jean Stapleton gets me everytime.

a tender moment

and you can hardly skip episode one nor season one

counterpoint: you totally can

Jeopardy!

Jeopardy has featured three ilx0rs

I cannot remember the last time I cried from watching something on tv

cried through 30% of the running time of It's A Sin the other week

Sex Education (Netflix)
Better Call Saul (AMC)
Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)
How To with John Wilson (HBO)
Perry Mason (HBO)
Ted Lasso (Apple +)
Mandalorian (Disney +)
What We Do in Shadows (FX)
The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)
I May Destroy You (HBO)

I didn't think The Boys would be top ten, but I'd also be surprised for it to totally miss the 77 given there was some enthusiasm for it. Was the latest season of Curb good? I didn't even bother

Curb was good not great, final episode went out a week or two before pandemic lockdown w/ Larry opening a restaurant with hand sanitiser dispensers on every table

didn't realize people loved perry mason like that

put a skinny kinkster into a good suit and youre not losing votes

agree that the male lead in Normal People was really good and that it didn’t seem to be striving for something, voted for it

also voted for Mrs. America. I’ve hated Phyllis Schlafly ever since she started campaigning against gay rights in the 80s (and especially since finding out her son is gay)

I had to start it a second time after a break to be able to stand watching it, but was ultimately able to give in to it as an alternate history with interesting performances by a lot of different actors

I would not have expected the Boys to be top 10 - bit I’d be shocked if it missed entirely. For what it is - it’s goddamn amazing.

^ that's why its absence would be conspicuous to me. It's one of the best shows on tv imo

tv showrunners: "my tv show is actually a 10-hour movie"
movie directors: "my 6 movies are actually a tv show"

― tiwa-nty one savage (voodoo chili), Tuesday, February 16, 2021 3:36 AM (eight hours ago)

The 2020 @SeattleCritics winner for BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE:

The History of the Seattle Mariners: Supercut Edition

Jon Bois | @jon_bois#BestDocumentaryFeature #HistoryOfTheSeattleMariners#SFCSawards2020 #SFCS pic.twitter.com/lLkDQuVM5O

— Seattle Film Critics (@seattlecritics) February 15, 2021

I'm reasonably confident BCS will be in the top 10 if not the top 5, but all else is who knows. I dont even know half the shows in this years list and theres a definite US/UK divide going on.

As for whats missing im suprised Picard and Lower Decks have shown up but not Discovery? Maybe it'll be in the top 10 too?

was banking on 'the last dance' being top 3.

Any love for I Hate Suzie (Sky Atlantic/HBO Max)? Just finished it and it knocked me flat.

The structure is quite unlike anything I've seen on TV recently, with most of the background exposition left until the last episode and every episode having a completely different emotional pitch, setting and characters (aside from the principals). Would have been my #2 had I managed to organise myself to vote in time.

I nominated, but guessing I was also the only voter

every episode having a completely different emotional pitch

each ep is intended to sequentially map onto one of the supposed eight stages of grief btw

Oh dear

Ive gone through three just imagining tbh

Was that b piper and all?

maybe four

(hadn't noticed this was rolling out until just now. if Bangers and Cash isn't top 10 there's going to be a ruckus.)

Oh right, I feel bad about not voting now! Yes the stages of grief structure is a really fascinating way to frame the story. I loved that the Naomi character is secretly the hero, and the claustrophobic feeling of living in Suzie's head the whole time.

Definitely worth continuing if you've started it as it really builds into something cathartic and earned with each building block. Have a hard time picking my favourite episode - the one showing Suzie's chaotic family is devastating, the Comic-Con one is awkwardly hilarious, and the ending is perfectly executed.

I also really enjoyed The Last Dance and have seen it in other year-end lists but barely even saw it mentioned on this site

That said, I don't think it'll make the top ten

Itll surely be top 3!

Was Talking Heads nominated?

(xpost) There was a big thread on The Last Dance on I Love Hoops.

The Last Dance: In Praise of One Lone Gold Hoop Earring

No song, last dance, sone jumping thru hoops

Completely missed that thread!

By my count, The Boys is the fifth (Aggretsuko, Umbrella Academy, I Am Not Okay with This, Kingdom) and last of our 77 shows to be directly based on a comic book or webcomic, though signs point to that number increasing drastically in 2021. Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's long-running comic series - detailing the adventures of a government-backed black ops group of chaotic-good super-powered superhero hunters monitoring and censuring the more technicolor-clad and publicly-beloved lawful-evil supergroups - is known for its sadistic humor, graphic ultraviolence, withering cynicism, explicit sex and Chris Claremont-level team dynamics. The show appears to follow suit.

https://i.imgur.com/W8Cdt2y.jpg
#10 - The Boys (Amazon) - 104 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote, 7 top 5 votes
NB: Top Amazon
What's good on Amazon Prime Video

Trailer
Sample Clip
Website
https://slate.com/culture/2020/09/the-boys-season-2-review-amazon-series-captures-2020.html
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/the-boys-season-2-tv-review

I dunno, man, it's really hard for me to imagine getting into anything Garth Ennis-related now that I'm no longer a teenager. To what extent does the show embody his baser impulses (i.e. tropes that someone in junior high would find awesome and edgy)?

watched both seasons during the q, and season 2 was much sharper and more compelling than the first, which was too consciously “dark and gritty”

lol, I have images turned off but clicking on Moka's image kind of answers my question, I feel.

The Boys really is top tier bingeable widescreen trash TV, with some surprisingly acute things to say about Celeb culture and modern elitism. I wouldn't be surprised if it finds itself the inheritor of Game of Throne's ratings in a few seasons' time.

To what extent does the show embody his baser impulses (i.e. tropes that someone in junior high would find awesome and edgy)?

It indulges those impulses with some regularity, but isn't governed by them.

Sex Education, the contemporary British-set and produced Netflix dramedy starring Gillian Anderson as a sex therapist and Asa Butterfield as her son, is by my count the fifth (We Are Who We Are, Never Have I Ever, I Am Not Okay with This, Big Mouth) and last show in the 77 with teenagers having sex at the crux of its story.

https://i.imgur.com/5IlR6Di.jpg
#9 - Sex Education (Netflix) - 106 points, 10 votes, 3 #1 votes, 6 top 5 votes
"I looked at some cheese and got an erection.": SEX EDUCATION on Netflix

Trailer
Sample Clip
Website
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-television/sex-education-season-2-the-doctor-is-in
https://www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-reviews/sex-education-season-2-review-933181/

My #1, one of the best shows in years and years. Genuinely surreal, delightfully freewheeling in presentation and execution. Also, S2 stepped it up a whole gear from the already great first season. The opener is one of the best episodes of television I've ever seen

All the characters are great too, and there are so many awesomely bonkers conceits (the American high school in Britain, the only-two-teachers-and-guess-what, etc)

tried the pilot of this and didnt care for it. stick with it then eh?

You have to be ready for it to be...wrong, lol. Start with S2

Or the whole thing, knowing it gets better, ha

It indulges those impulses with some regularity, but isn't governed by them.

― chap, Tuesday, February 16, 2021 11:15 AM (ten minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

this is otm. the whole storyline with the deep in s2 does a pretty good job of walking this line (all those poor sea creatures haha)

boys was in my top 5. season 2 was at least 3x as good as season 1.

by my count the fifth (We Are Who We Are, Never Have I Ever, I Am Not Okay with This, Big Mouth) and last show in the 77 with teenagers having sex at the crux of its story.

Normal People

https://www.yourprops.com/movieprops/original/yp_58777dd6c69943.96294778/Southland-Tales-Teen-Horniness-Is-Not-A-Crime-CD-1.jpg

^otm

Maybe it's because I watched Sex Education first, but I feel like Never Have I Ever only got good once it moved away from truly belonging on that list

couldn't tell ya why i didn't vote for sex ed season 2. probably because otis was totally insufferable the whole year (i know, for plot/character reasons, but still)

With the bloom of novelty off the Baby Yoda rose, The Mandalorian dug deeper into its fan service bag this year, providing jumping-off spots for a few new shows, an uncanny valley Luke Skywalker cameo, a revolving roster of guest stars, expensive looking CGI, some impressive set pieces and all the other obvious trimmings that this chambara inspired space-oater could carry. Mostly it held together... though two seasons in a row of the guy who never takes off his mask taking off his mask in the final episode is getting a little silly.