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

don’t think Saul even got a major Emmy nom last year outside of best drama! xp

https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/AbominableBuddha.jpg

Yeah, my son was watching an animated movie that had a pivotal scene set at that statue.

don’t think Saul even got a major Emmy nom last year outside of best drama! xp

― Clay, Tuesday, February 16, 2021 1:58 PM (four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

damn, you're right, banks and odenkirk didn't get noms. esposito did, though.

So I have this weird thing where I've never had any interest whatsoever in sports (watching, playing, talking about, etc.) but I realized at some point that I find sports documentaries deeply compelling (Hoop Dreams is one of my favorite movies, own and have watched a bunch of 30 for 30s, etc.). I think maybe I just need to have it sculpted into a narrative in order for it to click for me. Looking forward to watching The Last Dance at some point, particularly after seeing it place this high (which suggests that it transcends its moment in providing 'well fuck I guess we're gonna be stuck inside our homes for a long time' succor at the beginning of the pandemic).

Top sportspeople are fascinating subjects imo

When I first came to New York City in 2000, I couch-crashed in Chelsea and would sometimes wake up early to explore what the place looked like in the AM. One Tuesday at 5 in the morning, I found a guerrilla photo shoot going on at the intersection of 7th avenue and 10th street with a drag performer sprawled lasciviously over a four foot tall mound of auto tires. That’s the kind of New York that John Wilson captures best and that continuously resonated for me in watching How To, the unlikely and unconsidered and barely glimpsed city. If all Wilson did was shine a spotlight there, his show would have already earned its place in last year’s best television, but that’s only the beginning. Each episode was packed with unlikely connections and amazing oddballs, held together by a shockingly structured agenda that he only reveals deliberately slowly. Wilson didn’t create experimental television or the video collage essay format but what he’s doing here seems entirely sui generis and important. It’s a kind of genius, a filmic kismet.

https://i.imgur.com/PEpniTo.jpg
#3 - How To with John Wilson (HBO) - 203 points, 16 votes, 5 #1 votes, 14 top 5 votes
How To with John Wilson

Trailer
The Importance of Diversifying Your Brand
Mama
Foreskin for the Win
John’s Movies
Website
https://www.theringer.com/tv/2020/11/30/21725673/how-to-with-john-wilson-finale-recap-2020
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/on-television/hbos-how-to-with-john-wilson-captures-the-weird-wondrous-new-york-city-thats-never-on-tv
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/02/arts/television/john-wilson-scaffolding-hbo.html

Rhea Seehorn has most definitely been robbed over and over. The Kim reveal towards the end of this last season was just masterfully done, stripping away so much of what I thought I knew about the character but in a way that was completely consistent with everything that had come before. The show is just as much about her arc as it is about Jimmy's imo.

how have i not heard of this, it looks great, although it also looks like something i will seethe with jealousy that i didn't do myself lol

love How To so much, so glad it got renewed

will revisit BCS when someone edits out all the mike and gus stuff. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Hahah, I meant my seemingly random post for the terrifying statue thread. Have no idea how it ended up here.

my number 1, unlike anything I’ve ever seen on television. The cross-section of the banal and the avant-garde is immaculate, but also maintains an overwhelming decency. The last episode deserves a Pulitzer.

Shocked How To didn't come #1. I have been watching it off and on, and even though it's not exactly my thing, there is no denying it's a miraculous exemplar of the thing that it is. Cosign "unlike anything I’ve ever seen on television." It wasn't MY #1 but would have been a deserving #1.

The key to really enjoying What We Do in the Shadows is the realization that the show is secretly about Guillermo’s journey. All four of the show’s excellently-performed lead vampires are murderous and unchanging buffoons, so (Jackie Daytona aside) there’s only so much character development to be done there. On the other hand, Guillermo de la Cruz’s arc from schlubby vampire personal assistant to unwilling badass vampire hunter is tremendous fun to watch develop. Season two completely embraced Guillermo as a protagonist and sets the stage for an inevitable confrontation with the Staten Island clan.

https://i.imgur.com/Bx1nYAR.jpg
#2 - What We Do in the Shadows (FX) - 215 points, 24 votes, 14 top 5 votes
NB: Most Votes, Top FX, Top Comedy
What We Do in the Shadows (TV) main character POLL

Trailer
Jackie Daytona
Guillermo Van Helsing
Website
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/04/what-we-do-in-the-shadows-tv-review-season-2
https://www.indiewire.com/2020/04/what-we-do-in-the-shadows-season-2-review-1202225160/
https://www.vulture.com/article/guillermo-what-we-do-in-the-shadows-harvey-guillen.html

too low lol

in which a couple of New Zealanders assemble the funniest sitcom cast and write them the funniest sitcom

Despite the fact that it's rightly beloved on ILX, I'm pretty dumbfounded to realize that That One Show (bat!) is going to show up in the top two (and maybe even win?).

lol xpost

this show is stunningly hilarious, and season 2 was up another notch from the also-great season 1

i'd like to think the discussion went

'we are only doing this if we can have him, and him, and her, and him, and him' and then they went out and got them, the best casting ever

I really enjoyed What We Do in the Shadows and found myself more moved to watch all of it than I did How To, and yet I can't say it's BETTER than How To. It's really a lot like Schitt's Creek; quirky characters who are superficially types out of place but who over time develop into individual characters who we come to see as exactly where they should be. Warm, easy to watch, goes for the easy joke sometimes but one finds it hard to blame it.

just remembered the "greetings owl" sign the gang created in the super bowl episode and started cackling to myself

i was gonna ask btw, how does How To compare to AGNB?

shocked that The Flight Attendant and Industry were completely shut out - mind you, never seen the former and only seen two eps of the latter but they got a fair amount of "buzz" in my online corners

Another praiseworthy aspect of this show is that, like the Onion, you find yourself saying "I can't believe they're still wringing jokes out of this seemingly limited schtick" but they do and it stays funny. (At least, this was true of the Onion for the first 20 years, maybe less so now.)

Sell me on What We Do in the Shadows. A comedy about vampires from one of the Flight of the Conchords guys isn't doing it for me.

It's really funny?

(NB, I have never watched any Flight of the Conchords or really much other Watiti stuff at all.)

i liked the movie a lot, the tv show is amusing but i don't really get the amount of love it gets on ilx

the show is considerably better than the movie imho

How To With John Wilson is not yet available in the UK, as far as I can tell. But it is noted for future reference.

Loved the WWDITS movie (have watched it three times), didn't like S1 E1 of the TV spinoff so bailed, shall reconsider forthwith.

I'd be interested to know how involved Scharpling is in WWDITS because the humor often reminds me of Best Show-level absurdity.

It took me until WWDITS to realize that I'm really, really not much interested in genre TV shows, at least not compared to genre movies.

scharpling is a writer on the tv show, yes

at least on s1. i don't know if he stuck around for s2.

i do think colin robinson is a very inventive and genuinely new character type for the genre.

Loved the WWDITS movie (have watched it three times), didn't like S1 E1 of the TV spinoff so bailed, shall reconsider forthwith.

― mike t-diva,

Same!

That british guy is incredibly annoying and has zero range and i hate him in everything, will not watch him

Intellectualism and nuance is given categorically short shrift in most popular entertainment but Michaela Coel leaned heavy into presenting the complexities of a world where there are no clearly defined absolutes. Victims can be monsters, rape can be a damaged cry for help, sex can be hateful, presenting your trauma can be selfishness, social media love can damage you, your friends can’t really know you, and all of these as opposites are proved true as well. This uncertainty is a conscious reflection on the show’s central concern: the importance and fungibility of consent. Control is an impossible thing to attain and yet it’s the only thing all this show’s characters strive for: control of self, control of one’s story, control of one’s sexuality and control of the repercussions for having that control taken away.

Coel’s remarkable finale, which left me teary-eyed and in awe, seemed to suggest that the illusion of control is unattainable, that if we could truly control everything that hurt us or moved us, we’d break apart no less spectacularly than we already have. I think it’s safe to say that I May Destroy You is going to be remembered as one of the defining documents of the past decade and Coel starred, wrote, co-directed and produced the whole damn thing. Whatever she does next, I want to be first in line.

https://i.imgur.com/oO9U3jF.jpg
#1 - I May Destroy You (HBO, BBC) - 253 points, 18 votes, 10 #1 votes, 17 top 5 votes
NB: Most Points, Most #1 Votes, Top HBO, Top BBC, Top Drama
I May Destroy You - Michaela Coel

Trailer
Sample Clip 1
Sample Clip 2
US Website
UK Website
Michaela Coel’s 2018 MacTaggart Lecture
Talking with GQ
How It Changed Our Lives
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/feb/03/emily-in-paris-writer-on-i-may-destroy-you-snub-golden-globes
https://blackgirlnerds.com/michaela-coels-i-may-destroy-you-establishes-a-new-paradigm-for-social-justice-television-and-life/
https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/rethinking-rape-and-laughter-michaela-coels-i-may-destroy-you/
https://www.vulture.com/article/michaela-coel-i-may-destroy-you.html
https://hyperallergic.com/583965/i-may-destroy-you-review-michaela-coel/
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/07/06/michaela-coels-chaos-and-charisma-in-i-may-destroy-you
https://www.npr.org/2020/07/22/894167333/michaela-coel-on-i-may-destroy-you
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/25/arts/television/i-may-destroy-you-sexual-assault.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/06/arts/television/paapa-essiedu-i-may-destroy-you.html

And that’s the poll!

Here’s all the data :
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1r38SVcWq42bp75PdbZaJE_ClK4vfdpAjIHI5KUOlJiI/edit?usp=sharing

And here’s Moka’s complete image album:
https://imgur.com/a/aaHQcxP

And here’s our final list. Happy viewing!

#1 - I May Destroy You (HBO, BBC) - 253 points, 18 votes, 10 #1 votes, 17 top 5 votes
#2 - What We Do in the Shadow (FX) - 215 points, 24 votes, 14 top 5 votes
#3 - How To with John Wilson (HBO) - 203 points, 16 votes, 5 #1 votes, 14 top 5 votes
#4 - Better Call Saul (AMC) - 190 points, 16 votes, 3 #1 votes, 15 top 5 votes
#5 - The Last Dance (ESPN, Netflix) - 161 points,16 votes, 2 #1 votes, 10 top 5 votes
#6 - Ted Lasso (Apple +) - 150 points, 16 votes, 2 #1 votes, 8 top 5 votes
#7 - The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix) - 141 points, 20 votes, 5 top 5 votes
#8 - The Mandalorian (Disney +) - 115 points, 15 votes, 2 #1 votes, 5 top 5 votes
#9 - Sex Education (Netflix) - 106 points, 10 votes, 3 #1 votes, 6 top 5 votes
#10 - The Boys (Amazon) - 104 points, 10 votes, 1 #1 vote, 7 top 5 votes
#11 - Schitt’s Creek (Netflix) - 100 points, 12 votes, 6 top 5 votes
#12 - Small Axe (Amazon, BBC) - 92 points, 11 votes, 3 #1 votes, 4 top 5 votes
#13 - Bojack Horseman (Netflix) - 83 points, 11 votes, 1 #1 votes, 4 top 5 votes
#14 - All Gas No Brakes (YouTube) - 76 points, 8 votes, 5 top 5 votes
#15 - Normal People (Hulu) - 75 points, 8 votes, 6 top 5 votes
#16 - The Dress Up Gang (TBS) - 71 points, 8 votes, 1 #1 vote, 4 top 5 votes
#17 - Lovecraft Country (HBO) - 67 points, 11 votes, 2 #1 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#18 - Mrs. America (Hulu) - 66 points, 9 votes, 3 top 5 votes
#19 - Big Mouth (Netflix) - 64 points, 7 votes, 1 #1 vote, 4 top 5 votes
#20 - Action Button (YouTube) - 61 points, 6 votes, 3 #1 votes, 3 top 5 votes
#21 - The Expanse (Amazon) - 60 points, 5 votes, 4 top 5 votes
#22 - PEN15 (Hulu) - 59 points, 8 votes, 3 top 5 votes
#23 - Devs (Hulu) - 56 points, 9 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#24 - The Crown (Netflix) - 54 points, 8 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#25 - Dead to Me (Netflix) - 53 points, 6 votes, 3 top 5 votes
#26 - Jeopardy (Syndication) - 51 points, 8 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#27 - The Great British Bake Off / The Great British Baking Show (Netflix, Channel 4) - 47 points, 9 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#28 - Brockmire (IFC) - 47 points, 6 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#29 - Search Party (HBO) - 43 points, 6 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#30 (Tie) - Dark (Netflix) - 41 points, 7 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#30 (Tie) - Killing Eve (BBC America / BBC) - 41 points, 7 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#32 - Work in Progress (Showtime) - 41 points, 5 votes, 1 #1 vote, 2 top 5 votes
#33 - The Great (Hulu) - 38 points, 5 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#34 - Giri/Haji (BBC, Netflix) - 37 points, 7 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#35 - I Am Not Okay with This (Netflix) - 37 points, 6 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#36 - Insecure (HBO) - 36 points, 5 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#37 - Worzel Gummidge (BBC) - 35 points, 4 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#38 (Tie) - The History of the Seattle Mariners (YouTube) - 33 points, 4 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#38 (Tie) - Kingdom (Netflix) - 33 points, 4 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#38 (Tie) - The New Pope (HBO) - 33 points, 4 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#41 - Quiz (ITV, AMC) - 32 points, 5 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#42 - Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing (BBC) - 30 points, 3 votes, 2 top 5 vote
#43 - Rick and Morty (Adult Swim) - 29 points, 8 votes
#44 - Last Week Tonight (HBO) - 29 points, 6 votes
#45 (Tie) - Aggretsuko (Netflix) - 28 points, 4 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#45 (Tie) - Unorthodox (Netflix) - 28 points, 4 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#47 - High Maintenance (HBO) - 28 points, 4 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#48 - RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1) - 27 points, 5 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#49 - Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun (Netflix) - 26 points, 5 votes
#50 - Never Have I Ever (Netflix) - 26 points, 4 votes, 1 #1 vote, 1 top 5 vote
#51 - Tiger King (Netflix) - 25 points, 6 votes
#52 (Tie) - Fargo (FX) - 25 points, 4 votes, 1 top 5 vot
#52 (Tie) - Ghosts (BBC1, HBO) - 25 points, 4 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#54 - Strictly Come Dancing (BBC) - 25 points, 3 votes, 1 #1 vote, 1 top 5 vote
#55 (Tie) - Beef House (Adult Swim) - 23 points, 4 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#55 (Tie) - Desus and Mero (Showtime) - 23 points, 4 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#57 - A House Through Time (BBC2) - 23 points, 3 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#58 - The Repair Shop (BBC, Netflix) - 20 points, 2 votes, 1 #1 vote, 1 top 5 vote
#59 - GeoWizard Missions (YouTube) - 20 points, 2 votes, 2 top 5 votes
#60 (Tie) - Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Netflix) - 20 points, 2 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#60 (Tie) - Murder on Middle Beach (HBO) - 20 points, 2 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#62 (Tie) - High Fidelity (Hulu) - 19 points, 4 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#62 (Tie) - Ozark (Netflix) - 19 points, 4 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#64 - Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet (Apple +) - 18 points, 5 votes
#65 (Tie) - AEW Dynamite (TBS) - 18 points, 3 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#65 (Tie) - The Plot Against America (HBO) - 18 points, 3 votes
#67 - The Good Lord Bird (HBO) - 18 points, 2 votes, 1 #1 vote, 1 top 5 vote
#68 - Star Trek: Picard (CBS All Access) - 18 points, 2 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#69 - Dave (FX) - 16 points, 3 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#70 - 20020 (SB Nation) - 16 points, 2 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#71 - Bob’s Burgers (FX) - 15 points, 3 votes
#72 (Tie) - Oxventure Dungeons and Dragons! (YouTube) - 15 points, 2 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#72 (Tie) - Seduced: Inside the NXIVM Cult (Starz) - 15 points, 2 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#72 (Tie) - Taskmaster (Channel 4) - 15 points, 2 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#72 (Tie) - Teenage Bounty Hunters (Netflix) - 15 points, 2 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#72 (Tie) - Videogame Dunkey (YouTube) - 15 points, 2 votes, 1 top 5 vote
#77 (Tie) - Bluey (Disney +) - 15 points, 1 vote, 1 #1 vote, 1 top 5 vote
#77 (Tie) - Followers (Netflix) - 15 points, 1 vote, 1 #1 vote, 1 top 5 vote
#77 (Tie) - She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Netflix) - 15 points, 1 vote, 1 #1 vote, 1 top 5 vote
#77 (Tie) - The Umbrella Academy (Netflix) - 15 points, 1 vote, 1 #1 vote, 1 top 5 vote
#77 (Tie) - We Are Who We Are (HBO) - 15 points, 1 vote, 1 #1 vote, 1 top 5 vote
RUNNER UP (Tie): Corporate (Comedy Central) - 4 votes, 14 points
RUNNER UP (Tie): The Eric Andre Show (Adult Swim) - 4 votes, 14 points
RUNNER UP (Tie): His Dark Materials (HBO) - 4 votes, 14 points
RUNNER UP (Tie): I’ll Be Gone in the Dark (HBO) - 4 votes, 14 points
RUNNER UP (Tie): Only Connect (BBC2) - 4 votes, 14 points
RUNNER UP (Tie): Star Trek: Lower Decks (CBS All Access) - 4 votes, 14 points

Fucking delighted

very deserving #1, good job everybody

10 number one votes! Incredible

I may have enjoyed a few other shows more this last year, or rather some may have been more on my wavelength, but when looking back at the shows of the year, there was no doubt in my mind this was the only choice for my #1 spot.

Ten #1 votes!!! I've been putting this off because it seemed like a degree of heaviness I'll only be able to stomach once life gets back to something approaching normal, but...ten #1 votes!!! Maybe I need to bite the bullet.

Thank u 2 forks and Moka for your exemplary work!

I never thought it could be anything else. A staggeringly great show.

OK, I guess I need to watch this. ILX validation, the final push needed to do so.

Thanks to forks and moka for running this, got loads of stuff to watch :)

Thanks to both and all voters too

The only show from my ballot that I'm surprised to not see in the countdown is The Outsider, which imo is probably the closest a Stephen King adaptation has come to replicating the feel and the rhythms of a Stephen King novel.