Top 77 Television and Streaming Video Series of 2019

Checking from my phone but hope that’s not a remake of LvT’s Kingdom.

Stath Lets Flats is so wonderfully observed that you are almost instantly invested in the lives of each character. It also has the best uses for absurdity in contemporary UK TV. Everyone should watch it now.

It also has the best uses for absurdity in contemporary UK TV.

tbf we are currently watching something else that will place later, and which runs it pretty close in this regard (and would have done for my #1 slot too if I'd seen it a week earlier)

but yeah

https://i.imgur.com/aatf5mI.jpg
#45 - The Good Place (NBC) - 35 points, 5 votes

The Good Place on NBC

The Good Place on Hulu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnq6IRgt4yE

too low!

Man, if we'd done this poll last year

I mean, final season was still good I guess, but...the wheels were idling a bit

Still haven't watched the final episode for some reason

oh, i guess most of this would've been the beginning of s4

even a weak season of TGP should still be higher

As I say, last year it would have been unthinkable to not put it in my top ten but this time I couldn't even be bothered to vote for it. I wonder what changed. Maybe I did, man

GOT too high!

Dragon Prince keeps getting better, it's not quite as good as Avatar or Korra at their best but this last season did some challenging things that the other two shows haven't.

yeah, fess up GOT voters

Kingdom: I really like zombie stuff and have watched a lot of such shows, many of which take the form "it's zombies + [genre x]" but "zombies + court intrigue" is the best such combo I've seen.

zombies + court intrigue + hats is an even better combo

I kind of miss the MMA series by the same name

Someone should make a show called Kingdom that mashes up all preceding shows called Kingdom

I am down so long as every episode ends with someone giving birth to Udo Kier.

couldn't possibly bring myself to vote for Game of Thrones, which imo was not only one of the most disappointing shows i've ever seen but in the final seasons one of the most inept, despite the considerable production values and impressive visuals. the first several seasons took place in a deeply lived-in world, it was cleverly and almost remorselessly plotted, it was very sharp and frightening, and it had a key characteristic it lost in later seasons: the characters were generally smart and behaved in logical ways, even if their choices were ultimately wrong or tragic. that was all thrown over once they went off book, in favor of the lead-up to what was basically an amateurishly done version of Avengers: Endgame, minus the earned pathos and tragedy and crafty structure and good jokes. i mean it was a show that was a huge success and nonetheless poor enough that it cost Benioff and Weiss future jobs because they clearly had no idea how to finish the story. i wasn't bored exactly but it was fantasy on the level of In the Name of the King, with better FX and better actors and grandfathered-in goodwill from previous (distantly previous) seasons.

https://i.imgur.com/GFIEwzg.jpg
#44 - Silicon Valley (HBO) - 38 points, 5 votes

Mike Judge's "Silicon Valley" (HBO Show)

Silicon Valley on HBO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYHp-5h1y5o

I voted for Game of Thrones. The last season was so flawed and aggravating (in a bad way). However, there were some good parts. And honestly, the social media moment that was everyone watching that epic battle episode that was too dark and comparing their tv setups and trying to "fix it so they can see better" and/or complaining -- was actually this sociologically amazing thing! .. .

Here's another show that fell off without it being easy to see why. Latest season opener wasn't so bad I guess. Just don't really look forward to it as much. Sad how great shows often burn out

I maybe should have voted for The Good Place. I certainly made a point of watching it and as a whole it's one of the best series in years, certainly the best traditional network show. But I was rating purely on 2019 and the first half of S4 was the weakest material they've done. If I'd voted in 10 shows I would have included it, and 2019 Bojack too, but both were sufficiently off their peak to kick them out of the top four (and both at least partially returned to form in their 2020 concluding episodes!)

As I won the first two (as-yet-unwatched) seasons of GoT, how many more would I be advised to snap up before pretending that the show was tragically and prematurely cancelled?

won = own

you're safe through the end of season 4, it's exceptionally good up to that point.

seasons 5-8 have their moments and standalone episodes which are thrilling but what's interesting i guess is that the best episodes from the latter half of the show's run are the ones which are largely single-location, without a lot of heavy plotting. the battle episodes, basically.

last season of GOT was no worse than previous few seasons, in some ways it was actually better. I think the real problem was one of expectations, also there was a very very vocal contingent who were against their favourite character's heel turn, their views should be discounted entirely. I would suggest you swatch s1-s4 but you'll most likely want to watch the rest after that, and why not? it's an ok show.

The new Veronica Mars -- well, I'm super-glad it existed because these are characters I'm always motivated to spend time with. Halfway through the season I would have rated it highly. Felt it didn't wrap up the plot threads with the satisfying, startling neatness I have come to expect from VM. Would have been in my top 10 for sure.

Like for years I resisted the entreaties to watch GoT because, post-L O S T, my tendency wrt these epic televisual endeavors is to wait until the bow has been tied to see if the gift box contains a steaming turd. Which, based on most of the post-finale responses I've heard, seems to have been a wise choice in this case. I'd probably have much fonder feelings about L O S T if I'd waited to have someone tell me 'just pretend that the final season doesn't exist and you'll have fun'.

i watched and guiltily enjoyed all seasons of bosch but couldn't bring myself to vote for it since i had no memory of what the most recent season was

most recent season did plenty of extra-textual fanservice!! idk, maybe I'm that much of a nerd, but I suspect Ms. Veg is also with me on this. Opie from Sons of Anarchy as a biker PI, J. Edgar doing surveillance on scumbags and then meeting them in a club -- which made me yell, "Dudes, you know that is Marlo, right? You don't fuck with that guy. You will end up skeletal in a boarded-up vacant!"

the heel turn was perfectly fine, it just betrayed everything that the character had shown and happened so abruptly that it was clear they had no real idea of how to arrive at that heel turn in a manner that made sense. also the problem w/that twist and many other big moments was that it was all vv predictable, i've never seen a show which was so accurately forecasted by so many people. vs that big thing from the end of season 3, which was both completely logical and yet unpredictable if you hadn't read the novels.

every time Jay Edgar plays golf in Bosch feels like Wire fanservice to me tho

*the show's final season was accurately forecast, rather. the first few were not.

https://i.imgur.com/Rdd6A4H.jpg
#43 - It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FXX) - 40 points, 4 votes

It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia on Hulu

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wgr01hYOrF8

Honestly, I had a more accepting attitude towards the show itself -- like, I did not have super high expectations. I got angrier at popular astrology memes about GoT characters that showed poor comprehension of astrology and the GoT characters.

Arya is so so so so not an ARIES

today seems to be mostly shows i watch but did not vote for

Let's take it to 36 today.

https://i.imgur.com/iWW5A35.jpg
#40 (Tie) - The Expanse (Amazon) - 40 points, 5 votes

Is anybody else watching The Expanse?

The Expanse on Amazon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFdzpVt5rbk

i don't even necessarily believe GOT was markedly worse than or even actually worse than a number of other shows, and it remained watchable, but i think its decline was precipitous enough that it retroactively downgrades the entire thing. i do think arguably S8 was "better" in some sense than earlier seasons, i'm thinking the one where half of it was taken up with uncomfortable silences between Tyrion and Grey Worm and Missandei, broken up by awkward jokes.

The Expanse, fantastic.

better than Battlestar Galactica, and exactly the type of sci-fi show i'd been wanting to see for eons.

Liked and voted for this IASIP series and consider it better than the last one

maybe it's because there weren't that many people voting in this poll, but today is like -- i voted for almost all of these shows.

Anyway, at some point I might post paragraphs about "what each of these tv shows means to me and why i like them" -- but in general, the stuff I voted for, besides being pleasurable as a show, also gave me insight into various personal, social, and philosophical issues I dealt with last year. That includes The Expanse, Jessica Jones, and Silicon Valley

https://i.imgur.com/gXzcu2x.jpg
#40 (Tie) - Gentleman Jack (BBC, HBO) - 40 points, 5 votes

Gentleman Jack on HBO

Gentleman Jack on HBO

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uBYRcP44M4

Suranne Jones is one of the best

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

Props and thanks

Is Gentleman Jack any good then? Kind of dismissed it as a bog standard BBC period drama

Gentlemen Jack is killer; one of my fave discoveries of last year.

i haven't seen Gentleman Jack, but it's selling point (at least for me) is of the LGBTQ / feminist sort. If you don't care about that, and you don't like BBC period dramas, then it's probably not worth it to you.

I voted for the latest season of The Expanse but most of it was too grim for my liking (though this season followed the book pretty closely, I seem to remember finding the travails a lot more gripping when I was reading about them). When there are a few glimmers of hope though I enjoyed it.

the next book is even more grim iirc

still need to catch up on the latest season of always sunny. left off at the thundergun episode.

the show has been getting flowers lately, but i still think it's underrated. it's on an unprecedented run of consistent hilarity for a live-action sitcom. they've been doing this shit for fifteen years. i was singing 'day man' when i was in high school.

just a few comments on things I’ve seen so far...

I enjoyed the Witcher, it’s not brilliant or anything but it didn’t take itself too seriously, felt like the fantasy shit I liked as a kid, in a good way. Would have voted for it.

His Dark Materials was okay, I’ll probably watch season 2 but I’m not totally sold. It felt kinda heartless. I can’t decide if it’s too hard to adapt or if the books are just worse than I remember them. Might’ve voted for it.

I just finished the tail end of season 4 of the good place. The ending was satisfying I think, but not as great as season 1 of course. Tough for a show with the premise it had to do well after the first season wraps so the fact it was still a great show to watch til the end was really impressive I thought. Would've voted for it.

I think everyone covered GOT well, I wouldn't have voted for this season.

Lots a stuff I'm interested to watch now though, great work poll runners.