Top 77 Television and Streaming Video Series of 2019

there's a particular intensity to some of the family scenes w/Fleabag that is pretty unexpected but really great, and the jokes are generally all very good. her relationship w/her sister on the show could have been very simplistic but it's not, it's very complicated and moving and devastating. Olivia Colman turning her charm into this narcissistic low-level sociopathy is something to watch too.

I know this is tired advice, but if yer starting on L49, give it 2-3 eps to develop. It's super odd but it grows steadily on you.

the good trick the show manages it making Fleabag's behavior understandable from all perspectives, in that where it comes from is a place of pain and guilt and tragedy and we sympathize deeply, while making it obvious why people are repelled by her actions.

I can never get over how beautifully structured Fleabag s2 is

Thanks for running the poll forks and moka for the images. plenty to check out here

I wish I'd said so from the start but Russian Doll was precisely what I expected to win the day, from the time forks first proposed the poll. Not my personal #1 but very close.

I've only seen maybe an episode or two so far but I Think You Should Leave is the first sketch show to make me feel old inasmuch as I could kinda see why people think it's great but felt like its greatness kinda went over my head. Or something. Some very funny moments but it felt like it was made more for the whippersnappers overall.

Thank u forks and moka! Great and fun poll, would rewatch.

Props to the poll runners! This was fun.

yes, muchas gracias to the poll-runners.

moka, props as always for the images, and forks, i'll never forgive you for making me think for half a second that itysl wouldn't make it.

I am bemused by the Broadcast reference re Lodge 49 but maybe it manifests more in S2

there is one absolutely incredible broadcast drop in season 2, but even the non-broadcast songs throughout have a similar sensibility

It really is amazing how dull that trailer makes the presumably entertaining Barry look.

Broadcast opens and closes Lodge 49 Season 1 iirc (last song in both the premiere and in the finale?)

but yeah a *lot* of the music (much of it unfamiliar to me) is clearly in "Trish Keenan mixtape" territory

hm wait no the last song in season 1 is that Nuggets deep cut... does Broadcast open season 2? maybe that's what I'm thinking of

Really liked s1 of Barry, champing at the bit to see s2 given the good things I've heard but the end of the first got too dark for my gf so that can keeps getting kicked down the road, unfortch.

I watched Barry after hanging up on season two of Handmaid's and only making it through 2 episodes of Big Little Lies. It was such a relief to watch something so much better.

Maaaan, just now noticed that The OA fell just shy of showing up in the top 77. What a rip. Gotta do the movements and transport myself to a better universe now.

Weird thing about The OA -- I would never claim that this is an objectively good show but all the same I enjoyed the second season, stupidity and all!

The thing is, I totally get why people neg on The OA. And in a different set of hands, it could easily be the laughable disaster the haters believe it to be. But it walks that quavering line with grace and just so totally owns the insanity of its premise that, yeah, I would definitely say it's an objectively good show. Definitely in my personal top five of the 2010s.

i watched the first season. It seemed very much like a show that people who love murakami and for whom english is a second language would like.

Great poll, thanks. I must have missed True Detective on the nominating list, else I would have voted for it--definite improvement from S2 to S3.

Thanks for the poll work. I won't ever watch 95% of these but will probably give some a shot

wow!!! thanks for running this forks! and sorry i missed the whole thing D: wtf is wrong with me

are we posting our ballots or?

feel free!

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix)
The Dragon Prince (Netflix)
The Expanse (Amazon)
Great British Baking Show (Netflix)
Russian Doll (Netflix)
Veronica Mars (Hulu)
Unbelievable (Netflix)
Animator vs. Cartoonist / Draw Off (Buzzfeed)
The Christmas Maze (Playstation Access)
Metal Gear Stupid: Snake Easter (Playstation Access)
Glow (Netflix)
The OA (Netflix)
Jessica Jones (Netflix)
Last Week Tonight (HBO)

bolded if it didn't make the top 77!

Pose (FX)
Fleabag (Amazon)
ContraPoint
PhilosophyTube
Silicon Valley (HBO)
Veep (HBO)
Queer Eye (Netflix)
High Maintenance (HBO)
Watchmen (HBO)
What We Do in Shadows (FX)
Chernobyl (HBO)
Barry (HBO)
I Think You Should Leave (Netflix)
Truthpoint (Adult Swim)
Succession (HBO)
Corporate (Comedy Central)
Upright (Fox Showcase, Australia)
Joe Pera Talks to You (Adult Swim)
Euphoria (HBO)
Righteous Gemstones (HBO)
Pen15 (Hulu)
LetterKenny (Hulu)
Schitt's Creek (Pop US)
Ramy (Hulu)
Shrill (Hulu)

tbh i prob shouldn't have even included shrill on here because there's in retrospect some stuff i like more than it? and the part i really loved was peter smith's cover of god only knows which was in season 2/2020, my bad. watch the end of S02E02 imo, best part of the entire run so far

letterkenny has lost some momentum since those first couple of seasons, but it's still a joy, and it's based on a town about 40 mins from the village where i grew up (they once referenced my village in an episode and i had to rewind/pinch myself to make sure i didn't mishear/dream it)

philosophytube and contrapoints are virtually a dead tie for me in "top tier youtube appointment viewing," as soon as they go up i make sure the s/o and i have time to sit down and watch. the 100 minute cancel culture one was tough but we did it in one shot. olly has been batting 1000 for the past year or so, it's insane. if you like natalie, watch olly, but if you're watching natalie you're probably already watching olly so to the rest of you WATCH BOTH!

upright was great fun and i suspect virtually nobody has watched it because it is tough to find! (thanks forks for helping me even see it). s/o is huge minchin fan so i knew it'd be an easy sell, but damn it really exceeded my expectations.

POSE TOO LOW! did nobody watch season 2 or am i just alone in thinking it may have been one of the best-acted shows ever?? am i crazy? if virtually the entire main cast isn't up for emmys this year i'm calling it, the fix is in. i haven't watched too much ryan murphy tv so maybe other voters have RM burnout, but not me!

queer eye also maybe too low? it is just so delightful. i wish there were volunteer bands of people who'd go to the sad ppl of the world and just compliment them for a week.

also too low: corporate. pitch black in the best way. some chris morris vibes.

things i maybe should've included on my list: russian doll

things i need to check out but havben't had time/interest yet: mindhunter, on cinema at the cinema (enjoyed bits but never got into the whole huge thing, it is at this point intimidating), lodge 49 (enjoyed first 3 eps but didn't keep up), killing eve, terrave house, when they see us, unbelievable, bake off, sex education, new veronica mars

things i didn't really care for relatively: strnager things (well s3 was fun. s2 i almost couldn't finish. s1 was of course a delight), mandalorian (one ep aaaaand the only thing i like about it is the backgrounds?), last week tonight (KAREN... KAREN!!!!... STOP! DON'T! STOP!!! ugh)

things i thgought were only a joke on hollywood handbook until today: bosch

01. Pen15 (Hulu)
02. Years & Years (BBC, HBO)
03. Broad City (Comedy Central)
04. Last Week Tonight (HBO)
05. Fleabag (Amazon)
06. Documentary Now! (IFC)
07. Joe Pera Talks to You (Adult Swim)
08. Barry (HBO)
09. Sex Education (Netflix)
10. Chernobyl (HBO)
11. Desus and Mero (Showtime)
12. When They See Us (Netflix)
13. Great British Baking Show (Netflix)
14. Shrill (Hulu)
15. Jeopardy (ABC)

My actual ballot:

1. Mindhunter
2. Killing Eve
3. Russian Doll
4. Stranger Things

I should have put True Detective second, though. The truth is, I wanted to participate and gave votes to things I had mixed feelings about--Killing Eve's second season wasn't as good as the first, I wasn't as big on Russian Doll as most everyone else, and Stranger Things left off as a real mess. Mindhunter and True Detective were the only things I liked almost without reservation. As you might guess, I haven't seen more than 90% of what made the final list--haven't even heard of at least half.

My ballot:

1. 63 Up
2. Russian Doll
3. I Think You Should Leave
4. Kingdom

but somehow I missed that Watchmen was nommed and that would have been my actual #4 over Kingdom.

I think it would be funny if next time we did this we were allowed to pick 5 shows we hate to give -5 votes each.

I like that idea

i'd have to do research to figure out the most hateful shows -- like do I just look up horrible right wing people that have tv shows and just pick the 5 that seem to have the largest viewership?

yeah, i won't be doing that

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix)
Russian Doll (Netflix)
Watchmen (HBO)
Fleabag (Amazon)
Barry (HBO)
BoJack Horseman (Netflix)
Tuca and Bertie (Netflix)
Rick and Morty (Adult Swim)
Last Week Tonight (HBO)
Undone (Amazon)

Better Things (FX)
Veep (HBO)
Back To Life (BBC, UK)
Lodge 49 (AMC)
The Mandalorian (Disney +)
Big Mouth (Netflix)
Dark (Netflix)
The Dragon Prince (Netflix)
The Expanse (Amazon)
Glow (Netflix)

Chernobyl (HBO)
Kingdom (Netflix)
The OA (Netflix)
A Series of Unfortunate Events (Netflix)
What We Do in Shadows (FX)

Tim Rogers on Video Games
Succession (HBO)
I Think You Should Leave (Netflix)
Terrace House: Tokyo 2019-2020 (Netflix)
Great British Baking Show (Netflix)
Fleabag (Amazon)
Righteous Gemstones (HBO)
Chernobyl (HBO)
Barry (HBO)
Jeopardy (ABC)
High Maintenance (HBO)
Joe Pera Talks to You (Adult Swim)
On Cinema at the Cinema (Adult Swim)
Rhythm & Flow (Netflix)
Blown Away (Netflix)

disappointed no one else voted for tim rogers. admittedly it's a v niche thing, but he kinda verhoevens a shitty genre (nerd on youtube talking about video games or talking while playing video games) by having an impressive depth of knowledge about the industry thanks to his background and subtly connecting his personal life to the video game content in a way that builds into a scattered autobiographical body of work that can at times be hilarious and surprisingly moving. i'm fascinated his whole approach, but i can see that he may just come off as another annoying youtube guy, plus to get anything out of it you have to have a strong interest in the particular video games he's into and the time to wade into it.

i wanted to vote for schitt's creek and on cinema but couldn't in good conscience as i haven't watched the 2019 seasons yet

I admittedly cheated by voting for Schitt's Creek before seeing the 2019 season but have seen it since voting and, if anything, love the show even more now. I refuse to feel guilty!

xps I would have voted for Tim if I'd voted, but I've seen so little 2019 TV that I couldn't put together much of a ballot.

As I said on my ballot email, I should have nominated and voted for "2019 MLB regular season" and "2019 MLB postseason." I pretty much watched movies, baseball and soccer. But I voted anyway --

Barry (HBO)
High Maintenance (HBO)
Russian Doll (Netflix)
63 Up (ITV, UK)
Jeopardy (ABC)
The Boys (Amazon)
The Mandalorian (Disney +)

If I had it to do over again, I'd drop Mandalorian -- it really wasn't that good. And I'd switch Russian Doll and High Maintenance.

I probably should have put Tom rogers and ryukahr on my ballot but I am prejudiced

Hey all 14 shows I voted for showed up! guess I am pretty hivemindy. Though I did watch three episodes of Russian Doll when the thread was blowing up and really didn't care for it. I'm pretty sick of the Groundhog Day premise and I don't think I get Lyonne's shtick

Thanks for running the poll, poll runners!

my ballot as submitted:
1-10
Steven Universe
Succession
Joe Pera Talks To You
Corporate
I Think You Should Leave
The Other Two
Schitt's Creek
Lodge 49
Killing Eve
Mindhunter

11-15
Derry Girls
Nailed It!
Great British Baking Show
Bosch
What We Do in the Shadows

if it was ranked, this would be the top tier:
Steven Universe
Succession
Joe Pera Talks To You
Corporate
I Think You Should Leave

and everything else would be below that, with the last few in the bottom tier

just realized The Other Two didn't make it. that's a funny show.

i didnt like/get into russian doll either, didnt like barry & didnt like s2 of fleabag o_o

my ballot

1. Succession
2. I think you should leave
3. Righteous Gemstones
4. Broad city
5. Desus & Mero
6. High Maintenance

xp forgot abt 'the other two' yea wouldve voted for that

Lodge 49 (AMC)  
Fleabag (Amazon)  
Mindhunter (Netflix)  
Succession (HBO) 
Too Old To Die Young (Amazon) 
Russian Doll (Netflix)  
Joe Pera Talks to You (Adult Swim)  
Corporate (Comedy Central)  
True Detective (HBO)  
On Cinema at the Cinema (Adult Swim)  
Righteous Gemstones (HBO)  
Veronica Mars (Hulu)
ContraPoints
Bon Appetit Channel  
I Think You Should Leave (Netflix)  
Jon Bois/SB Nation - Chart Party (2019 content incl. Saddest Punt, Bob Emergency)  
High Maintenance (HBO)  
Jett (Cinemax)  
Barry (HBO)  
Watchmen (HBO)

Meant to say, thanks forks and Moka for putting this together.

Will have to check out this Shadows thing then ty

― imago, Saturday, February 15, 2020 6:22 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Jamie Demitriou’s real and on screen sister Natasia is in What we do in the shadows as well and brilliant in both.

I did a bit of complaining about avoiding long rollouts and then completely missed the entire rollout of this :)

Delighted that Russian Doll won. One of the greatest TV experiences of my life.

Can't quite get my head around the idea there'll be another season. Felt the same way about the OA, and while this season of OA was *so* insane and nonsensical that I didn't feel moved to vote for it in this poll, I was all the same glad it existed and glad I watched it.

Genuinely curious to know if the detractors would be more or less put off by The OA based on how the season/series ended.