Top 77 Television and Streaming Video Series of 2019

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.

Too Old To Die Young
Barry
Schitt's Creek
Mindhunter
The Expanse
Fleabag
Kingdom
Glow
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel

These were not ranked but I think other than the somewhat spotty S2 of TMMM they all achieved what they set out to do pretty perfectly. If forced to pick a favorite it would be difficult, though Schitt’s Creek is probably the one I’d watch again most readily, and its avoidance of turning towards any darkness is pretty welcome. Also I think the most unexpectedly moved I’ve been this year was everything involving Stevie, cf her stage performance and her reaction to David’s “big news”.

oops and Watchmen as well (id also say that was occasionally spotty but the heights were very high)

Yes, watching both Stevie and David evolve from cynical and low-stakes (although deeply-amusing) partners-in-snark to people pushing through anxiety and fear to discover rich new chapters in their lives has been...hoo boy, emotionally-involving, to be sure.

mine

1. Russian Doll
2. Fleabag
3. Catastrophe
4. Chernobyl
5. Euphoria
6. I Think You Should Leave
7. Sex Education
8. Repair Shop
9. When They See Us
10. Queer Eye

my ballot

I Think You Should Leave
Succession
Lodge 49
Russian Doll
Fleabag
Bojack Horseman
Watchmen
Barry
The Good Place
What We Do In The Shadows
Tuca & Bertie
Catastrophe
Veep
Undone
Legion

My ballot, roughly in order of preference:

Schitt's Creek
Joe Pera Talks to You
The OA
On Cinema at the Cinema
Russian Doll
Doom Patrol
Mindhunter
Mr. Robot
True Detective

My ballot:

1. Perpetual Grace, Ltd.
2. BoJack Horseman
3. Yorkshire Walks
4. On Cinema at the Cinema
5. Fleabag
6. Chernobyl
7. Gentleman Jack
8. Mortimer & Whitehouse: Gone Fishing
9. This Time With Alan Partridge
10. Years & Years

Thanks so much to the poll-runners, and Moka for the friggin great images! I'm going to have to check out Russian Doll now.

My Ballot:

Money Heist
Dark
Fleabag
Russian Doll
What We Do in the Shadows
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
BoJack Horseman
Tuca and Bertie
Mindhunter
Black Spot
Stranger Things
Great British Baking Show

I'm astonished that there were no other votes for my #1, Money Heist. Maybe if it didn't have that stupid title, the original much better title is La Casa de Papel (The House of Paper), as the heist is set in the Royal Mint, where they take the workers hostage in order to print money. Not a grim & gritty gangland heist thing, it's a little bit more of a caper, and we're obviously meant to be on the side of the robbers although they do plenty of questionable things to make it quite morally ambiguous; the performances are great with plenty of strong female roles. So y'know, if you've seen everything else here, check it out.

Thanks to forks & moka!

Joe Pera Talks with You
Fleabag
Watchmen
Desus & Mero
Barry
Chernobyl
Last Week Tonight
Jeopardy!
Pen15
What We Do in the Shadows
Veep
The Mandalorian
Mindhunter
Documentary Now!
Brockmire
Broad City
Good Place

everything I voted for placed so I guess I’m a very simple man. Thanks so much to forks and moka, most enjoyable and joyful poll in recent memory!

xp Really enjoyed the first season of Money Heist but then they started to drag it out too much in S2 and gave up half way through S3 as it was just too ridiculous (even for a show that had already taken ridiculousness to an extremely high level)

yeah i wouldn't go to it for true crime vibes... i often get annoying by ridiculous plot turns in thrillers but i just thought this was lots of fun.

Stath Lets Flats
GeoWizard - Mission Across Wales
On Cinema at the Cinema
Kiwami Japan
Veep
Ainori Love Wagon: Asian Journey S2
BoJack Horseman
Terrace House: Tokyo 2019-2020
I Did a Thing
Truthpoint
Jon Bois/SB Nation - Chart Party
Tantacrul on Music
Contrapoints
You Suck At Cooking
Jreg
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
South Park

Sex Education would have probably been my #1 or #2 if I'd seen it a week earlier.

If you like the Youtube stuff I managed to get into this poll, you should check out my unplaced selections. There's some good stuff in there, trust.

South Park included because the first 6 episodes of the recent season were brilliant. Episode 7 was a typically irritating piece of on-purpose disingenuous transphobia to put the PC babies' noses out of joint; consider me triggered enough to have not watched the rest of the season yet. I probably will. For all that they're occasionally revolting, Parker & Stone are operating at their peak around now

a typically irritating piece of on-purpose disingenuous transphobia

uh yeah ... a reminder of why I don't watch South Park.

thanks to this poll, I started watching (lol) the HBO Watchmen ... whoa. I totally see why y'all voted for it.

:(

the show is good / messy in an interesting way -- would have been just as enjoyable (if not more so) if it was not Watchmen-branded

Honorable mention acting award of the year goes to Meryl Streep on Big Little Lies. This season wasn't good enough to nom or vote for, and I'm fairly 'meh' on Streep in general but this was probably my favorite performance of hers. I was incessantly infuriated every time she was onscreen. A supercut of her scenes is highly recommended if you can find one. Also Laura Dern had a whole lot more to do this season and was v v good. If you're looking for high-quality performances in a show that doesn't quite gel or fully satisfy as a show, you could do worse, is what I'm saying here.

heh, that show is set where my family is from, and apparently is fairly "authentic" in terms of personality types, so I have been avoiding it, much the same way that my friends who work in tech don't watch Silicon Valley.

any of you ever watch...

tientsin mystic
couples therapy
are you the one (season 8)?

(xpost) Damn, somehow I missed Big Little Lies, too. S2 wasn't as good as S1, but--mostly because of Streep--it would have been third on my list.