ILX's Best Television of 2021 Poll / VOTING AND CAMPAIGNING THREAD / Voting Ends After January 31, 2022

Here is a link to the complete list of this year's nominated shows and YouTubes:
Nominate the Best TV/Web/Streaming Series of 2021 - Nominations Closing January 10
also here: https://pastebin.com/3qgPF5J2

Here's previous years' threads for reference:
Top 77 Television and Streaming Video Series of 2019
ILX’s Top 77 Television and Streaming Video Series of 2020

Fans of prior years' polls will be happy to hear that Moka is back on board again to do images for the roll-out.

You can vote for as many as 25 shows but I AM ENCOURAGING YOU (YES YOU) TO SUBMIT A BALLOT EVEN IF YOU’VE ONLY WATCHED THREE OR FOUR SHOWS THIS YEAR… or even just one! We get about 50 votes for this poll in past years but, given our collective obsessive pandemic watch habits, I think we should be able to represent an even broader slice of the ILX audience. Can we get to 100 ballots? Lurkers are welcome! Participate daggummit!

This poll is set up so that both people who only watched a little television as well as massive media nerds like myself could have equal opportunity to play and influence voting, so here is how scoring works:

If you want to submit an unranked ballot, please note at the top of your email and I’ll give every show you nominate 8 points.

If you want a ranked ballot, please note that when you submit it and, regardless of how many shows you vote for, here’s how your ballot will be scored:

• Your #1 show gets 15 points.
• Your #2 show gets 15 points.
• Your #3 show gets 10 points.
• Your #4 show gets 10 points.
• Your #5 show gets 10 points.
• Your #6 to #10 shows get 5 points apiece.
• Your #11 to #20 shows get 3 points apiece.
• Your #21 to #25 shows get 1 point apiece.

Placement tiebreakers are determined by Number of Votes / Number of #1 votes / Number of top five picks, in that order. Every vote counts!

As much as humanly possible, please make your ballot's choices pertain only to seasons and episodes that were released in 2020.

It's not required , but along with your poll vote, feel free to submit an unranked list of the five television or streaming series you liked best and/or saw for the first time this year that were NOT released in 2020 and we'll do a round-up of those as well.

Send your ballots to forksclovetofu at gmail.com

Voting ends on MIDNIGHT (US EST) on Monday, January 31 / Tuesday, February 1. I'll aim to post the winners shortly after we finish the ILM Music polls, once Moka has time to handle images. In the meantime, please use this thread to ask questions and campaign on the shows you think deserve the win and to drum up voters.

And heck, here's the nominees:

100 Foot Wave s1 - HBO
1971 - Apple
50 States of Fright s1 - Hulu/Quibi
AP Bio s4 - Peacock
Action Button (YouTube)
Agua Donkeys s1 - Hulu/Quibi
All That Glitters s1 - Netflix
American Crime Story: Impeachment - FX
And Just Like That s1 - HBO
Arcane s1 - Netflix
Around the World in 80 Days s1 - BBC1/PBS
Awkwafina is Nora from Queens s2 - Comedy Central/HBO
Back on the Record with Bob Costas s1 - HBO
Beyond Evil s1 - JTBC/Netflix
Bizarre Beasts - YouTube
Black and Missing s1 - HBO
Blown Away s2 - Netflix
Blown Away: Christmas - Netflix
Blue Period s1 - Crunchyroll
Bluey s3 - Disney
Bosch s7 - Amazon
Brand New Cherry Flavor s1 - Netflix
Brooklyn Nine Nine s8 - NBC
Buffering s1 - iTV
Call My Agent s2/3 - Netflix
Can't Get You Out of my Head s1 - BBC
Centaurworld s1 - Netflix
Chad s1 - TBS
Chair s1 - Netflix
Channel 5 (YouTube)
City of Ghosts s1 - Netflix
Curb Your Enthusiasm - s11 HBO
Day of the Dead s1 - Syfy
Defunctland - YouTube
Desus and Mero s3 - Showtime
Dexter: New Blood s1 - Showtime
Dog House s2 - Channel 4
Doom Patrol s3 - HBO
Dopesick s1 - Hulu
Dr. Brain s1 - Netflix
Dug Days s1 - Disney
Elves s1 - Netflix
Evil s2 - Paramount+
Expanse s5/s6 - Amazon
Exterminate All the Brutes s1 - HBO
F is for Family s5 - Netflix
Falcon and the Winter Soldier s1 - Disney
Fisk s1 - ABC Aussie
Flatbush Misdemeanors s1 - Showtime
For All Mankind s2 - Apple
Foundation s1 - Apple
Generation Hustle s1 - HBO Max
Get Back: The Beatles - Disney
Ghosts (US) s1 - CBS
Ghosts s3 - BBC1
Girls5Eva s1 - Peacock
Graham Norton Show - BBC1
Great British Bake Off s12 - Netflix/ Channel 4
Great British Sewing Bee s7 - BBC
Great Pottery Throw Down s3 - BBC2
Hacks s1 - HBO
Handmade: Britain's Best Woodworker s1 - Channel 4
Hawkeye s1 - Disney
Heels s1 - Starz
Hellbound s1 - Netflix
Hello Jack! s1 - Apple
High on the Hog s1 - Netflix
Home Economics s1/2 - ABC
Hospital Playlist s2 - Netflix
Hospital s7 - BBC2
House Through Time s4 - BBC2
How To with John Wilson s2 - HBO
Hunt For A Killer s1 - BBC Four
I Think You Should Leave s2 - Netflix
Insecure - s5 - HBO
Inside No. 9 s6 - BBC
Invincible s1 - Amazon
Iron Pineapple (YouTube)
It's A Sin s1 - Channel 4
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia s15 - FX
Jeopardy s∞- Syndicated
Jo Firestone's Good Timing - Peacock
Joe Pera Talks With You s3 - Adult Swim
Kevin Can F**k Himself s1 - AMC
Kid Cosmic s1 - Netflix
Kim's Convenience s5 - CBC/Netflix
Kings (Duran, Hagler, Hearns, Sugar Ray) s1 - Showtime
Landscapers - Sky/HBO
Last Week Tonight s8 - HBO
Lego Masters s2 - Fox
Let's Make a Mug Too s1/2 - Crunchyroll
Letterkenny s10 - Hulu
Line of Duty s6 - BBC
Lockpicking Lawyer - YouTube
Loki s1 - Disney
Long Call s1 - ITV
Looney Tunes Cartoons s2 - HBO
Lost in Space s3 - Netflix
Lupin s1/2 - Netflix
MacGruber s1 - Peacock
Maid s1 - Netflix
Mare of Easttown s1 - HBO
Matt McMuscles's Wha Happun? - YouTube
Maya and the Three s1 - Netflix
McCartney 3,2,1 s1 - Hulu
Midnight Mass s1 - Netflix
Midsomer Murders s22 - ITV
Mister Inbetween s3 - FX
Money Heist s5 - Netflix
Mortimer and Whitehouse: Gone Fishing s4 - BBC2
Mosquito Coast s1 - Apple
Motherland s3 - BBC2
Murders at Starved Rock - HBO
Mythic Quest s2 - Apple
Never Have I Ever s2 - Netflix
North Water s1 - AMC
Nuclear Family - HBO
Odd Taxi s1 - Crunchyroll
On Cinema at the Cinema s12 - HEI
Only Connect s17- BBC 2
Only Murders In The Building s1 - Hulu
Outlaws s1 - BBC1
PEN15 s2 pt 2- Hulu
Painting with John s1 - HBO
Pause with Sam Jay s1 - HBO
Philly D.A. s1 - PBS
Physical s1 - Apple
Pit Stop - YouTube
Pretend It's a City s1 - Netflix
Pui Pui Molcar s1 - Netflix
Q: Into the Storm - HBO
Real World Homecoming: New York - Paramount
Repair Shop s7 - BBC1/Netflix
Reservation Dogs s1 - FX
Rick and Morty s5 - Adult Swim
Rosehaven s5
RuPaul's Drag Race UK s2 and s3 - BBC
Ryukahr (YouTube)
Saturday Morning All Star Hits! s1 - Netflix
Scenes From A Marriage s1 - HBO
Schmigadoon s1 - Apple
Secrets of the Museum s2 - BBC2
Sex Education s3 - Netflix
Sex Lives of College Girls s1 - HBO
Shadow and Bone s1 - Netflix
Shaturday Morning Cartoons - YouTube
Silent Sea s1 - Netflix
Snackmasters s4 - Channel 4
So I'm a Spider So What s1 - Crunchyroll
Sonny Boy s1 - Crunchyroll
Sort Your Life Out s1 - BBC
South Side s2 - HBO
Squid Game s1 - Netflix
Staged s2 - BBC1
Star Trek: Lower Decks s2 - Paramount
Star Wars Visions - s1 - Disney
Starstruck s1 - BBC3
Stath Lets Flats s3 - Channel 4
Station Eleven s1 - HBO
Stephen s1 - ITV
Strictly Come Dancing s19 - BBC1
Succession s3 - HBO
Sweet Home s1 - Netflix
Sweet Tooth s1 - Netflix
Technology Connections - YouTube
Ted Lasso s2 - Apple
The Other Two s2 - Comedy Central/HBO
The Problem with Jon Stewart s1 - Apple
Them s1 - Amazon
This Time with Alan Partridge s2 - BBC1
This Way Up s2 - Channel 4
This is Pop s1 - Netflix


Trying s2 - Apple
UNHHhhh s6 - Wow Presents Plus
Ultra City Smiths s1 - AMC
Underground Railroad s1 - Amazon
Unforgotten s4 - ITV
University Challenge s51 -BBC2
Uprising - BBC1
VCR Party Live! - YouTube
Veritasium - YouTube
Vic Berger and Vice News: Filling the Void - YouTube
Videogamedunkey (YouTube)
Vigil s1 - BBC
WandaVision s1 - Disney
We Are Lady Parts s1 - Channel 4
Wellington Paranormal s3 - TVNZ2 /CW/HBO
What We Do in the Shadows s3 - Hulu
Wheel of Time s1 - Amazon
White Lotus s1 - HBO
Why Are You Like This? s1 - ABC Aussie
Witcher s2 - Netflix
Work in Progress s2 - Showtime
Worzel Gummidge s2 - BBC
Y the Last Man s1 - Hulu
Yasuke s1 - Netflix
Yellowjackets s1 - Showtime
Ziwe s1 - Showtime

forks looks like you linked last years thread into the nom thread

good catch, fixed.

This is Pop s1 - Netflix
Strictly Come Dancing s19 - BBC1

Okay, got it.

now you guys go make 100 people vote!

Voted!

I didnt get a chance to nom one I'dve voted for, Law and Order Organised Crime, its actually been good for such a long in the tooth show.

Oh and ST Disco! Did no one want that even in the list!?

Gah and Inside Job (the animated show)

.... I dont suppose we can do write in votes? I'm in a diff timezone to most of ILX and I keep missing threads when they move along.

Write in if you want as long as it's a show that had three or more new episodes in 2021 and that didn't place last year... but I would campaign hard here if you expect to see it place!

Two earlybird voters already, I recommend you beat the crowd and just throw in a ballot for whatever's on your mind... doesn't need to be a big thing!

WRITE INS/MISSED NOMS:
Resident Alien
ST Disco
Inside Job
L&O: Organized Crime

they're legit, feel free to vote for em!

Is Inside Job worth sticking with? Watched the first few episodes but couldn't really get into it

4 ballots! Hey, why don't you send me your hastily assembled ballot tonight?

I feel like there should be a way to assign negative points to something you watched the beginning of and thought was bad!

Campaigning: OK it's weird to stump for something I have not in fact watched but I just started South Side with season 1, a show I feel like I've never heard people talk about, and if season 2 is nearly as good it deserves serious consideration. Just plain old simple sitcom funniness, but so many shows fail at this! I will try to have s2 at least part-watched before the deadline so I can vote for it.

Though the best "not much to it but just plain funny and there seems to be no chatter about it" show I watched this year was The Other Two.

4 ballots! Hey, why don't you send me your hastily assembled ballot tonight?

― i cannot help if you made yourself not funny (forksclovetofu), Wednesday, January 12, 2022 6:24 PM (fourteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

still catching up on things! there's so much tv

Is Inside Job worth sticking with?

I'm enjoying it! Wasnt fussed with ep1 but yeah it got good. But you have to be into loads of popculture/metaref riffing. I'm here for Christian Slater's angry fuckup dad, he's great in this. And it understandably has the vibe of Gravity Falls (but quite a bit ruder).

South Side is fucking great and season 2 is as good as season 1 if not better.

VC, don't let perfect be the enemy of good!

I have 2 shows I want to finish watching before voting. On the plus side I actually watched enough TV this year to make a top 10 list.

Yeah I decided I'll submit after one more show (Station Eleven). I'm probably making a top 20 list this year!

Voted!

Voted, because face it, I won't get to see most of these Oscar movies until after the Oscars anyway.

lol wrong poll

7 votes! I love the early energy! If you know you're only gonna vote for like ten shows, why not get your ballot in over the weekend?

Point of fact: there are now over 200 shows listed as nominated.

I completely slept on the nominations phase of this poll, so I would like to suggest the following:

Things I would very much rep for:
GeoWizard Missions (YouTube)
Dickinson S2 and S3 (Apple TV+)
Dear White People S4 (Netflix)

Things that I might decide to pad out my ballot with:
Murder Among the Mormons S1 (Netflix)
Couple’s Therapy S2 (Showtime)
Special S2 (Netflix)
Starstruck S1 (BBC)
Motherland S3 (BBC)
Atypical S4 (Netflix)
Superstore S6 (Netflix)
Love Is Blind: After the Altar (Netflix)
Love on the Spectrum S2 (Netflix)
Love is Blind: Brazil (S1, Netflix)
Project Runway S19 (Bravo)
Tiger King S2 (Netflix)
The Raincoat Killer: Chasing a Predator in Korea (Netflix)
The Sons of Sam: A Descent into Darkness (Netflix)

voted ...

NB: if i haven't written you back and you've submitted a ballot, i haven't seen it!

10 ballots and over 90 shows already voted for. Consensus is going to be hard to come by and every vote is likely to sway the final totals!

Even though I think I might vote for it based on an astonishing math video: https://newstechtrend.com/veritasium_a_story_of_youtube_propaganda_i4540

i will submit a ballot before tuesday feb 1, don't worry.

did nobody nominate?

The Great s2 (Hulu)

The Great is eligible to vote for, though no one nominated.

12 ballots! If you are having a lazy end of your week, maybe throw together a ten show ballot and send it in?

Leee: I learned about that after nominating it. It's really disappointing.

Now tracks & album voting is out of the way, I'll get a ballot in next week sometime

Desperately need to watch before the deadline: How to with John Wilson (S2); Joe Pera (S3); Yellowjackets (S1).

If I am to watch one other thing out of The Chair and Inside Job, which should it be?

The Chair is skippable. Fast watch and I always like Sandra Oh, but it doesn't go much further than mildly amusing imo

And I don't think I'm getting a chance to watch anything else before the deadline, so I'll try to get my ballot in shortly

i would strongly recommend not getting too uptight about doing your homework, i'm happy just to hear what you saw and enjoyed this year without cramming!

Okay, 14 ballots and one week! Let's get em in!

xp I hear you, but equally cramming is a good coping resource for the long month of January.

Watched both in the end and though The Chair stretched credibility, I can't not love anything Jay Duplass is in. Inside Job not so much for me, alas.

> Handmade: Britain's Best Woodworker

who was the only other person on the world who was watching this? i ask because there's a thing on quest tonight that sounds like a cross between this and The Repair Shop. Kings of the Wood it's called, people make wooden things for people.

(it was forks. there was another thing j blades hosted that also rings a bell... Jay's Yorkshire Workshop:

"At their workshop in Bradford, Jay Blades and a team of volunteers build beautiful furniture for deserving causes and local people.")

i'll look for that.

Hey we only have 15 ballots! We gotta get this to at least 50 or so to make it worth anyone's while? Where's your ballot?

Voted! Psyched for this.

I didn't get to 25 but had more shows than I thought.

Voted!

Late to this - sorry. Would nominate Showtrial (BBC).
There's also The Serpent (BBC)
Bloodlands (BBC)
You Don't Know Me (BBC)
The Masked Singer UK s3 (ITV)
Time (BBC)
Ridley Road (BBC)

Not watched them all, apols if any aren't in 2021

Will send in my ballot!

I just voted. First time voting in this poll, but for some reason, I watched a lot of current TV this year.

Also Back to Life s2 (bbc)

In My Skin s2 (BBC3)

as noted earlier, I'm happy to take unnominated shows as long as they aired somewhere for the first time in 2021 but you'll want to campaign here if you expect anyone to vote for them but you!

I should have nominated Guerra de Vecinos aka The War Next Door on Netflix, but forgot to, so join me in voting for it if you care to!

Not nominated, but Made for Love (HBO) was good & underrated.

for any of my fellow nba heads and ILH posters out there i would like to leave a reminder for the No Dunks youtube show, i know there's still some old starters heads out there

Some stuff (mostly Youtube channels) that I neglected to nominate but voted for:

Bonding (Netflix)

It's Okay To Be Smart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Jj-sJ78O6M

Playstation Access

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KvorlE7RLw

outsidexbox

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJPpv3Rbm1I

Animal Wonders Montana

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Z44Q1RPdCo

lol totally forgot that i watched and enjoyed amazon’s “made for love” this year

will vote this weekend, don’t worry

Voted!

I ignored this until now but I voted. Things that I voted for that weren't nominated and are all great:

The Great s2 - Hulu (wtf people, this show is...great)
Genera+ion s1 - HBO (RIP)
Love Life s2 - HBO
Made for Love s1 - HBO

Would probably have voted for Miracle Workers s3 but it's not yet on a service that I have access to.

28 ballots! Beat the rush and get yours in today so that I don't bother you over the weekend!

(BTW if you submitted a ballot and haven't heard back from me, I haven't seen it... please resend!)

glad you spammed this in the threads because i absolutely didnt see until right now! rushing a ballot together

Plz do!

i voted

Hi all! Need these in over the weekend please!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCtzkaL2t_Y

ok, I voted while waiting for sleeping pill to kick in. Added a write-in for "What If...?"

We're at 32 ballots and still at a point where a well placed #1 could knock something from the top 20 into the top 10 or vice versa

Huh, completely forgt about What If. Dont think Idve voted for it, but a couple of eps were ok.

As of today, we have received votes for 171 separate programs, which is around 6 unique shows per voter! It's a wide open race.

If you're gonna vote, and if you watched teevee this past year you should, please think about getting it done over the weekend so I can start cleaning up the bulk of tabulations!

OKAY TOMORROW IS THE LAST DAY TO VOTE!
34 ballots, we're looking for another 15 to make this relevant! 50 is relevant! I checked!
If you haven't voted yet, is it even a weekend? Do it now!

I had 17 ballots for Bacharach and it was the most relevant poll ILX has ever had.

otm

Elvis poll was similar turnout iirc

We're aiming high here.

just sent a haphazard ballot

Slapped one together. Feel good about it.

I think I'll do one tomorrow

Final day to vote!

Don’t make me individually call out everybody who took part last year and hasn’t voted!

As is typical for me, a lot of my '21 viewing was of series from '20 or earlier years. We get around to things when we get around to them. But I slapped together a ballot of things on the nomination list that I liked to varying degrees, fwiw.

sent!

Okay, last call! Anybody else placing a ballot?

How about you, imago and groovypanda and abcsfk and Chinaski and Old Lunch and gyac and woof and Lavator Shemmelpeck and Thermo and Simon and jaymc and darraghmac and symsymsym and billstevejim and DJP and danzig and zchyrs and chap and jon/via/chi? Y'all hung around the thread plenty last year and no one gets in without a receipt this go round!

Okay, will close this in the AM if nobody else is coming!

We're closed! Working on tabulation now.

Tabulation also done and we're locked! If someone wants to open a campaigning thread, please feel free; otherwise I'll pop a link to the poll roll out when it gets going sometime in February.

What's the point of campaigning if the tabulation's done?

^my favorite woody guthrie song

haha

We ended up with 46 ballots and everybody's #1 making it into the 77. It's magic!

Will the rollout be next week forks?

Mmmmmmm likely need one more week to do organization

No worries, just curious

Yeah, i'm in a bit of a workstorm here so this may need to sit until late Feb/early March. apologies.

take all the time you need! we'll enjoy the rollout just as much then as we would now! (just promise you'll link it here so i don't miss it bc i never remember to check new answers)

Absolutely

Any status update on this yet?

LEAVE FORKS ALONE

no, my bad. I'll work on this over the weekend and see if we can get it rolling next week.

Have I missed the rollout or has it not happened yet?

Not yet. I assume forks has other stuff going on but I'll also add my non-pushy wish to see the results eventually

Yeah, looking forward to the results but no worries if it doesn't happen for another three, four or whatever months

Hi!

yeah i quit ilx for awhile. will be back soon

it's no frills but it should be up before the end of the year
ILX’s Top 77 Television and Streaming Video Series of 2021

yay forks! glad it's happening :)