Year-End Best TV of 2024

Made a thread like this last year - meant to be a place to link any critics lists we come across, as well as to share your own favorites of the year too.

Kicking off, here’s the https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/30/arts/television/best-tv-shows-2024.html">NY Times

Spelling out the NYT lists

James Poniewozik / Best of 2024
English Teacher
Fantasmas
Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show
John Mulaney: Everybody’s in LA
My Brillant Friend
Say Nothing
Shogun
Somebody Somewhere
Summer Olympics
We Are Lady Parts

Honorable Mentions: “Baby Reindeer” (Netflix), “The Decameron” (Netflix), “The Diplomat” (Netflix), “Evil” (Paramount+), “Hacks” (Max), “St. Denis Medical” (NBC), “Sunny” (Apple TV+), “The Sympathizer” (HBO), “The Vince Staples Show” (Netflix)

Flawed But Fascinating: “The Bear” (FX), “My Lady Jane” (Amazon Prime Video), “3 Body Problem” (Netflix)

Mike Hale / Best International Shows
Babylon Berlin
Blue Lights
The Confidante
The Day of the Jackal
Everything is Fine
Kleo
The Lesson
A Shop for Killers
Until I Kill You
Without Sin

And 10 more equally deserving series: “All and Eva,” Sweden (Viaplay); “Fleeting Lies,” Spain (Hulu); “Funny Woman,” Britain (PBS); “Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born,” Korea (Hulu); “The Long Shadow,” Britain (Acorn TV); “The Mothers of Penguins,” Poland (Netflix); “Slow Horses” Season 4, Britain (Apple TV+); “My Brilliant Friend” Season 4, Italy (HBO); “Unsilenced,” Israel (ChaiFlicks); “Where’s Wanda?,” Germany (Apple TV+).

Margaret Lyons / Best Shows That Ended
The Big Door Prize
Chad
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Evil
My Brilliant Friend
My Lady Jane
Rap Sh!t
Somebody Somewhere
Sweet Tooth
What We Do in the Shadows

Also critic Liz Shannon Miller made this google sheet of (nearly?) everything that came out in 2024 for reference: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/0/d/1RGHnLUI0uOcHiNL-bbZHdx96kRhx8Htys3gBQdo13I0/htmlview

Evil - shame it got cancelled right as it embraced gonzo incoherence
Slow Horses - best season so far
Bad Monkey - could have used more monkey but still pretty good
True Detective: Night Country - excellent use of drone shots to highlight the inky darkness of everywhere not touched by a neon sign in an Alaskan town
The Old Man - the amount of editing and stunt work required to make Jeff Bridges look good as a 900 year old action here must be staggering

Started, did not finish - Shogun, The Three Body Problem

Suspicious of motives, unsure about watching - Say Nothing

Four critics from Vulture weigh in:

Jen Chaney:

10. True Detective: Night Country
9. Fantasma
8. Bad Monkey
7. Extraordinary
6. Shogun
5. Girls5eva
4. John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA
3. Evil
2. Ripley
1. Somebody Somewhere

Roxana Hadadi:

10. Photographer
9. We Are Lady Parts
8. Industry
7. X-Men 97
6. The Acolyte
5. Tokyo Vice
4. The Old Man
3. Interview with the Vampire
2. Ripley
1. Shogun

Jackson McHenry:

10. Say Nothing
9. The Acolyte
8. Fantasmas
7. English Teacher
6. Girls5eva
5. Elsbeth
4. Shogun
3. Interview with the Vampire
2. Somebody Somewhere
1. Industry

Kathryn VanArendonk:

10. Slow Horses
9. Couples Therapy
8. Evil
7. Ripley
6. The Decameron
5. Colin from Accounts
4. Industry
3. John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA
2. Shogun
1. Somebody Somewhere

Other Highlights from the Year:

Hacks
Conan O'Brien Must Go
Under the Bridge
3 Body Problem
One Day
Abbott Elementary
The Traitors
Fargo

No mention of Ren Faire. That was the best tv show (if a 4 part documentary counts) I watched this year.

Glad to see Somebody Somewhere getting its accolades. I haven’t watched the new/final season yet but the first two were marvelous and under-recognized.

Also I’ve now seen The Decameron on two lists. I tried watching it the other night and thought it was just awful.

new season of Somebody Somewhere is good.

I've never watched Somebody Somewhere but apparently one of my favorite actors, Olafur Olafsson, is a guest star so maybe I should check it out.

Not a big TV guy but this year I enjoyed Shogun, We Are Lady Parts, Culinary Class Wars and the pilot of Pendleton Ward's new Mystery Cuddlers show. Best thing I saw all year though is A House Through Time S5, dunno how easy it is to access outside the UK but it is very worth it.

Manhunt - Apple TV thing about the hunt for John Wilkes Booth after the assassination of Lincoln - was gripping but doomed to obscurity by its bafflingly generic title. Tobias Menzies was superb.
Couples Therapy S4 reliably great.
Finally came round to the glory of Colin from Accounts. Now can't stop quoting it in a bad aussie accent.
Only Murders S4 was an improvement on S3.
Mr and Mrs Smith was good but feels like ages ago but apparently 2024?

For me:

Fargo
Blue Eye Samurai (technically late 2023 but whatever)
Girls5evah
Shogun
Kaos
English Teacher
Monsieur Spade
Only Murders (I guess)
What We Do in the Shadows obviously
Midnight Diner (old but new to me)

Culinary Class Wars definitely up there for me! I just don't really bother about years anymore when it comes to t.v. i often have no idea when something came out. If that last season of Fargo was this year then that was a fave of mine. And Baby Reindeer definitely stuck with me! hoo boy. shout-out to the last seasons of The Amazing Race and Master Chef because nobody else is gonna shout them out and they were fun seasons!
if the Egghead Island Arc of One Piece counted as a season that might be my fave thing when all is said and done. it was such a relief after the endlessness of Wano. and ALL the sub-plot stuff is great. plus, it is done for the year. not coming back until spring i think.

i watch a ton of t.v. and there is SO MUCH stuff on this thread that i haven't seen and a lot of it is stuff i will probably never see. i don't watch too many of the big shows. with big names. made with a lot of money. i'm still working my way through old shows.

Song of the Bandits! I loved that show. might be earlier than 2024 though. i would totally watch that again.

I was paging through the new issue of Artforum and they include a Best TV of the Year section - maybe the one and only time they cover television? Anyway it was an odd list so worth sharing:

1. Very Delta
2. Interview with the Vampire
3. Vestidas de Azul (Dressed in Blue)
4. Sort Of (CBC)
5. Abbott Elementary
6. Fantasmas (Max)
7. How to Die Alone (Hulu)
8. The Regime (Max)
9. Lee Daniels, The Deliverance (Netflix)
10. For the Love of Dilfs (OUTtv)

i stopped watching How To Die Alone. i really liked the first 2 episodes and then i just....eh.

True Detective S4 is the only thing mentioned here that I’ve seen

Like skot, I watch a lot of TV and haven’t seen most of these

Long Shadow was okay … probably the most interesting thing about it was when it addressed social mores re women and sex work. Otherwise it was just an above average procedural.

Kleo — glad it got props!

i'm glad you liked Kleo! i brought it up on the t.v. thread and it didn't seem like anyone had enjoyed it.

i still haven't watched S2 though. just S1.

This year I liked and would recommend:

Fallout
The Penguin
Girls5eva
Tokyo Vice
Presumed Innocent
Shogun
3 Body Problem
Abbott Elementary S3 (haven't watched S4 yet)

a weak year overall but there's still things I want to see that I'll probably get to next year. case in point, here's four 2023 shows I loved that I only saw this year:

Fargo
Blue Eye Samurai
Scavengers Reign
I'm a Virgo

Robert Lloyd / LA Times:

The Completely Made-Up Adventures of Dick Turpin; Renegade Nell; Time Bandits
Shogun
Vince Staples Show / Fantasmas
A Man on the Inside / English Teacher
Palm Royale
Dark Matter / Constellation
A Gentleman in Moscow / The Sympathizer
Queenie
We Were the Lucky Ones
Under the Bridge / Land of Women / Elsbeth

Anyone putting Constellation on their EOY list is immediately suspect, in my book.

Palm Royale was pretty meh too, I thought. Ditto English Teacher, though I realize I’m in the minority there.

the tv blog og, alan sepinwall, dropped his list over at rolling stone: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-lists/best-tv-shows-2024-1235188199/

10. true detective: night country
9. my brilliant friend
8. a man on the inside
7. fantasmas
6. shrinking
5. what we do in the shadows
4. mr. and mrs. smith
3. ripley
2. shogun
1. somebody, somewhere

EW’s 20 best TV episodes of 2024

I guess I need to give Fantasmas another try. Seems like it’s the most common thread across all these lists

my two favorite TV shows of 2024 are The Diplomat S2 and Disclaimer, which haven't been mentioned here

after those:

Baby Reindeer
Shogun
Pachinko S 2
True Detective: Night Country
Fargo S 5
Slow Horses S 4

I’m only on the first season of Somebody Somewhere and just started Shrinking.

Ripley was ok. Industry was somewhat ok, Presumed Innocent was iffy, English Teacher started out ok but got worse by the episode, Palm Royale was very mediocre, The Regime was bad, and A Man In Full was very bad. I enjoyed watching Abbott Elementary and Only Murders In the Building, but wouldn’t consider them the best of anything.

Aw I liked The Regime a lot. And I thought the English Teacher was great too.

Andrew Scott aside, I didn’t get the love for Ripley. This material demands a certain degree of lushness and excess, as previous versions demonstrated. This one felt sterile.

Slate

Shogun
The Franchise
Baby Reindeer
English Teacher
Jerrod Carmichael Reality Show
Love Island USA
Hacks
Girls5eva
Industry
The Sympathizer

Honorable mentions:

Ripley
Interview with the Vampire
Bad Monkey
3 Body Problem
One Day

Can't believe they remade One Day and still didn't use Billy Bragg's "St Swithins Day"

Shocked to see The Franchise in one of these lists. It was... okay. But not better than okay.

I forgot that Expats miniseries is from this year, it premiered in January.

This is my favorite show of the year

My favorite shows of the year:

1. House of the Dragon
2. English Teacher
3. Shogun
4. Fargo
5. Ripley
6. Arcane
7. The Diplomat
8. Slow Horses
9. Abbott Elementary
10. Star Wars: The Bad Batch
11. The Regime
12. The Old Man
13. True Detective: Night Country
14. The Traitors
15. Mr & Mrs Smith

Honorable mentions:

Fallout, What We Do in the Shadows, Say Nothing, Only Murders, The Gentlemen, Colin from Accounts, Top Chef, Great British Baking Show, Sexy Beast, Bob’s Burgers, Below Deck, Sunny, Dr Who

i have a lot to watch still but my faves were shogun, baby reindeer, hacks, what we do in the shadows, english teacher, and fargo

oh, the sympathizer was also pretty good! hotd had its moments! and silo, i'm enjoying this season so far.

The Sympathizer did the novel justice. A better adaptation than the overpraised Ripley.

you guys should check out Song of the Bandits if you are looking for a period-drama with tons of cool action. you get the Japanese army fighting Korean freedom fighters and also the Chinese are in there for good measure. set during the Japanese occupation of Korea. its one of the best westerns i've watched in a while. 9 episodes.

_The Sympathizer_ did the novel justice. A better adaptation than the overpraised _Ripley_.

Ripley was beautiful in many ways, which redeems it, but it was also just relentlessly morose I thought. Kind of how I felt about All Of Us Strangers, also starring Andrew Scott. Haven't seen The Sympathizer, I didn't like the book much but suspect I might like the show better

It has many of the strengths of the book without the occasionally florid prose.

Since they cover the calendar year, here are the Golden Globes nominations that came out today. Full list including actor categories and all the film categories in the link, but here are the shows that got nominated:

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

THE DAY OF THE JACKAL (PEACOCK)
THE DIPLOMAT (NETFLIX)
MR. & MRS. SMITH (PRIME VIDEO)
SHŌGUN (FX/HULU)
SLOW HORSES (APPLE TV+)
SQUID GAME (NETFLIX)

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – MUSICAL OR COMEDY

ABBOTT ELEMENTARY (ABC)
THE BEAR (FX/HULU)
THE GENTLEMEN (NETFLIX)
HACKS (HBO | MAX)
NOBODY WANTS THIS (NETFLIX)
ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING (HULU)

BEST TELEVISION LIMITED SERIES, ANTHOLOGY SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

BABY REINDEER (NETFLIX)
DISCLAIMER (APPLE TV+)
MONSTERS: THE LYLE AND ERIK MENENDEZ STORY (NETFLIX)
THE PENGUIN (HBO | MAX)
RIPLEY (NETFLIX)
TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY (HBO | MAX)

nobody wants this: the golden globe awards

haha

PS I don't care how many noms they give it there is no way I'm watching the Menendez show.

True Detective: Night Country

Bad Monkey

Somebody Somewhere

Industry

Conan O'Brien Must Go

Fargo
Mr. & Mrs Smith
Baby Reindeer
Man on the Inside
Shrinking

Often these awards cover things that came out last calendar year - sometimes not even the most recent season by that point - so it is weird to see Squid Game earn a nomination when it's not out yet

Yeah seems cheap - the show debuts in the very last week of the year

This year:

Loved:
Shrinking
Celebrity Race Across the World
Lower Decks

Loved but that’s nothing new:
University Challenge

Very good:
Say Nothing
Colin From Accounts
Man on the Inside
Couples Therapy

Fun:
The Acolyte
Slow Horses
3 Body Problem
The Seth Cohen Veronica Mars thing I can’t even remember the name of

Loved late discovery:
Deadloch

Loved really, really late discovery:
DS9 season 4

Thing I’d been somewhat resistant to but suddenly really enjoyed:
Bake Off Extra Slice

havent watched a ton of stuff this yr, scrolling this thread the only things i liked at the john mulaney everyones in LA and only murders

true detective night country and disclaimer i watched and were mostly bad

The Seth Cohen Veronica Mars thing I can’t even remember the name of

Nobody Wants This. Agree that it's fun--the banter between Bell and her sister is a highlight--but padded with supporting characters that occasionally grind the whole thing to a halt. It was getting to the point where we wanted to hit fast forward any time the brother showed up.

from this year I watched
Doctor Who
Only Murders in the Building
What we do in the shadows
Baby Reindeer
Jeopardy!
X-Men 97

they were all good.

also Brilliant Minds which is good bad. a medical show where 2 patients have retrograde amnesia in the first 3 episodes.

Another wave of EOY lists incoming. First up, The Hollywood Reporter. Two critics offer their top 10s.

Daniel Feinberg:
1. My Brilliant Friend
2. Ripley
3. Fantasmas
4. Welcome to Wrexham
5. Pachinko
6. Shogun
7. Shrinking
8. Hacks
9. Evil
10. One Hundred Years of Solitude

Angie Han:
1. Somebody Somewhere
2. We Are Lady Parts
3. Fantasmas
4. Ripley
5. Interview with the Vampire
6. Extraordinary
7. Baby Reindeer
8. Manhunt
9. True Detective: Night Country
10. Shogun

And the AV Club did a top 25:

25. Mr & Mrs Smith
24. A Man on the Inside
23. Batman: Caped Crusader
22. The Bear
21. The Acolyte
20. We Are Lady Parts
19. Dan Da Dan
18. Girls5eva
17. Slow Horses
16. True Detective: Night Country
15. Arcane
14. Agatha All Along
13. Somebody Somewhere
12. English Teacher
11. Hacks
10. Abbott Elementary
9. Fantasmas
8. What We Do in the Shadows
7. Baby Reindeer
6. Industry
5. Evil
4. Ripley
3. X-Men 97
2. Interview with the Vampire
1. Shogun

Sean T Collins (NYT, Decider):

15. Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power
14. Presumed Innocent
13. Tokyo Vice
12. The Old Man
11. The Regime
10. Fallout
9. Disclaimer
8. Them
7. Shogun
6. Supersex
5. Sexy Beast
4. Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story
3. Interview with the Vampire
2. House of the Dragon
1. Industry

(oops, here's the link to Sean's Patreon)

I would like to see several of the shows on these lists.

I loved Elena Ferrante's Neapolitan Quartet, especially My Brilliant Friend, but they were deeply weird novels and I suspect I won't like any attempt at a television show about them

(I haven't seen it yet)

I loved the first season of My Brilliant Friend but never got around to watching the others. Based on what I’ve seen though I totally believe anyone who says it’s a terrific show.

i haven't finished my brilliant friend either, but the feeling of deja vu i got from watching two seasons of it was almost eerie. i've never gotten that from any other tv/film adaptation of something i've read. it's pretty impressive

Rolling Stone’s The 10 Best TV Episodes of 2024

NPR TV critic Eric Deggans:

Shogun
The Penguin
Fight Night
Shrinking
Steve! (Martin)
Superman: The Christopher Reeve Story
Photographer
Slow Horses
The Diplomat
True Detective: Night Country
Have I Got News for You