Couch Potato 2016

These are some of the TV shows we watched this year. If your favorite show isn’t on the countdown, it means I’m not caught up with current episodes, I haven’t seen it at all, or I hate it.

10. American Horror Story. This was an improvement on the previous few seasons, which I checked out on early. There were some ridiculously Ryan Murphy moments but the structure of the show shifted enough to keep me guessing. I liked the social commentary with everybody using cameras to take footage of murder victims. It didn’t really overstay its welcome.

9. Veep. The only reason this is so low is because we haven’t seen all of season five. After the election, a story about a female president losing a race because of Electoral College shenanigans seemed too close to home so I needed a break. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is a national treasure.

8. Search Party. The irony was obvious but delicious, with Dory and her friends searching for a missing acquaintance who didn’t really want to be found and making most of it about themselves. The only thing Dory was really searching for was meaning for her life, and she wound up ruining her life and killing a guy in the process.

7. Luke Cage. This show really built up a world in its little corner of the Marvel Universe. Mike Colter was great as the principled, thoughtful, powerful Luke Cage. There were all sorts of great characters running around Harlem, like Misty Knight, Cottonmouth and Mariah Dillard.

6. Stranger Things. No deep analysis here. This show was just a fun adventure, a pitch-perfect throwback to ‘80s movies, right down to the synth theme song and Stephen King title font.

5. Better Call Saul. The stakes are lower on this Breaking Bad spinoff but it’s a treat watching Jimmy McGill transform into Saul Goodman and seeing his morals, such as they are, gradually slip. I’m loving the cat and mouse game between Jimmy and his brother and am rooting for Kim to have the career success she deserves.

4. Mr. Robot. I may have liked season two better than season one because it was very lyrical and dreamlike. The twist about Elliot’s whereabouts was obvious but I thought seeing the world through his eyes, comparing the fantasy elements to the reality, was fascinating.

3. The People Vs. OJ Simpson: American Crime Story. I had no idea that a miniseries about a 20-year-old murder case, which had already been dissected to death, would be so vastly entertaining. It’s not as much about OJ as a closer look at the actual people behind the often-caricatured lawyers Marcia Clark and Johnnie Cochran (Sarah Paulson and Courtney B. Vance, in career-best performances). A standout episode was “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia,” a revelation about the infuriating sexism Clark had to put up with.

2. Game of Thrones. Cersei, you magnificent bitch, pulling off the ultimate power move, blowing up the sept and killing your enemies in a bilious explosion of wildfire, drinking wine and looking like Maria von Trapp crossed with Rhythm Nation. What a fascinating, infuriating, sympathetic character. What the new queen did was the most jaw-dropping moment in season six, a season finale that saw King Tommen jump out a window, Queen Margaery die in wildfire (there was so much potential left with her character), the confirmation that Jon has Targaryen blood, and a bunch of other stuff. This was probably my favorite season of Game of Thrones, with great stories like the truly tragic revelation about Hodor’s life and Ramsay Bolton finally, finally dying after the incredible “Battle of the Bastards.” The chess pieces appear to be set for the end of the story.

1. The Americans. As great as Game of Thrones was, The Americans deserved the Best Drama Emmy for probably its best season yet. I’m just glad there were finally some award nominations the show and for the terrific performances of Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys as Soviet spies. The show juggled some major plot points and nailed them all. The overarching story was Paige’s discomfort with having to spy on Pastor Tim, meeting her mother’s terrifying anger as Elizabeth viciously tells her daughter to “find some other shit to volunteer for at that goddamn church.” The show managed to make the execution of Nina, which everybody saw coming for at least a season, still shocking when it happened. The betrayal of Young-Hee and Don was absolutely brutal as the Jenningses ruined the couple’s life to gain nothing at all, and Elizabeth lost a friend. Martha’s arc was harrowing, and the scenes when she made panicked phone calls in the park while surrounded by the FBI, with Elizabeth stalking her, were like a stress test for the heart. The show handled this perfectly, with Martha’s exile, and heartbreaking realization that she would be alone again, more haunting than her death would have been. William’s story as the spy denied a personal life before dying from a biological weapon was drily amusing and depressing. His stunning deathbed monologue about Philip and Elizabeth could serve as a thesis statement on the series itself: “A couple kids … The American dream … Never suspect them … She’s pretty. He’s lucky.” In their mission for the USSR, has the Jennings family inadvertently achieved that American dream that they’re working so hard against? With so many players and storylines cleared after season four, I don’t know where The Americans is going but I can’t wait to find out.