My 20 Favorite Television Shows of 2019
“There is no answer. But Eleanor is the answer.”
For television, 2019 was a year of goodbyes. Think of all the shows that ended! I mean, you don’t really have to do that. A lot of them are listed below for you anyway. But still, it was the end of so many different eras as we venture into the brave new world without a flagship steering us there. It’s just a map of services as scattered as continent-spanning friend groups. But one way or another, we’re headed there.
That being said, this is the last chance to talk about so many of these shows and I won’t dwell on the future. I want to celebrate all they’ve given us over the years!
Before the list, some honorable mentions are in order. Hot Ones, the Internet talk show where guests eat hot wings. Miracle Workers, the TBS comedy with Daniel Radcliffe and Steve Buscemi about love at the end of the world. Dickinson, the Apple TV+ original series starring Hailee Steinfeld in an idiosyncratic take on Emily Dickinson in 1800s Amherst. You’re the Worst, the FX anti-rom-com that came to an end this year. Late Night with Seth Meyers, an always politically savvy talk show. Saturday Night Live, which would not have been mentioned here without that stellar Eddie Murphy episode.
And now that that’s been dealt with, let’s advance to the top twenty of 2019!
20. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Typically, I put Seth Meyers’ rendition of Late Night above Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show. But I don’t know, something about Fallon’s 2019 output just sits better with me. Between the stellar, rewatchable beat battles and the super cool episodes that took Fallon behind the scenes Larry Sanders-style and to Puerto Rico, I kind of think he crushed it this year. Might have been my favorite Fallon year since 2014 or 2015.
19. Bob’s Burgers
Bob’s Burgers is so consistently great that it can be hard to remember how much effort and creativity is required to keep an animated sitcom running a decade into its tenure. Two years from now, it’ll reach the point where The Simpsons began spinning its wheels. Can the Belcher family avoid the same fate? If the 2019 run of episodes is any indication, they’re going to be around for a long time to come.
18. Four Weddings and a Funeral
This was the first major show that was shepherded by Mindy Kaling that did not also star Kaling. And while I would always welcome more of her on screen, it’s clear that she is also more than capable of handling a narrative behind the scenes. This got a lot of flak from critics, but I really just embraced it as a pleasureful show. It made me happy to watch it! That should be more than enough criteria for a show to make the list, especially given the attachment I felt myself harboring for the characters as I grew increasingly eager to check in on them during the show’s run. By the finale, I was all in and it was immensely satisfying.
17. What We Do in the Shadows
Similar to Four Weddings and a Funeral, What We Do in the Shadows derives its origin on television from a preexisting movie. It shouldn’t work! That sort of idea shouldn’t pan out well except in rare cases, like M*A*S*H. And yet, 2019 produced a number of great films adapted as television series. For my money, this was one of the funniest comedies of the year and the reason why it works is because it didn’t betray anything that people loved about the movie while also giving it enough originality that it didn’t seem like they doubled down on the “popular elements” of the film. There’s a DNA at work here. And Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement appreciate every strand.
16. Mindhunter
Mindhunter shifted its focus in the second season to Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) rather than Holden Ford (Jonathan Groff) to a beautiful, thought-provoking effect. But don’t worry. Ford gets plenty to do. Whether he’s interviewing Charles Manson or headlining the short, season-wrapping arc of the BTK Killer, he still remains the beating focus of what sort of story David Fincher is trying to tell. It’s just that Tench had to undergo something truly devastating. Fun watch, right?
15. Fosse/Verdon
The first sign that I’m getting older came when I had to look up whether or not Fosse/Verdon came out in 2019. Genuinely, I could not remember. But I still love it! It was my favorite dramatic miniseries of the year and it’s been quite heartening to see Michelle Williams win practically every award for her acting category throughout the entire circuit. She deserves it! Her performance as Gwen Verdon was one of the best of the whole year.
14. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
One of television’s greatest stalwarts. No one holds a better mirror up to our country than It’s Always Sunny does and the gang behind it has somehow created a niche for themselves where the archetypes their characters are constantly digging themselves deeper into are perfect foils for any topic that interests them. An episode with them as a focus group for the latest action sequel in their universe spoke to me on a fundamental level about how I feel towards fans and their feelings of ownership towards their favorite movies.
13. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
I will not apologize! Yes, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (that’s the real title) is arguably the most cringe-worthy show I have seen in my entire life. Yes, it is probably the original Disney+ show that is the most geared towards children. And yes, I really tried to see if I could find a spot for it in my top ten. It is so quirky and weird and earnest and, actually, kind of beautiful and perfect that it can exist in this world with such sincerity. There’s no cynicism! It’s just the unconventional arcs of an unconventional group of people with soap opera-esque addictions and some of Disney’s catchiest songs. It has become a must-watch for me.
12. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Brooklyn Nine-Nine arguably experienced its funniest season during 2019. The shift to NBC didn’t stifle their momentum in the slightest. They just kept going, which is honestly kind of miraculous. I’ve written so much about this show with my dream 2019 Emmy nominations and my Best of the Decade list, but just know that the episode with Holt on Jake and Amy’s honeymoon remains very high in my own estimation.
11. Barry
If we’re talking about the best individual episodes of the year, then Barry and its “ronny/lily” installment has a compelling case for slotting in near the top of that list. But as an entire arc of a season with a story that it seemed like Bill Hader demanded to tell, Barry also holds up impeccably. Few nights were as tense as the ones when Barry overlapped with the final season of Game of Thrones. Not great for your blood pressure!
10. Stranger Things
In its third season, Stranger Things did not just return to form. It exceeded its form. I think the third installment was way better than the second season and, genuinely, better than the first season, as well. I know, I know. It’s practically sacrilege to say that. But I just loved the character dynamics of season three. The character arcs were much stronger, the humor was much more entertaining, and the stakes were much higher. It was also way more emotional than any episode outside of the one that played “Heroes” at the end. Good on the Duffer Brothers for somehow topping the lightning they once caught in a bottle. I didn’t think it’d be possible to do so.
9. Modern Love
Modern Love is an Amazon original anthology series that is based on the popular New York Times column of the same name. Each episode enlists a different star to bring the stories published in the newspaper to life. The first three episodes (“When the Doorman Is Your Main Man,” “When Cupid Is a Prying Journalist,” and “Take Me As I Am, Whoever I Am”) were so insanely good that I thought the show was about to contend for Best of 2019 status. It falls into a bit of a rut before it sticks the landing, but still, those first three episodes. Wow. They just kept getting more and more amazing; I was genuinely beside myself at how moved I felt. That’s a feeling that deserves a spot in the top ten.
8. Succession
It might be too easy to compare to the family politics and jockeying for power of Succession to Shakespeare, but I mean, it kind of is, right? And I say this as an unabashed Shakespeare lover. But the Jesse Armstrong-created HBO drama about the Roy family competing to succeed their father as the head of the company is just undeniably great. The one-liners are next level, the characters are wholly unsympathetic. And yet, you still find someone to root for along the way. Or, perhaps, someone to root against.
7. BoJack Horseman
The final season of BoJack Horseman was split in half. On the one hand, this means that we didn’t feel the full impact of the story and I couldn’t quite put the episode higher than the seventh position. On the other hand, it means we get to celebrate BoJack for another entire year and it can make this very same list once 2020 rolls around. More BoJack is never a bad thing. In the entirety of 2019, the first half of BoJack’s final season contained both the silliest episode I’d seen all year and the most poignant. The only show that can do it so well.
6. The Mandalorian
The Mandalorian is an interesting beast. No one knew what to expect, but the show we got was certainly not something that anyone expected. In vague terms, the first third of the season has a mini-arc. The second third is an adventure-of-the-week narrative. The final third has another mini-arc. Episodes rarely go above thirty-five minutes. It was completely unusual and something that I kind of had to learn how to watch. But then again, the first television series set in the Star Wars world had to be unusual. It had to be different. I appreciated it. For Baby Yoda and for the fact that Disney+ allowed it to roll episodes out week to week, rather than all it once. So much better that way, in my opinion.
5. The Good Place
Like BoJack, we’re heading to an uncertain endgame for The Good Place in January 2020. We don’t know where it’s headed. But I, for one, trust Michael Schur entirely. He and his team brought us the wrap-up for season three and the first two-thirds of season four during 2019. And yet, I’m still thinking about “The Answer,” which was the fall finale of the show. It reminded us why we’re here, why we have come all this way, and why we care about the characters. It is one of the most beautiful and daring network shows I’ve ever seen and thank god NBC took a chance on it. The above image still gives me chills.
4. Fleabag
The first season of Fleabag was good. But the second scene of Fleabag was revelatory. The “[insert age here] year old navigating life as a [insert offbeat or downtrodden career here] in the middle of [insert city here]” trope is a bit overwrought at this point, but Phoebe Waller-Bridge, as she always does, breathed new life into it. The chemistry between her as Fleabag and Andrew Scott as the hot priest is just so insanely compelling. It’s a quick watch, but I’d have been happy to see the two of them flirt forever.
3. Veep
It’s like I said. 2019 had a number of new beginnings and stunning debuts. But I’ll always remember it for the many shows that came to an end during it. Veep was one of them. And during its run on HBO, it never faltered. It was insanely funny from start to finish. Every damn minute of the show had an all-time classic joke that I just wanted to relay to my friends and family as quickly as I could. And with Reid Scott, Anna Chlumsky, Timothy Simons, Matt Walsh, Tony Hale, Gary Cole, Kevin Dunn, and the incomparable Julia Louis-Dreyfus, it had arguably the best cast of any television comedy ever. The final season of Veep was true to the spirit of the show and it matched up with everything we loved it for. And you know how good Veep is when Veep is clicking.
2. The Imagineering Story
This was my favorite new show of the year and it is my favorite Disney+ show (so far). I know that the subject matter might be a little niche for all viewers, but it was perfect for me. I’ve always admired Leslie Iwerks’ talents as a documentary filmmaker and I believe her talents translated perfectly to the small screen. Over the course of six episodes, she tells the story of Walt Disney Imagineering, the team behind the famed and beloved theme parks. There is the larger narrative at play of the team passing through time and tumult over the course of the company’s history. But there are also smaller stories that we get to know more intimately, like the reason for theme park failure in Paris and the immense success and trickery that comes with Pirates of the Caribbean. With unprecedented backstage access to the parks, The Imagineering Story is a must-watch for all.
1. Game of Thrones
I know and I’m also not interested in what you have to say. Game of Thrones was marvelous and it was baffling to me how so many people took it for granted. Even if people had (understandably) valid concerns about the final season, how could you ever say that it ruined your prior enjoyment? Those high highs, man! They’re still there! But enough said about the people who complained (do they even know what “bad writing” means). Let’s talk about all the things to love. The above reunion between Jon and Arya after sixty-six (!!) episodes apart. The tragic fall of a beloved hero. The pseudo-happy ending for some fan favorites. The breathtaking battle scenes that pitted everyone we loved against one common enemy. The final moments of Sandor Clegane. Literally everything that happened in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.” It is a show that I’ll carry with me for the rest of my life. It inspired me to read over five thousand pages of a book series. It’s a story I cared about and thought more about than any other this year. There’s no getting around it. It’s the show of 2019. And I miss it so much.
I love movies. They’re probably my favorite medium of storytelling. But television has the unique ability to make the people you check in with every week feel like old friends and family. And whether I’m saying farewell to Westeros, experiencing the wonders of the afterlife, or “navigating” the streets of London, I always feel right at home in the world of television.
See also:
My Favorite Television Shows of 2016
(#1 was Documentary Now!)
My Favorite Television Shows of 2017
(#1 was Master of None)
My Favorite Television Shows of 2018
(#1 was The Good Place)
My 75 Favorite Television Shows of the Decade
(#1 was Community)
More from the Year in Review:
My 20 Favorite Podcast Episodes of 2019
