My 20 Favorite Television Shows of 2020

As always, I'm introducing my television wrap-up list by giving an update on my quest to watch less than 100 shows in a year.  I may have failed in the previous years, but folks, I finally did it.  In 2020, I fully watched -- meaning I saw every episode a series aired in the calendar year -- only 93 shows.  I'd like to thank my dear friend, the novel coronavirus, without whom none of this would be possible.

If you're thinking "93 shows is still too much television," well, you wouldn't be wrong.  That's not even counting the many shows I checked out for one or two episodes and then quit.  Despite some seasons getting pushed back and others getting cut short, there was still an avalanche of television put out this year.  Out of any small crack in the landscape will pop a new streaming service these days, so now along with the usual suspects, we had Peacock originals and HBO Max originals and, for a brief period of time, Quibi originals (RIP).  It's hard to even consider myself a TV expert anymore.  Any time I tell somebody that I watch alot of TV, they'll inevitably say something like "Oh cool, have you seen that new Netflix show about the anthropomorphic cat who's also a depressed sex worker?"  Before you fire up your search engine, that show does not actually exist, but the point is that there's a whole culture of streaming service crate-digging that I'm just not keyed into at all.

Despite my decreasing completionism, my love of the medium hasn't abated.  2020 was an excellent year in television -- it may not have had the depth of previous years, but the sheer breadth of it was refreshing and exciting.  The best of what the year had to offer came in so many different forms, including anime, docuseries, and especially the increasingly popular limited series format.  There was also a great mix of old favorites and new surprises.  In fact, the number one entry on this list was a sensation that nobody saw coming.  What show is that?  Find out below!

The rules: Last year I implemented a new rule to help account for streaming seasons that got dropped at the end of the year, and I'll be continuing that this year.  So for any show whose entire season drops at once, the eligibility window for this list is if that season dropped between December 13, 2019 and December 10, 2020.   So season 2 of You, which Netflix dropped all at once on December 26, 2019, is eligible for this list.  Any streaming season that dropped after December 10th of this year will be eligible for next year's list.  I know it's confusing but that's the only why I can maintain my sanity and not have to catch up on things at the very last minute.  Thankfully the rules are simpler for shows that air weekly.  For those cases, any episode that aired between January 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020 are considered for this ranking.

Honorable Mentions (25-21)
Primal (Adult Swim) came back even more ferocious in this year's batch of episodes, and it continues to be one of the best displays of pure visual storytelling on television.  Arguments about whether it's a movie or TV show shouldn't distract from the power of Small Axe (Amazon Prime), Steve McQueen's excellent anthology of UK stories centering around West Indian life.  The single camera sitcom is currently having a dull period, but Mythic Quest (Apple TV+) is one of the best to come around in a few years, thanks to its hilarious workplace antics and fun ensemble.  In its third season, Search Party (HBO Max) pivoted to courtroom satire, another great avenue to show off the show's razor-sharp character work.  Every episode of the singular comedic docuseries How To with John Wilson (HBO) featured something unexpected, whether it was a deranged story turn, a left-field moment of pathos, or an extended detour about foreskin.

20. Dave (FXX)

If there's any case for not judging a book by its cover, let it be FXX's Dave.  From the fact that it stars joke rapper Lil Dicky to the incessant promos at the beginning of the year, the show seemed like an annoying disaster at worst and an amusing trifle at best.  Instead, what we got was the best new comedy of the year.  Packed with a highly specific sense of humor, a playful sense of surreality, and a fun take on the rap world, the show coaxes laughs out of you with ease and frequency.  But most impressive of all is its willingness to break from Dave's point of view and focus on the supporting cast, particularly Lil Dicky's hypeman GaTa, who's the funniest character and also turns out to contain hidden depths.  Throughout its first season, Dave keeps piling on more surprises and delights.  You won't regret giving it a chance.

19. The Last Dance (ESPN)

Last year, any person who follows TV closely would have told you that event television died with the ending of Game of Thrones.  But for five glorious weeks in the beginning of lockdown this year it was alive and well with the airing of The Last Dance, the docuseries chronicling the 1997-98 Chicago Bulls season and Michael Jordan's career as a whole.  Everyone and their mother, basketball fan or not, seemed to be watching as it was on.  And with good reason too -- this 10-part series reminded us that Michael Jordan is not only one of the greatest athletes of all time, but also one of the greatest sports personalities of all time.  The insane competitiveness, the unrelenting drive, the willingness to clown on any and everyone; seeing it all laid out together made for compelling television and even better memes.  Despite the fact that anyone who loves basketball knew much of what the series depicts, it was still impressively satisfying drama.  On some level, The Last Dance is just nostalgia bait, but sometimes art hits at the exact right moment.

18. The Good Fight (CBS All Access)

Four seasons in and ostensible legal drama The Good Fight is still finding zany new ways to engage with current events and our political climate.  This year, there was an episode set in an alternative universe where Hilary Clinton won the 2016 election, but Harvey Weinstein was still a powerful movie executive who was never brought down by sexual misconduct allegations.  There was an episode that featured an extended parody of Jeremy O. Harris' racial roleplay drama Slave Play.  There was an episode titled "The Gang Discovers Who Killed Jeffrey Epstein" about, well, I'm sure you can guess what.  It would be insufferable if it wasn't such a delight, and if the writers weren't also juggling engaging legal plots along with it.  The only shame is that the pandemic abruptly cut this season short.  Who knows how much crazier it could have gotten.

17. BNA: Brand New Animal (Netflix/Japan)

This year the beloved anime production company Studio Trigger returned with BNA, a series set in a world where humans cohabitate with humanoid animals known as beastmen.  That premise is used as a jumping off point for the show's metaphors about racism and xenophobia, which are quite thoughtful if not always subtle.  But let's be honest, this is Studio Trigger we're talking about here -- the team that gave us series famous for their incredible animation and unique art style like Gurren Lagann, Kill La Kill, and Little Witch Academia -- so the main draw here is how it looks.  And BNA really does look superb, full of eye-popping colors and sequences of off-the-charts sakuga.  Trigger's signature Western-tinged style and simple character designs allows for fluidity in movement, which they use to bend frames to their limit.  Even at times when the story falters, the visual candy is more than enough to keep you sated.

16. Mrs. America (FX)

TV has advanced as a medium enough that it no longer seems like a movie star is slumming it when they're in a television series, but it still feels like a big deal that Cate Blanchett stars in Mrs. America.  She disappears into the role of Phyllis Schlafly, the conservative figure who played a crucial role in trying to quash the passing of the Equal Rights Amendment, embodying her tenacity and showmanship so thoroughly that it never stops feeling like you're watching a master at the peak of their craft.  But to the show's benefit, it's much more of an ensemble piece than the promotion would have you believe.  Mrs. America expands with each episode, digging into the stories of many of the women on both sides of the fight with a keen eye and an open heart.  Backed by excellent direction, every moment is focused on the characters' thoughts and feelings, hopes and disappointments, maximizing its ideas and emotions with the minimum amount of words and gestures.  So many shows are preoccupied with plot that it's almost startling to see a show sit with characters as they act and react.  The emotional radius of this miniseries is immense.

15. City So Real (National Geographic)

America to Me was the number one show on the 2018 version of this list, and this year the great documentarian Steve James came back with another excellent portrait of Chicago.  City So Real cuts a wider swath, juggling three main plotlines -- police violence, the slow creep of gentrification, and the 2019 mayoral election -- deftly showing not only how they all weave together, but how each subsection of this intricate city plays a different role.  James has an unobtrusive interest in civics and people, and the best moments of the docuseries are the frequent instances where he just lets the camera observe ordinary institutional processes play out.  The disingenuous nature of the political game is laid bare over the course of its five parts, but you may come away inspired by the power of the individual spirit, and how culture can still thrive under the worst circumstances.

14. The Plot Against America (HBO)

At this point, you can just expect David Simon to produce excellent television whenever he steps up to the plate.  A year after the great series The Deuce ended, he returned with an adaptation of Philip Roth's The Plot Against America, an alternative history novel that charts the political rise of Charles Lindbergh in the 1940s, and the fascism that ferments in its wake.  Despite its status as a work of fiction, its depiction of the way power conglomerates and how hate can win is all too real.  Lest it feel like a distanced intellectual exercise, its focus on the events through the eyes of a working class Jewish family gives it a powerful human element.  Backed by incredible performances -- particularly Zoe Kazan, who steals the show -- to match the fantastic writing, The Plot Against America was just the splash of cold water that was necessary this year.

13. My Brilliant Friend (HBO)

International co-productions have become more common on HBO as its purchase by AT&T led to an increase in their content slate, but back in 2018 the first season of the Italian series My Brilliant Friend felt like a marvel.  Even now that international series on HBO are more of a norm, the series still stands out as one of the best.  Season two broadened the scope of the story, following Elena and Lila into adulthood after their lives take divergent paths, but it was still just as rich and engrossing as the first season.  The tumultuous relationship between these women is wonderfully wrought, as is the drama among the entire web of supporting characters, and it's all filmed with such precise intensity.  My Brilliant Friend shows how impressive soaps can be when they're operating at the highest level.

12. Normal People (Hulu)

Sally Rooney's 2018 novel Normal People was a stellar story about the complex relationship between two individuals as they age into adulthood, but adapting it seemed like a tricky task in theory.  Part of what's rewarding about the book is the lacerating internal monologuing Rooney employs, not to mention the fact that the narrative plays out over the course of many years, both of which are difficult to depict onscreen.  Thankfully, the visual translation works wonders, pulling off the magic trick of being almost entirely faithful to the plot of the novel while providing a different emotional experience.  Without the book's probing prose, alot of the subtle emotional shifts fall on the shoulders of lead actors Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones, who convey Connell and Marianne's bracing dynamic with aplomb.  Normal People's story of sex, class, and the twin journeys that come together and fall apart over time is intensely moving, and it provides some of the most emotionally open moments I've ever seen on TV.

11. Legacies (CW)

Thanks to the pandemic, we were only blessed with eight episodes of Legacies this year.  While the third season got pushed back to early 2021, the back half of season two at the beginning of this year was such a joy that it more than earned its spot on the list.  Simply put, this spinoff-of-a-spinoff fantasy show set at a magic school is one of the most fun shows on the air.  There's no concept too wacky and no twist too wild for the series, all while having the rock solid structural chops that keep every episode fast-paced and thrilling.  The CW has become full of turgid DC shows and past-their-prime genre relics, but Legacies is still carrying the flame for what once was one of the most exciting networks for a while.

10. I May Destroy You (HBO)

There's nothing better than a big swing in television.  I May Destroy You starts with the pretty straightforward premise of a woman trying to unravel the mystery of her sexual assault, but it slowly begins to reveal itself to have a much wider perspective than it initially lets on.  Across its different storylines, the show muses on various breaches of boundaries and consent, and how they all inform each other and exist on a spectrum.  And the season plays with form, point of view, and expectations freely, expanding to the point where it feels like it contains the whole universe within it.  Not all of its choices work -- whatever the show is trying to say about social media and digital personas feels nebulous at best -- but that's a tradeoff you'll be willing to take when so many of the show's reaches work.  I May Destroy You is a fully living and breathing work, and watching it unfold is an electrifying experience.

9. Curb Your Enthusiasm (HBO)

The two and a half months before the pandemic became a serious concern in America feel like an entire lifetime ago, so it's easy to forget that there was a new season of Curb Your Enthusiasm this year.  That would be a shame though, because the 10th season of the show was true excellence.  After a three year break and a ninth season that not everyone enjoyed, the farcical adventures of Larry David came back with a surprising sharpness, riffing on topical things like MAGA hats and Harvey Weinstein while also inventing delightful new Curb-isms like spite stores and pee cubes.  The show's ability to thread several comedic premises and have them pay off in symphony is unlike anything else, and this season especially reminded us why Larry David is a master.

8. Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! (Crunchyroll/Japan)

Art about making art runs the risk of being navel gazing, but if it pushes the right buttons it can result in something transcendent.  Such is the case with Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!, the latest work from the prolific anime auteur Masaaki Yuasa.  The key is the angle the story approaches the material from, choosing to make it about a trio of high school girls who come together to make anime as opposed to a group of experts doing so.  Bursting at the seams with exuberance, the show embodies the joy of creation with its striking direction, fluid animation, and fantastical brainstorming sequences.  But along the way it also doubles as a wholesome story of friendship, and how beautiful it can be to bond with people over a shared goal.

7. Better Call Saul (AMC)

Since the show's inception, Better Call Saul has basically been two series in one -- the legal half featuring Jimmy and Kim, and the drug trade half featuring Mike and Gus -- and while the first four seasons did an excellent job of keeping these separate parts compelling on their own, it always felt like buildup to when those worlds would collide.  They finally did in its fifth and best season, which upped the stakes and brought the show's simmering tendencies to a boil.  Better Call Saul has always had a high degree of difficulty, but season five felt particularly skillful in its weaving of threads from disparate corners of the universe, all while keeping the fidelity of its characters intact.  There have always been assertions that Better Call Saul is a better series than Breaking Bad, which felt like people trying their best to stake claim on a hip take, but this year that really seemed possible.

6. Devs (FX)

The limited series format has been having a big moment for the last few years, often offering filmmakers the opportunity to tell the kind of stories they can't make on the big screen anymore.  Sometimes that leads to distended storytelling, but sometimes you get Alex Garland's heady Devs.  Garland brings his usual methodical, slow-burn style that he brought to great sci-fi films like Ex Machina and Annihilation, but the freedom of the eight-episode length allows for that style to really cook.  If that pace didn't work for you in a movie format, Devs may make you want to rip your hair out, but if you're willing to meet the show at its tempo, it offers up a fascinating, mysterious work of speculative fiction that muses on determinism while delivering wonderful twists and turns along the way.

5. The Baby-Sitter's Club (Netflix)

Television has always been sorely lacking in an equivalent to middle grade fiction, generally jumping from cartoons and multi-cam comedies for small children straight to sexy CW shows for older teens.  How fitting that the rare great middle grade show comes in the form of an adaptation of one of the most famous book series of all time: The Baby-Sitter's Club.  If you even have a passing familiarity with the books, you know the archetypes of the titular babysitters -- Kristy is a bossy tomboy, Mary Anne is bookish and shy, Claudia is the artistic one, Stacy is boy-crazy and fashionable, and Dawn...is from California -- but over the show's first season, the characters only get deeper and more personable thanks to revolving spotlight episodes.  The Baby-Sitter's Club uses the job-of-the-week format to tell stories that delicately balance being funny and effervescent while also tackling issues like gender identity, chronic illness, and divorce.  All of that makes it not only the surprise gem of the year, but as good of an adaptation of a beloved series as one could hope for.

4. The Magicians (Syfy)

Over the past decade, genre television has slowly crawled out the ghetto of low budgets and Friday night timeslots -- hits like Game of Thrones and Westworld made sure that fantasy and sci-fi were allowed to play at the prestige table.  But for five glorious seasons, The Magicians was one of the last flag-bearers of the kind of genre storytelling that dominated the 90s and early 2000s, chugging along with a reckless abandon and sense of play that highbrow shows have become afraid of.  It was able to get away with its fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants approach because of the genuine creativity of the writing staff and the engaging ensemble cast, and things were no different in the show's final season, a touching, funny, and imaginative goodbye to Fillory and friends.

3. The Eric Andre Show (Adult Swim)

After a four year hiatus, The Eric Andre Show returned for its fifth season, and though there were some changes to the show -- including co-host Hannibal Burress leaving -- there were no signs of rust.  It's still the reigning champion of having more laughs per minute than any other show on television, continuing its bizarro approach to the late night talk show format and deranged style of upping the comedic stakes.  The chaotic "celebrity" interviews are always a treat, but the man-on-the-street prank segments are the uproarious highlight of every episode.  New bits and characters like Mike Penis ("I'm named after my father's penis!") were introduced, but old favorites like the Ranch guy make hilarious returns.  The Eric Andre Show's brevity is a part of the appeal, but with how consistently funny it still is, you almost wish it could last longer.

2. PEN15 (Hulu)

Far too often comedies sacrifice laughs for heart, resulting in shows that are barely funny but flatter audiences with their sense of niceness.  On the other end of the spectrum, you can go too far and produce a joke machine that's full of laughs but feels robotic.  PEN15 seems to have cracked the code.  It's one of the most hilarious shows running right now, so perfectly attuned to both the tiny eccentricities of its two leads (Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, giving two all-timer comedic performances) and the cringey artifacts of early 2000s nostalgia.  And yet the laughs never get in the way of genuinely satisfying emotional beats exploring friendship and the indignities of adolescent life.  Even in its second season, which may have been better than the first, the show feels like a miracle highwire act.  While we may not want to relive our own teenage years, it's joy to watch these two women in their 30s do so.

1. The Queen's Gambit (Netflix)

Look, I watch a ton of TV.  When so much of it is merely serviceable -- especially as it increasingly feels like networks and streaming services only create shows to feed the perpetual content mill -- the pursuit of watching and studying television can feel like a waste of time.  But I do it in the hope that the latest thing I check out will be something truly great, something that reminds me why I love the medium so much in the first place.  The Queen's Gambit is that show.  A series that's ostensibly about chess, a boring and complicated game to most, should be difficult to get into, but it's used as a vessel for a riveting bildungsroman about a woman who's both blessed and cursed with the gift of being incredible at it.  The miniseries feels so rich and alive, with every relationship and interaction playing out with a surprising depth, on top of the thrilling nature of the chess narrative.  It's also a terrific depiction of how terrifying it is to be "special," and what it means when that's not enough.  You'll have a hard time going back to anything else after watching something this cerebral, heartbreaking, and electric.  The Queen's Gambit is the best show of 2020, and it's not even close.

Well, that wraps things up for my best shows of 2020 list.  I love reading other lists, so feel free to share yours in the comments.  Or if you want to share your thoughts on my list, then you can do that too!  To see a complete inventory of all the TV I watched this year (with even more rankings), you can find it on this Google Doc.

Previous lists
2019

2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013