My 20 Favorite Television Shows of 2021

Another year, another pandemic-assisted successful attempt to watch less than 100 shows.  Last year I watched 93 TV shows, and in 2021 I shaved that number down 87 shows watched in full (meaning I saw every episode the show aired in the calendar year).  Most people found themselves watching more TV while staying indoors, and here I am passing by in the opposite direction.  I might not even be able to consider myself a television freak anymore.  Have I developed any sort of personality in place of that identity?  My lawyers have advised me to not answer that question.

Maybe part of the reason I watched less was because for a while I thought the television landscape was...pretty lackluster this year, at least until a few bangers came in and saved the day in the 11th hour.  Then after some consideration, I realized that my love of the TV drama was skewing my perception, since really it was only a weak year for dramas.  Comedy had a good 2021 and it was a great year for anime, so you'll be seeing a larger proportion of both of those groups than usual in this list.

Another trend I noticed is a recession of shows that aired on actual, you know, television.  13 of the 20 shows on my final list were available exclusively on streaming services, a count that I think is higher than ever.  FX, which used to be my favorite network, only has a place on this list in the form of its FXX sister channel.  This would usually spell bad news, as I've gone on at length about the rise of Netflix and its proliferation of soulless, formless storytelling thanks to its binge-above-all mentality, but thankfully the other streaming services have embraced the weekly release strategy.  And believe it or not, their shows benefit from it.  Who would've thought that the model that worked for decades is still effective?  So the dominance of streaming isn't necessarily a negative trend anymore, just an interesting one.

Okay, you've read enough of me trying to be like John Landgraf at the TCAs.  Let's get to the list.

The rules: A couple of years ago 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 11, 2020 and December 10, 2021.   This is just so I don't go insane trying to catch up on any shows whose whole seasons dropped at the end of the year, even though there weren't any examples that come to mind this year.  Thankfully the rules are simpler for shows that air weekly.  For those cases, any episode that aired between January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021 are considered for this ranking.

My 15 Favorite Films of 2021

Movies had a smoother ride in 2021 than they did last year, but that's not really saying much.  It was harder to gauge any film's success given that many were released on streaming services at the same time as they were in theaters, but things still didn't look promising.  It's not a great sign when Spielberg or Matrix movies can't even make money.  Basically, if you weren't a comic book film, the box office was not your friend this year.  Sometimes the pearl clutching about Disney's stranglehold on the industry can get a little melodramatic, but it's hard not to feel like anything but the biggest tentpoles will be vanishing over the course of the decade.

That kind of prognosticating is too grim to dwell on for too long, so let's focus on the year at hand.  Since theaters opened back up and films were no longer getting pushed back, I did see more new releases this year: a total of 69.  It's not quite back to the numbers I was putting up in 2018 and 2019, but it's much better than last year's paltry 48 new releases watched.  

And yet, despite that 21 film increase, the number of list worthy material I saw didn't appreciably increase.  I don't want to blame it on the quality of 2021's output, because there are a handful of lauded films that I still haven't gotten to, but either way I didn't necessarily feel enthusiastic enough about my number 16 through 20 films to write full entries on them.  (I'm choosing not to admit that the fact that I'm running closer to my deadline than usual this year contributed to this as well.)  Hopefully, this is the last year that my film list just a top 15, because I hate the unevenness of not having my three end of the year lists all be top 20s.  Anyway, let us tarry no further.  On to the list!

The rules: Any film that got their first non-festival release in 2021 -- whether that's theatrically, on VOD, or exclusively on a streaming service -- qualifies for this list.

My 20 Favorite Albums of 2021

In 2021, I listened to more music than ever, both because I had more time to and out of pure necessity.  Though the pandemic rages on, that hasn't stopped musicians from putting out material, and this year brought on a deluge caused by so many artists hitting the pause button last year.  I consumed way more EPs this year as a result, since some bands still hedged their bets and are waiting until touring is fully back to release an album.  Others tided over fans by releasing rarities or re-recordings of old work.

But no matter what shape or size it came in, music was great in 2021.  Rap produced a wealth of gems after a slow start, emo music continued its rise in respectability, and even the supposedly dying genre of indie rock had some works that revitalized the form.  Let's take a look at the best of what this year had to offer.

The rules: Everything is the same as usual.  The window of eligibility for this list is anything released between January 1, 2021 and now.  This list can include albums, mixtapes, EPs, and anything in between.  As always, I'm praying that nothing substantial comes out in the twilight hours of the year.

100 Songs I Liked In 2021

On December 29th, I'll be starting off my end of the year lists with my 20 favorite albums of 2021.  But there's so much great music out there that my album post will only cover a very tiny portion of the stuff that's worth listening to.  So this list is an additional rundown, one that highlights songs from albums that won't be appearing on the top 20 in a few days.  I'm including songs from my five honorable mention albums, so if you see something on here from an album you love, who knows, maybe that album is ranked somewhere between 21 and 25 for me!  Last year I expanded this list from the usual 50 song count to 75 songs, but because working from home allowed me to listen to more music than ever this year and also because I love to torture myself, I've made it a clean 100 songs.  There's sure to be something you'll enjoy on here.