My 20 Favorite Television Shows of 2024

 

Usually, I like to introduce these lists by talking about whether it was a good year for the medium, and I tend to consume so much that I always find a way to come out on the positive end.  Well here's a first: 2024 was a bad year for TV.  I'm not ready to have a doomsday mentality about it, because I think it's mostly down to last year's strikes disrupting the release pipeline.  (Though the general trend towards shows having eight-episode seasons that come out every two years is slowly leading to worse television as well.)  I didn't have a problem creating a top 20, but it resulted in cases like my number two pick being technically the show's worst season, but it's the highest I've ever ranked the series on a year end list.

Still, I found plenty to enjoy outside of the traditional scripted Western television.  2024 was an amazing year for anime, for example, which you'll see below.  And though they can't qualify for something like this, I loved watching things like Carlos Alcaraz vs. Jannik Sinner in the Beijing tennis finals, or my favorite Street Fighter 6 player PunkDaGod finally winning EVO after years of being labelled as somebody who chokes in big moments.  Anyway, I digress -- let's talk about some of my favorite TV of the year. 

The rules: Shows are considered for this list based on their episodes that aired between January 1, 2024 and December 31, 2024.  This used to be a big thing when people watched more network shows where the seasons bled into the new year, but it doesn't factor in as much now.

My 20 Favorite Films of 2024

My relationship with film was at a bit of a low point this year.  I was looking at my Letterboxd stats before writing this and I only logged 134 movies in 2024, which is much less than my days of logging around 300 a couple of years ago, but even less than the 186 I did last year.  It's not just a raw numbers thing, though -- I was recently telling a friend that I got too trapped in the new release rat race this year, and as a result my film watching felt less fulfilling.  My usual rationalization is that staying current is helpful both for the purposes of making these lists and also for strengthening my critical faculties, but at a certain point I have to ask myself what is the value of seeing a film I know I'm going to hate like Deadpool & Wolverine over one of the many Jia Zhangke movies I have in my backlog, for instance.

So next year I'm going to try to shake myself out of that, which is something I've said a variation of before, but I really mean it this time.  Maybe.  I think.  In the meantime, please dig in to some of my favorite 2024 releases!  No Madame Webs were harmed in the making of this list.

The rules: Any film that got their first non-festival release in 2024 -- whether that's theatrically, on VOD, or exclusively on a streaming service -- qualifies for this list.

My 20 Favorite Albums of 2024

 

A thing that's always been a source of pride for me is that I still haven't reached a point where my music taste has calcified, where I stop being curious and only stick with artists I already like.  Even though I ask myself more and more whether I'm becoming washed -- particularly when Pitchfork drops a new best-of list and it's filled with rap picks I find borderline unlistenable -- the thrill of discovery is still too powerful to ever want to retreat from it just because I sometimes stumble upon things I don't understand.  So even though I'm an aging indie kid who continues to check out new Decemberists albums (don't laugh, this latest one was pretty solid!), I remain intrigued by the idea that my new favorite band could be right around the corner.

2024 was a year where I felt more open than I've ever been.  I attribute that to new friendships with music lovers who have slightly different wheelhouses than I do and being inspired to meet them where they're at.  It might not be fully reflected in my list of favorites below, but I tried a wide range of music this year and it was very nourishing.  Below is a mix of old and new loves, but all of them made 2024 better.  Enjoy!

The rules: The window of eligibility for this list is anything released from January 1, 2024 to now.  This list can include albums, mixtapes, EPs, and anything in between.

My 20 Favorite Television Shows of 2023

For the uninitiated, it's a yearly tradition for me to start this list by breaking down my relationship to television, counting how many TV shows I watched in full during the calendar year.  In 2023, I had a healthy amount of 87, so the days of watching over 100 shows in a year are long in the rearview now.  One difference here is I got so behind on TV that there were some shows I really wanted to get in under the wire that I didn't have time for.  There are always things that I miss out on, but they're usually more of a "I'm mildly intrigued to check this out" case.  This time, there are some heavy hitters that I just didn't get around to.  Hell, there was a new season of Black Mirror in 2023 and I still haven't watched it.

So now more than ever, this top 20 you're about to see is not necessarily definitive, just my favorites of what I managed to cross off my watch list.

The rules: Shows are considered for this list based on their episodes that aired between January 1, 2023 and December 31, 2023.  This used to be a big thing when people watched more network shows where the seasons bled into the new year, but it doesn't factor in as much.  Although this year some shows like The Curse, For All Mankind, and Fargo are doing this annoying thing where almost all of the season aired this year but then the last two episodes are going to bleed into 2024.  That's stupid!  I hate it!

My 20 Favorite Films of 2023

It took some people a while to come around to something I've felt since the middle of the year: 2023 was a fantastic year for film, certainly the best since 2019.  Maybe I've just become more lenient of a watcher, but it seemed like I was giving five-star ratings out to films left and right this year.  (The actual numbers: six versus last year's four.)  Speaking of numbers being up, I also watched more new releases than I did last year, having seen 76 this year compared to my 65 in 2022.  Can I one day get to 100?  Stay tuned for 2024.

Let's take a look at some of my favorites from this bountiful year.

The rules: Any film that got their first non-festival release in 2023 -- whether that's theatrically, on VOD, or exclusively on a streaming service -- qualifies for this list.