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!