My Favorite TV Shows of 2022
Before I Get to the List….
You know those people who look down on television? Who say things like “I only watch PBS and the news?” Or who – gasp – don’t have a television in every room? I am not one of those people! I feely admit that I love TV. I love great TV, I love sports on TV, I love games shows and sitcoms, and I love plenty of stupid TV.
Drawing up this list of my favorite TV shows of 2022 has proven to be the most challenging of my year-end lists. Just as was the case with the Music and Book lists, the first challenge is that there is so much I did not see (or hear or read). Watching a TV show is a much bigger time commitment than, say, listening to an album or reading most books. There are any number of shows I’m sure that I would love that have just gotten away from me to the point where it feels overwhelming to go back and catch up. Why, example, have I never watched Atlanta, which so many people I respect and trust say its one of the best shows of the past ten years? And why did I not start watching Better Call Saul when it began, so that I would have enjoyed it over the years rather than thinking of going to watch it now as a chore?
I feel that particularly strongly this year. There are at least two shows that seem crafted in a laboratory to appeal directly to me, and I have not yet found the time to watch either of them. Apple TV’s Slow Horses, for example, was based on a series of books I really enjoyed, is precisely the kind of thing I tend to like, and has gotten glowing reviews. But I have not gotten to it yet. Same with HBO’s We Own This City, in which David Simon returns to Baltimore (where he set my all-time favorite show, The Wire).
However many great shows I may have missed, I did watch a lot of television in 2022. And watched some truly outstanding shows. I suppose that in 2023 it is hardly remarkable, but I was interested to realized that none of the shows on my list were on what we used to call “real TV.”
The list that follows is not exactly in order of preference, but the shows do fall into three rough tiers. The first three shows listed were, to my mind, a cut above even the other excellent shows listed below them.
The Top Tier
1. Severance Season 1 (Apple TV+)
The most interesting, thought-provoking, surprising, totally original show I’ve seen in years. Maybe ever. Everything piece of it – from visual design to the performances to the plot itself – worked for me. There is rarely a day that goes by that I don’t think about a piece of dialogue or an image from the show.
2. The Bear Season 1 (Hulu)
It’s hard to pull off exhilaration and claustrophobia at the same time, but The Bear nails that combination. It will probably not come as too great a shock that I have never worked in or run a restaurant kitchen; after watching The Bear am I torn between desperately wanting to do so and being unable to imagine anything worse. The cast is remarkable, the writing is powerful, and the characters indelible.
3. Borgen: Power and Glory’ (Netflix)
The final season of a masterful political drama from Denmark. Sidse Babett Knudsen’s Brigitte Nyborg is one of the most fascinating television characters since Tony Soprano (with whom she has a lot in common). The twists and turns of Danish politics, and the travails of at least dozen major characters, kept me reaching for “play next episode” button even when I was fighting to stay awake (like anytime after, oh, 9:00 pm). And, please pay no attention to what I said earlier about going back to watch a show that has been on for a few seasons feeling like a chore. If you have never watched Borgen, you are in for a four-season long treat.
The Next Tier
4. The Dropout (Hulu)
5. For All Mankind (Apple TV+)
6. Hacks (HBO)
7. The Righteous Gemstones (HBO)
8. Somebody Somewhere (HBO)
One More Tier
9. Minx (HBO)
10. Julia (HBO)
11. Under the Banner of Heaven (FX)