The Top 10 TV Series Of 2022

They say the era of peak TV has come to and end, with streaming platforms struggling to find new subscribers and viewers unable (and unwilling) to keep up with all the options. If there's been a slow down in production, you wouldn't know it based on the quality and volume of excellent series that were available in 2022. Here's my annual top 10 list, based on the many that I watched and enjoyed. I did my part to consume them all, but am fully aware that I missed a few gems (sorry, I'm still planning to watch Euphoria, I promise). Take a read, and as always...like, comment, share and let me know what else I need to add to my list.

Cheers

Lamont

10. Winning Time (HBO) - It seems like there were a thousand shows this year about Magic and/or The Lakers, but this one was my favorite. Slipping 5 spots from my mid-year list, I still had to keep it in my Top 10 despite some stiff competition.

Mid-Year Commentary:

A show about NBA basketball in the 1980s, with Magic, Kareem, Pat Riley and even the “Hick From French Lick”, Larry Bird. I was pretty sure I was going to love this series and in a surprise to nobody…I did.

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9. Bad Sisters (Apple TV+) - If you like your murder mysteries with a heaping side of black humor you'll love Bad Sisters, Apple TV's addictive revenge fantasy set on the picturesque outskirts of Dublin, Ireland. So cunning and sadistic is the central asshole, John Paul, that it quickly becomes obvious why his sisters-in-law want to kill him. You will too after watching the first several episodes, where flashbacks show the comically indestructible "prick" tormenting each of them at every turn - all while flashing an obnoxious smile and radiating an impressive display of self-satisfied glee. As the tension builds, and the whodunit coils itself into increasingly tangled knots, you'll find yourself glued to your screen as you try to figure out which of the sisters finally got the job done.

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8. House of the Dragon (HBO) - After a 3 year hiatus, Game of Thrones finally made its triumphant return to Sunday nights last summer, with its much anticipated prequel, House of the Dragon. While many complained about the head-spinning time jumps, and made unfavorable comparisons to the original show, I found myself enjoying every minute of Dragons...just happy to hear that familiar opening song again and to be whisked back to the world of Westeros. To me, HBO delivered on Throne's proven formula, serving up another combustible mix of palace intrigue, charismatic villains, grisly violence, lust, sex, power...and dragons! What more could you ask for, except for a speedy premiere of season 2.

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7. Industry S2 (HBO) - Watching Industry can often make you as stressed out as its characters. For one thing, it's intense AF, given all the high-stakes trading, rampant sex & drugs and unapologetic backstabbing. It's also super confusing, thanks to its hard-to-follow plot twists, shifting alliances and byzantine finance talk. But the overall effect is still effervescent, with the show creating a vibe unlike any other. The vicarious thrill of it all makes you dream of YOLOing out with Harper, Yasmin, Eric, Adler, and the rest of the gang - living life like a badass behaving badly, all while playing fast & loose with the code of conduct and embracing the mantra that fortune favors the bold. If season 2 accomplished nothing else it reminded us that when it comes to getting ahead in the workplace, especially one where there are millions of dollars up for grabs, the only person to look out for is #1. Everybody else is either an enemy or ally depending on how the chess board is set up on any given Monday.

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6. Fleishman Is In Trouble (FX | Hulu) - I'm only 6 episodes into Fleishman Is In Trouble but it is already a clear favorite of the year for me. I'm swept up in the misadventures of the neurotic, navel-gazing Toby Fleishman, a divorced dad who finds himself facing a mid-life crisis that many of us can relate to. It's that feeling of having it all, then having it all taken away. Then wondering how & why the choices you've made in life have led you to this predicament in the first place. Was is bad luck or bad decisions? Or just the forces of the universe conspiring against you. The clever direction, wild post-divorce dating app sex, and expository VO (supplied by old friend and fellow malcontent, Libby), are also helping to keep me engaged as a I wait to see how things will turn out for poor Toby and wonder where the hell his ex-wife disappeared to.

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5. We Own This City (HBO) - Dipping slightly from its #3 spot earlier in the year. We Own This City still holds up as one of the most gripping cop dramas in recent memory.

Mid-Year Commentary:

Cop dramas set in Baltimore, filled with mass corruption, urban decay and unsolvable problems, have proven to be a bulletproof formula for success (especially if you have David Simon behind the camera). If you loved “The Wire” then you will be in for a treat with “We Own This City” which picks up right where that show left off. In addition to cerebral, journalistic-style filmmaking, the series also offers up a performance for the ages from Jon Bernthal, as the indomitable lead detective, Wayne Jenkins. Not since Denzel Washington in "Training Day" has a dirty cop been this compelling or charismatic (somebody give that guy an Emmy). My only complaint is that it was too good to be so short (only 6 episodes).

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4. The White Lotus S2 (HBO) - In season 2 of The White Lotus, Mike White ups the ante, improving upon the excellent freshman season of his tantalizing dark comedy about insufferable rich people who bring more than their baggage with them to exotic vacation locales. S2 is darker, more nuanced and somehow funnier. Its central murder mystery - full of red herrings, Easter eggs and a cornucopia alluring suspects - remains both beside the point and naggingly intriguing. 

It's an intoxicating stew that has a whole lot to say about sex & the transactional nature of relationships, the inescapability of self-loathing (no matter how much money you have) and the basic human desire to "do whatever you have to do to not feel like a victim of life". But more than anything, thanks to it's gorgeous filmmaking, engrossing plot twists and an all-time performance of comedic genius by Jennifer Coolidge, The White Lotus is just a joy to watch.

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3. The Bear (FX | Hulu) - Don't for a second think because The Bear dropped 2 spots from my list earlier this year that it is anything less than a masterwork. It's simply a testament to how good the two shows ahead of it were that it didn't hold on to it's #1 slot.

Mid-Year Commentary:

“The Bear” is undoubtedly the show of the year so far. With their tight shots and frantic pace, Showrunner Christopher Stohrer and the rest of the writers & directors do an unbelievable job of placing you inside the kitchen of this working class Chi-town sandwich shop. It's like you can feel so much of this tight-knit staff’s stress and claustrophobia that it sort of stings a bit every time they touch a hot plate. The whole cast is effervescent, including Jeremy Allen Wright, who delivers a mesmerizing star turn as Carmy. But Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Ritchie - at once obnoxious, brash, insecure and sad - truly owns the room every time he is on screen. As a complete package, this show is nearly flawless, especially Episode 7, which is 20 minutes of gravity-defying television as high art. All I can say is, If you haven’t seen "The Bear", drop what you’re doing and watch it…now.

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2. Reservation Dogs S2 (FX | Hulu) - Fundamentally, Reservation Dogs, is a show about ordinary teens with ordinary dreams, doing ordinary things...and yet it still feels magical. Taking cues from its streaming label mate Atlanta, it takes a simple premise, expands on it and then wanders off into territories we could never have expected. After S1's "escape to L.A." plan goes predictably off the rails, the Res Dogs find themselves back in Oklahoma in S2 and in more of a funk than ever. From there, the episodes get deeper, weirder and more poignant, with not just the teens, but also the elders going on one quest after another to find themselves. What unfolds are uncommonly real stories about love and loss amongst a community of people who unfailingly hold each other down - having experienced broken dreams but never broken spirits. It's a true testament to the filmmakers that the season never loses its focus, managing to pull it all together with a beautiful season finale that tears at the heart while making us smile through our tears.

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1. Atlanta S4 (FX | Hulu) - Oh the weird and the wonderful. After 4 incredible seasons, Atlanta, for my money, will go down as one of the greatest television shows ever created. Over its 6 year run, it demonstrated that in a single episode it could go from surreal to profound, then from farcical to scary, all before veering back again to just plain hilarious. In the process it raised the bar on what we now know is possible with situation comedy, satire and social commentary. And it showed us what can happen when talented young writers, directors and actors are given a blank check and allowed to let their creative impulses run wild. 

Season 4 thankfully brought the crew back together, retuned them to the ATL (with no explanation) and settled in to give us some of its best individual episodes. There was episode 2's spiteful "The Lonliest Little Horse", #4s acutely drawn "Light-Skinned-ed" and #6s unforgettable "Crank Dat Killer". And then there was the sublime series finale "It Was All A Dream", which I watched 3 times back to back the weekend it dropped. Funny and shocking and heartbreaking and trippy. It was a fitting sendoff for a perfect show that reveled in its imperfections. 

Mid-Year Commentary:

It's been said that "Atlanta" is as much a show about the state of white people as it is about Blackness. And Season 3 proves that to be true. Leave it to Donald Glover to be confident enough to explore so many intriguing topics without even bothering to include the best cast on television in half the episodes. Some may disagree, but I think the risk paid off handsomely. The wild and weird detours, with colorful titles such as: “Three Slaps”, “Rich Wigga, Poor Wigga” and my personal favorite,“Trini 2 De Bone” were some of the most talked about episodes of television I've come across in a very long time amongst my friends and family.

Honorable Mentions

• Abbott Elementary (ABC)
• Andor (Disney+)
• The Dropout (Hulu)
• Pachinco (Apple TV+)
• Hacks S2 (HBO)