Welcome to my eighth annual, let’s just call it what it is – a list of television shows and things I loved the most during the past year. While 2021 wasn’t exactly as bleak as 2020, it still wasn’t all rainbows and kittens and my TV viewing generally reflected that as I both engaged with some great new programming and with mindless escapism or nostalgia-driven properties. With that said, the below picks are based on my TV intake* for 2021 and therefore, as always, are completely arbitrary.
Best Show of 2021: Apple TV+’s For All Mankind
Sophomore slumps are for lesser shows. The second season of For All Mankind was literally out of this world. All ten episodes delivered an exhilarating batch of stories on both a small character-driven scale and on a larger space race with big Cold War implications kind-of-scale. I loved all of it, but the finale in particular is one hell of a ride. I can’t recommend this TV series enough.
Best (Favorite) Show: Freeform’s Motherland: Fort Salem
Motherland: Fort Salem pulled a repeat win in this category. I don’t know what to say except this show basically checks all of my boxes in what I look for in a television series: a cast of extremely likeable characters (bonus points for badass ladies), quotable one-liners, some sci-fi / fantasy elements, a fascinating alt-world, a catchy score / soundtrack, and beautiful cinematography. It’s second season dropped this summer but I’ve already re-watched the series into oblivion and will continue to do so until the third (and possibly final) season is released sometime in 2022.
Best New Show: Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building
If you don’t immediately fall in love with this series from the charming opening credit sequence, I don’t know what to tell you. Only Murders in the Building is the perfect blend of murder mystery and hangout comedy. There are jokes, twists and turns, betrayal, and even some really excellent cameos. Plus the cast! Who knew the combo of Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez would be magic. Even better yet, the show has been renewed for a second season, which is in production now.
Runner Up: Showtime’s Yellowjackets might be one of the best shows of the year, but it’s still currently airing its first season so I’m holding off on any final judgements, but damn is it both addicting and intriguing. A solid mystery, amazing casting, and the promise of a descent into madness leading to some sort of tribal / cannibalistic cult – sign me up! Also, the non-trapped-in-the-woods parts are set in New Jersey, which you know I’m quite fond of.
Best Series Finale: The CW’s Supergirl & SyFy’s Wynonna Earp
Like every other year, many shows bid adieu with varying degrees of success, but the top two finales for me this year were The CW’s Supergirl which I’d watched from the very beginning and SyFy’s Wynonna Earp, which I’d only recently discovered during the pandemic. Both shows not only wrapped up in a super-satisfying fashion, but each swan song featured a wedding to boot. Talk about having your cake and eating it too. I especially appreciated how both used their last episode to simply spend time with all the characters we’d come to love as the big conflict and big bad were thankfully dispatched just prior.
Runner Up: Hulu’s PEN15 – This short but sweet, and sometimes PTSD-inducing, series hits hard for anyone who entered their teen years in the early 2000s. And it’s ending was no different. The animated special they dropped this year was a nice treat too.
Worst: Undoubtedly this title goes to Showtime’s Shameless. Can’t believe I spent so many years watching this show.
Best Show More People Should Be Watching: Starz’s Hightown
Literally going to say it again as this is another repeat winner, but more people need to be watching the Starz original series Hightown. Season one was great but season two builds on the foundation of season one without ever losing sight of the things we cared about the most, these characters and their lives on the cape. Also big shoutout to Monica Raymund who consistently knocks it out of the park every episode, and even pulled double duty directing an episode this past season as well. She’s a force to be reckoned with.
Best Show That Was Cancelled: Spectrum’s L.A.’s Finest
Can I just answer GLOW again, because I’ll never get over that cancellation. But if I really have to pick another show, I’m still going to fudge the rules a bit. L.A.’s Finest was technically cancelled by Spectrum in October 2020 after two seasons, one of which did air on FOX. However, both seasons didn’t find their way to a mass audience until this year when Netflix dropped season 1 in January and season 2 in June, so I’m gonna count it. I wrote about it before, but the buddy cop dynamic between Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union was second to none and I wish we could have gotten at least a half a dozen more seasons of their banter and badassery.
Best Binge Watch: Apple+’s Dickinson
I heard this show was good, but my only thought while binge watching the first two seasons was why didn’t anyone tell me it was this good?!? I watched the third and final season of Dickinson this month as it was released in real time and loved that one too. May you likewise be delighted by this series.
Runner Up: HBO Max’s The Head
This HBO Max import was a trip! Talk about a satisfying whodunit, locked room, murder mystery! At just six episodes, I guarantee you’ll finish The Head in just one sitting. Here’s my (spoiler-free) full take on why this limited series works so well.
Best Holiday Episode: Apple TV+’s Ted Lasso
I honestly cannot think of a finer, feel good Christmas episode than this one. Instant classic. There’s also a cute, non-related, claymation Ted Lasso Christmas short for some additional holiday cheer.
Best TV Show For a Good Cry: Hulu’s Dopesick
This miniseries tackles the opioid crisis from its early days of OxyContin being hailed as the new miracle drug, and non-addictive, to the more recent court cases involving Purdue Pharma. Over the course of its eight episodes, Dopesick follows a handful of characters including patients, doctors, sales reps, and stakeholders, none of which really wind up with a happy ending. Much like the miniseries Chernobyl I’m glad I watched it, but will probably never queue it up again.
Best TV Show For a Good Laugh: (Tie) Peacock’s Girls5Eva and Saved By The Bell
Is Peacock the low-key new successor to NBC’s must-see comedy block because they’ve got a growing stable of great comedies, old and new. Among my favorites are Girls5Eva and the Saved By The Bell reboot. Both offered a lot of laughs by way of one liners, physical comedy, great callbacks, and musical numbers. And both have also been renewed for a second and third season respectively so get ready for even more hilarity from your favorite fictional girl band and high school.
Best One-Liner: Showtime’s Black Monday is absolutely packed with hilarious dialog containing some of my favorite forms of humor like sarcasm and wordplay. However, my top line from the third season included a joke about there possibly being a “GM pandemic” and between my day job and the current state of the world, that quip had me literally laughing out loud.
Best Running Joke: Actors pretending to be doctors on HBO Max’s The Other Two.
Best Return to Television: Nickelodeon’s Blue’s Clues
Didn’t know I needed this but Nickelodeon bringing back the original Steve from Blue’s Clues to celebrate the series 25th anniversary was beyond heartwarming as he not only gave us all a long-overdue explanation for his departure but also a pep talk for our present-day lives. Watch it below.
Best Live Sports Moment: Nickelodeon’s NFL Wildcard Game Broadcast
Last season, for the first time ever, Nickelodeon simulcast an NFL game alongside CBS, but with all the typical trappings of the network including slime, cartoon characters, and kid commentators with current TV host and former NFL wide receiver Nate Burleson. And I gotta say, it was fun! If my team had been playing in this game, I’m not sure I would have opted for this viewing experience, but as someone who just enjoys football it was a nice departure from the standard televised affair. And clearly I’m not the only one to think so as Nickelodeon and CBS have renewed their partnership for another NFL wildcard game in 2022.
Best Soundtrack: Freeform’s Cruel Summer
As an “elder” Millennial, I’m a total sucker for music from my childhood and teen years, which means Freeform’s Cruel Summer, set in the early to mid-90s, has a soundtrack that’s essentially catnip to me. (My Spotify Wrapped confirm this.) With iconic tracks from that era plus extra moody covers to die for, this show delivered week in and week out on the auditory front. Intriguing story too.
Give the official playlist a listen.
Best Musical Moment: TBS’s Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail
Daniel Radcliff is extremely talented and that’s all I’m gonna say. Just watch the clip below, words can’t do it justice.
Runner-up: HBO’s Hacks
Deborah Vance’s daughter DJ serenading guests with the Jurassic Park theme music on the piano at her birthday party was hilarious. (S01E07 “Tunnel of Love”)
Best Reboot: Disney+’s The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers
It’s been 25 years since the last Mighty Ducks installment hit the big screen, but ducks fly together, which is why I checked out the new incarnation of this beloved film franchise. While I don’t think I was necessarily the target audience for The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, I do love a good underdog sports story and was promised original cast cameos, so I was willing to go along for the ride. And you know what? It was both really fun and really sweet. The premise of the first season captured the essence of the original films without being a complete retread and in general I found myself looking forward to each new episode. A second season has been ordered, but sadly we won’t see more of Coach Bombay when the ducks hit the ice again as Emilio Estevez has decided to depart the series. As with the original movies, he was pretty crucial to the events in the TV show, so I’m not sure exactly where the series will go from here.
Best Renewal: Peacock’s We Are Lady Party
All renewals are generally good news, but this one came long after the first season dropped on Peacock back in May, so it was a bit surprising yet very welcomed when the official season two news for We Are Lady Parts broke in November. I’m ready for the encore!
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What were your favorite shows and TV-related moments of 2021? Share them in the comments section below.
*Sorry not sorry for the television blindspots, I can’t watch everything.
