10. A MAN IN FULL (Netflix) - David E. Kelley created this series. I haven't seen every show Kelley has done, but I tend to be a fan of his work. He's lately gotten in the habit of adapting novels, such as this one by Tom Wolfe. He likes legal dramas, and this series does have one as a B-plot. The A-plot though involves Jeff Daniels as a businessman at odds with his banker who wants him to pay his debt. Daniels gives an over-the-top performance with a crazy, shocking ending.
9. YOUNG ROYALS: SEASON 3 (Netflix) - A lot of digital ink has been spilled about Red, White & Royal Blue and this idea of a same-sex romance with a Prince Harry type. I think this series does that idea infinitely better than that silly rom-com. This series is more realistic and not as reliant on humor. Yet, it's still more enjoyable and engaging.
8. ABBOTT ELEMENTARY: SEASON 3 (ABC) - The show had a sophomore slump. I wasn't that much of a fan of the second season. This third season took the show in a different direction with having Quinta Brunson's character in a new place with new characters. I'm not interested in the potential romance between Brunson and Tyler James Williams' characters. It was teased to death in Season 2, so I enjoyed the show separating them.
7. UNDER THE BRIDGE (Hulu) - Earlier this year, the musical remake of Mean Girls (2024) was released and did well in theaters. This show is like a more gritty and darker version of Mean Girls, if Mean Girls led to a murder. This series is based on a real-life homicide that happened in Canada in the late 1990's. It provides great insight into what happened as well as insight into the foster care system. It's also a great story about an immigrant family and the struggle for assimilation. It's anchored by a performance by recent Oscar-nominee Lily Gladstone and Emmy-nominee Riley Keough.
6. TRUE DETECTIVE: NIGHT COUNTRY (HBO) - Fresh off her Oscar-nomination, Jodie Foster has made a pretty impressive splash in this series in which she plays a hard-nosed, messy and jerkish, police chief of a snowy Alaskan town. She works with a Native American woman also on the force, played by boxer-turned-actress Kali Reis. Both are baffled when a group of men go missing and then are found all dead and naked, as well as frozen in a body pile.
5. GENIUS: MLK/X (NatGeo) - This is the fourth season of this anthology show. This one breaks the mold a bit and is about two people instead of just one. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X are the two subjects. Each episode is divided between both men. The first episode focuses on their childhood, but a majority of the rest of it is about the two men during the last decade of both of their lives, from the late 50's to late 60's, when both were at the height of their involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Kelvin Harrison Jr as MLK and Aaron Pierre as Malcolm X are both incredible, but who stands out are the two actresses who play their respective wives. Weruche Opia plays Coretta Scott King and Jayme Lawson plays Betty Shabazz. Both of them are the true revelations and the fifth episode, which centers on them is probably the best of the series.
4. TOKYO VICE: SEASON 2 (HBO) - Like a couple of shows, this is another true story and another set in the 90's. It's based on the experiences of Jake Edelstein, played by Ansel Elgort, a White American who works for a Japanese newspaper. He teams up with an embattled detective named Katagiri, played by Ken Watanabe, in order to investigate the yakuza and the political corruption that could be connected. At the same time, a member of the yakuza has to deal with a regime change and how it's causing more chaos, death and dishonor.
3. THE BROTHERS SUN (Netflix) - Not to stereotype or generalize, but this show could be a companion piece to Tokyo Vice, as it's also about organized crime. Instead of the yakuza, which is the mob in Japan, this show is about the Triad, which is the mob in China. The tone of this show is vastly different. This series is an action comedy, more in the vein of a Jackie Chan film. It's funny, as it doles out its martial arts sequences. It features Michelle Yeoh who is the matriarch of two sons who are polar opposites.
2. CLIPPED (FX) - Oscar-nominee, Emmy-winner and Tony-winner, Laurence Fishburne stars as Doc Rivers, the head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers from 2013 to 2020. He was a former NBA player in the 80's and 90's who went on to coaching. The series focuses on 2014 when an audio recording was released of the Clippers' owner, Donald Sterling, played by Ed O'Neill. That audio recording is of Sterling saying racist things. His girlfriend, V. Stiviano, played by Cleopatra Coleman, is the one who made the recording and released it. This series explores why she did it or what she was trying to do. The third episode is really great in that it gives a voice to the players who were on the team at the time. The conversation between the players was probably one of the best conversations on race all year.
1. THE BEAR: SEASON 3 (FX) - This show won 10 trophies at the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards this year, including Outstanding Comedy Series, Outstanding Writing and Directing for Christopher Storer, as well as Outstanding Supporting Actor for Ebon Moss-Bachrach, Outstanding Supporting Actress for Ayo Edebiri and Outstanding Lead Actor for Jeremy Allen White. This year, the show is predicted to win just as many if not more at the 76th Primetime Emmy Awards. The 76th ceremony will honor the show's second season, which saw the introduction of a load of guest stars like Jamie Lee Curtis. This new season starts out with a nearly dialogue-free episode that is probably the most cinematic thing I've seen on television in years. That cinematic power continues throughout the whole thing and the show gives Curtis another knock-out episode.
To see my full list, which includes TV movies and additional shows not listed here, go to my personal blog.
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