We’re not exactly at a stable point in TV history, so it’s fitting that my list of 2023 favorites includes various types of series. Two canceled series, one series that the creator ended on her own terms, and one new miniseries from a guy whose previous series was canceled just last year.
Four series based on an IP; five original series – but one of them is very much an homage to an old hit. Seven streaming shows, but also – in a throwback — two network series. A sports docu-series and – hey, it’s still the superhero age – one superhero show (but at least it’s a cynical one). Enjoy the smorgasbord of my 10 favorite shows of 2023:
10. “The Continental: From the World of John Wick” (miniseries, Peacock)
Keanu Reeves’ time as John Wick is likely over, but the world of John Wick has more story possibilities if this prequel is any indication. As we learn the backstory of Winston (Colin Woodell), the character roster is populated with idiosyncratically skilled weapons-users. Mel Gibson, in charge of New York’s Continental, plays a baddie as memorable as any from the films. For wall-to-wall gun-fu and car-fu you’ll want the “Wick” films. But for a dive into the stylized Seventies of this already stylish alterna-world, “The Continental” is worth sliding a coin across the counter. (Full review.)
9. “Gen V” (Season 1, Amazon Prime)
“Gen V” is simply “The Boys” set in college, but it’s fresher than it is redundant. It’s like a bucketload of earned cynicism has been dumped on Xavier’s School for Gifted Mutants as young adults with bizarre abilities must decide how to marshal their powers. The system is corrupt, but they can actually do something about it thanks to their “gifted” powers that are laced with metaphorical meaning. As with “The Boys,” we don’t get bogged down in political intrigue and satire, though. Most likable among the new batch of heroes is Emma (Lizzie Broadway), who can grow and shrink based on eating and … um, purging. (First episode review.)
8. “Poker Face” (Season 1, Peacock)
Rian Johnson essentially reboots “Columbo,” but casts Natasha Lyonne and calls her Charlie in order to get around accusations of theft. Although the way our amateur detective chews her words calls to mind Peter Falk, she is her own person thanks to the one-of-a-kind Lyonne. The episodic howcatchem cases – engagingly sorted out by Charlie’s superpower of instant lie-detection (but she doesn’t know why they are lying) – are the draw. But Charlie’s bobbing and weaving with a mobster trailing her across the rural USA also becomes compelling. (Full review.)
7. “The Luckiest Guy in the World” (documentary miniseries, ESPN)
This “30 for 30” entry chronicles Bill Walton via archival clips of his UCLA and NBA days, along with new interviews. Obviously, he’s gregarious, and if you already love him from his NCAA hoops broadcasts, this documentary won’t change that. It goes emotionally deeper, though, as the Grateful Dead-loving not-quite-7-footer makes us believe he truly does consider himself lucky. This is despite the fact that a nagging foot injury – and team doctors’ primitive way of dealing with it in the 1970s – knocked Walton down from superstar with the Blazers to super Sixth Man with the Celtics.
6. “The Irrational” (Season 1, NBC)
Dang it, I just like a good procedural every now and then, OK? “Law & Order” veteran Jesse L. Martin ably heads up this whydunit as Professor Alec Mercer, who specializes in human behavior and regularly advises the FBI and police detectives. He has evidence of a suspect doing something weird, then figures out why it’s not as weird as we might’ve thought. It’s a surprisingly flexible premise, and the plots are boosted by a warm sense of teamwork. Particularly look for Molly Kunz, as Alec’s graduate assistant Phoebe, to become a star. (First episode review.)
5. “Alaska Daily” (Season 1, ABC)
This series from “Spotlight’s” Tom McCarthy makes a case that investigative journalism would already be dead except for the willpower of low-paid, highly driven investigative journalists themselves. It’s sadly appropriate that the show got canceled after 11 episodes, considering that it chronicles how the Daily Alaskan itself – not to mention individual jobs — is constantly in danger of being shut down by its owners. “Alaska Daily” shows why probing reporters are crucial to a free society, as Hilary Swank and her colleagues dig into a plague of unsolved murders of Native Alaskan women and the state’s casual cover-up. (First episode review.)
4. “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” (Season 5, Amazon Prime)
Tony Shalhoub again reminds us why he’s one of our finest actors, between the new “Monk” movie and his last go-around in this gloriously heartfelt and funny Sixties-set dramedy. He takes Amy Sherman-Palladino’s clunky (in the voice of another) monolog wherein Abe realizes daughter Midge (Rachel Brosnahan) has the same human value and vibrancy as men and makes it profound. Meanwhile, Midge’s new job takes us directly into the sausage factory of a TV variety show’s writers’ room. The creation of a joke shouldn’t be as funny as the finished product, but “Maisel” makes a case to the contrary. (First episode review.)
3. “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” (Season 2, HBO Max)
The heightened-history drama’s first season chronicled Magic Johnson’s (Quincy Isaiah) 1980 rookie year – in which the Lakers won a championship – but a challenger arises in the form of Larry Bird (a spot-on Sean Patrick Small). Although the first Lakers-Celtics Finals of the Johnson-Bird era didn’t happen until 1984, “Winning Time” stirs up drama as it deftly fast-forwards toward the clash. John C. Reilly (as Jerry Buss) and Adrien Brody (as Pat Riley) stand out, but Hadley Robinson has our sympathy as the minimized Jeanie Buss and Jason Clarke’s perpetually peeved Jerry West can crack us up at any time with a cuss word. HBO’s bizarrely premature cancelation deprives us of the high Lakers-Celtics drama to come. But that’s no fault of the show itself, which goes out a winner.
2. “The Fall of the House of Usher” (miniseries, Netflix)
Mike Flanagan goes further back than ever before – to the 19th century catalog of Edgar Allan Poe – to comment on modern day by refreshing classic horror material. The vein of riches for a Poe scholar runs particularly deep, as they’ll see episodes that bring Poe’s short stories into the 21st century to comment on the price of out-of-control corporatism. A casual viewer can simply enjoy the mystery while questioning the role of the supernatural and enjoying the pitch-black comedy of the feuding Ushers. Among Flanagan’s reliable troupe, Bruce Greenwood particularly stands out, narrating the tale as regretful, reflective, but still rather spooked patriarch Roderick. (Full review.)
1. “Only Murders in the Building” (Season 3, Hulu)
I like to discuss weekly mystery miniseries with a couple of friends, and no other show this year was as fun to theorize over than “Only Murders,” which remains cleverly plotted and well-clued in its third major mystery. This go-around centers on Oliver’s (Martin Short) preparation for a musical that will resurrect his directorial career; that gives us a vibrant theatrical setting and a colorful array of suspects. While the season toys with having the trio (rounded out by Steve Martin’s Charles and Selena Gomez’s Mabel) split up over peevishness, it doesn’t go too dark. Enhanced by guest stars like Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep, it proves a modern oddity: Murder mysteries are today’s most comforting shows. Others — like “A Murder at the End of the World,” barely off my list — have their moments, but “Only Murders” is the only one I need.