Your Ten Favorite Shows Currently on Television

Rectify is AMAZING but a little less cute than Lodge 49

I haven't seen Lodge 49 yet, but Rectify is sublime. Not strictly current, but imo Enlightened fits your brief as well

a lot of time in the air lately and i have finally managed to watch UnREAL which is like..... the greatest show??!? feel pretty dumb for having missed this when it first came out. binged the first four eps of S1 and each of them is just so perfectly put together.

also been enjoying "i'm dying up here" though i'm not sure i'll stick with it. characters and milieu are fun but for all its ambition i'm not quite feeling the stakes

everything in no particular order.

Best Television of 2018: Top Fourteen:
Patriot Act (Netflix)
Joe Pera Talks to You (Adult Swim)
The Good Place (NBC)
Desus and Mero (VICE)
Sally4Ever (HBO/Sky)
High Maintenance (HBO)
Succession (HBO)
Insecure (HBO)
The Americans (FX)
Atlanta (FX)
Mr In-Between (FX)
Lodge 49 (AMC)
Better Call Saul (AMC)
Killing Eve (BBC America)

Good to Great:
Blueprint NYC (NYC Media - https://www1.nyc.gov/site/media/shows/blueprint.page )
Great British Baking Show (Netflix)
Venture Brothers (Adult Swim)
Nanette (Netflix)
Brockmire (IFC)
Late Show with Stephen Colbert (CBS)
Conan (TBS)
End of the Fucking World (Netflix)
Corporate (Adult Swim)
The Zoo (Animal Planet)
Drunk History (Comedy Central)

Okay to Quite Good with Occasional Moments of 'Why Am I Watching This':
Norm MacDonald has a Show (Netflix)
Ink Master (Paramount)
Silicon Valley (HBO)
Making It [watched with a heavy thumb on fast forward] (NBC)
Night Flight (IFC)
Slutever (VICE)
Full Frontal (TBS)

Constant Hum:
POV (PBS)
Nature (PBS)
American Experience (PBS)
Independent Lens (PBS)
American Masters (PBS)
PBS NewsHour (PBS)
Frontline (PBS)
Antiques Roadshow (PBS)
NBA (Everywhere)
Jeopardy (Syndicated)

Attempted in Good Faith and Rejected:
Maniac (Netflix)
Salt Fat Acid Heat (Netflix)
Homecoming (Amazon)
Pose (FX)
Sweetbitter (Starz)
The Chi (Showtime)

What Happened?
Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX - Final episode - and the entire "Mac is ripped now" gag - was worthwhile; almost everything else was, for the first time in thirteen years, terrible)
Baroness Von Sketch (IFC - First seven or so episodes in S1 were great, now completely unwatchable)
The Detour (TBS - Nothing there)

Very promising based on two episodes, but need to see more:
Hilda (Netflix)
American Vandal (Netflix)
The Bisexual (Hulu)
Random Acts of Flyness (HBO)
Top Chef (Bravo)

Sincere RIP:
The Rundown with Robin Thede (BET)
One Mississippi (Amazon)
Nathan for You (Comedy Central)
Difficult People (Hulu)
The President Show (Comedy Central)
Adventure Time (Cartoon Network - its time had absolutely come)

EIGHT MILLION SHOWS I HAVE NOT WATCHED BUT SINCERELY WANT TO TRY IN EARNEST:

Netflix:
The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (will likely tackle before end of the year)
The Haunting of Hill House (will likely tackle before end of the year)
Sick Note
Wild Wild Country
My Next Guest Needs No Introduction
Wanderlust
Big Mouth
She-Ra
Bojack Horseman (latest season)
Cupcake and Dino
Dear White People (either season)
The Kominsky Method
Everything Sucks
Bodyguard
Mindhunter (late 2017)
You (transferring form Lifetime shortly)

Amazon:
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel s2 (will likely tackle before end of the year)
Forever
The Romanoffs
Picnic at Hanging Rock

HBO:
My Brilliant Friend
Sharp Objects
Barry
Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling
Westworld (season 1 ending was a disaster but i suppose i should watch season 2?)
The Tale
Mosaic

Starz:
Counterpart (will likely tackle before end of the year)
America to Me

Showtime:
Escape at Dannemora (will likely tackle before end of the year)
Patrick Melrose
Kidding

General Cable Backlog:
The Shivering Truth (Adult Swim) (will likely tackle before end of the year)
Little Drummer Girl (AMC)
Nightflyers (Syfy)
Kentucky Ayuhasca (Vice)
Doctor Who (BBC)

Looking Forward to Newly Returning in ‘19:
Desus and Mero - Showtime
Black Monday - Showtime
SMILF - Showtime
Veep - HBO
Game of Thrones - HBO
Rick and Morty - Adult Swim
At Home with Amy Sedaris - Tru
Better Things - FX

ulysses your list of bests corresponds v closely with mine. I'd swap Succession and Venture Bros' tiers, maybe.

anything on yours that didn't make mine anywhere that i should know about? particularly interested in great UK/Aussie/English-speaking/subtitled TV from this year that didn't make it stateside.

Forks what is joe pera and corporate? Would I like them?

corporate is comedy central not adult swim

Joe Pera is spectacular and kind and absolutely necessary and you should watch it now without knowing anything about it. Just be a bit patient.
https://www.adultswim.com/videos/joe-pera-talks-with-you/
start here:
https://www.adultswim.com/videos/joe-pera-talks-with-you/joe-pera-reads-you-the-church-announcements/

Corporate is mean-spirited and arch and nihilistic and less necessary but well-filmed/acted and generally worth it:
http://www.cc.com/shows/corporate

anything on yours that didn't make mine anywhere that i should know about? particularly interested in great UK/Aussie/English-speaking/subtitled TV from this year that didn't make it stateside

honestly nothing comes to mind. there was so much "meh" this year. I did enjoy Hill House a lot but that's already on yer to-watch list.

Joe Pera is on a tier of its own imo. Atlanta was really hit and miss for me in s2.

Joe Pera Talks with You

REALLY make time for Big Mouth. It is the best.

start here:
https://www.adultswim.com/videos/joe-pera-talks-with-you/joe-pera-reads-you-the-church-announcements/

Holy shit this is messing with my head - I've never heard of this show before, but I saw the church in the first shot and though 'that looks like every old church I know in my home town'. Turns out it's set in a town 100 miles from where I grew up in Upper Michigan and seems to be based on the life of a type of dude I know dozens of - quiet nerdy Yooper guys who are into geology and shit.

i really tried with joe pera :(

not for everyone! but for anyone it is for, it's deeply deeply beloved.

I loved a lot of Killing Eve, especially Jodie Comer--funniest psychopath since Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs; I thought at first Sandra Oh's mannerisms would drive me up the wall, but I came to like her a lot, too--but not the ending. It was such a blatant "we have to do something to set up a second season" mish-mash. Found the music fascinating. Didn't know any of it--it felt like one long version of "Some Velvet Morning" at times.

I want to rewatch all of Killing Eve again soon. Maybe right before the next season comes out. Sandra Oh is usually the best thing in everything she is in.

I loved Oksana's supervisor: "These drinks is vicious." The ongoing by-play between the two of them was the highlight of the show for me.

I watched the first episode, then half of the second, then bailed out. But then I came back a week or so later and made it to the end. There was some really good stuff in it - Sandra Oh was fantastic, as mentioned, and it was good to see Kim Bodnia from The Bridge again (as Jodie Comer's handler), but yeah, the ending sucked, and the whole "Russia is a dank hellhole where everyone will betray you at a moment's notice" thing was a total cliché. (As was the whole "sexy young woman is super-assassin" thing.) But the woman who played Comer's former teacher was great. A mixed bag at best.

We should've had a Killing Eve thread. Maybe when the next series comes out. i liked the ending. It was fun.

On ep 6 of Escape at Dannemora, which I expected nothing from but is actually pretty great, like top 10 material (assuming it sticks the landing)

I felt it was a bit overextended for the material but enjoyable. Great performances and Stiller's direction was surprisingly restrained

yeah I don't know that the last ep needed to be movie-length but I actually appreciated the uh shall we say unsentimental detour of ep 6

oh, and I suspect many ilxors will appreciate the use of year-specific pop music

I'm at episode four and am enjoying it. I really like the slow pace of it. And the acting is mostly very good.

Dano really surprised me, more restrained than I've ever seen him

I liked the show, but also felt it could have been about half as long. Would have liked to see more of the escape fallout in the prison, though.

Spoilers....

Episode 6 was necessary but fucking brutal and disgusting. A little suspicious that the guy who died is painted as a monstrous sociopath and the guy who survived is treated as a reluctant, tragic genius who got roped into this escape plan. Also, I couldn't tell if Tilly's husband was supposed to be mentally-handicapped, or just sort of bumbling.

lodge 49 is up on hulu now and is great (through the two episodes i've watched at least). main character is like if the dude from the big lebowski was dealing with trauma and depression (he's even called "dud" so that maybe intentional).

I've raved about it already, probably my favorite new series of last year

A little suspicious that the guy who died is painted as a monstrous sociopath and the guy who survived is treated as a reluctant, tragic genius who got roped into this escape plan.

he shot that cop and then ran him over with a car. his "i didn't kill that cop" is based on him not delivering the coup de grace. also the show quite clearly shows that sweat did all the work with the escape - bar the discovery of the fact that the catwalk was not patrolled.

def did not think of Sweat as a "genius" or all that sympathetic, just a resourceful guy who wanted out

lodge 49 spins out a bit at the end but is absolutely worth the time and i am excited to see what they do with a second season.

Just wonder how much of the story of the escape is based on Sweat's testimony, because he comes off as a human being whereas Matt is just straight psycho.

Vulture has a rundown on the real people involved (spoilers, obviously)

https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/escape-at-dannemora-true-story.html

I'd love to know more about how the series was written/developed.

This is about the ex-inmate who was a consultant

https://theoutline.com/post/6612/escape-from-dannemora-clinton-correctional-facility-prison-break

ooh, thanks for that.

So right now I'm kinda shifting into fulltime NBA but otherwise:

* America To Me
missed this when it came out but streaming it through a Starz subscription and I can't recommend it enough. one of the cinematographers is Bing Liu, the kid who did Minding the Gap and my love for that led me here. Immensely honest and deeply revealing portrait of race, gender and class in an upscale Illinois high school filmed over the course of a year. Super real, super entertaining and brilliantly shot. Get a tester sub to Starz and binge it, you'll thank me.
* High Maintenance
only getting better
* Broad City
they clearly are working to make the last season memorable and it shows; this is the best it's been in years.
* Russian Doll
binged and loved; check out the thread on ILE for context
* Patriot Act
the best political comedy show on television right now and it's not even close. Minhaj is getting better with his tics, too!
* Late Show with Colbert
the only nightly monologue (and bumper comedy bit) that matters; wish he wasn't such a generally terrible interviewer tho'. Meyers is the inverse here; worth watching for the interviews and skipping the comedy.
* Drunk History
feels a little stuck in a rut but still consistently fun
* The Zoo
if you don't love the plucky stories of marmots, gorillas, snow leopards and giraffes i dunno what to tell ya. lotta hometown flavor too.
* The Other Two
Maybe the second best currently running sitcom, hope they can maintain the quality (and deep sadness) for future seasons
* Firing Line
surprisingly watchable reboot with a notably less right leaning approach: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/firing-line/
* Top Chef
I like it when they cook

Need to get caught up on and/or excited to see them back now/shortly:
At Home with Amy Sedaris
Slutever
Corporate
Jeopardy (All-star competition is on!)
Deadly Class (first episode was promising but hour long comic dramas are a tough sell for my time)
Planet Earth: Dynasties
Better Things

Tried/Denied:
Miracle Workers (looks like somebody saw The Good Place and thought it would be easy. it's not.)
You're the Worst (tried again for last season's sake, still as bad as i remember it became)

PEN15 is (surprisingly) good

the conceit of having the two adult actors play as kids actually works amazingly well. It's not quite Freaks and Geeks level, but it's in that wheelhouse

You're the Worst (tried again for last season's sake, still as bad as i remember it became)

Feel the same. The 3rd season was my high point, with the "Twenty Two" episode that focused on Edgar. Last season was hit or miss and this season just hasn't worked for me. Maybe a bit like Californication, in "how many chances does someone deserve?".

Deadly Class, binged all the comics from my library, so enjoying that.

The Magicians is my current DVR must-have.

oh shit, yeah! I forgot PEN15! It's up and down in terms of quality from episode to episode but when it's good (racism episode, masturbation episode) it is VERY good. I'm three eps away from finishing.

And let's also add in the new Desus and Mero on Showtime... and maybe SMILF? First two eps were a step down from last season but Rosie O'Donnell is worth the price of admission.

Currently curious about Good Trouble and Shrill.

PEN15 ends strongly; well worth watching.

The Widow, on Amazon Prime, is really good. It's basically a noir story (everyone is betraying everyone else) set in Congo and Rwanda.

CORPORATE

oh yeah, i knew i was forgetting something! Corporate got A LOT better this season; basically the best thing on Comedy Central.

the newest one about "The Tragedy" was a little try-hard-cynical but there have been some amazing eps. the episode where matt is determined to go see a rock show on a weeknight and the episode with makeup for men are ones that jump to mind

Veep coming at the end of the month, Killing Eve on April 7. Feel like i should try Barry and The Good Fight at some point. I gotta torrent the new episodes of Fleabag shortly.

Here's some other upcoming things of potential interest:

Now Apocalypse on Starz
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ho1YcutJLb8

Love Death and Robots on Netflix
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA16mcJylmI

Abby's on NBC (Michael Schur's take on Cheers... maybe they'll cut the laughtrack?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4FvHs1pzoQ

I Am Richard Pryor on Paramount
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5RJUaFIKvE

Hanna on Amazon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v75RmNuZgTs

Finding Justice on BET
https://www.bet.com/shows/finding-justice/about.html

and one more: In the Dark on the CW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoo1CDCBYy8

I watched a couple of eps of Hanna & it’s ok but it doesn’t have the edge/intensity that the movie had.
tv hannah is no saiorse, thats for sure!
i dunno, maybe too quick to judge tho