20 for 2020: The Top TV/Video Content of the Year (Part 1)

For tens of millions of people in this country at least television took on a greater and more critical role than ever before Shut away at home during selfisolations quarantines and lockdowns of varying lengths amp8211 many wisely still in place amp8211 I think it fair to note than more Americans than ever before have relied on television to occupy their time and provide muchneeded information entertainment and escapism I can39t imagine what the year would have been like without streaming services and Netflix in particular as you will see but I have to give everyone in the industry credit for figuring things out and keeping their programs going during a time of uniquely unprecedented challengesStill in the interest of maintaining a degree of normalcy wherever possible I39m going to stick with tradition and identify my favorites The first part of this twopart column lists my picks for the No 11No 20 shows The Top 10 will followWhy am I forgoing my annual Top 25 you ask There are several reasons but I39ll go with this one This change makes for a catchier headlineNo 20 CarringtonColby Instagram Remember the 3980s when television was unapologetically fun No programming genre epitomized that more than the primetime serials of the era with Dynasty outshining them all This Instagram feed is a cavalcade of fabulous clips put in context with concise commentaries mostly featuring Joan Collins as the legendary Alexis Morrell Carrington Colby Dexter Rowan engaged in conflicts of some kind with other female characters from the show39s nineseason run Nemesis Krystle daughter Fallon daughterinlaw Sammy Jo sisterinlaw Dominique sister Caress and arguably the snappiest snippiest of all her cousin SableNo 19 amp160Tosh0 Comedy Central Daniel Tosh referred to the final episodes run of his longrunning Comedy Central hit as the quotSeason of Mourningquot not because the show was cancelled or due to COVID but because his beloved dog Castro died Throughout he hinted that his show or a variation thereof will live on elsewhere Digits crossed For many years this has been my goto guilty pleasure and I39m not ready to quit itNo 18 amp160Spanishlanguage series on Netflix Like millions of people I desperately needed frequent escapes from the madness of 2020 I found it in a smashingly entertaining batch of Spanishlanguage comedies and dramas on Netflix At the top of the list melodramatic youth ensemble drama Eliteamp160pictured above colorful comedic soap opera La Casa de las Flores and the twisty psychodrama El Desorden Que Dejas These are not telenovelas rather they are the work of actors writers and directors who are in a word fearless Bonus Since I don39t speak Spanish I need to put down my phone when watching and pay full attention because I need to read the subtitles It39s like TV viewing the way it used to beNo 17 amp160Mom CBS Still the most consistently funny sitcom on television It39s so good in fact that even minor oneshot characters with only one or two lines of dialogue are as riotously funny as series stars Allison Janney Mimi Kennedy Jaime Pressly Beth Hall and recent standout Kristen Johnston Oh and the guy in the group William Fichtner is pretty great too Star Anna Faris left the show at the start of season eight and while she39s missed it39s rolling along just fine without heramp160No 16 amp160Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon NBC Late Show with Stephen Colbert CBS The latenight talk shows tried all kinds of ways to carry on during the pandemic and watching them experiment and finetune their content was an interesting experience I wasn39t wowed by Fallon39s athome shows but the current way more casual show he is doing with The Roots back in their studio is terrific Casual Fallon is pictured at top It doesn39t even need a studio audience It now seems more directed at viewers at home rather than the people who used to be in the seats I hope it sticks Conversely I really enjoyed Colbertamp160at home where he looked very relaxed and engaged in long remote interviews that made even the most selfabsorbed young celebrities sound interesting Relaxed Colbert is pictured above I miss that Like Fallon he is now back at his professional home The Ed Sullivan Theater though he is doing his show from an office upstairs Stephen go home I mean that in the nicest wayNo 15 amp160This Is Us NBC Broadcast39s best drama was getting a little tired by the end of season four but then the world went to hell and the creative team behind this show quickly incorporated such current reallife crises as the pandemic and racial injustice into their already established ongoing storylines And just like that the show is as compelling and essential as ever and maybe more so Every part of this show continues to invite different reactions some stronger than others But watching the loving relationship between brothers Randall and Kevin continue to crumble in all kinds of ways has been almost unbearable That speaks to the outsize talent of the actors who continue to give them life the marvelous Sterling K Brown and the consistently surprising Justin Hartley respectively This show could easliy be retitled This Is LifeNo 14 amp160My Octopus Teacher Netflix Octopuses that39s the correct plural have always fascinated me They can do so many things that no other creature on earth can do that I sometimes think an ancient octopus or two landed here from another planet many millennia ago and began populating The dismantling magic of these mysterious creatures is on full display in this terrific documentary that reminds us life on this earth isn39t exclusively about humans Indeed that attitude is what brought on the pandemic in the first place and likely ensures more to come After watching My Octopus Teacher I suggest reading The Soul of an Octopus A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness by Sy Montgomery You39re welcomeNo 13 amp160We Are Who We Are HBO HBO39s teen nightmare Euphoria got all the props for its exploration of Gen Z anxiety despair and allaround effedup behavior but it just seemed like one long depressing slog to me HBO39s We Are Who We Are on the other hand thoughtfully explores the same subject matter in a setting that is uniquely foreign a US Army base in Chioggia Italy which somehow gives greater weight to the trials of these kids than just another drama about spoiled adolescents Jack Dylan Grazer pictured above gives a profoundly internal performance as Fraser the kid at the center of the narrative who is completely and convincingly thrown by absolutely everything in his life a culturally jarring move to another country a rocky relationship with his Army commander mother and her wife the challenge of making new friends with kids he has trouble relating to his deep feelings for an older hunky flirtatious soldier the sudden death of a friend and much more This gem is from Luca Guadagnino cowriter and director of the acclaimed 2018 feature film Call Me by Your Name The two productions are excellent companion piecesNo 12 amp160What We Do in the Shadows FX Who could have predicted that a show about things that go bump in the night or should I say vampires on Staten Island would appear out of the dark two years ago and remain one of the smartest funniest things on TVNo 11 amp160Better Call Saul AMC There39s a lot to wrap up in the coming sixth and final season of this sequelprequel hybrid to Breaking Bad that is a chilling character study on its own The storylines and characters in the prequel portion of the show have a long way to go before they are in full alignment with the beginning of Bad though it can surely be done But the fleeting sequel scenesamp160that have started each season seemed over the previous five to be a riveting setup to amp8230 something but what Will Jimmy McGill continue his new life as paranoid Cinnabon employee Gene or will his past finally catch up to him Is there time to show us and satisfy us too And while I39m asking questions can anyone explain to me why Bob Odenkirk and Rhea Seehorn were denied Emmy nominations for their careerbest work in season fiveTo be continued Read Part 2 hereClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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20 for 2020: The Top TV/Video Content of the Year (Part 1)

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Ed Martin

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