It was a ridiculously good year for television. Here are Pulse’s top picks.
Television has always been a tether to other people and ourselves. In 2022, a year of turmoil and uncertainty, TV has provided something even more essential: a lifeline. Some shows reflected the moment’s surrealist to us. Some made us see other people in slightly new ways. Some offered escapism through larger-than-life storylines. At their best, the TV shows of 2022 revealed human truths through fiction. They made us laugh. They made us think.
But even if la dolce’s not-so-vita wasn’t your cup of tea, there was an abundance of quality entertainment to be consumed on television and laptop screens this year, from critically acclaimed half-hour comedies, to the return of HBO favorites, love and romance, and a lot more fun.
These shows satirized the cramped togetherness of the workplace and transported us to beautifully realized alternate worlds. They took us to sterile offices, gaudy resorts, kitchens, cattle ranches, and pirate ships. They provoked; they entranced; they explained. Above all, they helped bring a bit of order to a year of chaos, one enthralling episode at a time.
Abbott Elementary (ABC)
Emmy-winning creator and star Quinta Brunson did more than just make a successful network sitcom in the age of streaming. She crafted beloved characters, specific settings, and hilarious jokes with “Abbott” (Wednesdays, 9 EST/PST).
Brunson plays Janine Teagues, an idealistic and energetic second-grade teacher at a Philadelphia elementary school, who’s often hilariously and harshly confronted by the realities of low budgets and terrible bureaucrats.
There are more TV shows than ever, but there aren’t a lot of genuinely funny sitcoms with perfect casts and instantly classic bits. “Abbott” has it all, even a cameo from Philadelphia Flyers mascot Gritty in Season 2.
Andor (Disney+)
The writer Tony Gilroy’s endeavor is a refreshing reminder that uncharted storytelling territory remains in a universe as well-known as the one George Lucas created. Andor, which tracks how Rogue One’s Cassian Andor (played by Diego Luna) evolves from an ordinary person to a Rebel captain, understands that watching someone discover his purpose can be as exciting as observing the discovery of a new planet.
Still, the show isn’t lacking in jaw-dropping action: Cassian’s journey involves high-octane missions stretching across the galaxy, as well as electrifying monologues from actors such as Stellan Skarsgård, Fiona Shaw, and Andy Serkis. Andor’s sixth episode is particularly riveting. No offense to Baby Yoda, but nothing he’s done has ever made me leap to my feet and cheer at my screen.
The Bear (FX)
Christopher Storer’s barnstorming dramedy about a chef who quits high-end restaurants to sling sandwiches back home in Chicago after the death of his brother. Trying to identify exactly what makes the show so compelling is a tricky endeavor: Its pace is frenetic, its plot is completely anxiety-inducing, and its re-creation of the dynamics of food service is intensely committed.
But The Bear is also thrilling, funny, beautifully rendered, and sharp about how hierarchical workplaces can prize obeisance over potential and aggression over achievement. Without these kinds of structures in place, the show wonders, what might be possible? Finessing Italian beef, one imagines, is just the beginning.
The Dropout (Hulu)
The series is needle-sharp in pinpointing the complex factors contributing to Holmes’s rise and fall, but it’s also surprisingly funny as it traces the absurdity of early 2000s tech culture and then-ubiquitous girl-boss mentality. Amanda Seyfried’s Emmy-winning performance is so tremendous that she’s become the definitive Holmes; Jennifer Lawrence decided against pursuing her turn at the role after watching the show.
Most projects about scammers focus heavily on re-creating the salacious elements of their story, but great ones understand that the consequences of those betrayals require just as much examination. As The Dropout makes clear, Holmes was never actually a star neither genius nor visionary. She was just someone who knew how to dazzle the right marks.
The White Lotus (HBO Max)
The White Lotus which recently aired its second season, mimics drama, dark comedy, thriller, murder mystery, and camp. It does not merely toggle among its genres, swerving between humor and horror as so many shows do; it merges them seamlessly.
The vacationers at the White Lotus in Sicily, and the resort workers who cater to their whims, are at once ridiculous and heart-wrenching. Couples arrive and leave with their secrets; feuding families try to reconcile and only somewhat succeed. Their stories are simple and complicated.
Bad Sisters (AppleTV)
This superb Irish black comedy comes from the pen of prolific sitcom writer Sharon Horgan (Pulling, Catastrophe, Motherland). Four sisters plot to kill their brother-in-law Jean-Paul after he mistreats each of them, including his wife Grace. Jean-Paul is possibly one of the greatest villains on TV his pet name for Grace, “Mammy,” will haunt your days, long after you down this insane cocktail of murder mystery comedy thriller.
What we do in the shadows (Hulu/AppleTV
This season tossed the characters into totally new situations energy vampire Colin Robinson was reborn as a small child with the head of a grown adult; ambitious Nadja decided to open up a nightclub, and the ever-lofty Nandor decided to resurrect all 37 of his spouses so he could pit them against one another and figure out which one it was he wanted to marry. Y’know just vampire things!
Amidst all the tomfoolery and one of the most hilarious parody episodes out there, What We Do in the Shadows also gets dang sad and bittersweet at points. There are laughs, tears, and dozens of quotable mispronounced words.
Severance (AppleTV)
Severance doesn’t seem like it should work as well as it does. Every bit of the sci-fi thriller from its tightly tuned performances to the evocatively low-key score, even to the concept of the show itself feels like a high-wire act, a series of plates spinning atop sticks and staying perfectly balanced.
The world where Lumon Industries has allowed or, more disquietingly, required workers to sever their work and home identities is trippy and methodic like an Escher painting come to life.
Station Eleven (HBO Max)
For a series in which the fast-moving flu extinguishes human society, HBO Max’s Station Eleven burst with the warmth of human reconnection. The post-pandemic narrative mainly follows Kirsten, Tully’s Mackenzie Davis, part of a traveling troupe of performers, but its soul shines in the flashbacks to the flu’s immediate aftermath, where her eight-year-old self, Matilda Lawler, and kind stranger Jeevan, the ace Himesh Patel try to find purpose in the face of trauma.
The Boys S3 (Amazon Prime)
The Boys were back this year and just as violent, gory, offensive, and very, very funny as ever. It’s the anti-superhero show because it’s about a government-sanctioned squad of superhero killers. Karl Urban’s Cockney accent was once again the worst thing on earth, and yet somehow still brilliant. This year’s third season ramped up the drama, gore, and hilarity, creating fast-paced, clever, but also totally stupid TV that was perfect
