A few days ago I published my Top 12 list of what I considered to be the best of television in 2016. It was very difficult trying to narrow down all the great TV I watched this year into a Top 12, but after a lot of thought and effort put into the list, I'm happy with the 12 I landed on. However because there was a lot of great TV that aired this year and my list wasn't ranked anyways, I decided to make a second list of the 15 shows that almost made my Best Of list only to get cut for some reason or another. "The Best Of The Rest Of TV List" as I call it. Could I have just added these 15 shows to my original list and went for a Top 27? Sure but where's the fun in that? Should I have posted this list before my actual Best Of list to avoid confusion? Maybe, but it's too late to do anything about that now. Just a reminder before we get to it that the list isn't ranked, and it is completely subjective so if my opinions don't match your own, that's totally cool. Alright without further ado, you've seen the "Best Of", now meet the "Rest Of".
American Crime (ABC): The second season of John Ridley's anthology drama American Crime (not to be confused with American Crime Story) was one of the most fascinating shows of the year, a sweeping, nuanced look at sexuality, rape, race, gender, class, school violence, and cyber-vigilantism among other things. The season told the story of two schools and a community thrown into disarray when a basketball player at an elite private school accuses a teammate of raping him at a party, an incident that turns out to be more complex than it initially seemed, Connor Jessup and Joey Pollari are terrific as the two boys at the centre of the season, and they're surrounded by an all-star group of performances from the likes of Felicity Huffman, Regina King, Lili Taylor, Timothy Sutton and more. A series of twists and turns throughout the season keep things interesting. The season also utilized several interesting and daring storytelling techniques throughout the season, including a stunning mid-season interpretive dance sequence that highlights the many themes of the story and an episode that intercuts the action with interviews of Columbine survivors, LGBT victims of bullying and the mother of a gay son who committed suicide to devastating effect. The willingness to be bold with the story it told makes the second season of American Crime a must-watch for sure.
Better Things (FX): The show that came the closest to making the "Best Of " list, Better Things was one of my favourite new comedies of the year. Co-created by Louis C.K. and Pamela Adlon, Adlon stars as Sam Fox, a divorced actress balancing looking for work with raising her three daughters Max (Mikey Madison), Frankie (Hannah Allgood) and Duke (Olivia Edward). The show is an honest, unflinching look at the ups and downs of motherhood and being a woman through a series of Louie-esque vignettes. Max, Frankie and Duke (particularly Max, who is the oldest daughter) all cause Sam a lot of grief and anger and hurt but at the end of the day, there is a genuine believable love between them. The kids are believable and can be irritating, but in ways that feel true to life. Sam's relationship with her own mother Phyl (Celia Imrie) is also on display, adding another dimension to the show. Of course Better Things is very funny too, with all kinds of great moments and insights in every episode. The show feels like a spiritual successor to Louie, but it's also very much its own thing and I'm excited for more of it.
Black Mirror (Netflix): An episodic anthology show like Black Mirror where every episode is a new story in a new world is always going to be something of a mixed bag. That's just the nature of anthology shows. That being said, I greatly enjoyed the majority of the 3rd season (The first one produced specifically for Netflix) with only one episode that outright didn't work for me (The mind-melting VR madness of Playtest). From the "Social Media Popularity as caste system" world of Nosedive to the "Twitter abuse meets X-Files" thrills of Hated In The Nation, there was always something interesting to latch onto about the ways we use and are used by technology. Black Mirror also almost made my "Best Of" list for one episode alone, San Junipero. What starts as a simple love story between two women in the 80's turns into one of the most emotionally profound and beautiful things I've seen all year, plus it's one of the rare Black Mirror entries that offers something close to hope. It's astounding, and though the rest of the season never matches it, it's still well worth a watch.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox): It's easy to overlook Brooklyn Nine-Nine. The ensemble clicked so quickly and the show got so good, so fast that it's easy to take it's consistency for granted. Even if it's not the most daring or creative show on the block though it's still a show I look forward to spending time with every week. Sure, Andre Braugher snapping from monotone stoicism to unbridled rage/excitement isn't as rare or fresh as it use to be but it's still consistently funny every time (A 4th season moment of him yelling "BONEEE!" is one of his finest line deliveries ever). We know the characters so well at this point that we can guess how they'll react in most situations, but the show still finds moments to surprise us too. The show is also trying new things too as it gets older. It dabbled in heavy serialization in the back half of season 3/first bit of season 4 with exciting and funny results, adding some actual stakes to the show while still keeping it mostly light. Brooklyn Nine-Nine has been around for a while at this point, but it's in no danger of growing stale anytime soon.
Game of Thrones (HBO): The 6th season of Game of Thrones was it's most thrilling yet for one simple reason: for the first time ever book readers and show watchers were on mostly equal footing. With the majority of material from the released books covered, season 6 began diving in earnest into uncharted territory, revealing things both expected/suspected (A couple of major twists concerning Jon Snow) and surprising (A Hodor reveal I honestly never saw coming that wrecked me). The show still had it's flaws, mainly concerning the unrelenting terribleness of Ramsay Bolton and the dullness of most Greyjoy-related material that doesn't involve Yara, but a bunch of strong moments throughout the last two incredibly great episodes in particular helped to show why Game of Thrones became so popular in the first place. Bring on season seven!
Galavant (ABC): Galavant, a medieval musical comedy created by Tangled writer Dan Fogelman with music from Alan Menkin and Glenn Slater was a weird little gem of a January burn-off show that shouldn't have got a second season but somehow pulled it off. The first season about a heroic knight Galavant (Joshua Sasse) trying to get his groove back after his love Madalena (Mallory Jansen) chooses the bumbling put powerful King Richard (Timothy Omundson) was flawed, but charming and brilliant in spots (Particularly with it's sympathetic portrayal of Richard) and the second season found the show zeroing in on what worked and hitting it's stride. Richard is betrayed by Madalena and his right-hand man Gareth (Vinnie Jones) and decides to pal up with Galavant, setting up an incredibly rewarding redemptive arc for Richard as he becomes a true hero over the course of the season. Meanwhile as Galavant tries to get back to his true love Isabella (Karen David), the show throws in a bunch of amusing and inventive obstacles that subvert and play with medieval tropes. From an evil sorcerer who's also a wedding planner to a kingdom that's found a primitive version of democracy to a bunch of giants and elves who are all the same size to a soft-shoeing personification of Death, Galavant is loaded with creativity, great jokes, and a bunch of catchy and occasionally affecting songs. The show didn't make it to a third season, but the second season tells a complete compelling story that's great enough to ease the pain of cancellation a little.
The Good Place (NBC): The Good Place started out as a simple fish out of water story, albeit told on a cosmic level. Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) dies and is sent to the good place, a paradise reserved for the cream of the cream of the crop. The only problem is there was a mix-up and Eleanor isn't actually the perfect person neighborhood Architect Michael (Ted Danson) and her fellow residents think she is and doesn't belong there. So Eleanor enlists her ethics professor "soulmate" Chidi (William Jackson-Harper) to try and learn how to be a better person before she's caught and sent to the bad place. The Good Place has greater ambitions than that initial promise though and has grown into a story about unfair systems and what makes someone a "good person". There's plenty of jokes to go along with the ethics and examinations of morality though and the cast is full of stand-outs particularly Danson's Michael, who loves humanity but doesn't understand it. With four episodes left in the first (and hopefully not last) season, The Good Place is a warm, winning delight that grows better and more inventive by the week.
The Grinder (Fox): The Grinder was too good, too clever, and too creative to last, joining the ranks of many a great show cancelled only after a season. The first part of the season established the show's premise and template nicely. Dean Sanderson (Rob Lowe) starred for many years as Mitchard Grinder in the hit legal drama "The Grinder". When his show ends, a visit to his brother Stewart's (Fred Savage) family in Boise, Idaho becomes permanent when he decides to become a real lawyer and join the family law firm despite having no actual experience, much to the bemusement of Stewart and the delight of their father Dean Sr. (William Devine). These first episodes show Stewart adjusting to Dean as he gives terrible advice to Stewart's children, casually abuses his celebrity and tries to use TV logic (Like winning arguments with the phrase "But what if it wasn't?") in real world situations with amusing results. In 2016 however, the show really hit it's stride thanks to a very serialized arc about a TV-esque conspiracy hitting the firm just as Dean gives up being The Grinder which deconstructs the show's own premise in amusing ways. Meanwhile the show was chalked full of insider meta jokes about how TV and the TV business works. For all the loopiness though, the show never lost sight of the heart of the story: the relationship between Dean and Stewart. Even as ratings dropped and cancellation seemed nigh, The Grinder refused to simplify it's storytelling or dumb things down for the audience (Save for an episode where they made fun of doing something like that by indulging in a classical farce plot). It might have doomed the show, but nothing can take away from the greatness of the one season we did get. The Grinder rests.
Man Seeking Woman (FXX): Man Seeking Woman is possibly the most surreal show on television. The characters and how they react to situations are grounded in reality (With the occasional exception of Eric Andre's Mike) and the basic story (Josh Greenberg tries to find love with the help of ultra bro best friend Mike and sensible-ish sister Liz (Britt Lower) but the world and the context of the situations are anything but. In one episode Josh tries to bond with his girlfriend's friends but can't relate to their shared experience of being stalked by a slasher movie villain in a cursed cabin they insist on revisiting. In another Liz has a fling with a married man: Santa Claus. In one of my favourite episodes of 2016, Josh is rejected by a girl he's been nice to and so makes a literal law that you have to date anyone who's nice to you. The rules of the world around Josh, Mike, and Liz vary from segment to segment (For the most part, each episode is a series of loosely connected sketches) but they remain the same in any situation, which helps give you something to connect to, even when the sketches aren't landing. The result is a very funny show with a lot of fresh insight about dating and trying to define yourself in your late 20's.
The Night Of (HBO): I'll be honest. I totally forgot about The Night Of until I saw it on a different Best Of List. Which is why it didn't make my Best Of List. That's not to say it was bad or forgettable or anything. It was terrific, a tense, atmospheric crime drama that carefully followed a murder case and accused killer Nasir "Naz" Khan (Riz Ahmed) through every step of the legal system, showing how stacked it can be against someone without a lot of means to defend themselves. John Turturro was also terrific as John Stone, the ambulance chasing lawyer who stumbles into the case of a lifetime. The show stumbled a bit when it got to the ending which felt a bit too clean in a few parts, but was engaging all the way through. In the end there was just too much good TV for The Night Of to stick in my memory, but now that I've remembered it, I'm definitely planning a rewatch soon.
South Park (Comedy Central): The 20th season was certainly it's most ambitious as it went all in on serialization to tell a 10-episode story about Kyle's unassuming dad Gerald becoming a notorious internet troll, Denmark developing a tool that would make everyone's internet history public in retaliation to trolling, how we treat each other online, a brewing civil war between boys and girls, and the U.S. Presidential Election which was being manipulated by member berries, nostalgia-obsessed fruit trying to bring things back to the good old days. Unfortunately the story got thrown for a loop when Donald Trump was elected president, forcing Matt Stone and Trey Parker to retool things to a degree. As a result, the member berries disappeared from the narrative after episode 8 and the boys/girls clash got mostly downplayed leaving the trolling storyline to carry the brunt of the narrative weight. The results were a bit underwhelming and hurt the season as a whole, but there was still a lot of great moments and clever satire (Particularly with the Member Berries) to make it an overall great season for South Park.
Speechless (ABC): Speechless could have been a treacly and overly-saccharine show about an inspiring lower-class family coping with their oldest son's cerebral palsy as best as they can. Instead it's a smart, irreverent, honest and very funny show that's well on its way to becoming one of TV's best (It mainly missed the main list because of how early in it's run it is.). Micah Fowler is a revelation as J.J. who doesn't let small things like being wheel-chair bound and unable to verbally communicate keep him from being a typical girl-obsessed, popularity-chasing, snarky teenager. The rest of the DiMeo family- Minnie Driver fierce yet careless in most non-J.J. matters matriarch Maya, John Ross Bowie's laid-back, fine with being an idiot Jimmy, Mason Cook's soulful, earnest and geeky Ray and Kyla Kennedy's very intense, very competitive Dylan- are equally well-defined, as is J.J.'s full-time aide Kenneth (A delightful Cedric Yarbrough). Speechless definitely goes for heart-warming sentiment when it tries, but is also happily content to undercut the sappiness with a clever plot turn. Also the ongoing shambles of the DiMeo house is one of the best running gags of the year (A list written on the wall during the Halloween episode can still be seen there 5 episodes later).
Stranger Things (Netflix): Stranger Things took some of the best parts and themes of 80's cinema (Particularly classic Spielberg and John Carpenter) and mixed them all together to make an incredibly fun, incredibly entertaining story that payed homage to the greats, while standing on it's own quite nicely. Winona Ryder and David Harbour both gave great performances as the main adult characters in the story but the real stars were the kids at the heart of things. Talented child actors are hard to find but Stranger Things struck gold with Finn Wolfhard (Mike), Gaten Matarazzo (Dustin), Caleb MacLaughlin (Lucas), Noah Schnapp (Will) and especially Millie Bobbie Brown as the ET-esque Eleven, who all came across as believable and were able to step up to the plate acting-wise whenever needed. Stranger Things was the most unexpected treat of the summer and I'm definitely stoked for whatever the Duffer Brothers have in store for Stranger Things 2.
Superstore (NBC): I had no expectations for Superstore when it debuted. Comedy had been mostly flailing at NBC for a few years now and even the alright stuff wasn't lasting long. But I checked out the first couple episodes and found myself quickly won over by it's interesting characters, compelling setting and funny stories. The show grew better and more confident by the episode and the second season has been a real treat so far. I finally started to feel like I had found a worthy successor to The Office, one of my favourite shows of all time (Though we still got a ways to go before Superstore gets to that level). If the rest of season 2 (and hopefully season 3) is as strong as it's been so far, Superstore is a shoe-in for a spot on next year's best of list.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix): Another show that came incredibly close to making the "Best Of List", the second season of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (And the first one actually written and produced for Netflix) was deeper, weirder, and even more joke-packed than the first. If the first season was about Kimmy learning to confront and move beyond her bunker experience, the second is about her learning to deal with the deeper traumas and resentments that are keeping her from truly moving on. Meanwhile Titus finds himself in a committed relationship, Jacqueline tries to reintegrate herself into rich life to help her family and Lillian fights gentrification. Their stories all weave together and take unexpected turns throughout the season leading to an emotionally cathartic conclusion that sets the stage for season 3 nicely, while still feeling satisfying on it's own. Guest Stars like Fred Armisen, Anna Camp, and Tina Fey all fit into the world perfectly and enrich the story. There's also such a wealth of great jokes, quips, songs, visuals and background gags that each episode demands to be watched at least five times to catch them all.
And with that, Kenny Sage Talks TV, Yo! is officially done with list-making for 2016. Thank God.
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