WHAT I WATCHED IN 2024 THAT I FELT COMPELLED TO WRITE ABOUT:

I started this blog from a post I made from facebook. I just wanted to share some of my favorite things I’d watched during 2024 to help me get past the huge gut punch/throat gulp of having another Trump presidency. Sorry. That’s the last time I’ll bring it up I swear. We’re here for a trip away from all that.
Below is my original facebook post from January 6 (I know, I know, it’s just a coincidence). I’ve left it as is. I know there have been updates, changes, cancellations, etc. that I wasn’t aware of when I wrote the original post. I also wanted to present it unedited, mostly cause I didn’t know where to start this blog.

Some notes: Sometimes I will list that I have re-watched something. My intention is to present that I might have found new insight, or something new to present about the show. I may very well write about a show that I previously wrote about in order to share more. In that instance I will label the entry as a re-watch.

US/UK/AUS/NZ/ETC. There are plenty of shows that are made in other countries. If I found that show from a source that is outside the normal viewing channels for a US audience I’ll label it as such. If it is easily accessible to US audiences through US vendors I most likely won’t label the originating country. My intention with that designation is to help folks find where to watch the show while also not advertising any services.

Slow Horses

Gary Oldman in a spy/espionage series where the spies are far from perfect at being spies. This show is great because it isn’t just some attempt at socially aggrandizing spies or trying to convince us that secret government agencies are cool. In fact it’s great at showing folks how uncool it is that secret government operations even exist, and also how ineffective they often are, and how they probably cause just as many problems as they claim to solve, and how (every once in a while) it turns out they might be a little necessary but are they worth the cost? There is no political message here, just a little grounded reality spy show.

English Teacher

The tagline says A high-school English teacher navigating the personal, political, and professional obstacles life throws his way. Why does it sound so unremarkable? In some kind of weird twist of fate I also think that unremarkable description is the perfect description of this amazing blend of cynical and grounded humor. I love when cynical humor is done right. English Teacher was a stand out this year for sure. Enrico Colantoni is in it. He is easily one of the best actors alive today. He’s been in TV shows where the skill gap between him and the other cast have been downright distracting. He is in this show and it is not distracting at all. This show has all the makings of becoming one of the greats. If it can survive being cancelled. That’s how good it is, it’s so good some asshole will probably try to cancel it.

Community

Re-watch, like maybe my third or fourth re-watch – I still know people who haven’t seen this show, I have so many different ways I would pitch this show. It is a pleasure to watch this cast at the top of their game and yet so close to the beginning of their upward trajectory. Much of this cast have become household names. Allison Brie, Donald Glover (Childish Gambino), Danny Pudi, Gillian Jacobs, Ken Jeong. Jim Rash is an amazing talent and it is almost kind of odd at how much his range and acting ability are on display during the series. It might also be a testament to how this show is more than a simple sitcom and at the same time, it is a fantastic sitcom. If you want to know what Jeff Winger ended up doing after leaving Greendale, you’ll be happy to know he is an animal control officer in Seattle now. https://g.co/kgs/RifsaL2

Hacks

This show is snuggling its way into my all time favorite shows-sheets. Hacks was created by Lucia Aniello, Jen Statsky, and Paul Downs. You might remember those by-lines from Broad City. If you haven’t, you should watch Broad City. Jean Smart already has an amazing career, Designing Women was amazing (and at times wonderfully progressive). Her work on Frasier was above and beyond. Hannah Einbinder keeps pace right beside her, she is a talented comedian and writer in her own right, and she is spectacular in a cast of amazing and funny talent.

Somebody Somewhere

Well for f(*&s sake, HBO can’t help but cancel every single good thing they start. Somebody Somewhere has one of my favorite pilot episodes ever. There are 3 solid seasons with the 3rd having been released in October. It is a beautifully personal work of art with a cast that fits so well you’d think they all had a part in the writer’s room. I really appreciate how every time you think they might be heading towards some cynical trope, they just simply don’t. They keep the story honest to each character without ever smashing in some shortcut to our emotions. Bridget Everett, and Jeff Heller aren’t putting on a show so much as acting so well you would think you were meeting them for waffles later. And Murray Hill is in this. Murray Hill is my shit, Murray Hill is perfection. I feel endless joy that I am alive at the same time as Murray Hill, and also existential dread that something bad will happen to him. Whenever he shows up somewhere I’m ready to watch. We must do everything we can to protect Murray Hill. Did I do a good job describing the show? I don’t know. I’m not sorry. Murray Hill. Done. That’s all you should need. Next show. On with the list.

Int. Chinatown

Whoever cast Ronny Chieng for his part was on some meta level brilliant shit. All of us white folk are going to be talking about Ronny Chieng’s brilliantly belligerent performance when we talk about this show. For good reason, it’s really great. This show is a weird ride that plays to me really well. I like referential shows, not so much when they are specific, but when they are an homage that is also a little parody. I’m looking you right in the eyes Community, or the entire of the movie Be Kind Rewind. Charles Yu is the show runner, who also wrote the book this show is based off of. The only way they could mess this up is if they fire the show creator-slash-runner at the end of Season 3 ಠಿ_ಠ.
Yu received some amazing recognition for his novel, a National Book Award among many other accolades. TV folks will recognize his name from the fantastic Season 1 of Westworld and as the writer tapped by Taika Waititi to write his protracted Akira adaptation, which now looks more likely to happen as a TV series instead of a movie. So the lesson here is just watch everything Charles Yu puts his name on and you won’t go wrong. Int. Chinatown is fantastic work.

Laid

US remake of a decent Australian show, the Australian took a dark turn towards the end in a way I didn’t like. It is a brilliant premise for a TV show. I feel like the US version made some better choices for the first season, even if at times it leaned a little into bubble gum pop. Don’t worry, it’s not some sort of Sex Lives of College Girls. There’s real adult work happening here. The cast is spectacular, Stephanie Hsu (Ms. Maisel, Joy Ride) is a massive talent and I hope this show can provide the vessel that shows everyone why she should be a household name. I think there are some directing/editing issues that the writing and acting do a decent job making up for. They make up for it enough for me anyways. I like this show.

Babylon 5

rewatch – I hadn’t watched this show since the 90s. And even then, it didn’t really hold my attention. Rewatching this now I found a deep appreciation that I’m surprised I didn’t find then. Babylon 5 is a more urgent and passionate version of Star Trek (which I love, and DS9 and TNG are my favorites). BB5’s message is clearly pointed, where Star Trek was a broader philosophy. I took a lot of comfort post elections watching BB5. It’s like a TV version of 90s second wave emo/hardcore (not that 3rd wave mallrat shit you think is emo, more like (https://youtu.be/q9vClfyaT1M?t=122). Political, angry, passionate, and often forced to go the DIY route to get the message out into the world. Seasons 1-4 are great, season 5 gets weird and is also unnecessary to the overarching plot of the series. Seasons 1-4 accomplish the message and tie up the story just fine. If you struggle with dated visuals you’ll struggle here. If you can get half way through season 1, you will sail through the rest. Just wish that Season 5 wasn’t so fu()*ing awkward bud.

19-2

rewatch – Speaking of Jared Kelso, before Shoresy (Letterkinney with a thinly veiled plot), before Letterkinny (what should have never been more than a youtube short, fight me) there was 19-2. A Canadian-made series about patrol police in Montreal. Which is a direct remake of a Quebecois series by the same show runner/director but for English speaking audiences.

Jared Kelso wasn’t the only star on the come-up here, Dan Petronivandtherestoftheletters, Laurence Leboeuf (Turbo Kid, Le Petite Rein), Benz Antione. I could just list a bunch of names and you aren’t even reading at this point are you?

Content/trigger warning goes without saying here, it’s a police drama, this show has violence and death and no one is spared from that in this show. With that in mind season 2 is one of the best season openers I’ve ever seen. It’s so well done that it is used in police training courses on the subject. You don’t really need to have ever seen a single episode to appreciate it, which really speaks to the quality of work here. At the same time, it is so much better having been through the first season. It really is worth going in blind to the episode; so if you can, avoid looking it up. The show peters off in quality towards the end of the series while still having a couple of notable moments, it is worth a watch to the end. For a lighter side of Canadian police TV see the fantastic comedy Pretty Hard Cases.

@fter Midnight

Ginger and I are Tomlinsonies (I don’t know what the Taylor Tomlinson version of swifties is called, TayToms? Whatever it is, we’re that). Taylor Tomlinson is such a fast comedian, super funny. I feel like just as I’m laughing at the first joke she will fire off three more punchlines on the same joke. Her talent isn’t just from written work, she’s just as fast with improv as well. Her guests are refreshing compared to other talk shows and the best part is, it’s not a talk show. Some of my favorite comedians/comedy writers make appearances on this show, Mariah Bamford, Murray Hill, Pete Holmes, Rhys Darby, Jim Rash, some of the better performers from the Drop Out universe (who aren’t making their 150th variation of a role playing game TV show). There’s even an episode with Josh Thomas (definitely check out Please Like Me, Everything’s Gonna Be OK). If I didn’t have you at Taylor Tomlinson hosts a sort of fake game show where the contestants are comedians, writers, and actors; then never mind, go back to hating laughing, and voting libertarian, and rioting on January 6 [sorry, definitely the last time, for real!], and watching episodes of Blue Bloods you shit-ass waist of couch.