Phil Hobden2020 was another good year for TV. It started being all about Tiger King and ended up with a LONG summer of people rinsing Netflix for as much new content as possible! Here’s my lost and the 5 best and a handful of Worst TV shows of 2020…
The Must Watch…
TV Show of the year: Ozark
Yes Ozark is now coming into its final season but the thing about great television is that it gets better and better every season. The Wire, The Sopranos, The Shield are great examples of that. And whilst I’m not sure Ozark is there YET it’s a brilliant show thats full of twists and turns, great characters and compelling story telling.
2. Tiger King
In Brief: The show that probably made lockdown so bearable… Tiger King was compelling from the start to end and was a real zeitgeist moment that only Netflix seems to be able to create.
3. The Mandalorian: Season 2
In Brief: Could Season 2 top Season 1? Well as I write this it’s not at the end of the season YET but for sure the pulling in of the wider Star Wars universe, the continuing brilliance of Baby Yoda and cameos galore make this the best Star Wars since The Clone Wars animated show (and best live action since Return of The Jedi).
4. Raised by Wolves
In Brief: So I have zero idea what this show was about, where it’s going (or even where it went) or what it’s going to do in season 2. But man what an amazing ride it was. Insane hard sci-fi, religion, cloning and gritty world building… Raised By Wolves is insane. Brilliants tuff from Ridley Scott.
5. Gangs of London
In Brief: Gangs Of London was full of violence, martial arts, action and crime cliche after crime cliche. It was great fun. Okay so it may have been a few episodes longer than it needed but Gangs Of London was something different.
Bubbling under:
The Boys: Season 2 (I mean this show is just bat shit mental), Better Call Saul: Season 5 (A great season ), Sex Education: Season 2 (A show that keeps on getting better and better ) , Into the Night (Fascinating apocalyptic Belgium TV show ), Star Trek: Picard ( Its Star Trek. With Picard. What more do you need), Alex Rider (Solid action stuff), Westworld: Season 3 (More hard sci-fi from the Nolan team ), Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet (Apple’s first good TV show), Industry (sex, shock and drugs… fascinating tuff from BBC/HBO)
The Must Nots…
Miss of the year: The Walking Dead: World Beyond
In Brief: I gave up on Fear The Walking Dead last year and lasted just three episodes in for The Walking Dead: World Beyond before it got relegated to a background watch at best. Boring characters, a total lack of momentum and a boring core plot makes this a massive miss. There are great stories in this world but I fear it probably needs a rest.
Other shows I checked-out on this year: Lovecraft Country (So I did complete this but at the end i’m not sure it was worth it), Brave New World ( Didn’t last a whole episode) , The Flash (The year I finally gave up on the Arrowverse ), The Undoing (Another one I watched but it was a 6 episode show that could have been done in 4)
Phil's Quick Review
