My top 10 TV shows of 2015
I love television in the way I used to love films. I find there are way more interesting things you can do with the longer format of television than there is with 90-120 minutes of film.
This year has been a pretty good year for Television, even if several previously great shows had extremely disappointing series’ this year. First, what was good?
1) You’re The Worst: Series 2
You’re The Worst is a sitcom about two people who are both objectionable, rude and selfish… but because they have found each other and have become reluctantly romantically involved they start to become happier, healthier people. It’s a show that enjoys depicting selfishness but doesn’t idolise its main characters. It doesn’t shy away from how deeply unfulfilling their lives are… and that comes to a head in the second series.
There is some truly masterful character work in series 2 that elevates the show from a fun, silly, brutal sitcom into something altogether more complex and nuanced. It’s always been a clever show but in series 2 it became a clever show with something really important to say. I can’t spoil what this was but believe me, it pulled it off spectacularly and with serious skill. And it managed all that whilst still being funny. Somehow.
2) Doctor Who: Series 9
When Doctor Who is great it’s like nothing else. Its high concept brand of cleverly plotted silliness is feel good television for all the family. Too often, though, it suffers from sub-par writers filling individual series’ with disappointing episodes. Series 9, though, was wonderful. It switched to a new format (2 episodes per story was the norm, rather than the exception) and dedicated real time to character arcs. Also, after two series of wasted potential, Jenna Coleman’s Clara was finally given an interesting role!
3) Last Week Tonight: Series 2
Last Week Tonight is the news show all news shows wish they could be. It’s funny, insightful and actively revels in tackling difficult subjects. The jokes occasionally fall flat but given it’s a weekly news show that’s more than forgivable. Also, it’s good to see John Oliver finally getting good work.
4) Man Seeking Woman: Series 1
Man Seeking Woman came out of no-where. I have no idea how I even found it… but I’m so glad I did. Man Seeking Woman does for romantic sitcoms what 500 Days Of Summer did for Romantic Films. It’s a wonderful show because, watching it, I was never sure if what I was seeing was actually supposed to be happening or if we as the audience were supposed to be seeing an exaggeration of what the lead character was seeing.
It’s hard to explain, so here’s an example: At the start of the first episode, the lead character gets dumped. Months later, he’s then invited to a party by his ex-girlfriend. He thinks she wants to get back together but he finds she’s got a new boyfriend. And he’s Adolf Hitler.
Literally. Hitler.
It’s a show that plays with the really fun idea that of course the lead is going to think his ex’s new boyfriend is awful… and that gets represented as the character being Hitler… but because the show plays it entirely straight and the other characters around the lead think that it’s perfectly okay for his ex to be dating Hitler… it’s got this beautiful tension that kept me guessing as to what would happen next.
Man Seeking Woman was consistently hilarious and wonderfully directed. It was consistently the most inventive show this year (or possibly…. possibly ever…) and deserves more attention than it got.
5) Limitless: Series 1
Limitless has no right to be as good as it is. It’s a TV show follow up to the film of the same name: A loser gets a pill that supercharges his brain. He can learn anything, do anything (if he’s given an hour to study it beforehand)… and because of this he’s hunted and captured by the FBI and they get him to work for them.
Limitless is mostly a procedural show. Every week there’s a Thing That Needs Dealing With (although thankfully it’s not always a murder or a robbery, sometimes it’s something more mundane but character driven) and the main characters deal with it using the lead’s fantastic drug.
The reason Limitless is more than just another procedural with a gimmick is this: It’s concerned with style and tone moreso than any other procedural since Leverage. It’s unbelievably fun and silly. The main character is charming and witty. He’s also maddening and the show has great fun pitting him against his stuffy FBI co-workers.
The show also has fun by breaking the 4th wall. The main character is a civilian so isn’t allowed to go and arrest suspects… so instead the show depicts what the main character assumes happened during the arrest. He does this in many ways but my personal favourite was this when an arrest was presented as the opening titles to an in universe 70s cheesy cop show.
The creators of Limitless could have done what the superbly disappointing Minority Report tv show did this same year: It could have sloppily adapted an existing property and hoped that the name recognition would be enough to draw viewers. Instead, Limitless was given the space to become its own thing. Its own fun, silly, ridiculous, entertaining and occasionally emotionally raw thing.
6) Into The Badlands: Series 1
The first (mostly) serious show on this list. Into The Badlands is a post-apocalyptic show set in the ruins of a southern US state. The known world is overseen by five Barons. They’re portrayed as plantation owners (although the show avoids racial commentary, probably wisely). Guns have been outlawed completely and so law (and the will of the Barons) is enforced by ‘clippers’ – martial arts masters.
The show is a martial arts show. There are two or three really good wushu fights per episode. They’re really good. Occasionally brutal and always spectacular. Into The Badlands has taken a cast and crew who really know their fights and just let them build a show around it. It’s great. It’s what I wish Marvel would do with their films.
Into The Badlands is a good-but-not-great show. It’s a must for martial arts fans. A second series is yet to be commissioned but I hope it gets renewed. With a longer series (series 1 was only 6 episodes) and more room to express itself, a second series could become truly great.
7) Dark Matter: Series 1
Dark Matter is a rare example of science fiction done right. It’s set of a space ship in the far future. The crew wake up having had their memories wiped and gradually discover that they’re a crew of mercenaries wanted across the galaxy for the horrible crimes they’ve committed. The tension that lasts throughout the series stems from the characters struggling to either distance themselves from their pasts… or give into them.
The character work is extremely strong and, whilst there is a fair amount of annoyance rising from the characters not sharing vital information with each other for no good reason, it’s really well plotted.
The low budget does occasionally get in the way but mostly Dark Matter is a good, solid show. It wouldn’t be particularly notable were it not for the almost total lack of good science fiction on television.
8) Brooklyn Nine Nine: Series 3
There’s nothing I can really say about series 3 of Brooklyn Nine Nine that hasn’t been said about series 1 and 2… and that’s a really good thing. It continues to be a really funny comedy series. Considering we have now had 55 episodes of the show, maybe 50 of which have been good is pretty astonishing. Most comedies manage between about 10 and 20 good episodes.
9) Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
The pilot of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was a bit of a roller coaster. The first five minutes were amazing. The subsequent 17 minutes were (in my opinion) terrible. The characters were clichés, the set up was tedious.
Throughout the series, though, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt grew into its own show. The characters got sharper and moved further away from stereotype (I’m looking at you, Titus)… it just got a lot better. The only reason Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt isn’t higher on this list is it just can’t stand up next to the other really great comedies we’ve had this year.
10) Adam Ruins Everything
Adam Ruins Everything is a show where charming loser Adam Conover deconstructs aspects of society that aren’t given enough scrutiny like charity drives or the restaurant industry. The show examines the problems prevalent in the subject of the episode and explains what could be done to fix them. It even cites its sources. It’s pretty damn fun. It’s consistently funny and manages to not be overly preachy most of the time.
It’s good but in any other year it wouldn’t be top 10 material. It is in my top 10, however, and that is because:
2015 had a lot of really disappointing television
If you look at my top 10 television shows of 2015, you might come to the conclusion that I really like comedy and don’t really like drama. After all, only two of my top 10 shows consider story and character to be more important than comedy (Into The Badlands & Dark Matter) unless you count Limitless.
This isn’t because I dislike drama shows. Far from it, I love drama. The problem is 2015 is the year when a lot of my favourite drama shows went completely off the rails and nothing really popped up to replace them… except Into The Badlands and Dark Matter. Let’s work through 2015’s disappointments, shall we?
Orange Is The New Black: Series 3
Orange Is The New Black, at its best, is a great slice of life drama with compelling characters. It doesn’t shy away from the brutal nature of prison life but also has enough comedy to stop the experience being maudlin. It is slightly too fond of its characters (very few people in this prison are actually bad people, most of them are there because of circumstance or how life is unfair… which is a discussion for another time) but generally it’s pretty damned good.
Series 3, however… disappointed. It was just a bit soap opera-y. Character motivation took a step back and contrivances took a step forward. The show’s continued reliance on the character of Piper is the main problem, I think. The most compelling plots from Series 3 had nothing to do with her, whilst her stories weren’t compelling or interesting. They were concerned with wacky hijinks about used underwear.
A wacky subplot about used underwear could have been fine… but the show devoted way too much time to it and it put Piper in the spotlight when nothing about the story deserved to be centre stage. Dogget’s story was much more brutal and compelling… but because Dogget isn’t ‘the main character’, her story was merely a subplot.
Series 3 lacked the focus on narrative that made series 1 & 2 unmissable and didn’t have anything to replace it with except melodrama. Although it was good to see Ruby Rose getting work.
Banshee: Series 3
Banshee managed to be amazing television for two series. I should be grateful that it made it that far. It shouldn’t have. A Cinemax show about an ex-convict who becomes a sheriff of a small town with Amish gangsters and amazing fight scenes? That’s fucking madness. There’s no way that show should be good… and yet it was. For the first two series.
Series 3 of Banshee wasn’t bad exactly… but it did spin its wheels. It introduced a new antagonist and then contrived as many ways as possible for the cast to interact with them. The Chayton Littlestone storyline wrapped up in a slightly satisfying way but… none of the stories really grabbed me.
This would be enough to keep it from my top 10 by itself but the biggest sin Series 3 committed was culling its female characters.
Banshee has always had strong female characters, for all that they are all sexualised beyond realism. Series 3 killed off Siobhan and Nola cruelly and under flimsy pretexts, leaving only two strong female characters left. I’m not quite as checked out of Banshee as I am with Orange Is The New black. In my experience, when a show has started to take on Soap Opera tones, there’s no coming back. Banshee is wrapping up next series, though, so it might be able to pull things back a little. Particularly as it has a great set up.
Orphan Black: Series 3
Orphan Black is another show that has no right to be as good as it was for the first two series. Compelling characters and nail biting storylines helped but Tatiana Maslany is the main reason the show is as good as it is. She’s so good at portraying different characters I often forget that, when she’s on screen as two people, there aren’t actually two people there, it’s all the magic of television.
Series 3 wasn’t exactly bad but it did suffer from having too many storylines. The first six episodes were really good, they had a great crescendo and a series of wonderful payoffs…. And then the show inexplicably continued for another 4 episodes. The stakes were just raised a little bit too high for my taste. Series 3 didn’t feel like a personal story, it felt like a grand narrative, which doesn’t suit the show in my opinion.
Also, where the hell was Michelle Forbes? Why introduce one of my favourite bloody actresses at the end of series 2 and then not have her in series 3?
Overall, it says a lot about Series 3 of Orphan Black that Alison’s sub plot was my favourite part of the series… but it didn’t interact with any of the main plots at all.
Game of Thrones: Series 5
Series 5 of Game Of Thrones was the most disappointing series since series 2. Every plotline seemingly spun its wheels. Kings landing ended up much as it started. Across the narrow sea, things are much the same as they started (except Denny’s now been captured. Yay.) The North is much the same as it was at the start of the series. Aria became an assassin and then spent half the series washing bodies.
The only really awesome thing that happened in series 5 concerned the white walkers. Hardhome was a stunning episode.
One good episode, though, does not save a series determined to maintain the status quo. If this is George R R Martin’s grand vision I’m not sure I’m on board.
True Detective: Series 2
Why?
Why?
Why why why why why?
Jessica Jones: Series 1
Jessica Jones started badly (in my opinion) but grew into itself after the first few episodes. It had compelling characters (once the narration stopped ruining the protagonist) and its plot was pretty interesting. The abuse allegory that is central to both the protagonist and antagonist was compelling and deep. In fact, for the first eight episodes I was sure that Jessica Jones was the first Marvel property I’d seen since Iron Man 3 that was genuinely good….
And then episode 9 happened. And then episode 10 happened… and everything that was good about the show was replaced by the same comic book devices I hate in Marvel’s other properties. Nonsensical character motivations, a complete disregard for logic and common sense, a focus on empty spectacle above all else, endless bloody co-incidences to drive the plot forward and extremely dodgy morality.
Jessica Jones started as something different to the usual Marvel comic book bullshit and should be applauded for managing to avoid falling into the same traps its fellows fell into for eight episodes. Of all the disappointing shows on this list, I’m most upset about Jessica Jones because it was doing so well to avoid the usual comic book bullshit… and then it just gave in.