The 10 Best TV Shows of 2023
Big year for some iconic series finales and some new bangers
Well, we (somehow) made it through another 365 days, which means it’s time to talk about all the good things that we watched this year. Here’s my annual list of the 10 best TV series I watched, which includes the endings of some incredible shows, two great limited series (and another that should be a limited series but will be getting a second season—curse you, Netflix), and some returning favorites. As usual, I only included shows that aired their season finales this year, so even though I’m loving Fargo and The Curse, I left them off the list because they haven’t finished airing yet.
10. What We Do in the Shadows (FX)
Everyone’s favorite horny Staten Island vampires returned for a fifth (and penultimate) season this year, and the mockumentary was as funny as ever. You would think that a show as potentially one-joke as this one could run out of ideas, but it’s still running on all cylinders. The season dealt with two serialized storylines—Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) struggling with his failed vampire conversion and The Guide (Kristen Schaal) feeling left out from the rest of the crew—but also had some great standalone episodes, like the one where Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) tries to run for Staten Island comptroller or where Laszlo (Matt Berry) tries to help oblivious neighbor Sean (Anthony Atamanuik) throw a Pride parade. All of the actors are hilarious, but the show’s worth it for Berry’s line readings alone.
9. The Righteous Gemstones (HBO)
The Gemstones are back, baby! The dysfunctional siblings Kelvin (Adam Devine), Judy (an always hilarious Edi Patterson), and Jesse (Danny McBride), along with their widowed father Eli (John Goodman), returned for a third season of McBride’s HBO comedy, and it was as hilarious as ever. The show continues to excel at its blend of dumb-funny dialogue, physical comedy, parodies of fragile masculinity, and sudden bursts of violence (the full-frontal naked fight in the season’s sixth episode, “For Out of the Heart Comes Evil Thoughts,” is an all-timer). The cast was also joined by two HBO veterans, Shea Wigham in old-age prosthetics as racecar driver Dusty Daniels and Steve Zahn as Eli’s brother-in-law who also happens to run a doomsday prepper militia. I could honestly never get tired of watching these lovable idiots.
8. Barry (HBO)
The first of two major HBO mainstays to air their final seasons this year (see the other one below), Barry was, in my opinion, not quite as successful at wrapping things up, but there was so much interesting stuff going on that I was still satisfied. Bill Hader, who also directed every episode, brought the show back for a final season about his contract killer-turned-wannabe actor that was split into two parts: the first four episodes dealt with the aftermath of the season 3 finale, and the other four episodes took place after an 8-year time jump (which seemed like a pretty polarizing choice, and is something I’m still not sure I loved). But through it all, Hader, Sarah Goldberg, Henry Winkler, and Anthony Carrigan shone, really reminding me why I’m gonna miss this weird, upsetting, hilarious show.
7. Slow Horses (Apple TV+)
Based on the Slough House book series by British author Mick Herron, Apple TV+’s Slow Horses follows the titular group of MI5 agents who fucked up enough to warrant getting sent to Slough House purgatory (but not enough to get fired) who still find themselves getting caught up in high-level missions. Some of the show is your typical British spy drama stuff, but the fun comes from watching these bumbling spies be bad at their jobs, led by Gary Oldman’s great performance as their smartass—or smartarse, as the Brits would say—leader, Jackson Lamb. The series is funny, with characters that are pretty inherently likeable even while kind of being assholes, but it’s also thrilling. The third season, an adaptation of Herron’s Real Tigers, was no exception, and it also featured a deliciously bitchy showdown between Sophie Okonedo as MI5 First Desk Ingrid Tearney and Kristin Scott Thomas as second-in-command Diana Taverner. This is another show that I could watch 10 seasons of and not get bored. Luckily, it’s already been renewed for seasons 4 and 5.
6. Dead Ringers (Prime Video)
A limited series adaptation of David Cronenberg’s 1988 thriller Dead Ringers might seem like kind of a random pitch, but Amazon’s series from Alice Birch is a thrill from beginning to end. Rachel Weisz is incredible as twin gynecologists Beverly and Elliot Mantle whose codependence with each other deepens and becomes something much weirder as the series goes on. Jennifer Ehle also gives a great performance as the Mantles’ rich benefactor, and Sean Durkin (The Nest, this year’s The Iron Claw) directed 3 of the 6 episodes. The series touches on everything from gender and race to mental health and the for-profit healthcare system in this country. It’s funny and chilly and gory and sometimes moving, which is really all can I ask for from a TV show.
5. The Bear (FX)
I’ve gotta be honest, I was one of the few people who was fairly lukewarm on the first season of FX on Hulu’s The Bear. (It was pretty good! But it didn’t blow me away.) In my opinion, the second season was an improvement in pretty much every way. The show invested more in deepening all the characters, especially the smaller ones like Marcus (Lionel Boyce) and Tina (Liza Colón-Zayas), giving them their own storylines. The season also added a ticking clock (they have a deadline they need to open The Bear by) which really added a sense of tension and forward momentum that the first season badly needed. And yes, there was the great, chaotic, stress-inducing flashback episode “Fishes.” If the first season left me a little cold, the second season made me crave more time with the crew of The Bear.
4. Poker Face (Peacock)
Murder mysteries are all the rage these days, but Rian Johnson (who’s no stranger to them, having directed the neo-noir Brick) managed to put a new spin on the genre with Poker Face. Natasha Lyonne (iconic) plays Charlie Cale, a casino worker who has an uncanny ability to tell when people are lying. On the run from a ruthless mobster, Charlie travels the country, solving murders along the way. The smart twist of the show is that every episode opens with us seeing the murder, so we know what happened and who did it, but the fun is getting to see Charlie use her deduction skills to figure it out. The show also makes a point to show the deceased as real characters, not just victims, and Charlie solves these murders because she cares about the people involved. Finally, the series just has a killer (pun mostly intended) lineup of guest stars, including Hong Chau, Chloë Sevigny, Judith Light, and many more.
3. BEEF (Netflix)
What if you had a meetcute with someone, but instead of falling in love, you decided to become mortal enemies? That’s the premise of Lee Sung Jin’s series BEEF. Amy (Ali Wong) is a small business owner married to a rich artist, and Danny (Steven Yeun) is a contractor who’s struggling to make ends meet. Both lacking purpose in life, they decide to become enmeshed in an all-consuming feud after a road rage incident. Wong and Yeun are both legitimately excellent, and as their feud escalates, things turn from funny to desperate to bleak, leading to a surreal final episode that manages to provide some closure while also being surprisingly moving. In other words, a great ending for what was originally supposed to be a limited series, which is why it’s frustrating that Netflix has decided to pursue a second season. I can only hope it’s as good as these 10 episodes.
2. Mrs. Davis (Peacock)
Developed by The Big Bang Theory’s Tara Hernandez and Lost and The Leftovers’ Damon Lindelof, Mrs. Davis follows an ass-kicking nun, Simone (Betty Gilpin), and her resistance fighter ex, Wiley (Jake McDorman), on a quest to find the Holy Grail so they can stop an evil AI named Mrs. Davis from taking over the world. The show is absolutely batshit insane and throws everything at the wall to see what sticks; luckily, a lot of it does. Mrs. Davis is by far the weirdest show I watched this year, but it’s led by a truly mind-blowing performance from Gilpin (along with Elizabeth Marvel as Simone’s aloof mother and Margo Martindale as Simone’s nun mentor), and the show has a lot to say about technology, religion, and motherhood, and all the weirdness masks a genuine warmth and humanity (the last episode made me cry). At this point, I would watch literally anything that Lindelof makes, and Mrs. Davis is a worthy addition to his canon.
1. Succession (HBO)
If you know me at all, then me putting Succession as #1 should probably come as no shock to you. It’s one of my favorite shows of the past few years, and its fourth and final season was an all-timer, including a rug pull in episode 3, “Connor’s Wedding,” that I was so glad I was able to watch live. There is just no show on TV right now that can match the level of writing and acting that this show gave us every Sunday night. Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, Sarah Snook, and Matthew Macfadyen continued to turn in incredible, funny, heartbreaking performances right up to the end, with an especially wrenching series finale. The story of the rich family that we loved to hate and hated to love came to a fitting end, and I couldn’t have been more satisfied.
Honorable Mentions
American Auto (NBC)
Archer (FX)
The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix)
Gen V (Prime Video)
The Gold (Paramount+)
Harley Quinn (Max)
Heartstopper (Netflix)
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FX)
The Last of Us (HBO)
A Murder at the End of the World (FX)
Only Murders in the Building (Hulu)
The Other Two (Max)
Perry Mason (HBO)
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (Netflix)
Yellowjackets (Showtime)
Thanks for reading! I’ll be back tomorrow for my 10 favorite movies of 2023. I hope you had a great New Year’s Eve!