What were your favorite (and least favorite) TV shows of 2021?

[RatskyWatsky]

This year I'm not doing a TV Show of the Year voting thread because people stopped caring and participating over the last few years, but I'd still like to know what your favorite shows of the year were!

Feel free to rank your choices or just post them alphabetically or whatever - it's up to you!

I only ask that you keep your list to shows that actually aired in 2021.

Also, please put a little effort into your post - list threads aren't allowed so at least write a sentence or two explaining why you thought the show you mentioned was worth mentioning!

This thread will stay open indefinitely, so feel free to take your time coming up with your selection. I will post mine shortly.

 

[Mekanos]

Of what aired this year? Probably Invincible. I had only vaguely heard about the comic, but a TV-MA superhero cartoon that wasn't just a crass comedy appealed to me, and I enjoyed it a lot, definitely reminded me of the DCAU and similar shows but not scrubbed for PG sensibilities. I'll be there day 1 for season 2.

 

[Khanimus]

A fucking beautiful noir/drama. Beautifully casted to the tee, with all the interpersonal wreckage of Mare's life showing through every corner of the central mystery.

 

[BasilZero]

Falcon and Winter Soldier

I didnt watch that much but I really enjoyed out of all the Marvel TV shows.

Wandavision was...okay and I didnt really enjoy Loki as much but Falcon and Winter Soldier was enjoyable - I just found the main characters and the support characters enjoyable to watch moreso than the others.

Still need to watch What If and Hawkeye.

(Also several other shows on HBO Max, Hulu and Prime lol)


I could add anime to the discussion, I watched over 100 pieces of anime this year and a majority of them were 2021 releases.

 

[Ryuelli]

1. Squid Game - Nothing really needs to be said about the phenomenon that swept the world.

2. Wandavision - My favorite of the first year of D+ MCU shows. My least favorite Was Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

3. Invincible - I need to get around to reading the comics.

4. Midnight Mass - Mike Flanagan knows what he's doing.

5. My Name - Between Squid Game and this, my interest in Korean shows is back.

 

[EzekelRAGE]

Chucky - Was a really fun watch. Wasnt expecting much with how some of the recent films in the franchise being kinda meh. Was really surprised about how good this was. Sort of a "return to it's roots" type deal.

Succession Season 3 - I really don't need to say much about this show.

Raising Kanan - When 50/Starz announced this and BMF was skeptical. The writing in the Power Universe can be a miss..........But as more trailers and stuff started being released you saw that it was a whole different quality than the regular Power universe stuff. Idk if it's because the stories were more personal (Raising Kanan being a 50 Cent story) or what but I loved this show.

BMF - Like I said above, a way better quality than the regular Power stuff. Where Kanan is sorta about 50, this was about Big Meech. I never really followed the BMF story and stuff when they were "on top" but you can see the influence Meech had on the culture. So it was cool seeing how he got started. It's also cool how they have Meech's son playing his dad and how Big Meech reads a little passage at the start of each episode.

Brand New Cherry Flavor - Nice surprise. Idk what I expected when I first started watching it but I enjoyed the hell outta the ride.

 

[Daniagatha]

I play lol casually with my friends only but omg Arcane was fucking awesome with one of the best animation ever.

 

[Platy]

Superman & Lois

Doom Patrol

Wandavision

Hawkeye

...dr who =x

5. Your Name

Click to shrink...

MY name

 

[Ryuelli]

MY name

Click to shrink...

fixed.

 

[Rygar1126]

Only Murders in the Building - Absolutely delightful series. The main trio have excellent chemistry, and the central mystery was engaging all the way through.

The Challenge: All-Stars - With the mothership series struggling, leave it to the old timers to bring the entertainment. Great cast of competitors that hadn't been on in quite a long time.

 

[The Real Paddington]

I was working on somewhat of a list, but my top show of 2021 was The Underground Railroad. I was interested to see Barry Jenkins transition to the small screen, and it didn't disappoint. Unflinching and difficult to watch, The Underground Railroad is one of the most powerful mini-series in recent memory.

Succession Season 3: Continues to be one of the best shows on TV. Armstrong and his team continue the tradition of crafting great finales, and this season's was probably my favorite episode of TV this year.

A couple other standouts this year are: The White Lotus, Reservation Dogs, and Hacks.

 

[ClivePwned]

Get Back. Depends on whether you call that a TV show or not.

Actual episodes, then
Hawkeye
WandaVision
Star Trek: Lower Decks
For All Mankind

I still have a bunch of 2021 shows left to watch the latest seasons of Its Always Sunny, Curb, B99. Ted Lasso, and What We Do in the Shadows, Discovery. Also ask me later today about Book of Boba.

 

[ForgeForsaken]

Reservation Dogs was really good and a setting and characters that are historically under represented.

Tear Along the Dotted Line I thought was an excellent short series, funny while tackling anxiety and some other heavy topics, I watched it in the original Italian with subs.

Arcane was not only way better than you'd expect a show based on a video game MOBA to be but was also a flat out good show with some truly impressive animation art direction.

 

[Dabanton]

Love Life season 2:One of the best shows about the modern professional black male life and dating experience not many shows are made for non hood black men but this show certainly within the black spaces I hang out on was a winner. Loved, loved Jessica Williams in this. I like that it rang true from things like interracial dating to how black men are treated in the corporate world William Jackson Harper was phenomenal.

The Chair: wonderful show I binge watched it in one afternoon.

My Name: Utterly ludicrous but addictive show. Loved how people could get stabbed mulitiple times and still be walking around.

Arcane: Honestly cant believe how good the show is. It has all the usual cliches but does them in a way that rings true, interesting characters and fight scenes that were amazing. And the animation style was divine. Hyped for season 2

 

[Dalek]

Mare of Easttown

Loki

WandaVision

Only Murders in the Building

Search Party

What We Do In The Shadows

The White Lotus

For All Mankind

Midnight Mass

Ted Lasso

Dopesick

How To With John Wilson

 

[Raboon]

Mayor of Kingstown have become my favorite show of the year, it's crazy good and more people need to watch it.

 

[Hambulance]

Most likely Arcane, 10/10

Jujutsu Kaisen is right up there too, if you consider it 2021 rather than 2020.

 

[SeanM]

Superman & Lois was my favorite. I was hooked in the first five minutes, and it kept that momentum and got better as the season progressed. Everyone should check that out on HBO Max.

Mare of Easttown

Invincible

Only Murders In The Building

Chucky was a lot better than I was expecting, pretty fun

 

[ThereAre4Lights]

Mare of Easttown - Lifted a lot off of Season 1 and 2 of The Killing, but cast and writing elevated it.

It's a Sin - Highly educational and funny too, and also a mirror of what's going on right now with the pandemic.

Only Murders in the Durder, er Building - This had that squishy warm feeling where you know you're watching good show full of heart and charm.

The White Lotus - Highly uncomfortable, incisive and funny too. I was hoping there would be more focus on the Lotus staff and less on the pretty white people with problems.

For All Mankind - This show is crazy and tense and characters are put through the wringer. Held my breath so many times through certain episodes.

Into the Night - Not as compelling as Season 1, but follows Lost in Space where there is a crisis every 10 minutes and characters sometimes drop like flies unexpectedly. Six 30 minutes episodes and the frenetic pace make it go by so fast.

I feel like I watched more backlog shows this year.

 

[Sheepinator]

Highlight of the year on TV was F1. There was the Drive to Survive S3 show which provides a gripping behind the scenes look, and of course the unbelievably close season of racing that went all the way down to the final lap of the final race.

Verstappen Wins Title With Final Lap Overtake! | 2021 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix

After 22 rounds of scintillating racing, the championship came down to the final lap of the season in Abu Dhabi...For more F1® videos, visit http://www.Formu...

www.youtube.com

Next highlight was seeing England bottle it in the penalty shootout of the Euros Final. LOL. It's coming Rome.

Top tier:

Succession S3. Amazing writing. I love the dark humor. So many broken characters, so much back-stabbing. Fuck off.

In no particular order among the rest:

Curb Your Enthusiasm S11. Not every episode has been great, but overall still a good season.

What We Do In The Shadows S3. They kept if fresh, and I like the setup for next season.

Sex Education S3

Superman and Lois. It has a lot of heart. Good take on Superman. Much better than that Krypton show.

Honorable mentions to:

Money Heist S5. They wrapped up the final heist well. Nice twist near the end.

Ragnarok S2. I don't see enough people mention this Norwegian show which brings us Thor vs Giants in the modern world.

 

[Vee]

Arcane
Nothing to say that hasn't been said

Star Trek Lower Decks
My opinion may not carry much weight as this is the only Star Trek series I've watched(I'm aware of the series tropes, species,and certain episode plot lines though) but I love the cast and energy the show has.

We are lady parts
Such a good ass short watch, can't wait for series 2. Dope diverse cast with some fun characters and pretty relatable protagonist in some aspects for me. It easily fills the void that Kim's convenience left in my soul.

 

[tophu]

a damn shame that not one person has mentioned Yellowjackets yet. it is so good!

 

[krazen]

Succession, the season ender was a great little twist in plain sight that no one saw coming.

Wandavision was fantastic despite ending on a cliche'd showdown and a testimony to how Superhero shit had to be formulaic.

Someone mentioned Love Life, just a stunningly real show about dating. What I liked about it is you have plenty of shows about dating where the character is constantly striking out on one end (im too weird/dating is weird/everyone out there are weirdos) or dealing with 'the one' on the other (the trials and tribulations of staying together). This was a great show about long term dating and it consistently not working out...which oddly you don't see much of.

Southside is probably the best comedy that no one is watching. The Ferris Bueller/Weekend at Bernies tributes were fucking killer; just great black comedy a la Bernie Mac/Living Color.

What We Do In Shadows spent season 3 being absolutely ridiculous comedy wise while sneakily world-building on a much bigger scale then before; looking forward to seeing weirder/stranger vampires and supernatural beings as the show goes on

 

[Soj]

Lego Monkie Kid

I think more people would be into this show if it was easier to find. Awesome animation and it moves at a breakneck pace thanks to the short runtime.

 

[Sheepinator]

Succession, the season ender was a great little twist in plain sight that no one saw coming.

Click to shrink...

I did. The giveaway was a few eps earlier with Logan telling Tom

Spoiler

he'd remember (that he was willing to go to prison for the company).

 

[gforguava]

A quick list with some brief thoughts, I intend to write up more in the next few days about some of them.

The Mysterious Benedict Society
Not only is the show a delightful kid adventure with an excellent cast but it also has the two best characters on TV and the best villain of the year.

Black Summer
An amazingly crafted show whose storytelling style is literally unlike anything else on the small screen(at least to my knowledge). Between the premium the show puts on characters and their actions and also the scene focused nature of the story structure, Black Summer is truly something else.

The White Lotus
It is The White Lotus. It is great and we all know it.

Evil
Oh, Evil, how I love you. This show is such its own thing that it can be hard to articulate just what it makes it so wonderful. The cast is uniformly strong, as I've said before even Kristen's four daughters are amazing and I would watch a whole show just about them, the style and vibe is just odd enough, but then it also knows when to push even harder(a quality most shows lack).

Chapelwaite
A Gothic vampire story is so me that it hurts.

 

[Nisaba]

Arcane - Just a wonderful show of excellent animation, story, and music. I haven't been able to stop listening to the soundtrack.

Loki - An engaging exploration of the God of Mischief with lots of exciting conceptual world-building and character moments. Episode 5 is especially a highlight.

Squid Game - It was really engaging throughout, with a number of missteps towards the end. But I enjoyed the different twists on children's games and such.

Invincible - Pulls you in with a dramatic first episode cliffhanger then finishes super strong. I'm so curious where they take it.

Mare of Easttown - Kate Winslet is awesome in this!!

Dopesick - Tragic and heartbreaking and anger-inducing.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

Solid fun: Invincible, Centaurworld, Arcane, Wheel of Time, Loki, Star Wars Visions, Ted Lasso
Alright, but didn't enjoy as much: Squid Game, The Witcher, Midnight Mass, Winter Soldier, Wanda Vision, Cobra Kai, What If, He Man, Hellbound

If we're including anime then Odd Taxi would be my favourite, but I assume that's not counted in this.

I watched over 100 pieces of anime this year

Click to shrink...

how?

 

[Spartacris]

White Lotus
Succession

 

[Turin]

Brand New Cherry Flavor, Squid Game, Doom Patrol, Witcher….. 🤔

I still need to check out Arcane. Black Summer seemed pretty good but I never finished it. Maid was well crafted but certain representational decisions seemed questionable to me(though it's not really my place to go into that). Loki and WandaVision were fine. Midnight Mass has it's moments but I never really vibe with Mike Flanagan's overall approach. Succession looks like a solid show that probably wouldn't hold my attention.

There's probably stuff earlier in the year I forgot about.

 

[Indelible]

Loki or Midnight Mass, haven't watched many shows this year but these ones really gripped me.

 

[Deleted member 10445]

Best of the year:

Mare of Easttown : I love these dark and gritty murder mysteries with a broken detective. I hope they'll do a 2nd season.

Arcane : Perfect animation, solid writing.

Also nice:

1883: Only 3 episodes released so far, but I already love it.
Especially love the fact that the show is one big dangerous journey.

Resident Alien: A very nice surprise. Solid mix of fun and drama with really great characters.

I think that is it. This year wasn't very exciting for me in terms of tv shows.

 

[lvl 99 Pixel]

Mare of Easttown : I love these dark and gritty murder mysteries with a broken detective. I hope they'll do a 2nd season.

Click to shrink...

Is it anything like Happy Valley?

 

[Deleted member 10445]

Is it anything like Happy Valley?

Click to shrink...

I would say so, yes. Very similar.

 

[Dalek]

Is it anything like Happy Valley?

Click to shrink...

It is very similar. They are both top tier to me.

 

[regenhuber]

Succession
Hacks
Mare
White Lotus

in some order

 

[Rodney McKay]

The Larkins is one of my favorite shows I've watched this year and I only just saw it, haha.
In the US it's available on the Acorn streaming service. It's a British show set in the 50's/60's I think in a small village.
It's about a funny family and the shananigans they get up. It's hilarious, the characters are great, and it's got a ton of heart.

I think my biggest surprise this year was picking up Locke & Key.
Season 2 came out around Halloween and I binged both seasons not long after that. Very fun, almost Jumanji style adventure that gets surpringly dark and real at times.

Macgruber on Peacock ended up being decent. I watched the whole thing a few days ago and it got close to the highs of the movie.
Felt like it ran out of steam near the end, but it had enough laughs throughout it that it was worth it.

I watched all the Marvel shows and liked them OK, but none of them ended up being that great IMO. None of them held up to the better Netflix Marvel shows (Daredevil, Jessica Jones Season 1, etc.)

What If... I think ended up being my favorite of the Marvel shows. Went in with no expectations and watched the whole thing while visiting my family earlier this fall.
Really fun scenarios and it had a surprising about of original cast for voice acting (not all great, but most were good IMO).
The Doctor Strange and Serial Killer episodes were some of my favorites. In hindsight I should have guessed who the killer was but during the episode I was stumped and it was a decently compelling whodunit for me.

The Chair: wonderful show I binge watched it in one afternoon.

Click to shrink...

I was excited for this as a big Sandra Oh fan, but honestly couldn't make it past the first episode.
Already forgotten exactly what rubbed me the wrong way about it, I think it was the show's mix of comedy and drama was just really off for me, and the premise didn't really do anything for me either, sadly. :(

 

[BLEEN]

Succession! Just to add to the others who mentioned it.

But I've been rewatching since almost day 1 like 2 years ago.
If you like Sopranos, or even the Office (lol), it's Must see tv.

 

[obin_gam]

Maid - heartbreakingly beautiful

 

[i_am_ben]

The other two.

Frankly it's one of the best comedies on TV at the moment, and absolutely no one is watching it.

 

[Bear]

Invincible
How to with John Wilson
Succession
The White Lotus
Search Party
Mare of Easttown
Only Murders in the Building

 

[Sasliquid]

Shame their won't be a voting thread (I say with no intention of doing my album voting thread this year).

Anyway standouts were easily SUCCESSION and UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

Also CANT GET YOU OUT OF MY HEAD for a doc

 

[Isee]

Good Question.

1. Midnight Mass - One of the best things Netflix has ever produced. Loved the dialogues, the acting, the camera work. It is one of those rare 10/10 shows.

2. Your Honor -While there are too many "coincidences" that shock my disbelief bubble: I was still sitting on the edge of my couch. I am aware it might have been a 2020 series for some. But it aired this year on Sky Atlantic for me.

3. Mare of Easttown - Not much to say, very good show without flaws. Good acting, good visuals, nothing to complain about tbh.

4. SEE - Beautiful, brutal action in a dystopian, harsh fantasy world. It has some flaws in writing, but overall still strong.

5. Ted Lasso - It is not really funny, but it is one of the most heart warming shows I've seen in a long time. I needed this.

6. Invincible - Yeah, I liked it. Animation was not the best, but I enjoyed the twist on the Superman saga.

7. Squid Game - It was fun, entertaining, well written and kept me interested.


Still on going (have not finished yet but with potential)

Wheel of Time
Dexter: New Blood
The Expanse

My personal disappointment: LOKI
Surely an unpopular opinion, but after a strong first episode... there was so much filler and boring action. It just didn't click with me.

 

[Jonatron]

Succession S3 - Great series that's edging closer to the top tier occupied by The Wire and Madmen.

Arcane - Knew nothing of LoL prior but found this immediately captivating. Art and animation the main pull, with convincing voice acting. Eagerly anticipating S2.

Have enjoyed others but non come close to the above.

 

[Paquete_PT]

Mare of Easttown is my standout favorite, then Midnight Mass and Maid.

 

[Addi]

I need to check out some of shows mentioned here, but my nr. 1 is Succession.

 

[Mr.Deadshot]

Bookmarked because I didn't watch that many new shows this year.

Cruel Summer was pretty excellent and seems lesser known.

Watched 4 episodes of Wheel of Time and really enjoy it.

Already in love with Boba Fett after the first episode, but that isn't surprising.

 

[gizio]

Arcane hands down.

Biggest letdown: Foundation.

 

[Oliver James]

Finished:
We Are Lady Parts

Haven't finished:
Succession
Ted Lasso

Might or might not end up as a favorite:
Yellowjackets

Finished but disappointed:
Squid Game

 

[Staf]

Only murders in the building and WandaVision