Tuesday 27 December 2022

2022 in Review: Top 10 TV Shows

In terms of TV offerings, 2022 was what I would call a good year for fantasy fans, with both House of the Dragon and The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power debuting within literal days of each other. Disney+ also saw the continued expansion of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with three new shows, as well as the debut of three new Star Wars series. Not all of those debuts were of a particularly high quality though, but a few did manage to sneak their way onto my list of favorites below.

10. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power


With a production cost that is already considered one of the largest in the realm of television, Amazon had thrown nearly everything it had at The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. This has resulted in some of the best-looking sets and visuals to grace the small screen since the medium's inception. But while many would argue that the same attention to detail doesn't always extend to the writing and characterization, the show itself makes good on its promise to cover the events that took place during the Second Age of Middle-earth. And judging by everything that happened in Season 1, I'd say it is at least off to a great start.

9. Ms. Marvel


In a year that wasn't exactly short on new entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), one of the better ones was Ms. Marvel on Disney+. The show introduced audiences to Kamala Khan, ahead of her feature film debut in next year's The Marvels. And in it, she had immediately won fans over with her effortless charm. But the true highlight in my opinion is the family dynamic on display. It is for that reason that I consider her a worthy addition to the MCU's ever-growing pantheon of heroes.

8. Atlanta Season 3 & 4



We were blessed with not just one but two new seasons of Atlanta in 2022. It was a bittersweet blessing though since the show also ended its overall run with Season 4. Both seasons served as complimentary adventures, with the cast spending much of Season 3 in Europe, before bringing things back to Atlanta in Season 4. It is unclear what the future holds for Earn, Paper Boi, Darius, and Vanessa beyond the show, but I am still grateful for all the years we got to spend with them.

7. Peacemaker


After his debut in last year's The Suicide Squad, it seemed a bit odd that Peacemaker was the one member of the crew being singled out for the spinoff series treatment. But after what is hopefully just the first of multiple seasons to come, it is clear that the character has way more depth (and not to mention emotional baggage) than his first appearance had let on. Leave it to James Gunn to take another relatively unknown comic book hero/antihero and give audiences a reason to care.

6. The Umbrella Academy Season 3


The Hargreeves were back this year for another round of their wild and quirky antics in season 3 of The Umbrella Academy. And following the time-hopping madness of the last season, this third one felt like it had a lot to live up to. So you can imagine my relief when just minutes into the first episode I saw that everything I loved about the show was still very much intact. Except the stakes seem even larger than before as we watch the Hargreeves take on their greatest adversary yet, The Sparrow Academy.

5. Cyberpunk: Edgerunners


The first thing that comes to mind whenever I hear the name Cyberpunk 2077 is the less-than-optimal state the game had launched in. But even in that rough state, the one aspect of the game that had no problem shining through was its sense of style and atmosphere. And those facets are on full display in Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, an anime series set in the neon-soaked streets of Night City. The show captures much of the essence that defined the game but is further elevated by a narrative that takes some of its core concepts to the next level. 

4. The Boys Season 3


The Boys was another show that returned for a third season this past year after it had taken the year off in 2021. And as if its showrunners knew fans might be wondering if it would still have the awe and shock value that defined its first two seasons, they'd pretty much opened the new one with the same ultra violence it has come to be known for. That they were able to maintain that same energy for much of the season, and still manage to introduce new characters while giving older ones additional depth, speaks to why we love this show so much in the first place.

3. Stranger Things Season 4


After what had felt like a lifetime of waiting, Stranger Things finally returned for its fourth season in 2022. And while it quickly became apparent that some of the younger actors had started to age out of their roles since the last time we saw them, it still felt like a reunion with old friends after a long time apart. It was clear that I wasn't the only one looking to catch up with those old friends though because Netflix had suffered some outages during the new season's debut weekend. Still, none of that was enough to dampen my overall experience with both halves of the new season, which I thought was the best the series has ever been.

2. Andor


Following a string of disappointing Star Wars shows earlier in the year (I'm looking at you Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi), Andor felt like a much-needed breath of fresh air. The show serves as a prequel to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (which was itself a prequel to the events in Star Wars: A New Hope) and carries over much of the darker tone that defined that film. This is what an adult-skewing Star Wars show should look like, and this one proves that there is still plenty of room for such stories to be told within the gaping confines of a galaxy far, far away.

1. House of the Dragon


It is no secret that many fans had been let down by the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones. So when House of the Dragon debuted in August, a lot of us approached the new show with some mild trepidation, except it didn't take longer than its excellent pilot episode for those concerns to be put to rest, with great writing and characterization on display from the very start. And that same excellence had grown to define the entire season, resulting in what I consider my favorite TV show of the year.

3 comments:

  1. The only ones of those I watched were The Boys, which was an improvement, and Andor, which I didn't really like but lots of other people did.

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    1. You should consider checking out House of the Dragon. But yes, the new season of The Boys was great.

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