The Top 10 Television shows of 2015

Peggy Olsen and Mad Men took their final bows in 2015 but did they end up on the top 10?

List time!!!!!! It is not quite the end of the calendar year of 2015, but it is that time of year where the television season has basically winded down. As such its time to look at the very best in television in 2015. This year has easily been the best year of television since I began writing on the subject, and maybe the greatest ever. The sheer depth of quality that made its way to the small screen this year was absolutely insane. In 2015 there was pretty much a great show for everyone, no longer is television limited to the brooding male anti-hero. This sheer amount of quality television (or as it was nicknamed this year “Peak TV in America”) has made this list nearly impossible to pair down to ten shows. It has gotten to the point that, I have at least two legitimate top tens worth of shows and there are shows that I love dearly that don’t even make it onto that list. Television is just that great at the moment.

The usual caveat applies, I have not seen everything that television has to offer in 2015 (who can at this point) but I believe that this year I have seen enough to make this list satisfyingly complete, at least for me. One show that will be missing this year is the second season of Transparent which due to a late premiere (I don’t get screeners) will be considered for next year’s list. So here we go! It is time to countdown the 10 best television shows to air in 2015.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order):

Veep, Louie, Girls, Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley, UnReal, Halt and Catch Fire, Broad City, You’re the Worst

Special Honorable Mentions (also in no particular order):


Daredevil and Jessica Jones (Netflix)

Marvel may have had a television presence before, but in 2015 they kicked it into the high gear. With both Daredevil and Jessica Jones Marvel flexed their dark side, creating two shows that took the MCU into places it had never been before. Great character work, strong action, and a new “mature” perspective made both shows stand out on Netflix this year. There were nit-picky flaws to point out about both, most glaringly were plotting problems near the end of both shows, but Daredevil and Jessica Jones were both great shows regardless of their tiny faults and are worthy to be discussed amongst the best shows of 2015.

 Orange is the New Black (Netflix)

Yes, my number one show of 2014 does not even scratch 2015’s list, and really it’s to no fault of its own. Orange is the New Black did not quite have the same satisfying pacing or momentum as its all time great second season, but for the most part it maintained nearly everything I had loved so dearly about the season otherwise. This is just a competitive list and as great as the many awesome individual character moments were throughout the season (go Piper illicit business woman) they were not quite enough to get Orange is the New Black onto the list.

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Due to the rule I set for myself last year Last Week Tonight will not be making its appearance on my top 10 list despite having an absolutely incredible run in 2015. Oliver did everything from cover torture, chicken, to even going to Russia to interview Edward Snowden. The 15-20 minute big stories that continue to make the bulk of each episode were mostly incredible, as Oliver tackled topics that people do not always think about and underlining why they are important. Overall this was a fantastic show in 2015, one that continued to be consistently as funny and informative as ever.

Better Call Saul (AMC)

There was two ways that a Breaking Bad spin off could go, it could be a disaster that makes one wonder what was the point, or it could be good enough for the memory of one of the all time great television dramas to go relatively unsullied. The result was better then anyone could have ever expected. By retaining a lot of the Breaking Bad writing team and examining both of the surprisingly deep characters of Saul and Mike Better Call Saul started to part from the looming shadow of Breaking Bad and was amongst television’s shining stars in 2015.

Rectify (Sundance/Netflix Canada)

There continues to be no drama quite like Rectify and it was one of the hardest cuts to a list I have ever had to make. The slow burn meditation on the life of Daniel Holden continued in the usual great fashion in 2015 with the examination of the consequences of taking the plea bargain at the end of season two. No other show on television milks so much out of so little plot, Rectify moves at an extremely measured pace but manages at the same time to garner maybe more emotion and character then anything else on television. I am so happy that this era of television allows for shows like Rectify to exist even if it is only for six episodes per year.

Master of None (Netflix)

Aziz Ansari’s beautiful comedy about, well, himself was another terribly tough cut from this year’s top ten. Ansari and his writing partner Alan Yang did Louie better then Louie did this year bringing a new prospective to the guy wanders through his life in New York comedy that was fresh and special. From his examination of his immigrant parents, to an examination of Indians in film and so on everything that Ansari and Yang did in Master of None was handled with the perfect mix of comedy and sentimentality. In a year where Parks and Recreation sadly came to an end it was nice to see one if its alumni make a great show to fill the void.

And now onto the big list…

10. Parks and Recreation (NBC)

Speaking of Parks and Rec while it was sad to see one of the greatest comedies of the last 10 years take its final bow, at least it went out with a bang. The final episodes of Parks and Rec were a beautiful return to the series at its absolute best providing the perfect mix of hilarity and sentimentality that Parks and Rec had been able to perfect over the six years it was on our screens. In its final year the show gave us the great episode where Leslie and Ron finally fully worked out their differences, the super meta and wacky show within a show episode that put a perfect bow on Andy and April, and the beautiful finale that played Six Feet Under with all of the great characters we have grown to love. I am going to miss this show a lot.

9. Hannibal (NBC)
 

Hannibal’s third and final season was one that divided fans. You were either all in on the extreme Avant guard strangeness of the trippy first half of the season or it was the point where the series went overboard. I happened to love it and admired every wacky, surely completely implausible step that the show took. Not only did we get the most insane first half but we also got a wild and awesome recreation of Red Dragon in the second half all of which culminated in one of the best endings of the whole year. This is another show that I am going to miss dearly but one I am so glad got to exist for as long as it did, on Network television none the less!

8. Bojack Horseman (Netflix)

In such a brilliant year for television it is amazing that a Hollywood satire whose main character is a washed up horse is amongst its ten best shows. Yet Bojack Horseman’s unique mix of wacky comedy and melancholy made it a beautiful comedy that transcended its wacky premise. This was a show that took Bojack to the brink milking more emotion out of the sadness of the character then ever before. It was a season of comedy that never backed down from the brokenness of all of its characters taking the show to darker places then ever before. At the same time, it managed to remain one of television’s funniest shows milking great comedy out of its wonderful running gags (the three kids stacked on top of each other, character actress Margo Martindale) and the wackiness of the show as a whole. Bojack Horseman has become a special show over the course of its two seasons and I cannot wait for what is coming next.

7. Fargo (FX)

Killer Landry!!!!! Ok I’m done… Fargo was everything that one could possibly ask for from the second season of an anthology series. The show managed to move away from the shadow of the film and improve on an already fantastic first season by moving into a different time frame and adding more ambition. Fargo is one of the few dramas on television that managed to have the perfect balance of tone at one moment it can be light and darkly funny and at the next be dark and disturbing as hell. Fargo managed to rise to new heights in its second season and I can’t wait to see what place they will visit, and wackiness will ensue next… Also Killer Landry!!!!

6. The Americans (FX)

Thus begins the “I cannot believe that this show ended up so low on this list” part of the top 10. The Americans, one of the great dramas of the last few years, being number 6 is just a testament to how great television is at the moment. The third season of the Americans was as great as the show has ever been pushing the characters to the emotional brink and adding a layer to the show by pushing Page headfirst into the secret lives of her parents. It is easily television’s best thriller at the moment, providing a lot of tension both physical and emotional, that consistently makes it one of television’s best hours.

5. Show Me a Hero (HBO)

When David Simon is at his best there is almost no one better. Show Me a Hero was six episodes of what Simon does best, Greek tragedy set to the tune of political commentary. Simon’s mini series took a subject that seems out of left field, public housing in Yonkers New York in the 1980s, and showed that it was in fact more relevant then ever. Mix that in with a phenomenal performance from Oscar Issac, Simon’s signature “all the pieces matter” novelistic television, and a tragedy that hits hard emotionally and you have a show that again proves why Simon is a master in every way.

4. The Jinx (HBO)

Andrew Jarecki’s The Jinx was as haunting and powerful as anything that has ever aired on television. While the final moments of the final episode provide its most powerful moment of all, the whole series provided some truly haunting and horrific steps on the way to telling the whole story of Robert Durst. Analyzing his extraordinary and disturbing story of Durst along with the epic interview in which Durst attempted to present the story his way made for fascinating television. From episode four which provided the craziest legal scenario of all time (or at least so it seems this could frighteningly happen more then we would love to believe) to the final episode which gave us one of the most harrowing interviews of all time, The Jinx was extraordinary all the way through, providing some of the most engrossing and powerful television to be found in 2015.

3. Review (Comedy Central)

Who knew that maybe the darkest show on television was a small half hour Comedy Central show. Review was not only the funniest show on television from, but became the darkest of examinations of a man slowly going insane by over committing to his crazy job. Andy Daily delivers perhaps the best performance on all of television this year as he fully commits to the utter insanity of the character he is portraying. The only thing that can do to even try to do this show justice at this point is by listing some of the many insanely dark things that this show did that I laughed at this year: Forrest tried to convert a gay man, burnt down his father’s house (in one of the funniest sequences of the whole year), created a cult, sicked the FBI on that cult causing a massive gunfight which killed nearly everyone involved and destroyed his father’s vacation house, had his father shoot arrows at an apple on top of his head William Tell style, got lost at sea for six months, got buried alive, killed someone, went to jail for killing someone, got overly attached to an imaginary friend in prison, had to watch that imaginary friend get shanked in front of him (RIP Clovis), and ultimately ended up diving off a bridge. This was an insane and special show in season two, one that which if the television gods are kind enough, will get to live for another year.

2. Mad Men (AMC)

One of the all time greats took its final bow this year. There is nothing to say about Mad Men at this point but for the sake of this list I will say a few things. First of all, Mad Men in its final season went out like Mad Men, season length limitations and all, which was absolutely for the best. Secondly that this season still managed to deliver series best episodes including the reverse “Shut the Door and Have a Seat” in “Time and Life,” the wacky and beautiful penultimate episode “The Milk and Honey Route,” and the polarizing but brilliant finale “Person to Person.” And finally that Mad Men, despite seeming to be the greatest show to constantly be in the shadow of other shows (Breaking Bad being the biggest of examples) is a true and utter masterpiece of television, and as I said near the end of its run, was easily my favorite show to write about. At the end of the day, of the all time classic dramas it may be the one that will age the best (well except for the Wire), and will be waiting on Netflix so that new fans can fall in love with it. It goes without saying that I am going to miss this show.

1. The Leftovers (HBO)

Even with all of the amazing shows that aired in 2015 and the sheer amount of number one worthy shows that are on this list, there was never any doubt from the moment its finale’s credits rolled that The Leftovers would end up being my favorite show of 2015. This was the year that the Leftovers leapt from being a great show amongst great shows into the pantheon of the all time greats. This was a monumental season that fixed all of the small issues that divided people in the first season while keeping, and even improving upon all the great elements of the first season. The show’s examination of grief and the world after an apocalypse was as fresh and powerful as ever, especially as it entered the new and fascinating location of Miracle. This season was also one that was not afraid of taking risks from its very opening. For goodness sake the main character talked to what could be chalked up to a hallucination for the entire season and then went to an existential hotel hell! Season two of the Leftovers was one of the most ambitious seasons of television ever, and every time it took a risk it capitalized on it in a big way. There is only one more season of this great story left to tell and I cannot wait to be taken on its emotional rollercoaster one final time.

So there you go the very best of television in 2015! Of course I would love to know what your favorite show was so without further due...

What did everyone else think?