2020 – Year in Review – Television

For the first time on this blog I will be making the foray into television. Thanks in the main to the extensive closure of cinemas this year I found myself watching a huge amount of streaming service offerings and decided to share with you my favourites.

There is only one thing to note and that is I will not strictly be sticking to release dates. As this is my first foray into television I want to talk about what I have enjoyed the most this year and sometimes that means they were not necessarily released this year.

1. Devs (BBC)

Lily (Sonoya Mizuno) and Sergei (Karl Glusman) both work for the technology company Amaya owned by tech billionaire Forest (Nick Offerman). When Sergei goes missing after his promotion to the mysterious Devs division Lily goes searching for answers. Answers that will lead to her questioning everything about what it is to be human.

Devs is written and directed by Alex Garland. Originally an author (The Beach, The Tesseract and The Coma) he moved into film by way of writing scripts for 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Never Let Me Go. The next step in his career was to move into directing and whilst uncredited is considered to have been the guiding force behind Dredd, which he also wrote before directing the brilliant Ex Machina and Annihilation.

All of which prove he is capable hands to deliver a seven hour mini-series that explores the themes of;

• Atheism vs. an all knowing God
• Free will vs. fate
• Determinism theory vs. the many worlds theory

But also the lengths to which people who have lost loved ones will go to in their grief.

As science fiction it is intensely interesting and compelling. As human drama it is captivating. Featuring fantastic performances from Sonoya Mizuno, Nick Offerman and Alison Pill it is must watch TV.

2. Raised By Wolves (Sky Atlantic)

Following global civil war and the impending destruction of Earth one faction sends two androids towards an unexplored alien planet with the task of restarting the human race with frozen embryos. Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim) have been programmed by the scientific atheist faction on Earth and raise their offspring to believe in their own human endeavour rather than any mythical deity. Matters are complicated though when the zealot like Mithraic arrive on the planet led by Marcus (Travis Fimmel) who has secrets of his own.

Whilst Aaron Guzikowski is credited as creator and writer of all ten episodes of Season One of Raised By Wolves this is very much a Ridley Scott show. Scott has been obsessed with the themes of whether or not God exists and if humans become Gods via the creation of synthetic life for some time and this show continues that trend. Scott directs the opening two episodes and his son Luke directs another three in this epic science fiction series.

The series features some really interesting themes and has two fascinating couple dynamics for them to play out across. The lead four adult roles played by Collin, Salim, Fimmel and Niamh Algar are excellently portrayed with the slight weak point coming with a couple of the child actors not meeting quite the same level.

A second season has already been greenlit which is good because there were far too many threads left unresolved for my liking, but that of course is the peril of needing cliff hangers to entice people back.

3. The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy) is orphaned at the age of nine. Growing up at an orphanage she discovers the game of Chess via the kindly caretaker Mr. Shaibel (Bill Camp) and focuses her mind on becoming the best the game has to offer. Set in 1960’s America this mini-series covers themes of abandonment, addiction and the fine line between genius and madness.

Just like Devs higher up on my list The Queen’s Gambit excels because it is a fully encapsulated story held within its six and a half hour runtime. We follow Beth through her formative years as she struggles with the loss of her parents and forms new attachments which ultimately help guide her through the pain she feels. Whilst Beth’s focus is chess it is these quietly perfect attachments that make the series so interesting.

Her attachments to Mr. Shaibel, fellow orphan Jolene (Moses Ingram), her adoptive mother Alma (Marielle Heller) and her chess friends Benny (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Harry (Harry Melling), Townes (Jacob Fortune-Lloyd) and twins Matt and Mike (Matthew and Russell Dennis Lewis) are what ultimately guide her through her road to retribution.

The series period feel and look are also stunning with Taylor-Joy looking devastatingly aloof at the chess table.

4. The Crown (Netflix)

The Crown is one of the series that I am slightly cheating on with its inclusion. Whilst season four was released this year I actually watched all four seasons in 2020 and want to discuss them all.

Oddly the show ended the year with the bizarre accusation that it should feature a warning that it is fictional. A suggestion that would imply people do not understand creative license or the need to check your sources rather than believe everything on face value. What we should be talking about is that this series is forty hours of top tier period drama that features not one but two exceptional ensemble casts.

Season one and two features Claire Foy as Elizabeth, Matt Smith as Philip, Jared Harris as King George, Vanessa Kirby as Margaret and John Lithgow as Churchill. Season One’s focus is on Elizabeth ascending to the throne and learning that The Crown is more important than her as a person and features an ending similar to The Godfather when the door between Diane Keaton’s Kay and Al Pacino’s Michael is closed. Season two focuses more on the relationships of those impacted by the Crown. Elizabeth and Philip. Margaret and her suiters. Prime Ministers and their wives.

Season three and four features Olivia Colman as Elizabeth, Tobias Menzies as Philip, Helena Bonham Carter as Margaret, Gillian Anderson as Thatcher, Josh O’Connor as Charles and Emma Corbin as Diana. Season three opens with the most fantastic scene of Elizabeth posing for her new picture to feature on the postage stamp explaining the changing of the guard when it comes to our cast. Season four which was released this year brings us into the 1980’s and focuses very much on Charles and Diana’s relationship and Thatcherism.

Throughout the entire forty hours of television the costumes and sets are faultless, the drama nothing less than gripping and the acting performances outstanding. The fact that this applies to not one but two complete casts of characters following the change in season three is nothing short of miraculous.

This really is a Netflix jewel. I very much hope season five and six, again with a new cast lives up to what has gone before.

5. Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet (Apple TV+)

Mythic Quest is an hilarious comedy series about an MMO (Massively Multiplayer Online) game studio. Starring Rob McElhenney as the game creator and studio owner and the likes of Charlotte Nicdao, Ashly Burch, David Hornsby, Danny Pudi and F. Murray Abraham as his long suffering staff.

Unfortunately I suspect the fact that this series is on Apple TV+ may mean that many people will be missing out on one of the true joys on television this year. The show is regularly laugh out loud funny and with only ten episodes (including the genius Coronavirus inspired special) running less than thirty minutes each it is the true definition of binge worthy.

It is worth calling out that episode five – A Dark Quiet Death – is probably one of the best single episodes of television this year. A complete change of pace to what has gone before that perfectly ties up the entire story. And the aforementioned episode ten – Quarantine – made using nothing but video calls is another inventive episode that features a brilliant chain reaction video call moment.

6. Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

Inspirational U.S. College Football Coach Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis) is invited to the U.K. to manage “soccer” team AFC Richmond and brings a heart warming and earnestly funny series to life.

As with Mythic Quest this Apple TV+ programme has ten episodes running at under thirty minutes each and my only complaint was that when I came to watch it there were only three episodes available and I had to watch them weekly thereafter which was so hard to take in this modern world of entire seasons being available on day one.

Sudeikis is ridiculously funny in this along with a supporting cast that has no weak links. Whether we are in the company of the club owner Rebecca Walton (Hannah Waddingham), vain star striker Jamie Tartt (Phil Dunster), seasoned captain Roy Kent (Brett Goldstein), model and WAG Keeley Jones (Juno Temple) or Lasso’s fellow coaches Nathan (Nick Mohammed) and Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt).

7. The Last Dance (Netflix)

This ten part documentary series charts the Chicago Bulls “three-peat” winning season. With unprecedented access to all of the players and coaches from the team it delves into franchise and player politics and the legend that is Michael Jordan.

Netflix released The Last Dance over five weeks drip feeding us two episodes a week and again it was another show where I think I could easily have watched the entire eight hours of television in one sitting. Knowing that the Bulls would win their sixth championship and Michael Jordan would head into retirement made it no less exciting or enthralling a watch.

Anyone with a passing interest in sports or psychology will be in heaven watching this show.

7. Bojack Horseman (Netflix)

Bojack Horseman was a TV star in the 1980’s and 1990’s thanks to the huge popularity of “Horsin’ Around”. Now he is a washed up has been eking out an existence in Hollywoo (that is not a spelling mistake). He is also an addict, self centred and prone to self sabotage.

Bojack is another show that only just had episodes appear in 2020. The final eight episodes of its six season run arrived in January of this year and would wrap up a brilliant show. I was slightly behind in keeping up with Bojack so had the pleasure of watching seasons four, five and six this year.

The show is ultimately a bittersweet and melancholy character study of a broken man. Damaged by trauma in his formative years, crippled by drug and alcohol addiction and unable to see good even when it is straight in front of him. The fact that it is an animated comedy with anthropomorphic animals just allows it to be hilariously funny whilst it looks in some really dark places.

Featuring the voice talents of Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie and Aaron Paul there are seventy-seven episodes of fun here.

9. Better Call Saul (Netflix)

The prequel to Breaking Bad that is better than Breaking Bad.

Better Call Saul tells us how Jimmy McGill becomes Saul Goodman and features Bob Odenkirk portraying one of the greatest anti-heroes on TV.

Season five, which has been confirmed as the penultimate season aired in 2020 and it was another ten episodes of perfection as we see Jimmy and Mike Ehrmantraut (Jonathan Banks) spiral ever lower into criminal enterprise.

The unsung hero of the show though is Rhea Seehorn’s performance as Kim Wexler, the idealistic lawyer and love interest of Jimmy. The questions of what damage Jimmy will ultimately deal into her life is the cliff hanger that season six will answer.

10. The Mandalorian (Disney+)

Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni’s Star Wars TV series has exploded into everyone’s consciousness this year.

In the UK both season one and two arrived in 2020 thanks to Disney+ only appearing on these shores in March, just days before the whole country went into the first coronavirus lockdown of the year.

Season one had very little in the way of overarching plot but excelled in the manner that it oozed character, style and fun. The entire show was designed as a western and each episode paid homage to famous westerns either in one off moments or entire plot lines. It was also clear that Favreau and Filoni knew their lore and exactly what they wanted. At this point I liked, but did not yet love Mando despite “The Child” being the cutest Jedi in waiting ever.

Season two on the other hand soared. With all the heavy lifting of introducing characters and setting the scene out of the way this season could focus on deeper plot, excellent action sequences, guest stars and directors and a lot of fan service. It also interestingly seemed to tie up this chapter of the story completely suggesting that Season Three could start a new story arc.

With The Mandalorian story set to expand with three companions series in Ahsoka, Rangers Of The New Republic and The Book Of Boba Fett I hope that they can keep the focus on quality as they broaden their canvas.

Other Worthy Mentions

Gravity Falls (Disney+)

Gravity Falls is a silly, inventive paranormal comedy which stars twins Mabel and Dipper. The X-Files meets Rick and Morty and as brilliant as that sounds. Only two seasons were made and both are available on Disney+.

Final Space (Netflix)

Season Two of Final Space arrived on Netflix early this year and whilst not as brilliant as the first was still compelling viewing. It is essentially a grand space opera if our hero was a complete idiot and features a character called Mooncake whose only verbal cue is the genius “Chookity”.

The Fall (BBC / Netflix)

Ok, so The Fall’s three seasons aired on the BBC between 2013-2016, but I never saw it and it arrived on Netflix this year and the first two seasons are some of the best serial killer / detective television you will ever want to see. The final season is a big drop in calibre but does manage to end the story well.

Glow (Netflix)

Glow follows a group of amateur and professional wrestlers in the 1980’s. Season Three actually arrived on Netflix in 2019 but I watched it this year and along with its previous seasons it is great stuff that has many fun and interesting characters. It was rather a bombshell when Netflix announced that it was cancelling this amazing show this year.

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia (Netflix)

This year I watched Fourteen Seasons totalling One-Hundred-Fifty-Three episodes of this show. None of which were released in 2020! Starting in 2005 this show has now been renewed for Seasons Fifteen through Eighteen which will make it the longest running live action comedy show of all time I believe. The plot is essentially a group of awful human beings doing bizarre and mad cap things and it is often hilarious!

What’s Next?

So this year I have watched ninety seasons of TV shows. This is the first time I have ever actually kept a note of this but that seemed particularly high despite lockdowns. With the quality of TV on streaming services at an all time high I may start to review some of these shows in future. In the mean time what did I miss that I should watch next?