Best of the tens?

[beer_good_foamy]

So here's a thing. A while back, me and some friends, all bitter old Buffy fans, decided to get drunk and put together a list of the best TV series of the 2010s. And to make it interesting, we used a format based on the podcast Screendrafts, which means that rather than vote together on a common list we all agree on (and which would be boringly predictable), each of us got to pick 4 pre-determined spots on the top 24 list which we then revealed in ascending order, which means this list gets a little... creative, and much more focused on personal favourites.

So, the list:

The criteria: The show had to have its first episode air between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2019.
...That's it. That's the criteria. Drama, sitcom, animated, reality, US, international, love all serve all.

24. Dark
23. What We Do In The Shadows
22. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
21. Pappas pengar
20. New Girl
19. Barry
18. Person of Interest
17. Orange Is The New Black
16. Justified
15. The Leftovers
14. BoJack Horseman
13. Mr Robot
12. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
11. Stranger Things
10. Fargo
9. Orphan Black
8. Vera
7. Derry Girls
6. Billions
5. The Americans
4. You're The Worst
3. Treme
2. The Good Place
1. She-Ra And The Princesses of Power

Now, the fun part of this format is that there are some dark horses here, some that ended up in positions they probably wouldn't on an aggregated list, and some heavy hitters that missed out completely. We had a lot of discussions afterwards and came to some conclusions, for instance:
- Nobody who'd seen the last two seasons really missed Game of Thrones
- Everyone loves Rick And Morty but hates the toxic fandom so much they left it off out of spite
- Most agreed Killing Eve would have been there if the third season hadn't sucked so bad
- Everyone's a fucking idiot, and how dare you play my #2 pick at #14, and are you kidding me, and...
- Everyone had a huge number of favourites they wanted to put around #10, nobody could say for sure they had a personal #1
- None of us had seen all these shows, but most of us thought we had some homework to do. (Which I'm ashamed to say I haven't done as much of as I should, hence putting this up here to kick my own ass a little bit.)

Questions? Comments? Guesses on which four spots are mine...? :)

Comments

[beer_good_foamy]

I'm not claiming to be consistent. :) But really, I'm not so much bothered by the idea of stories about superpeople per se (I wouldn't still be writing Buffy fic if I were) but the modern 21st century superhero narrative where none of it really means anything... I'm not saying this is a fair assessment of all the various movies and series that just rub me the wrong way right now, but y'know.

[elisi]

OK, first of all: We are now on S4 [of She-Ra], and I get it now. Count me among the converted.

Re. superhero narratives, then I very much get what you mean. But when it comes to TUA, if you were to ask me what it's about then the answer is unquestionably family. Sure there's an apocalypse that they have to avert, but that's just... plot. Much like there's always an apocalypse on Buffy, but that's not the point of the show. I think what sets TUA apart (well, apart from all the other things) is that it has a large cast, and takes the time to develop them all in detail, and have them interact and grow etc etc. *ponders* I think the only thing that immediately springs to mind as a parallel is Firefly in how all the characters are immediately vivid and distinct.

Anyway, in case you're wondering about She-Ra, then S4 endeared itself due to having quirky episodes (the boys go off on their own, a detective episode) and then 'Hero', which hit alllllllll my kinks. I might need a Mara icon. <3

[beer_good_foamy]

Yay! "Hero" is a fantastic episode, isn't it? One of those episodes that causes a whole series to pivot around it and make you wonder what story you've been following all along.

And that sounds really good about TUA. I think it was mostly all the X-Men trappings of the first episode (and the talking chimpanzee) that made me go "...Not right now." I may really have to give it another shot.

[elisi]

Yay! "Hero" is a fantastic episode, isn't it? One of those episodes that causes a whole series to pivot around it and make you wonder what story you've been following all along.
We're watching it because the 15 year old wanted to re-watch, and I can see why - I'm sure watching it all unfold, hidden in plain sight, is very satisfying. Yay for stealth-arcs! :D

And that sounds really good about TUA. I think it was mostly all the X-Men trappings of the first episode (and the talking chimpanzee) that made me go "...Not right now." I may really have to give it another shot.
Well it IS based on a comic book, and the origins/trappings are very visible initially. But it then takes a deep dive into what all that would mean to actual people. It's difficult to explain, because there is a lot of ~plot~ ('we have to save the world!'), but it's all character driven ('we are completely rubbish at saving the world, let's get drunk instead'). /OK, stopping now.

Have finished S4 of She-Ra (which ended... pretty much exactly how I expected it to), so S5 here we come!