What can be said about 2020 that hasn’t already been said? It has been a nightmare year where routines were upended, social outings curbed, vacations put on indefinite hold. And with movie theaters around the country shuttered to slow the spread of COVID-19, the only sense of adventure for many was on the small screen. At home. On the couch. And thank god that the year in television was as good as it was. 

Even with many favorite shows not returning as scheduled due to virus-related delays, the small screen packed quite a punch in 2020 with no less than 25 series of note earning their way into this run-down of the best of the medium.

25. Mythic Quest

On paper, Mythic Quest sounds like a recipe for cable network disaster. A workplace comedy about a team of egotistical MMOG developers, the series written by and starring It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’s Rob McElhenney actively fills a void you didn’t know you needed filling, combining ruthless one-liners and exploring the male-dominated industry and the ensuing toxicity into a light-hearted comedy that actively confronts hostile workplace dynamics. An inclusive and at times side-splitting Apple TV+ sitcom, Mythic Quest works best when it also filters some heart into the equation (like it did in its effective pandemic special), the surprising ingredient that makes the whole system click into place. 

24. The Flight Attendant

Kalie Cuoco spent so many years slumming on the inequitably popular (and wholly unwatchable) series The Big Bang Theory that you’d almost forget that she’s actually extremely watchable. Cuoco leads this genre-smashing neo-noir from HBO Max as an alcoholic flight attendant who gets wrapped up in an international scandal involving murder, money, and madness. Though not every loose end coalesced into a perfect picture, the series proved a gratifying gumshoe adventure and a perfect vehicle for Cuoco to take flight. 

23. I Know This Much is True

Sure, I Know This Much is True is an unrelenting descent into paranoia and familial isolation and is amongst the most depressing offerings on all of television in 2020 but it also boasts an outstanding dueling performance from Mark Ruffalo and a standout supporting cast. Add in sensitive writing and strong direction from tragedy-king Derek Cianfrance and this story of two twin brothers, one who suffers from extreme paranoid schizophrenia, is an affecting and sobering miniseries that, if nothing else, will make you appreciate your sanity. 

22. The Great

If you were a fan of The Favourite, consider The Great, an English-language Russian-set period drama that explores the ascendency of Catherine the Great (played with bubbly vigor by Elle Fanning), an absolute must. Written by the same writers (Tony McNamara and Vanessa Alexander) with all the same spunk and verve, The Great gives an irreverent facelift the often stuffy nature of palace intrigue. Fanning’s acting prowess is expertly matched by Nicolas Hoult delivering a splendidly-despicable take on Peter III. 

21. Ted Lasso

Earnest and well-meaning, Ted Lasso delivered Apple TV+ its first big hit. A shining beacon of light in an uninterruptedly dark year, the Jason Sudeikis-starring sitcom about an amateur American-Midwest football coach brought in to lead an English Premier Soccer League proudly wears its heart on its sleeve and, much like its endlessly likely protagonist, wins audiences over in spades doing so. 

20. Dave

Rapper Lil Dicky has always fancied himself the butt of the joke (I mean the man named himself after a dick joke.) But in his FX comedy series Dave, Andrew Burd seeks to explain the man behind the dick joke and does so with humor and pathos all while showcasing that he is indeed an elite rapper, dick joke or no. Dave struggled at first to define what the show was about but as the series went on, it became more confident and secure in itself, much like the lead character. So by the time Lil Dicky is given his chance to prove his worth, you can’t wait to see him rip some bars and Dave does not disappoint there.

19. Pen15

FX’s effortlessly charming cringe-comedy Pen15 activates all that middle school anxiety. Through seven far-too-short episodes, we were re-acquainted with dork-core outcasts Anna and Maya as they navigated boys, wrestling, and a school play, once again tapping into the angsty horrors of being 13 years old. The second season tackled some more difficult subject material (including the impending divorce of Anna’s parents) but remained as giggle-inducing and period-specific as its first go around.

18. Schitt’s Creek

The legend and popularity of Schitt’s Creek has ballooned over its time on air, culminating in an absolute Emmys sweep where it took home the prize for literally every major category, earning all four leads a trophy and cementing its legacy as a comedic all-timer. The final season of the popular Canadian comedy rightfully tied up the story of the Rose family and after years of allowing them to grow as people, sends them off into the sunset on new journeys, as new people. It wasn’t especially challenging or surprising but Schitt’s Creek remained good and wholesome to the very end and that’s something that cannot be said about most comedy series that run this long.

17. I Hate Suzie

Those familiar with Lucy Prebble and Billie Piper’s previous collaborations will find much to love with the HBO Max comedic drama about an aging child-star’s life falling to pieces when her intimate photos are hacked and shared online. Piper is a treasure as the jilted eponymous character  who sees her professional and private affairs unraveled and I Hate Suzie revels in the messiness of it all to sometimes hysterical and sometimes heartbreaking effect. 

16. Servant

An M. Night Shyamalan show carries all kinds of risks but Servant proved that the “master of the twist” actually worked best when he wasn’t investing so much time trying to throw audiences off the scent. This eerie Apple TV+ psychology thriller introduces us to a couple trying to overcome the grief of a lost child. The ailing mother, played by Lauren Ambrose, suffers a psychological break that has her convinced that a life-like doll is in fact their living baby so the couple invite a strange live-in nanny to look after the “child”. All is not as it appears and Shyamalan delivers a chilling horror show that doesn’t skimp on the campy dark comedy of it all. 

15. The Boys

Amazon Prime’s breakout dark superhero hit show climbed to new extremes in this self-described “bigger, bolder, bloodier” second season. As The Boys rallied the troops to take down the twisted Homelander and his new extremist ally Stormfront, the show reflected modern politics through a heightened lens, leaning on exploitive violence and generous amounts of viscera to do the telling.

14. The Outsider

Richard Price’s adaptation of The Outsider took a gritty, realistic approach to Steven King’s surrealist tale of a murdering bodysnatcher and the results were decidedly chilling. Anchored by an excellent cast that included Ben Mendelsohn and Cynthia Erivo, this slow-burn creeper from HBO proved that King works just as well on the small screen if it’s done right. Though the second season was not picked up by HBO, this dread-inducing series is being shopped around so we may see more of these characters and King’s nasty supernatural nightmare world yet. 

13. The Mandolorian

There is plenty to complain about when it comes to The Mandolorian: the inexcusably simple writing, the general lack of character development, valid claims of subservient fan service. But as the second season wore on, its strengths became ever more clear. Although Pedro Pascal mostly remained under his armor again, the back half of this second season did a much better job of exploring the bounty hunter’s bond with his young Force-sensitive ward, the green-cutie-previously-known-as-Baby-Yoda. Add to that some thrilling action set pieces (especially so for small screen), the overall excellent production work and an electrifying soundscape that just won’t quit and The Mandolorian finally earns its place among the better entries in the Star Wars canon. 

12. The Umbrella Academy 

The first season of Netflix’s handsomely-made adaptation of the Dark Horse comic of the same name introduced us to a ragtag group of super-powered brothers and sisters. The emphasis was rarely on those powers and more on the family dynamic – I like to describe it as a super-powered twist on The Royal Tenenbaums –  and the second season took this to its next logical conclusion, tossing our heroes back through time into the 1960s where they face not only the threat of nuclear annihilation but the civil rights movement and, as always, their crippling insecurities.

11. Curb Your Enthusiasm

After a three year hiatus, Larry David returned in style for the tenth season of HBO’s longest-running comedy series. With so many topics to choose from, David focused his neurotic energy this season to lampoon sexual harassment, wobbly tables, Trumpism, and spite stores and the laughs were as potent, timely and mighty as they have been in a Curb Your Enthusiasm season. 

10. Ramy

Everyone’s favorite first-generation Egyptian-American Muslim sweetheart returned in the underrated FX series Ramy to great acclaim. Though Ramy Youssef won Best Actor in a Drama Series last year, Ramy was still a widely unknown entity but that changed in season two, which also introduced Mahershala Ali as a Sheikh aiding Ramy in his journey to become closer to God. A thoughtful character study that treats Muslim-Americans with the kind of subtle introspection and complexity they are so often denied in pop culture, this second iteration of the character was defined by nuance and complication but never stopped striving to illuminate Ramy’s tricky journey for self-improvement. 

9. Normal People

Sally Rooney’s weary young-love relationship novel made the jump to television and the page-to-screen translation (penned by Rooney herself) was a nearly perfect one. Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones perfectly channeled the angsty, frustrating energy of Connell and Marianne, an on-again-off-again couple who seem helplessly stuck in one another’s orbit. The series, the first half directed by Lenny Abrahamson (Room) and the second by Hettie Macdonald, expertly breathed life into the world’s most frustrating couple and did it with all the awkward, forlorn passion we expected, jumping off the page and landing on our TV sets with all the precision of an Olympic gymnast. 

8. Bojack Horseman

Bojack Horseman ended its six-season run the beginning of the year, bringing the animated saga of an anguished B-list horse-celebrity to a close with characteristic wit and poise. Throughout its time, the tongue-in-cheek Netflix show featuring the voices of Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie and Aaron Paul mixed light and dark unlike any other show, measuring in themes of depression, addiction, generational trauma, sexism, and self-destruction in with animal puns and visual gags galore. To its very last moments, Bojack didn’t abandon this fantastical juggling act, remaining as silly and profound, as sardonic and poignant as anything on television. 

7. Ozark

Jason Bateman, Laura Linney, and Julia Garner have always ruled the stage in Ozark but it wasn’t until this third season that the show finally realized its potential and became a dramatic powerhouse. The Bird family plummeted to new lows in this more-focused and wholly-satisfying season of Ozark, in part due to the introduction of Tom Pelphrey’s brother Ben (who should have been nominated for an Emmy) who solidified just how tragic and bleak the Bird’s family drama was in shocking, even horrifying ways. 

6. The Queen’s Gambit

The production design of this feminist Netflix sports drama alone is worthy of standing on your chair and applauding but there’s no need stopping there. After years of lighting up the screen, Anya Taylor-Joy broke out big time as an isolated female chess genius who upends the traditionally male-dominated world of competitive chess. Made with stunning attention to detail (the sets! the costumes! the score! the performances!), The Queen’s Gambit magically made chess thrilling and turned an outcast loner into a shero of the highest order. 

5. I May Destroy You 

Michaela Coel’s singular voice is an omnipresent constant throughout her breakout HBO series I May Destroy You. Telling the story of a hard-partying millenial writer attempting to recover from and track down her assailant after being raped, I May Destroy You is a revelation of serio-comedy that introduced the world to not only Coel as a writer and actress but showed that you can tackle an incredibly serious subject with both heart, empathy, outrage, and humor and Coel does it all stunningly.

4. Dark

The third and final season of Dark is as dense and as carefully-mapped out as the two that preceded it, with an increasing number of alternative timelines, differently-aged-versions of characters, and screwy but internally-consistent time travel logic. But somehow showrunner Baran bo Odar pulled a rabbit out of his hat, capping this German science-fiction thriller off in perfect, logical style with a satisfying conclusion that more than justifies fans’ attention and investment. 

3. Better Call Saul

Yes, Better Call Saul fans lament the fact that Rhea Seehorn missed out on yet another deserved Emmy nomination for her fiery work as Kim Wexler (just as newcomer Tony Dalton’s fantastic turn as Lalo Salamanca also went ignored) but like Ms. Seehorn, the show she stars in just keeps getting better. In this fifth season, we saw Jimmy McGill finally bury his birth name and become the Saul Goodman we know and love from Breaking Bad and the transformation made for perhaps the best season yet of this spin-off that frankly has no right to be as good as it consistently is.

2. What We Do in the Shadows

Perhaps the funniest show currently on television, What We Do in the Shadows (a vampire situational comedy spun off from the Taika Waititi film of the same name) improved into all-time status with its devilishly funny second season. The FX series stretched to new weirder territory in its sophomore take and delivered the kind of laugh-a-minute silliness that made you forget about all the real-world nightmares that the year had in store. The “Jackie Daytona” episode alone is amongst the finest thing we would see anywhere in 2020. 

1. The Haunting of Bly Manor

Mike Flanagan has done it again with The Haunting of Bly Manor, a gothic love story of the tallest order. A beautiful and haunting ode to loss and grief, this second anthological horror series may not have smuggled as much outright terror as The Haunting of Hill House but Victoria Pedretti’s tragic turn as manor nanny Dani gave the series an extra dose of heart and pathos that made the whole story pack that much more emotional punch. I loved every second of it.

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