1. How to with John Wilson (Season 3)

This continues to be one of the most uniquely brilliant shows on television. It blows my mind how John Wilson is even able to create this show, what his process must be, constantly filming his daily life and somehow editing it all into something cohesive and interesting. There is nothing else like it on TV. It’s almost like an entire show built around synchronicity. He follows serendipity wherever it takes him, around New York City and the entire country. He finds the weirdest people, and like Nathan Fielder, isn’t afraid to get super awkward. But the show is also quite heartfelt at times. Sadly, this is the final season, but I will eagerly watch whatever John Wilson does next. 

2. Succession

I wrote about all four seasons of Succession here (and a fictional fifth season here).

3. The Curse

I am a massive fan of Nathan Fielder’s previous shows, but this was his first foray into scripted television, though it is set in the world of a fictional reality TV show. It’s like a behind-the-scenes look at how the sausage is made, or how reality TV is fabricated. It’s ironic how Fielder’s reality TV shows feel like fiction and his fictional shows feel like reality TV. The Curse is just as awkward and cringe-inducing as his previous “reality” shows. It’s also similar to White Lotus in how it critiques and satirizes its characters, who are all too familiar to modern people in real life. The show was also co-created and co-stars Benny Safdie, who infuses escalating tension emblematic of his movies (Good Time and Uncut Gems). Finally, it culminates in one of the most jarringly surreal finales ever.

4. Andor

Andor is hands-down the best content from the Star Wars universe since The Empire Strikes Back. The season is sort of broken up into a series of 3-episode mini-movies. It starts as a Blade Runner-esque crime noir then turns to a spy heist thriller, then a prison break, then a war/terrorism epic like The Battle of Algiers. The first two story arcs were great, but the prison episodes coupled with the intricacies of Empire bureaucracy got tedious, until the finale which was fantastic again. Previous Star Wars movies were basically children’s fantasy adventures, but Andor is a realistic look at what it would actually be like for resistance fighters trying to overthrow an authoritarian space empire. Plus it perfectly captures the bureaucracy of the Empire, and how bureaucracy itself makes people do evil things, without needing an evil leader at the top ordering them to do evil (Darth Vader and other Sith never appear in the show). The villains are actual three-dimensional human beings. I didn’t think Disney would ever let someone make something so dark, gritty, and serious in the Star Wars universe. 

5. The Last of Us

I wasn’t planning to watch this show, as I had grown bored of post-apocalyptic zombie stories after eleven seasons of The Walking Dead (plus its spin-offs), especially in the television format where the story can go on and on forever without an end (though I did love that first season). Plus video game adaptations are notoriously bad, and I played The Last of Us and thought it was overrated. But the show got rave reviews, so I gave it a shot and was thoroughly impressed. First, it’s a fresh take on zombies by making them infected by a fungus, so they look and behave differently. Second, the special effects are amazing—just like the movie I Am Legend, they show spectacular ruins of cities decades after being abandoned. Third, the acting is great—the two leads especially (Joel and Ellie) have great chemistry. Fourth, the worldbuilding is well thought out, exploring different communities and factions that might develop after the collapse of civilization. Finally, the storytelling and writing were great. The main thrust of the story is Joel and Ellie’s journey across the country, but they include flashbacks of other characters they meet along the way that serve as self-contained sub-stories within the larger narrative. 

The showrunner is Craig Mazin, co-host of Scriptnotes, a podcast about screenwriting, which I used to listen to regularly (but stopped after I stopped screenwriting). It was odd because Mazin gave such great advice and really seemed to know what he was talking about, but his movie credits were so bad (Scary Movie 3&4, Superhero Movie, The Hangover 2&3). Then again, if you know how the Hollywood industry treats writers, then Mazin can’t necessarily be blamed for the quality of those movies. But in television, the showrunner/writer has much more creative control. After the great Chernobyl miniseries and now this, Mazin clearly knows what he is doing. 

6. Murder at the End of the World

I am a fan of Brit Marling and Zal Batmanglij’s previous work (Another Earth, Sound of My Voice, The East, The OA), and I was immediately hooked by this murder mystery with hints of science fiction. A Jeff Bezos-type tech billionaire invites nine successful people from various domains to a retreat at his secluded compound in Iceland. The artist (FANGS aka Bill) dies from an apparent drug overdose the first night, but his former girlfriend Darby, the young author of a true crime book (and amateur detective), suspects it was murder. The show includes flashbacks about Darby and Bill’s relationship, how they met by hunting a serial killer which was the basis for her book. I said there are hints of science fiction, but it’s more like a techno-thriller because it’s all science and technology that currently exists. 

7. The Young Pope 

I did not watch this show when it first aired in 2019 because I assumed it would be too absurd, like a farcical comedy. If not that, then a didactic preachy critique of the Catholic Church and religion. But it is neither of those things. There are some comedic elements, but it’s mostly a serious drama. And there are some criticisms of the Church, but it also portrays the religion honestly with plenty of positive elements as well. When you hear “young Pope” you assume he’ll be this super progressive liberal Pope trying to bring the Church to modern times. And you almost think that’s exactly what they’re doing when you see Jude Law’s opening speech—but then you learn that was just a nightmare of his. Pope Pius XIII’s actual speech reveals he is the opposite: a super-conservative pope who tries to bring the Church back to its traditional teachings. This made the show much more interesting. He declines to participate in any of the pomp and circumstance of being Pope, refusing to even show himself or appear in public because, to him, all that matters is God. The Young Pope is overall a measured treatment of the subject matter that people who are both pro and anti-Catholicism could watch and like but come away with different opinions. That is how good art should be, similar to what I wrote about Succession.

8. The Fall of the House of Usher

I was really looking forward to this show because I’m such a big fan of both Edgar Allan Poe and Mike Flanagan, but I was kind of disappointed by the pilot because it seemed to stray too far from Poe’s story. It felt more like Succession with a hint of horror and random names from Poe’s work. But then, as the series went on, and I saw what they were actually doing, I started to appreciate the show more and more. Basically, each episode is based on one famous Poe story, at the end of which one of the Usher children dies. It’s actually kind of brilliant how it all comes together in the end, using not just Poe’s stories but also his poems. The show is an odd mix of Succession and Poe, though not quite as good as either, but as a fan of both I still enjoyed it overall. Plus it features an Emmy-worthy monologue by Bruce Greenwood about what to do when life gives you lemons.

9. Futurama (Season 8)

The Futurama reboot (again) was mostly a success. It looks and feels the same, though some of the voices sound older. I love the animation style and its aesthetics of the future: bright and techno-optimistic (though there are also some dystopian elements such as suicide booths). The best episodes were the Bitcoin Western and the “Momazon” Amazon satire, which ranks up there with some of the best of Futurama. 

10. Dave (Season 3)

I continue to enjoy this comedy about Lil Dicky, a white rapper rising to fame in Los Angeles. It’s sort of like a cross between Entourage and Louie, combining both comedy and drama—until the finale turned into a gripping contained horror movie with a Misery-esque stalker featuring Brad Pitt—which was amazing.

Honorable Mentions:

Scavengers Reign

An animated series about human survivors from a spaceship stranded on an alien planet with aliens that actually feel alien. The scavengers find ways to use the alien life almost like technology, different species for different purposes. The alien-ness of the wildlife reminded me of Avatar and Annihilation.

Rick and Morty (Season 7)

The quality in this show has dropped to mediocrity, and not because of the new voice actors—I couldn’t even notice a difference in that regard. It is the writing that has deteriorated. It used to feature mind-blowing science fiction plus comedy, but now the sci-fi is more absurdist than amazing, and the comedy is less funny than crude. Rick and Morty still has enough zany sci-fi to keep me watching, but the show has passed its peak.

Smiling Friends

Now this is a fresh and original animated comedy.

Documentary Now (Season 3)

I was a fan of the first two seasons of this anthology show where each episode is a parody of a famous documentary. The first episode of this season parodying Werner Herzog was the best, followed by the rock-throwing fight. But the rest of the season was disappointing. 

The X-Files (Seasons 2 & 3)

I am continuing my way through The X-Files, currently about halfway through season three. Some episodes are better than others.

Ancient Aliens (various seasons)

Also gradually making my way through the many episodes of this series, which continue to oscillate between “wow, interesting” and “lol, preposterous.” 

Dishonorable Mentions:

Black Mirror – (Season 6)

• Episode 1: An interesting premise of a quantum computer generating a TV episode each night about a woman’s previous day, but it was too comedic and cliche.
• Episode 2: A “true crime” that was too contrived.
• Episode 3: Alt-history about an astronaut stuck in space who can use tech to inhabit the mind of his friend on Earth. It was the best episode of the season…until the ending, which was needlessly too dark and twisted. 
• Episode 4: Another Intriguing premise about a paparazzi tracking down a Hollywood starlet in hiding, but the twist was a massive letdown. 
• Episode 5: The worst episode of the season, lacked even an intriguing premise and descended from there.

Every episode in this season is different, but they all follow the same pattern: start with an interesting premise but get increasingly more contrived as the episode progresses until reaching peak stupidity at the end. They try to make the episodes dark and twisted, but I didn’t buy that those characters would do such things. It felt too contrived. Black Mirror used to be near-future science fiction about the dark side of current technology, but now it is more like The Twilight Zone, about any type of sci-fi or horror—which is not necessarily a bad thing—I love The Twilight Zone. Again, they all had interesting premises and started well, but they went completely off the rails by the end. Twilight Zone was famous for its twist endings, but these Black Mirror twists didn’t land for me. “Contrived” is the operative word to describe the entire season. The stories and characters just didn’t ring true. This season was a steep decline for what used to be my favorite show.

Previous TV lists:

• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2014: Part 1 & Part 2

Best Documentaries

The Booksellers (2019) – A documentary about antiquarian rare book dealers in NYC. I found this interesting as I collect books myself, though my collection is much more utilitarian. One of my favorite hobbies is visiting used book sales at libraries and thrift stores. It is like treasure-hunting, trying to find a great book amid the drivel. Today it is so easy to search for books on Amazon and instantly purchase exactly what you want, but searching for used books at physical locations returns the magic of non-algorithmically finding something you never would have even thought to search for. I have discovered many fantastic books this way. I don’t really care about the rarity of the books or their commercial value—I collect books that I personally like and/or actually plan to read (though my collection is already so vast, I doubt I’ll ever get around to reading them all—but I’ll still continue adding to it).

Memory: The Origins of Alien (2019) – A documentary on the movie Alien (one of my all-time favorites), focused on the three central people responsible for making it: Dan O’Bannon (the writer), H.R. Giger (the artist), and Ridley Scott (the director). 

Some Kind of Heaven (2020) – A documentary about life in The Villages retirement community in Florida. (I watched this as research for a fiction project I’m developing.)

Mirage Men (2013) – Directed by John Lundberg, Roland Denning, Kypros Kyprianou – A documentary about how the US military and intelligence agencies have been deliberately promoting disinformation about UFOs. The question is why. It is exceptionally interesting material but not an especially well-made film.

Haunters: The Art of the Scare (2017) – A documentary about the people who create haunted house tours at their homes for Halloween.

[Check JustWatch.com to see where any of the previously mentioned shows and documentaries are currently streaming.]

YouTubers

I haven’t done a YouTube update since 2021, so these are some new channels I started following since then (listed alphabetically):

• Arkham Reporter – on Lovecraft and related content
• ATHLEAN-X – workout tips
• Baseball Doesn’t Exist – more entertaining than watching a full baseball game
• Chill Fuel – short docs exploring internet mysteries
• Cleo Abram – “Video journalist making optimistic tech explainers.”
• Cool Worlds – Space and astronomy
• Creative Codex – on creativity (also a podcast)
• EmpLemon – interesting and humorous long-form videos about various topics including New Coke and NASCAR
• Fortress of Lugh – ancient history and mythology 
• Glink – fascinating documentaries about various topics, such as “The Dark Reality of Los Angeles”
• Kane Pixels – short films with amazing special effects – If you haven’t seen “The Backrooms” you must watch it; if you have seen it you must watch it again.
• The Kino Corner – “Literally me” film analysis
• Last Things – film analysis and cultural commentary
• LEMMiNO – “Long-form videos about space and mysteries and whatnot.”
• Man Carrying Thing – comedy sketches and book reviews 
• Modern Intuitionist – “mini documentaries on intuition, synchronicity, and divination”
• MrBeast – I was somewhat late to the Mr. Beast party, discovering him in 2022. He is like a real-life Willy Wonka. There are at least ten 5-second segments in each of his 15-minute videos that other YouTubers would create entire videos around and get a million views each—which is why MrBeast videos get a hundred million views each.
• Oki’s Weird Stories – I said there was nothing like John Wilson on TV, but Oki’s Weird Stories is actually similar.
• Pursuit of Wonder – short videos on existential philosophy plus original philosophical fiction stories
• Redeemed Zoomer – smart videos about Christianity
• Ryan Reeves – history
• SkyCorp Home Video – brilliantly hilarious parodies of 1990s VHS videos
• Tale Foundry – about writing and storytelling genres
• TechLead – tech news with extremely dry humor
• Thomas Flight – expert film analysis
• Thoughts on Thinking – philosophy
• Vsauce – I’ve been a long-time fan of Vsauce, but I started watching his “Shorts” this year. His are the only YouTube Shorts I watch, as he has become a master of the format.
• The Vile Eye – examines famous villains from fiction
• Weird History – self-explanatory
• Wendigoon – deep-dive long-form videos about horror and conspiracies
• YoungRippa59 – Eric July’s takes on the comic book and movie industry, including his own comic books.