Top 10 TV Shows of 2021

Greetings, reader!

It is time to finally release my list of last year's greatest television shows. Any show that released new episodes in 2021 is eligible, and they are ranked purely based on how good their content in that year was, and not the quality of the series as a whole. There was a lot of great TV in 2021, and these are my favorite picks!

Here are my honorable mentions: Big Mouth (Season 5), Rick and Morty (Season 5), The Walking Dead (Seasons 10C and 11A), Tiger King (Season 2), What If...? (Season 1)

10. Hawkeye (Season 1)

The Marvel Cinematic Universe finally made a successful expansion into the world of TV in 2021, with five new shows premiering that take place in the universe and take the larger story arch as well as individual character stories further. I didn't expect too much from Hawkeye, as Clint Barton / Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner) had never been one of the most interesting superheroes in the MCU, but upon checking the series out, I actually enjoyed it quite a lot.

At times, it feels like Hollywood has over-used the "reluctant mentor and over-eager protégé" trope one too many times - but who am I kidding, it still works. With no unnecessary side-plots or over-written villains, almost all of our time is spent with main characters Hawkeye (the reluctant mentor) and Kate Bishop (the over-eager protégé, played in a brilliant performance by Hailee Steinfeld). Their dynamic is entertaining, the action scenes (especially the car chase in the third episode, oh my God) are exciting, and the overarching Christmas setting is a nice backdrop.

9. Saturday Night Live (Seasons 46B and 47A)

Saturday Night Live has once again been a force of nature in the past year, bringing laughter, joy and perhaps even a bit of unity (y'know, by making fun of everyone on all sides) into an increasingly divided America. In 2021, Saturday Night Live had its share of hilarious moments, such as Pete Davidson and Rami Malek playing each other in the Celeb School Game Show skit, The Devil himself (Jason Sudeikis) trying to distance himself from QAnon, and Cecily Strong taking her Jeanine Pirro impression to a point of spilling wine all over Colin Jost while belting Sinatra's My Way. We also saw plenty of the hard-hitting political satire that the series has always prided itself in, from the genius skit Republican or Not? to Colin Jost and Michael Che continuing to prove themselves one of the sharpest and funniest duos in showbusiness on Weekend Update.

There were even some legitimately moving bits, such as host Dan Levy's iconic father Eugene crashing his monologue to tell his son how proud he is, and Jost&Che paying tribute to legendary former castmember Norm MacDonald after he passed away. I think the show's lasting effect of warmth and laughter to the American people is best described by Jason Sudeikis's monologue from October, where he simply walked around the stage at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and discussed how special that place really is to him and to so many others.

8. WandaVision (Season 1)

Back to Marvel! The first series of this new batch to be released was WandaVision, which was very hard to rank - the first few episodes had me hooked in an unforeseen manner, but I have to punish the series a bit for falling flat towards the end. The finale was more than a bit anti-climactic. Still, at its best, WandaVision was bold,-barrier-breaking television and I thoroughly enjoyed a majority of it.

The premise of WandaVision is pretty great, as we follow a sheltered community which, for sci-fi reasons explained towards the end of the series, lives its life as if it's a TV show. Life in Westview is completely modeled off television tropes, and the series is full of meta fiction and it feels like a love letter to television.

What I really loved about the series was that for the first several episodes, there was no explanation to this. They let the mystery simmer before they started explaining, which makes the first set of episodes into an ultimate "What the hell" experience - once the credits start to roll after the first episodes, you'll have no idea why this Marvel series appears to be a black-and-white 1950's sitcom. And that's quite something.

7. Arcane (Season 1)

I've never played League of Legends, but the animated television adaptation of the popular game first caught my eye when my roommate recommended it to me, and even more so when I checked it out on IMDB and came across the incredible critical reception it has received. From what I've gathered, the series is an absolute dream come true for fans of the game, as it apparently did its part to break the curse of video game adaptations on the silver screen and brought the world and characters to life brilliantly. I can't personally speak to that myself, but what I can say is that you can walk in without knowing a single thing about League of Legends, and become immersed in the show's world nonetheless.

The character archs are gripping and layered, especially the relationship between sisters Vi (Hailee Steinfeld) and Powder (Mia Sinclair Jenness). The worldbuilding is absolutely fascinating, and as a longtime fan of fantasy and science fiction it was a real treat to once again get invested in a rich, complex and well-built fictional realm that combines the fabled beauty of Gallifrey with the complex politics of Westeros. Can't wait for season 2, especially after that gigantic cliffhanger!

6. Loki (Season 1)

Marvel's trippy, time-travelling, multiverse-hopping series didn't quite have me in its first half. Despite Tom Hiddleston's brilliance, Owen Wilson's surprisingly layered performance and the mind-bending score, I felt like the series was missing a little something - but then came those three last episodes.

And those episodes were some of the very best television of the year. Incredible twists, unforeseen turns and epic moments were witnessed in a chaotic chain of events that just kept on giving. I won't spoil details to Marvel fans who haven't seen Loki yet, but believe me, things go down in an expectation-shattering fashion and huge implications are left for the future of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

5. The Falcon and the Winter Soldier (Season 1)

Yep, my favorite out of the swarm of Marvel shows to come out in 2021 is, after a lot of consideration, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. I've gathered that this isn't a very typical opinion, but I'm sticking with it. The reception to the series seemed mixed at best, but I for one thoroughly enjoyed it, even more so than the generally more acclaimed WandaVision and Loki.

In its atmosphere, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier is very much the spiritual successor to the Captain America movies, especially Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). The intense espionage-style feel is quite addictive, making for a more real-world entry into the MCU (this is especially evident when the show tackles issues such a structural racism and police misconduct - hey, I might've just realized a big part of why many people didn't like the show!).

From the very first episode, I was enthralled by the main setting - after being chosen as Captain America's successor, Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) turns the honor down, believing that there shouldn't be another, only for the U.S. government go against his and Cap's wishes, choosing their own new Captain America who may not be the best man for the job. The conflicts between the different sides and the struggle over Captain America's legacy make for an intriguing, politically charged MCU series that also has its share of intense action sequences and neat connections to other Marvel stories.

4. Sex Education (Season 3)

Netflix's Sex Education outdid itself once again with its third season, proving even more than before that it is one of the best television shows currently out there. The show's ability to seamlessly incorporate important values and themes, sex-positive lessons, wholesome affirmations and diverse representations of all sorts of minorities into its well-written story without seeming preachy or forced, not to mention its delicate balance between drama and comedy, is nothing short of genius at this point. It works well enough as a mere "teen series" with realistic and well-written characters you care about, but it works even better when you consider how much the series has to say about the world and how much those lessons mean to many of the people watching.

For me, watching the third season was a bizarre experience, because it showed that at least on some obscure level, I have "grown up" a bit. You see, when season 1 and 2 came out, I identified with the young main characters, especially Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield). Between the second and third seasons there was a slightly longer break due to Covid, and during this break I experienced my first student teaching (as well as a summer job as a camp councillor), and lo and behold - when watching season three, I identified the most with side character and dorky teacher Mr. Hendricks (Jim Howick). You know that adulthood starts to get a hold on you when you watch a high school series and don't view it through the lens of the high schoolers any more.

3. Squid Game (Season 1)

2021 will undoubtedly go down in television history as the year Squid Game came out, and rightfully so - the record-smashing South Korean megahit was worth the hype. My expectations weren't all that high, but the very first episode proved me wrong - a premise like this one has been done many times, but never with such brutal realism in how the characters and their reaction to their new surroundings are written. The concept of a competition where grown women and men face off in a series of life-and-death versions of children's playground games may be outlandish, but the way this is executed makes for such stunning realism that you'll feel for the characters in an unforeseen way.

While I enjoyed the series as a whole from the shocking pilot episode to the opinion-splitting finale, I must single out the by-now infamous sixth episode Kkanbu as a highlight. I cried my eyes out, as I'm sure did many others, at this masterpiece that is definitely one of the most heartbreaking and powerful television episodes ever made.

2. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (Season 15)

I remember watching CNN's coverage of the 2020 Presidential election with my family, when experts were analyzing the dramatic delay of vote counting in Pennsylvania. As they narrowed down on the situation in Philadelphia specifically, I thought about the upcoming season of the sitcom that always takes jabs at current events especially regarding their hometown, and said "I can't wait to see how this is tackled in It's Always Sunny". Sure enough, when the premiere of the show's record-breaking fifteenth season (it is now the longest-running live-action comedy series in American history!) rolled out, my expectations were met - the episode 2020: A Year in Review was like an anti-Forrest Gump, as we see the IASIP gang being accidentally responsible for all sorts of events in the year of chaos, from the voting count delay in Philly to the Capitol Insurrection. Dark comedy at its finest.

With episode titles like The Gang Replaces Dee With a Monkey, The Gang Goes to Ireland, The Gang's Still in Ireland and Dee Sinks in a Bog, there's just no way that the season was going to be anything else than absolutely hilarious. What other series would feature Danny DeVito setting up a shady hair salon, while The Rolling Stones's Gimme Shelter rocks the soundtrack, moments before Rudy Giuliani enters?

Furthermore, I love how Covid-19 factored into the series. Most shows that take place in 'the real world' and have released new seasons, have more or less ignored the coronavirus situation, or maybe made one heavy-handed special episode about it and then moved on. However, the new season of It's Always Sunny dealt with the pandemic in an intriguing way, as the situation was never on the forefront but still present throughout the season - whether through the occasional use of masks, the subplot where Dennis (Glenn Howerton) clearly has Covid but is in denial, or just general references in the dialogue. It's nice to see the shittiness of real life represented on television like this.

And last but definitely not least, Charlie Day. His performance as Charlie Kelly has always been the best part of IASIP, but that entered a whole new level this season - his acting in the season finale is some of the very best acting I've ever seen in a comedy series, deserving of everything from an Emmy to a Golden Globe.

1. The Beatles: Get Back

If I had to name my individual favorite thing to be released in 2021, across movies, television shows, books and albums, I wouldn't have to think twice. Denis Villeneuve's Dune was magnificent, as was Adele's 30, along with many other pieces of art from the past year, but for me personally, none will top Peter Jackson's Beatles documentary.

Watching the greatest rock band of all time go through one of their most intense and dramatic periods, with actual footage of many historical key moments edited into this 8-hour behemoth released in 3 parts, brought tears to my eyes. The viewer gets such an intimate picture of what the Fab Four were really like, how they interacted with one another, and how they wrote, arranged and recorded some of their greatest songs.

From the moment where Sir Paul McCartney comes up with the idea for Get Back and the others start jamming along, to the legendary studio take of Let it Be that made it onto the album; from George helping Ringo compose Octopus's Garden to the footage of the band's iconic rooftop concert in its entirety, this documentary series captures the essence of the 'Get Back sessions' in a way I didn't think to be possible. Even for non-fans of the band, this is worth watching simply as a fascinating and well-made documentary - for fans such as myself, it is nothing short of a larger-than-life experience.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for my annual January post about the top 10 most anticipated films of the coming year.