Top 10 TV Shows of 2022

Greetings, reader!

It is once again time to look back on some of the best offerings from the world of television over the course of the past year. These were the very best TV shows of 2022!

Here are my honorable mentions: Human Resources (Season 1), Saturday Night Live (Seasons 47B-48A), That Damn Michael Che (Season 2), The Crown (Season 5), The Walking Dead (Season 11B).

10. Stranger Things (Season 4)

The fourth season of Netflix's mega-popular coming-of-age sci-fi/horror 80's nostalgia blast was simultaneously the show's worst and best season. The lowpoints were the series at its worst, with the nearly two-hour lengths of episodes being a bit overkill and the abundance of new characters and storylines making for a sharp division between the actually interesting and quite unnecessary ones. But the highpoints? Well, there's a reason that Stranger Things 4 made it onto my list, while spectacular shows like The Crown and the final season of The Walking Dead barely missed out.

After the three first episodes of season 4, I wasn't sold - but then came episode four, hitting us with what I can honestly call one of the greatest individual scenes in television history. Yes, I'm talking about Max (Sadie Sink) running - don't worry, I won't go into spoiler-details. But Jesus Christ, what a scene - the breathtaking visuals, the profound use of Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill in the soundtrack, the emotional stakes of what are going on and Sink's Emmy-worthy performance testing the very limits of how emotional and believable an acting performance can be, all combine to create the best moment in the show's four-season run and one for the television hall of fame.

From thereon out, the season provided many more memorable moments and great episodes, culminating in a massively eventful season finale.

9. Rick and Morty (Season 6)

The sheer creativity of this magnificent series, which I have often described as "Back to the Future meets South Park meets Doctor Who meets Community", will never cease to amaze me. Writers Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland are in their sixth season, and they're still coming up with episode premises like "Morty is stuck inside a video game, with his consciousness trapped in the collective personalities of all the game's characters, while Rick tries to help him out and the belief of all the characters actually being the collective consciousness of a teenage boy becomes akin to a religion within the game's fictional narrative", and "Rick creates an invention that allows the Smith family to do chores while sleeping, giving 'night personas' to everyone in the family, but the night family soon starts to realize their oppressed nature and plot to take over the day family's lives".

This limitless imagination is especially present in Full Meta Jackrick, easily the newest season's best episode. The show's barrier-breaking amounts of meta humor escalate further than ever before, with the episode's wild narrative ranging from Rick and Morty being trapped inside a "Previously on" montage, through them adventuring their way across the events in the show's opening credits sequence, all the way to showrunner Justin Roiland becoming a part of the story in a magnificent self-insert. Quite the masterclass.

8. Mo (Season 1)

I'm a big fan of the series Ramy, in which comedian Mohammed Amer plays a supporting character called Mohammed, often shortened to 'Mo'. So when I saw Netflix advertising a series called Mo with Mohammed Amer in the poster, I figured: 'Cool! A spin-off!' - only to find out that it is in fact not a spin-off. Sure, it's co-created by Ramy Youssef and Mohammed Amer, and features very similar humor and themes to Ramy, but the Mo played by Amer here is a different character from the Mo he plays on Ramy, as these shows don't take place in the same universe.

Confusion aside, Mo is just a damn good series. While being essentially similar to Ramy in being a sitcom balancing serious introspection of living as a Muslim in America with lots of tongue-in-cheek making fun of aspects in Muslim culture and American conventions, this series also differs from its predecessor to find a voice of its own as it follows a family of Palestinian immigrants. This allows for a whole new range of topics that hadn't been touched in Ramy, as well as for one of the funniest interactions in the history of television:

Mo: "You know, where I come from, olive theft is a huge problem too"

Buddy: "Yeah, where is that?"

Mo: "Palestine"

Manny: "Damn, that's a couple hours away"

Mo: "No, not Palestine, Texas - Palestine. The land of milk and honey?"

Buddy: "Uh, Israel, Manny."

Manny: "Oh! Uh, Shalom"

Mo: "Yeah, that's a real branding issue"

7. Andor

This year saw the debut of not one, not two, not even three, but four TV shows on Disney+ that take place in the Star Wars universe. And while Obi-Wan Kenobi was solid, Tales of the Jedi had a few really strong episodes and even The Book of Boba Fett had its moments, there's only one that made it into my top ten of the year - and that, my friends, is Andor.

Taking place several years after the prequel trilogy, some time before the original trilogy and leading up to the events of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, this show focuses on Rogue One character Cassian Andor (Diego Luna). Not the most interesting idea on paper, but damn, they sure go places with it. Andor does a big one-eighty by starting out as a series that feels less Star Wars than its compatriots from this year, yet ends up feeling more Star Wars than any of them.

In the beginning, the dark and gritty style will seem a bit off-brand for the franchise, but by those amazing final episodes, you will realize how the writers utilized this style to bring more meaning than ever to the ideas at the very core of Star Wars. You'll feel the passion and heroism of the Rebel Alliance, while fearing the iron grip of the Empire, more than ever before, making Andor into quite the emotional journey for fans of the franchise.

6. Surrounded By Enemies

This Viaplay original documentary series was scarier than any horror movie I've seen all year. Detailing the rise of far-right extremist groups in Nodric countries, journalist Henrik Evertsson takes a gripping look at the reasons behind these movements, the facts in how they operate, and the implications of such a rise for the future. The footage of events like SIAN ("Stop the Islamisation of Norway") rallies and such are bone-chilling, as are the interviews of figures who have joined such movements and try to explain their worldviews.

The existence of documentaries like this is very important, as we should be aware about these movements and the danger they pose; but in all its educational value and social (as well as psychological) fascination, it is not easy viewing. Surrounded By Enemies was a tough watch, but a very eye-opening one, and one that left me applauding the factual approach, respectable curiosity and sheer bravery of Mr. Evertsson.

5. Euphoria (Season 2)

If you're wondering why the second season of HBO's critically acclaimed (though somewhat controversial) drama isn't even higher on the list, I will say that the much-praised second season did have its less-than-perfect moments - episodes like Out of Touch (Season 2 Episode 2) are oddly paced and feel a bit off, and some of the bold directions that the story takes in the ambitiously titled season finale All My Life, My Heart has Yearned for a Thing I Cannot Name are questionable to say the least.

But, as was the case with Stranger Things 4, the positives vastly outweigh the negatives, which is why I can't help but see Euphoria's sophomore season as some of the year's finest television.

Throughout it all, Sam Levinson is one hell of a director and storyteller, with his style being so unique that the series feels like its own genre (IMDB user 'aidensherry' called Euphoria "the beginning of impressionistic filmmaking", which I found to be a beautiful sentiment). This is especially evident in the new season's penultimate episode The Theater and Its Double, which breaks many barriers of storytelling conventions while blurring the lines between reality and fiction, fiction and the fiction within the fiction, present and past, et cetera. And, as a cherry on top, Zendaya delivers what just might be the TV acting performance of the year, with her acting throughout the season being a pitch-perfect depiction of the grim realities of drug addiction.

4. Barry (Season 3)

Bill Hader's HBO darling Barry continues to be a masterclass in TV writing, directing and acting with its third season. If I had to pick a favorite element from this wonderful season, it would have to be the show's immaculate execution of its drama-comedy-hybrid format - every episode is filled with moments that are purely laugh-out-loud hilarious, other moments that are dark and serious as all hell, and multiple scenes that are an aggressive amount of both at the same time. A half-hour episode will take you on an emotional journey from macabre and hysterical to tragicomical and bittersweet.

Honorable mentions for my favorite element of Barry's third season would have to be the insanely well-coordinated chase sequence from the episode 710N, the genius comedic timing of the remote demolition app in the episode all the sauces, and the shockingly emotional and dramatic season finale that makes you re-evaluate how much of a 'you shouldn't care about the characters' show this is after all.

3. Big Mouth (Season 6)

I know, I know, I know. The TV elitist community will crucify me for the seemingly inexcusable opinion of putting the sixth season of Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg's crude animated puberty sitcom ahead of acclaimed TV masterworks of cinematic levels such as Euphoria and Stranger Things. But, the thing is, this is a subjective list of my favorite television from the past year, and the newest season of god damn Big Mouth did more for me than almost any other series. The chaotic humor had me rolling with laughter, the flawed but lovable characters won me over as I cared for them more than I could've ever imagined, the rich variety of important themes and topics that the season covered had me reflecting and pondering, and the feel-good payoffs seriously warmed my heart, occasionally putting a tear in my eye.

I can't believe that a series known for its abundance of dark and gross humor could have so much heart, so many honestly important life lessons, and so much positivity on sensitive topics. For all the childish jokes on the show's coming-of-age themes, it manages to be wholesome and sex-positive with an inclusive message that really makes you feel better about the world. There's a lot of joy awaiting you, if you can get past the acquired taste of Kroll & Goldberg's humor (even took me a while back in the day - I remember my friend Atte showing the pilot episode to me in 2017, and my reaction being "WHAT THE HELL, WHY WOULD ANYONE WATCH THIS?"). Oh, how wrong I was.

2. House of the Dragon (Season 1)

Funny how life ends up working - you spend your HBO budget on massive state-of-the-art visuals, off-the-charts action set pieces and lavish set designs, and when it's all said and done, the one moment everyone keeps talking about is the visual of an old man slowly walking towards a chair. I guess money can't buy you everything when trying to make a good fantasy series, isn't that right, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power? Oh, right, nevermind, you didn't make it onto today's list. Anyhow...

This Game of Thrones prequel is fantastic. It truly strikes the balance of being similar enough to be great in many of the same ways as Game of Thrones (the Shakespearean power dynamics, the sneaky politics, the fantasy intrigue of Westeros), yet different enough to not feel like a copy but rather stand on its own (the intense focus on a few families in a few key settings instead of following large-scope world events, the culture of the Targaryen era, the time jumps et cetera). There's a lot to love with this slow burn of a first season, where the steady pace starts to escalate towards some grand events, while maintaining a sense that this is all just a prologue to what is to come in the following seasons.

And yes, that scene of the old man slowly walking towards a chair. I won't give more context as I don't want to spoil anyone, but my God, that's peak television right there.

1. Better Call Saul (Season 6)

Yeah, I really didn't have to even consider anything else being in first place. With Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan proved that he can absolutely master the art of landing a dynamite final season for a TV series, and with Better Call Saul, he proved that it was no fluke. The sixth and final season of the critically acclaimed Breaking Bad spin-off is every bit as good as the by-now modern classic that is Breaking Bad's final season. When I ranked the Top 10 episodes of Better Call Saul last summer, half of the list's episodes were from seasons 1-5 combined, and half were from this one banger of an individual season.

What I really love is how Vince Gilligan's unconventional story arch gives us multiple endings. A major part of the series gets wrapped up in a bittersweet manner in Rock and a Hard Place, the third episode of the 13-episode season, allowing for the rest of season to focus on the 'main' story. And most of that gets its climax in the eighth episode Point and Shoot, after which the ninth episode Fun and Games feels like an epilogue wrapping up loose ends. AND THEN WE STILL GET FOUR MORE EPISODES, tying back to a part of the series that some had forgotten to exist, yet that four-episode arch's role as the show's swan song ends up making perfect sense in a poetic manner.

Also, it's Better Call Saul, so it goes without saying that the directing and cinematography are impeccable, and the acting performances are nothing short of Golden Globe -worthy. What a way to wrap up one of the best TV dramas of its era.

Thank you for reading! Tune in next week for this year's edition of my January tradition - the top 10 most anticipated movies of 2023!