2023 Recommendations: Television
Lots to love, laugh and learn from in shows I recommend from 2023!
For someone like me who watches lots of television, the consequences or the SAG/AFTRA and WGA strikes are certainly evident to me, waiting for new shows and/or new seasons, but I know most of you don’t have to worry about this, so below are the shows I enjoyed in 2023 and recommend to you!
Reservation Dogs (Hulu): In my first Sujata Said, this was one of my favorite shows of 2022, and season 1 was one of my favorites in 2021. This is the third and final season of a show, created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi that continued being excellent, funny, moving, and real, with performances and performers who should have had longer careers and for the younger performances, I hope they have long careers ahead of them. I will miss this show and the characters, and they did an excellent job in ending the series. The final season gave us bottle episodes on each of the 4 leads, and windows into the adults and elders and ancestors that were loving, funny, and rooted in the real displacement and oppression of Native peoples in the United States. More and more creators are being allowed to choose the timing and content of how and when their series end, and I found their choices satisfying, even if I do wish they were still on air.
Deadloch (Amazon): Mates - this is one of the funniest and smartest crime procedurals I’ve ever enjoyed! And Australian to the bone, fully takes place in Tasmania. I watched it not in a binge but week by week, and for the first time I really had no idea who the killer was, and it played with my and the audience’s assumptions every step of the way. You can enjoy this as a snarky, funny, mysterious crime thriller, and that would be enough. BUT it is also a excellent piece of work that takes on tropes around women, men, cops, murderers, and heternormativity - all in funny, smart and cutting ways. And while I love everyone in the main cast, I love baby cop Abby the most. Watch this! Looking forward to season 2 whenever we get it
That's not to say that Deadloch is some kind of tiresome, didactic feminist chore. Each twist feels as organic and fresh as the town's local produce; the thrill of constantly having narrative assumptions challenged by the story keeps the viewer on their toes. And in case the prominent singed pubes in the cold open didn't tip you off, it's also very, very funny. - "'Deadloch' is the feminist Australian buddy-comedy-murder-noir you didn't know you needed”
Somebody Somewhere (HBOMax): I love this funny, quiet and honest show about friends, family, grief and home. It’s 30 min episodes, a dramedy, and worth your time- well acted, well written, and just good for the soul, even when it cuts you deep! As a Vulture recap said, “While the whole thing might be jokes between friends, isn’t that really the crux of the show? People with all of their baggage just doing their best with the help of those who care most about them?”
Annika (PBS Masterpiece): A few months ago I shared my everlasting love of actor Nicola Walker and all her work (The Split, Unforgotten, River, Collateral, and more), and I’m grateful to one of my readers who told me about her new show Annika since I had no idea!! Two seasons have aired in the US on PBS Masterpiece. Walker as always brings her expressive eyes and acting to yet another police officer, this time the Marine Homicide Unit in Scotland - her troop of crime solvers are good, they are funny, her teenage daughter is always part of the mix, and Annika’s a little bit of a mess, but I love her and the show. Her literary asides to the audience, breaking the 4th wall, are snarky and smart! It also has a very haunting and catchy theme song appropriately titled, “Bringing Murder to the Land.” Season 2 ended in a major cliffhanger so I eagerly await season 3.
Abbott Elementary (ABC/Disney+/Hulu). This show continues to shine and make me smile and laugh and that’s why it’s back in my annual recommendations. After the strikes, it will be back in February 2024 for Season 3. Creator Quinta Brunson wanted to create something that multiple generations could watch together and she succeeded. It’s funny, sweet, and is on the real real about our public school system, teachers, students and families in ways that really expand the conversation! The entire cast is stellar. And for many reasons, I love Gregory Eddie, but this is one of them! Know me.
Sex Education (Netflix): The fourth and final season of this smart, sweet, blunt show about young adults and their adults aired this year and did a good job of wrapping things up. As always, if you just go by the name or even the first half of all their trailers, you may think it’s just a raunchy romp, but you’d be wrong. It’s very open and direct about life and sex and feelings and sexuality and race and identity and never feels preachy. Florida would definitely ban this show. I think most adults should watch this, and def parents of teens should watch this, maybe not with their teens, but simultaneously, for discussion and laughter afterwards.
Starstruck (Max): This show has been in my best of recommendations for the past two years. Rose Matafeo, a New Zealand comic, who created, writes and stars in it, is a great comedic talent, and the show is at its best when it pays homage to the greatest RomCom movies and tropes by also doing more and going above and beyond. Nikesh Patel is another British actor who I follow and he’s lovely in this series! The seasons are short and 30 min episodes, so watching the entire series (three seasons) is a breeze. This show is smart, snarky, and sweet, and the final season aired in 2023 wand wrapped up the love story in honest and messy ways and addressed the reality of these two characters we love so much. I think they did what might have, in the past, been considered impossible in RomComs.
The Bear (Hulu): Season 1 was in my 2022 recommendations and 2023’s season 2 was actually better IMO. A true ensemble now, and excellent bottle episodes with favorite cast members. Still don’t get the Jeremy Allen White thirst but Carmy is on a journey that I want to see until the end. Ongoing impacts of grief and family trauma are woven in for tears and laughter, which is real. And the guest stars in season 2, could have been stunt casting, but they fit perfectly.
Made in Heaven (Amazon Prime): I’ve been waiting 4 years for season 2 of this ground breaking Indian TV series and it finally aired in 2023. It’s about best friends and their wedding planning business, their lives and struggles, both silly and serious, including, in the first season, his being gay, in general in India and especially during the time of the repeal of Penal Code 377 in India which banned homosexuality, and was from British colonial law. Each episode has a wedding they plan, and the couples cross over class, caste, religion, arranged and love marriages. This season was a strong set of episodes, addressing societal issues in India, with the regular cast of characters being who I was invested in throughout. And the show had to deal with what I considered valid push-back for their episode (Season 2, Episode 5) dealing with intercaste marriage. As a stand alone episode, it was good and I think a solid intro to folks to move them on this issue, but after it aired, it became clear that something more needed to be said. Author Yashica Dutt, author of Coming Out as Dalit (pre-order it now for its US Feb 2024 release), shared that the storyline and personal details of the Dalit character of this episode were clearly copied from her own. First the Dalit director of the episode thanked Dutt for inspiration, but as soon as it garnered more media attention, the producers and director closed ranks to deny it all, and go after Dutt. A classic defenseive response that unfortunately undid any good their episode might have done, and revealed how power, in this case, caste supremacy, and access to power works….again, especially when it comes to caste supremacy.
Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court (Showtime): The only documentary series included this year is an eye-opening, educational, and enraging piece of television about the United States Supreme Court. It has great historic context and especially talks about how the evangelical movement made a choice in the late 70s that changed the course of the nation and the court when it turned its back on an actual evangelical President, Jimmy Carter, for Ronald Reagan, who was…not an evangelical. Four episodes, engaging and easy to watch, except for the rage it stirs!
"If there’s a criticism of the court in this series, it comes from a place of longing, a place of saying we can’t afford for this court to lose the respect of the American people. There’s going to be decisions over time that people disagree with. That’s not unusual. What’s unusual is how cases are getting to the court, how they’re ignoring precedent and the procedures by which the decisions are getting made. That’s where I would love people to focus.” - Dawn Porter, Deadlocked
Shrinking (Apple TV+): This comedy is from Ted Lasso creators and Brett Goldstein (Roy Kent!) and deals with friends, family, connection, grief and loss, and is strongest when portraying men and their coping, their emotions, their friend and familial connections or lack thereof. I think it’s one of the best things Harrison Ford has done in decades - glimpses of the actor I loved in my youth, the sarcasm he brought to Hans Solo and the charm, humor and vulnerability of his character in Working Girl. In addition, Jessica Williams (watch her in season 2 of HBOMax’s Love Life, The Incredible Jessica James, and of course 2 Dope Queens), in her scenes with Ford and everyone else, makes this show worth the watch.
Avoidance (BritBox): I first encountered and enjoyed British-Sri Lankan actor and comic Romesh Ranganathan from his one-season show Just Another Immigrant (Showtime) a few years ago. It was the “mostly true story” of his journey from the UK to Los Angeles with his family to do a live stand up show at the Greek. And his latest series Avoidance is also good and he’s really grown as an actor and writer above and beyond his comedy. The character he plays is really frustrating, I wanted to shake his character over and over - he avoids a lot, and also doesn’t listen, mostly to the women in his life, and his son sometimes parents him. As usual with UK shows, the banter is A+, and Ranganathan’s dead pan is amazing. The young actor who plays his son is too wonderful and I appreciate the very real portrayal of family life, tensions, anxiety and yes…avoidance. I hope it is renewed but if it isn’t, it’s a good stand alone show! If you like this you can also check out his stand up.
“To watch him try to articulate his feelings under pressure, to manage his anger when this strange emotion does well up in him, to parse the difference between being assertive and aggressive when neither comes naturally, or simply to step up to where he needs to be – to watch all this is to feel seen in the worst and possibly most valuable way. Not that we’ll tell anyone, of course.” - The Guardian
Honorable Mentions:
H/Jack (Apple TV): I watched this for Idris Elba. And it was totally enjoyable and also ridiculous. A great time pass. And it didn’t do all the horrible tropes it could have.
Never Have I Ever (Netflix): This show, which entered our lives in the spring of 2020 in lockdown ended in 2023 with its 4th season. And it’s been a joy to watch. It’s a teenage family dramedy, and as I’ve said before, teenagers are extra, but this one has the added ingredient of weaving in immediate and long lasting grief. This show was intense, because Devi was a teenager, who was grieving, and going through all the teenage things at the same time. While the show purported to be about which love interest Devi would end up with, for me, it was truly about the relationship Devi had with her mother, her family, and her friends, her grief, and of course herself. And in those relationships, the show did a great job with all those arcs. I hope so many of the actors on this show have long careers, they were excellent.
Survival of The Thickest (Netflix): Michelle Buteau is a treasure. A comic, podcast host and actress. Her facial expressions are the key to her comic timing and reactions! I loved her as Ali Wong’s best friend and colleague in Always Be My Maybe and she has her own show now! It’s a very common tv show foundation - a suddenly single woman trying to survive NYC with her village, but then breaks a lot of expectations, who was going to get together with whom, when people were going to overreact or not. It surprised me all while keeping the best of the comedy and romcom tropes. The cast of friends, quirky roommates and romantic partners are funny and attractive, and I cannot wait for 2nd season. I was sad when it was over and it was so easy to watch and enjoy.
Wonder Years (Hulu): I watched the original Wonder Years back in the day and really enjoyed this new Wonder Years in its two seasons. It’s Dulé Hill as the dad! Don Cheadle as the voice over! It is both reminiscent of the original and entirely different with a Black family in Montgomery, Alabama in the 1960s. The music is fantastic, the cast of young adults is charming, and it’s only two seasons so easy to watch. The guest stars are AMAZING - Patti LaBelle, Bradley Whitford, Tituss Burgess, Malcolm Jamal-Warner, and more!