In 2024, I watched eleven series of TV across fourteen seasons. This was less than I watched in 2023, even though I watched a greater variety of shows. There are reasons and excuses I could find. One part was definitely just that I was busy and had less time. But this didn’t stop my consumption of manga or movies or other media. Part of it was that I was spending a lot of time with shortform content such as Tiktok and that took from time I would’ve been watching TV. Part of it was just that I didn’t want to start a TV episode if I felt that I might have to walk away from it. But more than anything, I think that some of my favorite shows of the year prior just disappointed me in follow-up seasons.

Now there were certainly good and valid reasons for this. Many shows had seasons that were cut short or postponed due to the writers’ and actors’ strikes in the summer of 2023. This likely also led to some rushed productions were shows were given a little less polish. This I can understand, this I can reconcile with. What I struggle to enjoy are shows that are just content to tread water, which unfortunately is what happened with many of my shows this past year. Rather than allowing characters to grow and progress, I watched so many moments for growth fly by, leaving characters trapped in amber with the same quirks and flaws they’d had since the first episode. Maybe this too is simply an extension of the writer’s strike. If you’re on a time crunch, it’s certainly easier to have characters act in simple and predictable ways.

My fear is that this isn’t the case though, that with the tightening of wallets in Hollywood, with the increasing desire for comfort and simplicity in media by viewers, shows are afraid to have characters diverge too much from what people originally signed on for. But take Abbot Elementary, one of my favorite shows last year. It saw the release of season 3 and the start of season 4 in 2024. The show can’t help but keep Janine as overly optimistic and viewed as annoying as her peers, Jacob must continue to be the self-flagellating progressive white man appropriating POC culture, Barbara must continue to be aloof and culturally out of touch. All of these characters remain in essentially unchanged in both personality and circumstance from where they were in the first episode, three and a half seasons later. And while Abbot may be the worst example of this, it is not alone amongst the shows that I’ve seen. Even dramatic shows like Severance and The Bear seem to revel in the cyclical nature of trauma, of characters who are failing to change and deviate from their worst devils. I can only hope that this is a trend that will blow through and see itself out, but with media companies growing increasingly conservative in their approach to content, I fear for the future of televised storytelling.

The age of streaming made so many false promises about the future of the medium, and while there have been some standout shows, I’m tired of seeing shows thrown out to die if they fail to get millions of views in the first week or two of release. The way people talk about AI makes it seem that things are going to get worse before they get better. This has become more of a downer than I intended, but I truly fear for where things are headed. There are still great artists. There are still people who have brilliant creative ideas. But now more than ever, it is vital that we support the people who make our art. Art is what makes us human, what exposes our soul. It’s easy to take for granted with just how much content there is flooding our days, but people deserve expression, and the truly talented deserve to be recognized. Things are bleak right now, but art is a guide to help recognize the flaws of today and envision a better future. I don’t always appreciate this fully, but I’m trying to do better, and to show people things that I feel truly do matter.

To be fair, seeing only 14 seasons of television, and digging into the past for many of the shows I did watch, it’s unfair for me to make sweeping pronouncements about the state of the industry. I didn’t see Shogun, I didn’t see Baby Reindeer, I didn’t see Fallout. Other shows that I did catch such as Mr. & Mrs. Smith were well done, but not for me. And don’t even get me started about how genres are being delineated lately. Considering The Bear a comedy is certainly one of the more strained leaps the Academy has ever made, especially when how many other Dramedies are cast into octagon that is the Drama category at the Emmys and Golden Globes. But I’ll save my editorializing on awards shows and genre for a later day. Hopefully something on this list can catch your eye and you find something new. My top tv of 2024.

Honorable Mentions

Only Murders in the Building Season 4. 10 episodes ~40 minutes apiece. Showrunner: John Hoffman. Starring: Selena Gomez, Steve Martin, and Martin Short. Available on Hulu. 4⭐

Only Murders in the Building follows three friends (Mabel, Charles, and Oliver) as they run a true crime podcast about the various murders that occur in their apartment building, and in doing so solve the murders. Season 4 follows the death of Charles former stunt double, Sazz, while the trio also has to juggle their podcast being optioned as a movie. As the mystery goes deeper, it appears the movie and Sazz’s death are more connected than they could have imagined. This leads the gang from coast to coast, as they attempt to investigate shady neighbors, a downright disturbing director duo, and an unhinged film producer. Hollywood has shone a light on the trio’s work, making it harder for them to investigate unnoticed as well as inflating their egos.

Steve Martin and Martin Short created the show, and it’s clear that they are pulling every string and connection they have to get as many of their friends into the show as possible. Each successive season sees more and more A-list actors making appearances in the show, to the show’s benefit and detriment. The show is forced to consistently cycle through characters to make room for another famous friend. Characters who were vitally important to the characters in earlier seasons are not seen or discussed, and it frequently feels like the trio has learned nothing from their past experiences. Yet simultaneously, it’s hard to deny that Martin Short, Steve Martin, Meryl Streep, Paul Rudd, Kumail Nanjiani, Eugene Levy, Zach Galifianakis, Eva Longoria, and all the others are truly incredible actors who are having a blast being on stage with each other. Yet once again, this only serves to highlight just how weak Selena Gomez is as an actor compared to her costars, often giving a monotone and subdued performance. Additionally, the mystery of the season struggled to stay focused, bouncing from one of four different plots and failing to tie any of them together particularly effectively.

For all my criticisms, it would sound as though I disliked this season, and that’s not true at all. It was just a disappointment after how strong the initial start of the show was. What saved the show and kept it on the list though, was a truly stellar performance from Jane Lynch as the deceased Sazz Pataki. Throughout, Steve Martin’s Charles struggles to deal with her death, and the ways throughout his life he took Sazz for granted. This leads to a series of delusions where he envisions her with him, and through this he is finally able to heal and move on (although solving her murder certainly helped with this). It was a touching story about aging, relationships, and legacy, and I wish the show had leaned more into this than trying to wow us with cameos. But between Lynch’s acting and a genuinely satisfying conclusion to the murder mystery, I came out of this season net positive. I have serious reservations about where the show is headed, but for now, I can appreciate what there’s been.

Ghosts season 3. 10 ~30 minute episodes. Showrunners: Joe Port and Joe Wiseman. Starring Rose McIver, Utkarsh Ambudkar, and too many others to list. Available on Paramount+ and Pluto. 4⭐

Ghosts follows young couple Sam and Jay as they move from New York City to an upstate New York mansion following the death of a distant relative of Sam’s. The couple decides to open a bed and breakfast and pursue their dreams from the old house. However, following an accident where Sam violently hits her head on the ground, she becomes able to see ghosts, and realizes that her home has quite a few deceased denizens on the premises. From a Viking explorer, to a Lenape Storyteller, to a Revolutionary General, a robber baron heiress, a jazz singer, hippy, and former scout leader, Ghosts is about people of various times and cultures learning to coexist.

Season 3 explores a few story points. Revolutionary War General Isaac has decided to marry his long time love interest and former wartime adversary Nigel. Father/nerd/scoutmaster Pete is forced to come to terms with his former wife’s infidelity. The Ghosts believe that one of their own finally ascended to the afterlife. And Sam and Jay decide to open a restaurant so that Jay doesn’t have to sacrifice his dreams for Sam.

Season 3 was messy and clearly much shorter than initially imagined, as it is less than half the length of prior seasons. It also saw many characters either backslide or regress in terms of character. The core problem of Ghost’s formula is that it truly cannot stand to allow any of its characters to ascend, and as time goes on, this leaves the cast increasingly overstuffed. Despite this, season 3 managed to be a good time. We learn a great deal more about how multiple of the residents died, many of the ghosts form bonds or bury old hatchets, and the comedy remained mostly on point. There was nothing that was particularly standout about this season, but there also wasn’t anything wrong with it. And sometimes, that’s what you want from a sitcom. The ability to take a moment, turn your brain off, and take a breath. Ghosts consistently lets me do that. And as a incorrigible lefty, I do find touching the overarching story message about people of disparate tastes and cultures learning to live with and appreciate each other. An overall solid fun time, even if it is nothing special.

Batman: Caped Crusader season 1. 10 ~30 minute episodes. Showrunner: Bruce Timm. Starring Hamish Linklater. Available on Amazon Prime. 4⭐

In an alternate 1950s style Gotham, billionaire Bruce Wayne adopts the mantle of Batman and begins to fight crime. Focused on mob violence rather than supervillains for the most part, Caped Crusader sees a more measured take on Batman as he is forced to deal with organized crime and government corruption all while having to avoid arrest himself.

I was very excited when I first started watching Caped Crusader. Bruce Timm created the famed Batman: The Animated Series in the 90s, which many consider to be the gold standard take on the Dark Knight. Multiple famed Batman comics writers contributed and helped supervise the show. The setting was also fascinating. Having the show set in the 50s made everything much more low tech. The Batmobile didn’t feel like a tank or a transformer, but rather a luxury sportscar. Batman is shown wiretapping, observing evidence under a microscope, and dusting for fingerprints. He is getting down and dirty as a detective. Fan favorite comics character Renee Montoya is also present as one of the few good cops in the city, and Barbara Gordon is a defense attorney. Everything feels less fantastical and more grounded. What’s not to love?

Unfortunately, there’s still quite a bit that fell flat for me. One of the biggest problems I had stemmed from the use of the setting. Caped Crusader presents itself outside the race and sexuality politics of the time, with Jim and Barbara Gordon being Black, Renee Montoya is Latina, Harley Quinn is Asian, and both Renee and Harley are lesbians. But this feels completely out of place. To set a show in a 50s style setting but to make no reference to the actual problems of the time leaves Gotham feeling almost more utopian than the center of crime and corruption we’re supposed to see it as. Additionally, we get a much colder Batman/Bruce Wayne. This is a man who is still deep in his trauma. There is no Robin, the city is split on whether or not to hate him, and half the time the cops try to kill him on sight. While the Gordons and Renee are uneasy allies with him at times, they view Brue more as a necessary evil than as a friend or colleague. The only person Batman has on his side is Alfred, yet as the series goes on and the situation more frayed, Batman increasingly lashes out at the only person on his side. This is the type of Batman that is my least favorite. Given that this was only the first season, there’s plenty of room for Batman to learn and grow. I hope that’s the direction they take things. With that hope in mind, I’m still able to largely enjoy this first season, and the animation and art direction are both fun and striking. I’m cautiously optimistic for where things will go, but at this point we’ll have to wait and see.

Billions season 1. 12 ~60 minute episodes. Showrunners: Brian Koppelman and David Levien. Starring: Paul Giamatti and Damian Lewis. Available on Paramount+. 4.5⭐

Billions is the story of two terrible men trying to ruin each other’s life. Giamatti’s Chuck Rhoades is the District Attorney for the Southern District of New York. He seeks to turn his time as a DA into grander political ambitions in the future, but struggles to control his arrogance, rage, and lust. On the other side is Lewis’s Bobby Axelrod, a billionaire hedge fund manager who is willing to break any law to stay rich and keep his people loyal. Chuck is determined to get a major white collar crime win by tagging Axelrod for insider trading, but the biggest catch is his wife works for Bobby’s company, Axe Capital. As the two men butt heads and clash egos, they go to increasing lengths to destroy the other, and in the process begin to drag down all others in their orbit.

This one is slightly cheating because I finished season 1 in 2025, but Billions is one of the most entertaining lawyer shows I’ve seen in a while. Mostly because every character is a piece of shit. Rhoades has so much righteous indignation about taking down Axelrod and showing that no man is too rich to escape the American justice system. Yet at the same time, Chuck is perfectly happy to break laws to obtain evidence to use, and turn a blind eye to his wealthy father doing the exact same type of lawbreaking that Axe is doing. Meanwhile, Bobby is arrogant, having built himself up from nothing to managing more money than some nations possess. He doesn’t care about laws, instead focusing on whatever his personal beliefs tell him is acceptable. His company is a misogynistic cesspit full of minions that worship him as a god. Seeing these two deeply arrogant and overconfident men clash leads to many highly entertaining moments, and it’s a delight to see both fail. My one complaint is that the show feels the need to even the scales between Chuck and Axe so that there’s no clear hero to root for. Bobby is a criminal, so to make Chuck unsympathetic, they have to make him a real piece of shit while Axe gets to be charming and charismatic. Given that Axe is objectively in the wrong, it’s frustrating how the show at times lionizes his greed and selfishness. The show is incredibly well acted with the two leads really putting on a masterclass. Anyone seeking a morally grey drama will feel right at home here.

5)Percy Jackson and the Olympians season 1

8 ~40 minute episodes. Showrunners: Dan Shotz & Jonathan Steinberg. Starring Walker Scobell, Leah Jeffries, and Aryan Simhadri. Available on Disney+. 4⭐

Based off the books I assume everyone here has read, Percy Jackson follows titular demigod Percy Jackson as he discovers his divine heritage, joins Camp Half Blood, and goes on a quest with his friends to rescue his mom from the underworld.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians was a surprise delight to start my year. I always enjoyed the books, and hearing that Rick Riordan was going to be significantly involved in the creation of the tv show made me hopeful. Upon learning that the show was actually going to use child actors rather than the young adult route they did in the movie, I was hopeful we’d have something special on our hands. I was half right.

Let’s start with my gripes. First, for a show that cost about $15 million dollars per episode to make, you certainly couldn’t see it on the screen. Sure there were some neat special effects at times, but nothing special, and having seen numerous other fantasy shows, I truly wonder where that budget went. Particularly disappointing were the underworld and Olympus, which felt like barren wastelands instead of areas of magic and wonder. It felt like a Disney Channel show, and while that’s not a bad thing, I had expected a bit more. This lack of pizzazz often came to the detriment of the godly characters. Zeus, Hades, Ares, Dionysus, etc. all felt remarkably underwhelming. There were few to no divine feats to emphasize just how powerful these gods were, which served to undercut the importance and peril of our heroes’ journey. Finally, the show had a pacing problem which could have been fixed with the addition of 2-4 more episodes, leading to some serious deviations from the book that undercut the show’s story and led to a somewhat underwhelming back half.

But for all these complaints, the show was still fun, mostly due to some stellar acting from the main trio, especially Walker Scobell. Percy, Annabeth, and Grover were fully realized and it was obvious that the trio were friends offscreen as well. They played each scene with an incredible amount of heart and gravitas, and I was often surprised to find myself thinking that they weren’t just great child actors, they were great actors period. The first half of the show was also a joy, with the Camp Half Blood scenes helping to showcase the strange mixture of fun and fear that the Camp represents for the demigod children. Having a wider cast of characters also made the whole affair seem much more lively, something the show struggled with in its final few episodes. For all my nitpicking, I was pleasantly surprised and I hope any rough edges can get smoothed out in the upcoming seasons. I do worry that using child actors will bite the series in the butt with how slowly the seasons are taking to make, but if nothing else, this first season will remain a surprising delight.

4)Grey’s Anatomy season 3

25 ~40 minute episodes. Showrunner: Shonda Rhimes. Starring: Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, Sandra Oh, and too many others to list. Available on Netflix and Hulu. 4⭐

Greys Anatomy follows newly minted surgeon Meredith Grey as she learns about life and love as a doctor at Seattle Grace Hospital. Starting with her time as an intern and following her throughout the course of her career, season 3 focuses on the final part of her time as an intern. She struggles with her on and off again relationship with the head of neurosurgery, her relationship with her parents, and the drama that envelopes her friends’ lives.

2024 was the year I was introduced to Grey’s Anatomy. I will admit that in the past I’d turned my nose to Grey’s Anatomy having heard of how absurd and cliche the show was. And those criticisms aren’t entirely unfair, but miss the forest for the trees. Greys Anatomy is essentially a primetime soap opera. And I don’t think it’s trying to be anything else but this. And while there are certainly absurd situations that happen at Seattle Grace Hospital, what makes the show work are the very realistic struggles of the main characters. From struggling with the expectations parents place on you, to finding that you are unhappy in a relationship that you’ve settled for, to the struggles of maintaining adult friendships, this show has a bit of everything. The characters are all remarkably human in the way they deal with the problems life throws at them.

I chose season 3 in particular because, of course, there’s a dead dad storyline. Seeing the way that this gets dealt with really impacted me. I’ve talked a lot about the ways my relationship to grief in media has changed since the death of my dad, and I feel like the show did a really good job of showcasing the mix of emotions that the character went through addressing the grief. From rage to depression to impulsive decisions stemming from avoidance, it was a messy rollercoaster. Beyond this, Meredith goes through a lot with her parents in this season. It covers a the gamut of love, rage, forgiveness, and acceptance, and I think most people have had complicated feelings with their parents to relate to what she goes through. Lastly, and what is an underappreciated aspect of this series, is the way that it serves as a media literacy primer. I don’t mean this to be insulting, I find it quite a strength in fact. Every patient that the crew deals with in some way reflects on a struggle the main cast is going through in their lives. Seeing how these two things connect is entertaining, and I honestly feel does a good job of teaching the audience how to interpret subtext. It’s by no means complex, and most of the time this makes the outcome of a given case clear. But this story is so much more about the journey than the destination. And I came away from this experience pleasantly surprised by how much fun I had.

3)Hazbin Hotel season 1

8 ~30 minute episodes. Showrunner: Vivienne Medrano. Starring Erika Henningsen, Stephanie Beatriz, Blake Roman, Amir Talai, and Keith David. Available on Prime Video. 4.5⭐

Hazbin Hotel is a musical animated series that follows the princess of Hell Charlie Morningstar as she attempts to figure out how to redeem the denizens of Hell. Creating a timer on the whole thing is the fact that every year, angels from Heaven come and purge souls in Hell to create more space in the underworld.

I’ve been curious about the development of Hazbin Hotel for some time now. I’ve always been a fan of indie animation, and Hazbin Hotel has been one of the few success stories that has managed to graduate from YouTube to becoming a professional production. I grew even more curious after seeing the number of Broadway stars that signed on. Having watched it, I will admit that the criticisms that it is cringe furrybait are true, but frankly I don’t care. It was an enjoyable romp with a solid lesson that no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, there’s always a chance to turn things around and do better. Also I’m a sucker for musicals, and I found the numbers in the show to be really fun. My favorite’s were Keith David’s Loser Baby, Jeremy Jordan’s Hell’s Greatest Dad, and Amir Talai and Christian Borle’s Stayed Gone. If you find these songs entertaining, it’s a good gauge of whether you will enjoy the show as a whole. While the music is the standout, the character designs are vivid and the story is solidly entertaining. The animation itself is nothing to right home about, but is no better or worse than most other animated shows out there. Overall, I’m happy that Vizziepop was able to get her show adapted, and I hope the show’s success gets Hollywood to pay more attention to all the great indie animators out there.

2)The Bear season 2

10 ~40 minute (varies greatly) episodes. Showrunners: Joanna Calo and Christopher Storer. Starring Jeremy Allen White, Ayo Edebiri, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach. Available on Hulu. 5⭐

The Bear follows fine dining chef Carmy Berzatto who is forced to return home to Chicago and take over his family’s restaurant in the wake of his older brother’s suicide. Season 2 sees Carmy decide to follow his and his brother’s shared dream of opening a fine dining restaurant, the steps he and the staff take to prepare for this, and Carmy’s struggle to balance what he wants to do with what he feels he needs to do.

The Bear is one of the hottest shows out right now. Despite the Academy’s best efforts, I refuse to consider this show a comedy, and I find it a stretch to even consider the show a Dramedy, despite Matty Matheson’s best efforts. The Bear is an incredibly tense and stressful show about a broken man trying to be better, but more often than not dragging down the people around him. There are certainly moments of comedy and humor, but frankly no more or less than I see in most dramas. Season 2 of The Bear did an excellent job showing the growth of its characters and indicating the hopefulness they all have about improving their lives and truly making this restaurant work. We get glimpses into the lives of so many of the side characters, and seeing the joy they all have helping to build the restaurant is truly heartwarming. It’s a bit disappointing that Jeremy Allen White as Carmy is one of the weaker points of the show for me, fluctuating between dissociation, depression, and rage. While his portrayal of absence and emotionally shutting down is fitting for the narrative and the story, it can unfortunately make his character, the central focus of the show, less interesting than the characters he’s surrounded by.

What saves this from dragging the show down is just how interesting and vivid these side characters are. Ayo Edebiri as Sydney, an aspiring chef who failed to make it on her own but who idolizes Carmy as the pinnacle of what she wants to be does an excellent job of showcasing the physical, mental, and emotional toll the restaurant business has on an individual, but she remains as yet unbroken by the experience as compared to Carmy. Ebon Moss-Bachrach’s Richie is probably my favorite character of the season, being the glue that keeps the blue collar staff from abandoning Carmy. He has his own hang-ups, constantly feeling a step in and a step out of Carmy’s world and family, but he has one of the most touching moments of growth in the standout episode Forks. The Bear also makes excellent use of celebrity cameos, with the flashback episode Fishes showcasing that Carmy is traumatized not just by the restaurant industry, but also by his chaotic and somewhat abusive family dynamic, largely driven by his mom Donna, expertly portrayed by Jamie Lee Curtis as a toxic mix of selfless, self-centered, and self-pitying. Carmy so desperately wants to break the toxic cycle of abuse found both in his personal and professional families, but time and again we see him fail to progress. It remains to be seen if Carmy will ever break the cycle, especially after the somewhat lackluster season 3, but you can’t help but root for him to try.

1)Reservation Dogs season 1

8 ~30 minute episodes. Showrunner: Sterlin Harjo. Starring: D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Devery Jacobs, Paulina Alexis, and Lane Factor. Available on Hulu. 5⭐

Reservation Dogs follows a gang of four friends on a Muscogee Reservation in Oklahoma. The show is focused on their recovery from the death of their friend Daniel, and grappling with their love of their culture and heritage compared to their desire to get out. Season 1 specifically focuses on the gang raising money to go to California, while the audience is slowly shown what exactly happened to Daniel.

Reservation Dogs is one of the greatest shows I’ve ever seen. It is a show that is able to get me to both laugh and cry so hard that I was almost sick, and is so insanely smart. The characters have so much love for each other and the people around them, but are frustrated by the lack of opportunity and the general decay around them. It’s a show deeply tapped into the dynamics of reservation life, but I think it’s relatable to anyone who comes from a rundown area. You want to make things better, but it feels like the only way things are going to get better is to get out. This is heightened by the characters genuinely believing that the environment they live in killed their friend, who was the central pillar of their group. Yet at the same time, they love their culture, they love their history, they love the people around them, even when they go through their teenage struggles.

It’s easy to talk about the dramatic aspects of the series, and those alone would make the series great, but it’s hard to undersell how cleverly funny the series is as well. The show is laced with references to other media, with the title itself being a nod to Tarantino. The gang gets in so many hijinks from stealing a truck for of convenience store chips, to accidentally placing a curse on the town, to all the ways they try to get rich quick to earn money to head out. The actors know when to be subtle and when to be over the top, and the show’s direction perfectly utilizes this to great comedic effect. It’s a show with so much heart that manages to perfectly capture the listlessness of young adulthood, and the feeling that you should have every opportunity at your fingertips but no idea what you actually want to do. It’s a celebration of native life and native culture, with such incredible acting not only from the main cast, but from every character in the show. It’s not trying to solve the problems that the indigenous nations face in America, but it is a call to engage in community, to stay true to yourself, and to love with all your heart. And at the end of the day, what’s better than that.

There you have it, the best TV I saw in 2024. If there’s any show to watch from this list, please do go watch Reservation Dogs. It completed its 3 season run, it’s a pretty quick watch, and I so desperately want to see more shows like this. Going into 2025, I hope to watch even more and to vary the type of shows I take in.

I’ll see you all next week.