Rank/rate 2021 TV shows

great:

1. Squid Game [season 1] - easily the most riveting and unique series of the year.

2. I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson [season 2] - at its best, it makes me laugh harder than pretty much anything... ever.

3. My Name - excellent and unpredictable revenge tale with some great characters and performances.

4. Mare of Easttown - not perfect, but incredibly involving and elevated by an interesting setting and god-tier performance from Kate Winslet.

5. Cobra Kai [season 4] - nothing beats the magic of Johnny's early days as a sensei restarting Cobra Kai... but on many levels, this felt like the best overall season yet.

6. Ted Lasso [season 2] - slightly lacking the magic of the first season... but still pretty magical. Wanted to love the After Hours-esque bottle episode, but that was the only lowpoint of the season along with the Rick Astley eulogy.

7. Cobra Kai [season 3] - slow start, but a lot of great moments as it went along... and excellently sets up the next season.

8. Dexter: New Blood - I dunno, man. It had a ton of problems, but I was still incredibly entertained and it was amazing to have Michael C. Hall back as Dexter with a new vibe. They need one more go around to retcon that abysmal conclusion, though.

9. Yellowstone [season 4] - weakest season yet... still love it though.


good:

10. Sex Education [season 3] - a few lame and/or cliche plot points aside, damn good stuff.

11. Midnight Mass - great at its best, but a bit too bogged down.

12. Dr. Brain [maybe season 1?] - feels like this could've been my #1 of the year if it went in some more compelling directions as it went along. But it was still an entrancing experience.

13. The White Lotus [season 1] - amazing set of characters, interesting tone, and great setting.

14. Only Murders in the Building [season 1] - great mix of humor and mystery... Martin Short and Steve Martin are perfectly hilarious.

15. Maid - incredibly emotionally involving, but slightly repetitive and waaay too drawn out.

16. Atypical [season 4] - plodding for a while, but once it gets its act together it wonderfully wraps up the series.

17. The Kominsky Method [season 3] - exactly that ^. And Alan Arkin was dearly missed, even though more of both Paul Reiser and Kathleen Turner almost made up for his absence.

18. Cruel Summer [season 1] - top tier trashy teen drama tbh. Actually structured really uniquely and had enough turns in the plot to keep me captivated.

19. Curb Your Enthusiasm [season 11] - some truly awful low points, but it found its groove as it went along. Would've rather seen LD just make the Young Larry show with himself as the uncle character though.

20. How To with John Wilson [season 2] - not as many hilarious situations as the first season, but still one of the funniest and most interesting current shows.

21. Reservation Dogs [season 1] - fun show. Tons of great characters, but too many bottle episodes that robbed us of more chances to see the main group together.

22. It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia [season 15] - middle of the road season... never great, never bad. Seems like they could've done a lot more interesting things with some of the premises, but still lots of laughs overall.

23. Hacks [season 1] - Jean Smart is amazing, but there's too much time spent away from her and wasted on the mostly lame co-lead. Also kind of hated the non-stop generation gap jokes and manufactured drama (fuck that e-mail cliffhanger), but it was still a very funny and watchable season overall. Not enough Kaitlin Olson though.

24. Dr. Death - drab color palette aside, a mostly well done look at an enigmatic monster. Elevated by the strangely awesome duo of Christian Slater and Alec Baldwin.

solid:

25. You [season 3] - the Joe/Love relationship should've went in a much more interesting direction. First 2 seasons struck probably a 50/50 balance between ridiculous and entertaining... this one bumped the ridiculousness up to at least 80%, but it's still hard not to enjoy.

26. Dave [season 2] - first half of the season is abysmal, second half is a big improvement though still frustrating at times. Kind of wild to have Dave like an asshole for the entire season only to awesomely redeem him in the final 5 minutes, but they somehow pulled that ending off.

27. Nine Perfect Strangers - I was slightly entranced by it for a while, but as it went along it kind of just slowly descended into horseshit. Still some strong moments and a mostly excellent cast (Cannavale, Shannon, McCarthy) though.

28. Love, Victor [season 2] - still doing some interesting things, but hampered by all the love triangle lameness as the season goes along.

29. Starstruck [season 1] - Rose Matafeo is charmingly funny, but overall it just feels minor and underdeveloped.

30. Never Have I Ever [season 2] - I found myself much more annoyed with this and its characters than I was in the first season... but it was still entertaining and funny enough.

31. The Premise [season 1] - eps 2 and 5 strike the right balance for what this show's going for and are almost great... ep 1 has a hilarious premise that was reasonably well executed... eps 3 & 4 kind of suck. Overall... I dunno.

32. WandaVision - forgot I watched this tbh. First few episodes were really well done with the old fashioned sitcom throwbacks with something sinister beneath the surface... but once it descended into MCU blandness I mostly checked out.

The White Lotus: Season 1 - 9/10
Succession: Season 3 - 9/10
Mare of Easttown - 8.5/10
Dopesick - 8.5/10
Thin Blue Line: Season 1 - 8.5/10
Squid Game: Season 1 - 8/10
Only Murders in the Building: Season 1 - 8/10
The Chestnut Man - 7/10
Exit: Season 2 - 7/10
What We Do in the Shadows: Season 3 - 7/10
Maid - 6/10
WandaVision - 6/10
Them: Covenant - 5.5/10
Yellowjackets: Season 1 - 5.5/10
Behind Her Eyes - 5/10
Hawkeye - 4/10
The Shrink Next Door - 4/10