Top Television of 2021
It’s January here at Do You Know What I Love The Most?, and that means it’s time to sum up the last 12 months with Year End Lists! I’ll be devoting the rest of this month to rounding up and discussing the various media released in 2021 that meant the most to me — just like every other website on the internet! Isn’t that special?
Today we’re going to talk about the best TV shows of 2021! As always, this is not meant to be a definitive list of the best out there, because I simply cannot and have not watched it all. These are simply the shows released in 2021 that caught my attention and/or tugged at my heartstrings in this dumpster fire of a year, in no particular order. Enjoy!
(And for the record, I do wanna watch Succession eventually, but that’s gonna have to be a 2022 thing)
The Other Two (HBO Max)
One of the best surprises of 2021 was the return of The Other Two after an extended (Covid-caused) hiatus. This was no sophomore slump; in its second season, this comedy about two siblings trying to establish themselves in the shadow of their younger brother’s overnight fame only improved upon all the qualities that made me fall in love with it in the first place. It’s still one of the wittiest, most smartly-observed shows on the air, a devastating satire of both Hollywood (see: the celebrity “church”; Brook’s “Women in Entertainment” panel) and the gay community (see: the couple only together to promote their Instagram; the couple posing as father and son to win a contest), yet it never undersells its characters or reduces them to one-note-jokes, finding the humanity in even the most pathetic members of its cast. Brook and Carey are still their own worst enemies, but they’re also allowed to grow and change in really fascinating ways — but, the show isn’t afraid to undercut that progress for the sake of a great joke either. The Other Two perfectly pulls off the balancing act between acid wit and heart.
Also, Josh Segarra as Lance was the best performance on TV in 2021, bar none.
Nailed It! (Netflix)
Nailed It! is just an absolute delight. The competition that asks amateur bakers to try to recreate complex cakes they have no chance of ever pulling off allows viewers to laugh at the contestants’ ineptitude, yet it almost never feels cruel or mean-spirited. That neat trick comes largely via host Nicole Beyer, who keeps the show light-hearted and wacky even as it threatens to fly off the rails around her. Netflix released two seasons of Nailed it! in 2021 and I just couldn’t stop myself from inhaling them as fast as possible, which is something nobody has ever said about any of the cakes actually baked on the show.
Young Justice (HBO Max)
I truly admire Young Justice’s ambition. Now in its fourth season, this animated superhero adventure has grown from a story about the sidekicks of the Justice League to a story about the very DC Universe itself. In past seasons that transition has sometimes felt a bit strained, but this new season made the smart decision to split its ongoing story up into 6 smaller arcs told through the eyes of the first season’s original cast. It allows the series to continue its intricate, fascinating world-building and continue to introduce compelling new characters, but grounds those stories in more familiar perspectives; even better, it highlights the growth those characters have undergone over ten (in-universe) years. It also provides some really fun variety; in 2021, Young Justice offered a somber tale about love and prejudice, a taut espionage thriller about family (which also introduced a very cool take on one of my favorite comic book characters, Cassandra Cain), and an epic battle against the Lords of Chaos that managed to throw in just about every magical character in DC’s roster. There’s still an awkward moment here and there (some really strained voice acting, most notably), but again, the sheer ambition of the series always helps me overlook those. It’s impressive stuff.
Invincible (Amazon Prime)
On first glance, you could mistake Invincible for just another superhero show, but it’s anything but. All the familiar tropes are there, but they’re a sort of narrative shorthand, a way to avoid sluggish exposition and devote more time to the true heart and soul of the story, Mark’s coming-of-age tale. Mark’s journey to accept the responsibility of the Invincible mantle is a deconstruction of the genre in the sense that it really digs into the toll being a superhero would take on anyone, but especially a teenager. Invincible is a show that’s often grim and even more often brutally, relentlessly violent, but never gratuitously; the violence serves a purpose, to highlight the danger Mark faces every day and make his every loss or defeat hurt all the more. The violence isn’t the point, the violence makes a point, and I respect the hell out of that. Invincible is a thrilling, tightly paced and written series full of twists and heartbreak, and it’s probably the best pure superhero show to air this year.
[I talked more about Invincible in this newsletter.]
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FXX)
Okay, sure, there were a couple clunkers in the first half of the FXX stalwart’s 15th season. But the back-half — which found the Gang leaving the land of Gritty behind for a vacation to Ireland — was as good as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia has ever been; rather than change the character of the show, the new locale simply provided fresh scenarios for five of America’s worst people to wreak havoc in. By this point the cast knows their strengths and their characters like the best of their hands, and multiple times throughout the season I found myself on the floor, guffawing, just from a scream from Dennis or an especially-inspired bit of physical comedy from Kaitlin Olsen. Most impressively, the season finale even manages to pull off an earned scene of pathos for Charlie — before, of course, immediately segueing to the most over-the-top conclusion possible. Even 15 years in, Always Sunny has a lot of life left in it.
Jeopardy (ABC)
In 2020, Jeopardy became must-see-television as viewers tuned in in droves to say farewell to (the now-late) host Alex Trebek. In 2021, Jeopardy retained that must-see status as the hunt for Trebek’s replacement took America by storm. Fans swapping their opinions on their favorite guest hosts was water-cooler fodder like no other, and the unceremonious rise and fall of Mike Richards made for the kind of can’t-look-away drama most reality shows would die for. Yet, the most important thing this year of guest hosts did was affirm that the actual game of Jeopardy is as solid and appealing as ever, as it continued to work under even the worst of its guest hosts (*cough* Dr. Oz *cough*). The record-setting runs of Matt Amodio and Amy Schneider also ensured that, ultimately, the contestants ended up being the brightest stars of Jeopardy’s year, and I’m sure that’s a legacy Trebek would approve of.
Hawkeye (Disney+)
If I really wanted to, I could nit-pick Hawkeye to death — there’s a lot about the plotting, structure, and inter-universe connections that doesn’t work as well as it should — but, god, I just had so much fun watching this show. The Christmas setting is charming. I’ll get called out for this, but I legitimately like Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton, especially when he’s a beleaguered mentor/father surrounded by rambunctious youngins. It’s adapting some of my favorite Marvel comics and characters, and truly captures the feel of them! At one point Hawkeye uses Pym Particles to grow an arrow to giant size and it crushes a car and I squealed! But ultimately, it’s Hailee Steinfeld as Kate Bishop that makes Hawkeye so compelling. Steinfeld is endlessly watchable, and both she and the writing truly capture the spirit of Bishop, the mix of competence and screw-up-itude that makes her such a beloved, fan-favorite character. It’s perfect casting, and I’ll follow Steinfeld’s Kate Bishop wherever Marvel decides to take her next.
Tuca and Bertie (Adult Swim)
Thank God Adult Swim decided to revive Tuca and Bertie after Netflix unjustly cancelled it after its (excellent) first season. Tuca and Bertie, brainchild of Bojack Horseman character designer Lisa Hanawalt, returned to life in 2021 without missing a beat, as equally whimsical and wistful as ever. The adventures of these birds/best friends (and Bertie’s delightfully-normal boyfriend Speckle!) take place in a gorgeously rendered animated world full of silly visual gags and puns that would make this a great show all on their own; so would the nuanced, rich dramas of Tuca and Bertie’s lives as they deal with jobs, gentrification, and fraught relationships with family, co-workers, lovers, and especially themselves. The combination of the two, though? It’s heaven, and it makes for top-tier television. I’m so glad Tuca and Bertie is back.
Special (Netflix)
Back in 2019, the first season of Special provided one of my absolute favorite television moments of the year, if not the decade — main character Ryan losing his virginity to a sex worker — and took what would have been crass, derogatory, or reduced to a joke on any other show and made it something tender and uplifting. Season Two of this Netflix original about a young gay man with cerebral palsy attempting to make his own way in the world is just as special (I’m sorry) as the first, deftly walking the line between drama and comedy as it explores Ryan’s attempts to find love, independence, and kinship in the disabled community with both deep empathy and a wicked sense of humor. In Season Two each episode also expands from a 15 minute run time to 30, allowing more time to explore the supporting cast, and nobody benefits more from this than Ryan’s mother, Karen, who may be the real star of the season, with her middle-aged coming-of-age providing many of its most cathartic and most devastating moments. As sad as I was to see Special come to an end after only two seasons, I’m glad it got to go out on its own terms. It’s a fun and moving story you can binge in an afternoon, and if you haven’t checked this one out yet, you really should.
WandaVision (Disney+)
WandaVision was my water cooler show of the year, the show I woke up early to watch before work every week, that I discussed and theorized about with friends, that left me immediately wanting more at the end of each episode. As a superhero show it was better than many gave it credit for, crafting final battles for both Wanda and Vision that weren’t just brawls, that were clever and full of character; as a meditation on grief, it allowed for some beautiful, poignant moments and a far deeper look at these characters than the MCU films ever afforded them. WandaVision shined brightest, though, as an ode to the power, legacy, and history of the medium of television itself. Wanda’s grief manifested itself in the form of a sitcom world, touching upon the power television has to change people’s lives, on the way beloved characters can start to feel like family when we need them the most. Each episode homaged a different decade of television, and these loving tributes were the highlight of the series for me. To be honest, I started to resent when the real-world plot intruded upon the sitcom shenanigans because they were just so much fun! I would have watched a full season of Wanda and Vision trying to hide their powers from their neighbors in a black-and-white world (I still want to! Make it happen, Marvel!). Leaving the audience wanting more isn’t a bad strategy, though, and it didn’t stop WandaVision from being my favorite show of 2021.
[I talked more about WandaVision in this newsletter.]
Do You Know What I Love the Most’s “Best Of 2021” series:
2021: A Playlist
Top 10 Newsletters of 2021
Top Television of 2021
Top Comics of 2021
My Books of 2021
My Movies of 2021
Top Albums of 2021
And for more, check out last year’s “Best of 2020” series!:
Top 10 Newsletters of 2020
Top Television, Podcasts, and Movies of 2020
Top Books and Comics of 2020
Let’s Talk About Substack
2020: A Playlist
Top Albums of 2020
ABOUT
“Do You Know What I Love the Most?” is a newsletter from Spencer Irwin about his relationship with the stories he loves. Spencer is an enthusiast and writer from Newark, Delaware, who likes punk rock, comic books, working out, breakfast, and most of all, stories. His previous work appeared on Retcon Punch, One Week One Band, and Crisis on Infinite Chords, and he can be found on Twitter at @ThatSpenceGuy. If you like this newsletter, please subscribe and share with your friends!