Hello fellow legacy media users, I’m at home procrastinating on finishing my syllabus for Intro to Religion for the Spring, so let’s chat TV. I won’t pretend to be a critic or anything and list out 10 shows, but here are my favorites from 2017 in no particular order:
- The Young Pope – I seem to remember it was a hard sell to get Katie to watch this with me, but once we started we were both totally hooked. If the Cherry Coke Zero scene doesn’t immediately reel you in, it’s probably not for you. The last two episodes, especially, are beautiful and surprising. Also, maybe my favorite title sequence ever?
- The Leftovers – Adam and I have had some chats about this show. We agreed that it captures something about what it means to be a fundamentalist that is never portrayed in TV or film–empathy towards religious fanatics while neither succumbing to liberal condescension nor romanticization. Truly great character studies.
- Insecure – Issa Rae makes me laugh. This is another show that bursts through the typical Hollywood stereotypes. Also, along with Master of None’s portrayal of New York, I love the way that LA is a character in the show. Insecure’s camera work, both of people and places, is excellent.
- Master of None – Probably doesn’t belong amongst these other shows, but I really liked this season. At times it seemed like Aziz could have pushed the characters a little further and gotten to a really interesting place, but the whole thing is worth it for the Thanksgiving episode.
Dear readers, what did you watch this year?
An und für sich 
The Young Pope was excellent! I happened to write a review if you’re interested. https://reviewfilmreview.wordpress.com/2017/10/31/the-young-pope-2016/
What year is this?
All I would add is that the new Twin Peaks was an amazing experience.
I’ve only ever watched about half of the first season of Twin Peaks. Getting all the way through it feels like tackling a Joyce novel.
I’ll second Twin Peaks and the Young Pope, but since it’s me I’d be remiss not to mention how into Star Trek: Discovery I am right now.
Me too — but it almost feels like something separate from TV, given that you have to pay a special fee to watch it and NO ONE in the online TV commentariat is talking about it at all.