With so many TV shows to choose from, on broadcast networks, cable channels and various streaming services, there is no shortage of dramas and comedies, and those that are a mixture of the two, which means that there are also a lot of great ones. Since I watch a fair amount of those TV shows, all over the map, I like to highlight the stand-outs for me, every year, that rise above.

And just because something isn’t on this list, it doesn’t mean that it doesn’t deserve to be. It just means that because of the embarrassment of riches that is Peak TV, I can’t possibly watch all that there is, which means that I not only likely miss some good ones, but some great ones. Given all of that, here are my selections for the biggest stand-outs of 2018.

TV Series of the Year: Atlanta Season 2

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Image via FX

The FX series Atlanta is truly remarkable. On its surface, it’s a great half-hour comedy series, but underneath that, it’s so much more, with its perfect blend of excellent storytelling, pitch-perfect performances and exquisite direction. Whether it involved a giant alligator, money problems, relationship drama, trying to do something as simple as getting a hair-cut, being trapped with a strange and eccentric man who is unsettling enough to give you nightmares, getting lost in the woods after being mugged, ending up at a frat house determined to humiliate, or having to relive your adolescence, Season 2 never failed to deliver.

Atlanta is a TV show that fits into no box, and for that I am truly grateful. It had a great first season and an absolutely stellar second season that was so next level, I can’t wait to see what they do next, in Season 3... whenever that ultimately happens. And as hard as it is to wait for that next season, if it’s as good as what they’ve already delivered, I’ll be patiently awaiting its arrival.

Best Episode: “Teddy Perkins,” Atlanta Season 2

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Image via FX

Two words: Teddy Perkins. No episode of TV this year made an impression like the sixth episode of the second season of the FX series Atlanta. What seemed like a harmless trip to pick up a piano became one of the most unsettling 30 minutes when Darius (Lakeith Stanfield) met the strange, eccentric Teddy Perkins (Donald Glover). The retired jazz piano players unnatural appearance and weird personality are unnerving in a way that creates a tangible level of unease and tension that you could cut with a knife.

“Teddy Perkins” is an episode of television that must be experienced to be believed. It is weird, strange, uncomfortable and haunting, and still has me thinking about it, nearly nine months later. Talk is that Glover, in full white-face make-up, went method and stayed in character throughout the entire filming process, but even with as far as he took his performance for the episode, equal recognition must also be given to Stanfield for rising to the occasion, on every level.

Best New Series: The Haunting of Hill House

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Image via Netflix

From director Mike Flanagan, the 10-episode supernatural drama series The Haunting of Hill House (available to stream on Netflix) wove an unsettling tale focused on five siblings who grew up in the most famous haunted house in America, while showing audiences how that experience affects them now as adults. Reunited by the tragic suicide of their youngest sister, the Crain family finds themselves forced to confront the ghosts of their past, but when it comes to Hill House, that could also mean some real ghosts are lurking in the shadows.

The acclaimed Shirley Jackson novel of the same name has been told before, but this modern reimagining is a masterful take that works on every level, with characters to root for, scares around every corner, and one of the most terrifying things that you’ll ever have to face – the fear of failing your own family. The acting performances from the actors playing the older and younger versions of the characters are all spot-on, and the massive undertaking that is Episode 6, which is an emotional roller coaster meant to feel like it was all shot in one long take, is sheer perfection.

Best Final Season: The Americans Season 6

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Image via FX

It’s rare for a TV series to stay solidly excellent, throughout its run. It’s unicorn level rare when a TV series that’s already excellent just gets better and better with every season, and that perfectly describes the FX series The Americans, which ended its run in 2018.

Compelling storytelling and exceptional performances from everyone in the cast made its end bittersweet, as it’s always sad to say goodbye to such a great TV show, but the creators were able to write the ending that they wanted and part on their own terms, which is really all you can ask for. Over its six seasons, The Americans took us on the roller coaster of whether Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth (Keri Russell) Jennings would return to the motherland of Russia, whether their daughter Paige (Holly Taylor) would follow in spy footsteps of her parents, and whether FBI Agent Stan Beeman (Noah Emmerich) would ever learn who his neighbors turned friends truly were, all while we wondered what the ultimate outcome of the Jennings family could possibly be. And while the consequences of their actions hurt to watch, it was certainly worth the journey.

Best Season Finale: Dear White People Season 2

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Image via Netflix

I have to admit, when I watch an excellent first season of a TV series, while I am excited to see how the showrunner and team of writers follow that up in the next season, I am also very nervous that they’ll never recapture the magic that made it so great. Thankfully, there was no need to worry, when it came to Season 2 of the Netflix series Dear White People.

The half-hour series is funny, poignant, socially relevant and can even draw out a tear or two. And to cap off a truly top-notch second season that gave everyone in the main ensemble of the cast their own chance to shine, with each rising to the occasion accordingly, was a season finale so wild that it was gasp worthy. When the series’ narrator (voiced by Giancarlo Esposito) became an actual flesh-and-blood character who also happens to be the leader of Winchester University’s black secret society The Order, everything was flipped upside down. Thankfully, school will be back in session for a third season because I can’t wait to see how that will play out.

Most Bad-Ass Series: Mr Inbetween

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Image via FX

From executive producer/director Nash Edgerton, the six-episode half-hour Australian crime dramedy Mr. Inbetween (which airs on FX) follows Ray Shoesmith (Scott Ryan, who also wrote the series), a hitman who’s trying to navigate parental responsibilities, a sick brother and a new relationship, all while earning a living in the criminal underworld. Ray is the type of man who demands respect and doesn’t tolerate anyone who violates his very clear code of ethics, and if you find yourself on the wrong side of that, he has no problem with taking care of you, permanently. In other words, he’s a character that you really don’t want to fuck with, but also can’t help but want to hang out with over a beer. This criminal for hire’s world is inhabited with colorful characters, and for a man who just wants to handle business and get on with it, having an 8-year-old daughter who charges him for every swear word he utters complicates everything.

Best Half-Hour Drama Series: Homecoming

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Image via Amazon

From visionary director Sam Esmail (the creator of Mr. Robot) and Eli Horowitz & Micah Bloomberg, the creators of the critically acclaimed podcast of the same name, the psychological thriller Homecoming follows Heidi Bergman (Julia Roberts, in her first starring role in television), a caseworker at the Homecoming Transitional Support Center who helps soldiers deal with returning home from war. As she works with a young veteran named Walter Cruz (Stephan James) and they bond over his desire to rejoin civilian life, the two also develop a complex relationship while working through his experiences. Four years later, when a Department of Defense auditor (Shea Whigham) finds Heidi working as a waitress and living with her mother (Sissy Spacek) in a small town, his questions about her departure from her old job begin to unravel the reality that she has come to rely on.

It’s a series that keeps twisting and turning, as the two timelines weave around each other, until you’re left wondering what to make of it all (in the best way possible), by the end. It’s a fascinating story to watch unfold, as it focuses on pineapple, a fake sequel called Titanic Rising and goldfish, all while Heidi tries to remember what she can’t remember.

Best Sci-Fi Series: Lost in Space

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Image via Netflix

The Netflix family adventure series Lost in Space, set 30 years in the future, follows the Robinson family – John (Toby Stephens), Maureen (Molly Parker), Judy (Taylor Russell), Penny (Mina Sundwall) and Will (Maxwell Jenkins) – as they try to make a life for themselves in a new and different world, after they must leave Earth behind. But when they find themselves off course, they must quickly learn to adapt, work together and form new alliances, if they’re going to survive in an environment with dangers around every corner.

Along with a cool robot, bad-ass female characters, some awesomely resourceful kids and a real live chicken, the best things about Lost in Space is that it’s a show you can watch with the whole family, with a family at its center that you can really root for.

Best Hitman: Bill Hader (Barry)

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Image via HBO

Bill Hader serves as co-creator (along with Alec Berg), executive producer, director and writer on the eight-episode, half-hour HBO dark comedy series Barry, in which he plays a depressed hit man from the Midwest who stumbles onto a love of acting while on a job in Los Angeles. Although he only ends up in the acting class by following a mark, he is instantly drawn to the group of students and their beloved teacher (Henry Winkler) and begins to question every aspect of his life of crime while trying to juggle both worlds.

Throughout the season, Hader truly gave the performance of his career, showcasing Barry’s struggle with falling in love with a woman from his acting class who was unaware of his day job, his inability to escape his previous life, and a series of self-deceptions that ultimately forced him to confront his reality in a way that was particularly chilling.

Best Lead Female Performance: Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer (Killing Eve)

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From Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag), the BBC America series Killing Eve is centered on two women – Eve (Sandra Oh), a bored but smart MI5 security officer who’s forever stuck at her desk job, and Villanelle (Jodie Comer), a talented killer. When these two women happen to cross paths, they become equally obsessed with each other and find themselves in an epic and thrilling game of cat-and-mouse.

Villanelle is a lethal assassin who takes pride in her work and seems to almost enjoy it too much, while Eve is clearly in need of some excitement and inspiration in her life. The exciting thing about Killing Eve is the fact that Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer turn in performances that make the other stronger, even though they rarely share the same space. They are both electric to watch, as you wonder whether one will ever truly gain the upper hand over the other.

Best Lead Male Performance: Jim Carrey (Kidding)

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Image via Showtime

From creator Dave Holstein and director/executive producer Michel Gondry, the Showtime series Kidding follows Jeff (Jim Carrey, in a brilliant performance that’s his first series regular role in more than two decades), who’s also known as Mr. Pickles, an icon of children’s television. Although Mr. Pickles is supposed to be a beacon of kindness and wisdom for America’s youth, Jeff is finding it increasingly difficult to deal with his imploding personal life while his grief over a family tragedy causes a slow meltdown of his own sanity, in a way that is both heartbreaking and hilarious.

Kidding is a show that’s odd, brilliant, disturbing, perfectly weird, and ridiculously hard to describe, but that’s also what makes it so great. Jeff is a man who wants to hold onto a sunny outlook on life, which is hard to do when your life has been touched by the worst of tragedies that a parent can experience, and it’s a role that suits Jim Carrey so well that it showcases him at his absolute finest.

Best Supporting Male Performance: Brian Tyree Henry (Atlanta Season 2)

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Image via FX

While Brian Tyree Henry is making his mark on the big screen with stand-out roles in such 2018 films as Hotel Artemis, White Boy Rick, Widows, If Beale Street Could Talk and Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, spanning across various genres, he also raised his game with an undeniably stellar performance in Season 2 of the FX series Atlanta.

Dubbed Robbin’ Season for its sophomore effort, Atlanta has had some of the most compelling and thought-provoking storytelling and next-level excellence in acting on television, and it just kept getting better, every week. It’s funny and it’s painful, in the best blend of comedy and drama, and it’s blown up all audience expectation. And as Alfred “Paper Boi” Miles, the cousin of Earn Marks (Donald Glover) and a star rapper who’s trying to come to grips with fame, Henry turned in a tremendous performance in Episode 208, entitled “Woods,” that just leapt off the page in the perfect marriage between actor, writer (Stefani Robinson) and director (Hiro Murai), and left you reeling with the pain and torment that Paper Boi experienced.

Best Supporting Female Performance: D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place Season 3)

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Image via NBC

What’s better than one Janet? Multiple Janets! And in Episode 9 of Season 3 of NBC’s The Good Place (aka the Best Network TV Series), entitled “Janet(s),” the always magnificently magical D’Arcy Carden played five of the six main characters, and was just so ridiculously good at it. Of course, Carden could perfectly inhabit Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason in a way that leaves you at awe while watching it happen, and to top it all off, she also to introduced a new variation on Janet, known as Neutral Janet, who we hopefully have not seen the last of.

Best Breakout Performance: Eliza Scanlen (Sharp Objects)

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Image via HBO

From author Gillian Flynn, showrunner Marti Noxon and director Jean-Marc Vallée, HBO’s eight-episode limited drama series Sharp Objects follows what happens when Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) returns to her small hometown to cover the murders of two pre-teen girls. Trying to understand the crimes puts her in the direct path of her own past and forces her into the line of fire of her disapproving mother Adora (Patricia Clarkson) and her impetuous 15-year-old half-sister Amma (Eliza Scanlen).

It is a dark story of a woman who has never escaped the pain of her own childhood, instead masking it with alcohol and cutting to express her grief, as it continues to seep into every aspect of her life. And while we know what the ultra-talented Amy Adams is capable of, the series also put the nuance and complexity of Aussie actress Eliza Scanlen on display. Watching Amma alternatively lash out and cry out, the duality of her character is reflective of just how lost she is, alongside the depths of evil that a person is capable of sinking into, until those two merge in the final horrific reveal.

Best Performance of a Real-Life Person: Darren Criss (American Crime Story)

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Image via FX

The performance Darren Criss gave as serial killer Andrew Cunanan in the FX series American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace is one of those transformative performances that will always remain a stand-out on his career resume. As we learned about the harrowing path that led a young man to murder iconic fashion designer Gianni Versace (Edgar Ramirez), leaving a trail of bodies along the way, we got to witness an actor losing himself in a character that took him on a dark path that spiraled into tragedy.

Best Ensemble: Mayans M.C.

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Image via FX

From co-creators Kurt Sutter and Elgin James, the FX series Mayans M.C. is the next chapter in the Sons of Anarchy saga, set in a post-Jax Teller world. Fresh out of prison and trying to carve out a new identity in a town where he was once the golden boy with big dreams, Ezekiel “EZ” Reyes (JD Pardo) is trying to navigate what it means to be a Prospect in the Mayans M.C. charter on the California/Mexico border. While figuring out what the next step in his life can be, EZ is torn between his struggling but lawful father (Edward James Olmos), his brother Angel (Clayton Cardenas), who is a full patch member of the M.C., and his childhood sweetheart Emily (Sarah Bolger), who seems to have moved on without him.

As a spin-off, living up to what’s come before can be a huge task, but Mayans M.C. has surpassed expectations, due in large part to the cast of characters taking the audience on this wild journey, as well as the ensemble of actors bringing them to life. From veterans and long-time character actors to fresh faces and those being asked to step into leading roles, the actors have forged the family bonds necessary to make it believable on screen, turning the series into must-see TV.

Best TV Family: Chilling Adventures of Sabrina

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Image via Netflix

If you’re a magical half-witch/half-mortal who feels conflicted about both sides of your nature, like Sabrina Spellman (Kiernan Shipka) is, you’re going to need the support of your family. In the Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, that family includes witchy aunts Hilda (Lucy Davis) and Zelda (Miranda Otto), along with her warlock cousin Ambrose (Chance Perdomo), who all challenge Sabrina in different ways, as she sets out on her own personal journey of discovering what she stands for and where she belongs. And while the show is centered around Sabrina, the teenage witch who wants to keep her human boyfriend Harvey (Ross Lynch), the audience also gets the opportunity to learn about what motivates Hilda, Zelda and Ambrose, in a way that allows you to understand why, when push comes to shove, they put family first.

Most Dysfunctional TV Family: The Roy Family (Succession)

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Image via HBO

To know the Roy family is to detest the Roy family, but to watch them on the HBO series Succession is divine. The scripts are smart and hilarious while also pushing you to the edge of feeling uncomfortable, as you watch just how far people will go to maintain success, power and money, even if it means figuratively cutting the throat of your own family. Logan Roy (Brian Cox) and his four children (Alan Ruck, Jeremy Strong, Sarah Snook and Kieran Culkin) are deliciously malicious to anyone and everyone that enters their orbit without the last name of Roy, and when it comes to family dynamics, it is something akin to a When Animals Attack! TV special, with each of them ready to pounce on the other. Everyone is despicable, in their own right, but you still just can’t get enough of their every dastardly deed.

Best TV Monsters: Legacies

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Image via The CW

Just when you thought there couldn’t possibly be any stories left to tell in the world of The CW series The Vampire Diaries, which already spun off into The Originals, Legacies has been a fun surprise. Set at The Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted, Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis) is in charge of helping to teach and nurture the next generation of supernatural beings, which includes tri-brid Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell), witch twins Lizzie (Jenny Boyd) and Josie Saltzman (Kaylee Bryant), vampire MG (Quincy Fouse), newly triggered werewolf Rafael Waithe (Peyton Alex Smith) and the mysterious Landon Kirby (Aria Shahghasemi), to become the heroes they want to be, as opposed to something more nefarious.

While it could easily find itself on the path of teen angst, and it does have its fair share of that, Legacies also has a great balance of monsters, including a fire-breathing dragon, a gargoyle, a giant spider and a necromancer, that make it’s piece of The Vampire Diaries universe feel new and fresh and promising in a way that’s exciting.

Best Relationship Series / TV Couple: Forever, Maya Rudolph & Fred Armisen

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Image via Amazon Prime

One of the most unexpected gems in 2018 was the Amazon Prime series Forever, and it’s a series that you want to know as little about as possible prior to watching. It follows a suburban wife and husband, June (Maya Rudolph) and Oscar (Fred Armisen), who live a comfortable and totally normal life, in which June is finding herself to be a bit restless. When they try to shake things up in their long-term marriage, after June encourages an adventurous ski trip instead of their typical annual vacation, everything changes for the couple, setting them on an existential journey that they never could have imagined. The series is full of twists and turns on its exploration of life and love, in a way that kept me wondering where it could possibly go next. And if that’s not enticing enough, you’ll even get to see Maya Rudolph do a fantastic rendition of Montell Jordan’s “This Is How We Do It” that she goes all-in on.