[For more of Collider’s Best of 2016 lists, click here]

2016 may have been a year filled with many sad and unfortunate events, but one thing that we can be grateful for is the quality of TV escapism. The Platinum Age of Television has come out of the (somewhat unsettling) phenomenon of Peak TV, and it’s genuinely impossible to watch everything. That’s why I decided this year to do one list combining comedies, dramas, and miniseries (many of which have blurred the boundaries of those old categorical distinctions anyway), and not limit myself to a Top 10. There’s too much great TV for that.

On the other hand, there’s the reality that of the 450+ shows that aired this year, I watched all or some part of about 120 of them. Even though that’s just a fraction of the total, it’s an enormous amount of shows. This ranked list of what I consider to be the 25 best of the year (having seen a lot of junk, and a lot of mediocrity outside of it) is not exhaustive. Still, in this era of Peak TV, it’s about as close as one can get. It's also worth noting that there are still a lot of very good shows that aren't on the list, but are still fun to follow. Some that are listed in the honorable mentions are there just because they provide something new and entertaining. And even then, there are at least 10 more I could add that I never got the time to finish, but liked how they started (Quarry, as one example).

Most of the series below are in their premiere seasons or sophomore seasons, proving that (1) we’re getting a fantastic, somewhat overwhelming influx of new TV every year and (2) the sophomore slump isn’t always true (though it also hasn’t totally gone away). Only a few shows are still shining bright deep into their run, which is maybe a suggestion that that the British model of "leave them wanting more" is something we should take more to heart in the U.S. Whatever the case, there’s a lot to think about and celebrate for 2016, which gave us a truly outstanding year of television.

(A note on spoilers: I’ve tried to keep things pretty general, but if you have any doubts then skip on to the next!)

Related: The Best TV Shows of 2017

25) Poldark

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Image via PBS

Season: 2

Network: PBS

Creator: Debbie Horsfield

Cast: Aidan Turner, Eleanor Tomlinson, Ruby Bentall, Jack Farthing, Heida Reed, Kyle Soller

There are shows that are great, and then shows that are great at what they do. Poldark is partially the first and mostly the later (Supergirl is another example). The sweeping historical romance / drama can be predictable, but it’s also Comfort Watch Television — despite the fact that this season dealt with a death, a near-hanging, marital infidelity, and an accidental shooting. Ross Poldark (Turner) isn’t as easy to like this season as he was in Season 1, but the show is all the better for exploring the nuances of such complicated characters. And while The Americans is often praised for its realistic portrayal of marriage, Poldark is overlooked for doing the same in Season 2. Watching the leads all struggle with the fallout of bad decisions and whether or not to stay with their spouse was heart-wrenching, and never rushed.

But Poldark’s biggest trick may be how it makes viewers really, actually care about mining, and the value of finding copper versus tin. The series is gorgeously filmed and expertly acted, and it has a whirlwind pace both in its editing (scenes rarely last more than a minute) and in the passing of time (babies grow up awfully fast). It’s engaging and dramatically potent not just when it comes to violence and misery, like so many other TV dramas make the mistake of doing, but also in moments of earned joy and triumph, and in its genuine portrayals of friendship. It remains on of television’s best-kept secrets.

24) Supergirl

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Image via The CW

Season: 2

Network: The CW

Developed By: Greg Berlanti, Ali Adler, Andrew Kreisberg

Cast: Melissa Benoist, Mehcad Brooks, Chyler Leigh, Jeremy Jordan, David Harewood, Chris Wood

Too often TV is defined as “serious” or “worthy” only if it’s dark. Maybe we can thank The Sopranos for starting that trend, but it’s time for a revolution. Supergirl is a joyous show to watch. It’s happy. It’s uplifting. It tackles dramatic storylines (including a difficult subplot about race, as well as a coming out story that was given actual time to develop and unfold), but it’s also not afraid to be bright, colorful, and fun. A lot of this is thanks to star Melissa Benoist, whose charm and charisma drives the series. But since its move to The CW, Supergirl has truly embraced its light tone and a humor that sets it apart from the other DC series on the network, and frankly, from most TV shows.

The Season 2 episodes that featured Superman also did a lot to restore that character’s legacy, after it was essentially been defamed by Batman vs. Superman. DC is doing so many things right on the small screen that it is messing up big time in its movieverse, and Supergirl’s characterization of Superman was one of the brightest points of this season so far. Dark, violent, brooding, melancholic … that’s not always what we want a superhero to be, especially one that was always meant to be a force of good; a Messiah with a distinct humanity. Supergirl gives us all of that.

23) Blunt Talk

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Image via Starz

Season: 2

Network: Starz

Creator: Jonathan Ames

Cast: Patrick Stewart, Adrian Scarborough, Dolly Wells, Timm Sharp, Jacke Weaver, Karan Toni

Blunt Talk was exceptionally, well, blunt about a lot of things (most of them sexual), but it was also one of the sweetest series on television. It cared deeply for its weird, flawed characters — most of whom were walking Freudian neuroses — and it made us care about them, too. Though Patrick Stewart shined so brightly as TV newsman Walter Blunt (he was a father figure but childlike, creative, passionate, yet hobbled by insecurities), his co-stars each found their own way to not exist only in his shadow, especially in Season 2. The show’s satire of cable news was never as finely wrought as its joy in letting its characters be completely free in their personal actions (which were often hilarious, but sometimes very tender), and ultimately the show’s niche appeal eventually led to its cancellation (the season ended with a cross-dressing caper which I never would have guessed, and yet, somehow it felt natural). But it’s not too late to catch up on the show, whose season finale worked very well as a series finale. It’s an example of a show that wasn’t meant for everyone, and why that can be a very good thing.

22) Bates Motel

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Image via A&E

Season: 4

Network: A&E

Developed By: Carlton Cuse, Kerry Ehrin, Anthony Cipriano

Cast: Vera Farmiga, Freddie Highmore, Max Thieriot, Olivia Cooke, Nestor Carbonell

After meandering through a few seasons that contained moments of excellence hidden by padded-out subplots and a quirky sense of story pacing, Bates Motel really came into its own in Season 4. With a series end date in the site, the show really focused in on Norman’s (Highmore) transformation, and how Norma (Farmiga) was affected by it. Though the series has tried to push away from that relationship at times, it’s the core that keeps Bates Motel at its best (though I would offer that “Dylemma” was a happy development as well).

Bates Motel has always been uniquely atmospheric, with Oregon’s grey, rainy days and foggy nights truly defining the show. It also has the secret weapon of Farmiga, who has consistently given one of the best performances of the year every year the show has aired (and will surely continue to do so, even though Norma now is not the Norma we knew before). “Forever” was a definitive moment for the series not just narratively, but also as a way to show off Bates at its most emotionally devastating, before turning to its season finale, “Norman,” which was an exercise in the macabre (and yet, wonderfully so). It’s rare that this late into a show’s run it would have such a finely wrought season to bring back viewers who might have left the series, but Season 4 did exactly that.

21) The A Word

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Image via SundanceTV

Season: 1

Network: SundanceTV

Creator: Karen Margalit

Cast: Morven Christie, Lee Ingleby, Greg McHugh, Max Vento, Christopher Eccleston

One of the year’s most complicated, raw, and honest dramas came from the U.K., and followed a closely-knit family whose youngest child is diagnosed with autism. The A Word never backs away from the difficulties the family faces in the wake of the revelation (especially since putting a name on behavior doesn’t change the struggle with the behavior), nor does it skip out on exploring young Joe's (the excellent Vento) specific needs. Some family members are in denial, others are insecure, and others put their energy into “fixing” things. Just because one’s heart is in the right place doesn’t mean it’s the right course of action, though, and The A Word deals with family politics — even outside of its decision of autism — in a way that is unique and deeply affecting. And yet, it does so in a particularly British way where there is a gloss of humor that keeps things from ever being too dark, and a sardonic tone that acknowledges life is both exceptionally hard and undeniably joyous. The show’s small-town setting and layered family story also offer some unique narrative perspectives that helped make The A Word such a stand-out series.

20) Mozart in the Jungle

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Image via Amazon Studios

Season: 3

Network: Amazon

Developed By: Roman Coppola, Jason Schwartzman, Alex Timbers, Paul Weitz

Cast: Lola Kirke, Gael Garcia Bernal, Saffron Burrows, Bernadette Peters, Malcolm McDowell

Mozart in the Jungle checks two major boxes of criteria for great TV this year: it’s a show that embraces its niche and doesn’t try to be everything to everybody, and it’s also a series with a unique setting and perspective. One of the series’ most admirable traits is how it wants to make classical music accessible, and yet, doesn’t compromise its story or vision in achieving that. There are long musical interludes (but not as long as a series like Treme, which often pushed the boundaries of patience — we are watching a TV show, after all, not a music documentary), but they are bookended by the stories of compelling characters that are presented as wonderfully passionate but never cartoonish. For a show about creative pursuits, Mozart spends an awful lot of time focused on funding and labor disputes, but that’s also a rather fantastically grounded choice. It’s a realism that helps temper some of the series’ more fantastical elements, though the end result is something that is both easily digestible, and something that stays with you. Its episode “Not Yet Titled,” which was a break in form, is a perfect example of how all of this works so well together — the humor, the music, the creativity, and the emotional resonance.

19) The Grinder

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Image via Fox

Season: 1

Network: Fox

Creator: Jarrad Paul, Andrew Mogel

Cast: Rob Lowe, Fred Savage, Mary Elizabeth Bellis, Natalie Morales, William Devane, Steve Little

The Grinder may be the rarest kind of show to find on a year-end Best Of list — the one that was cancelled in its first season. But Fox has all too often pulled the trigger to cut shows just as they start to get interesting, although in The Grinder’s case, it was always good. The comedy had so much going for it: an exceptional cast, a show-within-a-show format that actually worked (and was often a highlight), kid actors who were genuinely hilarious, and a formula that miraculously never got stale. Not every episode was perfect, but the show had an admirable consistency given the difficult demands of the broadcast schedule. It even excelled when it came to its guest actors (Timothy Olyphant’s episodes became their own recurring joke within the show — when this show went meta, it went at it hard). The Grinder was fun and funny, and perhaps ultimately too smart for its own good.

18) Search Party

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Image via TBS

Season: 1

Network: TBS

Creator: Sarah-Violet Bliss, Charles Rogers, Michael Showalter

Cast: Alia Shawkat, John Early, John Reynolds, Meredith Hagner, Ron Livingston

This one surprised me. The comedy, which works very well as an extended movie consumed in one sitting, is a kind of Millennial Miss Marple. But it’s also deceptively layered. One the one hand, Search Party revolves around a group of young adults who get caught up in a mystery that sends them on New Wave-y kinds of adventures, but it it also a extremely biting satire that trades upon that trickiest of prospects: finding one’s own identity. The series reveals truths about its characters as they go deeper into what they believe to be a dark conspiracy, and yet, it ultimately lands in a cynical place about the lies we tell ourselves even after we’re exposed. It’s extraordinarily thoughtful even when it’s at its most ridiculous. If it was ending here, it might be close to perfect, but the promise of a second season complicates things. Even still, Search Party is a bizarre diamond in the rough that highlights how right a show can go when a network is willing to let it just be what it wants. (Also of note, there’s a scene that utilizes the phrase “just to piggyback off of that …” that will resonate with anyone in a college discussion group circa 2005. The show is that wonderfully specific in its references).

17) Fresh Off the Boat

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Image via ABC

Seasons: 2 and 3

Network: ABC

Creator: Nahnatchka Khan

Cast: Randall Park, Constance Wu, Hudson Yang, Forrest Wheeler, Ian Chen, Lucille Soong

Fresh Off the Boat is a comedy that works on three very distinct levels in a way that feels seamless. It’s a family comedy, a 90s show, and series that highlights the specific experience of a Taiwanese family living in America. It also tackles each with aplomb. The show was unfairly maligned early in its run by Eddie Huang (on whose memoirs the show is based) for being what it was — a broadcast sitcom — yet it has continued to push the boundaries of the bizarre and avant-garde, particularly in Season 3. Few comedies can handle its adult and kid-focused stories with equal weight and humor, but Fresh Off the Boat succeeds in this and in extraordinarily well-rendered nostalgia jokes (Zoobooks! Tamagotchi! The Browns almost leaving Cleveland! Shaq Fu!) that never feel forced or like overkill. Plus, it cannot be overstated how much it matters that this is a show about an Asian family and exploring Asian culture — that was also very long overdue.

16) Catastrophe

Season: 2

Network: Amazon

Creators: Rob Delaney, Sharon Horgan

Cast: Rob Delaney, Sharon Horgan, Carrie Fisher, Ashley Jenson, Mark Bonnar

There are many, many TV shows about how marriage and having kids and keeping everything afloat is hard, but there is not a show as brutally honest and scathingly funny about those subjects as Catastrophe. Season 1’s brief run ended abruptly with a fight, honing in on the fact that the show swoops in and out of these lives to show the vignettes it wants to, and then poof! It’s gone. Season 2 was also a tragically short 6 episodes, and started in a similarly confusing place, with a time jump and the introduction of our characters in a family that was fully established rather than just starting out. It plays by its own rules, and makes no apologies. There were many new challenges, all explored with fantastic wit and bracing honesty, not just for Rob and Sharon but for their friends Fran and particularly Chris (Carrie Fisher as Rob’s mother will be so very missed in this series, as well). Catastrophe is the kind of series that can be uncomfortable to watch because of how true it can feel, but it tempers those moments with exceptional humor that is also just as real.

15) Westworld

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Image via HBO

Season: 1

Network: HBO

Creators: Jonathan Nolan, Lisa Joy

Cast: Evan Rachel Wood, Thandie Newton, Jeffrey Wright, James Marsden, Ben Barns, Jimmi Simpson, Ed Harris, Anthony Hopkins

Whether you loved it or hated it, Westworld was absolutely appointment television. I happened to love it, though I’ll admit it feel into some typical HBO pitfalls of “tits and violence” (something show actually addresses in early dialogue from one character — that the park itself is so much more than just “tits and guns”). Though Westworld had an outstanding backdrop on which to paint its drama (the Western settings were truly fantastic), and stocked its story with a exceptional cast, it was the deeper philosophical notions broached that were ultimately the most interesting.

Though the first season — which was essentially a prelude — set up something a false mystery regarding The Maze, and kept viewers guessing for most of the season with its dueling timelines, the central question of what it means to be human remained as its core. The show set things up from its premiere to focus specifically on the hosts rather than the guests; this is their story, not ours, and we’re meant to sympathize with them just as we are horrified by their actions. It’s this juxtaposition that made Westworld such a stellar watch, especially as it elevated (and then subverted, and then subverted again) a character like Maeve (Newton), an unlikely heroine whose “humanity” remains in question. And yet, the “humanity” of a character like Ford is also a deeply troubling thought. Though it was a little spoiled by obsessive internet theories, that level of engagement is also what made it such a fantastic collective viewing experience.   

14) Man Seeking Woman

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Image via FXX

Season: 2

Network: FXX

Creator: Simon Rich

Cast: Jay Baruchel, Eric Andre, Britt Lower

Like its female counterpart (of sorts) Fleabag, Man Seeking Woman is a show that takes a tropey idea (the follies of a young person dating in the city) and turns it into something that should not be missed. Man Seeking Woman approaches its episodes with a mix of harsh reality and exceptional surrealism, using visual metaphor to get to the core of the complex emotions of, well, the follies of a young person dating in the city. As its Everyman (except in the flipped “Woman Seeking Man” episodes), Jay Baruchel’s Josh navigates these complications with unerring sincerity and hopefulness that is never naive. Instead, it’s a reminder — in often vulgar, bizarre, uproariously funny ways — of our own experiences, and most importantly, that we are not alone.

13) Stranger Things

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Image via Netflix

Season: 1

Network: Netflix

Creators: The Duffer Brothers

Cast: Winona Ryder, David Harbour, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin, Natalia Dyer, Charlie Heaton, Cara Buono, Noah Schnapp, Matthew Modine

The kind of show that binge watching was made for, Stranger Things balanced nostalgia, adventure, conspiracy, and horror along three age timelines in pitch-perfect form. Sure, much has been made about the show’s innumerable references to other movies and TV shows, but so what? Quentin Tarantino is also a master of pastiche, but no one makes that big of a fuss about it. The point is that Stranger Things took those influences and made something new out of them, using our familiarity as an introduction into a lovingly crafted world of heroism and nightmares. Perhaps most impressively, its kid cast was the most affecting, the most natural, and handled the material with the most sincerity. And in a way, that’s just perfect, because Stranger Things is made for adults who were kids in that era, or for anyone who remember what it was like to have adventures unencumbered by the weightiness of adulthood. Stranger Things was a delightful surprise this year, and even though it is getting a second season, it could have ended with its first and been just about perfect.

12) Outlander

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Image via Starz

Season: 2

Network: Starz

Developed By: Ronald D. Moore

Cast: Caitriona Balfe, Sam Heughan, Tobias Menzies, Duncan Lacroix, Graham McTavish

While book fans might have had some bones to pick with Outlander’s second season, and TV fans might have been confused by the shifting locations and timelines, on the whole Outlander Season 2 was a much tighter and faster-paced adventure than Season 1. What helped with that, primarily, was that Claire (Balfe) and Jamie (Heughan) are now fully partners, and seeing them work together as a couple was both powerful and refreshing. Both characters grew exponentially in the new season, and the show revealed some of its best episodes as it went to war in “Prestonpans,” and skated through time in “Dragonfly in Amber.” It was an extremely emotional run of episodes as well, though one that didn’t rely on extended scenes of torture (like Season 1) to get those feelings across — even though “Faith” was one of the most devastating episodes of the year. Outlander proved that it deserves to be in the conversation about the best TV shows, and though it is unfairly (and problematically) dismissed by many as just a historical romance, it’s about so much more. And while politics, violence, adventure, and time travel are all a major part of things, what’s wrong with historical-set romance? Unlike most romantic tales, this one really begins not when the leads first meet, but when they become a power couple.

11) Happy Valley

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Image via Netflix

Season: 2

Network: Netflix

Creator: Sally Wainwright

Cast: Sarah Lancashire, Siobhan Finneran, James Norton, Charlie Murphy

Happy Valley is an emotionally exhausting series — in the very best of ways. It takes place in a depressed town in Yorkshire and focuses on a family so broken that every member of it has had to face down exceptional darkness first hand. And yet from that comes the resilient figure of Catherine Cawood (Lancashire), who in the second season continues to grapple with the fallout from Season 1’s revelations. Catherine is also oddly implicated in a string of murders, but the show handles this with a tone of bitter irony. Can this woman ever catch a break? In Season 2 Catherine, more than ever, is holding everyone and everything together just by sheer force of will, and her story is paralleled by that of the killer Tommy Lee Royce (Norton) and his manipulations of a vulnerable prison groupie, in stories that ultimately come together in several harrowing scenes. Sharp and difficult, with fantastically deep characters and almost more emotional weight than can be bared (especially a final shot that questioned nature versus nurture when it comes to evil), Happy Valley remained outstanding television this year.

10) The Night Manager

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Image via AMC

Season: Miniseries

Network: AMC

Screenplay: David Farr

Cast: Tom Hiddleston, Hugh Laurie, Olivia Colman, Tom Hollander, Elizabeth Debicki

The Night Manager was a John le Carré novel turned into a miniseries by way of a Vogue spread, or so it seemed thanks to Susanne Bier’s direction. A dashingly handsome cast, obscenely beautiful locations, and one blazingly unforgettable demonstration of sound and fury in the desert that reminded us — in case we forgot — that Richard Ropert (Laurie) is the most dangerous arms dealer in the world. But it was easy to forget at times, after experiencing the seduction of wealth and power through the experience of spy Jonathan Pine (Hiddleston), whose motivations were a little thin, but who never lost sight of his mission. The Night Manager was a tightly crafted and breathtakingly produced miniseries with a well-earned and triumphant finale that made ultimately for a very satisfying adventure. And did I mention how gorgeous it was?

9) Fleabag

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Image via Amazon Studios

Season: 1

Network: Amazon

Creator: Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Cast: Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Hugh Skinner, Sian Clifford, Brett Gelman, Olivia Colman, Ben Aldridge

You’ll see a theme in this list, particularly with the comedies, praising series that manage to be funny while also feeling true and emotionally raw. Fleabag is the epitome of these kinds of shows, and we’re blessed frankly that there are more than a few of them on TV now. Like its counterpart of sorts, Man Seeking Woman, Fleabag takes a tired premise (the follies of a young person dating in the city) and subverts our expectations of it, though from a specifically feminine angle. Where Fleabag distinguishes itself, though, is not in its brand of sly humor, nor the way its protagonist (Waller-Coates) speaks directly to us as viewers, but in how it weaves a dark undercurrent just beneath the surface of the humor that overflows at various times until the full truth of it is revealed. It’s this surprising juxtaposition that helps makes an otherwise very frank and funny series something exceptional.

8) Game of Thrones

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Image via HBO

Season: 6

Network: HBO

Creators: David Benioff and D.B. Weiss

Cast: Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Lena Headey, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington, Aidan Gillen, Iain Glen, Sophie Turner, Alfie Allen, Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright

I could write tens of thousands of words on my complicated relationship with Game of Thrones, about the books versus the show, what participating in the fandom has meant to me, and plenty more. But suffice it to say that Season 6 went a long way to redeem a show I used to love that became almost unwatchable. Though this latest season had some major issues and its fan service was borderline fan fiction, the rise of Sansa Stark, the emotional stakes and action set pieces of the “Battle of the Bastards,” Hodor’s moment in the sun, and the twists and explosive reveals of “The Winds of Winter” solidify the show’s place among the very best of the year. And, as someone who has struggled to reconcile the books versus the TV show narratives, Season 6 was a welcomed reprieve where finally, book readers could sit back and enjoy the story and be surprised by it for the first time (you have no idea how much this matters). Plus, Game of Thrones is a show that boasts such an enormously talented cast that it can actually afford to waste actors like Essie Davis, Richard E. Grant, and Ian McShane. That’s outrageous, and yet, perfectly on point for this cultural juggernaut of a show.

7) Rectify

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Image via SundanceTV

Season: 4

Network: SundanceTV

Creator: Ray McKinnon

Cast: Aden Young, Abigail Spencer, J. Smither-Cameron, Adelaide Clemens, Clayne Crawford, Luke Kirby, Bruce McKinnon, Jake Austin Walker, J.D. Evermore

One of the greatest, yet least-watched and most under appreciated dramas of our time, Rectify closed its final chapter this year with a stunning finale that secured its place in the pantheon of great television. Typically Rectify might have gotten a much higher place on my year-end list — because I think it is truly one of the best dramas ever on TV — but this final season was unrelentingly bleak, something the show has balanced better in previous seasons. Though the last episode brought things around in a great way (and closed the book, more or less, on the case against Daniel), and Clayne Crawford acted the hell out of Teddy’s most heartbreaking (and sometimes ruefully funny) scenes, Season 4 felt more like an afterthought than previous seasons. And yet, it was still a privilege to get to spend more time with the Holdens and Talbots once again, and get to witness the coda to Daniel leaving Georgia and figuring out his life. It happened for him a little later than most, but as everyone agreed by the end, it’s a blessing that this second chance happened at all.

6) The People v O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story

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Image via FX

Season: 1 / Anthology

Network: FX

Creator: Ryan Murphy

Cast: Sarah Paulson, Sterling K. Brown, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Schwimmer, Courtney B. Vance, Nathan Lane, Kenneth Choi, John Travolta

As someone who remembered the names of the major players but not the nuances of the crime and subsequent trial of O.J. Simpson, I was perhaps the ideal audience for American Crime Story’s first anthology season. (Unfortunately, watching its first episodes back-to-back for review wasn’t the right approach, as it proved to be an anti-binge kind of show).   

Somewhat surprisingly, The People v O.J. Simpson avoided the pitfalls of so many Ryan Murphy series by not being more over-the-top than it already was in reality; the Trial of the Century was also a total circus, but the show helped to temper that by finding humanity in the prosecuting attorneys (and some excellently slimy performances from the defense team). Standout episodes included one focused primarily on Marcia Clark (Paulson), another on the experience faced by the jury, and then of course the finale, which not only highlighted a deeply broken judicial system, but showed O.J. as isolated and trapped inside the lies he shrouded himself in. A deeply dark and affecting anthology that boasted perhaps the strongest ensemble cast of the year.