Top Shows of 2015 (So Far)

These are not rankings of the BEST (quality-wise) shows on TV nor my favorite, but rather some unquantified mixture of the two, mentally weighing the two criteria equally. Some shows I like more than they are good, and some shows are quite good but I don’t really like as much as the critics. The drama side is pretty light and only the top 5 is nailed down, but there’s a plethora of shows to fill it out in the latter half of the year (Les Revenants, The Knick, Kingdom, Masters of Sex, The Affair, etc etc). Also, these rankings are tentative: it is highly likely the rankings will move around a bit as I reassess them through the rest of the year, grow more/lessfond of them and take into consideration new episodes for those shows returning in the fall. Only series that have completed their seasons are considered, none of those currently in the middle of their seasons.

Comedy
1. Parks & Recreation (NBC)
2. Last Week Tonight (HBO)
2. Silicon Valley (HBO)
4. Brooklyn Nine-Nine (FOX)
5. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (FXX)
Charlie Work. holy shit. How many shows have one of their very best episodes in its TENTH season??
6. Broad City (Comedy Central)
Season 1 was pretty hit and miss for me. Season 2’s jokes landed far more often than not in a show tailor-made for Millennials, simultaneously mocking and unabashedly celebrating every new meme, trend, or other social practice of our age cohort
7. Shameless (Showtime)
8. Veep (HBO)
If Anna Chlumsky doesn’t receive the Emmy for Best Supporting Actress then everybody responsible for that atrocity is a blah blah bitch jolly green jizzface

8. Archer (FX)
10. Community (Yahoo!)
11. Moone Boy (Sky 1)
12. The Soup (E!)
13. Modern Family (ABC)
13. Black-ish (ABC)
13. Episodes (Showtime)

Drama
1. Game of Thrones (HBO)
1. The Good Wife (CBS)
Were GoT or TGW as good as their sensational 4th and 5th seasons (respectively)? No. And yet, nothing on television can quite reach the heights of these two shows when they’re firing on all cylinders. Sure, compared to the rapidfire big-event-every-3-episodes pace of season 4, season 5 of Thrones was a bit of a letdown. I was willing to give them leeway however as creators David Beniof and D. B. Weiss take on the unenviable task of segueing from adapting from George R.R. Martin’s hefty tomes, to needing to branch out their own stories since Martin has two books left to complete in the ASOIAF series. Consider season 5 growing pains as they more severely veered into their own stories. And for any quibbles of its pacing (which are legitimate), can you honestly say there weren’t so many fine GoT moments in the tail end of the season, from [SPOILER ALERT] the spectacular battle with the white walkers, Khaleesi riding her dragon, and Cercei’s walk through the city.
Likewise, TGW couldn’t quite measure who the amazing 5th season due to its sheer brilliance, bookended by two game-changing episodes. Still, when it was on point (which was very often), it was on point, only veering off a bit for my taste towards the end of the season. Still, TGW ranks as one of the more underrated gems on TV presently, with far less chatter about it than buzzier shows involving dragons, zombies, or manipulative politicians.
3. Broadchurch (ITV)
Successfully shifting from murder mystery to courtroom drama (but still having a case from DI Hardy’s past resurface), the most powerful moments from Broadchurch’s second season haven’t been grisly revelations or whodunit reveals like season 1, but rather come almost entirely from a never-better Olivia Colman. Trying to form some semblance of a normal life after last season, she is the emotional heart of this show and I’d be lying if Colman’s great, great, great acting didn’t make me misty-eyed once or twice in the course of Broadchurch’s second season. Broadchurch did what I thought was impossible and almost entirely wiped away the bad taste of Gracepoint.
4. Bates Motels (A&E)
Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga are sensational as Norman and Norma Bates. The psychological unwinding of the two characters in season three has been as delightful and gripping as it has been disturbing to delve further into Norman Bates unraveling, increasingly-dangerous mentally disturbed mind as Norma Bates loses her grasp on keeping her son safe, and others safe from him.
5. House of Cards (Netflix)
Look, almost everybody felt season 3 of HoC was a step down from its past seasons. I don’t disagree, but this is one of those shows that falls into my ‘like more than it’s good’ category of shows. It still has intrigue and political machinations, it still has a dark atmosphere, fuck it I’m all about the Underwood train, critics and audience opinion be damned.
But, I WAS pretty annoyed by what was done with Claire Underwood’s character. The show had established, especially in season two, that the Underwoods are equally powerful and cunning, even if she was “just” the wife. Her standing by his side and pulling strings behind the scenes could be just as powerful as Frank’s moves in the Capitol Building. So when she finally has an official title to go along with her power in season 3, the writing just had her fucking up over and over and over again and damn that annoyed me.
Doesn’t mean I won’t be staring at my laptop for 13 straight hours come season 4 though.
6. Agent Carter (ABC)
I’ve watched the pilot for CBS’s upcoming Supergirl. It is no Agent Carter. Despite being only a casual Marvel movie watcher, after watching the back-to-back first episodes, I understood why the powers that be felt Carter to be worthy of her own spin-off and the season only grew stronger and stronger as it wore on. Thank goodness Carter was renewed for a 2nd season.
-iZombie (CW)
-Justified (FX)
-The Americans (FX)

Honorable Mention (Drama): Daredevil (Netflix)
Honorable Mention (Comedy): Man Seeking Woman (FXX)