The 10 best TV shows of 2019

2019 was an insane year for television shows. Many returning TV shows came back for another season, somehow one-upping an already excellent run. Other new series made extremely strong debuts, leaving us hungry to see more. We’re still taking baby steps into 2020, and what better way to start the year than by looking back at all the great shows that came out in 2019?

Here’s my pick for the 10 best TV shows of 2019:

10. Dear White People (Season 3)

People tend to get turned off by this Netflix Original’s name, but it has been one of the most fresh and well-written shows around for three seasons running. The visuals alone are eye candy, with some gorgeous cinematography and colour grading, but it’s the way episodes are plotted that really suck you in. 

Each episode mostly focuses on one specific character going through something that thinly ties into the season’s overarching narrative. This allows Dear White People to truly flesh out every one of its characters in a meaningful way, allowing us to get invested in them by spending more time with each of them. Still, they’re all bound together by a common cause, and watching them fight for it is captivating. 

It’s an incredibly topical, stylised show that's deeply relevant today, and it achieves all of that without seeming nearly as preachy as you’d think. It’s a fun show to watch, and it’s got some heavy-hitting talent behind it at all times. There’s nothing else like it on Netflix. 

9. Sex Education

Netflix put out a lot of winners in 2019. Sex Education was one of them, starring Asa Butterfield as Otis, a socially awkward teenager with a sex therapist for a mother (Gillian Anderson). He has a couple of issues with the subject in his own personal life, and yet somehow ends up providing sex therapy to his entire high school with the help of his cohorts, Maeve and Eric. Ironically, he’s probably the one in need of his services the most. 

Sex Education somehow manages to be hilarious and emotionally grounded, often at the same time. You’ll eventually grow invested in all of these characters, even the most flawed ones. Especially the most flawed ones. High school is a confusing time. 

8. Stranger Things (Season 3)

Another Netflix show? I’ve seen stranger things (I'm so sorry). This 80s-obsessed sci-fi series entered its third season with jaw-dropping style. The show’s budget has clearly been cranked up by a couple notches, and it shows. Costuming, set design and CGI work is fantastic, leading to an incredibly tense and immersive sci-fi show. Even when it’s not shooting for sci-fi, it’s still one of the warmest and funniest shows of the year. 

It’s come to the point where we only get a season of Stranger Things once every two years, so it’s a little hard to manage expectations when a new one actually arrives. Stranger Things still managed to wow with its third season however, throwing characters onto different journeys throughout the season, only for everyone to come together at the end for an epic climax. It’s done so well too, and each individual storyline is extremely fun to watch as a result of how well-fleshed out its characters are at this point. This show oozes mainstream appeal like no other. 

7. True Detective (Season 3)

Season 1 of True Detective was one of the greats – it featured incredible performances by Matthew McConaughey and Woody Harrelson, alongside a murder mystery with its roots deep in the supernatural. The debut season set expectations sky-high for the rest of the series, and then Season 2 dropped them like a hot potato. It really seemed like Season 1 had been a fluke, as if the stars had somehow aligned for HBO to produce such an incredible season of television, but just the one. 

Season 3 kicked that theory to the curb in 2019, quickly becoming one of the single best seasons of television that year. The story took place in the Ozarks, with detectives Wayne Hays (Mahershala Ali) and Roland West (Stephen Dorff) solving a case involving two missing children. Unsurprisingly, Mahershala Ali delivers a fantastic performance as Hays – a man who, throughout the season’s three separate time periods, begins to lose his mind and memory. Stephen Dorff is utterly fantastic as well, and with such strong leads and an absorbing non-linear narrative, how could this season not be a winner?

6. The Good Place (Season 4)

The Good Place is one of the smartest comedies to come out in the last few years. And since it’s coming from Michael Schur (Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), that shouldn’t be so much of a surprise. Originally, the series began with Eleanor (Kristen Bell) waking up in the afterlife, referred to as The Good Place. Almost immediately though, she realises that she was sent there by mistake, and must cover up her tracks before anyone else finds out.

It’s a fairly limiting concept for a comedy at first, but you’ll quickly realise while watching this show that it is utterly unsatisfied with doing the expected thing. The Good Place quickly spirals into conspiracies and ethical dilemmas while maintaining its snappy wit and charm at all times. It’s hilarious and quick with zingers, but you’ll find yourself staying for the engrossing story instead – and how these characters struggle with what the very concept of the afterlife even is. 

5. Doom Patrol

Speaking of shows that find the idea of being normal utterly revolting, enter Doom Patrol. I firmly believe this is the single best superhero TV series to come out in 2019, and certainly one of the weirdest shows to come out ever. Doom Patrol is based on the DC Comics team of the same name, featuring an X-Men-like group of superpowered beings that form a very unlikely team. 

Shunned by society, Jane (Diane Guerrero), Rita Farr (April Bowlby), Larry Trainor (Matt Bomer) and Cliff Steele (Brendan Fraser) are taken under the Chief’s (Timothy Dalton) wing – a doctor who helped them all in one way or another and gave them a home. However, when the Chief is captured by the enigmatic and almost certainly insane Mr Nobody (Alan Tudyk), the Doom Patrol embark on a wildly bizarre journey to rescue him. 

This show has, among others, Cyborg (Jovian Wade), an Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, a teleporting, living street called Danny, an apocalypse brought about by a giant eyeball in the sky, a revenge-driven rat called Admiral Whiskers, and a man who can alter reality by flexing his muscles. Grounding all of this weirdness are some truly compelling characters, all with heartbreaking backstories. Please watch this show. It’s better than Titans, I promise. 

4. Bojack Horseman (Season 6, Part 1)

Hey, speaking of weird TV shows, here’s one about a depressed talking horse! This Netflix Original stars Will Arnett as Bojack Horseman – a washed up actor in his 50s whose career peaked with a sitcom way back in the ‘90s. The show centres on his many, many mistakes, as well as the tragic events that encompassed his childhood and some of his adulthood to boot. 

It all sounds a little sad, but that’s the brilliance of the show. Bojack Horseman is one of the funniest comedies year-after-year, balancing sharp and clever writing (all those background visual puns are amazing) with timely, emotional storytelling. Many of its best episodes (Out to Sea, Time’s Arrow, Free Churro) separate it from a slew of adult animated comedies, simply by doing things no other show does and doing them so well. 

The first half of Bojack Horseman’s final season released in October 2019, with the second half coming out on January 31, 2020. This season has had Bojack come to terms with all the terrible things he's done – most of them nigh unforgivable – and work through it all in rehab. The ending of Part 1 hinted that all the happiness Bojack finally achieved might be coming to a swift and brutal end. Does someone like Bojack even deserve happiness, after everything he’s done? 

3. Barry 

To those who never paid much attention to him before this HBO series, Bill Hader is an absolute revelation here. The creator-director-writer-actor stars as Barry Berkman, a former Marine who now works as a hitman. He finds himself simply going through the motions, making hits for his mentor Fuches, an old friend who keeps him on the straight and murderous path. After entering the L.A. theatre scene however, Barry finds friends in a group of actors who urge him to pursue a career in acting. 

Hitman-turned-actor is such a strange premise to even enter this Top 10 list, but holy moly does this show deserve it. While Season 1 was a fantastic and unique debut for this dramedy, Season 2 dials everything up a notch almost effortlessly. Barry hits its stride big-time with some fantastic acting from Hader and unpredictable story beats that see these characters put in one tense situation after another. Episode 5, ronny/lily, is a strong contender for the single best episode of television in 2019. 

2. Watchmen

Wait no, this is the best superhero show of 2019. I reviewed Watchmen’s first six episodes prior to its airing and called it, at the time, a masterpiece. Still, I did not expect the rest of it to blow me away like it did, but I should’ve known better. This was such a strong, consistent and utterly mesmerising season of television through and through, with barely a flaw to be found within it. 

The show takes place 34 years after the graphic novel of the same name, where vigilantes are now fully outlawed and most of the Watchmen are either dead, imprisoned or living on other planets. Detective Angela Abar of the Tulsa Police Department begins to grapple with a white supremacist group inspired by Rorschach’s journal, and proceeds to uncover, as one character puts it, “... a vast and insidious conspiracy at play.”

Pulling off a sequel to one of the most beloved graphic novels of all time must have been daunting, but showrunner Damon Lindelof pulls it off deftly here. The entire season comes together so cohesively by its end that it begs for rewatch upon rewatch – if only for you to claw out bits of foreshadowing and visual poetry that you didn't notice before. It’s such a well-put together season of television, and certainly one of the best in 2019. 

1. Fleabag (Season 2)

The sophomore season of Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s dramedy elevated the entire series to nothing short of brilliance, with the most compelling writing and acting I’ve seen in a TV series in 2019. Waller-Bridge stars as Fleabag – a woman somewhat lacking in self-love who finds a man affectionately referred to as Hot Priest (played by the impeccable Andrew Scott). Don’t roll your eyes just yet though, as what follows is perhaps some of the most bewitching television you will ever see. 

Season 2 is all about love and loss, and often about how the two can intersect at the worst of times. It’s a candid look at an almost unlikable heroine, salvaged by how deeply authentic and relatable she can feel, especially when she turns to the camera and starts talking directly at you. I honestly can’t praise it enough. The ending in particular is incredibly powerful and a fantastic ending to Fleabag’s journey. 

The whole series is made up of just 12 half-hour episodes. It’s a short binge, but one that will stay with you for a very long time. 

2019 was a good year for TV

You might be frustrated at a couple glaring omissions by now, and that’s okay! The truth is that there have simply been too many incredible television shows in 2019 to cram into a Top 30 list, let alone 10. Shows like Chernobyl, Succession, The Expanse, The Marvelous Ms. Maisel, Russian Doll, Mindhunter, Peaky Blinders, Rick and Morty and many more were all great in 2019, with most of them coming back for more seasons in 2020. 

It’s a fantastic time for television, with so many quality titles hitting our screens all at once. What have you watched and loved in 2019? Let us know!

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