Best New TV of 2018

While I adore movies, and music, television is my first love. I grew up on a steady diet of TV. The way other families sat around the “family table” for dinner, my mother, my sister and I huddled around the TV set with microwave meals in our laps, laughing through Nick at Nite reruns of classic sitcoms, gasping along with the twists and turns of Alias, or trying to decipher the inscrutable plot machinations of Lost. So, as 2019 dawns and I reflect back on my media intake from 2018, I figured I’d start by rating and reviewing some of the best television. While I hope to write a bit on the year's best movies, music, and other media before January ends (and year-end lists become irrelevant), I will begin with a selection of the best new TV shows I saw this year, which premiered since January 1, 2018.

WHAT I MISSED

But first! TV is hard to enjoy comprehensively. There are only so many hours in the day, and so very many amazing shows on television right now, so I missed some of what critics and audiences seem to agree are the best new shows. For example, I did not get a chance to watch (at least not enough to review) the following:

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HONORABLE MENTIONS

Also, one more note before we dive in: there are a few new shows that show some promise, and which I’ve continued to watch, but which have yet to exhibit the kind of impact or clarity of vision that my favorite new shows have. In this category I would put the Charmed reboot on the CW, which is better than it has any right to be but is still pretty lightweight compared with the shows on my list, and The Conners on ABC, AKA the wreckage left behind from Roseanne’s latest racist tirade. Indeed, The Conners is doing the best it can given its behind-the-scenes chaos, and its star power is still staggering (with Laurie Metcalf and John Goodman in the mix), but it still feels like a bit of a retread of what’s come before. I’m hopeful the series will find a fresher voice as it proceeds, free of the baggage attached to Ms. Barr and her erratic, abhorrent behavior.

And now, the list! Here are the eight best new TV series from this year, ranked and reviewed.

THE LIST

8. Maniac - True Detective’s Cary Fukunaga adapted this Netflix series from the Norwegian miniseries of the same name, this time starring Emma Stone and Jonah Hill as a couple of thirty-somethings who volunteer for an experimental drug trial to escape their own secret traumas. Plot-wise, think Eternal Sunshine meets Inception, with a dash of Justin Theroux in a hairpiece having virtual sex with a mermaid. Some found Maniac inaccessibly strange, but I thought it was pretty brilliant. Emma Stone in particular is at the height of her powers and I am here for it.

7. Sharp Objects - Based on the first novel by Gone Girl’s Gillian Flynn, adapted by Buffy showrunner Marti Noxon, and directed by Big Little Lies’ Jean Marc Vallee, Sharp Objects stars Amy Adams in one of her gruffest, gutsiest, and most haunted performances yet (which is saying something). While one might’ve expected the series to slot into the void left by HBO’s smash hit Big Little Lies, and the two do share some DNA, Sharp Objects sets itself apart with its Southern Gothic aesthetic and tone. Things start slow, but once the mystery begins to unravel, it’s impossible to look away. Was Sharp Objects the pulpy successor to Big Little Lies some expected? No, but it is a grimly satisfying watch in its own right. Plus, Patricia Clarkson throwing her weight around is always a thing to behold.

6. Homecoming - Following the likes of Nicole Kidman, Reese Witherspoon or Amy Adams over at HBO, bona fide movie star Julia Roberts decided to slum it for television audiences this year with Amazon’s Homecoming, based on a podcast of the same name by Gimlet. Homecoming follows Roberts’ Heidi Bergman, a case worker for a shady government organization whose ostensible mission is the rehabilitation of traumatized soldiers. Mr. Robot’s visionary director Sam Esmail brings his distinct visual style to Homecoming’s refreshingly economic half-hour-long episodes, making the series a dense but digestible watch. Roberts is as fantastic as you’d expect in her small-screen debut, but the stand out performance here is Stephen James as the soldier at the center of the series’ intrigue.

5. Forever - Forever finds SNL vets Maya Rudolph and Fred Armisen leveraging their comedic voices for a surprisingly sober, meditative dramedy about life, death, marriage and eternity. Co-created by Master of None’s Alan Yang and 30 Rock’s Matt Hubbard (the final product is more Master of None than 30 Rock), Forever walks a fine line between such well-trod themes as “love will find a way” and “marriage is a life sentence,” finding some fresh middle space between the two. While the series does dabble in cynicism along the way, it ultimately arrives at something much more satisfying.

4. The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - In lieu of a review, check out my thoughts on Sabrina’s meditations on human freedom.

3. Barry - Bill Hader’s time at SNL cemented his status as a comedy virtuoso, and movies like Train Wreck and Skeleton Twins hinted at his ability to play more grounded characters, but only this year’s Barry (which Hader himself co-wrote, directed and produced) has cashed in on his potential for legitimate “dramatic” acting. Sure, Barry is a comedy (or at least campaigned as one for awards consideration), but it’s also an absolutely gutting depiction of the rough road to redemption. Some have even called the series, which centers on an assassin seeking fulfillment as part of an acting troupe, a “breaking good” story. Turns out, reformation is a two-steps-forward three-steps-back affair, one which Barry recognizes, and honors.

2. Killing Eve - Given the too-short lifespan of her Amazon comedy Fleabag, or the underperformance of Solo: A Star Wars Story (in which she voices the social justice droid L3-37), Phoebe Waller-Bridge has yet to become a household name. The success of Killing Eve may not change that fact, as this time Waller-Bridge is behind the camera as writer and showrunner. Still, the 33 year old polymath’s authorial voice absolutely bloomed in the acclaimed spy dramedy, which stars Grey’s Anatomy vet Sandra Oh and newcomer Jodie Comer as an MI5 agent and the master assassin she pursues (respectively) as the two become progressively obsessed with each other. In moments the series is strange, off-putting, bold and hilarious; the one thing it never is is boring. Spy fiction is not generally my thing, but Killing Eve is just too fun to ignore.

1. The Haunting of Hill House - Mike Flanagan’s been an under-the-radar master of horror cinema for a few years now, with cult favorites like Hush, Oculus, and Gerald’s Game, but this year he found his biggest audience yet adapting Shirley Jackson’s seminal horror novel The Haunting of Hill House. Flanagan’s Hill House is a ten-part Netflix series which wields its source material more as an inspiration than a blueprint, expanding its scope to include not just scares, but also genuine family drama. This time around, the most harrowing thing about Hill House is not its jump scares, but its meditations on grief, trauma, addiction, and the ties that bind families together. Add to that some truly masterful craft on display (including episode six, which is comprised of five long shots which function like one-act plays), and you have some of the most accomplished horror television ever, and THE new show to catch from 2018.