Top 5 Shows of 2019

1. Bojack Horseman (season 6) 

Arguably the best show out in the world right now and for great reasons: it’s blend of comedy and drama is high-tier, it’s characters are well developed (and well-cast) and it continues to successfully inflate and deflate you while you tune in to see if its characters will successfully climb out of their personal quagmires.

It’s a shame that people don’t give this show a chance because it’s an animated show. Sure, The Simpsons has been on too long. Sure, Family Guy has been vulgar and crude. Sure, South Park probably has made many parents gasp in shock and horror (Note: I find merit and enjoyment in all those shows). But animated shows have an advantage that ‘real’ shows don’t have: they can revel in darkness and situations which would be impossible or awkward with flesh and bone actors.​

The show, unfortunately, comes to a close next month will plenty of questions. And for a show that has so interestingly morphed itself over six seasons, there are so many ways it can come to a close. I want to believe it will successfully do what Bojack Horseman does best — end with both notes of sadness and sweetness mixed like a cocktail only the most experienced bartender could make. 


2. The OA (season 2)

Real quick — it’s a shame this show got canceled. The inner sociologist in me could rant about how art is sacrificed for the sake of a budget, and this show would be the prime example. So if you haven’t seen this show, please watch it so maybe Netflix can bring this back for the additional seasons it deserves! 

Dark, twisted, philosophical…buzz words abound in The OA. It’s a show that will make anyone feel smart for watching it. It really invites the viewer into an acid trip where Brit Marling and her team counter the ‘why’ with ‘why not?’ 

So many shows try and replicate its first season (cough kind of looking at “You”, cough) or build upon it naturally. The first season was incredible in its own ways. But the second season of this show flipped the script. I suppose the lesson could be that love always finds a way, even when it’s not supposed to. But maybe the cynic in me feels the show is more about the will to survive even if our seeds are planted in the sand. 


3. Schitt’s Creek (season 5)

I had the luxury of watching five seasons of Schitt’s Creek in a row (thanks to streaming services!). While I was shocked that I had let a few years pass by without watching this show, I’m glad I was able to watch en masse — you really get to see the evolution of a family. I can’t wait to see how the series wraps up this year. 

 
4. Derry Girls (season 2) 

Derry Girls packs teen charm, intrigue, a bit of history and perspective in six twenty-minute episodes than what some shows can’t do in thirteen movie-length episodes. 

For some, UK humor can be a bit too dry, or the sarcasm is too palpable. But for me, a connoisseur of all types of humor, I enjoy the darkness which comes from shows like Derry Girls. This show really knows how to hook you, even if you were like me and had a very uneventful teenage decade and can’t relate to dead nuns, accidental arson and vodka smuggling. 


5. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (season 4)

Crazy that I forgot this show finished in January of 2019, but when putting this list together, it felt wrong not including it. The show ended so satisfyingly, even if it felt like it ended two to four seasons too early. The show is iconic — Titus will go down as one of the best characters of all time, and I think everyone has something relatable to the Kimmy Schmidt story. Not many of us have lived in a bunker for a long time, but we have experienced obstacles, dreams, and uncertainties. That’s what this show encapsulates quite well.