Sam Woolf’s Top 10 TV Shows Of 2015

TV, I love you, but you’re bringing me down. It’s not like writing these articles has been a cakewalk in years past, always requiring the same preface blurb that lists off “Best of” caveats numerous enough to warrant their own Top 10 (#10: Subjectivity! #9: I need sleep!). But it’s in the year that we finally put a name to the intimidating volume of television being produced right now that #PeakTV quickly morphed from phenomenon, to joke, to status quo. Even with just Netflix committing (threatening?) to double its original content releases in 2016, the faucet, like your flat-screen, won’t be turning off anytime soon. There has never been more television being released on more platforms from more different creators and studios than there is today. The number of hours in any given day, unfortunately, remains stubbornly fixed. One seldom found themself caught up on everything good back when just terrestrial programming was fighting for your attention, but the proliferation of digital platforms, coupled with buffet-style release models, has turned us all into Lucy in the chocolate factory. Even as I type that last sentence, two new Netflix series are releasing in mere hours; I hear they’re both pretty good. The entertainment machine inexorably spins on, and there’s no end in sight. Does more TV automatically mean better TV? I’m inclined to say yes; or at least, better at ensuring a viewer’s entertainment hours are filled with something that speaks to them on a personal level. Five of my favorites from 2015 are holdovers from last year, and four are totally new (to me at least, in one case). With rare exception, though, the following choices could have easily been bumped off to include any number of other great series, old and new, that wowed, moved, or satisfied me in other ways. Remembering what I picked and what spot it got will be hard to remember a year from now –probably because I’ll be too busy worrying about what I missed in 2016. Until then, a toast to the following, which I thought were the top 10 TV shows of 2015: 10) Wolf Hall A scandalous excuse for courtly intrigue starring the half of Britain’s population not already employed by Game of Thrones, BBC’s Wolf Hall successfully adapted all the post-medieval politicking and skullduggery of Hilary Mantel’s award-winning historical fiction novels. An exploration of the House of Tudor by way of House of Cards, the miniseries made Thomas Cromwell’s rags to aristocrat ascendance through the court of Henry VIII a highly entertaining study in the power of kings, religion, and simple persuasion. The factual backbone of the series gave every death and nation-defining decision an extra kick in the pantaloons, but it was the terrific cast, costuming, and location shooting that made Wolf Hall feel lavish on a Masterpiece budget. With Mantel’s concluding novel in the series due shortly, we can only hope that the BBC doesn’t waste any time in delivering a proper conclusion to this stately, but engrossing telly tell-all. 9) Master Of None If Netflix’s Master of None is an authority on anything, it’s appropriate titling. 2015 was packed with amazing half hour comedies nestled just outside the confines of this list, each a master in its own right. Review was the flat-out funniest, You’re the Worst the most sardonically sweet, Catastrophe the most disgustingly romantic. On aggregate though, it was Aziz Ansari’s candidly personal and totally winning new series that proved itself 2015’s comedy to beat. Whether musing on racial representation in the media, earnestly reaching out to the inner lives of parents and the elderly, or just enjoying a magical weekend in Nashville, Ansari’s Dev was the loveable anchor around which Master of None could explore whatever subject happened to strike its fancy. Your only assurance came in knowing that wherever Dev’s friends, adventures, or confusion took him, hilarity would ensue. 8) The Knick It’s rather fitting that Cinemax’s period hospital drama airs Friday nights, seeing as spending time at the Knickerbocker is a lot like going to a club, where heaven is found in the disorienting pull of a toxic hellhole. In expanding its worldview to include citywide corruption, institutional hypocrisy, and medically backed racism, The Knick’s second (final?) season was a classifiable depressant. But the lows were worth weathering for the sublime pleasure that was watching Steven Soderbergh direct each episode with inexhaustible fire, and getting to see one of TV’s best ensembles trod the medium’s most finely constructed boards. No two scenes play out the same - either compared to one another or on repeat viewing - when performances, production design, and direction are always elbowing one another for your attention. Ain’t no party like a Knickerbocker party, ‘cause a Knickerbocker party has the best music, company, and drugs. 7) The Jinx If Robert Durst didn’t exist, the world’s crime novelists would have had to make him up. How else could exist a man who, while a wanted fugitive with tens of thousands of dollars at his disposal, got caught shoplifting a supermarket hoagie, and by most accounts –perhaps even his own- got away with multiple homicides? Andrew Jarecki’s expertly constructed reexamination of the Durst cases would have made for a superior piece of true crime on its own, but it’s his interviews with the man at the centre of several cold cases that turned documentary into history. The most jaw-dropping bathroom break ever recorded for television kicked off absorbing debate over the legality of Durst’s self-incrimination, Jarecki’s control of the story, and the ethical responsibilities of investigative filmmaking. What is close to inarguable is that we’ll never see something like The Jinx on TV ever again. 6) Transparent What does a TV show look like when you remove most of the usual boundaries? How do you write a story with no clear objective, where the heroes and villains are one and the same? Transparent, as it did in 2014, figured out how to make the aimless lives of uncomfortably relatable narcissists into some of the year’s most emotionally nuanced and perceptive programming. Along with the Pfefferman clan, Jill Soloway’s series continues to broaden its understanding of how people relate to one another, both as individuals, and bearers of different faiths, sexualities, and genders. It’s not a show you watch in the hopes that this is the episode where Maura, Ali, and the rest finally get it together. Instead, the joy of watching Transparent is in knowing that every step forward or back for these characters will be funny, thoughtful, and fully realized. 5) Justified Even when its disappointing fifth season had you wondering just how many tales FX’s modern Western had left to tell, one thing was still abundantly clear: Justified does endings better than just about any other show on television. Thankfully, that magic rubbed off on the show’s final season, which saw the series go out firing on all cylinders. New additions Sam Elliott and Mary Steenburgen stole many a scene, as Justified villains are wont to do, but it was the send-offs for Raylan, Boyd, Ava, and the deep supporting cast that made this last season a promise fulfilled. The TV landscape is poorer for losing the wit and wisdom of Elmore Leonard as channeled through Graham Yost and his writing staff, but Justified ended on its own terms, unforgettably so. And that last scene? Well…you’ll have to excuse me; I think I have a little coal dust in my eye. 4) The Leftovers It’s more than a little amusing that TV’s most fully envisioned science fiction world is the one where God is real, and a capricious jerk. After sleeping on HBO’s The Leftovers last year, a season one marathon (which proved to be the television equivalent of Speed Grieving) left me asking one all-important question: could creators Damon Lindelof and Tom Perrotta continue making a series that operated with such powerful emotional logic that the vagaries of its storytelling would keep supporting the show’s guiding philosophy, instead of curdling into an overall liability? Lo and behold, a change of scenery and structure didn’t just give The Leftovers a new lease on life, but also further deepened its characters, mysteries, and spiritual identity. Whether in individual moments as poignant as Kevin Garvey singing “Homeward Bound,” or entire episodes as harrowing as “No Room at the Inn,” The Leftovers asked more of viewers than maybe any other series this year, but rewarded faith in its unique vision like few other shows could. 3) Hannibal What more can be said of a series so lost in conversation with itself that calling it a show doesn’t begin to scratch the surface of Hannibal’s essence? Psychological stage play? Crime fiction fairy tale? Audiovisual nightmare? Hannibal wore many masks through its run, particularly during this final season, which split the difference between material fresh and familiar. If the show’s sharp transition from prequel to direct adaptation of “Red Dragon” proved bumpy at times, you wouldn’t know to look at it. By ending in the spectacular fashion that it did, Hannibal extinguished the strongest example of television that’s as visually refined as it is expressive. What creator Bryan Fuller accomplished over three seasons of bloodletting drama was nothing short of a resurrection, not just of a franchise name or a stock TV genre, but of the idea that network television can be just as daring and uncompromising as anything else out there. Santé, arigatou, and ciao, Dr. Lecter. 2) Mad Men At the time, plenty of digital ink was spilled debating just how exactly we were meant to interpret the final image and ad of Mad Men. What’s followed in the months since the pioneering AMC drama ended is close to radio silence. The lack of dissection performed in the wake of Mad Men’s closing doesn’t mean it died in obscurity, though. In the seventh and final season of the series, Matthew Weiner gave Mad Men’s viewers something Don Draper could never find for himself: contentment. The last seven episodes of the show that we got in 2015 brought closure to almost all of Mad Men’s great characters, sad though it was to say goodbye to them. It’s no small feat that a show this unwieldy and sprawling somehow managed to end as cathartically as it did. With its final season, Mad Men ensured that many would soon feel nostalgia for not just certain characters or glory years, but that little corner of our lives Sterling Cooper occupied from 2007 to 2015. Mad Men isn’t just a series anymore; it’s its own time machine. 1) The Americans If history is any indicator, next year’s season of The Americans will be even better than the consistently superb one that preceded it – it just might be nigh unwatchable. Season 3 was a dark year for the show, and that’s saying something for a series about KGB sleeper agents lying, killing, and torturing for Mother Russia in the hours between taking the kids to church and putting supper on the table. Season 3’s violence was at-times Hannibal-level disturbing, but the emotional weight every hour carried was always what kept you coming back for more. The Americans continued being TV’s most densely and intricately layered viewing experience, whether that meant untangling knotty espionage plots, parsing the motivations behind the complexly written and delivered performances, or savoring the understated brilliance of its top-tier direction. This is as rewarding as serial dramas get these days, even if watching it sometimes means you should have a bottle of Xanax handy.