The week in TV: Best shows of 2023, and a Fargo conversation

The 30 best TV shows of 2023

Not to point out the obvious, but this was a historic year for television. The industry was, of course, shaken up—and grounded to a halt—because of the writers’ and actors’ strikes. But we also, as viewers, had to say goodbye to some remarkable series (Succession and Reservation Dogs are merely two of many biggies that spring to mind), welcome some refreshingly original newbies like Beef and Mrs. Davis, and return to the worlds of shows we already love, including our choice for last year’s best series, The Bear. Now, without further ado, The A.V. Club presents the 30 top shows of 2023. (To be considered for this list, a series simply needed to air a new episode this year.) And here’s sincerely hoping that 2024 offers a similar breadth of genres, tones, laughs, feels, surprises, and creativity. Read More

Wait, is the Frasier reboot actually really funny?

A funny thing happened when I checked in on the Frasier reboot, lo these past two months: I kept watching the damn thing.

I wasn’t expecting to. The whole thing reeked of a vanity project for series star Kelsey Grammer; the show’s first few episodes were hampered by editing weirdness and a certain stilted discomfort from some of its younger cast members; there was no David Hyde Pierce. None of it boded especially well, even for a dedicated fan of the franchise. But as much as I expected to hate the Frasier reboot, or maybe just to “nothing” it, like so many other revivals of shows I loved as an overly nerdy comedy snob kid—ah, whither Murphy Brown?—I kept tuning in, week after week, and laughing while I did it. Read More

Fargo recap: “We have our own reality”

Let’s have dessert first: The long-awaited rematch between Dot and Roy Tillman’s goons in the fortified Lyon household takes up pretty much the opening half of tonight’s episode. This time the crack team led by Gator somehow do even worse than Munch and Wayne. Maybe it’s something to do with their choice of spooky masks which, we learn via multiple POVs, have absolutely abysmal sight lines. Gator sure is a man of style over substance. Read More

A Murder At The End Of The World recap: Tales from the crypt

Darby Hart is at a tipping point, and so is A Murder At The End Of The World. “Crypt” is filled with tales as Batmanglij and Marling’s whodunit gets to its inevitable interrogation episode, a hallmark of the genre. To be clear, AMATEOTW has answers. With two episodes left, it doesn’t seem like Batmanglij and Marling are going to pull a “the killer was the friends we made along the way.” Still, the show spends its longest episode showing some of its cards and preparing its final hand. It just can’t find a particularly compelling way of doing so. Read More

HBO’s Murder In Boston is an essential, if spotty, docuseries

Murder In Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning zooms in on a homicide that took place in October 1989. An obvious yet remarkable takeaway from examining the investigation more than 30 years later, is that it’s a relevant summation of the current political, socioeconomic, and cultural climate. This alone makes the three-part HBO docuseries, which premiered December 4, a vital effort despite some overarching pitfalls. The show can get frustrating, but don’t let that stop you from watching as it unapologetically unmasks the city’s—and by extension, the country’s—issues with endemic racism. Read More

Michelle Yeoh reigns supreme (as she should!) in The Brothers Sun trailer

Any time Michelle Yeoh reminds us she’s an action queen is a good time. The actor, who won an Academy Award for Everything Everywhere All At Once earlier this year, will next lead Netflix’s upcoming The Brothers Sun. And if the first trailer is any indication, she is ready to kick ass as a mafia queen. Read More

Fargo’s Noah Hawley unpacks tonight’s epic fight sequence and teases the rest of season 5

In Fargo’s long-awaited fifth season, Noah Hawley’s acclaimed anthology series boasts a gripping modern crime story, a pretty sensational cast, and, oh yeah, those accents. The 2019-set episodes in latest tale center on Dorothy “Dot” Lyon (Juno Temple), a seemingly simple Minnesota housewife with secrets up her sleeve. She’s been hiding from her abusive ex-husband, Sheriff Roy Tillman (Jon Hamm), for a decade, and she’ll have to defend her family when he comes knocking on her door. Read More

My Life With The Walter Boys review: Can you dudes back off of this literal grieving child, please?

The romance in Romeo And Juliet does not do it for Jackie Howard, the 15-year-old Manhattanite and heroine of Ali Novak’s 2014 YA novel My Life With The Walter Boys (the basis for the Netflix show that drops December 7). In the book’s opening chapter, she makes it abundantly clear that fully getting to know someone is her ideal approach to love. Well, guess what, Jackie? You’re gonna get your wish! You get to live with 10 entire boys on a farm in Colorado and get to know them extra, super well. But also, that means they’re kind of your brothers now. And both of your parents and your older sister have to die for that to happen, so … yeah. Congratulations on entering “boy heaven”? At least your family won’t be there to disapprove? Read More