These arent just very good TV shows.
These were our escapes from despair.
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Any time we watch a television show, we seek to be transported to another place.
The best and safest way to travel in 2020 wasnt by plane, car, or train.
It was by logging into Netflix or HBO Max.
These arent just very good TV shows.
These were our escapes from despair in 2020.
Acting under a mask and armor, Pascal anchors the series with his sheer physical authority.
You sense what the character is feeling and thinking even though you never see his face.
JenChaneysTop10Showsof2020
10.Mrs.
But the pleasures ofMrs.
If this story has already been done well twice, why bother doing it again?
Actually, to sayThe Queens Gambitis about chess is as reductive as describingFriday Night Lightsas a show about football.
7.Normal People(Hulu)
The first word this limited series brings to mind isintimate.
They are women in their early 30s, playing their preteen alter egos opposite other, actual preteen actors.
These six episodes seep into the brain and burrow under the skin in ways that are not easily shaken.
2.Unorthodox(Netflix)
On every level,Unorthodoxis a transportive show.
The richness and immersive nature ofUnorthodoxis all the more astonishing considering that it unfolds in an economical four episodes.
This series practiced what it preached.
(She was also raped under similar circumstances.)
There was truly nothing else like it on television.
I still see the flaws I pointed out when I watched.
Its just too long, and it could be much better paced.
The more I let it roll around in my mind, though, the fonder I grew of it.
I loved the shows sense of abandon from the beginning.
But with more time, I found myself admiring its delicacy, too.
Its a delicious season of television.
Most fascinating, for me, isP-Valleys exploration of entertainment, attention, release, and enthrallment.
It also risked being too close to reality, in an unpleasant way.
Maybe itd be better to give this spot to another show that hadnt gotten the spotlight yet?
This series belongs with the wave of remarkable docuseries this year, but its also defiantly, fantastically different.
Its a really tender depiction of New York, New Yorkers, and weirdos.
I spent several worried moments over the past year thinking aboutThe Good Lord Bird.
It unequivocally surpassed my expectations, far beyond what I hoped for.
Few shows from 2020 have stuck with me more.
AngelicaJadeBastiensTop10Showsof2020
10.Dare Me(USA)
What a glittering hot-house spectacle!
The first few episodes, which focus on Maras character grooming her student, are difficult to watch.
But its the second half of the season where the show really sings.
It grows exceedingly dark as it charts what happens when the relationship is discovered.
Also, the series is blessedly composed of half-hour episodes.
The show knows these characters can never fully move on from the horror of what happened between them.
The lushly overwrought look lends the entire show a strange and intriguing mood.
6.P-Valley(Starz)
Ill say it upfront:P-Valleyisnt perfect, but I love it.
My major problem is a tricky one.
Mercedes is the reason to watch the show.
This series is, ultimately, all about the pleasure principle.
You get to watch beautiful bodies in motion under candy-colored lights.
You get high-octane drama with a story full of twists, sex, and intrigue.
Its a wild ride you dont want to end.
it’s possible for you to easily enjoyHarley Quinnon a visceral level.
The visual style is bright with eclectic touches.
2.Veneno(HBO Max)
Venenois electric.
The finale is the best episode of television to air in this heartbreaking and surreal year.
While it deals with heavy subject matter, the show isnt a drag its both delightful and challenging.
A God-tier work of television that reminds of the splendor of this medium.
OtherTVHighlightsfromThisYear
Throughout 2020, our critics maintained Best TV of the Year (So Far) lists.
Many of those selections appear above in our top ten picks.
Below are the rest of the shows that stood out to them this year, presented in alphabetical order.
Part noir, part psychological examination, and partCabaret-esque genderqueer musical performance (!
),Babylon Berlinis hands down one of the best and most beautiful shows this year.
But at the beginning of 2020, Netflixs show about the cheerleaders of Navarro College became a phenomenon.
As a look at a highly specialized sport, its a great show.
The 2020 Democratic National Convention
A political convention is not normally must-see television.
A whole episode about the Trump pee tape?
Poking the corporate overlords on Chinese censorship?
In addition to its politics, though,The Good Fighthas always been simultaneously unafraid about itself.
Itll try plots that seem impossible and strange metafictional twists that should be just silly.
But she hides that reality from her peers by constantly telling stories about her normal, loving family life.
But Jordan doesnt completely come off smelling like a rose in this widely watched, ten-part docuseries.
23 in their heyday.
Lenox Hill(Netflix)
Theres something immediately, undeniably magnetic about a really great docuseries.
The docuseries focuses on a few great neurosurgeons and follows some truly lovely, heartbreaking cases.
But many of the individual stories are moving, lovely, and carefully observed.
Instead, its stories often land with sharp, bittersweet notes.
ButNever Have I Everdoes more than just tell a particularly well-made version of that story.
Gorgeously shot,We Are Who We Areisnt plot-driven so much as experience-driven.
The show puts you in the company of its coming-of-age characters and lets you just watch them be.
