This was an odd year for TV, with a bunch of shows that started strong and then just didn’t have the hold to keep me, but then we found a higher level of quality this year than many of the past, which has led us to a slightly longer list this year.
So this year, we will look at all the shows we reviewed last year, SEE HERE, and pick our Top 15 of the 35 shows we reviewed. For a show to count, it needed to end its run or season in 2024.
Highly Commended – Buried, Citadel Honey Bunny, Doctor Who,The Gentlemen, Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters & Star Trek: Discovery
Special Awards:
- Best Beard in Television: .327% Brad Boimler in Star Trek: Lower Decks
- Best Use of the Italian Tourist Board: Mr. & Mrs. Smith
- Most Stressful Fireworks Scene: The Diplomat
- Most Complicated Feels of 2024: Shrinking
- The Magneto Award for Always Being Right: Magneto in X-Men ’97
- Worst Snake Bite Advice in Media – Earth Abides
So, without further ado, these are our Top 15 TV Shows of 2024. Be warned that there may be slight spoilers for the shows in question.
15 – Star Wars: The Acolyte
The unfortunately much-maligned series, what The Acolyte did so well was build upon the lore of The Force in new and interesting ways. While also shining a light on why the Jedi were doomed to fail.
14 – The Diplomat
The sophomore political season brought everything that you needed to do. It deepened the big revelation of the first season in an interesting way. The Diplomat is anchored by Keri Russell and aided by a fantastic supporting cast and ending on a moment that just might have upstaged their first season in all the right ways.
13 – The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
The story about making the rings was everything that I wanted. Sure, The Rings of Power is heavily truncating the timeline here, but they perfectly nailed how one of the greatest elven minds of all time could have been corrupted to create something so downright evil.
12 – Reacher
Add unfortunate murder, an unscrupulous businessman helmed by a well-known character actor, several exquisite beatdowns, and a mountain of a man in Alan Ritchson, and you have the perfect recipe for Reacher. It worked well in their first season and possibly even better in season two.
11 – Black Doves
Black Doves popped onto the screen with one of the most intriguing opening sequences that I have watched this year. It then added layers of extra intrigue, a couple of betrayals, and one of the best buddy team-ups this year, and you get this gem.
10 – Earth Abides
What would you do when you wake up to find that you are the only person left and a virus killed everyone you loved while you were fighting off a rattlesnake? The Earth Abides is asking some fascinating questions. Do you try to rebuild what you lost or chart something new? Do you let people in or build up fences? Do you let yourself love again or try not to be hurt by the pain of loss?
9 – Fallout
It is a video game adaptation that works in the visual medium and is also faithful to the predecessor in such a way that it builds on the universe’s lore in a way that feels natural. Well, congratulations to Fallout for pulling that off. Then you make fundamentally compelling characters and a fun narrative, and you get 9th place for the year.
8 – Star Trek: Lower Decks
While the start of Lower Deck’s final season started a bit rough, they came home with one of the strongest back halves this year. You felt the love for both the characters in the show and Star Trek in general. I can not begin to explain the joy this show brought each and every week and how much I would love to visit the USS Cerritos.
7 – Percy Jackson and the Olympians
While it might not be a high bar to leap over, Percy Jackson and the Olympians might win the away for most improved. It is a series full of actors and writers who get the material and are clearly having fun with it, and that fun gets brought to the screen in droves. The core three might be one of the best casting choices this year, and they take that energy throughout the entire show.
6 – Star Trek: Prodigy
Star Trek: Prodigy has a real heart that it shows to its characters, and it shows a genuine willingness to go to some wild places to make that happen. It made me care for characters I had never cared for before. It was also the best Doctor Who in a year, where we also got Doctor Who. I honestly hope we get more of this scrappy series that could.
5 – Mr. & Mrs. Smith
Mr. & Mrs. Smith was the sleeper hit for the year, and I mean that both literally and also as a pun. Watching two strangers fall in and then dramatically out of love while working as contract assassins is an excellent hook. It also had the strength to turn most of its final episode into one long-running action scene across New York, and that worked because they spent the time building everything up to make it excellent.
4 – The Penguin
The Penguin had a tough job because it was living in the shadow of The Batman film and needed to stay within that space, but it also wanted to chart its own course. I am not sure how they pulled it off, but they did, and what a series it was. Colin Farrell and Cristin Milioti spar across the City of Gotham, leaving so many bodies in their wake, and oh, Rhenzy Feliz, poor, poor, Rhenzy Feliz. It kept me captivated from the start to the final Batman-signal-filled frame.
3 – Shōgun
What Shōgun focuses on is the details, helping you come into this world and immediately get a sense of where all the fault lines lie. It is these touches that connect you with a character, a people, and a culture, and that is the power of costuming when it is done correctly. Shōgun fictionally depicts a real-time in Japanese history where power was in a state of flux. There are constant shifts in power; people rise and fall, and if you fall, the likelihood of you ending up with a sword in your body is high. Few shows have sucked me in like this, and I was hooked, wondering just who was going to end up where even though I knew the history it was based on.
2 – X-Men ’97
X-Men ’97 knows that you are there for nostalgia, and it is not above leaning into that. However, it is also not willing to just rest on nostalgia and is prepared to leave you shocked as to what you just watched when they grabbed me by the heart, spoke some Cajun, and then crushed it in a matter of seconds. Every part of the production soars: the action, the music, the stories, and the animation. The final trilogy was some of the best TV I have ever watched, and it had me gasping. I also have no idea where they are going to go in season two, but I am here for it.
And the Number 1 is!!!!! – Shrinking
In today’s binge-streaming culture, it is almost expected that you will sit down and plough through a series in one or two sessions. Television that is almost just on in the background while you are doing other things. Well, Shrinking is a series that respects you as a viewer in a way that you can’t watch all of it in one sitting because you need to savour every moment of it. No series this year has had me gasp out loud while I am already crying and laughing at the same time. Watching someone use helping people as a hard drug that slowly loses its power made for a complicated watch, but one you could not look away. Every character in the show gets to find more depth this season, and that is something that the show desperately needs. I can not begin to explain the feeling I had watching that final scene, and I am getting emotional just writing about it. It is a work of beauty that can make the word Cincinnati hurt so much. It was a wonder from start to finish, with people giving some of their best work in their careers, and I hope they continue to land each punch next season.
With that, our awards for Television in 2024 end. It was an excellent year for the small screen, and we look forward to continuing our coverage into 2025. What was your favourite TV Show this year? Let us know in the comments below.
By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.
What are your favourite cinematic moments from 2024?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day.
Credits – All images used were created by the respective studios and artists of each show
TL;DR Movie Reviews and Analysis 
Pingback: My Top 20 Films of 2024 | TL;DR Movie Reviews and Analysis