The Best TV Shows (I Think) Of 2024
Or, at least some of the things I watched that I remember
Welcome back. After a year away from posting a list of what I thought were the best TV shows I watched during the year—and, a list that absolutely no one begged me to do—I have returned with a rundown of a bunch of TV stuff that came my way over the past 12 months.
Yes, I know you have been waiting on bated breath for this. Try to control your enthusiasm.
These lists have never tried to be on the level of something “profound” that the New York Times would crank out. I don’t get very much into the “deeper meaning” of what these shows represent. And, I don’t limit myself to new shows that just premiered this year.
Because of how streaming services have upended the TV industry, it is impossible to watch everything new. There just isn’t enough time. But, also because of streaming, the opportunities to rediscover older shows is greater than ever. I know there are a few shows here that I was more interested in than any others, simply because I might not have seen them in years, and now, I could pull an entire series into my living room by just punching a couple of buttons on my Apple TV remote.
So, without further ado…Here’s some stuff I found worth watching in 2024…
10. Only Murders In The Building (Hulu)
The fourth season of the Steve Martin-Martin Short-Selena Gomez comedy-mystery might have been more clever and ridiculous than ever. “Steve Martin Short” is always funny, and Selena Gomez does the exasperated partner with just enough snark to not be too snarky. The show leaned in heavily with guest stars this sesaon—Just watch any random episode and you’ll know what I mean—And, as usual, they caught the culprit who was another B-level cast member. But the show still has some legs due to the talent and chemistry of its three leads. And, yes, it is still funny.
9. Cobra Kai (Netflix)
The final season of Cobra Kai is being divided into three, five-episode parts, and it’s just as silly as it’s always been. High school kids who barely two years ago (in the show’s timeline) fell over if someone looked at them are now ass-kicking karate machines. And you really have to suspend your disbelief when bad guys who were in jail, or have become broken down drunks in a bar in Bangkok, are suddenly able to pull together teams of karate machines and go to Spain for the world title. But, this saga has always had a bit of fantasy at its core, and Mr. Miyagi would be proud.
8. Ghosts (CBS/Paramount+)
A woman inherits a mansion in upstate New York from a great aunt that she never knew existed. She takes a tumble, and when she comes to, she can see ghosts. You know, stuff that happens all the time. Like many American shows, Ghosts is adapted from a British comedy of the same name. It’s missing some of the “Britishness” of its source from across the pond, but it’s still funny enough to hold down a weekly spot in our TV routine.
7. The Agency (Showtime/Paramount+)
Now, here’s something different. An American drama series adapted from a series from…France. I figured this out during the middle of the second episode of this CIA drama, as I had actually seen its French progenitor, The Bureau, a few years back. Michael Fassbender plays a CIA agent called back to London after six years undercover in Addis Abada and continues to move up my list of favorite actors of today. Richard Gere is the London station chief, which is cool.
6. Moonlighting (Hulu)
Well, here was something old and new. Moonlighting, the 80s comedy about a broke model and lackadasical private investigator that made Bruce Willis a star and revitalized Cybill Shepherd’s career finally became available for streaming this year. Remember 80s power suits (both for men and women) and still having to make calls from public pay phones? There is plenty of both in a Moonlighting episode.
5. Man On The Inside (Netflix)
Ted Danson takes on about his 10 millionth TV role as a retired architecture professor trying to get back into th groove of life a year after the death of his wife. What does he do? He goes undercover to catch a thief in a San Francisco retirement community. Hilarity and, suprisingly, warmth ensues.
4. Bad Monkey (Apple TV+)
Vince Vaughn is a cop/restaurant inspector in Miami who gets caught up in a case involving an amputated arm, a voodoo queen, an oncoming hurricane and a monkey in a show based on one of Carl Hiassen’s novels. If you’ve ever read one of Carl Hiassen’s novels, you know how unreal the storyline can be, and how smartly written the characters are.
3. Northern Exposure (Amazon Prime)
One of the Holy Grails of TV shows to finally get on a streaming service. I guess they finally worked out all the rights issues involving music used during Northern Exposure’s original six-season run. Nearly 30 years after “NX” ran its last episode on CBS, Joel Fleischman, Maggie O’Connell, Chris In The Morning and the rest of Cicely, Alaska still come through with one of the best shows ever to earn “cult” status.
2. Landman (Paramount+)
This is the best new show on TV in the past year. Billy Bob Thornton is a general manager of an oil company in Texas, with “general manager” really being code for “a fixer”. And he looks exactly like a guy who has been through too many oil booms and busts to count. It doesn’t help that he gets back together with his smokeshow of an ex-wife (played by real-life, 48-year-old smokeshow Ali Larter) who is as crazy as she is hot. One look at Billy Bob and you understand why his character needs two packs a day.
1. The Trump-Biden Debate (Everywhere)
Well, do I need to say anything more about this? Honestly, this was the most-compelling thing on TV this year, and maybe of the last decade. The drama really was real. We all saw for ourselves that the President of the United States really didn’t have it anymore. The proof was there. The crooks had lied for years.
The coverup was blown. The country was probably headed to the eventual election result regardless, but the debate broke the dam open for what is going to be at least a decade of change that the majority wanted, and a victory they don’t have to shy about celebrating.
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