Josh’s Favorite TV Series of 2021 — Part Two!
Yesterday I began my list of my favorite TV series of 2021! Let’s continue…
15. Hacks — In a show that perhaps should be subtitled “Jean Smart can do anything”, the great Ms. Smart stars as Deborah Vance, a comedian living a luxurious life as a Las Vegas headliner. But after years of being a superstar, she’s in danger of losing her spot at the casino, so her agent convinces her to hire a young comedy writer named Ava (played by Hannah Einbinder) to write her some new material. The two very different women immediately clash, but as the season unfolds we watch them grow to a sort of understanding and mutual respect. Hacks is a compelling look at the struggles within show business of two complex and interesting women of different generations, and it’s a wonderful showcase for the enormous talents of Ms. Smart and Ms. Einbinder. The show really sizzles when the two of them are together — either collaborating or going at one another. (Click here for my full review.) (Photograph by Jake Giles Netter/HBO Max.)
14. Brooklyn Nine-Nine season 8 — The phenomenal comedy Brooklyn Nine-Nine took its final bow with this shortened but nevertheless wonderful season. I was impressed by the way this eighth and final season’s stories were designed to address, rather than hide from, the Black Lives Matter movement and all the other changes in our world that happened in the time between the end of season seven and the production of season eight. One of the best and most notable aspects of Brooklyn Nine-Nine has always been it’s wonderfully diverse cast, with so many people of color in the lead roles. (That’s still pretty amazing here in 2021, and it was even more special back in 2013 when the series began.) And so I’m glad the show allowed these characters to have a voice in these final episodes that reflected the reality of living as people of color in the United States today. Some of the shifting in tone between these serious topics and the show’s usual brand of goofy comedy was a little jarring, but I think these were the right decisions for the creative team to have made. And, to my great delight, the series finale, “The Last Day,” was a terrific final episode. It was a great example of the type of storytelling that Brooklyn Nine-Nine always did so well: a good-hearted, twisty-turny, very funny story that also provided emotional closure for these characters who I’d grown to love. The story of the finale, in which Jake — and, it turns out, several other characters — attempt to craft a “perfect goodbye” to commemorate his last day at the Nine-Nine, was a very clever attempt to address head-on the quixotic nature of crafting a “perfect goodbye” when making a finale to a long-running TV show. I miss this series already. (Click here for my full review on season eight.)
13. WandaVision — What has become a phenomenal wave of Marvel TV shows on Disney+ was kicked off with this remarkably fun and inventive series. Looking back on it, I remain hugely impressed by the creativity and gutsiness of kicking off these MCU Disney+ shows with a show as delightfully weird as WandaVision. The series is framed around a wonderfully unexpected and off-kilter conceit: the idea that, in each episode, we’d see Wanda and the Vision living out a story in the style of an episode of a TV show from across the decades of the history of classic TV. I love that the first Disney+ Marvel TV show was also such a delightful love letter to the world of TV shows! I was delighted watching the early episodes and seeing how perfectly the WandaVision cast and crew were able to recreate the look and feel of TV series such as Bewitched, The Brady Bunch, and more… complete with opening credits sequences and commercial breaks. What a bonkers idea! Elizabeth Olsen (Wanda) and Paul Bettany (the Vision) were extraordinary in each episode, beautifully mimicking the specific styles and mannerisms of these characters from the days of TV past. I was so happy to see Kat Dennings (who played Darcy in the Thor movies) and Randall Park (who played Jimmy Woo in Ant Man and the Wasp) again; I was dazzled by the brilliance of casting Evan Peters (who played Pietro in the Fox X-Men movies) to play Pietro here (even if the season finale sort of blew the story behind that character); Teyonah Parris was terrific as Monica Rambeau (a character I am thrilled to see in the MCU); and, of course, the great Kathryn Hahn was spectacular as “Agatha All Along”. I also have to highlight how much I loved episode eight, “Previously On,” which connected the dots of many different bits of Wanda’s backstory into a rich, coherent story of her trauma-filled life. What a beautiful way to pull together so many different strands of MCU continuity in a way that gave us a much deeper understanding of Wanda’s character than we’d ever before had. (Click here for my full review.)
12. Star Trek: Lower Decks — Wow, there’s a modern Star Trek show I don’t hate? Indeed there is! I enjoyed the first season of Lower Decks, but here in season two I absolutely LOVED it. All the pieces clicked into place in this show about four bumbling but lovable lower-ranked officers on a less-than-perfect 24th century Starfleet vessel. I’ve grown to truly love all four main characters, as well as the show’s ever-growing cast of supporting characters. The animation is gorgeous. But why I truly adore this show is because every frame of it is so clearly drenched in a love for Star Trek. Whereas the other modern day Trek shows scoff at and stomp all over established Trek continuity, Lower Decks embraces it. The series is a comedy, but it has been carefully crafted to look and feel EXACTLY like a 24th century show that fits perfectly into the established world of TNG, DS9, and Voyager. All of the tiny details are correct, from the look of the ships and technology to the uniforms to the sound effects. Each episode is stuffed full of a dizzying array of hilarious and impressively obscure Star Trek references. Time after time, episode after episode, I’m impressed and overjoyed by the way the show is able to mine the most obscure aspects of the Star Trek universe and turn them into either hilarious jokes or wonderfully compelling story points, or often both. This season’s guest appearance by the great Richard Kind was an all-time great TV moment. (Click here for my full review of season two.)
11. Invincible — Holy cow, I can’t believe that there was so much great TV this year that this amazing show didn’t make it into my Top Ten!! This delightfully layered (and violent!) animated adaptation of the wonderful comic book series (written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Cory Walker & Ryan Ottley) focuses on Mark Grayson, whose father Nolan is the Superman-like super-hero called Omni-Man. When Mark turns 17, he discovers that he too has super-powers, and he steps into the world of super-heroes and super-villains. Of course, fans of the comic book series know that description doesn’t really cover what Invincible is about — there are some huge turns early on that transformed the comic book into something far more interesting than that original description might make it sound, and this animated adaptation did a wonderful job of bringing those big storytelling swings to animated life. The animation is spectacular, and the voice cast is truly unbelievable: Steven Yeun, J.K. Simmons, Sandra Oh, Gillian Jacob, Andrew Rannells, Zazie Beets, Walton Goggins, Jason Mantzoukas, Zachary Quinto, Seth Rogen, Chris Diamantopoulos, Mark Hamill, Clancy Brown, Jon Hamm, Kevin Michael Richardson, Mahershala Ali, Ezra Miller… and so many more! I’m a big fan of the comic book series, and I was blown away by how great this adaptation was! I can’t wait for season two. (Click here for my full review.)
I hope you’ll come back tomorrow for numbers 10-6! And thank you to everyone who supports this site by using the Amazon links below.
Click here to pre-order my graphic novel José and the Pirate Captain Toledano!
Click here to purchase my “Maclunkey” Star Wars/Highlander mash-up t-shirt!
Please support MotionPicturesComics.com by clicking through one of our Amazon links the next time you need to shop! As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. That means I’ll receive a small percentage from any product you purchase from Amazon within 24 hours after clicking through. Thank you!