Josh’s Favorite TV Series of 2023 — Part Two!

I’m excited to have begun my list of my favorite TV series of 2023!  Click here for part 1.  And now, on with my list:

15. Loki season 2 — OK, so season two wasn’t as strong as the magnificent season one; it was still a joyously weird and strange show that  provided a well-deserved showcase for Tom Hiddleston’s villain-who-we-loved, Loki.  I was overjoyed by the addition of Ke Huy Quan as O.B. (full name: Ouroboros); his strange and smart and sweet character fit perfectly into the mix.  I’m retroactively mad that O.B. wasn’t in season one!!!  There was a lot of fun time-travel shenanigans this season, and most importantly of all, the show stuck the landing.  If we never see Loki again, the final scenes of this show were a perfect end to this character’s story (that began all the way back in 2011’s Thor).  (Click here for my full review of season two — and please give a listen to my guest appearance on the podcast Torah Smash: a podcast for Nerdy Jews, in which I discussed Loki season 2 and it’s many connections to Judaism!!!)

14. The Mandalorian season 3 — While this third season of The Mandalorian was a little shaggier than I’d hoped (filled with fun but weird digressions, like the episode on Coruscant focusing on the sort-of-reformed Dr. Pershing, or the one on the strange planet with Jack Black and Lizzo), and perhaps it didn’t quite fulfill all of my hopes that had built up over the show’s too-long hiatus (over-two-years!), this was still a magnificent (and strangely underrated!!) season of TV!!  It’s a miracle to have a Star Wars TV show this awesome!  I enjoyed every single one of this season’s eight episodes.  I loved the season’s central story of a return to Mandalore and a merging of the various Mandalorian groups seen on this show.  I loved the central role that Katie Sackhoff’s Bo Katan had — she’s incredible (the actress and the character)!!  I loved the exploration of life on Coruscant during the period of the New Republic.  I loved the incredible, action-packed flashback giving us a glimpse of how Grogu escaped the Purge during Episode III (and the glimpse of an ass-kicking Jedi, played Ahmed Best in an extraordinary example of Star Wars rehabilitation).  I loved seeing Rebels’ Zeb Orrelios.  I loved seeing Captain Pellaeon and the Imperial Shadow Council.  I love this show and hope we don’t have to wait too long before getting a fourth season!!  (Click here for my full review of season three.)

13. Only Murders in the Building season 3 — Here’s another show that, while it might not feel as exciting and original as it did during its first season, is still a wonderfully entertaining and delightful show!!  The magical combination of Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez remains one of the great TV pleasures of the past few years, while Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep were fantastic additions to the main cast!  I loved the new mystery this season, and as always I enjoyed the way the show slowly peeled the layers off the onion and shifted perspectives from character to character as the season unfolded, allowing us to see things from different perspectives and challenging our original assumptions.  I loved the glimpses we got of the Death Rattle musical; Charles’ “patter song” was a delightful ear-worm. (“Which of the Pickwick triplets did it…?”) I loved how well, in the finale, the Death Rattle plot mirrored the real-life events happening around it.  Bring on a fourth season!!  (Click here for my full review of season three.)

12. How To with John Wilson season 3 — And next on my list is yet ANOTHER show that, while it might not feel like it has quite that same blast of incredible originality that it did back in its first season, remains an incredible piece of TV brilliance.  The series is a beautiful love-letter to New York City, and to all of the  wonderfully weird fellow human beings who populate that city, and this planet.  Each episode is funny and melancholy and weird and beautiful.  It’s hard to describe this show.  Each episode purports to explore a different “how to” topic, but inevitably the joy of each episode is in the unexpected (and often deep and moving) digressions that spring from that initial topic.  In this third and final season, the show remained funny and surprising and sweet and melancholy.  I loved every minute of it.  John Wilson and his team have crafted something unique and magical.  (My full review of season three will be coming soon.)

11. Scott Pilgrim Takes Off — I’m a big fan of the Scott Pilgrim graphic novels and the wonderful film, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, that was directed by Edgar Wright.  This delightful animated series is a brilliant new adaptation of and expansion upon the source material.  The first episode starts off like another adaptation (as the movie was) of the original comic… but then the shocking final seconds of that premiere ricochet the story off into exciting new directions.  I was thrilled.  They’ve reunited the incredible cast of the film (including Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Alison Pill, Aubrey Plaza, Anna Kendirck, Chris Pine, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman, Brie Larson, Mae Whitman, Satya Bhabha, Johnny Simmons, Mark Webber, and Ellen Wong) and it’s extraordinary — I can’t believe they got this entire amazing cast back together!!!  It’s great to see the newfound focus on Ramona Flowers and other members of the supporting cast.  This series is an extraordinary achievement and a pure delight!  (My full review will be coming soon.)

Thanks for reading!  C’mon back soon as enter my TOP TEN favorite TV series of 2023!

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