Daniel Baas' Best Television of 2024
TV continues to be one of the centerpieces of pop culture. As the embers stoke from the apex of our Golden Age of Television, great stories continue to be made. But as streaming services fragment the types and amount of content we have access to, it's becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with everything that is produced. Some shows may find new life years from now, others never will. The monoculture surrounding shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, or Game of Thrones may be gone, but there are still plenty of flickers of quality to be found.
First, some shows I didn't see in 2024 but feel confident could have made the list: Dune: Prophecy, English Teacher, Land Man, Ripley
Now, for my favorites of the year- note that these are in alphabetical order, not ranked. 2024 had some great shows, both new and returning, but I didn't feel strongly enough about them to rank any higher than others:
3 Body Problem, Season 1 (Netflix)
The show leans into visual spectacle on a number of occasions, but finds room for some truly human moments that ground this sci-fi epic. The show was a surprise, but is based off of the popular novel by Cixin Liu-- with completed source material to work from, we can hope that Benoiff and Weiss can land the plane in a much more elegant way than they did with Game of Thrones.
Fargo, Season 5 (FX)
The anthology series from showrunner Noah Hawley returned with an all-star cast including Juno Temple, John Hamm, Joe Keery, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and an Emmy-winning performance from Lamorne Morris. Hamm goes off-type for his performance in a role as corrupt sheriff Roy Tillman, but the whole cast delivers on one of the best seasons of the show to-date.
Full Swing, Season 2 (Netflix)
Full Swing might be a surprise on this list, but the second season of the Drive to Survive spinoff following the lives and exploits of PGA Tour and LIV Golf players is one of the best all-access shows I’ve seen. Netflix cameras were embedded with players during one of the most turbulent years ever for professional golf and captured the ways in which the looming threat of Saudi-backed investments have threatened the very nature of the game so many love. This existential threat is shown in contrast to some great human stories of golfers making their way on the PGA Tour, like an episode dedicated to Alex Fitzpatrick, brother of U.S. Open winner Matthew Fitzpatrick. Even if you don’t follow golf, Full Swing is well worth the watch.
John Mulaney Presents: Everybody's in LA (Netflix)
Everybody’s In L.A. was a surprise and delight in 2024. This six-night live variety show took viewers on a tour of the oddities of Los Angeles in a way only John Mulaney (and announcer Richard Kind) could deliver. At the beginning of episode 5, "Earthquakes," Mulaney calls his shot, proudly declaring that this would be their Emmy episode, and my goodness did he deliver on that declaration. If there is any reason to watch this show, it would be this episode. But the show as a whole is an absolute delight. I just hope to see it come back in a similar form, possibly with another city, very soon.
The Penguin (HBO)
In a landscape of superhero and superhero-adjacent shows that have dominated our cultural consciousness in the past decade or more, what sets HBO/Max’s The Penguin apart? Especially when the titular character was really the secondary villain in 2022’s The Batman? Lauren LeFranc’s story is a grounded character study of Oz Cobb (the Penguin) and his former employer-turned-nemesis Sofia Falcone, daughter of crime boss Carmine Falcone who is killed near the end of the film The Batman. The characters are complex, layered, and stay true to their motivations. The story stays true to itself as well and feels like the perfect interlude to a story set in a fully realized world. The critical and popular success of the show means we are likely to see more of these characters in the years to come.
Say Nothing (Hulu)
This Hulu miniseries documents The Troubles in Northern Ireland from the perspective of two sisters who came up with the IRA. Patrick Radden Keefe’s incredible book by the same name forms the basis for this miniseries, but the series incisively gets at the human element of the struggle of the IRA and the human cost involved in fighting for a cause.
The story is framed by audio interviews with older versions of key characters retelling the events of the distant and near past. It is an emotional and complex story that reaches its apex with an episode depicting the hunger strike undertaken by the Price sisters in prison which lasted 208 days, 165 of which they underwent force feeding at the command of the British authorities.
Say Nothing takes great care to show the complexities of its central characters, as well as the broader struggle. I hope we get more shows like this one in the future.
Shōgun, Season 1 (FX)
2024 was a great year for historical stories on the small screen, and Shōgun is no exception. The stunning blockbuster from FX made waves early in the year with a gripping story of a British seaman trapped in Feudal Japan in the middle of a struggle for power. Based on the novel by the same name, the show had been in development for years, finally releasing to critical acclaim this year.
Shōgun is a triumph. The performances are excellent across the board and stick with you, the cinematography shines, and the VFX are seamless and immerse you in the world of the show. Shōgun is a true spectacle at its finest.
Silo, Season 2 (Apple TV+)
While season 2 of Silo is currently in-progress, it has no less delivered a stunning follow up to 2023’s breakout hit with season 1. Based on the novels by Hugh Howey, the show apparently follows the source material quite closely, giving the world a well thought-out feel and intentionality in the storytelling. The episodes have some of the best cliffhangers outside of those engineered by Netflix, and make for a very compelling watch. Apple recently announced the renewal of the show for a 3rd and 4th final season, which should give plenty of runway for more exciting action.
True Detective: Night Country (HBO)
The 4th edition of HBO’s hit mystery show returned in 2024 in a new form. Without the direct hand of original writer for the first three seasons, Nic Pizzolatto, the show threaded the needle of honoring the heritage of the first 3 seasons, while forging its own way forward.
An air of the supernatural continues to hover over the show, but not in a heavy-handed way, like HBO’s other recent mystery series The Outsider. That supernatural through-line is one which separates any season of True Detective from other procedural mysteries and makes every season a compelling must-watch event.
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