Here are the 14 Best TV Shows (that I watched) during 2014:
*The Honorable Mentions:
OKAY. I know, this is technically cheating. Just hear me out. I haven't seen every episode of the new seasons of Bob's Burgers, Archer, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Broad City, Louie, or at least enough to justify putting them on this list. I'm basically putting them on the list as a principle since they've really impressed me. I implore you to watch these shows so you can feel better about life on a daily basis.
14) Justified
Somebody once described Justified as "the secret handshake of awesome TV. Not a whole lot of people know about it, but there's always an instant connection with those who do." I fucking hate the person who came up with this because that's such a perfect definition of this modern western show. Justified had 4 near-perfect seasons in a row and they were bound to slip up a bit eventually. Season 5 still aimed for the sky and brought a world of colorful new character to Harlan county. If it kept up momentum that the previous 4 seasons had, this would be much higher on the list. Cheers to waiting for the final season.
13) 24: Live Another Day
24 had one hell of a comeback in its re-final season. Traditional 24 tropes were brought back with the rejuvenated final season, but were either turned on their heads, or felt like a warm blanket wrapping around me with overly violent tactics to stop terrorists. With 12 episodes instead of a traditional 24, the best action show ever put on TV was able to deliver one of its best seasons with America's second best action hero (John McClane is first) kicking ass one last time.
12) Arrow
After initially being a decent bingewatch series, Arrow grew into a pretty good show. The soap operatics and melodrama nearly turned me off during the initial first season (tldr; season 1 is CW as fuck). Then something happened where the show found its groove and turned into a pretty dang good show. Season 2 of Arrow wasn't just an improvement over the decently fun first season, it gave us some of the best superhero material ever put to live action. The second half of season 2 had me go through just as many emotions as a grand blockbuster would. The first half of season 3 had its issues with treading water but with a murder-mystery now solved, and one hell of a literal cliffhanger, things are shaping up for another great second half of a season.
11) Orange is the New Black
Piper's prison adventures ramped up and she took a bit of a backseat to all the drama this season. As a fan of Piper, I was sad to see her diminished in her own story. As a fan of OITNB, I was just glad to spend more time with the other inmates. One of the most diverse shows currently airing (yes, representation is fucking important) the series took an interesting approach to exploring the new dynamics of the prison with the introduction of a villain we all loved to hate.
10) Veep
If you watched The Newsroom this season but not Veep, I don't even want to know you. Veep can go toe-to-toe with the best political satire. There's an increase in flashier supporting characters (fucking Jonah) with a clearer focus on a seasonal arc that somehow brings this season of Veep to legendary status. Daniwah! Dani-fucking-wah!
9) Rick and Morty
After being booted off of Community, Dan Harmon went into a bout of depression. He went on to create Rick and Morty, essentially a fucked up version of Back to the Future with an in-your-face look at existentialism. Almost every episode is better than the last and not a single episode wastes time with a subpar concept. Shows that run for several seasons don't reach the heights that Rick and Morty do.
8) Community
Wouldn't you know it? Dan Harmon has two shows on this list from the same year. After being fired, then returning to Community, Harmon was left with a tricky situation. He could have given the "It was all a dream" situation to season 4, with characters retconning themselves in Abed's mind (I absolutely believe this idea crossed his mind at some point). Instead, Harmon reworked the show's thesis and returned to the heartwarming "community" of Greendale Community College. This may be an unpopular opinion, but I believe season 5 of Community may be among the best the show had to offer. I'll just say it, season 5 of Community is the best season of Community.
7) Boardwalk Empire
I wasn't a fan of Boardwalk's freshman season. I warmed up around season 2, where the stakes were high and the power plays were intriguing, but during season 3 was where I truly fell in love with this show. The finales to 3 and 4 were among the best reasons to watch TV during their respective years on air. Season 5 was the final season of this underrated and majestically constructed TV show and while never reaching the heights of 3 or the consistency of 4, season 5 was able to tie in stories and characters from early in the series to reveal the truth behind Nucky Thompson and the inability to escape his past.
6) The Flash
Where Arrow started as an unintentional parody (it was pretty bad) of "dark and gritty" superheroes, The Flash does away with all of that to bring us pure comic book stories on the silver screen. If you got the tone of the Sam Raimi Spider-Man movies (you know, the good ones) and made a TV series out of it, this is basically it. It's a little sappy at times, a little goofy, and a whole lot of fun. The DC Cinematic Universe is doing a Flash movie down the road. They'll have a hard time matching even the pilot of this series.
5) Game of Thrones
What's there left to say about Game of Thrones' fourth season? It was the most consistently awe-inspiring. Not a single episode or moment was wasted. They delivered another Helm's Deep worthy battle. It seemed like the game changed every other episode. Characters we both loved and hated met grizzly deaths. This season had it all, even some unseen book material. Next season will be mostly new material, and from what we've seen already, the series will continue improving on where the books became an utter drag.
4) True Detective
Some people will tell you the ending to the first season of HBO's anthology series was disappointing. I say, bullshit. Like the closing of a book, True Detective turned its southern-gothic tale into a battle humanity will constantly face: light vs the dark. One episode in particular doesn't work as well as the others, but the willingness to push material forward and tell a story that stayed true to its own conceit warrants at least one viewing of this analysis of the darkness in humanity.
3) Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation is a special show to me. So often people mistake comedy for offensive jokes (Family Guy, anything on CBS). Dark comedy can be funny as long as its intentional. But positive comedy? A comedy series that thrives on love, friendships, and loving your community? That's something worth protecting. Get your mean-spirited comedies out of my Pawnee. We don't need you here.
2) Legend of Korra
Over the last few years, there were several shows I could always count on to have amazing season finales: Justified and Legend of Korra. Justified sorta dropped the ball this year (not bad, just a step down in quality), so Korra picked up the slack with two stunning finales that brought tears to my eyes. Book 3: Change might very well be the best season the Avatar franchise ever put together and even with a significant budget cut, the heights of Book 4: Balance could rarely be paralleled. In its final season, a show about a young female woman constantly fighting an uphill struggle to bring Balance to the world, finally brought balance within herself in a scene so monumentally important and progressive, internet trolls are STILL complaining about it. I'll miss you the most, Avatar Korra.
1) Hannibal
There were great shows this year. None even came close to the consistency of Hannibal. What may very well become the definitive version of the character, Mads Mikkelsen's Emmy is patiently waiting for him in an alternate timeline. The macabre nature of the show with a Kubrickian style of cinematography (no show is shot as well as Hannibal) emboldens a nightmarish feel to the whole bloody affair. With heightened tension as the game of cat and mouse between Will Graham, the FBI, and Dr Lecter, Hannibal is what most movie thrillers aspire to become. Opening with a flashforward that leads you down one path and ending on the biggest shocker since The Red Wedding that takes you down another, there was truly no better season of television than season 2 of Hannibal. Bryan Fuller has his work cut out for him when he tackles his third season of this disgusting gem of a show.
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