MY TV OF THE YEAR 2021 Pt 1 - Lost It, Just Crime? And Made In Bristol
Looking back at my TV of the year 2020, it’s clear that there was more new stuff on offer last year than this. The lockdown had an effect on what could be produced, and the continued trend of streaming has seen us watch more, longer series. The box-setting of a few items in this chart, in a way that wouldn’t have been possible a few years ago, changes the balance of new shows versus older. And there are a good few big-hitters from past years that are notable by their absence. So, while last year had a solid Top 40 of different shows, plus runners-up and outsiders, this year’s 2021 list is shorter, but still full of televisual treats.
LOST IT - The shows that started full of promise, but then…
On Becoming A God In Central Florida (Amazon)
This was shaping up so well, with Kirsten Dunst getting into the weird world of pyramid selling, with some interesting characters and a touch of magic realism. Then, whether it was being made up as it went along or something went wrong behind the scenes, it totally lost it, the last couple episodes being tortuously poor.
Them (Netflix)
One of the most promising horror drama series of the year, set at the birth of the Compton suburb of LA, including some true history and some great social drama tension, this reached a halfway point where things just got silly. It was as if the creators had handed the reins over to someone else and squandered every good idea they began with. This series is 2021’s biggest missed opportunity, I really wonder what went wrong.
GAVE UP ON - The shows we tried, but…
Brand New Cherry Flavour
Was going very well until a tarantula appeared as the pivotal part of an episode, meaning one of us wasn’t going to be able to watch it any more. We’ll never know how it ended.
The Mandalorian
This is boring. It’s a western, like those 1950s serials they show on Talking Pictures TV in the mornings. I’ve watched half a dozen episodes, it doesn’t get any more interesting.
Mr Robot
This was us catching up on an old series that everyone had talked about so much. After a few very promising episodes it started to drag, then we forgot all about it.
Behind Her Eyes
This new British drama, adapted from a novel (and we’ll find there was a bit too much of that in this year’s Brit TV drama) had an intriguing premise, but failed to make itself gripping. It may have fallen victim to the competition from shows with bigger budgets and more memorable casts. (It would have appeared further down this article if only it’d been made in Bristol).
OK, BUT… ANOTHER CRIME STORY?
We like a good crime drama. But do we like them so much that, when we tot it up, we realise half the things we’re watching are crime dramas? Either TV’s had more of them than usual, or there’s been a shortage of whatever else we would normally be watching instead. Whatever the reason, these were good dramas, but not quite good enough to escape this genre-heavy sub-group
8 - Traces (BBC) - set in Dundee, devised by Val McDermid & Amelia Bullimore. Not bad.
7 - Finding Alice (ITV) - Keeley Hawes and the first big designer house with the killer staircase (the 2nd being The Girl Before). Not bad.
6 - Innocent (ITV) - Katherine Kelly’s been released from prison for a crime she didn’t do. A nice premise, though we then tried watching series 1 which had totally different characters in a similar premise and didn’t grip. Still, not bad.
5 - True Story (Netflix) - The only US entry in this category (as others were good enough to escape this particular ghetto). Kevin Hart is a rich guy who has to get rid of a dead body. Not bad.
4 - The Drowning (Channel 5) - Channel 5’s entry on the list, so well done there. Jill Halfpenny’s son drowns, or does he? Nice twists, not bad.
3 - You Don’t Know Me (BBC) - Nicely told unreliable narrator drama. Although, watching it at the same time as True Story, started to make it look like every drama was going to be about wrongly accused blokes disposing of bodies in skips.
2 - The Pact (BBC) - The one filmed in the brewery in South Wales where I gigged a few years ago, where they kill the boss and cover it up. Very Bechdel Test-proof. Not bad.
1 - Vigil (BBC) - Murder on a submarine. Lots of nice tension and twists, but eventually showed up the limits of having a story set on a submarine. Still, not bad.
MADE IN BRISTOL
There haven’t been so many things filmed in Bristol since the days when they used to make Casualty here. Sometimes you can’t move for film crews. Lots we haven’t seen, but these were the best that we did.
5= Agatha Raisin - we didn’t actually see this, but we saw them filming a bit at the foot of our road.
Also only watched a glimpse of, McDonald & Dodds, Kiri, and A Discovery Of Witches
4 - The One (Netflix) - Written by Howard Overman, it took a nice Black Mirror-y idea, that everyone has a perfect match and this tech company’s discovered it, then there’s a murder, but couldn’t sustain interest for a whole miniseries
3 - Showtrial (BBC) - Seemed interesting at first, with twists and turns promised, then became a courtroom non-drama, all talk and no show.
2 - The Girl Before (BBC) - Currently still watching, a very engaging story set in a real house of horror, a minimalist architect’s house. Shudder.
1 - The Outlaws (BBC) - Very good writing, co-written by Stephen Merchant (who did the comedy bits, I’m guessing) and Elgin James (who, I’m thinking, wrote the crime bits. A glance at his wikipedia page suggests it’s more likely). Bizarre casting of Christopher Walken in one of the roles, but otherwise very good indeed.
So, what are my Favourite TV shows of 2021? Stay tuned…
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