TV OF THE YEAR 2022 - Pt 1 Lost It, Not Good, I See The Title...
Looking back at the year's TV, which is only possible because I keep a note throughout the year (and even then, it took a refresher chat with Hev to remind me of a couple of top shows I'd totally forgotten) it seems that, once again, I've watched far too much telly.
A significant thing that becomes clear is that Appointment To Watch TV is a thing of the past. Next-to-nothing gets watched on the night it gets broadcast. Even Quizzy Night (Only Connect and Uni Challenge) and Strictly (none of which make the list because, like Richard Osman's House Of Games and Pointless, they're just staples and always as good as ever) gets watched on delay, and paused for the loo. At time of writing, Monday's quiz night and Strictly have spent the last month being totally buggered up by the football, which has seen Strictly get shunted to a Friday and a Sunday, and some other sports have meant Only Connect spent half its run being on at the wrong time and/or the wrong night. If there was ever a chance of TV being Appointment To View, someone at the BBC is determined to shovel that concept into its grave for good.
So, what were my favourite TV shows of the year? To come will be a Top 40 of shows. But before that, some sub-categories...
Lost It - Shows that were Once Great, now not so much
Mrs Maisel 4 - What happened here? My Number 1 show from 2018 became a shadow of its former self this time round. Nothing gripped any more, I don't know why.
The Crown 5 - The most high profile show to fall flat. My Number 2 from 2016 (was it really that long ago?) was so impressive when it arrived on telly, in the days when big budget streaming series were a novelty. The characters and subject matter, along with the casting, have changed so much that, inevitably, you're not comparing like with like. Series 1 and 2 were great, parts of series 3 and 4 were excellent. Series 5, so far, has just been boring.
Upload 2 - Second series loses everything the first series had, again who can say why?
Dollface 2 - Entirely changed in nature from series 1. Last year's Top Ten entry.
Russian Doll 2 - Following up something so high concept was going to be hard. Impossible it seems.
Never Mind The Buzzcocks 2 - It made an impressive return last year. Now the predominance of blokes just becomes tiresome. Indulgent and unwatchable on the whole.
Resident Alien 2 - Such a shame. My Number 2 show of 2021 (second only to It's A Sin) completely lost the plot. It wasn't just a novelty show, and should have been able to keep up its original promise. But somehow the development of all the subsidiary characters turned it into a bland soap, losing the focus on the central character. A couple of episodes, where they went to New York, were the very definition of Jumping The Shark.
Not that good - Shows we started but only lasted 1 or 2 eps
The Pentaverate - Mike Myers nonsense
Man vs Bee - Rowan Atkinson drivel
Trigger Point - Bomb disposal thing, a damp squib
Am I Being Unreasonable? - Prob gets good but didn't hook
Harlan Coben’s blah and blah blah - Started watching two things that had this writer's name above the title, neither was good enough to remember the actual names
Am I Being Unreasonable? - Prob gets good but didn't hook
Harlan Coben’s blah and blah blah - Started watching two things that had this writer's name above the title, neither was good enough to remember the actual names
I see the title, I can't remember the show
Folk Med Angest - Norwegian I think
Rules Of The Game - something set in a workplace?
Suspect - Some sort of crime thing?
The Teacher - Another Sheridan Smith thing?
Mandy - Oh, was this the less funny Philomena Cunk thing?
Chloe - It was filmed in Bristol, I remember that much
Chloe - It was filmed in Bristol, I remember that much
Maxine - Nope, drawing a blank
Marriage - I got nothing
So what were my Top 40 TV Shows of 2022? Coming up.....
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