You’ve heard me say it before: “10 Best” lists are overrated. Instead of claiming cinematic omniscience, I try to help you be a more discerning viewer. Below are ten shows with a certain je ne sais quoi that I think are worth checking out. Many comments are taken from my earlierAmNews reviews.
10: “Man on the Inside” (Comedy series, Season 2, Netflix)
Intrigue Factor: Who-Done-It for the 70 and older set.
Most prestige-level shows worth watching are heavy on graphic violence, sex, cursing and drugs — which, honestly, who am I kidding, are my jam. But I’m also here for “nice,” innocuous-but-quality-made streaming shows. There are Apple TV+’s “Ted Lasso” and “Shrinking,” and ABC/Hulu’s “Abbott Elementary” at the top of the heap, and now there’s “Man on The Inside,” starring Ted Danson as a widower and former literal builder of bridges who has found a new lease on life when he stumbles upon a career as a private detective. Season 1 should have been nominated for an Emmy. Season 2 has moved on from the charming and seldom explored contours of an elder care facility that made Season 1 so endearing, but Ted Danson returns with the same zaddy charisma and subtle sense of humor that make this show so special. Bonus: Seeing Danson in romantic scenes with his real-life wife, Mary Steenburgen.
9: “Task” (Drama limited series, HBO Max)
Intrigue Factor: Crime Dad vs. Cop Dad
Set in the rural, blue collar outskirts of Philadelphia, “Task” is a family drama folded into a crime thriller. What emerges is a haunting symmetry between Tom and Robbie, two single fathers whose personal and professional lives are marked by family trauma, intra-squad tensions, and snitches. At its best, “Task” interrogates thorny themes like familial loyalty and what it takes to be a true head of the household. It sensitively travels the faultlines of interracial adoption without referencing race; masculinity and patriarchy without calling out gender; and privilege without being explicit about any social hierarchy. And while Tom and Robbie seldom rise adequately to the crises they are faced with, their respective class upbringings pre-determine their divergent fates.
8) “The Diplomat” (Drama/Comedy series, Season 3, Netflix)
Intrigue Factor: Making Diplomacy Sexy
“The Diplomat” is the perfect cocktail of televised palace intrigue: Smart government machinations and tricky plot twists with dashes of frisky comedy and sexual tension. In short, “The Diplomat” is fun, and season 3 maintains the same level of quality that put it on this past year’s Emmy nominee list.
Keri Russell stars in the title role as Kate Wyler, a highly respected veteran of the foreign service. In the first season, Kate becomes the American ambassador to the United Kingdom, only to discover that she is being groomed and positioned for bigger things by higher ups and her insufferably meddling husband, Hal Wyler (Rufus Sewall). Sewall is charming while also being creepy, while David Gyasi is both commanding and vulnerable as Austin Dennison, the UK Foreign Service and Kate’s mutual lust interest. The likes of Rory Kinnear, Allison Janney, and Michael McKean are also on hand to make the quick-fire script pop and glisten.
7) “Severance” (Drama series, Season 2, Apple TV+)
Intrigue Factor: “So, an innie, an outtie and a sheep walk into a bar …”
The most satisfying element of “Severance” is its quirky originality. Beyond the broad category of science fiction, “Severance” doesn’t fit neatly into any television genre and thus is not bound by many formulas or narrative conventions. In particular, the Lumon Industries building, the setting for much of the action, is a surreal labyrinth of fluorescent lights, sterile hallways, and twisted psycho-engineering lurking behind every door. This inventiveness reliably keeps viewers off balance and clueless about what’s coming next, and the season two finale will leave you smacking your lips in anticipation of the next season.
6) “Forever” (Drama limited series, Netflix)
Intrigue Factor: The fierce urgency of Black teenage love
It’s rare to find fully realized Black teenage love on screen. Created by television veteran Mara Brock Akil, whose credits include “Girlfriends,” “Moesha,” and “The Jamie Foxx Show,” “Forever” doesn’t so much escape the dictates of the teenage romance genre, as much as endows it with flesh-and-blood and a cultural currency that Black audiences, in particular, can recognize and appreciate.
5) “Bel-Air” (Drama Series, Season 4, Peacock)
Intrigue Factor: Fresh Prince, Seriously
If only I could have been in the room when the creators of “Bel-Air” had the bright idea to turn the goofy fan favorite, “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” into a soapy behind-the-scenes look at wealthy Black Excellence. As it turns out, you can’t spend five minutes watching this show without tripping over a cliché or getting smothered with pro-Blackity-Black moralism and propaganda.
But “Bel-Air” is all heart and creates storylines that are as engaging as they are preposterous. It’s a Black fantasy that is rooted in Black realness. More importantly, it does what few other streaming series do, which is it tells a complete story with a natural and satisfying arc. If nothing else, “Bel-Air” is about the (mostly male) teenage ego and superego being constantly interrupted by the id. It’s about high school life against the backdrop of a supportive Black family and community. And unlike its prototype, “All American” which started in high school and shamelessly wandered into the college and post-college life of its protagonists, “Bel-Air” comes to a close shortly after high school graduation.
The last season wraps up every imaginable loose end and the main characters are so fervently anchored in Black self-love that, no matter your race, you can’t help but get misty and throw up your fist in affirmation every time these Black angels hug one another and get their wings. But remember, the main character’s name is literally Will Smith. So (stop reading now if you want to avoid a spoiler), perhaps the most satisfying payoff comes in the last minutes of the season finale when a special celebrity guest appears as Will’s grown self, offers him adult reassurance, but confesses that he will “f*** up” later in life. Priceless.
4) “The Perfect Neighbor” (Film, Netflix)
Intrigue Factor: When Karen comes packing.
“The Perfect Neighbor” was only in limited release on the big screen for a week, so I am including it in the television category.
“The Perfect Neighbor” recounts the events that lead to the June 2023 fatal shooting in Ocala, Florida of Ajike “AJ” Owens, a 35-year-old Black mother of four, at the hands of Susan Lorincz, a white woman. The conceit of “The Perfect Neighbor” is that it employs a near-total reliance on strung-together found footage from surveillance technology.
At first, this seems to be yet another demoralizing tale of a racist homicide that the American criminal justice system cynically dresses up and justifies as “self defense.” But the story eventually pivots into a quiet observation of Florida’s use of its “Stand Your Ground” law and reminds us just how fickle, arbitrary, and unreliable the promise of American justice continues to be.
3) “Sean Combs: The Reckoning” (Limited documentary series, Netflix)
Intrigue Factor: When Fiddy comes for Diddy
“The Reckoning” does for Sean “Puffy” Combs what “Surviving R. Kelly” did for the ‘90s R&B star. It takes all of the rumors, sexual assaults reports, and general fiendishness that have been associated with a pop culture icon, and matches it up with some pretty damning receipts. The fact that this four-part documentary was executive produced by Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson — Puffy’s rival in the rap music-cum-business mogul game — adds an element of video drive-by to its spotty, if not enviable, investigative journalism.
The documentary does little to build or fully explain the specific criminal case for which Puffy was recently on trial. And while some of the stories about Puffy make you clutch your pearls, the parade of former music and business associates who line up to accuse Puffy of sexual assault, corruption, and soullessness are easy to believe for anyone who grew up hearing about Puffy’s exploits. Who among us, for instance, hasn’t already concluded that Puffy was responsible for Tupac’s death? But to learn that all the “Reckoning’s” unflattering personal footage of Puffy (recorded around the time of his recent arrest) was not only commissioned by Puffy himself, but was made available because of his failure to pay the videographer, felt poetic. And to have a Crip gang leader drop the bombshell that Puffy paid him to assassinate Tupac, carried Puffy’s reputation from sketchy to downright deplorable.
2) “Andor” (Drama series, Season 2, Disney +)
Intrigue Factor: Disney gets all anti-facist
What makes “Andor” worth watching is that it’s a less-than-glamorous take on the process of revolution building, the sacrifices that come with political radicalization, and the moral compromises made on the road to being a true believer. Up to now, it wasn’t only the action in the “Star Wars” franchise that unfolded light-years away. The politics felt far removed as well. Even in the second and last season of “Andor,” there is thankfully little of the hocus pocus of The Force, and the Empire’s oppression feels closer to home and more familiar. Specifically, the Empire looks like a plausible MAGA future in its suppression of human rights, control over the media, and its authoritarian blunt force. It’s no wonder that Disney only tried to get away with two seasons, so catch it while you can. You will never see the land of Mickey Mouse be more subversive.
1) “Adolescence” (Limited Series, Netflix)
Intrigue Factor: The Kids Ain’t Alright.
I challenge you to find a more sublime tour de force of television story, form, and character development. From its explosive opening scene, to its heart-wrenching finale, “Adolescence” is an unflinching social autopsy of a teenage murder.
A 13-year-old boy is accused of killing a girl from his school. In four, one-take episodes, the camera retraces the steps of a toxic teen culture as it wends its way through a working class family, school, community and criminal justice system. If you’re a parent, be warned. “Adolescence” is all the more emotionally harrowing because of its realism, its depictions of violence, and the depths of rage and sadness it is willing to plumb.