10 Best TV Shows of 2021

by Julian Spivey

10. "Kevin Can F**k Himself" (AMC)

Photo: AMC

Valerie Armstrong’s black comedy “Kevin Can F**k Himself” on AMC was one of the most unique TV series I’ve ever seen mixing the dark drama of a woman in a loveless marriage in a single-camera setup with a typical multi-cam setup sitcom format including the canned laughter. When Allison McRoberts (Emmy-winning Annie Murphy) is with her husband she’s trapped in this sitcom-type life, when she’s not with him it’s the brooding drama. The series does a terrific job at mixing the multiple styles throughout the season as we follow Allison through her unfulfilled life. 

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9. "The Good Fight" (Paramount+)

Photo: Paramount+

“The Good Fight” is unique in that critics seem to unanimously love it, yet it’s never nominated for any major awards like Emmys, despite the fact its predecessor “The Good Wife” often was. The fifth season of the series, which debuted in the summer, was one of its best thus far, especially with the storyline of the seemingly crazy Judge Wackner, who isn’t really a judge but that didn’t stop him from doling out punishments, played brilliantly by Mandy Patinkin, who hopefully will receive some Emmy love in 2022 for his performance in the series. 

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8. Evil (Paramount+)

Photo: Paramount+

“Evil” made my list of the 10 best shows of 2019 despite only airing about half of its first season on CBS that fall. In early 2020 the series aired my favorite TV episode of that year with “Room 320” early on in the year. Then due to the pandemic it would be almost a year-and-a-half before the second season of the show debuted, this time on Paramount+ (it was always too different to truly be a network show). While I didn’t think the second season was as strong as its first in totality, “Evil” still remained one of the most unique and interesting shows on television and for the second year in a row had my single favorite episode of the season with “S is for Silence,” a truly remarkable hour of television with suspense, laughter and little dialogue.  

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7. "SEAL Team" (CBS/Paramount+)

Photo: Paramount+

I continue to be surprised of how much I love the military drama “SEAL Team,” which aired its first four seasons on CBS before transition to streaming on Paramount+ this fall. I’m completely invested in the lives of the men on the team as they deal with life on the line and back home and the performances from the cast of David Boreanaz, Max Thieriot, Neil Brown Jr., A.J. Buckley and more seem to get better with age, which is amazing as the series has now aired 90 episodes. I particularly like how “SEAL Team” has given the show some inner-team drama as of late with Boreanaz team leader Jason Hayes suffering from some mental battle wounds that are endangering his team and the moral dilemma Thieriot’s Clay Spenser faces in whether or not he should bring his knowledge of it to light. 

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6. "Mare of Easttown" (HBO)

Photo: HBO

HBO’s seven-episode miniseries “Mare of Easttown,” created and written by Brad Ingelsby and directed by Craig Zobel, had so many turns and reveals packed into the story of a murder in a small-town near Philadelphia that it constantly left you on the edge of your seat. Kate Winslet completely owns the series as Detective Mare Sheehan, investigating the murder of a local girl and the disappearance of another while battling her own personal demons, in an Emmy-winning role. The supporting cast is stellar featuring Emmy-winning performances by Evan Peters and Julianne Nicholson and terrific turns by Jean Smart, Angourie Rice and Joe Tippett. 

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5. "Dopesick" (Hulu)

Photo: Hulu

“Dopesick,” an eight-episode miniseries on Hulu, is the story of the rise of Oxycontin in the ‘90s and how it devastated parts of America, particularly the Appalachians, with its addictive nature that Perdue Pharma, it’s maker and pusher intentionally hid and, in fact, lied by saying it wasn’t addictive. It’s a devastating look into a real story of how a pharmaceutical company cared more about profit than human life and the series does a terrific job showing the devastating role of the pill on its users, the company’s dark side and those in charge of trying to prove the company knew what it was doing was wrong. The stellar cast features Michael Keaton, Kaitlyn Dever, Peter Sarsgaard, Will Poulter, Rosario Dawson, John Hoogenakker and Michael Stuhlbarg. 

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4. "Reservation Dogs" (Hulu)

Photo: FX/Hulu

I’m always looking for TV shows that show me a world I’ve never seen before or is foreign to me and Hulu’s new comedy-drama “Reservation Dogs,” created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, was a brilliant look into the daily life of Indigenous people of rural Oklahoma and four teenagers looking for a way out. The young cast of Devery Jacobs, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Paulina Alexis and Lane Factor was excellent, and the eight-episode first season gave each actor and their respective characters ample time to shine in episodes that told a particular character’s story, something you don’t often see from a short first season such as this. Rarely does a show come out this strong off the bat.  

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3. "Only Murders in the Building" (Hulu)

Photo: Hulu

I wanted to see Steve Martin do something spectacular again but didn’t know if we ever would. Not only was the Hulu comedy-thriller “Only Murders in the Building,” which Martin co-created with John Hoffman, spectacular but it’s among his career best works. The series, which co-stars Martin’s longtime onscreen and stage collaborator Martin Short and pop star/actress Selena Gomez, takes on the true crime podcast phenomenon in a loving way as all three characters are obsessed with the genre and when a murder occurs in their apartment building set out to solve the case with a podcast of their own. “Only Murders in the Building” is brilliantly written and acted and one of the true surprises of television in 2021. 

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2. "Hacks" (HBO Max)

Photo: HBO Max

My favorite new series of 2021 was HBO Max’s original comedy “Hacks,” which tells the story of aging stand-up comedian Deborah Vance, who’s worked for many years headlining a Las Vegas casino but is seeing that portion of her career come to an end, and is teamed with a 25-year old comedy writer Ava, who has been essentially “canceled” due to a controversial tweet. The relationship between these two funny people who are multiple generations apart is mesmerizing on the screen with an Emmy-winning performance from the always terrific Jean Smart as Vance and an outstanding debut from Hannah Einbinder as Ava. 

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1. "Ted Lasso" (AppleTV+)

Photo: Apple

I had AppleTV+’s comedy “Ted Lasso” as my No. 2 best show of 2020 for its first season (behind only FX’s vampire comedy “What We Do in the Shadows”) and year later I actually believe I should’ve flip-flopped those shows and had “Ted Lasso” at No. 1. Many critics didn’t seem to enjoy the second season of the show as much as the first, but in some ways, I thought it was actually better – it might not have been as funny as season one, but the character-building was important and it made us love many of these characters, particularly the titular coach played by Emmy-winner Jason Sudeikis, even more. Through season two we understand Lasso more and the introduction of Sarah Niles as the team’s shrink was one of the great season two cast additions in TV history.