Your favourite TV shows of the first half of 2023
DOCUMENTARY
Once Upon a Time In Northern Ireland
RETURNING SHOW
The Curse
Ganglands
Guilt
Inside No 9
Slow Horses
Succession
NEW/ONE-OFF DRAMA
Beef
Blue Lights
The Diplomat
The Gold
Malpractice
Steeltown
COMEDY
Colin from Accounts
Funny Girl
Nolly
FOREIGN LANGUAGE
The Glory
BELATED DISCOVERY
Amongst The Women
Bad Sisters
Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared
The Dry
Mayor of Kingston
Yup, I endorse most of those, particularly Once Upon A Time In Northern Ireland. Stories from all sides told with candour, some regret, and a big dollop of continuing unsure that it happened like that in the first place.
Watched one 2023 show only I think, Final season of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel, superb.
Point of order – Slow Horses Season 2 was 2022 if I recall (ended 30th Dec ? )
Aside from that, agree with Colin from Accounts, The Gold and Inside No 9.
In addition, I would include….
Drops of God – Apple TV show all about wine. I enjoyed
Annika – I miss Nicola Walker in Unfoirgotten, but this made up somewhat
Happy Valley – great conclusion to a great series. Deserves all the accolades
Last Of Us – Im not a gamer and I have never been a fan of the zombie shows like Walking Dead, but this drew me in
Unfiorgottem – it proved it could work without Nicola Walker
If you’ve got Apple TV and not already seen Servant, I recommend checking it out. The first season I found ungotobedably brilliant. The second a little less so, but still engrossing. I’ve just started on the third season.
No AW love for Yellowjackets or From so far. I haven’t seen either, but they were both recommended to me by the same person who recommended Servant, so I intend to.
I tried both Yellowjackets and From, but couldn’t really get into either.
Of the two, Yellowjackets looked more interesting, but I have a completely irrational dislike of Juliette Lewis (good actress, I’m sure, and probably a lovely person who’s kind to puppies and small children, but something about her performances always annoys me), and once she popped up, my interest waned.
Is Yellowjackets a re-boot of Hi De Hi?
Get Lost
A good start to the year ….
Happy Valley
Blue Lights
Colin From Accounts
Jury Duty
Barry
Fleishman Is in Trouble
Guilt
Happy Valley and Succession have been highlights. I’ve just discovered A Man Like Mobeen but haven’t reach the latest series yet.
Couldn’t get into Succession, the idiot nephew was very annoying.
They all were.
I don’t get Succession. It’s supposedly a comedy drama, but in the 2 seasons I watched there were no laughs and I hated everyone in it.
A friend saw “Parasite” a few years back on my recommendation, and hated it because “the people are so awful”…a few weeks back he was raving about “Succession” and said I should watch it because “the people are so awful”…
Despite the media lovebombing of Succession, I always enjoyed it, even if I hadn’t a clue what was going on much of the time. The dynamics between the characters shifting with increasing ludicrousness. The superb dialogue. As it progressed, things deepened and widened, repaying your investment in the characters but finding yourself weirdly empathising with them, even the most ghastly. Ultimately I think it speaks to one’s inner sicko.
I loved White Lotus too. Michael Imperioli should get out more. Passionate indie rock obsessive too. I love the idea he was grooving to Stereolab during shooting breaks for The Sopranos.
@slotbadger
Not Stereolab, Defiler
Ups for Slow Horses, The Diplomat, Colin from Accounts, The Dry, The Gold.
Probably not first half of 2023 but it is for me – Stanley Tucci eating his way round Italy. I got completely hooked on Masterchef too.
For Colin fans, give Deadloch a go (Amazon Prime) – another Aussie comedy, black, foul-mouthed and very funny. Comedy noir, you might call it.
On your recommendation I’ve just loaded up the first episode of Deadloch, though I may be the only person I know who couldn’t get beyond two episodes of Colin … because I hated that lead couple (and their accents).
What was wrong with their icksense, G?
Heavy on the ‘Strine. Think of the vet in the trailers which were all over the BBC saying, ‘He’s been hit by a caaahaaaah’. I’m happy to report that the characters in Deadloch are better company and much easier on the ear, and as a bonus it’s funny. Look, if I find naked corpses funnier than stray dogs that’s my look out.
I think you missed my (apparently failed) attempt
at a phonetic joke, G, but i get what you say about
that annoying rising inflexion at the end every
sintence.
IIRC, it’s called the Australian interrogative
No, J, I spent a while trying to contour up a witty reply in which every vowel was replaced with the letter ‘i’ but decided that particular game wasn’t worth the candle.
Seems unreasonable to complain about Aussie actors sounding Australian.
If they had been likeable I may have been able to overlook the accents, which I concede are, however unfortunate, not their fault.
Ah well, we’ll have to disagree on their likeability.
I thought there was a lot of likability in most of the characters. Perhaps the step dad was challenging….
@Gatz no I fully agree. The leads were not funny at all and those accidents drove me up the wall. One reason why I could never move to Oz.
@stevet I’ve been puzzling over your reply for two days and I’ve just realised that you were snookered by predictive text and meant accents, not accidents, of which there was only one in Colin. Whatever you do don’t watch Deadloch then – the characters in Colin sound like the King formerly known as Prince Charles by comparison.
Nah. We’ll have to disagree again. They’re much, much less nasal, and I like the programme much more too.
@mikethep yeah didn’t pick up on that due to lack of editing. Love Australia but the accent is hard to love. So too the Kiwi and South African accents. Canadian is okay.
Mind you what do I know I am a Brummie?
Replacing accents with accidents –
The very definition of a Freudian slip
Anyone else here a fan of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared
Sesame Street as reimagined by Luis Bunuel or David Lynch.
Very, very funny it is, too
Thanis for the heads up re Deadloc, btw @MIkethep
-Happy Valley, only seen 2 episodes but that’s enough
-The Last Of Us. Not really a zombie film. It’s bigger than that. The girl character’s take no shit style is a blast. Great characters make TV drama succeed.
-The Diplomat. A lot of talk per minute.
-The Night Agent. The proverbial roller coaster ride.
-Australian Survivor, Heroes vs Villains. This has become a game where people see the show as playing smart and outwitting each other, but not descending into hate and meanness. It’s all very gripping and the contestants are likeable. Not all reality shows are bad.
Go back to Happy Valley, it gets much much better once the plot leaves that gurning pillock Pemberton in its wake.
Colin From Accounts is excellent.
Masterchef this year was really enjoyable.
Shrinking was very smart and funny.
BBQ Showdown was great fun.
The Gold was good – captured its time well.
Steeltown Murders is developing nicely.
Tex Mex Motors is as good a piece of mindless car restoring fluff with a premise as it gets.
The Cockfields was a joy.
Ted Lasso is still the best comedy on tv.
I guess The Cockfields falls into the ‘belated discovery’ category. There hasn’t been a new episode since 2021 although I’m hopeful there might be more.
It must be. I think the Beeb stuck it in the iPlayer this year if that counts?
I really hope there are more. It’s a show that got better as the series progressed & I thought Gregor Fisher was fantastic as Ray in the 2nd onwards. Sue Johnson & Joe Wilkinson are brilliant together.
Couple of late add-ons.
Ireland’s Kin – same violent crime ballpark as the excellent Love/Hate
Last King of the Cross – another show from Oz – if you’d like Underbelly,
You’ll like this
1. One that hasn’t been mentioned so far: Poker Face (on Sky). Natasha Lyonne drifts across the US, on the run from a villain, armed only with an uncanny ability to spot a lie when she hears one. Each episode she gets mixed up in a murder plot, and for one reason or another tries to solve it.
But that concept doesn’t do it justice. The murders themselves are interesting and sometimes quite ingenious, and nice guest stars pop up: Ellen Burstyn! Nick Nolte! Ron Perlman! etc.
The creators are up front about it being a Columbo tribute/homage, but as such things go, it works very well indeed.
2. Wrong Side of the Tracks (Spanish drama on Netflix). Ex-soldier and full-time curmudgeon Tirso discovers his granddaughter is mixed up in drug-dealer-related shenanigans, and is Not. Pleased. At. All. Violence and all kinds of drama (plus a fair bit of dark humour) ensue. Lots of interesting characters, esp. Tirso: casually racist and obnoxious (he calls his 3 grandsons the good, the bad, and the ugly) but with a heart of gold deep, deep down.
Loved the first few eps but watched too many in one sitting and got sick of the samey plots and NL’s OTT Columbo schtick
High Desert on Apple is another quirky female PI show. Probably enjoying it more as i’ve strung the episodes out a bit more
Ellen Burstyn? Nick Nolte? Ron Perlman? Pfffffft! There’s an episode with John Darnielle of The Mountain Goats in it..
Colin from Accounts is excellent.
I thought the second series of ‘The Cleaner’ easily maintained the quality of the first and I hope there’s a third.
Also, early days so far, but the new series of ‘Somebody Somewhere’ is looking like being funnier than the first.
Yes, I enjoyed the second season of “Somebody Somewhere”. It has more of a cohesive story arc than the first season, and is very touching.
We had to delay watching the end of the 1st episode because my wife had something in her eye even though we’d both been laughing heartily most of the way through. If that’s the intention then it’s very clever.
No love for The English elsewhere? – sometimes baffling but always beautifully shot and acted. We enjoyed it a lot.
Got deleted from my must-watch list when it dropped out of the top 10,
Way too many good shows, nowhere near enough time to watch even half
Of them
I fear this was the show in which Rafe Spall succumbed to a serious case of over-acting.
My top 5:
Ancient Aliens 👽
More Ancient Aliens 👽
Even More Ancient Aliens 👽
The Best of Ancient Aliens 👽
The Best Of Even More Ancient Aliens 👽
Ancient Aliens Meets The Upsetter at the Grass Roots of Abduction?
Celebrity Ancient Aliens Tipping Point
Celebrity Ancient Aliens Fat Camp
Celebrity Ancient Aliens and Miriam Margoyles go to Hades
Ancient Aliens Do Dallas
Shaving Ancient Aliens
Ancient Aliens Anal Party
@Gary
Aren’t these actual PPV shows, G?
Also, I’m pretty certain Ancient Aliens Do Dallas is a remake
I’m an Ancient Alien Get Me Out of Here.
The Very Best of Foster and Ancient Alien.
Which one is which?
Think of AntandDec or probably don’t.
How do you do these pics?
I honestly can’t remember I did it ages ago and it seemed fitting, possibly photoshop. I’d also did one of Edgar Alien Poe.
Ancient Alien Carr’s Chatty Man
Second only to Nazi Megastuctures
Naturally with Aliens 👽
Happy Valley – Superb in every respect.
Mrs Maisel – Still great fun, despite the sour twists in the story, and they wrapped it up at just the right time.
The Diplomat – Very good political drama, with plenty of lighter moments.
Blue Lights – BBC still finding new twists on cop dramas.
Changing Ends – I could usually take or leave Alan Carr, but this is funny, and the kid who plays him as an 11 year-old is brilliant.
Regarding Happy Valley, don’t you find the ludicrous events in the story to be a respect in which it is rather less than superb?
Which parts do you find ludicrous. If you mean the escape from court, it has actually happened in real life in the U.K.
I’m sure it has, but without adding spoilers it stretches credulity that ALL those things happened to the same officer caused by the same criminal.
If your suspense of disbelief level is different to mine, thats also fine.
It was great drama, pushing but within the bounds of credibility.
I don’t watch much TV but I have greatly enjoyed Poker Face – the lead is fabulous, again, but every single minor character is written and played with depth. Great concept, well executed