The Twenty Best Television Shows of 2019-2020

1. Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist 1.x

2. The Great 1.x

3. Harley Quinn 1.x/2.x

4. The Good Place 4.x

5. Looking for Alaska 1.x

6. Dollface 1.x

7. Veronica Mars 4.x

8. Watchmen 1.x

9. Dickinson 1.x

10. G.L.O.W. 3.x

11. Castle Rock 2.x

12. Harlots 3.x

13. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel 3.x

14. Normal People 1.x

15. The Outsider 1.x

16. Love Life 1.x

17. Little Fires Everywhere 1.x

18. This Way Up 1.x

19. Homeland 8.x

20. Impulse 2.x


Shows that aired a majority of their season between July 2019 and August 2020 were eligible for this list.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: April 26, 2020

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: C’mon, how are you gonna singe Here I Go without draping someone across the hood of a car? But anyway. I knew the title of the episode was Zoey’s Extraordinary Outburst, but oh my goodness did she go off on everyone harder than I was expecting. You just do not see a protagonist get that raw very often. Though very realistic because if you have to watch a loved one slowly die, you are about to explode eventally.
You can download Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist on iTunes.

Killing Eve: Oh hey, Yara Greyjoy. Weird her smile.

Homeland: Well, Russian dude just ramped things up really quickly. Now, I could see Carrie sell out Saul to get that asset to retrieve the black box, but kill Saul? Oh my. That would be going out with a bang in the final season. Though I could see Carrie killing Saul, getting the black box, and then the final shot being a not very dead Saul.

Good Girls: I have long thought they should have gotten rid of the gang banger and brought in a new big bad every season to freshen things up. I really hope the sniper actuvlly kills him and then they have to spend a season trying to pay off the rest of the bill. That guy was a hoot.
You can download Good Girls on iTunes.

Little Fires Everywhere: Well, that was unexpected. I believe the first line of dialogue was Lexi saying that Elena would find a way to blame this on Izzy. Well, of course, she was the one who dosed her stuff with gasoline first. I never really suspected the kids mostly because of that line. But the fire really took a back seat to the trial, but that ended anti-climatically as we did not even get to see the verdict being read, just the aftermath. I guess I should have seen the ending to that storyline coming as it pretty much line up with Mia’s story of stealing a child and living a life on the run. But what the whole, once a human touches a baby bird its mother rejects it, supposed to be a metaphor for Izzy with Mia and that is why Izzy bolted? Elena seemed to pretty much give up on Izzy long before Mia showed up. I wonder of Reece will try to squeeze another season out of this show like she did Big Little Lies. You could also have a search for Izzy and Maribelle but I am not sure how you can work in Mia and Pearl, cannot imagine they ever set foot in Shaker Heights ever again. Well, unless Pearl really did end up getting knocked up by Tripp and she felt guilty enough to keep the baby and did not want her kid to grow up without knowing her father. I am sure I would watch.
You can stream Little Fires Everywhere Hulu.

Survivor: Winners at War: We have had plenty of dumb player on the show that give up immunity, try to play fake Idols, vote for the wrong player which results them getting voted out but I figured on an all winner season we would not get many dumb movie. But I was shocked this week when not one, not two, but three people who somehow won this game gave a Fire Token to Tony. Okay, I could sort of get Jeremy who was in clear danger, but Nick and Ben have absolutely no reason to do this. I hope they at least got their tokens back that Tony then won.

Then Tony came up with the most convoluted plan. Instead of getting Kim and Denise who was with Jeremy the previous week, he goes with a three split vote to get out Sophie. Again, everyone he pitched it to were dumb enough to go along with it. Seriously, how did Nick win his season again? He has been nonexistent this season only to pop up to be creepy or make dumb moves.
You can download Survivor: Winners at War on iTunes.

The Challenge: Total Madness: Why was everyone ganging up on Ashley? It was Mattie who fired the first shot by saying Ashley had worse things in her mouth. That seems worse than what Ashley said. If you do not want people to bring up your prison time, do not do anything that will and you in prison. Mattie slut shaming was a lot worse in my book.

In the Dark: Oh yeah, I forgot about the blind chick’s other evil boyfriend. She sure knows how to pick them. I somehow think he will not be leaving Chicago. But I was surprised the Queen Pin did not ask for proof that the other guy took care of him. Aren’t you supposed to ask for a finger when you kill someone?

The Blacklist: There have been weirder Blacklisters, but a dude who inseminates prostitutes with dead men sperm to extort their family for money has to be pretty high on the list. Then the twist of actually keeping the babies made it even weirder. It looked like there was a teenager there which means he has been doing this for a very long time. But what is going on with Ressler? Have we met hi brother before? Do we know what he did?
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: April 19, 2020

Homeland: Mmm, is Carrie really going to burn Saul to get the Black Box back? Why not tell him of the Russians plans so they can devise a way do get the Black Box back without naming the mole? Just how is Carrie going to find out who the mole is, inform the Russians, all while under arrest?

Black Monday: Oh hey, the gang is finally back together. Only took half the season. Most other shows would have annoying done that by the end of the season premiere. Be interesting where all the allegiances align now and going forward. I do wonder if Ken Marino is still playing both Lehman Brothers. I would be a huge time commitment to put Ken in all that makeup and then film another version of him as the other normal brother.

Killing Eve: Meh, I was really hoping that the show lived up to its name with that final scene last season. Kind of had to know Eve was not really dead, I mean, she was in the marketing to the season. But after Eve stabbed the crazy French assassin at the end of the season, and the crazy French assassin shot Eve at the end of the second season, where exactly do they go from there? I am assuming the crazy French assassin was not the person to kill the son, but who did then? The Thirteen? The Crazy French assassin's even crazier Russian assassin trainer? are the crazy French assassin and Even going to team up to shoot her at the end of this season?

Run: This felt like someone dared Phoebe Waller-Bridge to write a show within twenty-four only with the rule that it starts with someone getting a text that simply reads, "run." Hopefully it adds a plot soon.

Briarpatch: Okay, mostly half watched most of the season because I found it mostly boring, so who killed the sheriff? I assume that can she reached for is a huge clue but I missed it. But watching the dude get eaten by a tiger just highlights how much better the show could have been had they added more escaped animals. That was pretty much the only thing that set the show apart for other paint by numbers murder mysteries but the animals just seemed to quickly disappear.

Little Fires Everywhere: What really struck me about last episode is that for the first five episodes, Elena was this picturesque put together almost Stepford Wife, in episode six we just saw her completely crack multiple times. And then we saw her finally snap at Izzy. Then I found it interesting is than in the very next scene we see Pearl just snap at her mother. They have been clearly tying together Mia and Izzy but I am just now realizing that Elaina and Pearl are more tied together. Of course it is Elaina tells Pearl who she really is, not her mother. That just kind of confirmed to me that Mia is the one that burns down the house. Really, Izzy is the only other suspect at this point.
You can stream Little Fires Everywhere Hulu.

Survivor: Winners at War: My least favorite episode of any season somehow got worse: a full half an hour of loved ones, and even more than usually. But you have to feel bad for Michele who only had her sister show up when other had a spouse and three children. Really Fiji airlines, she and the others who only have their fiancés show up could not also have a parent or also a buddy show up?

Speaking of Michele, why the fork did she vote for Tyson? Did she just want to be part of the majority or was hoping to avoid a tie which would lead to rocks? Then did the group of five fork up? Shouldn’t they have gone three-three? Did they know Michele was with them? And how did Nick find himself in the majority after being on the bottom the last two weeks? How did Tony go from wanting to align the big threats to find himself in an alliance full of hyenas this week? Maybe the editors should not have spent half the episode on the family visit.
You can download Survivor: Winners at War on iTunes.

Devs: If Forrest was such a tech genius, how did he not realize that the reason Devs stopped seeing in the future was because Lily did something that it could not predict? When they first said that the program stopped when she went to Dev, my first thought was, oh, she just does not go to Devs. And yet both die anyway and meet up in a computer simulation. That may have been a more nonsensical ending than Annulation.
You can download Devs on iTunes.

Motherland: Fort Salem: I noticed this week that Will Ferrell and Adam McCay were producers. Wait, what?!? Have I been watching this right? I thought I have been watching a crappy sci-fi show, is this really a farce? I guess have the big bad being blue balloons makes more sense if we are not supposed to take the show seriously.

In the Dark: Two person consent laws are stupid. But seriously, the captain is really going to reinstate someone he knows murdered a child and is working for a drug queen pin because he says wants to bring her down? That is a stretch even by television standards.

The Blacklist: Well that was a weird episode. Red wants to go after the dude who makes guns after seeing someone get gunned down after murdering countless people himself after using the same weapon. Probably not the best vehicle to tell this story.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: April 12, 2020

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: Well that was a very special episode. Nice work adding in the deaf actors signing instead of singing. But of course the one dude learned sign language to get laid.
You can download Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist on iTunes.

Homeland: That was kind of a waste of an episode when it was pretty obvious Carrie would end up getting her hands on the Black Box. The only question would be if the Russian dude would turn on her or not. Oh wait, I forgot option three, she tries to fork another enemy of the state and then he still turns on her. I am going to miss this show.

The Walking Dead: Okay, the show has been a drag since… um, ever, maybe, but the weird purple haired chick is a riot. Hopefully she sticks around to liven things up.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Good Girls: Wait, Leslie was not dead. Okay, I vaguely remember him “dying” only to be found hiding in his grandmother’s apartment. But how he ended up in prison is still a mystery to me. Really needed a recap of that. But now he is “dead” again but we do not get to see him die so I am guessing the gangsta has other plans for him.
You can download Good Girls on iTunes.

Black Monday: Boo, I am going to miss Mo’s relaxer hair. That was comedy gold. But Mo being cleared that easily, was a bit of a stretch even by television standards. What could the FBI possibly want that would let him off the hook? Speaking of being left off the hook, it would also be a cheap stretch even by TV standards if Keith going to the Lehman Brothers’ Club Fed and being released early was just part of Mo’s plan and Keith is in on it.

Manifest: I know I should not have expected different, but that was extremely dumb. So frostbite dude comes back to life because he did good deeds? Kind of ruins the suspense of the death date. And now we are stuck with a lame love triangle.
You can download Manifest on iTunes.

Little Fires Everywhere: Last week, Mia’s parents implied that the kid was not hers. I just assumed they meant biologically, but maybe they just meant legally because when you use a turkey baster, you kind of have to the biological mother. This definitely explains why she is so adamant that the co-worker should get the kid back. Hers were by far the more interesting flashback, but boy was young Elena scenes rough. You are certainly going through things if you are driving five hours to see an ex-boyfriend. But I wonder if they are trying to explain Izzy’s problems with the sip of wine Elena had at that dinner?
You can stream Little Fires Everywhere Hulu.

Survivor: Winners at War: So I picked Adam to win solely because he seemed like the most random person who got to speak during the preview last fall. It seemed like I was more and more right as he kept on getting screen time despite being kind of insignificant. And yet, there were a bunch of little scenes made to make him look like a buffoon, like the inability to get his torch in the stand, so I actually kind of thought that weird thing was an Idol, but alas it was not and he was voted out. After all that, can he possibly be the one that comes back from Extinction and actually win? If so, that would be one of the weirdest bits of editing ever.
You can download Survivor: Winners at War on iTunes.

Devs: I really kind of hate the trope of someone predicting the future, someone else says, all I have to do is not do the thing you say I am going to do, but then they always do that exact thing. I kind of hoped what ended the Devs future was the chick just did not go to Devs. Really the last half of the episode was kind of boring.
You can download Devs on iTunes.

Motherland: Fort Salem: Wait, did not one really notice the wicked witch raised the temperature, like fifty degrees? Huh?

The Blacklist: We finally get to learn Agent Park’s deep dark secret, broke a few laws to get to the person she thought was responsible for killing her mother, but of course Red was the one that arranged the meeting. Makes me wonder how long he has been following her.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only This Is On: April 5, 2020

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: Is it too soon to call this the best episode of the decade? Of course, who knows when Hollywood gets up and running, we may not get much new television after next month. You start off with a great rendition of Crazy. Zoey trying not to sing I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause was one of the funniest things I have ever seen. Pressure was not far behind. Max was pretty astute that Zoey sang him a love song but sang Simon a lust song. Then they capped things off by making everyone cry. But are they really going to kill off Peter Gallagher? After the first episode I assume they would have him sing every week, but he has sung in less than half of the episode and just sits there bug eyed most of the time. Kind of seems like a waste of his talents.
You can download Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist on iTunes.

Homeland: Last week I predicted one of Max or the Taliban dude would survive, probably both. Oops, wrong on both counts. Although the Talban guy ended up surviving the first round of bullets. Um, Pakistan, maybe it is time to get better soldiers if you can miss the head from maybe ten paces. But I do not understand why the Taliban’s son killed Max that way. Why not do it on camera?

The Walking Dead: Um, where did Carol go? That was pretty cheap to just leave Negan out there like that after he brought your mortal enemy’s head. And what was going on with Beta. Why steal Alpha’s head just to take it nowhere and kill her? Did he just want to show her the new horde he was making?
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Good Girls: So all that just for the boyfriend to chicken out at the end? Meh. Well at least he got his bird back. Maybe the children can get the chicks after the bird lays the eggs.
You can download Good Girls on iTunes.

Black Monday: I hope we get to see the Rubber Room later this season, it sounds like comedy gold. I hope we do not see Horatio Sanz pull down his pants ever again.

Manifest: Um, why were the bad guys steal the hot cop’s nephew when they could have just as easily taken her instead? It is not like her half dead husband could do anything about it.
You can download Manifest on iTunes.

Little Fires Everywhere: Well that took an unexpected turn. I actually had to rewind the scene a couple times and turn up the volume to make I heard what I was not hearing. So, at least according to her grandparents, Pearl is not Mia’s child? Oh wow. I thought the twist was that the baby daddy was abusive but the real reason is that Mia was a surrogate and really does not want anyone to know where she is because she does not want Pearl taken away. No wonder she feels so strong about her co-worker is the rightful parent because she was the one that gave birth to the child. Now the big question is, what does Elena do with this information? Will she be willing to blow up Pearl’s life just to stick it to Mia? Will she blackmail Mia to stop supporting the co-work so her buddy can keep the kid? Oh yeah, and there is the whole fire business. We see Izzy go pyro this week, but like her name getting thrown out in the first episode, it is so obvious; you have to assume it is someone else. But other than maybe Mia and the co-worker, not many other suspects right now.
You can stream Little Fires Everywhere Hulu.

Survivor: Winners at War: Oh man, we were seconds away from the darkest timeline: Rob coming back in the game with an Idol. Oh wait; the true darkest timeline would be Rob coming back in at five with two Idols after accumulating enough Fire Tokens for more. But I have to say the creepy Nick montage was the greatest bit of editing since Angelina almost died while searching for an Idol.
You can download Survivor: Winners at War on iTunes.

The Challenge Total Madness: It is the biggest twist in the history of the show!!!!! Okay, calm down T.J., I am not sure it is top five. But it will be interesting how the power players who try to avoid elimination like the plague will play this. Do you try to go in early and make sure alliance serves you up a tomato can (and hope it is the type of challenge that favors you) or do you wait until you are near the end for fear if you go in early you may have to go in multiple times if you lose power? Granted this begs the question of if T.J. will even give them a head’s up. I probably would want to get it out of the way early.

Motherland: Fort Salem: What is with all the aging and de-aging? I get that they are witches, but I do not get what ends they are doing it in this episode.

Devs: Okay, when the old dude said to the young kid that got fired last week was nineteen, I was taken aback. The kid’s voice has yet to drop yet. So I did some googling and it turns out that young boy is actually a twenty-two year old woman in real life. That may have been the biggest plot twist on the show so far.
You can download Devs on iTunes.

The Blacklist: Ugg, I forget if the guy that Lizzie was looking for was Red as a younger man or his buddy that her mom abducted. I am pretty sure it is Red, which in case, good luck finding someone who no longer exists.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

57 Channels and Only Is Is On: March 29, 2020

Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist: You know what makes a good show: The small details. Like having some random extra with a fake baby deliver a line like, “That’s usually not a very good sign.” That just had me laughing throughout the commercial break. Just having a flash mob which Zoey, and, well me, thinks is one of her mental breaks was pretty brilliant too.
You can download Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist on iTunes.

Homeland: Wait, they have lady judges in Pakistan? Who knew they were that progressive? But does the lady who was evil earlier this season, plotting with the military 80’s villain, really want peace now? Or is she the reason they changed the judge? So we were left with two cliffhangers: the Taliban leader is going to go in front of a firing squad any minute. Am I really supposed to feel bad for a dude who killed countless numbers of people, because I sort of did before remembering he was a mass murderer? Then Max is about to have his head cut off. But I really doubt after being so lucky the first half of the season, he goes out like that. So will it be the three man Russian crew (four if you count Carrie) or the American extraction team that saves him. Granted, since he did give Carrie all the information she needs to get the black box, so maybe they will shock us and kill both at the start of the next episode. Homeland season one would have killed at least one, later Homeland will probably find a way to save both.

Supergirl: Oh hey, our first Miss Tessmacher sighting in post Crisis. I believe when we last saw her, Lena essentially turned her into AI. I guess that did not happen. I predict she is back to being Lex’s mole inside Catco.
You can download Supergirl on iTunes.

The Walking Dead: Oh yeah, Michonne inexplicably left her children earlier this season to help some random dude find his family. And of course that random dude turned out to be crazy and almost killed her. But then led her to a ship that had something of Rick’s? Huh? And now Michonne is going to keep being away from her children to look for Rick with little clues? Huh? But speaking of people who have not been on the show for a while, the dream sequences reminded me that Maggie just disappeared without any explanation.
You can download The Walking Dead on iTunes.

Good Girls: That is pretty brilliant to bury a body in a cemetery. Doubtful anyone would dig up the other grave and find it. What was not brilliant was leaving the phone on so the boyfriend could find it. I thought the boyfriend would find the bird when he went over to Beth’s but instead he had a chance meeting with the bird when donating bird feed. How convenient. So I guess the boyfriend will continue to be a little bit of a problem going forward.
You can download Good Girls on iTunes.

Black Monday: There are fewer things I needed to see than Horatio Sanz’s little Horatio. But I kind of want an episode in the Rubber Room. That place sounded interesting.

Project Blue Book: Wait, are they implying that Quinn went through some portal to Antarctica? Isn’t this show supposed to be based on fact? This is going to be a hard thing to sell if there is a next season.
You can download Project Blue Book on iTunes.

Little Fires Everywhere: Well that escalated quickly. Elena just went after Mia who dished I all back. But is that custody battle really going to take up the rest of the season because it seems pretty open and shut. If you give up your child, you give up your child. You just cannot put a child on layaway indefinitely. Then what is up with Reece’s eldest? What teenage boy goes limp in the middle of sex? Seems as believe able as no assigned seats in high school.
You can stream Little Fires Everywhere Hulu.

Survivor: Winners at War: There is nothing more annoying on this show than whatever name gets thrown out in the confessional right after the Immunity Challenge and before the ad break almost never is the person that gets voted out. It is essentially a spoiler at this point. So when Yul said I was going to be Wendell, I knew at that moment is was almost certain to be Yul going home. Though I am not sure it was wise for Michelle and Nick to side with the guy at the last Tribal admitted he was willing to stab everyone in the back and front and could be bought with some Fire Tokens.
You can download Survivor: Winners at War on iTunes.

Devs: Just a reminder people, do not talk on the phone while driving. Wifey just blew right through that stop sign. But I was not entirely sure what I was seeing for most of the episode.
You can download Devs on iTunes.

The Bold Type: So Kat was fired and just like the season that ended with Jane taking another job, she will be back at Scarlett within an episode or two next season. But shouldn’t she be in prison? Especially if dude’s daughter is some high powered lawyer who already threatened her. Although the look those two had at the end of the episode seemed a little thirsty.
You can download The Bold Type on iTunes.

The Blacklist: There was a point for sure that Red was the one killing everybody off. Although, it did turn out to be a pretty entertaining Ten Little Indians episode.
You can download The Blacklist on iTunes.

Previewing Little Fires Everywhere

One thing that struck me while watching Little Fires Everywhere is the first shot of the series is that of one pretty forking big fire. Okay so it explained by the Fire Marshall that the big fire was started with little fires everywhere and accelerant. But of course being a television show, little fires everywhere is quite obvious a metaphor for probably a few different things. And is not just that someone burned down this house, they did it with someone inside. Then we promptly flash back four months where we are introduced to two very different families.

Reece Witherspoon spent a quarter century being a huge movie star but all of the sudden she has become the new queen of prestige television with what you can essentially call the Reece Witherspoon Book Club. Three years ago she turned Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies into an HBO smash hit. Last year she launch Apple+ with The Morning Show based Brian Stelter book. And now she is adapting the Celeste Ng book Little Fires Everywhere for Hulu.

Like Big Little Lies, Reece’s character in Little Fires Everywhere can best be described as grown up Tracy Flick. Again she is playing a very type-A personality trying to exude a very specific persona to the world, you know, the kind of person who weighs herself to the tenth but only has sex on certain day and does not even break that rule if it is just a little past midnight. But there is where the comparisons to her other show ends (well, okay, Joshua Jackson as her husband is as ineffectual as Adam Scott except for maybe one scene in a court room late in the season). The show, is set in 1997 mixed middle class Shaker Height, Ohio, and is really just two woman dealing with their families instead of the super-rich lives of five (six if you count Meryl Streep).

The other woman is played by Kerry Washington who is new to Shaker and needs a new place to stay with her and her teenaged child. A chance run in with Reece, who gets introduced with an Annie Lennox song, gives Kerry, who gets introduced with an Erikah Badu song, a place to stay and a new job. Needless to say there would be no show if these two strong willed women got along, but Reece’s trying so hard not to be perceived as racist, well, comes off as a little racist. Then Kerry is not very good at letting micro-aggressions go.

With only two families at the heart of the story, some of the heavy lifting is left to the five children in the two families and where Little Fires Everywhere fails to live up to Big Little Lies is that these kids are no Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Laura Dern, or Zoey Kravitz. The best of the bunch is Reece’s youngest of four who is just shooting daggers for the first couple episodes (and gets thrown under the bus by her siblings during the opening moments) but kind of just disappears before trotting down the hallway to 2Pac in the penultimate episode (the last of which I saw so I not sure how the season ends) in one of the show's more entertaining moments. While Reece’s two boys took me a couple episodes to tell apart. Then her eldest is trying way too hard to playing a mimi-Reese.

One person who actually does a good job playing mini-Reese is AnnaSophia Robb who shares an episode with The Chi’s Tiffany Boone who plays a younger Kerry in duel flashbacks. Robb’s performance makes me wonder why she only seems to be cast in Hulu award bait for other actors (like last year’s The Act). Please Hollywood, how about giving Robb her own show again instead of wasting her on bit parts. But this was a weird episode just because it also features Veronica Mars’ Alona Tal, Cloak and Dagger’s Aubrey Joseph, Grey Anatomy’s Jesse Williams, and Tomorrowland’s Britt Robertson all of which are in two scenes or less. Kind of a waste for actors whom I at least can recognize. I cannot imagine they will show up in the one episode I have yet to watch.

Despite opening up with arson, this really is not much of a whodunit. Reece’s youngest is an early suspect, but by the time you give episode seven, there really are not that many subjects. Really it is kind of obvious early on it will be kind of silly if it turns out to be someone else. The show actually turns into a court battle which actually is a bigger mystery of how the court will rule. But unless there are some big moments in the final episode Little Fires Everywhere will just turn out to be another in a long list of shows striving to be prestige TV that ends up being a solid B at best.

Three episodes of Little Fires Everywhere premiere tomorrow on Hulu with a new episode premiering every Wednesday after that.