My Top Ten TV Dramas of 2016

by Matthew Thompson

I’m back with part two of my look at television in 2016. Earlier this week, I spotlighted the best comedies of last year and today I’m talking about some of the incredible dramas that graced the small screen in 2016. Here are my ten favorites from this past year.

10. Mr. Robot

Mr. Robot was the surprise of 2015. From an unlikely source – the formerly happy-go-lucky USA network – came this dark, cyberpunk thriller about a hacker trying to change the world while battling his own psychological demons. It even took the top spot in my list of best series that year. Season 2 was a sizable step back in my eyes suffering from major pacing issues among other missteps – most notably cutting off Elliot from the other characters for so long and sidelining Tyrell for the majority of the season. Yet, I still found myself riveted watching week to week. So many of the aspects of the show remain top-shelf from the acting performances of Rami Malek and company to the daring, original cinematography to the music, including both the original score and the licensed selections. And despite the frustrations I mentioned earlier, I remained engrossed in trying to suss out where this wild ride was taking me and fascinated by the show’s ability to put viewers in their complicated lead’s shoes. While it may not have matched its near-perfect first season, I still found myself glued to Mr. Robot in 2016.

Bonus Points: For seeing the creative ways in which they deploy the title cards each week. I’m not sure a show has ever done them better than Mr. Robot.

9. American Crime

You’d be forgiven for overlooking American Crime’s superior second season after the middling first, but it is absolutely worth your time. This show initially felt like ABC’s response to the popularity of crime anthologies in 2014 like True Detective and Fargo, but beyond some strong acting performances, American Crime didn’t have a lot to offer in comparison. That changed in Season 2. Rape accusations at a prestigious private school well-known for its basketball team set in motion the events of the season to follow which would examine numerous topics such as class, race, sexuality, online bullying and school shootings. While this may seem like the writers ticking things off a checklist of hot-button issues, it is so much more. This was a nuanced and powerful look at important social issues of our time. No show improved more from 2015 to 2016 in my opinion, making American Crime one of the more underrated shows of this past year.

Bonus Points: For bringing back many of the same actors from Season 1 for more quality performances. I wasn’t sure how to feel about bringing cast members back to play different characters in a new season as it was the first show I’d seen do this, but it didn’t bother me one bit and it was great to see people like Timothy Hutton, Felicity Huffman, Lily Taylor and Regina King back with superior material to work with. The new cast was excellent too.

8. Stranger Things

I’m a sucker for a good sci-fi series and Netflix delivered on that front this past summer with the tightly paced, built-to-binge Stranger Things. It is clearly a throwback to fiction from the ‘80s, reminiscent of both Steven Spielberg and Stephen King’s works. But in truth, I don’t have a particularly strong nostalgia for the period. I was just impressed with what this debut season did. It hit on a lot of the science-fiction subjects that I love, chief among them my personal favorite: alternate universes. But the sci-fi is combined with supernatural and horror touches that – along with an absolutely killer soundtrack – create an amazing and palpable atmosphere. All this plus the season’s intriguing, ongoing mysteries and the way everything comes together in the final few episodes had me hooked on Stranger Things’ first season. Kudos for some great performances from kid actors too – particularly Millie Bobby Brown – which aren’t exactly common on television.

Bonus Points: For reminding me of my all-time favorite show Fringe! With alternate universes, little girls with powers, sensory deprivation tanks and the 1980s, I couldn’t help but think of Fringe at times while watching Stranger Things.

7. The Americans

The Americans is very much the ‘80s soviet spy thriller that it appears to be at first glance. It has the kind of tense scenes you’d expect from a show focusing on Russian spies stationed abroad during the Cold War though they often come in an oddly quiet or uncomfortable way that makes them unique to The Americans. But just as much as this is a spy show, it is a family drama. It is the combination of these two aspects that makes the show so special. The past two seasons has seen it reach even greater heights by letting daughter Paige in on the family secret. Seeing her reactions as she learns more – and how her parents react to that – has allowed us to diver deeper into both of the series’ core subjects. Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell continue to do incredible work in the lead roles, but The Americans’ recent developments have allowed Holly Taylor to show her acting chops as well.

Bonus Points: For the heartwrenching ways in which they tied off two major subplots involving long-time supporting characters this season. These were both brutal and emotional in the way you’d expect from The Americans.

6. Jane the Virgin

After two and a half seasons of effortlessly delivering such consistent quality, it is easy to overlook just how cleverly constructed Jane the Virgin remains. It’s a show that embraces being a telenovela while poking fun at the format every chance it gets. It’s the funniest hour-long program on television capable of delivering buckets of laughs through its use of captions alone. It features the best narrator on TV. It uses smart wordplay to transition from one scene to the next. It blends humor and pathos with a twisty narrative to create something unlike any other show on TV. Jane the Virgin didn’t do anything wildly different from what it has in years past, but it remains one of the most fun and addicting series on television.

Bonus Points: For Yael Grobglas’s performance. Petra was already my favorite character on the show and Yael has always been great in the role, but I loved seeing her get to play two characters this past year. It’s cliché to say, but it really did feel like two different people playing them plus she had to do some of that one character pretending to be the other sort of thing. Great stuff.

5. Game of Thrones

I fell in love with Game of Thrones the moment I started watching it. Then I got into the books and started reading all the crazy theories and my love grew deeper. For four years, it was consistently one of my favorite things on TV. And then came Season 5. I was disappointed. Because of this and the fact that the writers wouldn’t have finished books for reference from here on out, my excitement was somewhat muted going into the sixth season. But I’m happy to say this was a bounce back year for HBO’s medieval fantasy series. I think where it succeeds the most is in setting up the final stretch of episodes. The last two outings of Season 6 rank among the series’ best delivering one of GoT’s epic battle sequences as Jon faced off against Ramsay in “The Battle of the Bastards” and just about everything I could have asked for and more in the explosive season finale “The Winds of Winter.” I couldn’t be more excited to see where Game of Thrones goes next which is back to exactly how I should be feeling in the off-season.

Bonus Points: For the fact that Dany is finally heading to Westeros! Seven hells, it’s about time!

4. Person of Interest

It was a bit sad to see CBS burn off Person of Interest’s final episodes so unceremoniously at the end of last network season. It along with The Good Wife have been the bright spots among their drama line-up for years, a cut above their usual, older-skewing procedural fare. And whereas The Good Wife faltered down the stretch, Person of Interest soared with a sensational farewell season for the series. During this final lap, POI brought more vigilantism from some of TV’s foremost badasses while tackling the same kind of complex issues it has from the beginning, things like artificial intelligence and post-9/11 national security. And I couldn’t be happier with how things came to a close. The finale was the perfect way to end Person of Interest and joins the likes of Scrubs, Spartacus and Friday Night Lights as my favorite series finales of all-time.

Bonus Points: For making the ham-fisted way in which they wrote Shaw out in Season 4 worthwhile. I love Shaw. She is my favorite character on the show. I didn’t really care for the way in which she was written out in the previous season. But she was such a big factor in why I loved this final season and series finale that I can’t imagine her not being a part of it. So while that issue could have been handled better in Season 4, I’m very thankful they managed to keep Shaw around for the fifth season.

3. Rectify

When new evidence results in Daniel Holden being released from prison after nearly two decades, we see how his reintroduction to society affects him, his family and his small hometown of Paulie, Georgia. This is the premise of SundanceTV’s affecting drama series Rectify. On paper, it doesn’t seem like my cup of tea. You don’t have to look much further than this list to see that I prefer shows with action and sci-fi and so on to this sort of slow-paced prestige drama. And yet, Rectify has been one of my favorites each of these past four years. During its final season, it delivered more of what I’d come to expect from the series. A show filled with small, moving moments. One with touching, realistic dialogue that also isn’t afraid to let silence speak for it when necessary. Some of the very best acting performances on television – Aden Young delivers one for the ages in the lead role. And yet it managed to surprise me too, giving me more closure than I expected when it came to the central crime and what Daniel’s future might hold. It was a beautiful end to a beautiful series. I will miss it.

Bonus Points: For the arc that Ted Jr. went on throughout the series. Daniel’s journey was always my favorite part of the show, but I was surprised how different I felt about Teddy by the end of this season than I had at the beginning of the show. Credit to the writers and Clayne Crawford for what they did with the character.

2. Black Sails

I don’t think the third season of Starz swashbuckling, Treasure Island prequel series quite matches up with Season 2, but it comes pretty damn close and remains the premiere action show on television. Looking back so much happened on Black Sails this season. Brutal storms at sea and the discoveries of secret colonies, pivotal death scenes and harrowing duels, plus all the slippery maneuvering, treachery and backstabbing you’d expect from the pirate series leading up to the finale’s bombastic one-two punch battle sequences fought on both land and at sea. And despite all this, it at times felt like it was merely setting up the series’ final season airing later this month. Look no further than the introduction of Blackbeard. The legendary pirate lingered around the periphery this past season, but looks to pay off in full this year just as two other major players are poised to clash. Black Sails managed to put together another highly entertaining season while preparing perfectly for its final voyage.

Bonus Points: For that amazing carriage sequence in Episode 8. Whew. Crazy. I’d gladly play that in a video game.

1. iZombie

Whereas Rectify isn’t exactly my kind of show, iZombie 100% is. The out-there premise that finds a zombie medical examiner helping to solve crimes by eating the victims’ brains? Incredible. The way it so deftly blends procedural elements with the ongoing mythology? Perfect. The chemistry of the cast? Delightful. That one-of-a-kind dialogue and banter that you only get in a Rob Thomas show? So full of snark and wit, it makes my heart sing. I love it all. Only the back half of Season 2 aired in 2016, but it was so, so good. There were more interesting personalities for Liv to take on from the humorous (stripper brain) to the sobering (drug addict brain). There were some great guest turns from Rob Thomas’s old show Veronica Mars (including Kristen Bell in voice form and Enrico Colantoni) and a wonderfully meta cameo from Rob Thomas himself… but the other one, of Matchbox 20 fame. They even went the route of more traditional zombie fiction in the finale to spectacular results. This show never lets me down and was my easy choice for favorite TV show of 2016.

Bonus Points: For the honest conversation that results from someone learning Liv’s secret late in the season. Other shows – I’m looking in your direction CW superhero shows – could learn a thing or two from this exchange I think. Oh and for those cooking montages that make brains look delicious each week.

A couple more things:

• Ranking Debates: I didn’t have much of an issue with this list compared to the comedies. The number one choice was easy for me this time and I felt good about the ten even if there were plenty of other worthy candidates. I did swap Black Sails and Rectify late (iZombie and Rectify playing off the “my kind of show” theme made more sense when they were next to each other!). And I did shuffle the six through eight spots a bit as I wrote these up. But those debates don’t bother me as much as what is at the top and what makes the list. Those I felt great about.
• A few more dramas that I really liked (in no order): Orphan Black (the best season of the sci-fi clone series since the first with another amazing performance from Tatiana Maslany), Better Call Saul (more great stuff from the Breaking Bad spinoff/prequel), Last Chance U (excellent documentary series honing in one of the country’s best JUCO football programs), Hap and Leonard (quality pulp action with great lead performances from James Purefoy and Michael K. Williams), and This is Us (a tearjerking family drama in the vein of Parenthood).

That will do it for my look back at the best television of 2016. I had originally intended to do another post or two, but these turned out a bit longer than I intended and I’m ready to move on. Feel free to share your favorite dramas from this past year in the comments below. My look back on gaming in 2016 will be coming in the form of two more posts next week, so be on the lookout for them! Thanks for reading!