Binge-r #200: My Top 25 Shows
Like a Prayer: Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) and Andrew Scott (The Priest) in Fleabag
THE BEST SHOWS OF THE BINGE-R ERA
A note from your fellow binger: Hello, and welcome to the 200th edition of BINGE-R, which if nothing else is evidence that at some point growing up my persistence was questioned and I’ve been proving a point ever since. December 2016, when I launched this newsletter, feels like a distant and misty era now, but the subsequent years have been a great time for streaming television as additional platforms have appeared and new shows have multiplied. At some point I had grand plans for the #200, but then, you know, 2020. So I’m keeping it simple – these are the 25 best shows of the BINGE-R era (note: a few have changed services, or are currently unavailable). As always, thanks for reading, and if you know someone who’d get value from BINGE-R, please recommend it to them. Now let’s go watch something good, CM.
25 – THE ALIENIST
An addictive period crime drama about cities, science, and inequality’s malice (Netflix)
24 – GIRI/HAJI
A Japanese crime tale exported to London, with grace notes and mordant humour (Netflix)
23 – AMERICAN VANDAL
A school true crime satire that is sharply funny and warmly generous (Netflix)
22 – DERRY GIRLS
Uproarious comedy about a group of 90s teens in a Northern Ireland backwater (Netflix)
21 – THE LAST DANCE
Michael Jordan’s final basketball peak is a barbed and furiously entertaining doc (Netflix)
20 – HOMECOMING
Tense and heartrending thriller about personal responsibility and corporate evil (Amazon)
19 – WHEN THEY SEE US
A wrenching dramatic study of real life injustice that remains deeply relevant (Netflix)
18 – COUNTERPART
A science-fiction thriller about parallel worlds where duality devastates (Amazon)
17 – THE HANDMAID’S TALE
Elisabeth Moss elevates – first season – Margaret Atwood’s dystopic nightmare (Stan)
16 – THE GOOD PLACE
Philosophy is fickle and the ramifications giddy in this whirlwind afterlife sitcom (Netflix)
15 – COLLATERAL
A British crime mystery with sharp turns and richly memorable dialogue (Netflix)
14 – KILLING EVE
A deliciously deceptive black comedy that double-crosses your expectations (Stan)
13 – PEN15
Women channel adolescence in this inventively specific high school comedy (Stan)
Caped Crusader: Olivia Colman (Deborah Flowers) in Flowers
12 – THE OA
A metaphysical mystery with fantastical flights and grounding trauma (Netflix)
11 – THE BUREAU
A French spy drama that is tensely observed and tragically obsessive (SBS on Demand)
10 – DARK
Gloriously grim and mind-bending German time travel drama (Netflix)
9 – FLOWERS
The magnificent Olivia Colman headlines a truly original British comedy (Netflix)
8 – UNBELIEVABLE
Rape’s disturbing impact is fully felt – and avenged – in this gripping drama (Netflix)
7 – BABYLON BERLIN
1929 Berlin is the canvas for a kaleidoscopic mystery that intertwines history (Netflix)
6 – NORMAL PEOPLE
The connection between two Irish teens reveals life-altering forces that define them (Stan)
5 – RUSSIAN DOLL
Wildly wonderful time loop black comedy with a knockout Natasha Lyonne (Netflix)
4 – MINDHUNTER
Serial killer procedural that’s a coiled investigation of obsession and identity (Netflix)
3 – TWIN PEAKS: THE RETURN
David Lynch’s TV dream returns as a vast and immersive neo-noir nightmare (Stan)
2 – ATLANTA
Donald Glover’s remarkable half-hours contains Black multitudes (SBS on Demand)
1 – FLEABAG
An electrifying exact vision that’s some of the finest TV ever made (Amazon)
>> Missed last week’s BINGE-R? Click here to read about SBS on Demand’s melodramatic black comedy Why Women Kill and Netflix’s Charlize Theron banger The Old Guard.
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>> Check the complete BINGE-R archive: 243 series reviewed here, 144 movies reviewed here, and 33 lists compiled here.
