![]() ![]() Game of Thrones is both prestige and popcorn, a mix that very few can pull off. But Benioff and Weiss mash it all up into this seamless gravitas machine, juggling what seem like hundreds of characters and thousands of plot points, and none of it becomes as ponderous as, ahem, certain BBC/PBS fare can sometimes be (I said sometimes, so save the anger). Making arch pronouncements from kings, queens and advisers believable is no easy feat. Weiss also manage to combine the fantastical elements of dragons and White Walkers and the undead, etc., with what is essentially the royal British school of monarchy performances. Game of Thrones (HBO): There’s no greater ongoing story structure on television than Game of Thrones, and sometimes you just have to sit down, hold your head in your hands and marvel at it (in addition to all the moving parts). This is a show you can just listen to - not even see a picture - and be slayed by it. You put a legend like Julia Louis-Dreyfus at the center and, well, it’s just not fair to every other comedy. It’s like the writers are toying with the audience: Oh, you thought those nine connected riffs between multiple characters that ratcheted up the humor in each successive exchange were something to behold? How about we do it again and add a few more characters and toss in some visual jokes as well? Another character walks into the frame - Kevin Dunn’s Ben Cafferty is a prime example - and I know that once he opens his mouth something devastatingly funny will come out of it. The writing on this series is virtuoso level. ![]() ![]() Not only does Veep hold up on repeat viewing, but it gets better. David Mandel, in yet another Herculean task, then took the helm of television’s most searing, relentless comedy. ![]() Veep(HBO): Creator Armando Iannucci’s brilliance kicked off this series, and there are not enough respectful bows to acknowledge the triumphs of his four seasons as showrunner. “That’s a great choice,” “Whoa,” “Brilliant,” “Jesus,” “Rewatch!” and “!!!!” are some of the notes I’ve made, along with the terms “dying” and “dead” - my shorthand for laughing and shaking my head at the same time. I take so much joy from watching these episodes - and, having taught this series in a visual studies class, I’ve watched all the episodes multiple times - that it’s hard to describe. Three remarkable seasons later, Fargo the anthology series is its own kind of masterpiece. The task was, let’s be honest, impossible and stupid. His spinoff of the 1996 feature had to be original yet recognizable in terms of the Cohens’ canon, without being derivative or watered down. But the overall work, the series as a whole, is a substantial, impressive achievement.įargo(FX): If you love language, and the ways that dialogue can be weird, bloody, funny, compelling and unexpected, then how could you not love Fargo? If Gilligan and Gould battled their previous successes, Noah Hawley might have had a more daunting task: taking on the Cohen brothers in general and an iconic film specifically. It’s been, like many fine series before it, shamefully snubbed for what it deserved at the Emmys. Most of the mentions here will be the series creators or those who wrote the most episodes or shaped the vision.Īs Americans concludes, this rich combination of spy game and marriage story has been artfully constructed and a joy to behold. So many writers contribute to the greatness of a series - including those Hall of Fame titles referred to earlier - that it would be impossible to list them all. Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields deserve credit for making this one of television’s best series, but now is also a good time to reiterate that a great series is the sum of its parts. But this final season is bringing so many strands together, revealing intriguing, nuanced and powerful elements through the central relationship between Elizabeth and Philip Jennings and their family ties. The Americans(FX): I have little doubt that when The Americans is considered for its place on the all-time list of great dramas, it’ll be in the single-digit category. In no particular order, here are the 10 series I chose: Not just funny jokes for the comedies or standout emotional scenes for the dramas, but something cumulative where story construction, dramatic tension, intelligence, relentlessly creative humor, poignancy, thoughtfulness and believability, among other fine traits, left a mark. In the end, I kept it simple: a list of currently produced series, each with more than one season under its belt (otherwise, with the likes of The Deuce, Counterpart and so many others, this list would have no end), whose writing has lingered with me in some way. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |