My (Definitive, Unassailable, Final) Top 10 Episodes of TV This Year

I thought this was a business blog? Yeah, well -- you get what you get and you don't get upset

A little departure from our regularly scheduled programming — I haven’t been posting in the last few weeks because I took a little break for family time (and to program a live stage show, we all have multitudes).

A personal passion project of mine is I love watching TVs and movies, in fact here’s how many I’ve watched over the last few years:

It’s an insane amount of content, specifically for having two young children at home — but I have to do it for my fans (Ed note: I have zero fans and this is probably a larger issue that I should address). But here are my Top 10 Episodes of TV that I watched this year (in no particular order):

The Studio, s1, e2: “The Oner”

This year has been inundated with the “oner” -- a single shot that tracks across one or multiple characters (your favorite overrated shows like The Bear and Severance use it all the time!) and The Studio had a few great ones throughout the season, but none more so than its best piece a single-shot episode about single shot episodes (meta!) -- “The Oner” (which won an Emmy this year as well!).

Matt (Seth Rogan’s overbearing studio lead) is the main focus of the episode as he is desperately trying to a) be a “cool boss” as well as b) be an “artist” and both come to a head in this episode. The episode runs as Matt, who is desperately trying to both fix and get out of the way of the scene, continually either interrupts or ruins a number of attempts at this shot. It’s usual comedy hijinks but the pacing and delivery of the episodes feels on par with shows like Veep and Arrested Development.

As you’ll see in my favorites, this episode has two of my favorite things: 1) continued dialing up of the pressure (as the scene shifts towards the end of sunset where they must get the shot done by) and 2) not a shot out of place (the first minutes have a great callback at the end). An all-around frenetic and perfect episode of TV.

The Traitors s3, e7: “Til Death Do Us Part”

The US version of The Traitors is what I would call “sort of good” reality TV, namely because the US version is “Oops, All C-List Celebrities!” -- none of the characters are really smart enough to “win” as much as they are smart enough to “not lose.” But it’s held together by great personalities (namely, Alan Cumming who in the above photo is putting together a FIT in this episode).

The concept of the show is simple, there are three traitors who are trying to get the players to vote out the “faithful” -- they use lies and misdirection to try and keep themselves in the game. But the most convincing misdirection is pointing the finger at another traitor and this is where the episode starts -- the traitors have all voted for each other and now are trying to figure out their strategy as they have betrayed each other.

The reason this season is good is that two traitors are from what I consider to be the Best Reality Game Show on Earth, Survivor, and they have the Best Survivor Player Ever -- Boston Rob Marciano.

In turn, the last traitor is Danielle from Big Brother (what I believe to be a sub-par reality game show). So, of course, the Survivor people are running circles around the Big Brother people. Rob has spent the last few weeks running people out of town, but he’s run into a problem — he’s at his last stand. And like any good cowboy, he plans on going out firing.

At the final roundtable (which follows a very wacky Fear Factor-style pouring bugs on your head mission). Boston Rob makes his final stand and slowly tries to convince the group that they have been misled by Brittany (another hapless Big Brother alum). Boston Rob puts on a masterpiece slowly letting the celebrities in the room unravel as he interjects just when he needs to move the needle. The real question quickly becomes: can a bunch of fools spot the wolf (especially when the wolf is performing at full power)?

If you ever watch Traitors -- you spend most of your time yelling about how dumb everyone is, but in this moment -- you get to see a true master of his craft dodge bullets in his final stand.

Adolescence s1, ep4 “Episode 4”

It is no wonder that Adolescence was the darling at this year’s Emmys. It is beautifully filmed (every episode is largely a single tracking shot), the content fits the zeitgeist (a larger discussion on the world of disaffected young men in our modern world), and the content forces a real reaction out of its audience (I have a number of parent friends who refuse to watch it). It is the opposite of “comfy TV” — a show that forces the audience to evaluate their own relationships.

“Episode 4” deals with the aftermath of the series -- the idea that no matter how well you do as a parent, your children can still make confounding choices. The episode centers on the family of Jamie as they aim to celebrate their father’s 50th birthday in the wake of the scandal that turned their family upside down.

The episode’s natural push and pull is as the family moves throughout the day -- of how can you create a “normal” day after both your family and the town both create myths -- and how those myths resolve in interpersonal and individual ways. Stephen Graham, who is both the showrunner as well as the father in the show, puts on an incredible episode as you him represent the struggle with why Jamie would do the things he’s done while trying to go back to “the way things were.” The show’s final minutes are especially superb as

A well built conclusion to a superb show.

The Righteous Gemstones s4, ep4 “He Goeth Before You Into Galilee”

Righteous Gemstones is the best show HBO has put out this decade (and yes, I’m including that other family drama, S*********) -- and they, somehow, continue to create incredible situations at every turn. In this episode, the family travels to their vacation home to scheme to try and separate the family patriarch (Eli Gemstone) from his new girlfriend (Lori). It’s a rare ensemble event for The Righteous Gemstones that has all the characters in the same place at the same time.

This is one of the few comedy episodes I had to pause multiple times because I was laughing too hard. Gemstones has always been excellent at ramping up an episode for a payoff and the final 10 minutes of this episode are truly bananas with an ending I cannot get out of my mind because of how silly it is. Walter Goggins’s Uncle Baby Billy is riotous in this episode especially in his interactions with his new nanny and the main cast is so excellent throughout.

A truly remarkable show, there aren’t many comedy shows doing it out there like them — I am so sad this show is over.

2025 Masters, Final Round

I rarely consider “sports” as TV -- namely as they a) there’s always another story and b) rarely do those stories resolve. This year, I’ll make an exception -- as the final round at The Masters at Augusta National was pure drama for all involved -- not because of the characters involved, but rather the relatable situation that unfolded.

If you aren’t a golf fan, you can understand the scenario. Rory McIlroy entered Sunday two shots ahead to try and do something he had waited his entire life to accomplish -- win his final “Grand Slam” major and cement himself among golf’s legends. The problem is one that is relatable across the human experience, we all seek our own “white whale” and have tried and stumbled and persisted forward, but the story often feels similar -- the rock is too large and the hill too daunting to climb.

That is what made this four-and-a-half hours of TV so compelling -- it wasn’t a sports person doing amazing sports things (there was a lot of that this year and I think it’s hard to get non-sports fans to “get it”). But rather a real human experience shared as Rory did amazing things (incredible, unbelievable shots like hitting around trees on 15) and confounding things (hitting his ball in the water on 13 after taking a three shot lead). New threats emerged throughout, requiring Rory to also have to go into sudden death to determine if he could reach his lifetime goal. It’s real compelling human drama! If you’ve ever felt “wow I’m really taking one step forward and two steps back on this goal” — this was the one sports event I would HIGHLY recommend watching.

A personal anecdote: my kids were watching and it was a great parenting experience to talk about resiliency and calming down when things are getting away and perseverance! I’ve never seen a better way to teach anyone about focus and outcomes more than that final round.

Golf is the rare sport where you sometimes battle others, but mostly, you have to battle your own brain -- and you could see the impact on every shot -- how badly he wanted to win and how badly his brain was remembering all the times he had failed (very relatable!).

Sports are traditionally framed as heroes vs. villains, but for one day in April,we watched one man battle himself and that’s what makes it great TV.

The Rehearsal s2, ep6 “My Controls”

I love the end of a great bit -- and Nathan Felder has been running a great bit for two seasons. The Rehearsal is the sort of show that you sound insane trying to explain -- it’s a bit reality, it’s a bit prank show, it’s a bit comedy -- but it’s largely built around Nathan’s commitment to bits. The first season inherently becomes a set up to the much wider bit in Season 2. And Season 2 ends up becoming a wider setup for the finale in Episode 6.

The show centers around the concept that if you rehearse something enough times that you’ll get it right and he focuses on the (very real) problem of some airline crashes being the outcome of poor communication across pilots.

Nathan’s main goal in the season is to get a congressional hearing, but the cards don’t work in his favor (he even frames it that he failed due to the fact he had not rehearsed the meeting with a sitting Congressional member enough). But the magic trick is revealed in the final episode that he has been training as a pilot for MONTHS to create his own rehearsal of flying a major aircraft to prove his core thesis.

The episode is less laugh out loud funny, but a series of incredible reveals that shows that when you truly commit to free will -- almost anything can be accomplished in the name of nonsense.

Too Much s1, ep5 “Pink Valentine”

Streaming has made a bunch of TV bad and dumb, but one of the best things it does is allow creators to remove some of the fake constraints of linear television, namely the fact that shows all have to be the same amount of minutes with commercials.

In Lena Dunham’s new show on Netflix (starring Meg Stalter, who is a fan favorite in my household ever since she gained fame during the pandemic with her kooky skits), there is only only episode that is longer than 30 minutes -- and “Pink Valentine” delivers. Lena Dunham’s “Girls” is outstanding TV (I will die on this hill) and Too Much is another return to form for Dunham.

The entire series circles around the relationship between Stalter’s character, Jessica and her fallout from her relationship with her previous boyfriend, Zev (she hates his new girlfriend, she moves to London on a whim, she struggles through new relationships / new city / etc.). But we only see their relationship in bits and pieces.

This episode explores not only the relationship in full, but also provides the context for backstory, I could write a long, description of the episode, but this paragraph from Decider sums it up well:

And while this is technically the kind of traumatic backstory that defines so many characters on prestige TV today, it’s really just the kind of shitty situation anyone can find themselves in. It’s not like Jessica’s sister committed suicide by walking naked out onto the ice during an Alaskan perpetual nightfall, you know? It’s not that kind of traumatic backstory: She just met a guy she thought was great who turned out to be a real piece of garbage. (I actually feel bad for actor Michael Zegen, who’s so grimly convincing as this guy that he’s going to remind a lot of people of their worst exes for the foreseeable future.) Now she’s finally worked up the courage to tell another man she loves him, but he’s incapable of receiving it. Is that better or worse than sucking it up like a sponge until she’s got nothing left to squeeze out of her?

Let great creators have free will -- and they will create great content like this episode.

Dance Moms: A New Era - s1, ep3: “Pointe of No Return”

Listen, I get it -- you watch prestige TV, so you think the only good episodes are shot with mood lighting and in hyperrealistic sets that HBO purchased. But some of the best storytelling on TV is happening on the rebooted Dance Moms franchise.

I never would look at Dance Moms characters as heroes, in the same way that Vince Gilligan said that “we have a world full of bad guys.” I have always been a fan of the original Dance Moms and I think there are two ways to read the overall ethos of the show -- either that there are tyrants among us who will use cruelty as a means to an end (Abby Lee Miller) or the impact of performance anxiety on the mothers as they live vicariously through their children. The through line of the show has always been about mothers and daughters — the way they put pressure on each other and the the positives and negatives of that impact.

But reboots of Dance Moms (or shows like it) have largely failed because they tried to copy the original Dance Moms formula — create a tyrant and expose them to people who want to accomplish something. The problem? Abby Lee Miller is a one-of-one terrible person -- quotable, unhinged, uniquely insane. The new Dance Moms (aptly named: Dance Moms: A New Era) has introduced a new studio owner, Glo Hampton, who is a demanding, but also understanding leader who realizes that the parents are as much at fault as the kids in the show (what a novel concept!).

And Dance Moms: A New Era looks at a modern question we can all relate to: what if the kids chasing being influencers were just as terrible as the parents/teachers?

In this episode, Glo’s daughter Kaeli (who is a real-life working ballerina) is in town and is assistant choreographing and the lead for the show is Audrey, a very meltdown-y child who has raw, natural talent (she worked on Broadway!) but lacks the nerve to be the lead dancer on the team. All of this is further complicated by the fact that Audrey, her mother Tammi, and Glo all live under the same roof and are all sort of best friends??? And, for that reason, Glo cannot see the issues with Audrey; and, in turn, Tammi sees dollar signs in the future, so she also cannot see the issues with her daughter; and Audrey has only been given praise, so she cannot see the issues within herself.

But Kaeli can -- and continually tells her that “this wouldn’t fly on Broadway” every time she starts getting pouty or detached. In the late part of the episode an injury befalls Audrey and the team (including Glo, Kaeli, and her own mother) must evaluate a) if she is telling the truth and b) what they will do without a lead. It’s one of the more complex stories about fame, pressure, and how our truest selves emerge when under the greatest stress.

Dance Moms is the best when it explores not only ambition, but also the delicate interplay of parenting and success -- and this episode has it in spades.

Great British Baking Show - s13, ep 9: “Patisserie Week”

I’ll be the first to say, it’s been a while since GBBS has been very, very good. The show was a pandemic hit because it took home bakers and gave them a spotlight, but really focused on how they would help each other -- it is as “stress free” as television gets -- but that often comes at the expense of “good TV” -- especially as our brains rot away and demand action.

But this season’s penultimate episode shined through as an incredible version of what this show was when it was just OK bakers and not all amazing, ready-for-TV bakers. Paul and Prue (the show’s two judges) haven’t had to really be tough on the bakers in multiple seasons (they mostly spend their time making sexual innuendo about the bakes) But both the stakes of the episode (it’s the semifinals!) and the immense difficulty created a perfect hour of television.

Ed note: Aside, in the middle of this episode, Paul also tells one of the competitors “let me see your fingernails…because you’ve been hanging by them all season.” Candidly, it’s a great line, maybe his best in years.

This year’s semifinals’ three challenges were so difficult that it made the bakers appear that they were fighting for their LIVES in every scene. The signature bake was focused on horns (laminated pastry cones filled with sweet fillings) -- almost every baker underbaked the horns (which is easy! They are tapered!).

The technical is where it starts to really get unraveled -- each baker is asked to make a French Framboisier “inspired by Paul’s many trips to Paris” -- an unfamiliar cake made of moussaline (comprised of custard and butter), with an edible rose on top, AND a sugar glass dome(??!??!) for some reason? It’s an absolute comical disaster — the point that it drives the bakers to tears.

The Showstopper is all about macarons which are the best type of Showstoppers as you have to create hundreds of individual cookies to make one amazing outcome. More nonsense ensues in this episode as the bakers push themselves to make even more complex structures (one baker tries to hang a massive beehive structure and it is an extremely tense 5 minutes of television).

GBBS tends to be a sleepy watch, but for once, it was awoken out of its slumber to create this great episode of television (also stick around for what I would consider to be a VERY controversial elimination at the end).

Andor s2, ep10: “Make It Stop”

I think Andor is the only good thing that’s come out of the Disney acquisition of the Star Wars library (I get it, baby Yoda is very cute but that show is very dull!). Star Wars is inherently political and Andor allows the concepts in the show to work against the backdrop of the real-life geopolitical landscape.

The show transitions between the impact of freedom fighting and the price of that freedom fighting. And while this episode pays off the major cat-and-mouse game of the season -- maybe the best minutes of TV all season. I loved this episode due to the focus on Kleya’s flashbacks which show that though rebellion is on the “right side” -- they have had to make the tough decisions. But playing this as a father-daughter story, while paralleling her growing fight to free her surrogate father (Stellan Skarsgård, who is the BIGGEST EMMY SNUB) of imperial control at a hospital.

Andor does a great job showing that no one is truly right when innocent people have to die — it is hard to think about the show without looking around at the news and not seeing the parallels with current conflicts. Andor Season 1 also came out a time when prison reform was in the news. Hot take: Star Wars is good when it is WOKE (and banal when it’s just cool lightsaber / blaster guys solving missions).

Andor is very good TV, but in a time when TV fears getting “poltical” -- but also, maybe this is the only way we can get audiences to stomach the complexities of geopolitical conflict -- maybe that’s ok too.