“Rothaniel” (HBO)
Jerrod Carmichael’s third HBO standup special turned out to be his breakthrough. More open and revealing than comedians typically are on stage, he worked with director Bo Burnham to turn this performance into something that transcended pure comedy and became more like a conversation. Burnham’s masterful direction here creates such intimacy that we feel like we’re in the room with Carmichael and his audience, experiencing the emotion and humor as it flows from performer to viewer and back again. It’s a beautiful, perfect comedy special that should help open all the doors for a brilliant writer and performer. – BT
“Severance” (Apple TV+)
Dan Erickson created and Ben Stiller and Aoife McArdle directed one of the most buzzed-about shows of 2022 in this twisting, moving vision of the future. Britt Lower stars as Helly, a woman who wakes up to learn that she now works at a company called Lumon, where employees live a severed existence with their work memories completely detached from their personal ones. With a perfect ensemble that also includes Adam Scott, John Turturro, and Patricia Arquette, “Severance” found a Charlie Kaufman-esque sense of humor and desire to understand the human condition. It got more attention from the world with each episode, building buzz like shows rarely do in the 2020s. The big question now is how it follows up a perfect first season with a second act. [Read our review] – BT
“Slow Horses” (Apple TV+)
Based on the Mick Herron novel of the same name, this spy thriller subverted the suave Bond image for a group of outcasts who really get the job done. Gary Oldman is wonderfully curmudgeonly as the head of a place called Slough House, which is basically where disgraced British spies are sent to gather dust. Of course, they’re the ones who save the day in the six-episode first series. The good news? This incredibly enjoyable show won’t be going anywhere for a long time. A second series has already been shot and will air later in 2022, while the third and fourth ones have been commissioned by Apple. Keep ’em coming! [Read our review] – BT
“The Staircase” (HBO Max)
More of a companion to the legendary docuseries than a retelling of a well-known true crime story, Antonio Campos’ take on the saga of Michael Peterson (Colin Firth, doing some of the best work of his career) contains the kind of creativity and ambition that this genre often lacks. Not merely content to recycle evidence and theories, Campos and his writers dug into not just the death of Kathleen Peterson (Toni Collette) but how the trial and documentary impacted perception and the entire family. Smart and unpredictable, even for those who knew the details of this tale, “The Staircase” proved how daring a true crime mini-series can be with the right creator. [Read our review] – BT
“Tokyo Vice” (HBO Max)
The involvement of Michael Mann, who directed the series premiere of this crime drama, may have been what hooked viewers, but the show that followed lived up to the potential of its auteur-driven first hour, expanding and becoming richer throughout its first season. Ansel Elgort may be the lead as an American navigating both the journalistic and criminal systems of Japan, but the show’s ensemble really became its strength, particularly Ken Watanabe, Rachel Keller, and Sho Kasamatsu. Much like its protagonist, it feels like “Tokyo Vice” is still trying to figure itself out, but it’s been fascinating to watch it do so. [Read our review] – BT
“We Own This City” (HBO)
The great George Pelecanos and David Simon (“The Wire”) returned to the world of Baltimore policing with this adaptation of the nonfiction book of the same name by Justin Fenton, an expose of the deep corruption in the city’s Gun Trace Task Force. Jon Bernthal did the best work of his career as Sgt. Wayne Jenkins, the opportunistic cretin who took advantage of a broken system before being taken down by attorneys like Nicole Steele (Wunmi Mosaku). Heartbreaking and infuriating, this six-episode series was a castigation of a system that elevates the amoral and destroys anyone willing to question authority or even try to save their own soul. [Read our review] – BT
“WeCrashed” (Apple TV+)
Easily the most misunderstood, and most initially-dismissed series on this list, Apple TV+’s “WeCrashed” is maybe the hardest of all the tech-grifter to watch because it possesses the most “unlikeable” characters: Jared Leto as WeWork CEO Adam Neumann—the man who singlehandedly nearly tanked a billion-dollar company— and Anne Hathaway as his equally-ambitious wife Rebekah. Yes, they are the worst: arrogant, narcissistic, delusional, lacking any self-awareness, and yet fully believing they can “change the world,” but that’s the comedy of it all. The other side of it is: they are dreamers, they are inspirational, and their love radiates a confidence that drives each other to such great heights, and that’s the well-rounded empathy of it all that treats them as human beings with great flaws, but a great love at the center of their ambitions. Created by Drew Crevello and Lee Eisenberg, “WeCrashed” is deliciously, darkly funny. Yes, on one hand, they are shameless grifters, but Leto and Hathaway are amazing at threading the needle of its comedy and heart and soul and if you can get past how rich and self-involved they are (you should, it’s funny as hell), you’re in for one of the most entertaining series of the year commenting on narcissism, frou-frou spirituality and the devilish ruthlessness of capitalism. [Read our review] – RP
