Where previous seasons found Kenny masquerading as everything from a substitute gym teacher to a mMxican cockfighter, no lifestyle proved a more ingenious choice for McBride’s headstrong John Rocker-stand-in than a sports television personality. So what made Kenny Power’s (second) swan song work? For one, the show found the perfect post-baseball career for its lead. And while last year the prospect of a fourth season of Jody Hill and Danny McBride’s comedy of excess might have felt like a case of an overstayed welcome, Eastbound turned in one of its strongest seasons to date (surpassed only by the show’s debut year, still the closest the U.S. Last year, both Eastbound and Down and its main character Kenny Powers managed to fake their own deaths, only to be resurrected for one final go-around this past Fall. Here are the ten best series I watched in 2013: Series that are interested in pushing the form forward, that challenge, engage, and sometimes even purposefully repel viewers. And indeed, tucked away within the TV landscape are some truly adventurous, exciting works being produced. Because, as always, more content being produced means more diamonds in the rough. I hesitate to sound like too much of a downer. (Seriously, what happened there?) To be sure, there are low-budget gems to be found across the Wild West of the web (to name a few - High Maintenance, Catherine, Ghost Ghirls, and F to 7th), but the playing field is not yet set up - financially or artistically - to support truly ambitious storytelling. Yes, Netflix established itself in a big way in 2013, but with one exception (more on that below), the network played its programming incredibly safe, pouring money and energy into the tepid, tired House of Cards (a series that often felt like the product of a robot programmed to write a pay cable drama), and the near-unwatchable fourth season of Arrested Development. One would hope that the rise of online television could help offset this increased Blockbusterization, but we’re still, at best, several years away from the web reaching its commercial and artistic potential. The more recent crop of prestige series ( The Walking Dead, Homeland, Boardwalk Empire, Justified, Game of Thrones) wear big themes on their sleeves, but often seem more invested in providing water-cooler twists than anything else. Masterpieces like The Sopranos, The Wire, Deadwood, and more recent examples like Mad Men and Breaking Bad utilized genre - the western, the crime drama, the mob story - but as backdrop against which to explore deeper questions about human nature. But while The Walking Dead and its many offspring pulse with a well-crafted sheen, these shows lack the richness of theme and character that first defined the “television golden age” of the ’00s. īut more and more, The Walking Dead seems to be the most influential show on television - a wildly popular, blood-soaked piece of genre ambition, heavy on action and impressive set pieces, with each season playing out like a 13-hour blockbuster. Production values are clearly higher than ever, with shows looking increasingly cinematic, drawing in name actors and established directors, and expanding rapidly in scope and budget. With more cable channels investing in their own programming, as well as the long-promised rise of online networks such as Netflix and Amazon, it often feels like you can’t go a week without hearing about a new buzzed about, “best series on television.” Add to that the increased presence of international series on American screens (thanks to the likes of Hulu, DirecTV, BBC America, and the Sundance Channel, among others), and it becomes even harder to determine which shows were truly worth investing in.īut with the quantity of content growing, is quality on the rise as well? If it could be characterized by one trend, it would likely be the sheer glut of content being produced. Breaking Bad, Enlightened, Mad Men, Matthew Weiner, mike white, TelevisionĢ013 has been a tough year to sum up for television.
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