Best of 2016 - TV

So I decided that seeing as most of the popular shows among nerds are now more available to me, I've decided to make a start with doing these TV end year review posts as well. Now unlike films, TV this year I'd say has been pretty good. We got to meet a man with a baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire, we got a homage to 80s pop culture and the original Top Gear presenters returned to do a new show on Amazon Prime among many other things. So the rules for this list are that the show must have had a season debut this year everywhere (which means any show that had a season last year, but didn't make it to UK shores until this year doesn't count) and I must have seen those seasons either in its entirety or up to its midseason finale. And the shows that I will include are those that you can get on the UK based Freeview, Freesat, Virgin Media TV (the Fun pack), Netflix and Amazon Prime. So tune in and let's get right to it (once again, this is not a top list and the list is in no particular order and I have to have had nothing but positive thoughts about them):

Oh and just a quick spoiler alert for some of the shows listed. You have been warned.
Agents of SHIELD (season 3)

So the first season was to establish the characters and how it connects to the rest of the MCU. The second season was to help make connections to Guardians of the Galaxy and to introduce the Inhumans while we also discover how Nick Fury got that Hellicarrier in Age of Ultron in the first place as well as who discovered the location of that Hydra base in the same film. So with season 3, the Inhumans have merged into Coulson's team as they continue to find them while we also get introduced to the secret warriors. So basically, its continuing to establish connections to the rest of the MCU while also introducing more characters to the mix as well. I'm not entirely sure why this show is still going considering that a lot of MCU fans have kind of lost interest in it. But having watched all the episodes this year (as pointed out in my episode reviews), its getting better, but the pacing is still bad with them trying too much. I don't know if we'll ever get a good Marvel show from ABC Studios, but one can hope. But hey, at least this season manages to get better as time moves on.

Gotham: Rise/Wrath of the Villains (aka season 2)

Now I know that there are more DC shows going on at the moment in the Arrowverse and I will get around to those once I've catched up with it all (because I'm far behind with it) so Gotham will be the only one on this list that's DC. I felt that the first season was good even though the finale was very predictable as to who would live and who would die. This time around, the villains of Gotham are rising up and we get to meet a number of new characters as well as new versions of characters we already know about. First up is Theo Galavan who makes it his goal to have a group of villains do as they please once he becomes mayor and in doing so, he decides to take out the powerful figures in Gotham, but fails thanks to the combined forces of the GCPD, Wayne Enterprises and Penguin and his minions. As the season goes on, we also get introduced to Hugo Strange as he uses a Lazarus Pit to experiment on bringing people back to life and we also get other villains such as Mr. Freeze, Azrael and many others. Like Agents of SHIELD, Gotham has lost viewers over time, but as a Batman fan, I still enjoy watching it and still love how this show is able to show us familiar characters from a whole new perspective. Whether season 3 will make it better or not, well we'll just have to see.

The Walking Dead (season 6 part two and season 7 part one)

So I finally managed to also catch up with The Walking Dead as it manages to reach the events of Issue 100 in the comic book series. The rest of season 6 saw Rick and the gang protecting Alexandria while also dealing with a new threat in the form of the Saviors and as season 6 reaches its climax, we're left on a cliffhanger to figure out who Negan chose to be battered by his barbed wired bat Lucille. Then as season 7 begins, we see who Negan chose and the others dealing with the aftermath. Then for the rest of the first half, we find out what the others have been up to such as Morgan and Carol now residing in The Kingdom, Sasha and Maggie residing in the Hilltop, what Tasha has been up to all this time and just how bad Negan really is to everyone. It gets better and better as each episode comes around and I just like how every episode decides to focus on different things rather than on the series' story every week which may sound like a mismatch so to speak, but I'd say it works quite well for the most part. But I enjoyed this year's helping of The Walking Dead and I look forward to seeing how war will be waged against the Saviors. 9/10

Daredevil (season 2)

I think when it comes to making a TV show in a universe told mostly through films, it looks as though the Netflix shows seem to do better than the ABC shows. No one knows why, but its probably because the writing is better among other things. So this year, Daredevil returned to Netflix which follows the aftermath of what happened in season 1 where Fisk is now in prison and some new people arrive to the scene in the form of The Punisher and Elektra, both of which prove to be a handful for the protector of Hell's Kitchen and would see his world be torn apart. Unlike the previous season where it was mostly focused on Fisk trying to make Hell's Kitchen better through villainous means, this season focuses more on The Punisher and the trials and tribulations he has to go through to gain his freedom. Elektra also plays a key role where she has Daredevil do one last thing for her before going their separate ways and it kind of starts a romance between the two. Its a pretty dark season, but its filled with a lot of action packed moments as well as some very emotional moments too. I'm not sure where the show is going to go after this, but I'm happy that the MCU are bringing in some more characters and are making them interesting and better than previous versions. 9/10

Orange is the New Black (season 4)

Being the most popular and watched show on Netflix, just goes to show how great Orange is the new Black is. Normally I'm against watching things that are girly, but Orange is the new Black makes me feel like watching something of a similar style to Breaking Bad which would be dark humor. So we're up to season 4 where security around the prison has tightened up and a whole new batch of prisoners are bought in. Now the main focus of the show has always been Piper, but this season spends less time on her than before and we get to know some of the new inmates as well as some further character development on the already established ones as well as the new (and somewhat a**hole like) security guards. It is a tough season to sit through as we see the inmates being tested, most of the new security guards abusing the rules of being in the roles they are in which annoy the inmates and the warden and it all ends with a riot and a Mexican standoff. But having said that, its a great season that continues to have us come to love all these characters from different backgrounds, while also give us emotional feels when one of the most loved characters in the show gets killed off. And it all ending on a cliffhanger means that season 5 must be watched so yeah. 9/10

Stranger Things (season 1)

Now as someone who wasn't born so therefore not bought up in the 80s, I wasn't too sure if I would like this show. But as someone who enjoys 80s films and this being a homage to those 80s films, I decided to give it a watch and while it was mostly stand alone, I loved it. So a boy mysteriously disappears one night which results in a psychokinetic appearing who claims to know the boy's location. His disappearance has a group of people consisting of his mother, his three friends and a police officer to try and find him with the help of this girl. But a secret government agency wants to cover it all up. Its as exciting as it sounds. Its a fantastic show that is well acted, has a great atmosphere, is directed and written very well and has a great soundtrack to go with it. I don't know about what we'll get in season 2, but I'm looking forward to see where the boys will go next. 9/10

BoJack Horseman (season 3)

Its not anything new, but never have I come across a show with animals acting like humans and living among humans, could be so funny and interesting. Season 3 of BoJack Horseman to me was the season where it all goes sour. Everyone in the titular character's life don't want anything to do with him and he gets depressed over a film he did of his favourite idol. A very interesting show, but while it has all those laughs and giggles, I kind of feel sorry for some of these characters. I mean I know living in the 21st century can be tough for some, but I guess that's the way it is. Well anyway, it continues to be a great show and I look forward to watching season 4. 9/10

South Park (season 20)

So recently, South Park has changed its format from 14 stand alone episode seasons to 10 episode seasons with a storyline that carries on into each episode. This was met with a very mixed reception, but to me it kind of works. I mean all the characters remain the same and the crude humour and controversial topics are still there. But I guess we can't all get what we want. So in this season, we meet the member berries who's goal is to make people feel nostalgic and remember (or member if you prefer) the pop culture things of the past as well as things like what racism used to be and how gay marriage used to be illegal. And in doing so, they play a key part in Mr. Garrison's presidential election (where he becomes the South Park equivalent of Donald Trump) as well as Gerald's trolling. And while all this is going down, Cartman considers going to Mars, Stan breaks up with Wendy and Kyle becomes guilty when he starts losing Cartman as a friend (which may be a surprise to a lot of you). While it may sound like a mostly serious season, it still manages to squeeze in the crude humour that the show is known for and focuses on trolling, nostalgia and the 2016 presidential election. I don't know what Trey Parker and Matt Stone have in store for the future of the show, but this season manages to make it go onto a whole new level, for better or worse and I look forward to watching how future events play out. 9/10

Red Dwarf (season 12)

I will be honest, I've only seen a handful of episodes before watching the new season of Red Dwarf. No reason as such, I just didn't watch it. But anyway, so the show now has a home on the UKTV channel (by the way, that's actually a company in the UK) Dave and if I'm honest, its still as good as it was when I first watched it. Its mostly stand alone episodes, the highlights of which have our crew go to an alternate America, Officer Rimmer getting promoted and the crew saving themselves from getting some kind of surgery. Still as funny as ever and I hope to see more of them in the coming months. 9/10

Luke Cage (season 1)

So our second Marvel Netflix show introduces us to Luke Cage. A character we are already familiar with as he previously appeared in the first season of Jessica Jones. So in his own series, we see Luke Cage take on mobsters, a council woman and others who consider him a threat because of his powers. All that, along with some jazzy music which makes the series a good one. I don't think I've ever been able to see Marvel's version of Superman and in a way, we kinda get one from them in the form of Luke Cage. The only differences (apart from one that for reasons I will choose not to say) is that he's more badass, has a more interesting origin story, doesn't fly, doesn't have heat vision and that he is human and not an alien that looks like a human. Well whatever you think of him, the first season of his show was a great one and I look forward to seeing more of this badass in action in future MCU stuff. 9/10

Better Call Saul (season 2)

Well Jimmy is back for another season and this one continues to keep what was great about the last season and brings it into this one. This season sees Jimmy moving to different firms before finally settling with being independent alongside his partner in crime and the transition of doing this is as brilliant as when Walter White became Heisenberg in Breaking Bad, just less badass and less criminal like. Plus we also continue to see Mike tackle more criminals including some familiar faces. Its another good season that keeps us wanting more kind of like when Breaking Bad was still new and I hope the next season gives us more of everything, for lack of a better word. 9/10

The Grand Tour (season 1)

So normally you hear me go on about shows that are basically story driven. Well now we come to a show that isn't that at all. So many of you will know Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May as being the former trio of presenters for the BBC motoring show Top Gear. Well since this fiasco with Clarkson, they have all left the BBC with one of the show's producers and to make sure they still have jobs, they went on to create a new, but similar show called The Grand Tour. This was a show made exclusively for Amazon Prime costumers worldwide and would pretty much be Top Gear, but as the name implies, they go on a world tour doing all sorts of different tasks, discussing the news and generally everything you'd expect if you were watching Top Gear. However what makes the show great is that rather that directly referring to the BBC, they instead mock the common elements of their former show by doing their own take on them. Star in a reasonably priced car would be called Celebrity Brain Crash and rather than interviewing celebrities, there would be a running gag where the celebrity they are interviewing, would attempt to arrive into the studio tent, but then get killed off. This of course is in reference to the BBC not wanting them to do celebrity interviews in their new show. But I'd say its nice to see them again after almost a year of waiting and if I were to compare their new show to what Top Gear has now become, the Grand Tour would be the better show. There's more to like about it. It has three presenters who work so well together and their chemistry is great. And they probably do a lot more things here than what they would've done if the BBC had them stay longer. So its a good start to the show and I hope we get to see more of these guys in the future. One can hope. 9/10

The Crown (season 1)

Outside of everything nerdy, I also tend to enjoy not all but certain factual films and TV shows. I've always had an interest in the Royal Family who reside in the UK and hearing about this show got me interested in it. Honestly, its just as good as what people have said about it. It traces the life of Queen Elizabeth II from her wedding in 1947 to the present day and surprisingly (if my knowledge of history is correct) its an accurate representation of it. Something like that is really difficult to do as proven in the film Pearl Harbour (which sucked as a result), but it just manages to do it so well. It even has John Lithgow, an American actor, play Winston Churchill and he does it so well, its great. So if you have an interest in the Royal Family and want an accurate representation of the history of them from 1947 to the present, then this will give you just that. I mean obviously this is just an adaptation of the events that took place so yeah there will be some changes here and there. But this is just as accurate as it's going to get so you'll enjoy this I'm sure. 9/10

And now, let us take a minute to remember those who have passed (anyone who I mentioned in yesterdays post will not be mentioned here):

Paul Gordon - composer of some of the Power Rangers shows.

Sir Terry Wogan - Well known British TV and Radio presenter, best known as the host of Eurovision and one of the founders of BBC charity Children in Need.

Frank Kelly - known for being Father Jack Hackett in Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted.

George Michael - While more known for his music, this great musician also took part in various TV shows, mainly as cameos, one of the performers and a writer.

You guys gave joy to the world and you will all be missed dearly. RIP