Happy Sunday, Streamers.
We’ve got a little something different for you this week. It’s officially been six months since our inception, and we’re doing a mid-year review to celebrate with a ranking of the top ten shows of 2022 (so far).
Why? Well, outside of the fact there wasn’t too much new to celebrate in the streamscape this week with the holiday, we’ve gotten an influx of subscribers as of late that may have missed some of these recs as they happened. There is also no doubt many founding members of the Stream Team never got around to some of these recs the first time so around, so here’s your reminder to watch this primo content ASAP (as well as a reminder to share The Sunday Stream with a friend who never watches any primo content ever).
Some things to note:
Only shows (or seasons) that premiered in 2022 are applicable. So, for example, Station Eleven is not on here as it started in 2021. If you still have not watched that show, you should because it was the best show of 2021. Read why here.
The rankings are pretty arbitrary outside of the top 3
Disagree with any of our findings? Please sound off in the comments or on our Instagram.
Now let’s get to it.
The Top Ten Shows of 2022 (So Far):
#10 - The Dropout
Did the Theranos story need another telling after the podcast AND the documentary? Probably not. Even so, The Dropout was a blast start-to-finish, quickly rising above the other prestige fall-from-grace tech founder series that premiered this year. Amanda Seyfried nailed her portrayal of Elizabeth Holmes and led a stacked cast in a series that managed to instill enough meaningful backstory to warrant a return to the story we’ve all heard a couple of times. If you’re still not convinced, check out our thoughts on it when it premiered in March.
#9 - The Righteous Gemstones
In its second season, Jessie and the gang showed there was no reason to lose faith in The Righteous Gemstones. On top of its usual brand of laugh-out-loud comedy and dead-on satire of evangelical megachurches, this season also managed to weave in a dixie-crime subplot that utilized Eric Roberts to perfection. The Gemstones show no signs of slowing down heading into their third season and now’s your chance to catch up if you never were a believer. You can also check out what we initially said about the show here.
#8 - Severance
Probably the most unique show this year, Severance hailed Apple’s arrival as a prestige TV power player and delivered the best season finale of any of the shows on this list. Ben Stiller’s direction gave the show a look and feel incomparable to anything else on TV, and relative newcomer Britt Lower steals the show as Hallie. The series spent most of Season One methodically building the characters’ day-to-day world, including the enigma that is the Lumos corporation. Still, now that those railroad tracks have been laid, Season 2 promises to be full of non-stop thrills now that Adam Scott and co. have been thrust into action. Catch up now if you haven’t gotten the chance to yet, and be sure to check out our coverage of it the first time around here.
#7 - Better Call Saul
Technically with the premiere of Season 7 Part 2 on Monday, this season/show isn’t done yet. Even so, we’ve seen enough to know it’s one of the best this year (and of the decade, for that matter). Vince Gilligan continued to prove he has no equal regarding tightly structured plots and slow-burn suspense, and why Bob Odenkirk has not won an Emmy (and Rhee Seehorn hasn’t even been nominated!) is beyond me. We will finally say goodbye to the Breaking Bad-verse when the series ends in the coming weeks, so if you’ve slept on it this long, pull up a chair to see if Rhee Seehorn’s Kim Wexler is going to make it or not. Be sure to read our original coverage on the show here.
#6 - The Boys
Season 3 is officially over, and to no one’s surprise, it was end-to-end mayhem, with the volume turned up to 11 the whole time. Highlights include more dead-on satire of recent politics (Homelander finds a fanbase by appealing to anti-woke whites in the Rust Belt) and pop culture (there’s a superhero reality competition show and even a Pepsi/Kendall Jenner commercial parody). Then we finally got a look at the long-promised “Herogasm” - a secretive orgy for superheroes that was just as violent and sick as it sounds. While I’m sure he’ll never be in the conversation, Antony Starr as Homelander really should be nominated for an Emmy as well; he truly is terrifying every time he comes onto the screen. Season 4 has already been green-lit, so catch up now while you can (and read our original coverage here).
#5 - Slow Horses
There wasn’t any world where this wouldn’t be good, and man, oh man, was it good. Watching Gary Oldman fart and berate his way through a tight season with his ragtag crew of discarded spies in the underbelly of dirty London was a treat. If Severance gets the award for the best finale so far this year, then Slow Horses certainly gets the award for best opening with that sequence at Heathrow. Apple also pulled off a pretty strong flex by showing a trailer for the already-filmed second season at the end of the first and then committing to a third and fourth season almost immediately. Graham Yost, an executive producer on the series, said in an interview, “We’ll continue to keep making this show for as long as Gary Oldman wants to stick around.'“ Thank god. Check out our original coverage of the show here.
#4 - The Bear
The most recent on our list, this is all fresh in our minds. That may be why it’s also so high on the list, but we truly feel it deserves a spot in the top 5. If anything, for episode seven alone, a 20-minute-long one-shot where all of the simmering tensions built throughout the season boil over in spectacular fashion. If not for that, then for the gift of Richie, our latest in a long line of SWECS (scummy working-class electric charmboats). If you haven’t watched The Bear yet, that’s understandable, but take this as your sign to give it a spin before it’s old news. You can also check out our coverage on it last week here.
#3 - We Own This City
If Richie from The Bear is the latest SWEC to join the ranks, then Jon Bernthal’s Wayne Jenkins surely takes the SWEC crown (so much so that he even pops up in The Bear as an unrelated but pretty much exact-same character). His performance is nothing short of electric, and the story is as relevant as ever as we continue to watch our nation’s institutions fall apart. This spiritual successor to The Wire continued David Simon’s proud tradition of documenting the erosion of the US criminal justice system and should be required viewing for any die-hard fans of the “Big Four” prestige TV hits of the early aughts (Mad Men, The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad). We’re only getting this season, so be sure to check it out now (as well as our original coverage of it here.)
#2 - Hacks
Listen, I get it - the majority of the shows on this list fall into the buckets of “really dark,” “really stressful,” or “really violent.” Some of you may not want to spend the last hours of your day in that zone. For you, allow me to present Hacks - a series that continued its hilarious and (mostly) feel-good run throughout its second season. I was a little worried when the plot took the characters out of Vegas (because it was always so much fun to be there), but the show worked just as well on the road, leading to a moving season finale that easily could have served as a series finale. Luckily for us, Hacks is coming back for another season, so if you somehow have slept on this one, take the time to catch up now. You can also read our original coverage of it here.
#1 - Barry
Holy hell, what a season. My only regret is that I pitched this to you as a comedy. While there are comedic moments (mostly courtesy of Noho Hank, who continues to shine), this show has gone full-on tragedy. Bill Hader leads Barry down a darker and darker path while proving he has some serious auteur-directing chops. There are silent film references, expressionist fantasy sequences, and a motorcycle chase in the penultimate episode that is one of the craziest things I’ve seen on TV. The series finale delivered both a horrifying audio-only set-piece and a genuinely haunting closing shot that serves as a reminder of the show’s ultimate credo: vengeance doesn’t take away the pain. We humbly submit to you that Barry is the best show on TV this year and likely one of the best of this decade. Watch if you haven’t already, and read our initial coverage here.