The Best TV Shows Of 2021
Prepping, murder, washed up comedians, superheroes, and cake: TV in 2021 had it all.
I spent much of this year re-watching old episodes of Friends, completely without joy or satisfaction or humour, simply a way to pass the time with noise and a laugh track. I watched a lot of episodes of Bake Off and Drag Race from thousands of years ago, Just another classic pandemic coping mechanism I guess.
Watching new TV became a fraught experience, dependant entirely on moods and whims outside of the show’s remit, my ability to focus or enjoy changeable from one hour to the next. Narrative dramas were probably the things I found hardest to watch, meaning there are some notable exclusions from this list. Oh well! Who cares. We’re all doing our best.
Anyway, here are the top TV shows that helped me survive this year and left an impression, in no particular order, chosen only from the sickness of my own brain.
It’s A Sin
When I was first sold the premise of It’s A Sin, my first thought was “I do not need to put myself through that”. I’m old enough that I grew up in a time where the only queer representation on TV ALWAYS had a HIV storyline, inevitably milked for tragedy porn. I thought I’d seen enough of that.
But not only is It’s A Sin a much more nuanced and clever and at times fun show, but I found it a necessary revisiting of the HIV/AIDs crisis, that even though was incredibly depressing, also felt important to me as a queer man, an honouring of that tragic period and the horror that our community went through at that time.
Watch on Stan.
Mare Of Easttown
The high production brooding murder mystery drama has become a pretty established genre — yes, we’re all interested in solving a crime, but we’re equally as invested in what becomes a close character study of a complicated and fascinating individual.
Mare of Easttown isn’t necessarily special for the plot — it doesn’t particularly surprise or revolutionise the criminal tragedy at its heart — but rather for some extremely compelling performances from the titular Mare, Kate Winslet, and amazing supporting characters like Jean Smart. It’s the character of Mare that has stuck with me long after I turned off the show.
I also thought this show was about a very smart horse who gets into local government, so the fact that it won me over after that disillusionment is pretty spectacular.
Watch on Binge.
Preppers
Nakkiah Lui and Gabe Dowrick’s absurd comedy about a group of weird doomsday peppers and the disgraced morning TV show host who is forced to join them, is both very clever and extremely silly, which is exactly my vibe.
The humour can shift in the same sentence from pretty ridiculous, theatrical hijinks to astute political observations that are designed to make the ABC viewership feel acutely uncomfortable (while laughing the whole time). There’s a joy and commitment to every scene and every performance, that really sells the concept, and the observations about race and media are shrewd and clever, and I just love it.
Watch on ABC iView.
WandaVision
I’ve been saying for years that if there’s one benefit to the saturation of superhero films in the industry, like a flood of cane toads, like a climbing weed, it’s that we’d have the opportunity for more sophisticated storytelling and a transformation of what we consider a “superhero story”.
WandaVision is exactly that — a show that takes two under-utilised characters from the blockbuster franchise and places them within a metatextual and also literal bubble from the rest of the MCU. We get an unnerving, spooky, exciting, extremely fun story about grief and sanity that is unlike anything else we’ve seen yet — it’s still a superhero story, there are still android laser battles and sassy witches, but it’s GORGEOUS storytelling in every way.
Streaming now on Disney+.
Hacks
An odd-couple style comedy based on the generational differences between two comedians has the potential to be so…hacky. But this show, like all good jokes, takes a basic premise and elevates it to something special.
The legendary Jean Smart as Deborah Vance, a Las Vegas comedy icon, is brilliant. Hannah Einbinder and Ava Daniels, the recently cancelled millennial comedy writer brought in to “update” Vance’s act, is perfectly infuriating. The show has a lot of heart and manages the difficult task of being a love letter to women in comedy, and the toughness of those who manage to stick it out in the traditionally misogynistic industry.
Streaming now on Stan.
The Bachelorette
Honestly, my affair with The Bachelor franchise has sometimes been closer to one of those unlikely relationships where an old man grows to respect the marauding goose who comes into his backyard every day to ruin everything, so it’s huge for me to put this show on my best of list.
But this season WAS a moment — the first Indigenous, bisexual Bachelorette in the history of the franchise, the first mixed-gender casting — a very pleasing moment for the queer agenda, and one that left me unexpectedly emotional and touched at various points. It was so still very much a marauding goose who I have learned to live with, but a special goose this time.
Watch old episodes on 10Play.
Great British Bake Off
There’s genuinely no better show on this earth, and I’m gluten intolerant so I can’t even EAT the marvellous baking creations the contestants on this show creates, it’s like bread torture. But somehow, GBB is still like a warm blanket on a cold evening.
This year’s season in particular has been extremely good, with a talented and personable range of bakers, some almost manic hosting by Noel Fielding and Matt Lucas, and challenges that are interesting to watch. Also…not to sound too horny during the Great British Bake Off, but probably the most attractive contestants ever??????
Watch on Binge.
Squid Game
I think we’re all feeling a lot of Squid Game fatigue, the biggest show of 2021 forcibly blasted into your homes in one form or another, picked over through several cycles of cultural criticism, lionisation and backlash. But you know, it’s worth reminding that the South Korean mega-hit deserves the hype — it’s an ultra-violent, extremely suspenseful thriller that doesn’t skimp on some extremely affecting character arcs, and a very smart and relevant statement about late capitalism. What’s not to love?
Watch on Netflix.
Starstruck
“He’s a famous actor, and you’re a little rat nobody”. An extremely cute millennial re-telling of an inverse Notting Hill, I cannot tell you just how funny and charming this rom-com is. I’m already a huge Mata-fan (fan of New Zealand comedy writer Rose Matafeo), so I knew that the comedy in the show would be up my alley.
It’s clever and extremely dialogue savvy, and I love that for me specifically. What I didn’t expect was to be so absolutely invested in the relationship, and to genuinely believe that these two idiots deserve each other. A show I am going to re-watch multiple times I think.
Currently streaming on ABC iView.
Patrick Lenton is a journalist, author, and former editor of Junkee. His new book Sexy Tales of Paleontology is out now. He tweets @patricklenton.