EWB's Top 51 TV Shows of 2019: The Results

[GoGo Yubari]

Finish it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. BoJack Horseman (103 points, appeared on ten ballots) (Last Year: #4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Watchmen (132 points, appeared on eleven ballots) (Last Year: NR)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. The Good Place (143 points, appeared on fourteen ballots) (Last Year: #2)

Congratulations to The Good Place. This is actually kind of a momentous victory; it's the first show not on Netflix to win in half a decade, and it's the first time a network show has won since Community (another NBC Thursday night comedy show) in 2011.

I think this was one of the most chaotic years in terms of the list I can remember; we're now in the era where big-name shows feel comfortable skipping a year between seasons, and I think the streaming/binge model has also hurt the staying power of some shows (I was really amazed at Sabrina barely making the top 50, though that has nothing on Agents of SHIELD dropping off the face of the map entirely. Not that I can argue with it, that plot hit such a crawl that I still haven't finished it). A whopping 16 out of the top 25 shows this year weren't on the list last year, and given that a lot of these unranked shows were either miniseries or on hiatus, I imagine it's going to be volatile next year, too. Thanks for voting and thanks for your patience, I hope you'll be back next year because I love reading through the ballots and seeing what y'all are into.

Next Time, on EWB's Favorite TV Shows 2020:

 

[Benjamin]

That number one and number two is perfect. Pretty sure I ranked them both that same way because even though I think Watchmen might be the best one-season TV show I’ve ever watched, the Good Place just has that magical place in my heart no other show can ever replace and this is the last year of eligibility for it. 

[Bobfoc]

3 hours ago, GoGo Yubari said:

Congratulations to The Good Place. This is actually kind of a momentous victory; it's the first show not on Netflix to win in half a decade, and it's the first time a network show has won since Community (another NBC Thursday night comedy show) in 2011. 

Just to correct slightly, The Good Place is on Netflix in the UK, so that might have influenced some ballots. It certainly did for me. Still, it's a victory I can't argue with too much. It was between that and Bojack for me.

Speaking of Bojack and The Good Place, will they be eligible for the 2020 votes? Both of them started their final series last year, but finished them this year.

[GoGo Yubari]

7 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

Just to correct slightly, The Good Place is on Netflix in the UK, so that might have influenced some ballots. It certainly did for me. Still, it's a victory I can't argue with too much. It was between that and Bojack for me.

Speaking of Bojack and The Good Place, will they be eligible for the 2020 votes? Both of them started their final series last year, but finished them this year.

That's a fair point, but being on Netflix/having an international distribution deal with Netflix isn't the same as being a Netflix show, per se. Every show I was talking about was specifically created for Netflix.

Also, yeah, any show that airs a new episode this year counts. So this, presumably, will be both The Good Place and BoJack's final year of eligibility.

[Sam]

Really highlights how badly Game of Thrones fucked it all up with that final season that it wasn't ranked the show of the year, still saddens me what they did with that last season. Mind you some of the additions this year are ace, loved Mindhunter and Stranger Things this season.

[Bobfoc]

I was really surprised that Game of Thrones finished first the last time it was eligible. As flawed at Series 8 was, I don't think Series 7 was much better, and 7 actually reduced my hype for 8 to the extent that I mainly wanted to watch it just to see it end, rather than because I was invested in what was going to happen. In fact, I didn't really feel much at all when I watched the last few episodes.

[Benjamin]

I don't think I've even voted for Game of Thrones since maybe season 4? It's been decent since, but there is just so much TV and Game of Thrones is the show that has a really good episode or two every season and mostly mediocrity for the rest of it. 

[Benji]

I'm not trying to be antagonistic here, so please don't take it that way.

Out of interest, those who voted for Game of Thrones - was it more of a "well it had a good run" vote, and if not, what redeemed it tonyou to earn a vote?

I ask because months on I still feel frustrated by it, and I'm hoping it's a bit like the Star Wars prequels where with time and insight I can appreciate it more.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

I think I gave it one point just because I'd only watched 15 shows so it made the list by default. It was not great though, they made so many mis-steps after season four.

[Bobfoc]

I voted for it because I hadn't watched fifteen shows. I still enjoyed the show for the most part before Series 7, and that had some good moments too.

I always said that I thought I'd be less invested in the story once all the fantasy elements overtook the political jockeying, and so I wasn't especially disappointed when that came to pass. I'm also one of the few who liked the fact that we didn't see the battles in the first series because I was much more interested in the outcomes than the physical fighting itself. Blackwater was great because we only saw glimpses of the fighting, which left a lot more to the imagination, and the emotional crux of the episode hinged on the different points of view from characters on both sides of the battle, and the fact that it was hard to know who to root for.

Most battles since then have involved Jon Snow rushing idiotically into danger and being saved at the last minute by someone who pops up out of nowhere. It was a lot more Hollywood-esque, which didn't work as well for me.

[Adam]

2 hours ago, Benji said:

I'm not trying to be antagonistic here, so please don't take it that way.

Out of interest, those who voted for Game of Thrones - was it more of a "well it had a good run" vote, and if not, what redeemed it tonyou to earn a vote?

I ask because months on I still feel frustrated by it, and I'm hoping it's a bit like the Star Wars prequels where with time and insight I can appreciate it more.

I think I said it when voting for it, but I do think it was still a good series and by TV terms it remained a brilliantly cinematic piece of work. I also justify the pick with the fact that A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms and, for the most part, The Long Night, were among the best episodes of the entire series for me.

[Tigerstyle]

I put it first. I think it's the best TV show since The Wire. I am a huge A Game Of Thrones/A Song Of Ice & Fire fan outside the show, so even though it was rushed, it was still the best.

[Roster Depth Sicko No. 2]

I think GoT went bad when they ditched The Iron Islands and brought Dorne in. Nothing they did with Dorne was interesting after Tyrion's trial, and then they were all unceremoniously written off. Leaving them later and building more with the established Iron Islanders would have been better in my opinion.

[Jimmy]

5 hours ago, Benji said:

I'm not trying to be antagonistic here, so please don't take it that way.

Out of interest, those who voted for Game of Thrones - was it more of a "well it had a good run" vote, and if not, what redeemed it tonyou to earn a vote?

I ask because months on I still feel frustrated by it, and I'm hoping it's a bit like the Star Wars prequels where with time and insight I can appreciate it more.

For me, it was the cultural phenomenon around it, the immediacy of needing to watch the next episode and being able to share that with the people I watched it. With the last season, due to the sense of anticipation (and great work in earlier seasons), it's the only show in recent memory my friends and I would specifically get together to watch. So that experience of sharing that last season was great. The first two episodes were still really great TV, in my opinion. It all went to shit and I was massively disappointed, but it was still an experience nonetheless in a way that most TV can never be for me. 

18 hours ago, Bobfoc said:

I was really surprised that Game of Thrones finished first the last time it was eligible. As flawed at Series 8 was, I don't think Series 7 was much better, and 7 actually reduced my hype for 8 to the extent that I mainly wanted to watch it just to see it end, rather than because I was invested in what was going to happen. In fact, I didn't really feel much at all when I watched the last few episodes.

From the people I've spoken with, I think there was a general acceptance that we all felt Season 7 was transitional in the sense that it would get us to the big finale and that would be justified when the finale was satisfying. It wasn't, but Season 7 still had a lot of good stuff in there for me.