Ed Martin's Top 25 Programs of 2023 (Part Three)

Fargo FX The fourth season of this often dark and twisty comic thriller may have been a misfire for some but everything we all loved about this distinctive franchise clicked back into place in its fifth goround In short Fargo with its renewed mix of madness and mirth was fun again amp8230 helped in no small measure by the delightful Juno Temple pictured at top and Jon Hamm along with Jennifer Jason Leigh Dave Foley and many others What a year Temple and Hamm have had Temple with the final season of Apple TV39s Ted Lasso Hamm with his central role in the third season of The Morning ShowBargain Block HGTV Given the seemingly boundless interest in home renovation series it wouldn39t be right to ignore them altogether when looking back over the last 12 months My current favorite is Bargain Block which follows a gay couple39s efforts to not only restore longabandoned homes but to quite literally salvage entire decimated Detroit neighborhoods in the process Evan Thomas and Keith Bynum aren39t the only HGTV home renovation personalities with greater goals in mind but they may be the most easygoing and engagingJury Duty Freevee Imagine agreeing to participate in a documentary about the experience of serving on a jury completely unaware that it was all bogus and everyone around you including the judge and your fellow jurors was an actor playing a role That39s the position that likable Ronald Gladden found himself in and his unwavering good nature made this lowbudget adlibbed treat on Freevee shine He was pranked big time but he landed a cool 100000 for his trouble along with the kind of instant celebrity status thousands of young actors and wouldbe influencers covet so why complainBarry HBO The long list of hot shows that in 2023 ended perhaps a bit too soon includes Barry which got progressively stranger as it moved through its four seasons to its finale Certainly the escalation of violence murder and madness called into question the idea that this show was in any way a comedy But call it what you will Barry was a stunner from start to finish and I won39t soon forget the increasingly complex performances of Bill Hader Henry Winkler Sarah Goldberg Stephen Root and Anthony Carrigan all playing characters as flawed and fascinating as any we have seen on television in a very long time Also Hader established himself as a director to reckon with having helmed the entire final season so there39s thatAbbott Elementary ABC and Ghosts CBS I considered not including these delightful comedies here since only a few episodes from their second seasons premiered during early 2023 amp8230 and I had already honored episodes from the sophomore runs of both shows on last year39s list But the twin strikes changed things at least for the time being so even without fall seasons here they are again Abbott pictured above and Ghosts deserve to be included based solely on their own creative merits but I look at them as crucial reminders of what quottraditionalquot television is still capable of amp8230 if the industry would simply chill out a bit and stop sacrificing broadcast at the altar of streaming There is room for both to survive and thrive And as I asked about Abbott last year who thinks these shows would have made the same wideranging splash on streamers that they have enjoyed on ABC and CBS respectivelyAmerica39s Got Talent NBC What would summer be without it As exciting and joyful as America39s Got Talent is it39s the heartfelt stories told by some of the contestants and their desire to dedicate their performances to loved ones they have lost that year after year keep me fully engaged The emotional connection is palpable the talent on display often humbling and the spirited interaction between judges Simon Cowell Heidi Klum Howie Mandel and Sofia Vergara and host Terry Crews reliably priceless Also the opportunities for expanded product placement and promotion for advertisers are unrivaled and I39m not just talking about cups on the judges39 tableReal Time with Bill Maher and Last Week with John Oliver HBO I can39t give HBO enough credit for continuing to support longtime Friday night staple Real Time with Bill Maher and Sunday night special Last Week with John Oliver and for keeping them in their respective time periods No other television platform including the 24hour news channels gives me challenging conversation and entertaining political analysis at the start of my weekend and fires me up at the end with more of the same but in two completely different formats Even in this age of excess information I would feel illinformed without themSaturday Night Live NBC This show doesn39t need my support or anyone else39s It39s bigger than all of us and I can39t imagine the last 48 years without it I39m including it here because it39s about time that somebody celebrated the joy to be had simply watching the current opening credits shot almost entirely at the legendary Chelsea Hotel SNL has a history of fabulous opening credit sequences that make you want to drop everything and hit NYC ASAP but this one gets me going every time even during summer rerun seasonTiana the Bug Lady and Lizard the Buddy Instagram and other social media There39s always room on this list for a social media account or two that engage me in a manner not dissimilar to some of my favorite television shows Certainly there is a dizzying amount I could start and stop with cat videos alone but Tiana and Lizard really surprised me because I have never felt emotionally invested in creepy crawlies of any kind Tiana Gayton shares her love for jumping spiders each treated as a pampered pet with its own private habitat with her 311K followers and it is simply remarkable how we come to care for them In fact not long ago when her beloved quottiny best friendquot Rose pictured above passed there wasn39t a dry eye in her community Similarly Buddy the lizard pictured below and his dragon dad have an amazing bond that rivals that of any pet owner A few minutes spent on these accounts can brighten even the darkest dayRunners up FX on Hulu39s chilling hightech thriller A Murder at the End of the World Netflix39s Poeinfused creep show The Fall of the House of Usher Netflix the syndicated The Kelly Clarkson Show aka the Happiest Show on Earth especially since Clarkson brought the show to New York City Netflix39s Beef a drama about the ravages of rage that hit close to home for all of us and Apple TV39s comedy Shrinking which didn39t do much for me but seems to have rocked the world so I39m adding it here at the endPosted at MediaVillage through the Thought Leadership selfpublishing platformClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillageorgMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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Ed Martin's Top 25 Programs of 2023 (Part Three)

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