Top 25 Programs of 2019, Part Four

No 10amp160amp8211 Mom CBSJaime Pressly Allison Janney Beth Hall Anna Faris and Mimi Kennedy are pictured above left to rightamp160 Throw in William Fichtner and Kristen Johnston and you39ve got the mostamp160reliably funny ensemble working on any television comedy todayamp160 Seriouslyamp160 Every one of these performers is provided with laughoutloud dialogue in every episode as are guest stars and recurring players from this longrunning show39s everexpandingamp160canvasamp160 Since it premiered in September 2013 Mom has been one of the best sitcoms on broadcast or any other medium but this year with The Big Bang Theoryamp160having comeamp160to an end it now holds the distinction of being the absolute funniestamp160 And it still finds fresh ways to explore many very serious issues amid the nonstop laughs in a way I haven39t seen handled so successfully since All in the Familyamp160 amp160Whenever Mom ends and I hope that isn39t anytime soon it will belong in the pantheon of CBS sitcoms that includes such classics as I Love Lucy The Dick Van Dyke Show All in the Family The Mary Tyler Moore Show MASH The Bob Newhart Show Maude Murphy Brown Designing Women and The Big Bang TheoryNo 9 Modern Love AmazonRemember when the New York Citybased movies of Woody Allen used to delight the masses and make Manhattan look like the most desirable and romantic place on earthamp160 Modern Love an anthology from Amazon that told several seemingly unrelated stories about relationships and romance in the Big Apple came as close as anything to evoking Allen at his peakamp160 Indeed were he still at that peak this is the show Allen might have made when he entered into an ultimately unfortunate relationship with Amazon a couple of years backamp160 I fell deeply in like with the story of Dev Patelamp8217s Joshua inventor of a hugely influential dating app and Catherine Keeneramp8217s Julie a journalist who writes a profile of him for The New York Times Magazineamp160 The series is itself based on a longrunning weekly relationship column that appears in The New York Times amp160Although their relationship is platonic the impact they have on each otheramp8217s lives is just beautiful amp160But the standout here is the sad tale of Lexi a bipolar young woman trying to build a career and a love life while contending with her disorder which overwhelms her at the worst timesamp160 Anne Hathaway above left has been outstanding in many movie roles and she has an Academy Award for Les Miserables to prove itamp160 But I believe her performance as Lexi may be a career best as it transcends everything including the story itselfNo 8amp160amp8211 Chernobyl HBONo other Emmy Award win surprised and delighted me more than this incredibly ambitious project being honored as Outstanding Limited Seriesamp160 Another of HBOamp8217s quiet launches on its amp8220newamp8221 Monday night this fivepart nervefrying truelife drama about one of the great and since largely forgotten cataclysms of modern times seemed to come out of nowhereamp160 The audience found it though and after the first few minutes Iamp8217m sure nobody turned awayamp160 This one was built to bingeamp160 Jared Harris above Emily Watson and Stellan Skarsgard were superb as the voices of reason risking the wrath of the Russian government while struggling to be heard as they attempted to make known the details of what went wrong on April 26 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant near the city of Pripyatamp160 It remains the worst nuclear energy disaster in historyamp160 Chernobyl was as bold and unafraid of inciting international conflict as the players in this nightmare narrativeamp160 Educational and entertaining it prompted as many questions as it answeredamp160 Exactly how many people died and how much damage was doneamp160 Can this happen againamp160 What dangers are we all in right now of which we are unaware amp160Is the region around Chernobyl as safe today as amp8220theyamp8221 say it isamp160 No wonder we canamp8217t sleepNo 7amp160 Fleabag AmazonItamp8217s amazing what a hot priest will doamp160 To be honest I wasnamp8217t nearly as impressed with Season 1 of this Amazon dramedy which was so unrelentingly depressing I could barely breathe let alone laughamp160 Then along came Andrew Scott above left in one of the most pleasing performances of the year bringing much needed humor to the show as a cursing man of the cloth with a taste for gin and the ability to laugh at lifeamp8217s most upsetting situations making him the perfect friend and more for the title character and her fractured familyamp160 Indeed the Hot Priest had been the most talked about television character of the year until Baby Yoda appeared on the sceneamp160 With Scott in the mix and a vivid new character with whom to interact the performances of the cast which were already quite good became collectively and individually superb amp8211 especially Sian Clifford as Fleabagamp8217s sister and Woman of the Year Olivia Colman as their lusty and caustic godmotheramp160 Itamp8217s all very complicated but this talented ensemble and its crew made it all seem so easyamp160 There is no denying that Fleabagamp8217s sophomore and apparently final season made a major impact in Hollywood and with the hivemindamp160 After all the show and its creator and star Phoebe WallerBridge at top and above were honored with every major award for which they were nominated this year most notably with three TCA Awards and four Emmysamp160 And there are undoubtedly more accolades to come as awards season gets underwayamp160 Will this outpouring of love convince WallerBridge to set about putting together a third seasonamp160 She could do much worseNo 6 The Good Fight CBS All AccessI said it best in my review of this towering achievement so Iamp8217ll paraphrase from that rather than try to top myselfamp160 In its third season The Good Fight played many new notes and many that were very familiar without ever striking one that felt falseamp160 To their credit series creators Robert and Michelle King never underestimated the intelligence or awareness of their audienceamp160 As masterful writers they werenamp8217t afraid to challenge even those of us who most appreciate their workamp160 They certainly did that in Fightamp8217s third season which explored racism and sexual politics largely in the workplace but representing so much more amp8230 along with the imminent catastrophes of climate change the dangers of renegade liberalism unchecked the perils of political correctness run amok the strengths and weaknesses of the judicial system and throughout what it means to be a halfway decent person trying to cope with the weekly atrocities that have defined the Trump presidencyamp160 Thatamp8217s another thing about The Good Fight amp8211 even in its third year it refused to pull back from its fullthrottle response to everything Donald Trump has done since taking officeamp160 It is one of the boldest most uncompromising dramas about contemporary America that I have ever seenamp160 Certainly there have been many over the decades but I cannot recall one that tackled so many urgent topics in so thorough a manner using wellestablished characters the audience has been conditioned to care about to examine the good the bad and the ugly of modern lifeamp160 Fans may never look at any of them the same way againNext upamp160 The top five including Program of the YearClick 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 MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writersamp160amp160

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Top 25 Programs of 2019, Part Four

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Ed Martin

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