Haiku Reviews: TV series I Watched in '23
Plus, some of my favorite docu-series and films.
Short is sweet, says the girl who’s barely 5-foot-one and refuses to wait on (in?) lines, which is why I enjoy the three-line, 5-7-5 syllable Japanese poem for reviewing content I’m consuming.
I’m back with another edition of Haiku Reviews! Since I had such a fun time writing the last round on the best books I read in 2023, I figured I’d do the same for my favorite TV shows. Of course, this is all subjective stuff. My cackle could be your cringe, so take these declarations of devotion as mere suggestions. After all, the world is drowning in opinions these days and you know how I feel about forming your own. When it comes to TV, people love to debate the likes of who’s the most despicable Roy in Succession (Team Logan, FTW!) and how many forks Cousin cleaned in episode 7 of The Bear (answer: a-fucking-lot).
Television gives us characters, storylines, cinematography, and soundtracks that take us out of ourselves, yet enable us to feel inside ourselves. We relate. We rebuff. We remember. We repress. We connect. We detach. We repudiate. We suspend disbelief.
Any attempt to streamline TV “channels” in the form of digital platforms has simplified absolutely nothing, which means I subscribe to (almost) all of them: Hulu, Apple TV+, HBO (sorry, MAX), Netflix, Amazon, Paramount+, Showtime, Peacock, and…what am I missing? (Shout out to ExpressVPN, family plans, and shared passwords!)
Now, I do love a good binge. Give me an automatic “next episode” without having to click anything or refresh and you’ve got my undivided attention. (JK. I pause often because I am a slave to notifications and struggle with ignoring the app time limits I impose on myself. You too? Whew.)
But I also don’t mind waiting a week for the next episode. Remember the days when we HAD to? The suspense! Or when we’d have to sit through commercials or fast-forward through DVR tapings? The horror! Such breaks now give me time to digest what I’d just seen, rather than devouring it all in one sitting before immediately seeking to satisfy my craving for…entertainment? A cure for loneliness or boredom? A good laugh? A solid cry? All of the above. Television gives us characters, storylines, cinematography, and soundtracks that take us out of ourselves, yet enable us to feel inside ourselves. We relate. We rebuff. We remember. We repress. We connect. We detach. We repudiate. We suspend disbelief.
In all, the facets of a good TV show will reverberate for years to come, and often cause us to start, or bring any conversation around to: “OMG are you watching__?” There isn’t an element of television I don’t appreciate, from the opening credit treatments to makeup, wardrobe, and props, and I am not ashamed to admit I schedule date nights with myself to watch whatever series has my attention at the time. Considering how many series are being churned out these days, and the number of people writing full-on recaps for every show known to man, not to mention the long-overdue results of the recent strikes, I don’t think I’m alone in this.
With that, I present the 10 series that wow-ed me this past year. I chose a mix of comedies and dramas with both short, 20+ minute episodes, and those that reach the near-hour mark. There’s chest-aching love, belly-stretching laughter, flesh-eating zombies, period throwbacks, a dog in a wheelchair, and more. I left off some returning favorites (see: Succession, Morning Show, and The Crown) except for one I missed the first go-around and another whose second season was too good to 86. (There’s your hint.) Happy small screen-ing!