NPR's Favorite TV Shows Of 2017
Before we begin, a note: See how the adjective up there in that headline is "favorite," not "best?" That's intentional.
There's just too much television out there for a comprehensive ranking; the TV landscape has never been more expansive than it is today. Streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon are adding so many shows so quickly they don't so much stream as cascade. Cable gems like Game of Thrones and Insecure continue to glimmer, but don't count out basic cable and broadcast networks — NBC's The Good Place, for example, is the only show that all three of us agreed deserved an end-of-year shout-out.
Our list of 2017 favorites is personal and idiosyncratic, which is as it should be. TV now boasts more voices, telling more stories, than ever before, and those stories are finding discrete audiences hungry for them. TV is starting to look less monolithic, and more like the people watching it — all of the people watching it. — Glen
American Gods, Starz (Glen)
The Starz adaptation of Neil Gaiman's 2001 novel was easily the most visually striking television show of 2017. Bryan Fuller and Michael Green infused Gaiman's tale of gods and monsters with a decidedly irreverent revisionist history of the American experiment. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but this road movie/"Myth and Folklore" graduate seminar mashup is a hugely imaginative (and flat-out gorgeous) adventure. -- Glen
American Vandal, Netflix (Linda and Glen)
You don't need to have internalized the tone, tropes and to love — but it helps. Precise, knowing and lovingly made, this faux-documentary series purports to investigate an act of high school vandalism, but its true subjects include class divisions, sex, friendship and — of course — the making of true-crime documentaries. The show never once winks at the audience, which makes it all the more hilarious and ultimately, in its way, devastating.
