Outgunning the algorithms
When it comes to television in 2021, it was, of course, the year of Squid Game. You won’t see it in the following list of 20 best shows. The South Korean Netflix series became an out-of-nowhere global sensation in September, just as the streaming platform’s sexy period drama Bridgerton had proved last Christmas.
But the supposedly anti-capitalist tale of desperate competitors locked in a lethal tournament and its snowballing body count wasn’t for everyone. And those who got past episode six, when who was behind it all began to be revealed on the way to the final twists, might have felt short-changed in the dystopia department.
As our list shows, there were plenty of better shows, just without the dazzling algorithms.
It didn’t feel like a great year for New Zealand television drama, however. After such 2020 local offerings as , (which won an International Emmy) and , big 2021 network dramas such as and , and the second seasons of and , were met with
