The 20 best TV shows of 2023, from Succession and Happy Valley to The Last of Us
Another year, another exhausting amount of television. But how to separate the wheat from the chaff, the Mad Men from the Two and a Half Men? As the nights grow longer and the year moves into its twilight phase, it’s time to think about the great shows that made it to air over the past 12 months.
As with 2022, the top positions on my list are dominated by American television. Why is this? While there were many fine shows on terrestrial here in the UK – like The Gold, about the Brink’s-Mat heist, or the fifth season of Unforgotten – they felt less distinctive than the best international shows. There are only so many cop dramas you can watch before they start to blur into one.
But if there’s one trend in this rundown – and perhaps this should be a worry, heading into 2024 – it’s that 2023 felt like the end of a televisual chapter. Three of the shows on my list are here on the strength of their final seasons, while others are limited series with no (announced) plans to return. One has even been summarily cancelled. The scheduling vacancy opened by the absences of House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power, not to mention Euphoria and The White Lotus, might have been an opportunity, but, instead, has created something of a vacuum.
More talk has been muttered at water coolers – more ink spilled in newspapers – on shows that have performed poorly than those that have done well. From the gyrating vapidity of (more on that shortly) to the, perhaps 2023 has been a good year for bad TV, but a bad year for good TV.
