The State of the Art: Television 2018

As streaming services take on more and more content, television has taken on a bigger and bigger chunk of my pop culture pie chart. As much as entertainment outlets were touting the "peak TV years" of prestige basic cable dramas, I feel like we're in a much more interesting time now. Shows have gotten increasingly diverse, which allows people to find things that are even more tailored to their tastes. I'm no exception, and the TV I enjoyed this year was all over the map. Here's the official ranking!

The Haunting of Hill House (Season 1)
Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories (Season 1)
The Good Place (Season 2)
Lovesick (Season 3)
Nailed It! (Season 1)
American Vandal (Season 2)

All of the shows above would get at least an A- on my grading scale, and were all in contention for my favorite show of the year. The Haunting of Hill House took top honors, but I also want to make special mention of Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories, which was more about atmosphere than plot. The simple stories of the patrons of a late night Japanese diner were neither happy nor sad, but a fascinating series of slice-of-life tales.

There were also plenty of other highly entertaining shows that would nab at least a B+ on the scale:

The Great British Baking Show (Seasons 5, 6, and Holiday)
Bojack Horseman (Season 5)
MST3K: The Gauntlet (Season 2)
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (Season 3)
Black Mirror (Season 4 and "Bandersnatch")
The Dragon Prince (Season 1)
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (Season 1)
A Series of Unfortunate Events (Season 2)
Superstore (Season 4)
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Season 5)
Ordeal By Innocence (Miniseries)

Then there are the shows that were pleasant enough to watch, but couldn't edge their way into the top echelons:

Bob's Burgers (Season 9)
Black-ish (Season 5)
Angie Tribeca (Season 3)
Nailed It! (Season 2 and Holiday)
Hilda (Season 1)

And the shows that ranged from simply okay down to waste of time:

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Season 4)
Big Mouth (Seasons 1 & 2)
One Day at a Time (Season 2)
13 Reasons Why (Season 1)
Making a Murderer (Season 2)