Are your eyeballs bleeding yet? Did you, too, perhaps lose all your non-working hours to basking in the glow of truly excellent television? 2015 was, if nothing else, Peak TV: a year chockablock with a very overwhelming amount of very-good television. It was a veritable smorgasbord, ushering in the Age of Too Much TV (at least that’s what we’re calling it). Which is exactly what made coming up with a list of our favorites one of the most unbearable projects on which we’ve embarked.
Because who wants to cut their favorite TV shows from a list? I mean have you seen some of the stuff we’re dealing with here? Orphan Black, Game of Thrones, Mr. Robot, Jessica Jones, Daredevil, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Flash and Arrow—and that’s only a teensy, tiny, itty bitty bit of it! Coming up with a list of the best-of-the-best of it is like killing puppies and kittens and your favorite child COMBINED (OK so maybe we’re overstating it a little bit)! Still, the fact remains clear: television had an excellent run of excellent stuff and it’s really, really hard to create any sort of list that accurately reflects all the killer characters, fantastic subplots, unbelievable twists, and invigorating stories we got to see on the small screen this year.
Alas, it is my job as an editor to literally write and edit a list such as this—so I’ll do it! But I won’t be happy about it. And I CERTAINLY will not put them in any particular order. They’re all equally great in different ways, OK? Just know that I’m over here, sitting in a narwhal Kigurumi, just miserable about being forced to pick favorites and stack very different shows against one another to cull together a list of “great.”
(Also know you’re more than welcome to kick some goddamn sense into me, because for all intents and purposes this sort of work is like floating on an embarrassment of riches).
Because even with a whole 10 slots to fill, it still leaves a ton of amazing television to be nothing more than honorable mentions. Stuff like Agent Carter, Master of None, Drunk History, Inside Amy Schumer, Better Call Saul, Fargo, Broad City, You’re the Worst, Last Man on Earth, and even Game of Thrones. That’s right—this Westerosi-lovin’ Khaleesi wannabe was so overrun with good choices, she didn’t even put her favorite of the favorite on the top of the heap. Just know that these honorable mentions are far more than honorable—they could have very easily made this list. It’s just.so.hard.
So check out our gallery below to see our favorites of the favorites. But what were yours? Like or hate our choices? Let’s discuss in the comments!
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Image Credit: Netflix
Alicia Lutes is the Managing Editor and resident TV-obsessive here at Nerdist. Find her on Twitter (currently obsessing over Jessica Jones) on Twitter (@alicialutes).
