The 38 Best TV Shows of 2022

 

We've gotten some pretty decent television moments in 2022. Here's the best of what we've seen this year:

38. Candy

37. 61st Street

Gone are the days when every one of the countless number of law enforcement shows on television included a hefty dose of copaganda. 61st Street pulls back the curtain on the Chicago PD and takes a hard look at the organization's relationship with crime.

36. Meltdown: Three Mile Island

35. Granite Harbour

34. Let the Right One In

Loosely based on the book of the same name, which has already been adapted into a pretty good Swedish movie (and a completely unnecessary American remake), the series follows single dad Mark Kane as he feverishly searches for a cure to his daughter's vampirism in New York City. It also happens to be the best vampire series of all time.

33. Shaq

The titular Hall-of-Famer chronicles his rise from awkward military brat to the most dominant NBA player of his era,.

32. Dead Man Talking

Veteran Wendi Mae Davidson swears that she was wrongly convicted of murdering her husband, Staff Sgt. Michael Severance. But investigators -- and the evidence -- say different. 

31. Lynching Postcards: Token of a Great Day

The horrific but surprisingly common practice of racists sending the titular mementos of communities participating in murder is discussed by historians.

30. SAS: Rogue Heroes

This streaming series chronicles the creation of the UK's now-iconic Special Air Service during the second world war.

29. Pepsi, Where's My Jet?

A college student battles corporate America in this David vs. Goliath docuseries chronicling John Leonard's years-long fight to get a soft drink giant to honor its promise to deliver an AV-8 Harrier II jump jet as part of an over-the-top 1990s marketing promotion.

28. The Rings of Power

Before Aragorn -- even before Bilbo -- Middle-Earth was a very tumultuous place. This chronicle of Sauron's creation and distribution of his dark accessories takes place during the lesser-known Second Age of the land of men, elves, dwarves and orcs. 

27. Who Is Ghislaine Maxwell?

Jeffrey Epstein's partner-in-crime is profiled from her privileged childhood to her 20-year sentence for sex-trafficking young girls for over a decade. 

26. Truth and Lies: The Last Gangster

ABC News combs their archives to present the story of mobster-turned-cooperating witness Sammy "the Bull" Gravano.

25. To Live and Die in Alabama

24. Ghislaine Maxwell: Partner in Crime

The chickens finally come home to roost in this docuseries about socialite turned serial sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell. 

23. Blowing Money Fast

22. We Own This City

The creators of The Wire had more Baltimore stories to tell. But instead of revisiting that landmark series, they went with a much better option: producing a companion piece. Like The Wire before it, We Own This City does feature an investigation into a dangerous criminal organization. But this one -- a police task force -- is far more destructive than any drug gang.  

21. Tokyo Vice

A naive gaijin journalist finds himself in the middle of a yakuza cold war in Japan's capital city.

20. Why Didn't They Ask Evans?

After former British naval officer Bobby Jones hears a dying man's last words, an attempt on his life is made. So with help from his closest friend, "Knocker" Beadon, and childhood buddy, Lady Francesca Derwent, Bobby endeavors to unravel the mystery of the dead man's question: "Why didn't they ask Evans?" 

19. Dark Winds

Predominantly based on the 1978 mystery novel "Listening Woman", Dark Winds follows two Navajo police officers as they attempt to solve a double-homicide that took place on a reservation near 1970s New Mexico.

18. Last Light

This not-too-distant tale of ecoterrorists attempting to reset the planet is riveting -- right up until the final episode. Some outrageous melodrama in the finale, including the previously human-seeming primary antagonist's transformation into a Bond villain and a narrated "sermon", is completely at odds with what was previously a sincere thriller but it still doesn't prevent the series from being a worthwhile watch.

17. The Elon Musk Show

The accomplishments and some of the abuses perpetrated by the current richest man in the world are chronicled, with first-hand accounts from his parents, ex-wife, journalists and former employees. 

16. Pacific Rim: The Black (Season 2)

Following Australia's fall as a result of a Kaiju invasion, two children of Jaeger pilots, Taylor and Hayley Travis, endeavor to find their parents after Hayley inadvertently attracts one of the monsters to their previously safe enclave, leading to the deaths of every other member of the community. The siblings subsequently embark on their seemingly doomed and suicidal quest in one of the towering weapons, Atlas Destroyer, which lacks weapons due to its status as a training model.

After embarking on a quest to locate their missing parents, and coming across a new settlement as well as a mute young child along the way, Taylor and Hayley Travis make the shocking discovery that the kid, whom they name Boy, is actually a unique breed of Kaiju. They also find themselves, along with infantry soldier Mei, hunted by a homicidal misandrist cult, the Sisters of the Kaiju, intent on using Boy for their own murderous purposes.

15. The Witcher (Season 2)

Defying the "Sophomore Slump", The Witcher's second season is vastly superior to its predecessor. Geralt settles into his role as Ciri's father-figure and she reciprocates his devotion. In fact, she strives to follow in his footsteps by subjecting herself to the brutal rigors of witcher training.

14. Bel-Air

While its lead lacks the inimitable charisma of his predecessor, this dramatic retelling of the classic 90s sitcom of the same name is painstakingly faithful to its source material. Shockingly enough, the few changes actually improve upon the original. Will, Jeffrey, Jazz, Uncle Phil, Ashley and the rest of the family are all here. 

13. The Bear

Following his estranged brother's suicide, trained chef Carmen Berzatto moves back home to Chicago in order to run his restaurant. Plagued by money woes and recovering from his own horrible experiences in the culinary business, "Carmy" and his crew bleed, sweat and cry in an attempt to keep "The Beef" running.

The only real flaw in the series is the baffling decision by the filmmakers to take Carm to task for verbal abuse but to fail to hold his colleague, Sydney, accountable for STABBING a co-worker during a fit of anger.  

12. Slow Horses

MI-5 veteran Jackson Lamb leads the spy game's Bad News Bears in this British thriller series about moles, assassins and sleeper agents.

11. Cobra Kai (Season 5)

More new faces and even a familiar blast from the past join Johnny Lawrence and his former nemesis, Daniel LaRusso, in their seemingly never-ending struggle against the forces of dark karate.

10. Lost Ollie

Instead of focusing solely on the playthings, this superior toy story sheds light on their human companions as well. 

9. All of Us Are Dead

A group of high school kids, their parents and the military face a zombie outbreak in this Korean series that hits even harder than The Walking Dead. 

8. The U.S. and the Holocaust

This docuseries examines what the United States government and its citizens did -- and failed to do -- as relates to European Jews, before and during the second World War.

7. The Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard                      Defamation Trial

6. The Terminal List

When a mission in Syria goes sideways, Lieutenant Commander James Reece is one of only two members of his Navy SEAL platoon to make it out of  Aleppo alive. As hard as it is to believe, his life gets even worse upon his return to the States. Not only does he begin to hallucinate and undergo severe headaches but the brass doesn't believe his version of events regarding his last deployment and his fellow survivor, Boozer, commits suicide.

A military-based revenge story, The Terminal List is a better version of The Punisher streaming series. 

5. The '80s: Top Ten

Host Rob Lowe counts down the most popular cultural trends of the 1980s.

4. Lincoln's Dilemma

The 16th U.S. president's time in office, management of the Civil War and reputation as "the Great Emancipator" are reexamined in this docuseries.

3. Moon Knight

Meek gift-shop worker Steven Grant learns that Egyptian deities are real. But that may be the least of his problems. He also discovers -- to his horror -- that he's afflicted with dissociative identity disorder and that what he assumed were bad dreams are actually episodes during which his alter takes over.

Moon Knight is the Marvel Cinematic Universe's first origin story to debut as a Disney+ series. But had it been a film instead of a streaming show, MK would be the MCU's best film in four years.

2. HALO

Set in the far-flung 26th century, Halo revolves around Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, a career military man caught in the middle of a war between the human United Nations Space Command and a galactic alliance of alien races known as the Covenant. In the midst of the conflict, John discovers truths about his past and the organization to which he's dedicated his life that cause him to question his beliefs. 

Based on the video game series of the same name, Halo is one of the rare interstellar television series to rival its cinematic counterparts of the same genre in terms of production values and all-around watchability. Though sticklers for the games' lore and continuity may be find the changes too much to bear, viewers without preconceptions will likely be suitably impressed.

1. "From the Desert Comes A Stranger"

Luke Skywalker returns as a Jedi master in this spectacular sixth episode of the otherwise garbage streaming series The Book of Boba Fett.

Updated 12/20/22