2016 was a good year for the big screen but there was plenty of competition for movie theaters on television. Netflix had a better Marvel story than Doctor Strange and Deadpool; and a better gangster drama than Live By Night. HBO had better battles than in Civil War and more laughs than pretty much any movies that premiered in the last 12 months.
10. Luke Cage
Luke Cage's titular hero has a job cleaning up a barbershop by day and spends his nights as a dishwasher (a considerable step down from his role as a bar owner on Jessica Jones), which is fitting, because the series is a superhero show moonlighting as a police procedural.
Unfortunately, Cage's incredible introduction in Jessica Jones is squandered here by an altered characterization and campy sensibility that lacks the maturity and gravity displayed in that series. Maybe less is more. It's a good thing that The Punisher didn't get his own show.
Cage's dopey catchphrase from the comics, "Sweet Christmas!", somehow made its way onto the show -- several times. And once is one time too many. Also, the Avengers references serve to clash with the realism the series strives to maintain.
The Wire's Frankie Faison and Sonja Sohn (that show's Deputy Police Commissioner Ervin Burrell and Detective Kima Greggs, respectively) make appearances. So does Wire alumnus Cheese -- the Method Man himself. That actually counts as a superhero cameo (remember Johnny Blaze?). But Cage unfortunately lacks The Wire's cold blood sensibilities.
The latter half of the season becomes increasingly more campy as the episodes progress. It nearly morphs into a whole other show -- from Power to Batman. Don't worry, that's an exaggeration. But the season does undergo a drastic transformation.
More disappointing is that a series with such a heavy emphasis on African-American culture features a black villain who's disrespected by bad guys of other ethnicities at nearly every turn and doesn't retaliate -- despite the fact that he has no qualms about personally murdering an NYPD detective in broad daylight. It's difficult to fathom why the show-runners decided that placing the African-American heavy at the bottom of the racial totem pole was a good idea.
While show-business Renaissance man Donald Glover's new series Atlanta showcases the number one contender for the capital of African-America, Cage celebrates, and is set in, the original titleholder -- Harlem. This historic section of northern Manhattan's importance in the show can't be overstated. Harlem is at least as vital to Cage as Gotham City is to any Batman adaptation -- and much more worthy of a superhero's protection.
Two of the villains, Cottonmouth and Shades, and one of the heroes, Misty Knight, have been given grounded iterations for the show, sans costumes and superpowers. All three have been upgraded to real people. Cottonmouth is now Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes and Shades is Hernan "Shades" Alvarez. Misty is Mercedes "Misty" Knight. It's revealed that she hates her first name.
Besides Tony Stark, Cage is the only real ladies' man of the MCU. And he does it without using an 11-figure bank account as an aphrodisiac.
9. The Day Will Come When You Won't Be
Season 6 of The Walking Dead went out with a bang. And season 7 started with an even bigger bang. After the show's greatest villain finally made an appearance, he showed what he can do and why he has absolute control over his legions of followers, known as the Saviors. Negan, the grinning dictator, got his own hands dirty and beat two of the series' heroes to death with his barbed baseball bat -- and he did it in front of their friends and the women who loved them. TWD's violence has always been graphic and people die regularly but Abraham's, and especially, Glenn's deaths were something else. The bad news is that the show has never been as good since. By the way, I wonder how Shane would've done against the Saviors.
8. Battle of the Bastards
Game of Thrones ain't what it used to be. The last few seasons have been pretty overrated in general but the season six episode "Battle of the Bastards" lived up to all of the hype and then some. It's better than most of the year's big-budget movies. The second half of the episode is sort of like a medieval Saving Private Ryan -- with a giant. As a matter fact, I'm calling it -- this television episode has the second-best land battle ever put on screen. SPR is still #1.
7. Divorce
6. Silicon Valley
Nerds haven't been this funny since Lambda Lambda Lambda. Forget "The Big Bang Theory" and "Stranger Things". These are the most entertaining geeks anywhere on television.
5. Narcos
In 2015, Narcos showed us billionaire drug kingpin Pablo Escobar's rise to power. The second season was all about his fall. And it was just as good.
4. Ballers
Season 3 of Ballers was just as good as the first two and its exploration of the issues faced by current and former NFL players is just as timely and insightful. You know, if The Rock's acting was this good in his movies he might have an Oscar by now.
3. Hip-Hop Evolution
This hip-hop history lesson should be required viewing for both rappers and fans. The sad thing is that by the time Hip-Hop Evolution was available for streaming, the music itself had devolved quite a bit. Smh.
2. Survivor's Remorse
The third season of Survivor's Remorse was a little less funny without Uncle Julius (Mike Epps) but it was still damn good and the best show Starz ever had. Watch your backs HBO and Netflix.
1. Daredevil
The Daredevil television series is likely what the Daredevil film adaptation would've been like had Ben Affleck directed, as opposed to merely starring in it. The show doesn't take its cues from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but instead seemingly patterns itself after the best entrants in rival DC's filmography -- especially, the Dark Knight trilogy and Batman v. Superman. The difference is that while many people died in those films, they were rather bloodless affairs. Daredevil, on the other hand, has no qualms about showing graphic violence and the gore that results from it.
Daredevil's not the only beneficiary of Marvel's decision to follow The Dark Knight's realistic hero blueprint. After several failed big-screen attempts, this television series has managed to produce the absolute best live-action depiction of The Punisher. In fact, he stole the show. Hell, he stole the entire second season. And the Kingpin's portrayal has got to be the best instance of a comic book villain making the transition to the small-screen.
Perhaps sensing his own limitations, attorney Matthew Murdock (Daredevil's real name) restricts his heroism to his own little part of New York City -- as opposed to his do-gooder peers, the globe-trotting Avengers.
One very minor criticism is the presence of Joss Whedon-Scooby Gang-style interactions between the three youngest do-gooders on the series. Thankfully, this dynamic is short-lived. The only real flaw is the cringe-worthy costume that's introduced in the first season finale.
For 12 entire episodes Murdock prowled the Manhattan streets in a simple black shirt with matching pants, boots and make-shift mask. That understated ensemble was perfect for the purposes of rendering a believable human being who chooses to administer vigilante justice throughout Alicia Keys' home neighborhood, Hell's Kitchen. Then somewhere along the line, the show's creators apparently decided that loyalty to the source material was more important than artistic integrity and foisted a red-and-black clown suit on us. To their credit, there are plenty of in-show criticisms of the thing. The problem is, we still have to see it.
The Most Overrated TV of 2016
The Abominable Bride (Sherlock Holmes Special)
House of Cards
The Get Down
Supergirl
The Flash
Ray Donovan
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Quantico
Shameless
Gotham
Arrow
Originally Posted 3/20/17
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