We didn't wait for December to talk about the best tv shows of the year. After about halfway through 2021, a pretty decent number of good small screen series had already come along, which prompted us to begin discussing them. We updated this list periodically over the the next few months and now we have the 26 best TV shows of the year.
Bonus:
Them
The inaugural season of Them, "Covenant", takes a searing look at discrimination in the late 1940s and early 1950s during the Second Great Migration, as an African-American family moves from rural North Carolina to Compton, California and comes face-to-face with a separate but equal form of racism as corrupt police, hostile neighbors and predatory banks express their opposition to integration in various ways.
26. The Wonder Years
25. BMF
24. North Korea: Inside the Mind of a Dictator
This show takes an intimate look at the infamous Kim Jong-un, North Korea's supreme leader, exposing his complications, insecurities and motivations. From his childhood to his complex relationship with Donald Trump, what's known of Kim's life is laid on the table.
23. You Don't Know Me
22. Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami
21. Around the World in 80 Days
20. Stranger Than Fiction: The Murder of Angie Dodd
Angie Dodd's murder case is yet another example of how flawed the criminal justice system is. Following the 18-year-old's rape and fatal stabbing, Christopher Tapp was convicted of the crime and sentenced to 40 years in prison. But after studying the evidence, including video of Tapp's confession, the victim's own mother, Carol, realized that police had gotten the wrong man.
19. Last Chance U: Basketball
Like the series that preceded it, the latest season of Last Chance U focuses on talented athletes using junior college as a stepping stone to achieving their dreams. But this time, the game has moved from the gridiron to the hardcourt. Star player turned coach John Mosley tries to lead his team of East Los Angeles College Huskies to his first title while managing an unstable power forward and an uninspired center.
18. The March on Washington: Keepers of the Dream
Keepers of the Dream focuses on Black activism -- from the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s to the ongoing Black Lives Matter Movement.
17. Lupin Part 1
Senegalese immigrant Assane Diop uses his considerable wits to expose the person who framed his father 25 years earlier in this French caper/mystery series.
16. True Story
15. Wu-Tang: An American Saga (Season 2)
The sophomore season of the story of Staten Island's finest improved on its predecessor by taking deep dives into both the creative process and the music business. On top of all that, Golden Arms and Masta Killa finally join the clan.
14. Nowhere to Run: The Ahmaud Arbury Story
13. The Movies That Made Us 3
After hitting the sophomore slump, The Movies That Made Us bounced back quite nicely in its third season. You don't wanna miss the details of how Coming to America, Robocop, Halloween and A Nightmare On Elm Street came to be.
12. Viewpoint
11. Pacific Rim: The Black
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.
10. Dug Days
Dug Days pares the movie Up down to its very best elements: Carl and his faithful, canine best friend, Dug. Now that they've settled into a new -- and stationary --home, the duo's most exciting adventures are limited to their new neighborhood. And, more often than not, just their backyard. As it turns out, this approach proves much more entertaining than their balloon-filled cinematic escapade.
9. Stephen
8. Dream Team: Birth of the Modern Athlete
7. Hip Hop Uncovered
Big U, Haitian Jack, Trick-Trick and more tell their life stories and explain their profound connections and contributions to the rap game.
6. Colin in Black and White
Former NFL superstar Colin Kaepernick narrates this series chronicling his high school years as a three-sport prodigy (football, basketball and baseball) coming to terms with his place as a young Black man in America.
5. Hawkeye
Veteran assassin Clint Barton reluctantly takes a sidekick, Kate Bishop, under his wing when she gets herself into trouble with organized crime figures and needs to be rescued. Kate also happens to be Barton's biggest fan.
Wilson Fisk and Yelena Bulova both make not-so-surprising appearances as well. Though, ultimately, instead of enriching the story, the extended cameos end up taking up screen-time that should've been devoted to the title character.
Minus the LARPing bs, the stupid musical and the vast majority of the final episode, this should've-been-a-movie miniseries joins The Falcon and the Winter Soldier as one of the only two MCU streaming series that are actually watchable.
4. Muhammad Ali
Legendary documentarian Ken Burns gives boxing icon Muhammad Ali the Civil War treatment and reveals why the champ's declaration that he was "the greatest" wasn't an idle boast.
3. Snabba Cash
This series explores the modern drug trade in Sweden, following a guilt-ridden enforcer for a dealer, a rebellious teenager who gets in over his head and the girlfriend of a slain kingpin straddling both the tech industry and the criminal underworld.
2. Christmas Flow
Most romantic comedies are based on the idea that opposites attract. And the popular belief may be that you can't find a more mismatched pair than a rapper and a feminist. But Jean-Marc and Lila discover that they're not as different as they assume in this Parisian holiday series that brings each of them face-to-face with the "enemy". Believe it or not, aside from some heavy-handed messaging, it works.
1. "New World Order", "Truth" and "One World, One People" (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier)
The Falcon and the Winter Soldier didn't need to be a television series. A dope two-and-a-half hour movie could've been crafted out of this show. Having said that, the bar has been set so high that it's hard to imagine any comic book or superhero series topping it. Cinematic action, insightful social commentary and addressing all of the elephants in the room have made the rechristened Captain America and the Winter Soldier the best super show of all time (its only competition is the second season of Daredevil), redeeming the MCU's tv experiment after WandaVision's unwatchable snoozefest.
Television projects generally provide one of two things: either a thought-provoking look at the human condition (which can veer into boring territory) or escapist entertainment (which can be largely devoid of substance). The Falcon and the Winter Soldier gives us both.
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