The 8 Shows I Thought Were Great in 2024

A Dad Shows version of a Best of the Year list

Dec 05, 2024

Often when I make ranked and numbered “best of” lists, I struggle to fill it out, because there are usually only a handful of things in a year I think are actually good enough to warrant being called “the best.” By the time I get to the bottom of a top 10 list, I’m often padding it out with stuff I thought was good, but not fantastic. So I thought I’d do something different for Dad Shows and keep it confined to shows that I truly love and think are operating on a superior artistic level. Maybe in future years it will have 10, or more than 10, or five or three. It depends. Even on this list, the top three shows are significantly better than the rest. (Also there are a number of shows I might have loved that I just haven’t gotten around to watching [I feel bad I never finished The Sympathizer]). But I want to champion the shows I couldn’t stop thinking about, the shows that made me get so worked up while talking about them that eventually all I could say was “This is such a good show” over and over again. There’s nothing on here that’s only pretty good. You can be assured that this list is bangers only.

So here are the 8 shows I loved and thought were excellent in 2024, ranked accordingly. Not just Dad Shows, but shows in general.

8. Ren Faire (HBO)

Lance Oppenheim’s three-episode docuseries about the eccentric people who run the Texas Renaissance Festival is a great story, well told. The real-life characters are so funny and distinctive and psychologically complex that they feel like they’re something out of a tragicomic workplace sitcom, and Oppenheim shoots them in a way that makes this small story feel epic. If this were a scripted series, it might still make this list.

7. Mr. & Mrs. Smith (Prime Video)

I haven’t seen Donald Glover and Francesca Sloane’s spy dramedy on many publications’ year-end lists so far, which I find surprising, because it’s such an ambitious and impressive show. It cleverly puts its real story about the course of a romantic relationship inside of a spy thriller casing and loads it up with great guest stars (shoutout to Ron Perlman as an asset who becomes their surrogate child), perceptive humor, and beautiful settings and costumes. It feels like they got away with taking Amazon’s money and making art with it, which is always something I’ll praise.

6. Lioness (Paramount+)

This is Taylor Sheridan’s best show for several reasons: The punchy, hard-bitten cynicism with which it regards contemporary geopolitics and America’s imperial power; the impossibly stacked cast (Nicole Kidman and Morgan Freeman are just on this show, showing up every now and then to add gravitas); the movie-quality action sequences in every episode; the plot that’s focused and coherent by Sheridan standards. Lioness was good in Season 1, but it made the leap to one of the best shows on TV in Season 2.

5. English Teacher (FX)

Brian Jordan Alvarez’s comedy about a public high school in Austin is this moment’s most timely sitcom. It takes on culture war issues with tonal finesse and generosity of spirit. It lives in the real world, which is complicated and messy and frequently very annoying, but also has moments of connection that make it worthwhile. And it’s hilarious. It gave me Kayla Syndrome.

4. Say Nothing (FX)

When I reviewed Josh Zetumer’s adaptation of Patrick Radden Keefe’s book about the Troubles for TV Guide, I gave it an 8.2/10. I regret that a bit. It should have been higher. I haven’t stopped thinking about the show’s potent themes since I watched it. From its exciting beginning to its mournful end, Say Nothing charts how idealism curdles into disillusionment when punishing traitors to the cause becomes more important than the cause itself. It’s a marvel of pace and tone that never gets glib about the seriousness of its subject matter but never feels overly heavy, either.

3. Ripley (Netflix)

Steve Zaillian’s adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s novel is the most beautifully made show of the year. Everything about it is meticulous, from the location scouting to the costume design to the sound to, especially, Robert Elswit’s impossibly gorgeous black-and-white cinematography. That meticulousness plays out in the story, too, in how it follows Tom Ripley’s step-by-step attempts to get rid of dead bodies and get away with the scams he’s pulling. Sociopathy has rarely been so thrilling or aesthetically appealing.

2. Shōgun (FX)

In a year where most large-scale TV shows lacked ambition, Justin Marks and Rachel Kondo’s epic historical drama was not afraid to strive for greatness, and its bold choices consistently paid off. It’s hard to single out any part of Shōgun for particular praise, because everything is executed at such an impressively high level. But if I had to pick one thing, it’s the quietly hardcore Lady Mariko, a brilliantly conceived balancing act of a character magnificently brought to life by Anna Sawai. Her society requires her to be quiet, but her soul is loud.

1. Industry (HBO)

The way this finance industry drama keeps getting better every season is a throwback to a time when shows were allowed to grow into themselves. Creators Mickey Down and Konrad Kay keep getting more and more confident in their abilities. They go for big moments every episode while never losing track of the overall story. Each moment in Industry builds on top of everything that came before in the way the best ongoing dramas do, so events feel surprising but inevitable. The characters are well-developed, the immersive world is simultaneously seductive and repulsive, and in the tradition of other top-tier dramas, it’s funnier than most comedies. If Season 4 continues the quality progression, we’ll be talking about this show like we talk about Mad Men or Succession when it’s over.