What TVLine Is Thankful For (2018)
70th Primetime Emmy Awards, Show, Los Angeles, USA - 17 Sep 2018
Michael Ausiello Is Thankful for...
AMY SHERMAN-PALLADINO FINALLY GETTING HER EMMY DUE
Better late than never? Sure, let's go with that. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel creator picked up four personal Emmys (for writing, directing, producing and scoring her sumptuous Amazon dramedy), ending a decades-long drought and kinda-sorta-but-not-really making up for all of those annoying Gilmore Girls snubs.
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Matt Webb Mitovich Is Thankful for...
A SUPED-UP ARROWVERSE
I feel like a memo from Zod on high must have circulated among the Arrowverse production offices during the off-season, because Arrow, The Flash and Supergirl all returned in strong form following decidedly wobbly seasons. Arrow's future narrative is intriguing while Felicity has new (and perhaps damning) agency; The Flash is having fun with family while introducing a formidable, non-speedster foe; and Supergirl quickly established a clear-cut storyline/nemesis. (Don't @ me, Legends fans — it had no stumble to recover from.) Now we wait and see what this year's reportedly "funny" crossover beholds...
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Dave Nemetz Is Thankful for...
FASCINATINGLY COMPLEX HITMEN
TV's murder-for-hire business was booming this year, with BBC America's cat-and-mouse thriller Killing Eve and HBO's pitch-black comedy Barry both centering on complicated, relatable characters... who happen to kill people for a living. Eve's Jodie Comer and Barry's Bill Hader gave two of the year's very best performances, getting us to sympathize with and root for a pair of cold-blooded killers, even as they committed heinous crimes. Throw in FX's Australian crime import Mr Inbetween, another hitman-led series, and 2018 managed to mine plenty of storytelling gold out of moral gray areas.
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Rebecca Iannucci Is Thankful for...
BIG BROTHER'S RETURN TO FORM
After falling into a multi-season slump marked by controversial cast members and half-baked twists, Big Brother this summer finally put the "pleasure" back into "guilty pleasure." Though it's typically a slog to watch the CBS series three times a week, Season 20 remained entertaining at every turn, thanks to a compelling and unpredictable group of houseguests.
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Andy Swift Is Thankful for...
BIG MOUTH'S BIG IDEAS
This animated Netflix comedy was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2017, yet it somehow managed to top itself this year with a sophomore season that was equal parts twisted, hysterical and... woke? Yes, friends. Hidden among the awkward moments and boner jokes were important, relevant themes about depression, inclusion and acceptance. Do I even need to mention the all-nude musical number about celebrating the varying shapes and sizes of the female anatomy? I didn't think so. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to slip into a bubble bath.
Bodyguard
Vlada Gelman Is Thankful for...
NETFLIX'S FOREIGN FLAVOR
Thanks to the streaming service's bountiful library, it's become easier than ever to watch international programs which viewers might not normally have access to in the United States. This year, I discovered two foreign gems which quickly became favorites: the addictive Spanish soap Elite and the thrilling British hit Bodyguard. So as much as I bemoan that there's too much TV, I'm also grateful to the streaming giant for introducing a wider net of shows to American audiences — even if I don't have time to watch them all.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine - Season 5
Ryan Schwartz Is Thankful for...
NBC COLLARING NINE-NINE
Jake and Amy's "toit nups" would have served as a fitting end for Brooklyn Nine-Nine... if that's what the producers had intended. But since series co-creator Dan Goor was not ready to say goodbye, neither was I — and I couldn't be happier that my favorite broadcast network comedy will soon be back, picking up where the stronger-than-ever Season 5 left off.
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Ryan Schwartz Is Thankful for...
UNDERSTATED FINALES FOR UNDER-THE-RADAR GEMS
Two of my favorite half-hour dramedies — Hulu's Casual and Netflix's Love — quietly ended their runs earlier this year, each at the top of its game. The two shows were more similar than not; while one was about co-dependent adult siblings, and the other was about a romantic couple, both series were about people who couldn't quite get their s—t together. Their respective final seasons offered a glimmer of hope that these twosomes were capable of real growth, both together and apart, while giving longtime fans a sense of how each of their lives' journeys would carry on without us. I couldn't ask for more than that.
Counterpart Season 1 2018
Matt Webb Mitovich Is Thankful for...
DOUBLE AGENTS
For this fan of J.K. Simmons and Fringe's parallel universe narrative, Starz's Counterpart is the perfect gift that I didn't know I needed. Everything about this production, from the casting and sharp writing to its tactile Berlin location filming, positively screams quality, all adding up to a fascinating spy game where any viewer who happens upon it is the winner. (Season 2 arrives Dec. 9.)
I'm Making Up For Lost Time
Dave Nemetz Is Thankful for...
CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND'S PROPER SWAN SONG
Frankly, I'm thankful a show as defiantly weird as Crazy Ex-Girlfriend even managed to make it on the air, let alone survive for a four-season run on a broadcast network. A musical romantic comedy about a mentally ill heroine criminally obsessed with her teenage crush isn't exactly an easy sell, but it hung on long enough to earn a Season 4 renewal, ensuring that creators Rachel Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna will get to finish the story they intended to tell from the very beginning. I can't wait to give next year's series finale a standing ovation — from my couch, anyway.
70th Primetime Emmy Awards, Show, Los Angeles, USA - 17 Sep 2018
Rebecca Iannucci Is Thankful for...
FRESH BLOOD AT THE EMMYS
When it comes to awards shows, I've gotten a bit jaded over the years, resigning myself to the fact that the same shows and cast members will win time and again. But, with the exception of a few repeat victors, this year's Emmys featured much-needed variety, including triumphs for long-overlooked actors (see: The Americans' Matthew Rhys) and more recent breakouts (like The Crown's Claire Foy). Thank you, Emmy voters, for not being afraid to mix it up a little — and restoring my faith in the kudos-giving tradition.
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Michael Ausiello Is Thankful for...
EMPIRE FINALLY GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT JAMAL'S LOVE LIFE
After saddling Jussie Smollett's out-and-proud alter ego with a string of forgettable post-Michael love interests (Ryan, Warren and — ugh — Skye, to name just three), the Fox drama finally got Jamal's heart thumping again with the introduction of UK journo Kai (Sense8's Toby Onwumere). Even better, the now-engaged couple's struggles involving work, family and health (Kai's HIV disclosure alone has led to some groundbreaking-for-broadcast TV moments) have been both nuanced and relatable. Here's hoping their nuptials will be as spectacular as that rousing dual engagement.
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Ryan Schwartz Is Thankful for...
A RETURN TRIP TO COUNTY GENERAL
As someone who first got into ER late in its original run, and wasn't quite done catching up on those middle seasons before TNT yanked it from its morning schedule all those years ago, I was excited to delve right in after Hulu announced its acquisition back in January. Twelve months later, I'm just about done with Season 15 — and if it weren't for #PeakTV, I might be tempted to start back at the beginning again.
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Kimberly Roots Is Thankful for...
GAME OF THRONES' LAST HURRAH
So few series go out at the top of their game that it's a real treat when one does. And while there's of course a chance that HBO's fantasy drama will tank its upcoming swan dragon song, that's about as likely as Cersei and Lady Stoneheart sitting down for tea. The show's entire run has built to an epic battle for far more than the Iron Throne, and with longer episodes and bigger battles ahead than ever before, we can't imagine that these last six installments won't deliver the heartbreaking, breathtaking theme-park attraction they're shaping up to be — and (hopefully) be well worth the wait.
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Michael Ausiello Is Thankful for...
GETTING SCARED S—TLESS
Netflix's smart and terrifying Haunting of Hill House is the first TV show in a very long time to make me soil my drawers (metaphorically speaking!) while cowering in terror under my covers (literally speaking!). I forgot how much fun fear (particularly fear attached to genuine emotional stakes) can be.
VIOLA DAVIS
Rebecca Iannucci Is Thankful for...
MUCH IMPROVED MURDER
ABC's deliciously twisted How to Get Away With Murder has always been a favorite of mine, but the show admittedly lost its way in Season 4, too caught up in the long-winded tale of Laurel's shady family. This season, though, Murder is back at the top of its game, weaving together multiple compelling mysteries in a way we haven't seen since Season 1. There are many, many questions left to be resolved in 2019, and I simply can't wait for the answers.
Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert - Season 2018
Kimberly Roots Is Thankful for...
A SUPERSTAR THAT LIVED UP TO ITS NAME
Jesus Christ, that's some good live television! On Easter Sunday, NBC blessed us with a star-studded, high-energy performance of Andrew Lloyd Webber's biblical musical, which proved that the right cast (John Legend, Sara Bareilles) coupled with the right show (a rock opera staged as a massive concert before an obsessed audience) could be a whole new TV experience. And good Lord above, I'd be remiss if I didn't give special thanks for Power star/Broadway vet Brandon Victor Dixon, whose Judas was an electrifying presence on an already amazing talent roster. Here endeth the lesson.
The Virgin Gary
Vlada Gelman Is Thankful for...
THE LEGENDS OF FUN
No show currently on TV is more of a joy to watch than The CW's Legends of Tomorrow, which has completely embraced its wacky, silly side in Season 4. With the overabundance of serious dramas — and even more serious drama in the real world — the Arrow and Flash spinoff has become a welcome escape that's full of clever humor and heart. Plus, it gave us Beebo, and for that, I can't say thanks enough.
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Andy Swift Is Thankful for...
LESLIE GROSSMAN'S RENAISSANCE
We all have a mental list of actors and actresses we find vastly under-appreciated, and ever since the days of The WB, Leslie Grossman has been on mine. So imagine my delight to see her stealing scenes as a full-fledged series regular on American Horror Story: Apocalypse, while also finding time to play mom to Kristen Bell on The Good Place. (Don't try to do the mother-daughter math there. You'll only hurt yourself.) And if Netflix's Fuller House is on your list of guilty pleasures, you'll get to see Grossman one last time before the year is over. What a blessing.
The Citation Negation
Team TVLine Is Thankful for...
YOU
No, not the Lifetime series (though it was a buncha fun). You, our readers. One of the hallmarks of TVLine — something we literally boast of in company meetings — is the well-informed audience we speak to. Simply skim our Comments sections and you see a wide array of TV fans that appreciate insights and opinions and in turn are never (ever) shy to share their own. Your standards as readers compels us to raise our game, and an ever better TVLine is something for which we can all be thankful.
Will & Grace - Season 2
Michael Ausiello Is Thankful for...
THE BURSTING OF THE REVIVAL BUBBLE
No one has championed the recent revival craze more than yours truly, but, let's face it, we were due for a course correction. We needed a course correction. And make no mistake — a course correction is currently underway (just check out the latest ratings for Will & Grace). In other, completely unrelated news, we're getting eight new episodes of Veronica Mars next year and I am beside myself with excitement; don't you dare call me a hypocrite!
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Kimberly Roots Is Thankful for...
A SHARP DEBUT
Don't tell Mama, but even among Sharp Objects' high-caliber cast, I couldn't take my eyes off new-to-American audiences Eliza Scanlen as Amma Crellin, the teenage half-sister of Amy Adams' Camille Preaker. I never knew whether to feel sorry for or afraid of Amma, a lithe blonde teenager who was puerile one moment, predatory the next. Amma's quicksilver shifts from innocent to unnerving were all Scanlen's doing — those throaty whispers! That doe-eyed innocence! — and they were done with aplomb, right up to the final, chilling seconds of the season.
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Dave Nemetz Is Thankful for...
HALF-HOUR DRAMAS
We're all short on time these days, with our DVRs stuffed full of unwatched episodes, so any relief we can find is more than welcome. Luckily, a new wave of half-hour dramas, led by Amazon's Homecoming and Facebook Watch's Sorry for Your Loss, arrived this year to tell their gripping, emotionally rich stories in a fraction of the usual time, without any of the bloat or fuzzy focus we see too often in hour-long dramas. In fact, they proved that great dramas can be any length they want to be... and our eyeballs sincerely thank them for that.
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Dave Nemetz Is Thankful for...
THE AMERICANS STICKING THE LANDING
One of the decade's greatest TV dramas, FX's Cold War spy thriller did stumble a bit in its penultimate season and had a ton of loose ends to tie up as it entered its final run of episodes this spring. But executive producers Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields beautifully drew their twisted tale of love and war to a melancholy close, highlighted by series-best performances from stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys. The elegiac series finale wisely resisted the urge to go out with a bang, opting for emotional explosions rather than physical ones and concluding the Jennings' saga on an appropriately bittersweet note.
FREDDIE HIGHMORE, FIONA GUBELMANN
Ryan Schwartz Is Thankful for...
A MUCH GOOD-ER DOCTOR
David Shore's House follow-up had all the makings of a good medical drama in Season 1, but it never quite reached its full potential. And while the show still has some kinks to work out, its second season has shown great improvement, thanks to a retooled supporting cast, improved character arcing and some truly fascinating cases. I now look forward to scrubbing in each and every week.
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Kimberly Roots Is Thankful for...
SCULLY'S LITTLE FRIEND
Look, for more than 20 years, Dana Katherine Scully has been professionally and romantically partnered with an alien-obsessed, emotionally challenged, sunflower shell-spitting — yet somehow rather attractive — man who thinks nothing of disappearing for months (or a TV season) at a time. A woman can't live on eye rolls and non-fat Tofutti rice dreamsicles alone! Therefore, it's in no way shocking that Agent Scully sometimes engages the services of a "personal massager." But it was a pleasant surprise to have the show acknowledge that fact (and have fun with it) in a 2018 episode in which the redhead unabashedly owned her sexuality. I'd even call the hour the climax of an otherwise meh season.
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Vlada Gelman Is Thankful for...
TIMELESS CLOSURE
Do I think the cancelled NBC drama could have easily generated several more seasons worth of story? Absolutely. Am I still crushed that the show never got the time slot it deserved, and was then (again) axed? You bet. But I'm also thrilled that the network and Sony TV were able to reach a compromise in the form of a double-episode wrap-up (airing Dec. 20). It's a relief to know that the Time Team — and the devoted #Clockblockers — will at least get some resolution after that crazy Season 2 cliffhanger.
Trial & Error: Lady, Killer - Season 2
Rebecca Iannucci Is Thankful for...
NBC'S PERFECT ERROR
The future for Trial & Error looks bleak at best and nonexistent at worst — but I remain grateful for the mockumentary comedy's delightful second season. After a funny-but-imperfect Season 1, Trial & Error returned with a wonderfully wacky murder, rapid-fire jokes and a riotous performance from Kristin Chenoweth as crafty socialite Lavinia Peck-Foster. It seems likely that NBC's time in East Peck is over, but I'm glad I got to pay this very strange town a visit at all. (All together now: Mur-der board! Mur-der board!)
Veronica Mars
Vlada Gelman Is Thankful for...
A RETURN TO VERONICA MARS
As much as I enjoyed the 2014 movie, it really reinforced the idea that the cult fave is best suited to a multi-episode format where the characters and mysteries can be fully explored — and the creative team seemed to agree. But with Kristen Bell starring in The Good Place, and creator Rob Thomas overseeing iZombie for the past four years, the P.I.'s return was up in the air. So bless the stars for aligning to give us the forthcoming eight-episode Hulu revival.
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Matt Webb Mitovich Is Thankful for...
SCREENERS MADE SIMPLE
This falls under "inside baseball," folks, but I (and many peers) cannot say enough about Screeners.com. You would be flummoxed by the hoops that many online services make journos jump through just to access a screener of an upcoming episode, let alone watch it without hiccups. (A 16-character password and two-factor authentication?! Multiple watermarks, some that float around the screen?? These are TV shows, not nuclear launch codes.) But Screeners.com, utilized by Amazon, Hulu, TNT and too few others, makes that part of our jobs a breeze, by way of (ahem) "magic" versus ridic passwords.
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Andy Swift Is Thankful for...
SHADOWHUNTERS' WELL-DESERVED SENDOFF
Despite the Shadowhunters fandom's best efforts — including a social campaign that raised more than $10,000 for The Trevor Project — the supernatural Freeform drama will indeed end its three-season run in 2019. But can we focus on the silver lining here? Not only is the show getting a two-hour wrap-up event to bring the story to an appropriate conclusion, but it also cleaned up at the People's Choice Awards earlier this month, taking home four major trophies, including Show of 2018. If Shadowhunters has to leave us, at least it's going out on top.
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Andy Swift Is Thankful for...
THE SEASON OF THE WITCH
For those of us who enjoy the occasional rhyming couplet mixed in with our usual TV banter, the 2018–19 season has been a blessing. From darker fare like American Horror Story: Apocalypse and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina to lighter treats such as Charmed and Legacies, my DVR(/Netflix queue) is so buried in magical mythology, I don't even know what reality is anymore — and isn't that the whole point of television?
thankful social actors lucifer
Matt Webb Mitovich Is Thankful for...
ACTORS BEING SOCIAL
Bravo to the actors who seize the opportunity to put Insta, Twitter and whatever else the kids these days are using to put their show's best foot forward. Whether they're breaking first looks from location shoots (thus beating the long-lens paps at their own game) or sharing silly BTS moments (that, among other things, make us feel good that the Lucifer and Timeless casts got to work again), their snaps often result in content that fuels fandoms.