Best TV Shows of 2021
The New York Times
From Bo Burnham to “We Are Lady Parts,” the best in television this year offered ingenuity, humor, defiance and hope.
In times like these, I bet you’d love a list of great TV shows that will help you escape the troubles of the world. My apologies. I didn’t plan it this way, but looking over my favorites below, the subject matter includes class conflict, civil war, the threat to democracy and multiple pandemics.
And yet! Watching TV in 2021 was not at all a bummer for me. Because what I also find on this list is ingenuity, humor, defiance, empathy and hope: the things that we need, more than distraction, to get through tough times, and the things that art exists to give us.
Any 10-best TV list these days requires some caveats. Are there really 10? I may have engaged in creative math. Are they really the best? They are the best I’ve seen; nobody, not even a professional, can see everything these days. Are these all really TV shows? What isn’t these days? Most of my picks this year appeared not on TV channels (ask your grandparents what those are) but on streaming services. But however it gets to your screen, the important thing is that it gets in your eyeballs. Here, in alphabetical order, are the best things I put in mine.
The music industry pushed the group behind hits like “Manic Monday” and “Eternal Flame” hard, then pulled them apart. A new book tells their story.
Philadelphia’s loyal supporters made themselves at home, with joyous fans partying outside the Superdome and others making their way to Bourbon Street.
The first rapper to headline the N.F.L.’s biggest stage solo made his Drake diss “Not Like Us” the centerpiece of his set at the expense of a larger statement.
*Well, maybe only to me. “S.N.L.” fans all have their own idea of the show’s peak, and this is mine.
Jellyfish gowns, Old Hollywood suits, tube tops and more.
Young federal workers gathered at DC9, a Washington bar offering cheap drinks for any government employee as the deadline to take a buyout loomed.
And everything else you need to know about New York, Milan and Paris fashion weeks, including the major designer debuts and the party of the month.
The star of “The Karate Kid” discussed embracing a less heroic role in the Netflix spinoff series and what keeps him coming back to the character.
For years, Na Kim has made great books stand out. Now her paintings are catching eyes, too.
Outlandish, a hiking store and adventure group in Brooklyn, is one of several organizations on a mission to encourage Black people to spend time outdoors.
Ahead of his Super Bowl halftime show, a look at how the rapper has turned introspective rhymes into his own visual language.
As Karla Sofía Gascón’s resurfaced social media posts upend the campaign for the year’s most-nominated film, what happens now?
Once a centerpiece of daytime TV, soaps have mostly disappeared. “Beyond the Gates” will try to bring the genre back to the spotlight.