Meanwhile, detective Jun-ho continues to search for his lost brother in the show that popularised South Korean television globally and that Netflix says is its top non-English-language series of all time. Golf has been the source of some goofy, wildly popular films, with Bill Murray in Caddyshack, and Adam Sandler in Happy Gilmore and next month's Happy Gilmore 2. But Owen Wilson veers toward the sincere, feel-good route in this comic series, as a one-time professional golfer nicknamed Stick, who has since been divorced by his wife and lost his job at a sporting goods store.

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Even amidst the dawn of streaming, CBS’ NCIS managed to prove that some people do prefer to watch their scripted series the traditional way. The crime procedural — which is 20 seasons in, so far — reached a 13.5 average. While the race for this year’s winner was close, there is no other choice for the top slot than the impeccable, intricate and intriguing Shōgun. The show — which was originally meant to be a limited series but has since been renewed for Season 2 at FX and Hulu — is immediately gripping in its first episode, demanding the attention of the audience in ways few shows know how to do these days.

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Like many, I’ve tried to grapple with the dearth of movie stars plaguing the current cinematic climate. It’s worrying how few great actors have the incandescent charm to match their good looks and soaring talent (though, I’d argue that some don’t even have the talent). Worst yet, it’s perplexing to see a system unable to nurture the kind of security needed for star personas to emerge. Director Ethan Hawke’s six-part HBO docuseries “The Last Movie Stars” didn’t necessarily take aim at the inadequacies of contemporary Hollywood to produce motion picture idols. Someone, please tell HBO to give Olivier Assayas and Alicia Vikander more money to make another TV series together. It is genuinely extraordinary that a director can reach into his own past, and his own film, and craft a new, engaging set of stories about the same subject.

While Prime Video's A League of Their Own breaks out with inclusion of queer characters and actual roles for characters of color (some from column A are also in column B), this series isn't just worthy of your binge-watch due to its diversity. Jemaine Clement and Paul Simm’s adaptation of the Taika Waititi-directed mockumentary classic shows no signs of slowing down, even in its fourth season. The humdrum mundanity of everyday life, even as a vampire, remains an endless source of laughs, “Shadows” still running afoul of that dreaded fear of long-running shows retreading familiar territory. Turning Colin Robinson into a precocious, uncanny dork-child, Mark Proksch’s head disturbingly CGed onto a child actor’s body, is one of 2022’s oddest images; that it dovetails into a story of Matt Berry’s Laszlo learning how to be a father makes it all the better.

Location tours, themed escape rooms, and babies called Arya continue to this day. If there were any doubt Stranger Things could still be relevant in 2022, let Kate Bush’s overnight ascension to the top of the Billboard charts and legions of Metallica converts put them to rest. The fourth season of Netflix’s biggest original series straight-up owned summer streaming as it told yet another enthralling chapter in the saga of the Hawkins gang, now growing from middle school weirdos to high school outcasts. Between dueling fantasy prequels in House of the Dragon and The Rings of Power, the arrival of Andor, and yet another Marvel streaming series (remember She-Hulk?), there was enough genre TV to keep even the most scathing fans happy and satisfied. For critics like us, it was exhausting enough just trying to keep track of all those Targaryens.

Critics pointed to the prime of shows like “The Sopranos,” “Breaking Bad,” “The Wire,” and “Mad Men” as the apotheosis of the form, and we’re pretty clearly not in that kind of a creative boom, but you know what? We also pretty clearly haven’t fallen too far anime quiz from the top of the mountain. A lot of art forms counter creative bursts with deep valleys of the opposite, but just the diversity and breadth of the list below reveals that hasn’t happened. It feels like the explosion of the streamers over the last couple of years created something of a creative holding pattern, but the greats are still delivering as we also get introduced to new voices.

Meanwhile, streaming juggernauts such as HBO's "Euphoria" and Netflix's "Stranger Things" returned after long, pandemic-induced hiatuses, plunging their characters into the life-or-death perils of high school once more. Taron Egerton and crime writer Dennis Lehane, who together had a success with the Apple series Black Bird, team up again for this drama about the search for not one but two serial arsonists in the Pacific Northwest. Egerton plays the fictional arson investigator Dave Gudsen, who reluctantly partners with police detective Michelle Calderone, played by Jurnee Smollett. Rafe Spall, Anna Chlumsky, Greg Kinnear and John Leguizamo are also in the cast.

But this form of the archetype was considerably more thoughtful than a “Taken” movie, or less driven by pure star power as with Tom Cruise’s two “Jack Reacher” projects. Vikander did some of the best work of her career as Mira Harberg, a Swedish actress popular in Hollywood superhero films, who has taken the role of Irma Vep to escape the explosive end of an unhappy relationship. Everything about “Irma Vep” was exquisite, including and especially Jürgen Doering’s costume design. Mira became unmissable and fearless when in Irma Vep’s infamous black velvet catsuit, form-fitting but flexible enough for some trippy stunts.

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For Greg (Jon Gries), now married to Tanya (Jennifer Coolidge), sex and life with his fourth wife is an annoying chore. Rounding out the cast are Michael Imperioli, F. Murray Abraham, and Adam DiMarco, playing three generations of Di Grasso men who are dealing with, respectively, sex addiction, longing for sex, and wanting to avoid the callous sexual habits of Dad and Nonno. But Sterlin Harjo’s “Reservation Dogs” does so brilliantly, combining loss with bathroom humor and making it look easy. Part of that is the show’s unique perspective—set in Oklahoma with an all-Native cast and writing team, “Reservation Dogs” brings a perspective rarely seen on screen. And it’s not precious about its Indigeneity, simultaneously skewering white ideas of Native culture and Indigenous ideas about it too. In a year when Ryan Murphy’s “Dahmer” caused some viewers to question the integrity and morality—and artistic right—to sift through tragedy for mass entertainment, award-winning documentary filmmaker Nanfu Wang took a different tact.

Andy Meek is a reporter based in Memphis who has covered media, entertainment, and culture for over 20 years. His work has appeared in outlets including The Guardian, Forbes, and The Financial Times, and he’s written for BGR since 2015. Andy's coverage includes technology and entertainment, and he has a particular interest in all things streaming.

"The talking teddy bear show? Yeah. I don't know what to tell you, but it's really funny, weirdly progressive for a Seth MacFarlane show, and unexpectedly touching," Dustin Rowles wrote for Pajiba. Although it didn't earn rave reviews across the board, many critics said they enjoyed the series more than they expected to. "It's an intriguing set-up, but 'The Veil' is hobbled by poor pacing, a lack of originality, and a particularly bemusing performance by the otherwise very arresting Moss," Rohan Naahar wrote for The Indian Express. Many critics were bored by what was advertised as an exciting, dramatic thriller.

This was a few months into the pandemic, when it was unclear how soon television would be able to go back into production, if at all, and how much material the networks and streamers had stockpiled pre-quarantine. If the answer to either of those questions was bad, we assumed the last three or four months of the year would be bereft of interesting programming. One of the best shows you’re probably not watching blasts off for another heart-pounding season of space thrills and Earth-bound intrigue. The alternate timeline, set off by the Soviets beating the Americans to the moon, leaps to 1995 when NASA is determined to win the race to Mars.