Did your favourite TV show make our top 10? Photos / Supplied
2019 has seen some of the best content on television hit our screens, including the highly-anticipated ending of HBO juggernaut Game of Thrones and surprise breakout historical drama Chernobyl.
In our mid-year report, the TimeOut Entertainment team reviews the best TV so far in 2019 - does your favourite make our list?
1. FLEABAG S2
(Amazon Prime Video)
In Fleabag's first season, creator/star Phoebe Waller-Bridge's communication with the audience was a hilarious entry point into one woman's self-destructive tendencies. In this extraordinary second season – somehow even better than the first, and perhaps one of the greatest seasons of TV ever – Waller-Bridge pulls that fourth-wall-breaking style in a riveting new direction, using it to analyse themes of loneliness, faith and dependency. Though still brilliantly comedic, Fleabag's second season plumbed some harrowing emotional depths, lead by powerful performances from Waller-Bridge, Sian Clifford as Claire, and Andrew Scott as the Hot Priest. Laugh, yell and weep - then rewatch it all again.
- George Fenwick
2. CHERNOBYL
(Neon)
You must have been living under a radioactive soaked chunk of graphite if you haven't at least heard of this horrifically brilliant show. Written by Craig Mazin and directed by Johan Renck, the historical five-part HBO series superbly depicts the catastrophic events and fallout of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. In a year when so many shows seem so bleak, Chernobyl wins by nailing almost every detail about the grey state of the socialist Soviet Union era and its people. The obvious exception, its critics cry, is the fact the superb cast speaks English rather than the native tongue, but just how damn real do you need misery to be?
- David Skipwith
3. VEEP S7
(Neon)
Veep's comedy is so dark and so relentlessly paced that you need a torch and a quick ear just to catch half of it. It's not uncommon to miss a handful of the show's gold standard one-liners because you're still laughing at some outrageous quip, filthy aside, foul-mouthed rant or punishing putdown from a minute ago. This final season also came armed with devastating pathos as the self-centred Selina Myer launched one last desperate attempt to become President. The ensemble cast was a joy to watch but really, this season was all about star Julia Louis Dreyfus, who delivered an almighty performance that sees her take her place as one of comedy's true greats.
- Karl Puschmann
4. RUSSIAN DOLL
(Netflix)
Live, die, repeat; we've seen this concept before. But Russian Doll told an entirely new story through Nadia (Natasha Lyonne, a powerhouse), a New York woman who keeps dying and returning to her 36th birthday party. Things change when Nadia meets Alan (Charlie Bennett), who's stuck in the same loop; suddenly, Russian Doll turns into a surreal drama about two souls trapped in a paradox of their own buried trauma. As well as imparting lessons about family, grief and forgiveness, Russian Doll painted a beautiful portrait of two lonely people finding something worth living for – each other – and fighting to keep that connection alive.
- George Fenwick
5. EDUCATORS
(TVNZ OnDemand)
We can imagine this would have made TV executives nervous on paper: no scripts, just an entirely improvised show about a rag-tag bunch of morally questionable teachers and their unlucky students. But owing to this golden assortment of comedic talents – Jackie Van Beek, Kura Forrester and Johnny Brugh, to name a few – Educators turned out to be one of New Zealand's best new comedy shows in recent years. Director Jessie Griffin absolutely nailed the show's wonderfully awkward tone, and the various hijinks of these painfully terrible teachers and their equally mouthy students were brought to life with impeccable comedic timing.
- George Fenwick
6. KILLING EVE S2
(TVNZ OnDemand)
It's rare that a second season can live up to its first so well but Killing Eve managed to pull it off. Season two finally gave fans what we all wanted, giving up the cat and mouse game and letting Villainelle (Jodie Comer) and Eve (Sandra Oh) share the screen and explore their electrifying chemistry. While we're not entirely sold on that ending (no spoilers) it was a pleasure to see Villanelle coax Eve to walk on the dark side, and a joy to see such powerhouses on screen together.
- Siena Yates
7. WHEN THEY SEE US
(Netflix)
Netflix's new true-crime drama, by acclaimed director Ava DuVernay (13th), takes on the infamous Central Park Jogger case of 1989, only for the first time ever the story is told from the viewpoint of the Central Park Five, who served varied sentences in various institutions - including one particularly brutal stint in Rikers Island - before being exonerated in 2002 when the actual attacker confessed. This isn't a story about a case gone wrong, it's a story about institutionalised racism, a failed justice system and the effects of incarceration not only on the Five, but their families and communities.
- Siena Yates
8. BARRY S2
(Neon)
Barry got surprisingly deep and satisfyingly weird in its second season. Best of all it did so without losing the lols. As the noose tightened around Barry, a hitman trying to leave that life behind and become an actor, the series mused on questions of identity, the effects of PTSD on war veterans and asked if people do truly possess the power to change. Lest things get too heavy it also allowed time for bizarre tangents, like dedicating a whole episode to a violently bungled hit on a joint toking martial arts master. The show's incredibly funny, razor-sharp and wildly unpredictable and you should be watching it.
- Karl Puschmann
9. LEAVING NEVERLAND
((TVNZ OnDemand)
This two-part mini-series wasn't particularly entertaining or fun to watch, but it was certainly gripping and the talk of every watercooler in the world when it finally dropped. The documentary series features Wade Robson and James Safechuck and their families as they detail the alleged abuse inflicted on them by popstar Michael Jackson in graphic and often heartbreaking detail. Not only that, but the second part delves deep into the effects of abuse on mental health and development in a beautifully poignant way.
- Siena Yates
10. GAME OF THRONES S8
(Neon)
The final season of Game of Thrones was an undeniable 'Television Event'. Quite possibly, the last show the world will watch together before we all splinter off into our own little streaming silos. It's fair to say that GoT's concluding season had its share of ups and downs but we still couldn't wait to tune in each week to see what was going to happen, before robustly discussing what had just happened and then hypothesising about what we thought might happen next. The series dominated the cultural conversation like no other to become something much, much bigger than just a TV show.
- Karl Puschmann
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