Approximately one week of telly later...

So, what did I think of The Guardian's Top 50 TV shows of 2021?

Well, it was an eclectic mix and no mistake!  Some of the shows were hard work - particularly those where I decided I had to watch all the previous seasons first (I'm looking at you, Succession).  I'm pleased I allowed myself to drop things after a couple of episodes (or sooner) if we weren't getting along - it made me feel like I'm an independent person with my own free will (and that's sometimes true in real life - when my wife allows it).

So, let's start with a best 15 from the list

#1 - It's A Sin
#3 - Mare Of Easttown
#4 - Succession
#9 - Starstruck
#14 - Ted Lasso
#16 - Wandavision
#18 - Back To Life
#25 - Only Murders In The Building
#26 - Reservation Dogs
#29 - Guilt
#31 - Unforgotten
#34 - Ghosts
#38 - Clarkson's Farm
#40 - Bo Burnham: Inside
#42 - Hellbound

Yes, 15 is an odd number but they were all really good and so very different from each other.  I'm going to particularly call out those that I watched that I'd not heard were good before - Starstruck (which is lovely!), Only Murders In The Building (a load of fun which I watched with one daughter!), Ghosts (ditto, but with the other one), Guilt (this one definitely snuck under the radar) and Hellbound (I'd never heard of this at all!).  I was also very pleased to see some comedies on the list because The Guardian does have a tendency to be very sniffy/worthy about these things.  

I'll make up for picking loads of bests by going way under on the worst list - there was really only one that I didn't see the point to and that was #10 - I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson, which was just very odd indeed.

So, what did I enjoy last year that didn't make the list?  

The old perennial favourites of Bake Off, Sewing Bee and Pottery Throwdown were joined this year by All The Glitters.  It had some teething troubles (particularly with the judges they chose) but what it lacked in slickness, it made up for in interest - I had no idea how they made any jewellery, so I was fascinated.  I do realise that all such things are unlikely to make any end of year lists (even though The Guardian LOVES Bake Off and the live commentaries they do are often quite amusing)

I thought Loki was well done - although it did get bonkers at the end.  I also enjoyed Hawkeye but whilst it was fun, it most certainly wasn't great.   And I know lots of people raved about What If? but it just felt somewhat unnecessary to me.

A couple of animated series for you - Invincible, which was reasonably simple animation but a very interesting concept with some genuine shocks; and Arcane, which didn't make too many end of year lists (probably because it only came out in November) but the animation was amazing and the plot was surprisingly convoluted and ambitious

And four more series I liked - Shadow And Bone, which just looked absolutely fantastic; Intergalactic, which didn't look so fantastic but was quite engaging; What We Do In The Shadows, which delivered as always but with some additional depth this time with the death (or is it?) of one of the main characters and Mortimer & Whitehouse:Gone Fishing, which I won't hear a bad word against!

Looking at things that other lists liked, a surprising entry in the Rotten Tomatoes top 50 was All Creatures Great And Small, which I must admit I caught some of as a nostalgic hit for the first series from the 70s.  And yeah, it was surprisingly good for a Channel 5 effort.

And finally some more names that appeared on quite a few lists but I know very little about - Dickinson, Dopesick and Hacks.  I doubt very much I'll get to see any of them unless a next season appears on the 2022 list which The Guardian is in the process of revealing.

There's no doubt that doing the TV list was a serious investment of time (a quick count up came to something slightly over a week, of which over a day was spent on Succession) but I'd like to apologise to all the ones that I didn't watch at all.  These were Pose (which I avoided because it was three seasons), Call My Agent (four) and Insecure (FIVE!).  I also wish I had had the backbone to watch Maid because it looked like a fantastically put together show but I just couldn't face the tension.

But, overall I watched more than I didn't and most of them were pretty enjoyable so I'm glad I made the effort and will be repeating the exercise for this year's list.  And it won't surprise me in the slightest if it takes me all year again.

#50 - Either I or it ran out steam towards the end
#1 - A very impressive slice of telly