I’m not afraid to declare that we are in a golden, nay, platinum age of television. The overall quality of many of today’s shows rivals any movie on the silver screen. Don’t believe me, just take off your nostalgia glasses and watch a random show from the 70s, 80s, or 90s. Don’t worry, I’ll wait. Welcome back blogger, you see what I mean now. Unless you watched the very cream of the crop (Cheers, Golden Girls, Seinfeld, Small Wonder, etc.), it was kinda painful, wasn’t it? I can remember when there was a distinct delineation between “TV stars” and “movie stars”, but thanks to streaming, that has gone the way of the TiVo. Maybe I should quit rambling and present my case; here are the top shows/limited series of 2022.

12. Reacher – More of a throwback to the simpler, fun action shows and movies of yesteryear. This series gets the most crucial piece right, it’s eponymous character. And boy did they nail the hell out of that. Alan Ritchson wears Reacher like a perfectly tailored suit. And hey, the story’s pretty good too.

11. Severance – This Charlie Kaufman-esque story slowly reveals itself like a Magic Eye picture. If you can unfocus your mind, you will eventually see a captivating and layered mystery that aligns with many of those classic big brother sci-fi tales. Watching this is like solving a Rubik’s Cube… okay fine, watching someone else solve a Rubik’s Cube.

10. The Boys: Season 3 – The Boys manages to outdo itself with its ambitious and clever plotting and visceral imagery each season. And that’s really saying something. The allegory is so sharp it almost makes your eyes bleed. And you get all this served with a side of sophomoric comic book fun.

9. Ms. Marvel – How do you celebrate an underrepresented culture in an overrepresented genre? Ms. Marvel answers that question with wit and panache. The story, action, characters, and humor are all high-grade MCU. The cherry on top is how much it pisses off the Alt-white trolls. If you can achieve that, you know you’re doing something right.

8. The Sandman – The unfilmable comic book… sorry, graphic novel not only gets filmed, but in spectacular fashion. Perfectly cast and updated from the 30-year-old tales, just asked the author, this fantasy series is an anti-woker’s worst nightmare. But to everyone else living in a modern society, we appreciate how it embraces the source material while making it apropos to our times.

7. She-Hulk – You had me at making fun of the alt-right dweebs. Anything that threatens the patriarchy with a cheeky, sublime sense of humor and a little 4th wall breaking easily makes this list. Top all that off with great acting by everyone involved, especially Tatiana Maslany, and fun easter eggs, cameos, and pop culture references, and you have a winning case. And I didn’t even mention Daredevil.

6. Only Murders in the Building – The biggest mystery is how they make Martin Short funny. Before this show, he was more like that annoying kid in the back of the class always yelling out inane things in “wacky” voices in a desperate bid for attention. Now, thanks to OMitB, he’s holding his own in a witty jousting match with the master himself, Mr. Steve Martin. The real achievement of the show is how the pairing of Martin and Short with Selena Gomez actually makes sense.

5. Andor – The least Star Wars-y story I’ve ever watched (or read), yet somehow, someway it unequivocally works. Guess there is a whole universe of ideas and genres outside of the old Skywalker saga to draw from. This is a riveting and intelligent behind the revolutionary scenes look at what it really takes to over throw a fascist regime. Reminds you that not all heroes are necessarily heroic.

4. Wednesday – Everyone told me this was amazing and for once, everyone was spot on. Christina Ricci will always be my pre-teen Wednesday, but now Jenna Ortega is the only teenage Wednesday for me. Wait, that all came out wrong. What I am trying to say is this show killed it, balancing the dark humor inherent to the Addams Family with an entertaining and intriguing mashup of Harry Potter, Twilight, and Murder She Wrote. The only weak points were Gomez and Morticia, who next to Wednesday, Uncle Fester, and Thing, were more like decent cosplayers.

3. Interview with the Vampire – If you adored the Anne Rice novel or the Neil Jordan big screen adaptation, this show honors both accordingly. The surprising thing is even if you didn’t, you can still love this version because it’s its own narrative. Bringing topics and issues that were only hinted at in the book up to the forefront makes this series outshine its source material. It’s really the template for taking an older story and making it relevant to today. A show that simply gets everything right, even the things that didn’t work in the novel/movie.

2. Obi-Wan Kenobi – Did someone say Skywalker saga? Obi-Wan manages to be a fresh, unexpected, and rewarding tale told inside of a fatigued epoch. Say whatever you want about the prequels, cause lord knows people still love to flog that dead Tauntaun, Ewan McGregor owns Obi-Wan like Sean Connery owns James Bond. But Ewan wasn’t the only one bringing his A game to this show, Moses Ingram, Vivien Lyra Blair, and yes, even Hayden Christensen all shine like a (Death) star.

1. The Rings of Power – If you’re rolling your gatekeeping eyes over any changes made to the Tolkienverse by this show, I’m going to stop you right there. Tolkien himself made more retcons to his own stories, history, and characters than the oft-criticized George Lucas. “What happened to the two blue wizards J.R.R?” Well, that all depends on when you asked the man. Not only is this show beautifully filmed and wonderfully acted, but it also tells a rich, compelling story hitherto sparsely covered. And, unlike its fantasy rival The House of the Dragon, it has characters you can like and root for.