“The Baby-Sitters Club” (Netflix)Įven for those who’ve never picked up one of Ann M.
TV offered us everything in 2020, and these shows offered the most. For each entry, we’ve also included the places where you can watch these seasons right now. Our list isn’t exhaustive, but in a time when people might just be looking for newer viewing options, these are the shows from 2020 that are worth a first (or second) look. There’s plenty to choose from in the scripted space, including faraway worlds and those as real as the noisy neighbors next door.
To keep comparisons as reasonable as possible, unscripted, reality, and documentary series were not considered here - so don’t expect to see “Tiger King” (not that you should anyway) or “City So Real” (though that would definitely be in the Top 5). (Thanks to some recent strategic brand synergy partnerships, some just happen to be both!) Some shows are from cable stalwarts, while others are new favorites in the streaming world. As usual, the noteworthy shows in this great big mess of TV happen to be a cross-section of the industry at large.
So why not focus on the best?īelow, you’ll find IndieWire’s Top 10 TV Shows of 2020, plus a handful of honorable mentions. There was still too much TV for any one person to keep up with, and there was still a wide variance in quality from show to show. Perhaps we can pretend 2020 was just another year, when TV consumption needed to be modulated. Taking both extremes into account, perhaps they balance out.
Quentin Tarantino's Favorite Movies: 35 Films the Director Wants You to See 'House of the Dragon': Everything You Need to Know About HBO's Upcoming Series 'Better Things' to End with Season 5, as Pamela Adlon Says Goodbye to Her Award-Winning Seriesīob Odenkirk Speaks Out After Heart Attack: 'I Feel the Love and It Means So Much' But TV was also a cinderblock a perilous weight dragging viewers so quickly through the water you could forget to vote, protest, or remember the world around you was drowning, too. Any show that helped you get through another socially distant day was a great series. The family room’s big screen functioned as a vital reprieve from an ocean of very real fears. In an age of isolation and social distancing, television was a lifeboat. Over the years, Amazon and Netflix have shared some data publicly, but they have been criticized for cherry-picking only the programs that perform well.Still, TV did play a more substantial role this year than many others. Streamers in the past have not been open about sharing viewership data with all their partners, considering it proprietary information. It’s uncertain whether other streaming services will follow in Netflix’s lead. Netflix also will show top 10 lists for movies and films that are geographic specific to more than 90 countries but will not show hours viewed for country-specific lists. For English-language series, the Regency era romance Bridgerton ranked first, with 625 million hours watched in its first 28 days. The most watched show on Netflix worldwide in its first 28 days was Squid Game, racking up 1.6 billion hours in viewing time and topping the non-English TV list. “People want to understand what success means in a streaming world, and these lists offer the clearest answer to that question in our industry.” “This is an important step forward for Netflix, the creators we work with and our members,” Pablo Perez De Rosso, the company’s vice president of content strategy, planning and analysis, said in a blog post. The romantic comedy Love Hard ranked second, with 58.56 million hours watched.
The top English-language film last week was the action movie Red Notice, starring Gal Gadot, with 148.7 million hours viewed.