There has been a lot of great new television in 2024, and whilst there is still a ton of it that I want to watch as I've been catching up on some older shows rather than watching new ones, there are a few shows that have absolutely delighted me this year.
Fallout
Video games have been adapted into film for decades now, and most of them have been done pretty poorly. With a lot of games requiring dozens, perhaps even hundreds of hours from the players condensing it down into less than two hours seems like a big task. Television, on the other hand, has allowed these adaptations to thrive and reach many more audiences, and Amazon Prime's Fallout is the latest addition to the ever growing catalogue.
Set within the Fallout game universe and telling it's own story rather than adapting an existing one, the Fallout series follows a trio of protagonists as they try to survive in the post nuclear wasteland of the United States. Ella Purnell takes centre stage as Lucy, a young woman who has grown up in the relative comfort and safety of a vault, a vast underground facility designed to survive the end of the world. When raiders break into the vault and kidnap her father, played by Kyle MacLaughlan, Lucy set out into the dangerous wasteland to save him. Her journey brings her into contact with Maximus (Aaron Moten), a member of the religious warrior The Brotherhood of Steel, and The Ghoul (Walton Goggins), a mutated human from before the nuclear apocalypse hundreds of years ago.
Fallout manages to capture much of the weirdness and horror of the game series, translating some of the more outlandish concepts in a way that's easy to access for those unfamiliar with the source material. Having played a number of the games, I enjoyed what they were able to do and how much they incorporated whilst forging their own narrative. And the people I watched it with who had never played the game were just as engrossed, proving to me that the show works for multiple audiences. With the second season on the horizon, and a wonderful tease for game fans in the final moments, now's a perfect time to catch up if you missed out.
What We Do in the Shadows
What We Do in the Shadows has been a wonderful franchise that I've absolutely adored since the film first came out. Whilst the spin-off Wellington Paranormal (which featured characters from the film) failed to garner much attention, What We Do in the Shadows became a huge success, capturing the hearts of viewers the world over. Reusing the concept of the movie, a documentary crew following a group of vampire housemates, the series came to a close this year with its sixth season.
With former familiar Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) having been cured of being a vampire the household enters some big changes this year. Guillermo, who has moved out from under the stairs to the garden shed, decides to enter the business world; a move that has been copied by Nandor (Kayvan Novak) and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) as they both join him at Canon Capital. Meanwhile, Laszlo (Matt Berry) and Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch) set out to create life as they build their own monster out of body parts.
Guillermo's quest to become a vampire has been a core part of the series since the very beginning, and with the previous season putting that plotline to bed many fans have been asking where the latest season might go instead. It seems that with the knowledge that this would be the final season the showrunners have spent the final episodes building towards a satisfying conclusion. Whilst there are several subplots, including a formerly forgotten fifth housemate returning, and the ghost of Laszlo's father appearing, much of the season is built towards making a send-off for these characters. The final episode makes it clear that these characters have had weird and wonderful adventures in the past, and just because the cameras stop rolling it doesn't mean they'll be moving on. With a surprisingly bittersweet final season What We Do in the Shadows ends on a high note, and remains one of my favourite sitcoms.
Star Trek: Lower Decks
Another series that has sadly come to a close this year is Star Trek: Lower Decks. The second animated Star Trek series, Lower Decks has secured it's place as the most popular of these as it charts the weird and often disastrous missions of the USS Cerritos, one of Starfleet's least important ships. Instead of focusing on the command crew, however, we follow some of the lowest ranked officers.
The first episode sets the stage for this year's season arc, with the Cerritos being sucked through an interdimensional fissure into an alternate reality, where they meet a version of the Cerritos commanded by Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome). Despite the Cerritos managing to return to the Prime universe there are unforeseen results, as fissures in reality spread throughout the galaxy. Now the Cerritos must try to find a solution to the problem, as well as the lower deck crew adjusting to their recent promotions.
The final season of Lower Decks follows a similar structure to previous years, with the season arc working away in the background amidst the adventure of the week format that allows the writers to do some weird and wacky things (sentient cubes vs sentient spheres, escaped nanites on a resort planet, and a visit to the fabled Starbase 80 amongst others). These adventures also allow each of the main cast the opportunity to figure out what their new role is since their promotion, to help other junior officers, and to begin their journey into more mature officers. With four seasons of our leads fighting against the responsibility that a promotion brings seeing them grow this way is a fitting final arc for them, and whilst it might be sad that the show has come to a close the journey to the end is an utter delight.
Agatha All Along
Despite being a big comics fan the recent MCU output has been somewhat less than stellar for me. Deadpool & Wolverine was enjoyable but kind of middling, the final two seasons of What If? felt very lacklustre, and I haven't even gotten around to doing Echo yet. I needed something to reinvigorate the franchise for me, and I was shocked to find out it was Agatha All Along. Released in the build-up to Halloween, featuring a cast with a mainly older female majority, and embracing the silly, I was sucked into the show by the end of the first episode.
Picking up a few years after the events of WandaVision, the show returns to Westview, where the evil witch Agatha (Kathryn Hahn) has been trapped inside a spell that makes her think she's in a detective show. When the spell is broken, however, Agatha finds herself in need of power in order to combat a coven of witches out to kill her. Assembling her own coven of misfits and outcasts, and accompanied by a mysterious teen who's identity has been hidden by magic, Agatha sets off to walk the Witch's Road, a magical trial that will give whoever survives it anything they desire.
One of the things that makes Agatha All Along a stand out in the MCU for me is that it feels like it's just having fun. Much like Werewolf by Night, the series doesn't seem to be here to set up anything big, it doesn't tie into an upcoming movie, and instead is just giving audiences something a bit different. Embracing horror and the fantastical, the series has a visual style all its own, and the relentless humour and snappy writing hide a story with much more depth that you first suspect. The series will absolutely change your view on Agatha by the end, and the seventh episode might be one of the best made episodes of TV that Marvel has ever made, with an astonishing non-linear presentation that absolutely demands a second viewing.
Frasier
I absolutely adore Frasier. The original series is my favourite sitcom of all time, one that I can watch over and over without losing any of the love or excitement I feel for it. Because of this I was somewhat nervous of the continuation of the show decades later, especially with Kelsey Grammer being the only returning cast member. I didn't know how it was going to work, I was afraid that it might tarnish my love for the character, but thankfully by the end of the very first episode these fears were put to bed, and as the series progressed I came to love the new cast of characters. So, having a second season (thirteenth?) was an absolute delight.
The second season of Frasier continues to chart the titular character's life after his move to Boston where he's taken up teaching at Harvard. His role as a teacher takes something of a backseat this season, as we instead follow more of his off campus adventures with his son Freddy (Jack Cutmore-Scott), and his various friends. This season spent time expanding the supporting cast, sometimes relegating Frasier to a secondary role in the episode as the others were given a chance to take the spotlight. However, it never felt like the lead was being side-lined, and the this more ensemble approach gave the series room to breathe and expand in much needed ways.
The second season also introduced some more serious stories, particularly with Alan (Nicholas Lyndhurst) and his family issues, that made a number of the episodes feel wonderfully poignant. My biggest issue with the last season, the character of David (Anders Keith) was also addressed by making him much less weird, and whilst he was still a very strange young man he was much more realistic this season and didn't detract as much. And of course, this season also included a number of returning characters from the previous iteration of the show, including one who became a regular cast member, so long time fans will find a lot to be delighted with too. With the show seeming to be going from strength to strength I can only hope it continues.
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
The first season of The Rings of Power was massively divisive, with people either loving it or hating it. And whilst I won't claim that everyone who disliked it was dishonest about the reasons why we're all aware that the show was subject to a huge amount of hate for all the wrong reasons, with people complaining about female characters, and people of colour being in the show. Despite the hate bombing and manufactured negativity I really enjoyed the series, and the second season only continued to impress.
With the three elven rings having been forged, and Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) aware that Halbrand (Charlie Vickers) is in fact the evil Sauron, the fight for Middle-Earth begins in earnest this season. Returning to the elven city or Eregion in secret, Sauron convinces the elven smith Celebrimbor to fashion more magic rings, starting with seven for the dwarves. Meanwhile, political tensions boil over on the distant island of Númenor puts a number of characters in danger as dark forces conspire against the queen regent. And in the land of Rhûn, The Stranger (Daniel Weyman) and Nori (Markella Kavenagh) search for answers as to where The Stranger comes from, and come to the attention of a Dark Wizard (Ciarán Hinds).
As with the first season, there's a lot that happens in The Rings of Power, with multiple stories being told at the same time. But the show never feels too bloated nor confusing, and if anything I came away from each episode wanting more. Thanks to a lot of groundwork being laid in the first season we're able to delve into more interesting things with the second season, exploring some of the darker parts of Middle-Earth, and featuring some characters and creatures that will wow fans. Barrow Wights, Entwives, and Tom Bombadil (Rory Kinnear) all make appearances this season, as well as a host of other amazing creatures. With an episode that's entirely dedicated to a city under siege from an orc army, there's action aplenty, and I think most fans of the source material will find something here to love.
Bob's Burgers
Entering it's fifteenth season, the animated Bob's Burgers is one of my favourite sitcoms thanks to it's weird and wonderful central cast of characters. Whilst the show does do some outlandish things, it's not a series that relies on the impossible, and remains grounded in a lot of ways. Despite only being part way through airing the series at the point that I'm writing this I can say that it easily fits into my top ten because it does almost every year.
This season has featured a deadly cheese throwing contest, an open mic night at the restaurant, Bob (H. Jon Benjamin) trying to hold onto his past by saving an ageing drive-in, and a rather touching episode where Tina (Dan Mintz) and Louise (Kristen Schaal) end up at each other's throats over their toys. The series might not be to everyone's tastes, and there's absolutely no way I'd want to be stuck in a room with the Belchers for a long period of time, but watching their adventures is always a lot of fun. The fact that this season also recast the character of Marshmallow, was also a huge improvement to the series, replacing David Herman, a white cis man, with Jari Jones, a Black trans woman. Marshmallow has now gone from what felt like an uncomfortable caricature of a trans woman into a character that feels more honest, and the episode featuring her this season had some beautiful moments that showcased this.
Star Wars: The Acolyte
Oh boy did this show have an uphill battle. Not only was it bringing to the screen an era of the Star Wars mythos that most people were unfamiliar with, but the toxicity of a certain area of the 'community' who seem to only exist to rage bait and take part in a 'culture war' to line their own pockets meant that a series with a mostly BIPOC cast, and a non-binary lead was always going to come under fire. This is the same group of fans who has relentlessly attacked people like Daisy Ridley, Kelly Marie Tran, Moses Ingram, and others simply for daring to not be white men in the Star Wars universe. The review bombing of The Acolyte before it even aired, the hours of YouTube complaining about single lines of dialogue, and the harassment of stars showcased how truly dark and twisted the Star Wars fandom has become, and led me to distance myself from it whenever possible.
Star Wars: The Acolyte takes viewers back hundreds of years before the events of the prequel trilogy, to a time where the Jedi were at their peak, to investigate a series of murders targeting Jedi Knights. Sol (Lee Jung-jae) is sent to investigate the matter when it appears that a former apprentice of his, Osha (Amandla Stenberg) may be responsible. As the investigation goes on, the Jedi begin to uncover a dark conspiracy that leads back to an enemy thought long destroyed.
The Acolyte is, despite the hate, a great show. It's not perfect by any means, but the good in the series far outweighs the bad. The show brings a part of the Star Wars universe so far only seen in comics and books to live action, giving new audiences the chance to discover The High Republic. It also features some great new characters, an exploration of the Force that adds to the mythology, and features some of the best lightsaber fights that have ever been put on screen. With pieces of the story left unfinished, some big teases of important character, and ties to important events left hanging it's a shame that the amount of hate from a minority of shitty people has led to The Acolyte being unfinished.
Interview with the Vampire
I was late to watching Interview with the Vampire and only discovered the series when I was offered the chance to review the second season's Blu-ray release. Knowing I liked the movie, I caught up with the first season (binging the thing in three days) and dove into the second season, desperate to find out what happened next. This is a series that I was hooked on before the first episode came to a close, and it quickly became one of my favourite shows of the entire year.
Adapting the book by Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire makes some big changes to the original narrative in order to create an adaptation that works for television. One of the biggest changes is to the central character, Louis (Jacob Anderson), who is now a Black man from the turn of the 20th century. A businessman in New Orleans, he falls in love with the vampire Lestat (Sam Reid) and is turned into a vampire himself. The second season sees Louis and his vampire daughter Claudia (Delainey Hayles) fleeing to Europe after their murder of Lestat. Travelling across war torn Europe, they search for signs of other vampires, eventually coming to Paris after the war ends. Here, they discover a coven of vampires running a theatre; an event that will change their lives forever.
Much like the first season, the second is incredibly well written, adapting the source material brilliantly. The change to the time in which the story is set feels incredibly natural, and suits a lot of the themes that the series is addressing, and it ends up working well with the characters own arc. There are a number of new characters added to the show this season too, and so many of them shine so well on the screen that you can't help but want more of them, even if some of them are characters you hate. Even the change in casting to Claudia, something I was slightly nervous of, is quickly forgotten, as Hayles makes the role her own and has you loving her performance by the end of the first episode. If you've been sitting on watching Interview with the Vampire you've done yourself a disservice, and you definitely need to catch up before the third season hits.
X-Men '97
The 90's X-Men animated series is one of those shows that I think was better in my memory than it actually was. I recently rewatched the entire thing with my partners, partly to get ready for the new series, and whilst there were some great stories there was also a lot to the old show that wasn't as great. The revival, however, manages to take what was good about the original and dialled it up to eleven, delivering an incredibly strong season, and one episode in particular which has become the gold standard for every other X-Men adaptation to beat.
Picking up where the original show ended, Charles Xavier (Ross Marquand) has gone into space to receive medical treatment, but may not survive. As such, those left behind are reacting as if the Professor has died, which includes listening to his last will and testament, which gives everything he owns to Magento (Matthew Waterson). With the former villain in charge of the X-Men, he begins a road to redemption, trying to earn his place amongst them. However, things are threatened by a number of problems, including a clone of Jean Grey (Jennifer Hale), the depowering of Storm (Alison Sealy-Smith), and a disaster that will change the world forever.
X-Men '97 isn't a long season, but it manages to pack a lot into its episodes, adapting some well known stories, such as the trial of Magneto, the Inferno event, E is for Extinction, Lifedeath, and Operation Zero Tollerance amongst others. The series managed to balance these stories well, and was able to weave them into the series long narrative quite naturally. The new series also brought back characters like Bishop (Isaac Robinson-Smith), Nightcrawler (Adrian Hough), and Morph (J. P. Karliak) on the team, and introduced new character Sunspot (Gui Agustini). The standout for the series, however, is the episode 'Remember It'. This is episode I consider the best X-Men adaptation outside of comics, it's the episode that made this a series that I adore, and it's one that has caused the biggest reaction in viewers. Watch it for yourself, and tell me this show isn't worth being in your top ten.
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