2023 TV Shows I Watched Ranked
I’m a couple months late but I thought it would be fun to rank all NINE of the tv shows I watched in the year 2023. With all of that said, let’s get started!
10. The Flash Season 9: I was so disappointed in this final season. I was watching this show from day 1 and watched every single episode of the show, some of the multiple times. Unfortunately, I was so disappointed in this final season and I think it’s the weakest season of the show. They just fumbled the ball with the finale and everything leading up to the finale. I like how they brought back villains of past seasons like Reverse-Flash, Zoom, Savitar, Godspeed, etc. But they do nothing interesting with any of them. Allegra, this side character that was introduced in season six, shoots this energy beam at Reverse-Flash and defeats him. It took Barry Allen, The Flash himself eight seasons to defeat him. Suddenly, Cecile has super powers and defeats Godspeed like it’s nothing. Barry isn’t the star of multiple episodes of the final season. Grant Gustin has said in interviews that wasn’t his choice, that was a writer’s choice. I don’t get it, I don’t get why they fumbled the ball so badly this season. It should have been great, it should have been one of the best of the show but it wasn’t.
9. The Santa Clause Season 2: It kind of breaks my heart that the second season of The Santa Clause is ranked higher than the final season of The Flash, but this is my honest ranking. To be fair, this isn’t a good season of television, it's also not bad. It’s sort of just there for me, it’s fine. It’s watchable enough, I wasn’t offended watching the show like how I was with season nine of The Flash. It’s been three months since it ended and I don’t remember much about it. Tim Allen continues to be fun, he has the same energy that he did in the 1994 movie. There’s some interesting ideas of Tim Allen wanting to continue the legacy of Santa to his son. You can see how that’s the right direction to take this show in season two. I think the season has too many ideas it wants to do, every character has an arc. Every character has a plot line, it feels jumbled at points. You’re not really sure what the main focus of the season is. It’s not the worst thing ever and it’s FAR from the best thing ever. It’s in that mediocre middle ground.
8. Secret Invasion: One of the most disappointing projects the MCU has ever done. This should have been an easy win for the franchise but WOW it was far from that. The first two episodes teased a darker show, it doesn’t have the same tone of other MCU projects. It’s this dark political thriller starring Nick Fury, on paper that sounds awesome. Unfortunately, this movie didn’t work for me as it went along. The ideas got less and less interesting, I wasn’t sure what the point of the middle two episodes of the season were. It was just meandering around with action sequences that didn't mean anything. Then they delivered one of the weirdest and most out of nowhere finales that I’ve ever seen. It was so cartoonish, where you have Emilia Clarke’s character gain all of the ability of The Avengers. Therefore, they created the most powerful being in the universe. I couldn’t believe that this actually got greenlit, it was a bad way to end the finale. The stuff they teased with Rhodey didn’t work for me. I wanted to love this show, I wanted this show to be a top tier MCU show but it simply wasn’t.
NOTE: The bottom three on this list I would go negative on. I wouldn’t give those shows a positive review. The shows from here on out I would go positive on, I like the rest of the shows I’m going to be talking about.
7. The Mandalorian Season 3: I know a lot of people really didn’t like this season, they find it a step down from season two. I would agree it’s a step down from season two, but I don’t think it’s a bad movie. The best thing I can say about this season, it’s just fun to get more time in this world. I find the setting and these characters a lot of fun. I like several of the relationships and dynamics in the season. Of course, The Mandalorian and Grogu are an iconic duo that’s always fun to see on screen. The relationship between Mando and Bo Katan is handled very nicely. I think they make Bo Katan a much more interesting character in this season then they did in season two. Some of the episodes are a lot of fun, mainly episode five and seven. I think some of the ways the ideas are executed isn’t the best. They set up some interesting ideas and elements that the season didn’t do a good job of paying off. The season is also filled with stunt casting that’s distracting and pulls away from what’s actually going on.
6. Superman and Lois Season 3: After a weaker season with season two, I thought that season three was a nice return to form for the show. What really surprised me about this season is that it feels much more grounded and human than the past seasons. The main conflict running all through-out the season, Lois Lane has breast cancer. That ties into what the villain is doing, it feels very Superman while also being something different. I’m sure this was all budget stuff, they couldn’t do as much big Superman action as they wanted to do. We get this show’s version of Lex Luthor and I thought they handled this very well. Early one, they establish him as an evil mastermind and you really don’t like him. They end on a great cliffhanger that sets up the fourth and final season. I do think the last two episodes with Lex Luthor feel tacked on. They feel like the first two episodes of season four tacked onto the end of season three. But overall, I thought this was a really solid third season of the show.
5. What If…? Season 2: I thought this was a solid second season of the show, like season one there’s some great episodes and some weaker episodes. I felt like with this season they went a bit bolder than season one. They tried to do a few more creative ideas that largely worked for me. For a couple of them, they combined multiple different MCU movies into one episode. One episode we got a mix of The Avengers, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Black Widow. We got an Avengers episode that takes place in the 1600s. We got episodes pulling inspiration from Blade Runner and Die Hard. Each episode has a different flavor and vibe to it, each episode stands out and feels unique. I felt like this season had a few too many weaker episodes. I found it a strange idea to introduce a new mythology and character in an episode of this show. And I wish there was more of a central story running throughout the season that was leading somewhere in the finale.
4. Ahsoka Season 1: This was one of the most fun shows to watch in 2023. This show brought me so much joy as a Star Wars fan, mainly Star Wars: The Clone Wars. I grew up watching that show and of course Ahsoka is a fan favorite, so getting to see her in live action leading a tv show was great to me. They created Thrawn to be an evil mastermind, he’s a villain you want to see defeated. But you always believe that he’s one step ahead of our heroes. When they did the young Ahsoka flashbacks with Hayden Christensen coming back was really cool. As a lifetime Clone Wars fan, that brought me so much joy. I appreciated that they went for a bold ending, it goes in The Empire Strikes Back route that perfectly sets up season two. Part of the problem with the show is at points it feels more like Star Wars: Rebels season five more than a tv show starring Ahsoka. Points Ahsoka can feel on the back burner while the side characters take front and center. That’s really the only gripe I have with the show, all around a great season.
3. Only Murders in the Building Season 3: I didn’t love it as much as the first two seasons. But it still had a lot of the charm and energy of the first two seasons. Our trio of characters are a lot of fun. Naturally when you get Steve Martin and Martin Short together you get some great humor. They’re two comedy legends who always put a smile on your face. Adding Selena Gomez in there just makes the entire thing better. With the season it’s very centric in the theater and they have fun with that, it makes the season feel different. It has a different flavor to it, while keeping the flavor of seasons one and two. Adding Paul Rudd and Meryl Streep to the show provided some fun moments. I think this season has the weakest final reveal, the reveal of who the murderer is wasn’t handled the best. I like the basic idea of it, I just didn’t find it as clever as it could have been. But overall, I still really liked this season and I’m excited for season four.
2. Percy Jackson and the Olympians Season 1: I’m not a massive Percy Jackson fan, I’ve seen the movies and read the first book. I know the lore and the characters, therefore I wasn’t over the moon excited but I had a really good time with this season. I think this should be the template for adapting books, when you adapt a book into a 90 minute to 2 hour movie you can’t easily adapt the entire book. But when you have seven to eight hours to adapt a book you pretty much adapt the entire book. This movie allows you to care about the characters, the character dynamics, and the journey that Percy Jackson is on. It’s also able to flesh out and do world building for this world of Olympian gods and provide this hero’s journey character arc for Percy. Walker Scobell plays Percy and he did a great job. The first thing I saw him in was The Adam Project where he was holding his own against Ryan Reynolds. There’s some casting here that didn’t fully work for me, mainly stunt casting that pulled you out of the characters and you just saw the actor. But overall, a really solid first season and I’m excited for season two.
1. Loki Season 2: I know, I know I’m an MCU fanboy so therefore an MCU show is ranked #1 on a list like this. This is my honest opinion and I thought this was a great season. I think it only certified Loki as the best tv show that Marvel has done. I think the element about this season that helped it out, it wasn’t directed by committee. So many modern MCU projects feel like they’re written and directed by a committee of people. This season doesn’t feel like that, this feels like they had a vision for the show and they were given creative control to do it. Apparently, this is the only MCU movie or tv show that didn’t have reshoots. I think you can tell that, it feels coherent and urgent from beginning to end. The season has big emotions, they give our characters character arcs that are meaningful and have emotional payoff in the finale. They flesh out the multiverse and do some very cool stuff with that. The music is great, the visuals are great. This is all around a pretty great season. I love the note they end on.
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