The Young Folks team has come together to list the very best in entertainment and pop culture for the year 2013!
From Breaking Bad to Orange Is The New Black, there’s no doubt that 2013 gave us some of the best television in history. Click through the slideshow to see each writer’s list, and sound off in the comments with your favorite TV shows of 2013!
[tps_title]Maxwell Haddad’s Top 10 TV Shows of 2013[/tps_title]
10. Key & Peele (Season 3) – Genius sketch comedy that gets better with each season. Highlights include a parody of Les Miserables and a sketch about Continental Breakfasts that might be the best thing I’ve seen all year.
9. The Americans (Season 1) – A terrific, stylish cold war thriller and a brilliant examination of a complex marriage.
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8. Hannibal (Season 1) – Shocking and gorgeous dark imagery and brilliant characterizations of these iconic characters. This has no right to be as good as it is, but the cast and creator Bryan Fuller deliver in a big way.
7. Arrested Development (Season 4) – As an experiment in puzzle structure, this took my breath away. As comedy, it was pretty darn good too. What it lacks for in great ensemble moments of the series pasts it makes up for with sheer audacity.
6. Game of Thrones (Season 3) – Consistently great high fantasy that manages to juggle its huge ensemble beautifully. The notorious Red Wedding was one of the moments of the year.
5. Mad Men (Season 6) – Perhaps the darkest, most haunting season yet of this wonderful period drama. Don Draper’s psyche reached sickening new depths as he finally began to come to terms with his past.
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4. Justified (Season 4) – Lovely language and a strong mystery (that eschewed the traditional “big bad” structure) sang high in this fantastically badass southern fried series. Decoy may be the the most awesome episode of the year.
3. Orange is the New Black (Season 1) – I became quickly obsessed with this revelatory ensemble drama with an incredible cast of female actors that bring life and soul to their diverse and rich characters. Amazing.
2. Breaking Bad (Season 5) – What more is there to say that hasn’t already been said? An all time great show nails the landing.
1. The Good Wife (Season 5) – This always excellent, often overlooked series ramped the complex drama and interpersonal politics to extremes. A great series showing off and reinventing itself with intelligence, wit, tears, and classy artfulness.
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Honorable Mentions: Parks and Recreation, Veep, Arrow, Orphan Black, Top of the Lake. (A note: certain shows like 30 Rock and Fringe, that were terrific this year, aired only a few episodes and thus were not considered for the purposes of this list.) I’d also like to give a special shoutout to the phenomenal HBO telefilm Behind the Candelabra, which if it had been released in cinemas might be in contention for my top 10 films of the year.
[tps_title]Cristina Moreano’s Top 10 TV Shows of 2013[/tps_title]
2. Breaking Bad
3. Sleepy Hollow
4. Orphan Black
5. The Americans
6. The Blacklist
7. House of Cards
8. Orange Is The New Black
9. Arrested Development
10. Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
[tps_title]Gabrielle Bondi’s Top 10 TV Shows of 2013[/tps_title]
10. The Newsroom – This is far from a perfect show, but I can’t deny that I always wanted to tune in each Sunday night to watch it. Season 2 was an improvement over the first season with a storyline that had us on the edge of the seat. Even the people who “hate-watch” the show couldn’t help but be interested in how the drama would unfold.
9. The Blacklist – With cable TV killing it, it’s easy to forget about broadcast television. So when a show as good as The Blacklist comes along, you watch it so that networks see the kind of television that deserves to be aired.
8. Hannibal – Completely chilling and riveting, Hannibal is the best thing to happen to NBC in years. Hugh Dancy and Mads Mikkelsen are immensely underrated talents in a series that shows what they’re completely capable of.
7. Mindy Project – After an okay first season, I was debating whether or not to continue with The Mindy Project. But luckily since it’s right on after New Girl, I decided to give it another chance, which ended up being a great decision. This season was full of random cameos, the weirdest situations and the best laughs yet. It’s so weird that it’s funny. It’s so funny that it’s weird. I love where Mindy and company is taking the second season. She’s toned down the more irritating aspects of her character, and it seems like everyone is much more comfortable with their characters. The chemistry is better than the first season. I hope this show continues on, low ratings have it in trouble, so it would be disappointing to have the show cancelled right when it was hitting its full potential.
6. New Girl – New Girl is better than ever. We had THE KISS finally happen this year, and since then, everything has been hilarious and oh-so-entertaining. Most of the love seems to go out to Zooey Deschanel and Max Greenfield, but Jake Johnson and Lamorne Morris were downright at the top of the game this year. This is the best comedy on TV right now. Don’t miss out on the hilarity.
5. My Mad Fat Diary – My dear friend, Luciana, passionately recommended this show to me. Like with all of her recs, it always pays to listen. My Mad Fat Diary is a poignant, funny and nostalgic journey of one girl’s teen years. It doesn’t fancy up or dramatize the ugly parts of being an overweight adolescent, but explores all the ups and downs with an authenticity that anyone can appreciate. If you’re a fan of Oasis, this is a must-watch!
4. Orphan Black – Never would have I thought that a show like Orphan Black would capture my interest. In fact, I’m surprised I even decided to give it a try. I guess one weekend I was just feeling super generous and decided to give the show a go. I’m so happy I did! Tatiana Maslany is a revelation. Playing clones from all different walks of life, she seamlessly transitions from a soccer mom to a deranged serial killer to a geeky scientist. Half the fun is watching her, the rest is thanks to a pretty good plot, an awesome sidekick in Felix (played by Jordan Gavaris) and of course, the brooding Hot Paul (Dylan Bruce). If you aren’t watching this show yet, watch it now!
3. House of Cards – I can’t say I was surprised by how much I love House of Cards. When I found out that one of my favorite directors was producing a new show starring Kevin Spacey, I was for sure going to tune in. Spacey is brilliant as the conniving and ruthless Frank Underwood and the rest of the cast more than holds their own, fine tuning their characters as the season goes along.
2. Homeland – At the beginning of this year’s season of Homeland, I was a bit worried. The plot slowed down, the show was losing traction, where the hell was Brody? Now that it’s over, the way this season pieced itself together and led to that emotionally resonating and quite perfect ending was more than I could’ve asked for.
1. Game of Thrones – Season 3 had audiences on a tailspin. It was insane, awesome and devastating (Still reeling over the Red Wedding). This show just keeps getting better and better, and there was no doubt when creating this list that it would take my top spot for this year.
[tps_title]Allyson Johnson’s Top 10 TV Shows of 2013[/tps_title]
2. Shameless – Oh my poor underrated gem of a show. The show’s third season was better than ever showing the Gallagher’s in new positions in their lives as they wrestled with life, work, health and love in their typical anarchistic manner. They have some of the best raw talent on television with Emmy Rossum, Jeremy Allen White and William H. Macy as main examples and know how to balance humor and drama better than most. The end of season three was an emotional punch that served up a great hour of conflict and resolution and left us fans desperately wanting more. We’re in luck as the show returns January-make sure to tune in or catch up.
3. Orphan Black – So this is a show about clones, where one actress, Tatiana Maslany, plays all of them and it’s outstanding. It’s campy, it’s science fiction in all its wonder and it has one of the best actresses currently leading the show. It’s a hell of a lot of fun and sometimes that’s all that matters when it comes to TV and the want of escapism. Come for the premise, stay for the acting as the shows twists and turns in countless ways.
4. Orange is the New Black – Netflix was on a role this year with putting out quality television and none demonstrated this as much as Orange is the New Black the story of a woman sentenced to 15 months in prison after being convicted of a decade old crime and once in she runs into her old girlfriend. Taylor Schilling is getting much of the awards praise but anyone from the wonderfully diverse cast-including Kate Mulgrew, Natalie Lyonne, Uzo Aduba and Laverne Cox-is deserving of the praise.
5. Hannibal – Another show that hasn’t received anywhere near the praise it deserves it’s a chilling look at the serial killer and the man who profiles them for a living and their relationship. Mads Mikkelsen and Hugh Dancy share an incredible acting chemistry and watching Dancy’s turn as Will Graham and his progressing decay of mental stability was one of the most troubling character arcs to watch on this season of television. Bryan Fuller has an eye for making the horrific and traumatic an expression of beauty and wonder and he has never been better.
6. Brooklyn 99 – Arguably the best new show of the season, it’s quickly built a rapport with all of its actors and went above and beyond the expectations. Andy Samberg leads a hilarious cast consisting of top notch performers Stephanie Beatriz, Terry Crews, Melissa Fumero and Andrew Braugher. It’s police station comedy and the characters already seem fully realized and the show has a confidence that most new TV shows need time to develop.
7. Elementary – Shaky new start to season two aside, the end of season one was such a highlight that I’d feel wrong to leave it off my list. Jonny Lee Miller and Lucy Liu brought new personalities to the Holmes and Watson dynamic and over the year built a relationship that was worth sticking with. Miller’s Sherlock may be my favorite Sherlock yet and the character work done on the show is wonderful and now that season two has struck its stride we can only expect more great things.
8. New Girl – Like Elementary a less than stellar start to their newest season doesn’t mean that what they’ve done in the past year should be looked over. The end of the fantastic season two had Jess and Nick getting together (Jake Johnson and Zooey Deschanel have fantastic chemistry) and ended as one the year’s best seasons. The group has some of the best chemistry and it isn’t hard to believe they’re friendship and odd codependence.
9. Family Tree – I wish more people had watched this show-it was sweet, improv oriented and hosted by a wonderful leading performance in Chris O’Dowd (who I swear is an actor who will spend his career making interesting decisions). It was a sentimental and honest look at family which had its absurdities as well as its tender moments. It’s one of the best examples of “feel good” TV.
10. My Mad Fat Diary – This show came out of nowhere for me. This show tells the story of Rae who has just left a psychiatric hospital where she had spent four months in after attempting suicide. The realistic take on mental and body issues and the friendship that builds our youth is what makes this show so special-along with a breakout performance by actress Sharon Rooney.
[tps_title]Michaela Nardo’s Top 10 TV Shows of 2013[/tps_title]
1. The Office (Season 9) – Sniff sniff. Still cry when I think about that perfect ending.
2. Breaking Bad (Season 5) – Still haven’t watched any of it, but the hype is real and I believe its ending was probably as good as The Office’s. (Just different. Very different from The Office…)
3. SNL (Season 39) – I have a thing for SNL and I believe this season has been the best since a couple of years ago. Fresh faces and a lot of new skits made for a very great season! (Plus the Jimmy Fallon/ Justin Timberlake Christmas Episode was everything I could have asked for and more.)
4. The Blacklist (Season 1) – The hype is as real as the cliffhangers and action-packed drama.
5. Downton Abbey (Season 3) – Seriously threw the fans for a loop there; this talked-about TV series showed it could add some harsh reality in to the fancy balls and jewels, and boy did it make me feel a lot of tears down my cheeks.
6. Game of Thrones (Season 3) – The Red Wedding. That is all.
7. Community (Season 4) – This show is perfect. If you haven’t started watching it, there is still time to catch up before Season 5’s premiere on January 2nd. A perfect blend of pop-culture wit and laugh-out-loud humor Community never stops being amazing.
8. House of Cards (Season 1) – Netflix hit it out of the park with this political masterpiece.
9. Parenthood (Season 4) – Another show that never fails to disappoint, Parenthood is always emotionally charged and poignant. Nominated for Monica Potter’s outstanding performance, Parenthood is up for a Golden Globe.
10. Arrested Development (Season 4) – After a long, long wait of 7 years, it’s back!
[tps_title]Jon Espino’s Top 10 TV Shows of 2013[/tps_title]
- Mad Men (season 6)
- House of Cards (season 1)
- Game Of Thrones (season 3)
- Arrested Development (season 4)
- Masters of Sex (season 1)
- Hannibal (season 1)
- Orange is the New Black (season 1)
- The Americans (season 1)
- Broadchurch (season 1)
[tps_title]Luciana Villalba’s Top TV Shows of 2013[/tps_title]
2. Orange is The New Black
3. Sleepy Hollow
4. Misfits series finale
5. My Mad Fat Diary
6. House of Cards
Which shows were your favorites of the year?
Share in the comment section.
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