Joey Moser’s Top 10 TV Shows of 2022

I guess, I don’t want no drama?

I didn’t mean to only include lighthearted shows on my top ten list this year, but here we are. There are some key drama series and limited series that I need to finish (Interview with the Vampire, Five Days at Memorial, Bad Sisters, among others), but, apparently, I wanted to keep it funny this year? I’ve never given into any Marvel series (I really dug Moon Knight), and I am the only person alive who hasn’t watched any form of Game of Thrones. Maybe 2023 will change all that?

Honorable Mentions

• I Love That For You for making home shopping sexy and giving us an ensemble to obsess over
• Weird: The Al Yankovic Story for giving us another inspired, go-for-broke performance from Daniel Radcliffe
• The Gilded Age for making crossing the street as thrilling as any action sequence
• Angelyne for breathing big-bosomed life back into a legend–Emmy Rossum is fantastic
• Severance for making me thank my lucky stars that I no longer work in an office–what a killer finale
• Under the Banner of Heaven for being one of the richest ensembles I have ever seen in any drama series
• Shining Vale for blending dark comedy and horror so well
• Minx for knowing how to balance what matters…
• Black Bird for giving us strength in Taron Egerton and terror in Paul Walter Hauser, and for giving us brevity
• Only Murders in the Building for expanding its world when it could’ve stayed small…can’t wait for season 3
• Welcome to Chippendales for Kumail, Juliette, Annaleigh, and, of course, Murray
• The Bear for giving me anxiety at every restaurant
• Pachinko for its humanity, history, and heartbreak
• Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known for reminding us that we should re-evaluate art as much as we need

Here’s my full list. I can’t for someone to comment and say that it’s terrible–a yearly tradition!

10. Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror (Shudder) / The Book of Queer (Discovery+)
Including both of these docuseries in the same slot is not meant to be reductive but complimentary. Eric Cervini’s Book and Brian Fuller’s Fear are documentary series that want you to keep queer history in the forefront of your mind, because we must learn from our pasts. There will always be those who try to deny us our history and insinuate that we are here as a trend or a fad, and both docs debunk that time and time again. And, most importantly, they have a blast doing it whether we are talking about Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca, Bayard Rustin, Dracula’s never ending, undead thirst, or Sylvia Rivera.

9. Ziwe (Showtime)
From asking Chet Hanks what his favorite letters are (C, apparently, takes precedence over the other 25) or asking Katya is removing the high heels from the green M&M helped queer visibility, the host extraordinaire went in on season two of her Showtime variety series. As an interviewer, Ziwe isn’t afraid to ask questions about politics, race, sexuality or pop culture, and, sure, those conversations might make people uncomfortable. But they are conversations that we need to have. I cannot wait to see who Ziwe invites into her pink chambers in season three. Go off.

8. Fleishman Is In Trouble (FX)
No, we probably don’t need another show about rich white people problems, but the adaptation of Taffy Brodesser-Akner novel asks you to be one one person’s side and then flips the script by the season’s end. Jesse Eisenberg’s Toby Fleishman is trying to understand how he allowed his marriage to Rachel (Claire Danes) crumble before his very eyes. We have seen countless television marriages deteriorate over the years, but Brodesser-Akner’s writing is some of the richest of the year (yes, I bought the novel after viewing the first few episodes). Claire Danes delivers one of her strongest performances on a resume packed with highlights.

7. Loot (Apple TV)
All hail, Maya Rudolph! The Emmy winner can do no wrong in my eyes, but how dare this be her first solo starring vehicle! As a wife of a Bezosian figure, Rudolph’s Molly Novak inherits billions when her husband cheats on her, and she wants to get involved in the charities and organizations that she forgot she founded. Loot could have been a standard comedy about an out-of-touch figure, but the show really soars with Rudolph interacts with Michaela Jaé Rodriguez’s Sofia, the overworked and underappreciated charity director. Add in Joel Kim Booster, Ron Funches, and Nat Faxon and you have a team of comedy aces with a touching themes of connection and family.

6. RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars (VH1)
Roll your eyes all you want, bitches! If you are even only remotely a fan of the mega-successful franchise, All Stars 7 changed the game, because they allowed all of the contestants to stay instead of eliminating a queen every week. With queens like Monet X Change, Yvie Oddly, Raja, and The Vivienne allowed to show their chops in every challenge, the competition turned from cutthroat to admirable. Jinkx Monsoon has been my favorite queen since season five, so seeing her take a second title meant that AS7 was a well-earn victory lap. Her Judy Garland impression is legendary. “Is that my camera?”

5. The White Lotus (HBO)
Everything seemed stacked against the second season of Mike White’s series. Season one was critically acclaimed and won 10 Emmy Awards. By moving the action to Italy, tossing in some scheming hookers, and surrounding Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya with unpredictable, nefarious gays, The White Lotus struck back with clever, sexy vengeance. A good vacation lingers weeks and months after you arrive home, but so much of season 2 will not leave my brain. Will Sharpe’s Ethan and Aubrey Plaza’s Harper descending into insecurity…F. Murray Abraham’s Bert hitting on every woman he encounters…Meghann Fahy’s Daphne’s exquisite pain…stamp my passport for season three.

4. Abbott Elementary (ABC)
Quinta Brunson has created a show that feels like it has been with us for years–the characters are so well-drawn that it feels like we’ve known them for years. What a gift! The more Janine tries to help her fellow teachers, the more it comes to bite her back like the Egg Drop…or with the new juice in the cafeteria…or the ad targeting Abbott’s teachers. The progression of the characters is patient but the laughs hit every week. It’s a joy to watch every week.

3. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Prime Video)
Season four of Amy Sherman-Palladino’s period comedy raised the stakes on its characters in a very unexpected way. At the end of the previous season, Midge fell flat on her face, and now she has to pay the consequences for it. When a talented person’s star falters, how do you capture that meteoric rise again? With Susie trying to grow her talent agency, Midge needs to learn how to arm herself in order to remain successful. She can’t just rest on her talent, and she can’t risk losing it all when she has what it takes to go all the way. With themes of death and resilience, Maisel delivered some serious dramatic heft in its penultimate season. We cannot take this show for granted as it marches towards its final season. It’s one of the greats.

2. Somebody Somewhere (HBO)
What an enormous heart Somebody Somewhere possesses. The magnificent Bridget Everett stars as Sam, a woman stuck in a job she doesn’t want (reading over academic essays) while trying to help her family get on with their lives after the passing of her sister, Holly. Make no mistake, Somebody Somewhere carries a lot of weight, but it is also buoyant and light, and it crackles with fizzy, joyous energy any time Everett and Jeff Hiller share the screen together. It never makes fun of its characters, and it never assumes that they want to totally escape from their small Kansas town.

1. Ghosts (CBS)
How does a show with a predominantly deceased cast keep everything to fresh and jaunty? I arrived to the CBS comedy after the first season finished airing, and it quickly became an obsession. Samantha and Jay (Rose McIver and Utkarsh Ambudkar) assume that their lives will get on the right track after their Woodstone B&B opens…but it only leads to more problems in the form of potential bad reviews on Yelp and negotiating niceties with the neighbors. With so many characters all dropped in from different time periods, one might think that this show should never work, but these actors make the writing sing every week. Nothing has made me laugh harder this year than Rebecca Wisocky’s Hetty becoming besotted by the vibrations of an aging washing machine, and the writing continues to find depth in characters who are no longer with us. I love the patter of Alberta’s (Danielle Pinnock) voice and Isaac’s (Brandon Scott Jones) continued earnestness and awkwardness. When McIver’s Sam gets to stomp around as Thor, it made me wonder if Ghosts will feature a possession episode every season not unlike how Modern Family amped us up for Halloween. “The Christmas Spirit” was an instant yuletide classic. This is an actor’s dream: shading in the history of a character who lived a full life but we learn bit by bit. The cast of Ghosts is the best comedic ensemble on television, and you can tell they love it.