The Best TV Shows of 2023

This delightful series breaks so many streaming-age drama rules. It takes its storytelling, characters, and themes seriously without taking itself seriously (i.e., it’s a fun diversion, not an unstructured or grim slog). Plus, though there’s a running strand of plot-stretching through the first season, each episode functions as its own self-contained story. Who knew any of this was still allowed? With an incredibly stacked roster of guest stars (Nick Nolte, Benjamin Bratt, Ellen Barkin, Ron Perlman) and a detective premise anchored by the brilliant and irresistible Natasha Lyonne, this smart Columbo homage came out of the gate strong and just kept building on what it does well. When season two rolls around, I want—no, demand—that Hong Chau comes back as the canny, slightly unhinged trucker she played to perfection. —M.R.

Primo

Rafa (Ignacio Diaz-Silverio) is a San Antonio high school student being raised by his single mother, Drea (Christina Vidal). His father has never been in the picture, but he has plentiful male role models to fill the vacuum: Drea’s five brothers. There’s Mike (Henri Esteve), who derives a lot of his identity from having served in the military without having actually learned the tactical skills he thinks he has. There’s Rollie (Johnny Rey Diaz), who’s named himself “The Brown Knight” for his role as neighborhood avenger. There’s Mondo (Efrain Villa), who, when an urgent care doctor asks, can’t rule out having “been intimate” with a shark. There’s Ryan (Carlos Santos), whose white-collar job in a bank branch has convinced him he’s the biggest intellect in a family of know-it-alls. And finally, there’s Jay (Jonathan Medina), who lets Mike trap him on the roof in retaliation for Jay having done the same thing to Mike years earlier. Series creator Shea Serrano based Primo on his own youth—and not particularly loosely, judging by photos he recently posted of the show’s characters and their real-life inspirations. The result is one the funniest and truest family comedies to hit TV in years. —T.A.

Reservation Dogs

In the first scene of Reservation Dogs, four Indigenous teenagers hijack a Flaming Flamers chip truck, driving it straight past an oblivious tribal police officer to a local scrap yard, where they sell it for cash. The titular Reservation Dogs—Bear (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), Elora (Devery Jacobs), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), and Cheese (Lane Factor)—style themselves a gang, but they’re pulling heists for a reason: They’re raising money so that they can move from their hometown of Okern, Oklahoma, to California. But the more time we spend with them, the better we understand the complexity of what “home” means to each of them—and why, or even whether, they actually want to leave. Over its run, Dogs has explored each of its characters, their families of origin, and the families they’ve chosen. As delicate and lovely as these stories have been, however, the characters have fundamentally remained the little shit-ass delinquents of that series premiere, roasting each other as mercilessly as Bear gets roasted by his intermittently helpful spirit guide, William Knifeman (Dallas Goldtooth). Cocreator Sterlin Harjo has made a true masterpiece about loss, love, and snacks; I can’t wait to see what he brings us next. —T.A.

Somebody Somewhere

Courtesy of HBO.