The Top 16 Best Shows of 2016

16) You're The Worst (FX)
Season 3
Created By: Stephan Falk
Starring: Chris Geere & Aya Cash

Click here to read why Episode 11's "The Inherent, Unsullied Qualified Value of Anything" was one of the best episodes of 2016






15) The Carmichael Show (NBC)
Season 2
Created By: Jerrod Carmichael
Starring: Jerrod Carmichael, Lorett Devine, & David Allen Grier


Click here to read about my thoughts on The Carmichael Show

14) Speechless (ABC)
Season 1
Created By: Scott Silveri
Starring: Minnie Driver & Micah Fowler

The 10 Best Television Episodes of 2016

10) "Shut Up and Dance" Black Mirror (Netflix)
Season 3 / Episode 3
Premiere Date: October 21, 2016
Starring: Alex Lawther & Jerome Flynn
Directed By: James Watkins

Brief Description: "Shut Up and Dance" mainly follows a young man named Kenny (Lawther) who is being blackmailed by an anonymous hacker to do horrendous things after getting caught masturbating. Along his journey he meets up with Hector (Flynn), and the two are asked to do one horrific act after another.

"Shut Up and Dance" may not be the best Black Mirror episode that premiered in 2016, but it's certainly the one that elicited the biggest emotional reaction from me. That reaction was mostly horror and anger, but at least it made me feel something. A lot of what Charlie Brooker and company did this season was to show the downsides of technology, whether it was how horrible it is to get your self-worth from online ratings or how terrible technology can be in the hands of the military amidst mass hysteria, but that's all most of the episodes did. We all know technology and the device you're reading this blog post on is bad for us, but so what? That's why the best Black Mirror episodes bring a human element and a very specific story (which in turn creates a broad audience) to the downsides of technology, and "Shut Up and Dance" did that and then some. This episode was Black Mirror at its bleakest, and I loved it.

9) "Master Slave" Mr. Robot (USA)
Season 2 / Episode 6
Premiere Date: August 10, 2016
Starring: Rami Malek & Christian Slater
Directed By: Sam Esmail

Brief Description: My personal  favorite moment of Mr. Robot was in the second half of the premiere when Scott Knowles takes a suitcase full of money and then lights it on fire while "Take Me Home" by Phil Collins plays, but this is a list of the best episodes, not the best moments (sort of). Therefore, I had to go with the best and weirdest episode of the series- the one were Elliot is stuck in a 90's sitcom with Alf. Mr. Robot has always been a show that's clearly, and for the better, different than any show on television. Creator, writer, director, producer Sam Esmail proved that once again with "Master Slave" where he used his main character's mental illness in order to tell the most creative stories possible.

If I Had an Emmy Ballot: Limited Series and TV Movies (2016 Edition)

BEST ACTOR

- Bryan Cranston (All The Way)
- Oscar Isaac (Show Me A Hero)
- Andy Samberg (7 Days in Hell)
- Paul Sparks (The Girlfriend Experience)
- Courtney B. Vance (The People vs. OJ Simpson)
- Patrick Wilson (Fargo)

Bryan Cranston’s portrayal of Lyndon B. Johnson in All The Way is the stuff they should teach in acting classes. We knew the 4-time Emmy winner could act thanks to his work on Breaking Bad, but holy cow did he put the exclamation point on his career. It’s cliché, but you truly lose Cranston in the role… The only other actor that comes close to Cranston is Courtney B. Vance- who was the prohibitive favorite when The People vs. O.J. Simpson ended. Vance’s portrayal of famed lawyer Johnnie Cochran was that of legend. He perfectly played Cochran’s boisterous public persona but brought humanity and warmth to the role when we saw him in his private life… Andy Samberg doesn’t have a snowball’s Hell in chance of winning this award for his work in the delightfully silly 7 Days In Hell, but he sure was great in it. Perfectly shot and edited in the style of an ESPN 30 For 30 film, 7 Days in Hell is a goofy parody with Samberg’s bad boy tennis star Aaron Williams leading the charge… It took me a while to get over the fact that Paul Sparks wasn’t the annoying Mickey Doyle from Boardwalk Empire when I was watching The Girlfriend Experience- which is a testament to how good Sparks was as the sleezy David Tellis… Time has already proven how great of an actor Oscar Isaac is, and watching one scene of Show Me A Hero lets you know that Isaac deserves all of the awards… Patrick Wilson was not as flashy of a name as Billy Bob Thornton, or even Martin Freeman, but he’s an excellent actor who brought quiet grace and honor to a young Lou Solverson in the second season of Fargo.