best of 2023 television

a little update from the academic gutter

I haven’t been here in awhile … But I am back with multiple lists of my favourite television shows from 2023. This is late because I tried my best to catch up with shows. Didn’t want to regurgitate a list that looks like every other list and also didn’t want to rank them all at once. They are categorised into new releases, ongoing ones, lesbianism, and what I didn’t like.

If you stick till the end, I even added a couple of my favourite gay quotes from gay television last year. I wanted to do little blurbs but then remembered that my time is finite and paid gigs are hard to come by … zero, even.

NEW RELEASES

Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey in Fellow Travelers (COURTESY: Showtime)

• Found (NBC)

• Deadloch (Prime)

• Fellow Travelers (Showtime)

• Orphan Black: Echoes (AMC)

• The Diplomat (Netflix)

• Best Interests (BBC)

• The Night Agent (Netflix)

• One Night (BBC)

• Bodies (Netflix)

• The Way Home (Hallmark Channel)

ONGOING SERIES

Joe Gilgun and Michelle Keegan in Brassic (COURTESY: Sky TV)

• Magnum P.I. S5 (NBC)

• The Wheel of Time S2 (Prime)

• Perry Mason S2 (HBO)

• Brassic S5 (Sky TV)

• Single Drunk Female S2 (Hulu)

• The Bear S2 (AMC)

• Vigil S2 (BBC)

• Heartstopper S2 (Netflix)

• The Newsreader S2 (ABC)

• Reacher S2 (Prime)

• Happy Valley S3 (BBC)

BEST OF LESBIAN TV

Heather Peace and Balvinder Sopal in EastEnders (COURTESY: BBC)

• The Wheel of Time

• Deadloch

• Perry Mason

• Orphan Black: Echoes

• Vigil

• One Night

• Suki and Eve in BBC EastEnders

I EXPECTED THESE TO BE MID/BAD … AND THEY WERE

Colman Domingo and Kim Dickens in Fear The Walking Dead. My favourite gay besties. So glad they are out of the TWD industrial complex. (COURTESY: AMC)

• The Last Of Us (HBO)

• Fear the Walking Dead S8 (AMC)

• The Last Thing He Told Me (Apple TV)

• Special Ops: Lioness (Apple TV)

• Yellowjackets S2 (Showtime)

• Ted Lasso S3 (Apple TV)

• The L Word: Generation Q S3 (Showtime)

I didn’t finish half of these … time is finite. Someone please tell Taylor Sheridan to stop making things. STOP.

ONGOING DISCOVERIES … ENJOYING MYSELF

Hidetoshi Nishijima and Seiyō Uchino in What Did You Eat Yesterday? (COURTESY: Shochiku)

• Southland (TNT)

• What Did You Eat Yesterday? (Netflix)

Southland is a recommendation from

tee, apparently.

and as always, they have the right opinions on television. The pilot episode floored me. You should subscribe to their Substack!

BEST LINES FROM GAY TELEVISION

Balvinder Sopal and Heather Peace in EastEnders (COURTESY: BBC)

SIUAN: "When I think about us, where we will end up, it's in a bamboo hut, on the river, like my father and I had." - The Wheel of Time

SUKI: "He lived across the road, the man your father murdered. He was married, but I hardly ever spoke to him. It was his wife. She made me see the world in a different way, that I could be something more.” - EastEnders

HENRY: “You may stop fucking me but they will never stop fucking you. You spineless coward.” - Bodies

MARCUS: “You know what is different about you and me? Someday, somewhere, I’d like more than this.” - Fellow Travelers

LUCAS: “I don't see God in her.” - Orphan Black: Echoes