Netflix and its sagging subscriptions, Warner Bros. Discovery with anti-art tyrant David Zaslav at the helm, Disney’s Bob-for-Bob change in leadership. With cancellations, guttings, and a sprinkling of corporate tumult, 2022 seemed to find the streaming apparatus in dire straits. But even amidst the chaos and fumbles, this year’s television was an embarrassment of riches: from a Game of Thrones revival and Better Call Saul’s final bow to new stunners such as Severance and Pachinko, it seemed like great TV was around every corner. I didn’t get to review as much television as I would have liked in 2022, but here were some of my favorites of the year:

Happy Halloween! There’s nothing quite like the words “Guillermo del Toro curates an anthology” to stoke a horror fan’s anticipation. Cabinet of Curiosities, del Toro’s attempt to assemble an all-star roster of genre voices, is as consistently wonderful and gruesome as anthologies get. With creeping eldritch terror, nasty alien infestations, and gothic creature features, Guillermo del Toro’s Cabinet of Curiosities has remarkably few duds and more than its fair share of bangers. It’s the perfect way to spend your All Hallow’s Eve. Minor spoilers ahead…

Moon Knight brings a pulpy, globe-trotting spirit to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Breathing life into the little-known Marc Spector, the Fist of Khonshu, Oscar Isaac commits wholeheartedly to dual roles defined by instability, British cheek, and bloody fisticuffs. A standalone six-episode series, Moon Knight is stuffed to the brim with fascinating possibilities, but only time will tell if it can traverse its tricky tightrope stretched between superheroics and mental illness. Four episodes watched for review. Minor spoilers ahead…

Breathing cinematic life into Min Jin Lee’s sweeping Pachinko is the new Apple TV series of the same name, which faithfully touches upon the novel’s themes of identity, acceptance, and survival: the story of a family tree shaken by the capricious hands of fate and the wounds of intergenerational trauma. It’s also one of the best new shows of 2022. Read my full review for The Playlist here.

The streaming wars have all but killed the traditional release model for television, but the fall season continues to house the biggest surges in new shows and season premieres. I spent the last week catching up on the biggest TV releases of the past month to parse what’s worth your time and what isn’t. Here are some quick reviews of Cowboy Bebop, Hellbound, Yellowjackets, Dexter: New Blood, Invasion, and Chucky. Minor spoilers ahead…

Midnight Mass is the best thing Mike Flanagan has ever done. A searing, complete work at the intersections of faith and doubt, life and death, it’s genre storytelling at its most emotionally rich. Contemplative, dialogue-driven horror that paints its themes with a dark and heavy brush, Midnight Mass is utterly transfixing with its layered performances and shocking swerves. The entire cast is fantastic, but people will be talking about Hamish Linklater’s turn as Father Paul for a very long time. Minor spoilers ahead…

Clever and imaginative, Disney Plus’ latest Marvel series - Loki - brings the beloved scoundrel back to life. This new story takes the God of Mischief out of his element on a rousing, time-hopping, sci-fi adventure, diving deeper into his mercurial psyche while also expanding the weirder corners of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Two episodes watched for review. Minor spoilers ahead…

The digital flood of true crime continues - this time, with the Netflix revival of a 90s cult favorite, Unsolved Mysteries. Helmed by the original series’ creators, John Cosgrove and Terry Dunn Meurer, this new series attempts to toe the line between nostalgia and freshness, but often comes up short in delivering either. Minor spoilers below…

The second Star Trek series to debut on the CBS All Access streaming platform, Star Trek: Picard warmly welcomes Jean-Luc Picard back into the fold of Starfleet politics. Despite a slower start and some lopsided pacing, its episodes are elevated by Patrick Stewart’s gravitas and charisma, making a comeback almost 20 years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. Picard pushes farther into the final frontier in interesting ways, even if it takes awhile to get there.

ABC’s new private eye crime show is precisely the remedy that television needs right now. Based on the graphic novel by writer Greg Rucka and artist Matthew Southworth, Stumptown is breezy, network television fun. Neither groundbreaking nor profound, what Stumptown lacks in depth is more than made up for in a likable cast and a captivating pace. Minor spoilers ahead…

Welcome to the Strange Harbors review of the final season of Game of Thrones. Typically, I tend to avoid posting recaps/reviews of single, individual episodes, but Game of Thrones is a cultural behemoth that deserves a more in-depth look at each installment, especially in its last six episodes. Each recap/review of the final season will be written from my perspective as A Song of Ice and Fire book-reader and a fan of the show. Today, we will be covering the fifth episode of Season 8, titled “The Bells.” Spoilers ahead…

Welcome to the Strange Harbors review of the final season of Game of Thrones. Typically, I tend to avoid posting recaps/reviews of single, individual episodes, but Game of Thrones is a cultural behemoth that deserves a more in-depth look at each installment, especially in its last six episodes. Each recap/review of the final season will be written from my perspective as A Song of Ice and Fire book-reader and a fan of the show. Today, we will be covering the fourth episode of Season 8, titled “The Last of the Starks.” Spoilers ahead…

Welcome to the Strange Harbors review of the final season of Game of Thrones. Typically, I tend to avoid posting recaps/reviews of single, individual episodes, but Game of Thrones is a cultural behemoth that deserves a more in-depth look at each installment, especially in its last six episodes. Each recap/review of the final season will be written from my perspective as A Song of Ice and Fire book-reader and a fan of the show. Today, we will be covering the second episode of Season 8, titled “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.” Spoilers ahead…

Not vintage enough to be a throwback and not bold enough to be cutting-edge peak TV, CBS’s The Twilight Zone wades in sleepy ambivalence. Producer and narrator Jordan Peele, fresh off his horror hit Us, takes Rod Serling’s place and leads a star-studded cast in the reboot, but the show’s languid narratives and glib messaging get in its own way. This review encompasses the first two episodes of the new anthology, which are now streaming on CBS All Access. Minor spoilers ahead…

February 15th saw the premieres of not just one, but two super-team television shows. The first, Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, is based upon a popular Dark Horse comic book by My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way and artist Gabriel Bá; the second, Doom Patrol on the DC Universe streaming platform, is adapted from a long-running DC Comics series. And while both shows focus on a ragtag team of superpowered misfits coming together to fight evil, one is clearly better than the other in the way that it translates its source material to screen. Mild spoilers ahead for both The Umbrella Academy and Doom Patrol.

Whenever one mentions genre television shows that were canceled too soon, Joss Whedon’s 2002 one-season sci-fi wonder, Firefly, is bound to come up in the discussion. There’s nothing wrong with loving Firefly, but today we’re going to look at eight shows other than our favorite space western that perhaps deserved a second shot on the small screen. These eight shows ranged from highly-publicized failures to little-known genre gems that never gained traction, but they all have one thing in common: I was sad to see them go. So here’s a list of eight genre shows that were canceled too soon (that aren’t Firefly).

Netflix’s South Korean zombie horror series, Kingdom, debuted on January 25th. An adaptation of a popular webcomic by Kim Eun-hee and artist Yang Kyung-il, Kingdom’s six-episode first season is breezy, zombified fun. The series gets a lot of compelling mileage out of its unique setting and premise - which is essentially a mashup of period drama and zombie horror - but has a difficult time rising above the conventions of both genres. Minor spoilers ahead…

The third and possibly final season of Travelers, the cult Canadian import on Netflix, arrived in December of last year. An unabashed favorite here at Strange Harbors, I wrote extensively about the show last year in an Under the Radar feature, extolling the show’s bold storytelling and vivid character work of its first two seasons. The series’ third season continues this trend with a propulsive narrative and a heartwrenchingly bittersweet final act, even if it suffers from some wheel-spinning and a midseason sag. Mild spoilers ahead...