Welcome to my Monday newsletter! This week, I am kicking off my Year in Review with my Top 10 Performances of the Year. Plus a check in on Pluribus, my #1 show of my Top 25 Shows Since 2000 and a look back at No Ordinary Family!
YEAR IN REVIEW
TOP 10 PERFORMANCES OF THE YEAR
I'm kicking off a three week Year in Review with the Top 10 Performances of the Year. Next week will be my Top 10 Episodes followed by my last post for 2025 - my Top 10 Shows of 2025. Enjoy!
I wasn't as high on The Studio as many because I found it inconsistent but I struggle to think of a show that had as high a batting average of guest stars. Even the "killer of the week" shows like Poker Face and Elsbeth rise and fall a bit based on their guest. But pretty much everyone, including many known more for being behind the camera, rocked it on The Studio. Who was my favorite? Probably Zoe Kravitz, with a completely unhinged performance. But I also have a lot of love for Ron Howard, Martin Scorsese, Sarah Polley and many more. I can't wait to see who shows up in the second season.
9. Justine Lupe, Nobody Wants This
Last year, I put Kristen Bell & Adam Brody on this list and they would be deserving of being here again due to a continued crackling chemistry. But the real great stories this season on Nobody Wants This belonged to Justine Lupe as Bell's on-screen sister, Morgan. Lupe has displayed an expert comedic timing on the show with a dry, matter-of-fact delivery and she steals many of the scenes. I'd watch a whole show centered on her but I'm pretty content with her role in this show.
Many would probably have Stephen Graham's co-star Owen Cooper on this list and the Emmy-winning teenage phenom was certainly a breakout performer in 2025. But as far as I'm concerned, Graham was the one who really made Adolescence. Yes, Cooper gave a performance that many adults would struggle to give especially in the harrowing third episode. But Graham was the one who broke my heart. As a grieving father, he was so raw and emotional. Obviously the fact that he was a huge creative force behind Adolescence doesn't hurt things either.
7. Mark Ruffalo & Tom Pelphrey, Task
The best two hander of the year was two characters who didn't spend a whole lot of time on screen together. Mark Ruffalo and Tom Pelphrey both were so lived-in as broken characters on HBO's very compelling (and recently renewed) Task. The show, and the actors, did a masterful job of letting us know their world. And when they finally shared scenes together midway through the season, it was electric.
When I first heard that Parker Posey was joining The White Lotus, I felt like it was a match made in heaven: Posey's trademark unique deliveries mixed with Mike White's writing. And even in a more uneven season of The White Lotus, she did not disappoint. Becoming a meme-worthy queen and valiant successor to Jennifer Coolidge in the Lotus universe, Posey was exactly the fit she seemed like she would be. I'll never hear the words "tsunami" or "Taiwan" the same again.
5. Katherine LaNasa, The Pitt
While there were many fascinating characters on The Pitt and one still to come on this list, Nurse Dana was the heart and soul of both the fictional ER and the show itself. Katherine LaNasa earned a well-deserved Emmy for this role. She was what you would want a charge nurse to be if you ever had to go to the ER: compassionate yet no-nonsense. Her relationship with Noah Wyle's Dr. Robby was one of the truly best male-female friendships TV has ever seen. And though the show teased her departure (that I don't think anyone really bought), I am very glad she will be back for the second season.
4. Hannah Einbinder, Hacks
Last year, I put the combo of Jean Smart & Hannah Einbinder at #1. And Smart could have been on this list and been very deserving. But the fourth season of Hacks belonged to Hannah Einbinder. She's been getting better and better each season and this was the time where she could go toe to toe with a television icon. From her rage quitting to an emotional depth we hadn't seen before, Einbinder was brilliant and very much deserving of her Emmy for the season.
Because I'm pretty film illiterate (until recently), I wasn't that familiar with Ethan Hawke until I saw him and loved him in The Good Lord Bird a few years ago. Now, he has his second pretty incredible TV role of the 2020s with The Lowdown. Hawke was the absolute center of the show and he paired so well with so many people in the supporting and guest cast. Really he paired well with everyone in the show. His bonkers approach to the character and his expert delivery was what really elevated The Lowdown from good to great.
2. Rhea Seehorn, Pluribus
The first season of Pluribus is still going on and yet I feel very comfortable putting Rhea Seehorn all the way up at #2 on this list. Has there ever been a drama where the lead performer was asked to do more? Seehorn is more than up to the task with a captivating performance that is a mix of humor and horror. Seehorn was the perfect choice for Carol as she is willing to be vulnerable as an actor while playing a very guarded character. We can see so much in her facial expressions and in how she carries herself even when there aren't any other actors around (which is large swaths of the series). I can't wait to see what the rest of the season and future seasons bring for Seehorn on this show. I have a feeling this won't be the only time she appears in a Top 10 Performances list.
While Katherine LaNasa's Nurse Dana was the heart and soul of the fictional ER in The Pitt, Noah Wyle was the heart and soul of the whole darn show. From his very hands-on involvement in the development of the show to the way he carried himself in the lead role of Dr. Robby, this show would not have elevated the medical drama genre if not for Wyle. His grand return to this type of drama decades after ER was a revelation and he stepped into well-worn shoes which made it equally familiar and also entirely new. Wyle wears his heart on his sleeve on the show and gave a fascinating portrayal. You could tell how much he cared about what he was doing week after week. He is my Performer of the Year for 2025.
LAST WEEK ON...
After a couple isolating episodes of Pluribus, we spent more time with other "non-joined" humans this week. I continue to be so impressed by this show's pacing. Vince Gilligan has an innate sense of when to reveal things and when to keep them close to the vest, when to isolate Carol and when to put her with other individual characters. This week's episode brought Diabate (Samba Schutte) back in the fold and gave him much more character dimension than we previously saw. I found it interesting how he's already progressed in his relationship with the joined (speaking for them on multiple occasions to Carol). The final few minutes made it quite clear that the mysterious Paraguay man, Manousos (Carlos-Manuel Vesga) will be much more prominent soon. Maybe it will be next episode or maybe Gilligan has something else up his sleeve first (more cameos like John Cena in this episode?). I trust him completely.
TOP 25 SHOWS SINCE 2000
And we've reached #1. My top two shows on the list of Top 25 Shows Since 2000 are both primarily set in the early 1960s but unlike The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's sunny optimism, Mad Men is a dark and often scathing depiction of the era. But that doesn't mean it's not glamorous. The attention to detail in this show has rarely been replicated on TV. And those performances! From Jon Hamm to Elisabeth Moss to John Slattery to Christina Hendricks and so many more, they created iconic and mostly broken characters. I didn't watch Mad Men during its original run but it's one of the few shows that I would do deep online dives after watching each episode. I wanted to make sure I never missed a theme or detail, I was that invested in the show. And I fully intend to re-watch it again someday. I have a feeling it's only going to be better the second time around. Mad Men is a TV masterpiece. Not only the Best Show Since 2000 but the Best TV Drama of all time. There may never be anything like it again.
PILOT RE-REVIEW
This season, I am traveling back in time to the 2010-11 season, the first season I did this blog. I will be re-reviewing the pilots from that season, at least as many as I can find!
Original Review: Click Here!
What I Think Now: It's a little hard to have perspective on this show after a decade and a half of tons of superhero shows. But back in 2010, Heroes had just come to an end and that was about it as far as superhero shows. So, I remember this show feeling pretty fresh back in the day. But surprisingly, I think I was more positive about the pilot this time around than I was in 2010. Just like some other pilots like The Event, I miss how big and different some broadcast shows used to be. Sure, there were some predictable plot points and some pretty lame dialogue but there was also something I haven't seen on a broadcast drama in years - ambition. I appreciated just how much the pilot wanted to get through: they had to introduce each family member and then introduce each family member's superpower. It certainly wasn't a perfect pilot but it sure was entertaining. I enjoyed Michael Chiklis quite a bit here while the rest of the family was solid but didn't stand out quite as much.
What Happened to the Show: No Ordinary Family was ABC's big hope for the Fall 2010 crop of new shows. There was hope it could be a four quadrant show and it was given the Tuesday 8pm slot leading into the reliable Dancing with the Stars results show. The show got a lot of promotion and premiered to solid numbers and decent reviews. But the pilot proved to be the high water mark for the show. It started dropping off pretty quickly and there also seemed to be a consensus that it couldn't really follow through on its premise. The show was limping along by the time the fall came to an end. Although it received a full season order, it limped along through the winter months and even had one episode banished to Saturdays. It was cancelled after one season in a year where every new ABC drama except for one (Body of Proof) failed.
COMING UP
We're getting into mid-December now which means we're not going to see many premieres. In fact, there's only one this week: the second season of Percy Jackson and the Olympians on Disney+. I think the show found its audience for the first season and they'll probably stick with it. That's all I've got.
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