Shows I Watched in 2024
Now that we’re almost three-quarters of the way through 2025, it’s time to post my ranking of shows I watched last year. To be clear, these are just whatever I happened to watch in 2024, not shows that actually aired in 2024. I will be going in ascending order, starting with my least favorite:
14. Dune: Prophecy
Dune: Prophecy announces itself as a typical franchise-name : subtitle prequel, and in the marketing makes sure you know it’s set 10,000 years before the movies. Unfortunately, the quality of the show is about that far removed from what has so far been my favorite movie franchise of the 2020s. The writing is completely off-the-shelf, the production design apes the form of Villeneuve’s movies with no handle on what makes them visually grand, and the photography and VFX feel deliberately blurry in a way that feels cheap, rather than stylized. It’s also fundamentally misconceived as a prequel, just like every attempt at expanding the Dune universe beyond the original books. The entire universe only works by way of mystery – it’s no good if you see too much of how the Bene Gesserit actually operate, just like it would be a mistake to demonstrate how the Sardaukar train, or show the Axoxotl tanks, or explain how anything works on Ix. Dune is about awed silence in the face of the enormity of the scope of the universe. This show, on the other hand, is simply another slapdash attempt to greenlight anything vaguely Game of Thrones-shaped, and it may as well have been written by autocomplete.
13. Star Trek: Short Treks
There’s really nothing wrong with Short Treks – it just isn’t much of a show, as the name suggests. Most of these vignettes in the Star Trek universe are all right, if not terribly interesting. The great exception is, of course, the episode which deals with the creation of tribbles, which is hilarious.
12. Star Trek: Picard (Seasons 1 & 2)
As you can see from the shape of the list, I watched a lot of Star Trek last year. I rated the first two seasons of Paramount’s Picard legasequel separately from its third season, both because of the gap in quality and that fact that in many ways they feel like different shows. Taking the first two seasons on their own, both have a lot of issues, chiefly with the writing. It’s clear that they fell into the trap I struggle with, which is having cool ideas for scenes, and then having no organic way to get there, and instead contriving an elaborate Rube Goldberg machine of a silly plot. Having said that, there’s also a great deal of Star Trek fun along the way, including the addition of Allison Pill to the cast, and the debut of Riker’s most powerful form, Pizza-Oven-Riker.
11. Dallos
Dallos, the early ‘80s anime classic, is very slow as science fiction which at times threatened to put me to sleep; however, it also contains the kind of haunting imagery you only get from classic anime, as well as a sturdy Gramscian narrative.
10. Zombieland Saga: Revenge
Zombieland Saga pretends to be a silly and relatively charming zombie-idol-comedy, but what in actuality it is perhaps the most elaborate and bizarre regional tourism commercial ever made.
9. Non-non Byori Nonstop
The real inaka.
For me, this was simply nostalgic vibes, reminding me of the kind of quiet country landscape I lived near in Japan.
8. Spy x Family
It’s sweet, it’s fun, and it has a nice dog in it.
7. Star Trek: Discovery
Star Trek: Discovery is such an interesting show—it kept turning into very different shows from season to season and making choices that at times seem inexplicable. It successfully reviewed Star Trek on TV for the first time since Enterprise, and it reveled in the things which made Star Trek great, the wonder of exploration, the utopian optimism (despite an addiction to blow-up-the-world stakes); at the same time, the writing often felt a little askew, or unintentionally silly, which, I admit, is in the tradition of Star Trek. Some of its emotional reaches feel overwrought and don’t quite connect in the way that similar attempts in Doctor Who did for me; however, it also is unafraid of wearing its heart on its sleeve and grabbing at awe, and the fourth season, in particular, really gets what makes Star Trek distinct from other science fiction.
I love these uniforms.
And also these.
Discovery has a real appreciation for the kind of strange awe that was present in The Motion Picture.
6. House of the Dragon
Is the second season of House of the Dragon a bit self-indulgent? Yes. Do any of the decisions made by the characters on either side make much sense? Not really. Was Oscar Tully ghost-written by Aaron Sorkin? Possibly. Does every single piece of costuming appear richer than death-by-chocolate? Obviously! And do I enjoy being back in this world? Verily.
5. Star Trek: Picard (Season 3)
When you Frankenstein a series together almost entirely out of references, pure fanservice, and Return of the Jedi, it isn't supposed to work. But rules are meant to be broken. This is the most fanservicey thing I've ever seen - and I love it. I never thought we'd get a second golden age of Star Trek - I thought that was all behind us when I started getting deeper into the show in high school. I'm so glad to be wrong. Season 3 of Picard makes every obvious decision you would normally mock in a legasequel, but it does it with such frank unembarrassment, and so well, that it clears every hurdle. This feels like a show designed by people who grew up on Wrath of Khan and TNG, and the fusion of those aesthetics produces some of the most gorgeous ship, costume, and production design in the franchise.
I can’t believe they made me nostalgic for a font.
4. Star Trek: Lower Decks
When an animated comedy Star Trek show was announced, I was nervous that it would err on the side of typical adult animation humor, and fail to respect the universe it was set in. Fortunately, I should not have been concerned. Lower Decks is made with such a devoted and nerdy love for Star Trek, without slipping into the kind of ossified reverence that many fans fall into—and on top of that, it’s genuinely hilarious from top to bottom.
3. Paranoia Agent
Paranoia Agent is an inexplicable masterpiece by the late great Satoshi Kon. It’s far too strange to sum up, and far too eerie to forget. The truth shall set you free.
2. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds
Strange New Worlds is the best Star Trek show in years, possibly ever. The writing dances with joy every episode (at one point even breaking into a full musical episode), and you get the sense that there’s nothing they won’t try, and nothing they can’t pull off. It also is gorgeous, from the best interior design in the franchise, fantastic costuming, and a stupidly attractive cast. Oh, and it’s also a cooking show.
1. Succession
Succession has probably the best written dialogue on television, delivered by better actors than any other show. Despite all the hype this show received, it was not overrated by one jot. Succession is a horrifyingly funny mirror to the type of clowns that hold power in our world, a show that utterly skewers its monstrous heroes, while also hugging them tight as human beings one can’t help but empathize with and feel compassion mixed with disgust. Matthew MacFadyen gives maybe the best performance in television.
Here’s the list: https://www.serializd.com/list/Watched-in-2024-161316
