Best of 2023 - Television

Today I come to you all with my top 5 tv shows of 2023. I have to admit that there is a good amount of high quality, well regarded tv I have not yet finished this year. I have yet to see shows like "Loki", "Andor", "Ghosts" and "Big Mouth" yet. I'm sure there are a bunch of other shows that I have missed too. But I have seen some good stuff this year and today I want to give you all a peek at how I view television.

At 5 I have the third and final season of "The Other Two". This show is criminally underrated and should not have been cancelled. It is one of the best written and funniest shows on tv. Helen York and Drew Tarver play their characters to perfection. Molly Shannon is an absolute delight, and she got to really stretch in this final season. Ken Marino was great. The young actor playing the famous brother grew up and had a nice story arc about the ills of fame and social media. I have not seen a show that is this meta and funny and perfectly of the time. The whole musical episode was amazing. When York's character quits her job and no one can see her, brilliant. The whole thing with Tarver's method acting boyfriend, chef's kiss. "The Other Two" is destined to become a cult classic. This show is going to do major work on streaming. It will find its audience and I feel like people will talk about it like I do about "Happy Endings" now. "The Other Two" is a show worth checking out.

At 4 I have season three of "The Righteous Gemstones". McBride and company keep finding ways to make dark humor the best humor to watch on tv. This season was incredible too. We got Walton Goggins back as Uncle Baby Billy. Be it his game show idea or him wearing a big clam shell and singing at the pool, he is amazing in this role. We got the struggle of Goodman trying to leave the church to McBride. We also got some backstory from those two, which was nice to see. We got Kelvin, Adam Devine, finally showing his love for Keef. It may have taken the whole season, but damn it paid off. But the best of the best was Edi Patterson as Judy. We learned a whole lot about her this season and Patterson was masterful at pulling all this off. From her tour to the stuff with her husband BJ, Tim Blatz, it all worked to perfection. I cannot wait for season four to come out.

At 3 I have "Jury Duty". I don't know how they were able to pull off such an elaborate prank revolved around jurors, but they did and it was a joy to watch unfold. This show took a real chance. Anything could have derailed the show at any second, but they were able to maneuver around any way of the "hero" finding out what was going on the whole time, until the end. James Marsden played an asshole version of himself, and it worked. A guy made chairpants, and it worked. Another guy and girl did a thing called "soaking", and it worked. A lawyer had one of the worst presentations I've ever seen, and it worked. They were able to pull off this wild prank, all the while not making our "hero" look like an idiot. If anything, he held it together better than any of us would have and I was stoked to see it all get revealed to him and for him to take home a cash prize. I hope they leave this show at one season because it is perfect.

At  2 I have season two of "The Bear". I didn't think they could top season one, and they didn't, but they made a great companion piece to one of the best shows on tv. This season gave us episodes that focused on the individuals that work together at the restaurant. Edibiri's character took us on a food tour of Chicago. Richie had to get knocked down before rising to the top. Fak had to do his magical repairs. Abbi Elliot's character got the job as the marketer for the restaurant and is having a baby. We even got the episode that showed Jeremy Allen White's character family at their worst. That episode has amazing cameos as well. "The Bear" continues to shine as the best show about food on tv. It is better than any cooking show or cooking based competition show. The food looks delicious, the acting is top notch and the direction is a thing of beauty. "The Bear" rules. But it is not my top show of the year.

At number 1 I have "The Last of Us". This show is a work of art. It is brutal. It is realistic. It is dreadful. It is violent. It is relentless. And I couldn't take my eyes off the screen when we watched. This show is truly one of a kind. Pedro Pascal is perfectly cast. Bella Ramsey is just as good and a perfect counterpoint. The Nick Offerman episode is, quite possibly, the best written, directed and acted episode in the history of television. Melanie Lynskey is a bad, bad lady in her episode. The episode with the deaf boy and his brother gives us hope, only to smack it out of our faces in the end. And as mad as I was at Joel for lying to Ellie in the season finale, it made me even more excited to see them deal with it in season two. "Last of Us" is an achievement unlike any other on television. They took this weird video game and made one of the best tv shows to ever exist. I am so pumped for season two.

That is it for tv. Come back tomorrow for my top podcasts of 2023. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Whatever Happened to Pauly Shore

Over the weekend my wife and I watched "Encino Man". It was my weekend to pick the movie and I am still on my kick of movies that I loved as a kid. I have kind of run the gamut on sports movies from back then. We have either watched them all, or my wife has seen some that I used to adore. So "Encino Man" was more along the lines of something I cherished.

This movie does not hold up in my opinion. For an 85 minute long movie it feels long. It is too scattered. They couldn't fit every idea they may have initially wanted in the end. Brendan Frasier was good, so were some of the smaller role cast members, but all in all, "Encino Man" is not as great as it was in my child's brain.

The big reason I loved this movie, why it held so much weight for me, was Pauly Shore. When I was 10 and 11 years old there was no one funnier than Shore. I watched pretty much all of his movies. Obviously I loved "Encino Man". But I also watched "Son in Law" on almost a daily basis for a couple months. I saw "BioDome" in theaters. I may be one of the few people who actually enjoys, or enjoyed, I haven't seen it in ages, "In the Army Now". I even watched "Jury Duty" the week it came out on video at Blockbuster. I went through it all with him. He was my guy. As I got older I moved on to, what I consider, funnier, smarter comedians and actors, but Shore has always held a place for me. I simply like the dude as an actor.

After this recent "Encino Man" viewing I got to thinking, where and what has Shore been up to lately. The last time I made it a point to listen to him talk was when he was on "WTF with Marc Maron". I've always been an in and out listener to "WTF", but when Maron has someone on that I want to listen to, I make sure to download the episode. This was an eye opening interview. Shore really let it all out. He told his story. I grew to like him even more after this podcast appearance. I kind of understood why he did what he did when he did it. It all made sense to me. Then on some rewatch stuff I noticed he was in an episode of "Workaholics". He played this tortured, captured version of himself. The guys get him out and party with him, but his appearance on the show was purely fan service, and I have to imagine the "Workaholics" guys love him. This made me want to see more, or hear more from him. I have yet to see "Pauly Shore is Dead", but it is on my list. I hear it is a good movie, and Shore is more than game at poking fun of himself. He's in an Adam Sandler movie I want to see called "Sandy Wexler". I understand that movie is on Netflix forever, I just haven't gotten around to it yet. And I guess he does a good amount of voice work in animated series. So the guy stays working.

Everyone needs to remember that there was a time, mostly the early to mid 90's, where Shore was one of the biggest comedy stars in the world. He was everywhere and he was funny. He found a niche and ran with it. I would walk around my house as a kid, and I still do it now, and tell people to "not weaze the juice". I'd also call myself the "Weasel". I'd say "heeeyyyy budddyyyyy" so much that I am certain it annoyed people. This was all because of my fandom of Shore. He was my guy until I discovered "SNL". And I have found myself wondering why he was such a hit with me when I was a young kid since Friday. I think it is his brand of comedy. He appeals to kids. He says weird stuff that sounds funny and 10 and 11 year olds love it. I fully believe my son, who is 11, would think Shore is hilarious. And this is not a knock. I think if a comedian or a comedy actor can find something that works, they should run with it. Shore's comedy just happens to be juvenile, and that is totally fine.

Since watching "Encino Man" I feel like I want to go back and watch some of the movies I mentioned above. I don't think they will hold up, "Encino Man" was very bad, but who knows. Maybe it will make me relive some of my childhood memories when I watched these movies over and over again. But I do want to say, I am, and always will be, a Pauly Shore fan. He still makes me laugh. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

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Ty Watches "Jury Duty"

Last night my wife and I finished "Jury Duty". I'm not going to say season one because I truly believe there is no way they can pull this off again. "Jury Duty" centers around one person, Ronald, who thinks he is going to be in a documentary about what it is like to be on a jury. What he doesn't know is that everyone else involved is an actor, and I mean everyone else. Every other person is a working actor, and they are all playing a character. Even James Marsden. Marsden plays a hyperized version of himself. To watch this show, to see how they pulled this off, to ask why Ronald never questioned anything, I was in awe.

Let me put this out here right now, this show was excellent. I will for sure be watching it again. I am endlessly fascinated that they pulled this elaborate prank off. This should go down in the record books. It was amazing. I loved how each juror that wasn't Ronald had some kind of backstory. Ken was from another land trying to figure stuff out. Todd was a tech geek who just needed a friend. Barb was an older lady who loved edibles. Vanessa was a true crime fan who thought the case was boring. Ross was the cool high school teacher that everyone loved. Pat was the gruff working man. Ravi was a secret genius. Noah was in over his head and just wanted a girlfriend. Jenine was down for anything. Inez wanted to be the leader but couldn't quite get it all together. Lonnie was the extra juror thrust into action. And all of these people were actors. None of them were these people they were portraying.

All along though, Ronald did his work and made friends and had fun. He had many opportunities to call this all out, even making comments about how it felt like a reality show, but never wavered. When thrust into a leadership role he didn't want, he ran with it. James Marsden wanted to run lines for a fake movie role, Ronald was his guy. Noah needed a wingman, Ronald was there. The judge told him to get the other jurors to shape up, he made sure he did it. Lonnie needed a confidant, Ronald was his guy. He could have said mean stuff, he could have talked behind people's backs, but he never did. There were multiple times when I would say to my wife, "there are still good, genuine people out there". His kindness, his sincerity, it was such a breath of fresh air. Through every twist and turn, Ronald kept plugging away and helping out anyway he could. It was remarkable. I am not going to spoil the ending, I will just say it was moving and Ronald got a nice prize. And the last episode made my wife tear up.

This was such a lightning in a bottle idea and it worked. I don't want them to do it again because it won't carry the same weight that it did the first time around. There are other prank shows, like "Joe Millionaire" or "The Joe Schmo Show", that had great first seasons, but messed it up by trying to do it again. I hope "Jury Duty" is one and done. They gave us eight incredible episodes that will stay with me a long, long time. If you have not watched this show yet do yourself a favor and check it out. It is one of the better things on tv right now. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

Come and support Ty and the podcast on Patreon.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.