![]() This Dead Ringers meets a moment when women’s bodies are once again a battleground, a humane birth experience has become a luxury item, and the ghosts of brutal reproductive research past cast dark shadows over the cutting-edge gynecological technology of the present. No shallow gender flip, the adjustment endowed the bloody allegory of siblings desperate to be back in the womb together with new layers of meaning. In repurposing David Cronenberg’s 1988 cult-classic horror movie about twin ob-gyns torn asunder when one of them falls for a glamorous patient, Alice Birch entrusted the brilliant Rachel Weisz with the dual role originated by Jeremy Irons. The year’s most unlikely reboot was also its most inspired. The show’s final season was the biggest and smartest of all, capturing the demented ambition, streaming fatigue, and fickle politics that define contemporary Hollywood. And sister Brooke (Heléne Yorke) apprenticed with Chase’s bumbling manager, played by the hilarious Ken Marino, learning to swim in shark-infested boardrooms. Brother Cary (Drew Tarver) exemplified the humiliations of the struggling actor and would-be gay icon. While the rise of young ChaseDreams (Case Walker) sent up the teen-idol-industrial complex, his mom Pat (Molly Shannon) became a window into the cult of the “relatable” daytime talk-show queen. But over the course of three seasons, the series evolved into a sharp satire of the entertainment industry at large-and ended its run this year as one of the funniest comedies on TV. The Other Two premiered, in 2019, with a narrow premise: An adorable teen finds overnight fame as a Gen Z Justin Bieber, and his underachieving adult siblings try to ride his coattails to success. And before Charlie’s mysteries start to feel too cozy, Johnson not only ups the dramatic stakes, but also challenges viewers prone to worshiping Lyonne’s wabi-sabi sage persona, setting up a second season that’s bound to surprise. ![]() Each stop is its own vividly rendered social world, populated by such delightful guest stars as Chloë Sevigny, Nick Nolte, Hong Chau, Judith Light, and Tim Meadows. Instead, we got 10 episodes of case-of-the-week magic that sent Lyonne’s human polygraph Charlie Cale on a road trip through the contemporary American landscape, pausing to solve murders at barbecue joints, retirement communities, and race-car tracks. It’s an idea so irresistible, the show could’ve been made on autopilot and still charmed its target audience. Natasha Lyonne stars as a rumpled citizen detective in an homage to Columbo created by Knives Out mastermind Rian Johnson. ![]() More: Read TIME's lists of the best podcasts and video games of 2023. Like so many on this list, their shows harnessed the subversive potential of an inherently commercial medium, in stories that spoke to an industry in crisis, a society divided, and a world at war. Looking back at the highlights of 2023 in TV, I’m struck by how many first-time creators-from I’m a Virgo culture jammer Boots Riley and author turned Rain Dogs auteur Cash Carraway to Dead Ringers phenom Alice Birch and BEEF breakthrough Lee Sung Jin-emerged with bold, new visions. But if it’s easy to be pessimistic about the future, that’s all the more reason to celebrate the best of a bad year. Subscription prices skyrocketed.Īs the Hollywood machine lurches back into production mode, the long-term outlook for television as an art form remains uncertain. (A recent New York Times profile likened the strategy of WBD’s CEO, David Zaslav, to that of the Broadway impresarios who made Springtime for Hitler in The Producers.) The dreaded password-sharing crackdown finally happened. Shows with fervent fan bases didn’t just get canceled after a season or two some disappeared from streaming libraries entirely. Discovery, which had invested heavily in building proprietary streaming services, reversed course by licensing titles to other streamers. Industry giants like Disney and Warner Bros. Even before writers and actors struck for months in a largely successful effort to raise wages, secure residuals from streaming platforms, and place safeguards on such existential threats to their livelihoods as A.I., the streaming wars entered a chaotic new era characterized by cash-strapped studios’ scramble to turn a profit-or at least cut their losses. To say that 2023 has been a tumultuous year for the entertainment industry would be an understatement.
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