Two contestants plot a survival strategy in Squid Game. Photo / Netflix
Freedom, lengthy lockdowns, and uncertainty. Those are just three of the words we could use to describe 2022. But what about the shows that had us locked to our streaming services and television screens this year?
Lydia Burgham discusses the five best shows of the year and declares why they stood out, and teases the ones you should keep an eye out for and binge as soon as they are released.
Where to watch: Apple TV+
I never thought a show about a football team could have so much heart. When I look back on my year of binge-watches, Apple TV's comedy about an American football coach who inspires a bunch of hard-as-nails British lads to be better people is the brightest spark.
Jason Sudeikis and the Ted Lasso team cleaned up at the Emmy awards in 2021, and for the uninitiated, there are several factors that point to its beloved status. For one, it's a character-driven comedy bursting at the seams with heart.
The ensemble cast, including that swearing but absolutely loveable Roy Kent and the effervescent Keely Jones carry what should be a show with a simple premise to one that is racing headfirst towards classic status.
It is a comedy about sport for the people who also read books by Brené Brown. Ted Lasso isn't afraid to stray from the conventions of what we expect, and viewers like myself fell in love with the show because of that.
Where to watch: TVNZ OnDemand
On my slate of television viewing, there are shows I watch because I need a laugh or want to be on the edge of my seat, and then there are the ones that move me.
It's A Sin is a mini-series that made me laugh and burst into tears in the same episode. Set during the Aids crisis in 1980s London, It's A Sin is as heartwarming as it is devastating. It's packed with powerful performances and lessons in friendship, family and acceptance.
Olly Alexander gives one of my favourite performances of the year as Ritchie. The show is one I wish everyone could watch so they could be transported out of their comfortable world view and into the worlds of those who experienced unthinkable trauma because of who they love. But It's A Sin is far from just a tragic story – in fact, it presents the very notion that bravely loving friends, partners, and family for who they are is the most powerful force of all.
Where to watch: Neon
Murray Bartlett, Alexandra Daddario, Jennifer Coolidge, Sydney Sweeney, Connie Britton, and Jake Lacy lead Mike White's dark satire to humorous heights.
The White Lotus was a shining example of how to make good television amid Covid-19 restrictions, and it stands out to me as one of the most memorable binges of the year.
It is outrageous, deeply funny and at times ridiculous. But those qualities are what attracted its cult following. Unsurprisingly it was renewed for a second season, and I put it on the record that Taika Waititi is the only appropriate choice to play the resort manager. Just picture it.
Where to watch: Neon
It doesn't get any more of a high stakes family drama when there are literally billions of dollars at stake. The third season of Succession had no right to go as hard as it did – whether it be Kendall's outrageous 40th birthday party or leaving viewers hanging about the fate of the main character before the final episode of the season.
Succession is good because it is a show about how much our blood relatives can push our buttons presented as a Shakespearean series about a dying media conglomerate. I found myself feeling sorry for and despising different characters in each episode. There is no denying the Roy siblings are anything but terrible people, but the real strength of the show is the deceptive levels of empathy it creates.
Without giving much away in case you haven't binged the third season, I absolutely underestimated the smartest character on the show this season. I'll give you a hint: the actor played Mr Darcy in 2004's Pride and Prejudice.
Where to watch: Netflix
It was the show that launched a new cultural phenomenon. Just like Bong Joon-ho's Parasite did when it took home best picture at the Oscars, Squid Game reached into our minds and forced the globe to pay attention to the fantastic content that is emerging from South Korea.
Culture editor Karl Puschmann wrote: This South Korean survival-horror series riffs on the premises depicted in movies and books like The Hunger Games, Battle Royale and the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger classic The Running Man. You have a bunch of people competing in "games" where the losers aren't voted out, or sent home, but are instead murdered.
But unlike those aforementioned properties which are set far off in the future, Squid Game is set in the here and now. What's most shocking about it isn't all the incredibly bloody death but rather how depressingly believable it feels."
There is something about content about modern-day scammers that lights a bright flame in the entertainment sphere. Thanks to Shonda Rhimes we are getting a drama series about one of the most intriguing scams of the modern era: Anna Delvey tricking New York's elite into believing that she was a rich heiress.
Because this is Rhimes we are talking about, there is a reason she wanted to make something about this story beyond the obvious hook.
Part of the synopsis reads: "But is Anna New York's biggest con woman, or is she simply the new portrait of the American dream?"
Was she really the worst scammer we could imagine, or are there actually white-collar criminals doing far worse than pretending to be a rich socialite? I'll leave the show to answer that question.
Where to watch: Netflix from February 11
I don't care if anyone accuses me of being an 80-year-old woman in a 24-year-old's body – I love Downton Abbey and a good period piece. My prayers for the perfect winter watch have been answered in the form of the Gilded Age, created by Julian Fellowes who was the mastermind behind Abbey.
While my forgiveness capacity remains slim for killing off not one, but two, of the best characters on Downtown Abbey, his next show looks like it could almost make up for that.
Set in the United States during the so-called Gilded Age (think the roaring 20s, but 1880s version), Fellowes' new series looks like it will be everything we knew and loved about Downtown with a dash of old-timey NYC flair.
Where to watch: Neon from January 24
The first half of the season is already generating a sizeable amount of buzz online, but I predict this will be the show everyone talks about in the first few months of the new year.
It helps that Station Eleven is based on the best-selling novel by Emily St. John Mandel, and that the post-apocalyptic tale plays just a little close to home in the age of Covid-19.
It is set 20 years after a flu pandemic has resulted in the collapse of civilisation and followers a group of survivors who make their living as traveling performers. Not sold yet? Let the trailer do that for you.
Where to watch: Neon from December 16
When Euphoria was released in 2019 – there were two camps of critics. One: the horrified viewers who thought the show as too vulgar in its portrayal of modern-day teenagers, and two: the core audience who rejoiced at the show's honest portrait on the pressures of young people in the modern world.
For me, Euphoria was both confronting and impossible to look away from. Zendaya and Hunter Schafer dazzled in the first season, and I cannot wait to see what happens to Rue and Jules next.
Thanks to the pandemic we got two bonus episodes told from the perspectives of Rue and Jules, and it showed just how masterful Sam Levinson's character development is. It's clear the actors care deeply about the people they play and is yet again a testament to artistic and thoughtful writing.
Where to watch: Neon
It seems like an age when the last season of Netflix's flagship show left off on that cliffhanger, but 2022 is set to be the year where we finally find out the fate of the characters.
What we know is this: Hopper is imprisoned in Russia, and a new horror is beginning to surface that could connect and change everything we thought we knew.
As is the case with a show as massive as Stranger Things, more details are under lock and key, but think of it as a return to a binge-watch that you know will have you hanging on for more.
Where to watch: Netflix
Ebony Lamb performs Successful Feelings. Made with funding from NZ On Air. Video / Locals Only