| LON'S "BEST IN STREAMING" LIST FOR 2023 RETURNING SERIES CATEGORY DARK WINDS (S2) [AMC+] The "Western noir" series sticks to what works best about both genres, relating tough, gritty stories about good and evil, set against an unforgiving and ever-shifting landscape. It's an adaptation of Tony Hillerman novels written in the 1970s and '80s, but with contemporary Hollywood's renewed interest in Native American stories -- and taking the novel approach of actually working with Native talent in front of and behind the camera -- it couldn't feel more timely and relevant today. This is one of the best mystery shows out there right now. It's a real shame more people don't have AMC+. STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS (S2) [Paramount+] Too many "nostalgia" shows and legacy sequels play it safe, reworking a franchise's best and most iconic moments until they feel tired and played out. ("Ghostbusters" sequels, I'm looking in your direction.) But somehow, "Strange New Worlds" manages to perfectly skirt the line, constantly referencing classic "Trek" and doing what amounts to campy fan service, but in a way that always feels fresh, and never pandering. FOUNDATION (S2) [Apple TV+] Apple's adaptation of Isaac Asimov's influential novels took a HUGE swing this year. Centering an ongoing sci-fi drama series on just a few characters -- all of whom, for various reasons, exist outside the limits of normal human timelines -- and setting each season hundreds or even thousands of years apart almost defies viewers to lose interest. How can ANY of this actually matter if we won't see any of the consequences play out for 500 years, when everyone else in the show is long dead? Creators Josh Friedman and David Goyer deserve credit just for attempting this, but they're actually pulling it off. Season 2 was more gripping and expansive than the first, and gave veteran character actors like Jared Harris and Lee Pace even more stuff to do. I'm ready for the next time jump. THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES (S3) [Max] I don't know if any contemporary satirists truly understand America and Americans better than Jody Hill and Danny McBride. They innately grok the specific combination of arrogant bluster and sincerity that drives so many of our national heroes and figureheads. The Gemstones don't just want you to believe their insane lies and wild fabrications. They also believe it themselves. Between McBride, Walton Goggins, John Goodman, Edi Paterson, Tim Baltz, the show features a frankly unfair number of TV's funniest performances of the moment. I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE (S3) [Netflix] Each season of "I Think You Should Leave" is composed of just 6 15-minute episodes. In less than the running time of most feature films, Tim Robinson and Zach Kanin's show inspires literally hundreds, if not thousands, of running jokes that essentially power the alt-comedy internet for an entire year. I've never really seen anything like it. By waiting so long between seasons, and keeping the shows so tight, Robinson and Kanin select only their very best ideas and funniest sketches for the final cut, making it arguably the funniest minute-to-minute comedy show ever produced. SERVANT (S4) [Apple TV+] After four seasons of building dread and tension very deliberately and gradually, creator Tony Basgallop and exec producer M. Night Shyamalan actually had to figure out how to land this bizarre psychological thriller series. But while I suspect many of us expected the show to close with a bang -- a final release of all that tension in a way that was violent and shocking -- they instead found a conclusion that's appropriately strange but also hopeful, finding the humanity in not just the show's central family but even its nominal villains. Lauren Ambrose did incredible work here as traumatized Philadelphia TV correspondent Dorothy Turner. I have to feel like, if the show got more attention, she'd have Emmy buzz right now. RESERVATION DOGS (S3) [Hulu] One of the best coming-of-age shows in TV history closed out after just three seasons, which is a shame... but the kids came of age. What can you really do? Still, co-creators Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi smartly centered each season on different groups of friends. While S1 focused on the titular teen clique, Season 2 introduced us a bit more to their parents, and then S3 broadened the view even more, to take in their grandparents and "elders." By the time you get to the season finale, it's like saying goodbye to an entire community, whose stories have been told with an uncommon richness and vibrancy and emotional intelligence for television. I'm gonna miss them. THE BEAR (S2) [Hulu] "The Bear" is a funny quotable show populated by charming eccentrics, but I think what people respond to so much is that it's hopeful and inspiring without being sappy or unrealistic. This is not a fantasy about how everyone's dreams come true. Honestly, it's more of a dark and bitter look at aging people who feel like failures! But still, at its core, this is a story about how second (and maybe even third?) chances are real, if you are brave and strong enough to pursue them. But not everybody is! It's like the TV version of tough love. SUCCESSION (S4) [Max] We all basically knew how "Succession" was going to end. Plot-wise, these events were telescoped at the beginning of Season 1, and it's sort of right there in the title. The Roy kids would either succeed their father or, as it turns out, they would not. But in spite of the inevitability of its premise, and all of the cultural pressure not to invest in the Roys emotionally (because they're billionaires and therefore bad people), it was impossible to wrap up this show without caring at least a little bit about how this was all impacting Kendall and Roman and Shiv as human beings, despite all their wealth and privilege and crappiness. That's what it means when we call things "Shakespearean." Not just that it's a drama about kings and queens, but that it's a recognition that kings and queens are still just people. They're dressed fancier in bigger homes than ours but they still feel lost and sad and confused. | 
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