From Captain Holt to bonkers plot twists to strong female characters, with plenty in between.
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Thanksgiving is a time for reflection. A time to look back on the previous year and be grateful for all the things that brought you joy. A time to sit around in sweatpants and watch television after filling your stomach with turkey and sides. And so, with all of that in mind, the Uproxx staff decided to make a list of the television-related things we were thankful for this year. Feel free to add yours below.
I am thankful for a lot of TV things that happened this year. So many things. There was a lot of great TV this year and a lot of great fun/bad/memorable things that happened. I can’t limit it to one. So I’ll make a short list:
I am thankful for every time Mike Ehrmantraut grunted on Better Call Saul.
I am thankful for the new evil ice dragon on Game of Thrones.
I am thankful for everything that happened on The Good Place, especially Ted Danson, and especially Janet.
I am thankful for the time on American Gods that a lady kicked a man’s spine out of his body via foot to the groin.
I am thankful for the time Bob Benson from Mad Men threw a car into a volcano on Zoo.
I am thankful for the final season of The Leftovers and for all the times it allowed me to say the phrase “lion sex boat.”
I am thankful for the final season of Halt and Catch Fire and all the times it made me cry.
But most of all, I am thankful for the time the Australian government gave the Young Pope a kangaroo. We should never forget that happened. — Brian Grubb
I am thankful Riverdale continues to lose its damn mind. The show was always a little bit unhinged, but the second season is rolling with it hard. There’s a murderous vigilante! Archie starts a band of anonymous crimefighters! Jughead is becoming the Michael Corleone of bucolic hamlets! Between this and the reliably bonkers Gotham, it’s giving broadcast TV the shot of weird it needs. — Dan Seitz
This year, I am thankful for Jerrod Carmichael — as well as everything being thankful for him entails. And I mean everything — his appearance in Jay-Z’s phenomenal “Moonlight” video, his acting chops in Transformers: The Last Knight, and his voiceover work in Amazon’s ridiculous Comrade Detective series. Yet when it comes to being truly thankful for everything Carmichael has contributed to entertainment in 2017, I’m referring mostly to his stellar work behind and in front of the television cameras. In March, he and fellow comic Bo Burnham made what was then — and arguably still is — one of the best stand-up specials of the year. Meanwhile, Carmichael pushed The Carmichael Show as far as NBC would allow him to… until both parties decided to call it quits. But never fear, for the 30-year-old comedy polymath signed a massive deal with 20th Century Fox Television in September — meaning his work will progress uninterrupted for the next two years. Right now, when we need his signature brand of humor most, Carmichael won’t be leaving the spotlight anytime soon. So yeah, I’m pretty damn thankful for him. — Andrew Husband
Netflix
This year I’m most thankful for whoever did all the dicks. (I mean it was [redacted], obviously, but that’s beside the point.) American Vandal wasn’t the best show of the year, or even the best Netflix show of the year, for that matter — but the Serial / Making a Murderer spoof was the one that caught me the most off guard in how delightfully, whimsically vulgar it was. And what started out as basically an elaborate dick joke nevertheless managed to enthrall over the course of eight episodes with the real mystery of the doer of the dicks. Vandal is trying to capture lightning in a jar with a sequel in 2018 that may or may not involve more dicks, but, in the meantime I would 100% watch a Baby Farting spinoff web series. — Stacey Ritzen
I’m thankful for Jimmy from The Mick. While the show might not be critically adored, Scott MacArthur’s dirtbag significant other father figure brings a lot to love to the table. Jimmy is extremely confident without any credible reason to feel that way and balances a worldly code of honor with the type of scummery that reminds me of my beloved late uncle. He’d be the perfect addition to any Thanksgiving gathering, especially if there was a chance to do something mildly illegal and possibly cook the turkey using fireworks and gasoline. — Andrew Roberts
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I am thankful for Brian Grubb, whose recaps made me take a chance on Zoo.
