The Beat’s Best Television of 2023

As the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikers fought for higher wages and remedy in Hollywood, we imbibed as many TV reveals and flicks as we might all through 2023. In addition to a handful of standout persevering with collection, this yr additionally noticed the debut of a number of must-sees ranging in style and artistic method.

This is the perfect tv of 2023, in line with employees at The Beat.

Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake

1 season, 10 episodes
Produced by Frederator Studios, Cartoon Network Studios
As seen on Max

Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake might have been a half-assed Spider-Verse rip-off. Instead, the collection digs deeper and comes up with one thing much more sudden… and by extension, far more rewarding, for the returning characters and the viewers alike. Building off of established continuity from Adventure Time and Adventure Time: Distant Lands, this intelligent evolution delivers essentially the most mature incarnation of the franchise so far. Plus, we get recent songs of such excessive caliber that they simply rank alongside classics like “Bacon Pancakes.” While the 10-episode first season will go away you wishing for extra, a current renewal announcement means the narrative potential of the present’s unusual premise will, luckily, be additional explored sooner or later. Now we simply want one other season of Distant Lands to comply with up on all of the hanging, non-Fionna and Cake Adventure Time plot threads. — Avery Kaplan

The Afterparty Season 2

1 season, 10 episodes (2 seasons, 18 episodes whole)
Produced by Lord Miller Productions, Sony Pictures Television Studios, TriStar Television
As seen on Apple TV+

I do know a spot the place a marriage and a homicide occurred—at Minnows winery for the Minnows wedding ceremony! Our intrepid lovers, Aniq and Zoë, discover themselves at one other celebration of homicide thriller tropes and genre-shifting episodes. This time, we construct out Zoë’s facet of the household and her struggles whereas Aniq fumbles with romance once more. Again, the title sequence tells the story and a secret from this whodunit’s solid of shifting viewpoints and foreshadowed plot turns. Where homage can scale back depth and voice, The Afterparty by no means fails to make use of each manufacturing division’s full creativity in always fascinating methods. See you on the after-Afterparty get together! — Beau Q.

Fall of the House of Usher

1 season, 8 episodes
Produced by Intrepid Pictures
As seen on Netflix

Film and tv applications based mostly on the fallout of the so-called “opioid epidemic” had been a dime a dozen this yr. These applications are a blended bag, typically oversimplifying a posh concern in a method that makes well-meaning ache sufferers seem like the nation’s greatest villains. However, Netflix’s tackle the collective works of Edgar Allen Poe, with every episode based mostly on a special traditional from the creator, takes a special method. In this reimaging of Poe’s works, the Usher household owns a pharmaceutical firm that’s a stand-in for Purdue Pharma, who made billions mendacity to Americans concerning the addictiveness of Oxycontin. And they honestly are the villains, not the sufferers who develop into addicted. — Rebecca Oliver Kaplan

My Adventures with Superman

1 season, 10 episodes
Produced by DC Entertainment, DC Studios, Warner Bros. Animation
As seen on Adult Swim, Max

I’ve a robust feeling a Superman renaissance is on the horizon that can hopefully culminate with the 2025 Superman: Legacy movie. In the meantime, this anime-inspired My Adventures with Superman animated collection is the textbook instance of learn how to do the character proper. Rather than draw back from the “Boy Scout” picture, the collection absolutely embraces it, depicting Clark/Superman as a quasi-Ted Lasso optimistic whereas additionally giving him some nuance. I’m in no way stunned the collection with its aforementioned anime aesthetics has resonated with viewers and garnered a devoted fanbase. Season 2 can’t arrive quickly sufficient! — Taimur Dar

Poker Face

1 season, 10 episodes
Produced by Zucks, Animal Pictures, T-Street, MRC Television
As seen on Peacock

Everyone loves a bit man down on their luck. Ask Charlie Cale, and he or she’ll let you know like it’s. No bullshit. Every episode of Poker Face is a howcatchem the place the following killer visitor stars—everyone seems to be a prime character actor in movie from comedy, surrealist, and music. Though, they’re not at all times the killer because the thriller of the week always upends the generally heady taking part in of crimson herring and unreliable narrator. Along the way in which, Charlie doesn’t at all times know the place she’s going, however she’s keen to ask, and uncover what the reality appears to be like like. I invite large little man followers to look at the mysteries on show as they’d any Columbo throwback. — Beau Q.

Scott Pilgrim Takes Off

1 season, 8 episodes
Produced by Marc Platt Productions, Complete Fiction, Faust Av, Science Saru, Universal Content Productions
As seen on Netflix

What might have been one other warmed-over rehash of Bryan Lee O’Malley‘s Scott Pilgrim graphic novel series becomes something thrilling and unexpected in Scott Pilgrim Takes Off. Drawing on all previous incarnations of the narrative (including the movie and video game), this series looks, sounds, and feels like a dream come true. The fact that, in an interview with Rolling Stone, O’Malley cited Michael Cera’s function in Twin Peaks: The Return tells you every little thing you should know earlier than watching this wonderful adaptation. Let’s hope that when the MCU reboots Spider-Man in 5 years, they hold Takes Off in thoughts. — Rebecca Oliver Kaplan

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 4

1 season, 10 episodes (4 seasons, 40 episodes whole)
Produced by CBS Studios
As seen on Paramount+

The fourth season of Star Trek: Lower Decks sees the collection arrive at a degree the place it’s comfy with its intrinsically referential nature, and Trekkies are reaping the advantages. Between additional growing leads Beckett Mariner (Tawny Newsome), D’Vana Tendi (Noël Wells) and T’Lyn (Gabrielle Ruiz), reintroducing traditional Trek characters like Nick Locarno (Robert Duncan McNeill), Rom (Max Grodénchik), and Leeta (Chase Masterson), and referencing collection creator Mike McMahan’s unforgettable Star Trek: Short Treks episode, this season fires on all cylinders. — Delta Shift

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2

1 season, 10 episodes (2 seasons, 20 episodes whole)
Produced by CBS Studios
As seen on Paramount+

Justifiably, the musical episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds season 2, “Subspace Rhapsody,” has gotten an outsized quantity of consideration. However, all ten episodes of this sophomore season are wonderful. Whether you’ve been a Trekkie because the Sixties or by no means watched a minute of Trek earlier than in your life, SNW presents a successful system. Now we simply want one other crossover with Lower Decks… — Delta Shift