The 9 best TV shows of 2023 (so far)

Wow, we've reached the midpoint of the year already? And the binge-worthy TV shows just! keep! coming! With Emmy nominations just a week away, TV critic Kristen Baldwin shares her picks for the series that deserve to be in the running this year — and next.

<em>American Born Chinese</em> (Disney+)

This extraordinarily fun and uplifting action-comedy from Kelvin Yu (Bob's Burgers) follows Jin Wang (Ben Wang), an incoming 10th grader at Sierra Mona High School. Jin's quest to fit in as a "regular guy" is thrown asunder on the first day of classes, when the principal (Jennifer Irwin) taps him to show new student Wei-Chen (Jimmy Liu) around the school, "since you two have so much in common." They don't, in fact. Wei-Chen is the son of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King (Daniel Wu). He and Guanyin, the Goddess of Compassion (Michelle Yeoh), have come to Earth from the Heavenly Realm to stop an uprising by the Bull Demon (Leonard Wu) — and Wei-Chen needs Jin to be his guide. Adapted from Gene Luen Yang's beloved graphic novel, American Born Chinese presents an inviting blend of heartfelt coming-of-age humor and exhilarating martial-arts action. (Read the full review.)

<em>Barry</em> (HBO)

Despairing hitman Barry Berkman (Bill Hader) took his atonement efforts to the extreme in the fourth and final season. Are each of us more than the worst thing we've ever done? None of the characters — not Barry, nor his mentor/tormentor Fuches (Stephen Root), vainglorious acting teacher Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler), Chechen cartel frenemy NoHo Hank (Anthony Carrigan), or spiraling girlfriend Sally (Sarah Goldberg) — was ready to shed the destructive patterns of their past, and they remained stubbornly stymied by the idea that they had any other choice. With astonishing performances, bursts of hilarious absurdity, a surprise midseason twist, and meditative direction by Hader, the final season of Barry delivered a pensive and beautifully peculiar deconstruction of our need for redemption and the (im)possibility of true change. (Read the full review.)

<em>Harlem</em> (Prime Video)

In season 2, Tracy Oliver's terrific comedy about four friends in the titular NYC neighborhood elevates its keen wit, engrossing relationship drama, and sly cultural commentary with even more confidence. The central foursome — anthropology professor Camille (Meagan Good), fashion designer Quinn (Grace Byers), queer tech exec Tye (Jerrie Johnson), and aspiring actress Angie (Shoniqua Shandai) — spend much of the eight-episode season contemplating their future, and what legacy, familial or otherwise, they want to leave behind. For women in their 30s, that means questions about fertility and potential parenthood, something Camille and her on-again boyfriend, Ian (Tyler Lepley), don't necessarily align on. Harlem intertwines weightier topics like this with playful and pointed observations on the pursuit of love, career, and Black joy. Plus, the show's pop culture satire reaches Good Fight levels of brilliance when Angie lands a supporting role in a Hallmark movie and is introduced to the network's cult of (very white) Christmas. (Read the full review.)

<em>I Hate Suzie Too</em> (Max)

Yes, the second season of I Hate Suzie came out on Dec. 20, 2022, but its brilliance defies temporal boundaries. In this stunning three-episode coda, co-creators Billie Piper and Lucy Prebble bring their flawed, ferociously human protagonist to giddy new heights of acceptance while pulling her heart even deeper into the abyss. After photographic evidence of her infidelity was splashed all over the tabloids thanks to a phone hack, scandal-plagued actress and mother Suzie Pickles (Piper) is hoping to rehab her image by winning the reality TV competition Dance Crazee. It's a painfully public way to do penance, but the job market doesn't offer many options for disgraced former child stars. Piper is, once again, astounding as Suzie, fusing heartache with gallows humor and rage with stinging resignation. As the competition's finale draws closer, Suzie's TV-ready smile slowly shifts from dazzling to demented, and victory begins to look a whole lot like annihilation. (Read the full review.)

<em>I'm a Virgo</em> (Prime Video)

In his audacious comedy, writer-director Boots Riley (Sorry to Bother You) blends absurdist humor, dazzling visual metaphors, animation, and a blistering critique of capitalism to create a coming-of-age story that is unassailably original. Virgo follows the adventures of Cootie (Emmy-winner Jharrel Jerome), a 13-foot-tall Black teenager in Oakland. Raised in secrecy by his loving but strict aunt Lafrancine (Carmen Ejogo) and uncle Martisse (Mike Epps), Cootie has no sense of what it means to be a Black man (of any size) today, and no understanding of the myriad forces that keep his community in a perpetual state of struggle. Befriended by local activists Felix (Brett Gray), Scat (Allius Barnes), and Jones (Kara Young), and targeted by a billionaire vigilante who calls himself The Hero (Walton Goggins), Cootie soon realizes he must define himself before society does it for him. As he did with his breakout debut film Sorry to Bother You, Riley, who directs all seven episodes, places his characters in a hilariously bizarre, reality-adjacent world to deliver his searing social satire. (Read the full review.)

<em>Mrs. Davis</em> (Peacock)

Sister Simone (the incomparable Betty Gilpin) lives a peaceful and unplugged life in Reno, Nevada at the Our Lady of the Immaculate Valley convent. Unlike almost every other person on the planet, Simone refuses to engage with Mrs. Davis, a powerful and ubiquitous AI program that provides users with "gentle guidance" and "unconditional care" through their ever-present earpieces. But when Mrs. Davis  offers Simone a deal — find and destroy the Holy Grail, and the AI will shut itself down for good — the nun embarks on a hero's journey, with the help of an anti-Mrs. Davis resistance group led by her ex-boyfriend, Wiley (Jake McDorman). Created by Tara Hernandez (The Big Bang Theory) and Damon Lindelof (Watchmen), Mrs. Davis is a wonderfully wackadoodle work of meta that never stops winking as it unspools a story about mothers and daughters, forgiveness, faith, and free will. (Read the full review.)

<em>Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story</em> (Netflix)

In this lavish, thoughtful expansion of Julia Quinn's Bridgerton saga, creator Shonda Rhimes blends a swoony and bittersweet love story with a deeper exploration of the women who led a hard-fought battle for equality in the 'ton. Charlotte (India Amarteifio) is just 17 years old when she's promised to Britain's King George III (Corey Mylchreest). To ensure the public's approval of the King's interracial marriage, Parliament launches the "Great Experiment," integrating high society by bestowing land and titles on wealthy people of color. Charlotte quickly learns that if her marriage implodes due to the King's burgeoning "madness," so much more than the monarchy will crumble. Amarteifio is an absolute star, balancing the hauteur of a headstrong young woman with the quiet yearning of a child, and newcomer Arsema Thomas brings a sparkling shrewdness to young Lady Danbury. The present-day timeline — which takes place shortly after Bridgerton season 2 — offers a welcome showcase for Adjoa Andoh (Lady Danbury), Ruth Gemmell (Violet Bridgerton), and fan favorite Golda Rosheuvel as the Queen.  (Read the full review.)

<em>Succession</em> (HBO)

World domination comes at a price. But is it worth it? In the remorseless and rewarding final season, Jesse Armstrong's excoriating examination of one-percent dysfunction and a family poisoned by power took impressive risks without sacrificing the character dynamics that made it so viscerally satisfying. We saw flashes of intense closeness between Kendall (Jeremy Strong), Shiv (Sarah Snook), Roman (Kieran Culkin), and Connor (Alan Ruck) after the demise of dear old dad (Brian Cox), but in the end, the Roy heirs reverted to their primal state as broken children. It was Logan Roy's final "f--- off" from beyond the grave, driving his children to resent one another so much that they'd rather lose it all than let one of them win. In lesser hands, Succession's characters would all be standard-issue villains we'd reflexively love to hate. Instead, they were tragic figures we agonized over, laughed at, ached for, and hated to love — an alchemy achieved through the brilliance of its writing and the transformative talent of its ensemble. (Read the full review.)

<em>The Bear</em> (FX/Hulu)

"I have to remind myself to breathe sometimes," admits Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) in the stirring sophomore season of Christopher Storer's culinary dramedy. This time around, The Bear makes a similar effort to find calm amid the ever-whirling cyclone of chaos and suspense, as it pushes the key characters outside of their discomfort zones into the territory of personal growth. Sydney (Ayo Edebiri), who can't shake the feeling that her father (Robert Townsend) thinks her latest culinary venture will fail, finds an unlikely source of comfort in a famous basketball coach. Unsure of his place in Carmy's new fine-dining vision, cousin Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) embarks somewhat reluctantly on a journey to find his purpose. And Carmy, the guy who literally had to Google "fun," begins to toy with the idea that allowing himself a little happiness — perhaps with his childhood crush, Claire (Molly Gordon) — might actually make him even better at what he does. Stuffed with thrilling guest stars and cathartic emotional revelations, The Bear has transformed from something beautiful into something completely breathtaking. (Read the full review.)

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