This past season was a strong year for television — including new outings from recent best series champs in the drama (“Succession”) and comedy (“Ted Lasso”) fields. But beyond past winners, the list of entries grows so thick that voters may need a reminder of what was great — not just the most-promoted series but the ones that were idiosyncratic, intriguing and made with real sensibility.
From the shrewd humor of “Abbott Elementary,” to the way “Dopesick” and “The Staircase” went beyond the headlines to deliver insight, to the chilling vision of a world just moments away from our own experience of the office in “Severance,” TV was firing on all cylinders this year.
Even while the complaint that “there’s too much TV” remains ever relevant, the fact that there’s plenty to reward beyond the usual suspects does, too. Now, Emmy voters just need
to take the time to select the best of a seemingly boundless slate.
Variety’s chief television critics Daniel D’Addario and Caroline Framke place the spot-light on the shows that most deserve second look from the Television Academy.