The 10 Best TV Shows of 2020

Vanity Fair said #10: Uncomfortable, comical, and at times painful, Ramy’s second season has a way of staying with you.

Vanity Fair said #9: The five episodes that debuted this year introduce far more human civilization than last year, bringing mythical creatures, a vast variety of dinosaurs, and ancient human behavior together in a fascinating and disturbing meditation on what it means to be alive.

Vanity Fair said #8: A show so concerned with the power of the moment, that grows all of its plot threads with slow precision, is exactly attuned to the ongoing difficulty of coping with the vast nonevent that has been this year.

Vanity Fair said #7: NBA basketball: As every live event of 2020 was getting canceled, ESPN’s The Last Dance whet our appetites for the delicious character drama of sports. Then the NBA made the impossible possible: It safely brought back basketball and managed to get away with two and a half months of sweaty, face-to-face contact without a single positive COVID case.

Vanity Fair said #6: Plot Against America expertly connects the dots between Roth’s imagined American dystopia and the serious challenges to democracy brought on by the Trump administration.

Vanity Fair said #5: Broadway: COVID-19 didn’t just shut down Broadway—it shut down the entire medium of theater, from community productions to mainstage extravaganzas. Of course there is the Disney+ release of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton, the cultural juggernaut that’s dominated the conversation for years despite the hundreds of dollars it costs to get a glimpse of it.

Vanity Fair said #4: As a whole, it’s phenomenal—a series of underacknowledged histories that are beautiful to look at and brilliantly acted, with well-known performers like John Boyega and Letitia Wright, newcomers like Sheyi Cole and Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn, and perennial background players in lead roles, like Shaun Parkes as the Mangrove’s proprietor, Frank Crichlow.

Vanity Fair said #3: Even on Disney+, the show has become appointment viewing for me, and a pleasant reminder that even a corporate boondoggle of a franchise can still retain its heart.

Vanity Fair said #2: The sumptuous production and costuming of this living history play remain top-notch, making it feel like a slightly forbidden, voyeuristic viewing experience.

Vanity Fair said #1: More than any other show this year, How To With John Wilson feels like the sum total of what we lost in 2020—and on the flip side, suggests at least an idea of what we might have gained too.