Forget games, 2015 had some great TV

Honestly, free time for me is not what it once was. I don't always have the time to get invested in a big video game and even when I do, sometimes I just don't feel like it. Sometimes you just want some entertainment that doesn't require anything more than your eyes and ears. Ok, maybe you guys don't but I do. I received more enjoyment from these TV shows than I did from the video games I played this year. That said, if you are really curious about my GotY, you can read that list here. Anyway, here are my 10 (actually 11) favorite shows that I watched this year. Feel free to click on the title of the show in the header to go to the youtube link for that shows intro/opening credits.

Note: I am talking about the episodes that were released this year for the following shows. Because of the way some shows split up seasons and air the first half of a season at the end of the year and the second half at the beginning of the year, that means I am talking about the back end of one season and the first half of the following season. Does that make sense? It makes sense in my head.

10. The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead has had its ups and downs over the years. After being down for quite a while, the episodes we got this year were fantastic. Having Alexandria as a base has been a nice change of pace after having been on the road for way too long. It is also great that they have made the zombies a threat again just by the sheer number of them that they have thrown at the characters. However, I feel like the group has gotten to be too big and the writers don't know how to have them all in the same area at the same time. Once again we have several different groups running around and the show cycles through them week to week. That means we end up having to wait multiple weeks to get more information on each plot thread. Couple that with the fact that the first half of season six has taken place over the course of like two or three days and it feels like it is taking a long time to get anywhere. I have no doubt in my mind that this plot would be better served if it was binged all at once but watching it week to week can be pretty damn painful. With some better pacing this show would be something really special.

9. The Flash/Arrow

These shows are two sides of the same coin. The Arrowverse continues to be amazing as it expands the cast of characters, most recently adding motherfucking Hawkgirl to the universe. These shows have made me care about the DC Universe, something only Brave and the Bold had ever done before. Both shows are not without there problems. The Flash suffers from being a monster of the week show with the overarching plot inching forward at a very slow pace. Arrow suffers from some pretty terrible and stiff fight choreography that makes me feel like I am watching Power Rangers. That said, both these shows are a really fun ride. They have fully embraced there ridiculousness and they are pretty much live action cartoons at this point. I cannot wait for Legends of Tomorrow to begin.

8. Jessica Jones

Super strength is about as boring and generic a power as you can possibly have. So how the hell do you possibly make an interesting show out of a lady who can punch hard? You give her an interesting villain. Killgrave is a great antagonist and the show does a great job of making him a layered motherfucker who is quite the piece of shit. Jessica Jones delves into some pretty dark themes and it is pretty surprising that Disney allowed this to coexist in the same world as Ant-Man and Captain America. That said, the show has some problems. The twin is hugely obnoxious, and all of the characters are wildly incompetent. By the time you reach episode 10 you will likely have said "come on, are you fucking serious?" more than a few times. That said, it is still a great show and I look forward to seeing more of Jessica Jones in future Netflix Marvel shows.

7. Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

This year just cemented what I was already saying last year. John Oliver has managed to take and perfect what Jon Stewart had been doing for years. The weekly in depth look at a topic are the highlight and it is amazing that they release them online, free for everyone. His chat with Edward Snowden was particularly great, so I shall leave this here for those of you who haven't seen it yet. The interview itself starts 15 minutes in, but it is worth watching the first half if your knowledge on the subject is a little fuzzy.

6. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has gone from being a fun companion to the Marvel movies that release in theaters to being a great show in its own right. The end of season 2 leaned heavily into the inhuman stuff and also tied in completely beautifully to Avengers: Age of Ultron. Age of Ultron starts with a big action sequence and it was really fantastic to get to see how the Avengers got the intel for that mission in the first place. Season 3 has managed to somehow surpass the last season and has been spectacular in managing to juggle multiple parts and making all of them just as interesting as one another. The show has done a fantastic job of making sure there is no central main character. Each of the main agents gets equal attention and they all feel equally important and are equally fleshed out. The Dubsmash War they had with the Agent Carter folks was also a ton of fun to follow in all its ridiculousness.

5. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

This show came out of nowhere for me. I had heard nothing about it and just checked it out when it hit Netflix. Holy shit was I blown away with how great it was. In a world with so many mean spirited comedies it is nice to have a show like this with a main character that is always cheerful and looks on the bright side. The show is filled with fantastic zingers and lovable characters. Watching this show would put me in a good mood, and I had to force myself not to burn through every episode all at once because I wanted stretch my time out with this show as long as possible. If you have a Netflix account and haven't watched this yet, go do so. Now. I guarantee you will like it. Unless you have no soul. In which case you may not like it.

4. One Piece (English Dub)

I don't particularly care for anime. Outside of Dragon Ball Z and the first few seasons of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh, I never really saw much growing up. A big reason for that is a vocal segment of anime fans who claim that dubbed anime is worse than Hitler and if you don't watch with subtitles you are a piece of shit. Anyway, I am here to tell you not to listen to those motherfuckers. One Piece is a fantastic show and worth watching in English. I watch it through the Funimation app which adds a new batch of around 12 episodes every month and a half or so. As a reference for those of you who watch the show in Japanese, the episodes that released in English this year were episodes 361-433. Both the Thriller Bark and Sabaody Archipelago arcs were without a doubt some of my favorites of the series so far. Thriller Bark was basically Scooby Doo: One Piece edition while Sabaody did a good job of showing just where the Straw Hats lie in terms of power and reputation in the world. The show is basically pirate superheroes, if that sounds even the least bit interesting, you should check it out. I also recommend it to anyone who is a fan of Dragon Ball Z, this show is better in pretty much every way.

3. Daredevil

In case you couldn't tell by this list, I really like superhero shows. Daredevil was a clear notch above the rest though. The show has a fantastic cast and every actor fit their role perfectly. Vincent D'Onofrio in particular stole the show as Wilson Fisk. He played the character with an awkward swagger and had a commanding presence that we haven't seen from any other villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe thus far. The action was fantastically brutal and well choreographed so that it didn't look babbys first fight scene (looking at you Arrow). While not the most original scene in the world, the hallway fight is a good example of just how well done the action is in this show, and it happens in the second episode so it is about as spoiler free an example as you are going to get. The story is also great and it plants plenty of seeds for both the future of Daredevil and the other Defenders. If I have one complaint it is that we did not see enough of Matt Murdock in trial. I really hope we get more of that in season 2.

2. Prison School

Once again, I don't really care for anime. I have a subscription to the Funimation streaming service but that is only for One Piece as it is only $60 and it is the cheapest legal way to watch the dubs. Anyway part of the reason I don't care for anime is the aforementioned obnoxious fans that insist on watching with subs. The other reason is that a lot of anime is really creepy and gross, as though it is being made exclusively for horny teenagers. Prison School is fantastic because it takes all those tropes and cranks them up to 11 in what is the most hilarious show I have seen in a really long time. It is a lot of juvenile humor and slap stick comedy but something about it just resonated with me because of just how ridiculous and over the top it was. I of course saw the English dub (because I am not an asshole) and it was nice that Funimation streamed both the English and Japanese shows almost simultaneously (the English episodes were only about three episodes behind). Also worth noting that there is a throw away joke about "gamer gate" people being creeps in the dub that wasn't in Japanese version and it apparently caused quite the mini shit storm with people claiming they were going to boycott Funimation. Anything those crazies hate can't be all bad right?

1. Sense8

In just a single season this show has managed to cement itself as one of my favorite shows of all time. I put it right next Twin Peaks at the tippy top of all time great shows. The Wachowskis have created something truly spectacular that has the same je ne sais quoi that made Twin Peaks so wonderful. There are eight main characters and each one has there own main plot and side characters and everything. And then on top of this there is a larger overarching mystery that is slowly chipped away at over time. It is not as singularly focused as Twin Peaks and thus it makes it hard to boil down what the hell the show is even about in a single sentence so I will steal this from Wikipedia: "The plot revolves around eight strangers from different parts of the world who suddenly become mentally and emotionally linked." It is a bit of a slow burn at the start as it takes its time building the world and showing rather than telling what abilities these people have. It will leave you with multiple questions but the show does a pretty good job of answering most of them organically as the show progresses. The shows soundtrack is also ace and the intro is spectacular. Anyways, I realize I have written a lot of mush here and anyone who doesn't know what the show is about likely still doesn't know. So I will just leave this clip here and strongly recommend that you check out the show on Netflix.