The Best and Worst TV of 2022–Part Two

(Editor’s Note: Book and Film Globe employs only the best TV critics. None of the worst. Therefore, we are running a seemingly endless series of Best and Worst TV lists for 2022. Now, JonPaul Guinn takes his shot). 

Best

Our Flag Means Death (HBO Max)

Take the awkward managerial style of Murray from “Flight of the Conchords,” add a puffy shirt, and more than a dash of bi-curiosity: that’s the winning formula for Rhys Darby’s wannabe gentleman pirate captain, Stede Bonnet. Taika Waititi’s Blackbeard is a leather pants good time, but the whole hilarious ensemble make this very proudly queer show worth watching repeatedly.

Better Call Saul (AMC)

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s on everyone’s list but it really should be. My confidence in Vince Gilligan is so high right now that I’d watch a whole Skinny Pete spin-off.

Jeopardy! (Syndicated)

Welcome to the Schneider-verse: Amy Schneider wrapped up a 40-game win streak near the beginning of the year and won the Tournament of Champions in November. We still miss Alex but “Jeopardy” remains the most consistently satisfying show on television.

What We Do in the Shadows (AMC)

They resurrected energy vampire Colin Robinson as an adult-headed vaudeville child prodigy. If that joke wasn’t weird enough, there’s been a deadpan djinn and a “Property Brothers” spoof with the Sklar brothers. WWDITS might be better now than it ever has been.

Euphoria (HBO Max)

Thousands of memes launched in the season premiere when Fez (Angus Cloud) dropped his digits on Lexi (Maude Apatow) after smacking the business out of scummy Nate (Jacob Elordi). And that was way before Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) barfed in a bathtub, and way, way before everybody got to spend the season finale going, “Holy shit! What’s the budget of that high school’s theatre department?” “Euphoria” is perfection and I can’t wait for season three.

 Worst

The Walking Dead (AMC)
The show runners took a lot of wild swings in the final season of this once venerable show. Those did kind of pull it out of the glum rut it had been in since Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) introduced Glen (Steven Yeun) to Lucille (a baseball bat). But when did it stop being a zombie show?

Let the Right One In (Showtime)

After two successful film adaptations of John Ajvide Lindqvist’s complicated novel, I was looking forward to something that had the space to explore some of the themes the movies didn’t have time to touch. Instead, the lead vampire is a reluctant bloodsucker with a protective dad. It renders the whole exercise a bit toothless.

Search Party (HBO Max)

I don’t get it. I’m tired of fans lecturing me about why I don’t get it. I’m glad it’s going away. This probably says more about my life than the show.

The Terminal List (Amazon Prime)

NAVY Seals shouldn’t be boring. Chris Pratt has a real “Hey, Spike!” vibe to his take on red, white, and blue machismo. Add this to “Jack Ryan” on Prime’s pile of underwhelming dad fiction shows.

House Hunters (HGTV)

Other than cable news, this is my least favorite thing on TV ever. Like cable news, it somehow ends up on airport TVs and then I have to listen to bougie twits fret over wainscoting and sconces while I’m just trying to visit family in Wisconsin.