While 2021 might not have been the greatest of years, there was still that I managed to watch during the year and while some shows I probably should've watched (Line Of Duty, Succession) but didn't get into. I still did manage to watch a variety of stuff. Here are some of the highs and lows I had for 2021.
In terms of Ryan Murphy, I quite enjoyed current seasons of 911 and 911: Lone Star with the latter showing a marked improvement on it's first season. I did however miss Halston, which didn't seem to have any following at all and despite enjoying the first episode, I found myself not sticking with Impeachment: American Crime Story. Then there was American Horror Story: Double Feature, which started well and dove off a cliff within it's second half while spin-off series, American Horror Stories had one genuinely gripping episode while the rest felt sorely underdeveloped. As for Pose, the series might have ended too soon but it definitely went out on a high note.
This year was also a year for continuing the sequel series trend. The L Word: Generation Q added Rosie O'Donnell to the cast but did very little to warrant any interest while And Just Like That has somewhat been divisive with fans while at the same pulling in strong numbers for HBO Max. Gossip Girl upped the raciness and LGBT content while Dexter: New Blood gave a little more life into the title killer. None of these shows have successfully recaptured the magic of what came before but none of them have been out right disasters either.
Then there was Doctor Who. The year got off to a strong start with festive special, Revolution Of The Daleks while Series 13 introduced us all to John Bishop's Dan Lewis, hinted at the final days for the 13th Doctor and Yasmin Khan, saw most of the universe decimated by the Flux and gave us a campy sibling act in Swarm and Azure.We were also introduced to Karvanista, Bel and Vinder, had the return of Kate Stewart and with three specials for 2022 and Russell T. Davies back from 2023 onwards, this show isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
In terms of dramas, nothing came close for me than Russell T. Davies miniseries, It's A Sin. The five part series starring Olly Alexander and Lydia West to name a few was an incredible piece of television that got all the award love, broke streaming records for Channel 4 and tackled the AIDS crisis issue from a poignant point of view. One of the most sublime pieces of television and easily Davies most important work he's done in his career.
As for crime related material, Mare Of Easttown cemented a career high for Kate Winslet but my favourite crime series was of course, Only Murders In The Building. Steve Martin, Martin Short and Selena Gomez truly delivered as murder solving, podcasting trio Charles, Oliver and Mabel while The Long Call gave us a gay lead detective in Ben Aldridge's Matthew Venn, and though the show itself didn't stray too much from the trusted ITV format, it was still massively enjoyable.On the non crime front, I finished up the likes of Bridgerton, Chilling Adventures Of Sabrina, Schitt's Creek, Friends: The Reunion and even found both The White Lotus and The Nevers pretty enjoyable.
As for the MCU, this year they definitely dominated in both theatres and on Disney+. Keeping with the latter, both WandaVision and Hawkeye were the best ones for me. I personally found What If to be the weakest of the bunch while both The Falcon And The Winter Soldier and Loki definitely had their moments too. Let's see if the next batch of shows can match the mostly high standards that these first five (or four out of five) have set up.
Meanwhile while HBO Max have yet to debut any of their own DC shows yet, they did give us the third seasons of both Titans and Doom Patrol, with the former being a mixed bag and the latter as enjoyable as ever. Pennyworth also pulled in a stronger second run while Netflix had both the last run of Lucifer as well as the debut of Sweet Tooth. CW wise, there was the endings of both Black Lightning and Supergirl while Batwoman debuted a new version of the title character and changed the show's whole dynamic. The Flash resolved the Mirror Monarch storyline, tackled the Forces and Godspeed before going all Armageddon on us with Despero and Reverse Flash. Legends Of Tomorrow played around with aliens, magic mushrooms, stranded our team in 1925, ditched some characters and added others while Stargirl tackled both Summer School and Eclipso. However the DC highlight of the year was of course the debut of Superman And Lois, which more than lived up to it's expectations.
Last but not least, some other LGBT highlights aside from shows I mentioned earlier in the blog. Legends Of Tomorrow might have seen Matt Ryan retire the role of John Constantine but having remain as gay scientist Dr Gwyn Davies continued to highlight why he's one of the best actors on the show while fans of Sara and Ava got to see them getting married. Then there was the second season of Love, Victor which ended with a triangle between Victor, Benji and newcomer Rahim while the main love story in the Chucky series was of course between Jake and Devon.
Okay, those were my highlights of 2021- what were yours? What are you looking forward to in 2022?
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