Warning: While we’ve done our best not to spoil anything too important, please note that this list contains some specific references to several of the shows listed.

It’s been another boom year for television, as streaming continued to dominate vengefully, bringing us spy thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, haunted superheroes, gritty inner-city drama, and feel-good drama. As a matter of fact, this is the first year without a single major network series on Ars’ year-end list.

Who knows how long this abundance of creative goodness will last? Nearly every major streamer, including Netflix, reported at least some losses in 2022, and the outlook for next year is cloudy at best. Budgets are being cut, streamers are consolidating and promising shows are being canceled left and right as streaming services adapt to the changing market environment. In any case, we are still reaping the benefits of the investments of recent years for the time being. Our top TV picks for 2022 are listed below, in no particular order. Be sure to weigh in with your own favorite 2022 shows in the comments.

House of the Dragon

Making a prequel to a beloved series is never easy, especially when it’s a prequel to one of the most influential blockbuster series of the past decade — one that smelled so bad in its finale that it alienated some of its most devoted fans. HBOs House of the Dragon rose to the challenge and debuted in August with a solid, promising pilot episode. The rest of the season lived up to that initial promise.

The series is set about 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and describes the beginning of the end of House Targaryen’s reign. The primary source material is Fire and blood, a fictional history of the Targaryen kings written by George R. R. Martin. As book readers know, those events culminated in civil war and the extinction of the dragons – at least until Daenerys Targaryen came along. It is King Viserys I Targaryen’s (Paddy Considine) fateful decision to name his fierce dragon-rider daughter Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) as his heir – bypassing his brother and heir presumptive Daemon (Matt Smith) – that sets the events in motion. sets. As Rhaenys Velaryon (Eve Best) – aka the “Queen Who Never Was,” because she was passed over when Viserys was crowned – knows all too well: “Men would rather set the realm on fire than see a woman take the Iron Throne mount. .”

House of the Dragon lacks the overwhelming epic scope and multiple storylines of Game of Thrones, focusing instead on exploring the complex core relationships and family dynamics that will eventually lead to civil war. The first season spans many years and makes some pretty big time jumps, requiring the younger actors to be replaced as their characters got older. For example, Emma D’Arcy plays the older version of Rhaenyra. Perhaps it might have been better to simply compress the timeline, or spread the events over two seasons, but then the pace might have fallen behind. And the time jumps aren’t particularly shocking until the final episodes, when one is tempted to hit pause and draw up a genealogy chart to keep track of all the incestuous marriages and generations of silver-haired descendants.

It’s still a compelling, entertaining series, with plenty of personal conflict and political intrigue, plus dragons aplenty. House features a particularly gifted stellar cast, and yet Matt Smith somehow steals every scene as Daemon – even when he’s just grinning. And his chemistry with D’Arcy largely offsets the quick factor of their eventual pairing and marriage. The S1 finale brought Westeros to the brink of civil war, and we can’t wait for S2 to see that conflict play out.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Warning: While we’ve tried our best not to spoil anything too important, please note that this list contains some specific references to several of the shows listed.

It’s been another boom year for television, as streaming continued to dominate vengefully, bringing us spy thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, haunted superheroes, gritty inner-city drama, and feel-good drama. As a matter of fact, this is the first year without a single major network series on Ars’ year-end list.

Who knows how long this abundance of creative goodness will last? Nearly every major streamer, including Netflix, reported at least some losses in 2022, and the outlook for next year is cloudy at best. Budgets are being cut, streamers are consolidating and promising shows are being canceled left and right as streaming services adapt to the changing market environment. In any case, we are still reaping the benefits of the investments of recent years for the time being. Our top TV picks for 2022 are listed below, in no particular order. Be sure to weigh in with your own favorite 2022 shows in the comments.

House of the Dragon

Making a prequel to a beloved series is never easy, especially when it’s a prequel to one of the most influential blockbuster series of the past decade — one that smelled so bad in its finale that it alienated some of its most devoted fans. HBOs House of the Dragon rose to the challenge and debuted in August with a solid, promising pilot episode. The rest of the season lived up to that initial promise.

The series is set about 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and describes the beginning of the end of House Targaryen’s reign. The primary source material is Fire and blood, a fictional history of the Targaryen kings written by George R. R. Martin. As book readers know, those events culminated in civil war and the extinction of the dragons – at least until Daenerys Targaryen came along. It is King Viserys I Targaryen’s (Paddy Considine) fateful decision to name his fierce dragon-rider daughter Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) as his heir – bypassing his brother and heir presumptive Daemon (Matt Smith) – that sets the events in motion. sets. As Rhaenys Velaryon (Eve Best) – aka the “Queen Who Never Was,” because she was passed over when Viserys was crowned – knows all too well: “Men would rather set the realm on fire than see a woman take the Iron Throne mount. .”

House of the Dragon lacks the overwhelming epic scope and multiple storylines of Game of Thrones, focusing instead on exploring the complex core relationships and family dynamics that will eventually lead to civil war. The first season spans many years and makes some pretty big time jumps, requiring the younger actors to be replaced as their characters got older. For example, Emma D’Arcy plays the older version of Rhaenyra. Perhaps it might have been better to simply compress the timeline, or spread the events over two seasons, but then the pace might have fallen behind. And the time jumps aren’t particularly shocking until the final episodes, when one is tempted to hit pause and draw up a genealogy chart to keep track of all the incestuous marriages and generations of silver-haired descendants.

It’s still a compelling, entertaining series, with plenty of personal conflict and political intrigue, plus dragons aplenty. House has a particularly gifted stellar cast, and yet Matt Smith somehow steals every scene as Daemon – even when he’s just grinning. And his chemistry with D’Arcy largely offsets the quick factor of their eventual pairing and marriage. The S1 finale brought Westeros to the brink of civil war, and we can’t wait for S2 to see that conflict play out.

—Jennifer Ouellette

Warning: While we’ve done our best not to spoil anything too important, please note that this list contains some specific references to several of the shows listed.

It’s been another boom year for television, as streaming continued to dominate vengefully, bringing us spy thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, haunted superheroes, gritty inner-city drama, and feel-good drama. As a matter of fact, this is the first year without a single major network series on Ars’ year-end list.

Who knows how long this abundance of creative goodness will last? Nearly every major streamer, including Netflix, reported at least some losses in 2022, and the outlook for next year is cloudy at best. Budgets are being cut, streamers are consolidating and promising shows are being canceled left and right as streaming services adapt to the changing market environment. In any case, we are still reaping the benefits of the investments of recent years for the time being. Our top TV picks for 2022 are listed below, in no particular order. Be sure to weigh in with your own favorite 2022 shows in the comments.

House of the Dragon

Making a prequel to a beloved series is never easy, especially when it’s a prequel to one of the most influential blockbuster series of the past decade – one that smelled its finale so bad it alienated some of its most devoted fans. HBOs House of the Dragon rose to the challenge and debuted in August with a solid, promising pilot episode. The rest of the season lived up to that initial promise.

The series is set about 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones and describes the beginning of the end of House Targaryen’s reign. The primary source material is Fire and blood, a fictional history of the Targaryen kings written by George R. R. Martin. As book readers know, those events culminated in civil war and the extinction of the dragons – at least until Daenerys Targaryen came along. It is King Viserys I Targaryen’s (Paddy Considine) fateful decision to name his fierce dragon-rider daughter Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) as his heir – bypassing his brother and heir presumptive Daemon (Matt Smith) – that sets the events in motion. sets. As Rhaenys Velaryon (Eve Best)—aka the “Queen Who Never Was,” because she was passed over when Viserys was crowned—knows all too well, “Men would rather set the realm on fire than see a woman take the Iron Throne.” mount. .”

House of the Dragon lacks the overwhelming epic scope and multiple storylines of Game of Thrones, focusing instead on exploring the complex core relationships and family dynamics that will ultimately lead to civil war. The first season spans many years and makes some pretty big time jumps, requiring the younger actors to be replaced as their characters get older. For example, Emma D’Arcy plays the older version of Rhaenyra. Perhaps it might have been better to simply compress the timeline, or spread the events over two seasons, but then the pace might have lagged. And the time jumps aren’t particularly shocking until the final episodes, when one is tempted to hit pause and draw up a genealogy chart to keep track of all the incestuous marriages and generations of silver-haired descendants.

It’s still a compelling, entertaining series, with plenty of personal conflict and political intrigue, plus dragons aplenty. House has a particularly gifted stellar cast, and yet Matt Smith somehow steals every scene as Daemon – even when he’s just grinning. And his chemistry with D’Arcy largely offsets the quick factor of their eventual pairing and marriage. The S1 finale brought Westeros to the brink of civil war, and we can’t wait for S2 to see that conflict play out.

—Jennifer Ouellette