Orrich Lawson | Getty Images
Warning: I’ve tried my best to avoid spoilers too big, but please note that this list contains some specific references to some of the shows listed.
Streaming has picked up steam again this year, making it TV’s best year yet, offering spy thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy, comedy, tormented superheroes, gritty urban drama and feel-good drama. In fact, this is the first year that Ars’ year-end list doesn’t include him with a single major network series.
No one knows how long this rich creativity will last. Nearly every major streamer, including Netflix, has reported at least some losses in 2022, and the outlook for next year is cloudy at best. , streamers are being consolidated and promising shows are being canceled left and right. At least for now, it’s reaping the benefits of the past few years of investment. Here’s a list of the best TVs for 2022. In no particular order. Be sure to consider your favorite shows of 2022 in the comments.
HBO Max
House of the Dragon
Especially when it’s a prequel to one of the most influential blockbuster series of the last decade. HBO’s House of the Dragon rose to the challenge and debuted in August with a solid and promising pilot episode. The rest of the season lived up to its original promise.
The series is set about 200 years before the incident Game of Thrones It chronicles the beginning of the end of the Targaryen reign.Primary source material is fire and blood, a fictional history of the Targaryen Kings written by George R. R. Martin. As readers of the books know, these events culminated in a civil war and the extinction of dragons, at least until Daenerys Targaryen came along. King Viserys I of Targaryen (Paddykonsidain), a ferocious dragon, named his rider daughter Laenira (Millie Alcock) as his successor in making the fateful decision to appoint him as his younger brother and successor. Lost a presumed Damon (Matt Smith). As Raenys Velaryon (Eve Best) — aka “Queen Who Never Was” because she died when Viserys was crowned — is well aware that “a man has more to see than a woman ascends to the Iron Throne.” I’ll put the area to the torch in no time.”
House of the Dragon Lacks sweeping epic scope and multiple storylines Game of Thrones, instead focuses on exploring the complex core relationships and family dynamics that ultimately lead to civil war. The first season takes place over many years, with some pretty significant time jumps. So as the characters aged, younger actors had to be replaced. For example, Emma D’Arcy plays an older version of her Rhaenyra. Perhaps it would have been better to simply compress the timeline or spread the events out over her two seasons, but the pacing may have slowed down. And the time jumps aren’t particularly jarring until the final episode that makes you want to pause and make a family tree to track all the generations of incestuous marriages and silver-haired descendants.
A compelling and entertaining series filled with personal conflicts, political intrigue, and dragons. House There’s a particularly talented and stellar cast, but Matt Smith somehow steals every scene as a demon, even just standing around with a grin. S1’s finale plunged Westeros to the brink of civil war, and we can’t wait to see that conflict unfold in S2.
—Jennifer Ouelette
