In Memoriam: The Best TV Shows We Lost This Year

Just as there are , but we are grateful to have had so much time with the slice-of-life FX comedy before its death by natural causes. Thoughtful and exploratory, critically beloved but far from a viral meme machine, Better Things was the kind of project that too often winds up canceled before it’s tied up all its loose ends. Thankfully, it died how it lived: on its own terms, and with a strangely captivating recessional song choice—a buoyant rendition of “Always Look on the Bright Side of Life,” sung without Monty Python’s ominous crucifixes.

FX

For six years, Better Things has felt like a miracle. We’ve cherished the thorny, authentic relationships that feel as lived-in as the show’s beautifully curated set decorations. With all its loose ends mostly tied up and all of its characters preparing for a new adventure, Better Things will be lovingly remembered as the warm hug it always was.—Laura Bradley

Better Call Saul (Ended)

Better Call Saul died as it lived: superbly. After six thrilling, gorgeous, boundary-pushing seasons, the Breaking Bad spin-off came to an end this year. What an end it was! The denouement of Slipping’ Jimmy’s journey was experimental. It was surprising. It was even a little bit goofy! For a show destined for a crushing finale, Better Call Saul never eschewed heart or humor. Breaking Bad birthed something all parents should: a son that is better than his father.—Allegra Frank

Greg Lewis/AMC/Sony Pictures Television

Chrisley Knows Best (Canceled)

Over the past two years, Bravo stars Jen Shah and Erika Jayne have been the posterchildren for reality TV’s criminal underside. Meanwhile, over at USA, Chrisley Know Best stars Todd and Julie Chrisleys have been quietly racking up bank fraud and tax evasion charges and were officially sentenced to a combined 19 years in prison earlier this month. The show was promptly canceled, which means that my favorite Southern grump, Todd, will no longer be reprimanding his wife and children (in a loving, joke-y way) about anything and everything for my amusement.

NUP_189748_4231.JPG

USA Network

Over almost 200 episodes, Chrisley Knows Best never became appointment television. But it was a delightful departure from the more intense, sensational offerings on other networks. The show was heavily scripted, practically mimicking a ‘70s sitcom. But that formula was successful. And many of Todd’s Todd-isms were actually useful, even if he didn’t follow his own advice.—KC

Desus and Mero (Canceled)

Late night television lost two of its brightest stars in 2022, with the tragic end of Desus and Mero. No one could have saw the Bodega Boys’ breakup coming—certainly not those of us who aspired to their kind of friendship. Their easy, witty repartee about the silliest news items was so delightful, as were their fannish interviews with folks like Matt Damon and Derek Jeter. They were always fully themselves, awkward and nerdy and giggly without shame. (The sound of Mero’s laugh will never leave us.) But sometimes even the best of us cannot withstand the shiny allure of money, contract negotiations, and legal disputes. May Desus Nice and the Kid Mero reconcile one day, even if it’s not on TV. —AF

DESUS & MERO

Greg Endries/SHOWTIME

FBoy Island (Canceled)

Gone but never to be forgotten, FBoy Island made an undeniable impact during its short time on this Earth. Sunny and silly and extremely well oiled, FBoy Island was a stroke of beef-brained genius. While many dating shows steep themselves in a faux seriousness, FBoy always Baywatch-ran in the opposite direction, embracing the inherent silliness not only of its concept, but of the idea that one can find deep, everlasting love on TV. Send whoever chose to cancel it to Limbro until they repent for their sins!

Hassen Salum/HBO Max

Although its gently teased sibling series FGirl Island will now likely live on only as a dream in fans’ minds, it is survived by many, many contemporaries—including but not limited to Love Island (UK and US), Love Is Blind, Dated & Related, Cosmic Love, Back in the Groove, The Ultimatum, Married at First Sight, 90 Day Fiancé, Too Hot to Handle, The One that Got Away, and many, many more.—LB

The Good Fight (Ended)

Some of us have been watching Christine Baranski play Diane Lockhart for 13 years. It’s an incredible run, across both The Good Wife and its spinoff, The Good Fight. But I don’t think anyone expected how much that latter series would mean to them, or the service it would provide. The Good Fight made a point to engage with our exasperation, anger, and delirium over the news of the world in these last six years. Through Diane, it was a channel for catharsis. Even as it reflected back the bleak reality of our world, it reminded us to be hopeful, to march on. There were times when the show was hopeless, as were we. But it continued, because we did, too. Its final episode should be the definitive piece of pop culture of our time, nailing our exact mood of the moment.—KF

THE GOOD FIGHT

Elizabeth Fisher/Paramount+

Kevin Can F**k Himself (Ended)

In its short time on this earth, Kevin Can F**k Himself managed to accomplish so much to be thankful for—including always making sure Annie Murphy continues to get a stable check. This dramedy always had aspirations that were bigger than itself, yet continued to use its scrappy nature to fight through its short life with confidence and style. Society needed a proper sendup of how sitcom tropes treat beleaguered wives and women characters, and Kevin was never afraid to give that to us in the form of a brazen series about a wife trying to kill her bozo spouse. It was a show with more dips than peaks, but ended its run with us on an extremely satisfying high. Kevin Can F**k Himself is survived by his wife, Allison McRoberts.—Coleman Spilde

Kevin Can F**k Himself

Robert Clark/Stalwart Productions/AMC

Los Espookys (Canceled)

After two seasons of Julio Torres and Ana Fabrega’s hit comedy Los Espookys, HBO has shut down the haunted house of hilarious horrors. Guest stars ranged from Isabella Rossellini to Kim Petras, with comic legend Fred Armisen rounding out the main cast. Los Espookys flew by, both seasons following a gaggle of creative folks who band together to form an improv group (kind of) who are paid by customers who want to be scared—or, want to spook other people. The scary shenanigans were always fun, from Bibi’s the monster to a killer murder mystery party, but the group’s banter was even better. And who could forget Tati’s online boyfriend, the prince? Los Espookys will always be remembered for casting Roma’s Yalitza Aparicio as The Moon and giving Julio Torres bright blue hair.—Fletcher Peters

Love Life (Canceled)

Love Life was just two seasons old when HBO Max placed the poor series on execution row. One of our last remaining successful anthology series (What do we have left? The White Lotus, and what else?), Love Life proved that TV is fit for the romantic comedy genre. Carrying the classic essence of Nora Eprhon’s New York City, Sam Boyd’s saga followed two separate singletons as they worked through several different love interests to find their perfect match. Season 1 followed uppity Anna Kendrick, while a stellar sophomore season cast The Good Place’s charming William Jackson Harper. Love Life was one of the shows used to promote HBO Max at launch, so it’s sad to see this tragic end.—FP

Monarch (Canceled)

Wow. What is there to say about Monarch that the other six people who watched it won’t also be feeling? It was complicated, it was messy, it threatened to ruin the state of network dramas forever. But for those short 11 episodes, it was ours. We didn’t always love her—hell, we were usually pretty peeved whenever she’d come around—but she sure could be a lot of fun if you happened to catch her after a couple of glasses of wine. Whoever decided to make a show about Susan Sarandon as a country music queen and then kill her off at the end of the first episode (you had 11 weeks to avoid that spoiler!) might go down in history as one of the biggest big fumblers to ever live. Monarch, as we lower you into the ground, we remember the short burst of life and potential we saw in you…until your pilot episode burned out like a pilot light.—CS

FOX

Ozark (Ended)

All good money-laundering-for-the-cartel sagas must come to a bloody end, and it’s therefore no surprise that Ozark concluded with one last fatal blast. Over the course of four seasons, Chris Mundy’s nerve-wracking Netflix series carved out a distinctly dark and despondent crime-drama niche, led by stellar leads Jason Bateman and Laura Linney (doing career-best work) as well as standout supporting star Jennifer Garner as a Missouri local with a gift for the illicit.

Steve Dietl/Netflix

The story of the Byrd family’s many attempts to get out from under the thumb of Mexican drug kingpins—an effort that involved riverboat casinos, rural heroin dealers and Big Pharma—Ozark was never going to let everyone survive. Still, the show generated constant tension right up until its closing moments. Its bleak and cynical portrait of getting ahead in business (and protecting your neck) through unchecked avarice and horrifying ruthlessness will be sorely missed.—Nick Schager

Raised by Wolves (Canceled)

Aaron Guzikowski’s HBO Max sci-fi odyssey Raised by Wolves was executive-produced by Ridley Scott. Perhaps that’s why it played like an inspired remix of the illustrious director’s Alien-franchise preoccupations with motherhood, creation and the uneasy relationship between man and machine. Its cancellation thus stands as one of 2022’s saddest small-screen demises.

Scott Free/ HBO Max

A uniquely haunting endeavor about a future in which two robots seek to raise human children on an alien planet, only to find that Earth’s war between religious fanatics and atheists has followed them to their new home, the series was weird to its core. Its strangeness was epitomized by Amanda Collins’ Mother, a robot in a form-fitting bodysuit who had the power (via her eyes) to transform into an annihilating weapon, as well as by its fondness for organic-synthetic marriages of various kinds. No doubt Guzikowski had even more bizarreness planned for the future—and hopefully he’ll soon find a new outlet for his out-there visions.—NS

The Real (Canceled)

As the talk show everyone always forgot about, The Real was an underdog for her whole life. Cohosts were shuffled around like producers were playing a game of Memory and forgot where they left something. No topic was ever off limits, discussed with the kind of raucous flavor you just can’t when you wade through the stuffiness of The Today Show or the barbs being thrown over on The View. The Real always kept it, well, real! And it managed to supply us with so, so many indelible memes. Tamar Braxton asking her co-hosts if she looks like a Muppet! Tamera Mowry’s hilarious birthday message to Adrienne Houghton née Bailon! This gif of Leah Remini I’ve used far too often! The Real will be remembered by all of its meme potential, including the ones we’ll never get now.—CS

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Television

Keep obsessing! Sign up for the Daily Beast’s Obsessed newsletter and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and TikTok.