Alright, seriously, from here on out, these are some really good shows. The drop-off in quality between 20 and 40 is pretty minimal, which is why I had such a hard time ranking this year. These probably would’ve all been as good as the Top 20 like 4 years ago. But I made some tough calls, and these are the middle of the best.

(If you missed it, see the previous installment.)

40  Marvel’s Agent Carter

While occasionally heavy-handed on the gender thing, there was a genuine pleasure in watching a 40’s dame do the action hero thing better than her male counterparts and irritate them. Also fun was the rapport with nervous “butler” Jarvis, and the period clothes and advanced gadgets.

39  Brooklyn Nine-Nine 2/3

38  Master of None

This spot on the list is one of the bigger places I diverge from the critical consensus. I definitely recognize the significance of the series, and a lot of the things it has to say from the perspective of a 2nd-generation Indian immigrant. My biggest issue was that it felt like it borrowed a lot of its structure and devices from Louie, and did a much poorer job of delivering those messages subtly and naturally. Louie played with structure and format in a way that felt like we were getting random glimpses into his life, that sometimes were just whimsical, and sometimes were significant and meaningful. With Aziz, it felt more like “this is the gender episode,” “this is the racism episode.” Yes, they were often surprising and clever circumstances that as a white man I don’t often consider, and I appreciated that. But as a writer, it felt like he was pushing too much, and felt like a young man’s attempt at imitation of a much older writer’s style. Assuming he still has more to say, I would expect Season 3 to be amazing, as he really nails down his own voice.

37  Man Seeking Woman

Maybe the most daring and unique new series of 2015, Man Seeking Woman struck a really nice balance of the genuine and surreal. The fact that all the characters treat all of the crazy fantasy, scifi, or twilight-zone tropes as serious and normal really sells this show. Even when the metaphors are a bit on-the-nose, they’re always pretty fun, and somehow usually relatable. I also loved that they flipped it for one episode and explored the sister’s misadventures using the same device. The sad-sack nerdy guy dating woes are a bit played, so seeing the show from her perspective was both a great change of pace and surprisingly touching.

36  Mad Men 7

The finale was quite good.

35  The Last Man on Earth 1/2

Maybe the second most daring an unique new series of 2015, The Last Man on Earth was the master of re-invention. In fact, it nearly transformed what kind of show it was from episode to episode. Will Forte’s character is infuriating a lot of the time, and deliberately so, but somehow also you still need to see what happens next. The show transitions effortlessly between dark and goofball, so much so that you really aren’t sure what turn they might take next. I’d definitely say I appreciate the show more than I actively take joy from it, but it is often painfully funny as well.

34  Veep 4

Hugh Laurie was fantastic.

33  The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

30 Rock is back!! Well, kinda. It’s as funny as 30 Rock, and I was surprised how funny Ellie Kemper is as the central character. She’s got great timing, and Titus Burgess is fantastic as well. As was the hilarious actor who cameo’d as Richard Wayne Gary Wayne, but I won’t spoil who that was.

32  Louie 5

Season was a step up from last year, but the finale really bugged me. Setting up his character as a close-minded asshole that he’s never been before just so he could grow at the end of the episode felt contrived.

31  The Returned 2

For someone who barely remembered everything that happened in the first season (2 years ago), throwing in a whole bunch of new characters and expanding the scope left me pretty lost for the first few episodes. But it settled into a really touching and satisfying end to a quite good spiritual French zombie show.

30  Better Call Saul

A solid follow-up to Breaking Bad that showed us a lot of unexpected depth in the previously one-note Saul Goodman. Bob Odenkirk does an admirable job in bringing the man to life and allowing us to empathize with Jimmy, as he is known before a yet unseen transformation to our “criminal lawyer.” While there are great character moments, and using Jonathan Banks was an essential ingredient, the stakes aren’t as high, and the show lacks a bit in direction. There are some good stories, and the dedicated Mike episode was the best among them, but I am not compelled to come back week-after-week like I was with Breaking Bad, and for better or worse, that is always going to be the comparison.

29  The Grinder

This show looked stupid. I read some strong reviews, and watched. Turns out, they were right, and it’s very funny. Rob Lowe brings some elements of his Parks & Rec character and is over-the-top ridiculous and funny. But the more understated winner is Fred Savage, who does the best straight man since Jason Bateman, and has a delightful rapport with both Lowe and his on-screen wife, played by Mary Elizabeth Ellis (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia). The rest of the supporting cast also delivers the laughs, especially the father of Lowe and Savage, played by William DeVane (24). Grinder rests.

28  Marvel’s Daredevil

Certainly taking cues from the Nolan era Batman movies, Netflix’s Daredevil series is dark, gritty, and atmospheric. It gives us a slow-burn rise of a superhero who stumbles, gets hurt, and doesn’t have a real costume until Episode 13. Vincent D’Onofrio’s Kingpin is a fascinating, fleshed out character who you occasionally empathize with. If they had really stuck the landing, I would have ranked it higher, but while the first 12 episodes felt grounded and human, the finale felt like a comic book. Ugh, that costume. Hoping Season 2 pulls back a bit to the stuff that made it interesting in the beginning.

27  iZombie 1/2

Zombie Veronica Mars. Need I say more? Yes. The procedural elements take up more time than I’d like, but the writing is often clever, Ravi is great, the device where Liv inherits a different personality each episode is often fun (sometimes not), and the S1 finale was balls to the wall great. S2 started a bit slow, and I’m not sure if they can sustain this premise forever, but all in all it was a good viewing experience, and quenched a bit of that Veronica Mars gap in my life.

26  Show Me a Hero

Another really interesting examination of race relations from The Wire creator David Simon. Took a little while to get going, but Oscar Isaac delivers a great performance in a compelling and powerful look at the effort to establish public housing in Yonkers.

25  Game of Thrones 5

This season lacked a bit in the powerful, jaw-dropping moments, but characters got shuffled around making some awesome meetings possible, we got a massive zombie battle, and a child was burnt alive. So all in all, still pretty cool. Shame! Shame!

24  Homeland 5

Another very strong season of Homeland. In fact, despite the lower ranking, I’d say it was an even stronger season than last year. (The competition is a lot stiffer this year.) I might even say as a whole, it worked better than Season 1. Solid character drama, an excellent bad guy, some heart-wrenching moments, and episodes of thrilling action. This year it in some ways didn’t sit in any one genre for too long, which helped sustain it through the 12 episodes.

23  Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

Guys, the title is tongue-in-cheek. If you’re not already watching, you should be. It’s dark, bubbly, ironic, sad, and full of freaking amazingly funny songs. A fresh take on self-delusion and psychological issues lightly dressed as a romantic comedy. Don’t expect a happy ending though; creator and star Rachel Bloom is too cynical for that.

22  Catastrophe

This fresh, honest, and hilarious romantic comedy from across the pond debuted on Amazon almost a year after airing in England. But it’s well worth the wait. So much happens in the first episode, it’s almost disorienting. As the predicament just descends and descends, somehow the series stays cute and upbeat and you just need to see more.

21  Last Week with John Oliver 2

Oliver continues to nail it with his in-depth analysis of issues we don’t think about too much. The topics this year didn’t all feel quite at the same level of urgency or importance, but I am continually impressed by the research and details uncovered on things going on both in the US and around the world. And yes, he also manages to make these horrible things funny somehow.

Tomorrow I’m gonna hit ya with 11-20! And pictures!

Yeah, that’s right. 20 was no longer cutting it. I’m doing them all now. Why? Well, the main reason was that it felt like there were far more than 20 shows I wanted to rave about this year. Trying to cut them out of the top 20 was becoming a painful venture. But on top of that, there were also things I had to say about shows further down the list that my previous format wasn’t allowing me. So this year, I am ranking ALL shows that I watch ALL episodes of this year, and optionally giving some reasons why.

Note that even shows toward the bottom (well, top if you’re looking at the page) were shows I considered to be pretty good. I did a good job this year and stopping shows I was not enjoying much, so even these 63 are for the most part the cream of the crop.

63  Childhood’s End

Not really the cream of the crop. It was kind of interesting, but probably the only show on the list that I wouldn’t say was worth the time put in.

62  Girls 4

61  Episodes 4

60  Another Period

A very funny, if at times tonally inconsistent show. Christina Hendricks was probably the most delightful surprise with her scheming comic turn here.

59  True Detective 2

I worry how much the sheer disappointment from a dramatically superior season 1 is influencing my ranking here, given that the second half was somewhat enjoyable. But the grueling mess that got us there, and some painful performances/characters really didn’t do the sophomore season any favors.

58  Big Bang Theory 9

One of the great points of confusion in my life over the last couple of years is why I continue to cause myself pain by watching the inane misadventures of 4 stereotypical nerds who don’t actually seem to like each other at all. And yet, while this whole addiction process began with a few sick days and fevered desperation to have something mindless to occupy my optic face holes, that rationale fell short in the months ahead. Was it some sort of variation on Stockholm Syndrome, where I just couldn’t quit my cartoonish, offensive, and racist captors? Was it that I was hanging on to this glimmer of hope, because time after time these people had come really close to seeming like actual relatable human beings, and it seemed improbable they wouldn’t find some way to push past that barrier after hundreds of painful half-hours? Was I suffering under the illusion that the approximately 2% laugh/joke rate they were sustaining was actually increasing very slightly over time, and that at some point it would hit some exponential growth curve despite no corroborating evidence to expect that to be the case? To this date, I am not entirely sure, but for whatever reason, I continued to plug along, with a strangely excited curiosity when a new episode would pop up, and then a considerable amount of disappointment, both at the show, and really at myself, once those end credits cut short any possible catharsis or satisfying character growth that I was positive would happen to resolve another painfully cliché storyline. And then 2015 happened, and against all odds, this bumbling oaf of a show, maybe through monkey-at-a-keyboard-itis, started clicking in a way it never had before. There were maybe 6 or 7 genuinely moving character moments that didn’t rely on cheap tricks or canned audience reactions. While the joke success rate probably didn’t move the needle hugely, the effectiveness of those that landed was occasionally very high, largely due to the expanded roles and comedic chops of Melissa Rauch and Mayim Bialik. Even Jim Parsons, who had very much dipped into one-note territory very early on in this series, got to see his character soften a bit this season, which in my mind only made the contrast with his cluelessly rude self even better. I don’t care enough to figure out which, but there were one or two episodes this season I felt were masterfully constructed, and made me wonder if they’d hired new writers, until the following week was the same old childish dreck. So, to be clear, this is all to explain why for the first time since I started watching this “nerd comedy”, I didn’t feel it was the worst choice I had made that year. It is not a good show. For the most part, it is not innovative or clever or funny. The writing is lazy and hacky. Simon Helberg is a terrible actor, and his character is almost as bad. The central romance, which occasionally suckered me into caring about, is at its worst points offensive, and at its high points lacking in any kind of chemistry or believability. But this year, the program showed a glimmer of actual life, of characters having some self-awareness and growth. If you’re not watching it, don’t start.

57  Childens’ Hospital 6

56  Sense8

This is a show that was excellent at parts, but really thought it was excellent overall. While I appreciate the ambition, I wonder if being reined in by an executive would have actually helped this show find a consistent voice. There were some really compelling storylines, and some that just completely fell flat. In addition, it felt like it was trying to make some sort of commentary, but where it stood was really never clear. Violence was mocked and admonished, while then seemingly glorified in gross gratuity in the next scene. But perhaps most peculiar was why in a show created by a transgender woman the gender roles were troublingly archaic. The female characters were victims, and the male characters were heroes responsible for their rescue. There was a transgender female character, but she spends the first half of the series captured or running, and has to be rescued by the muscular dude cop. You could argue that the Sun, the Korean woman, has martial arts skills and does help bail out some male characters, but her storyline never progresses from being trapped. She has no agency over her own circumstances, and gets no hero story arc like literally every male character does. Male character encounters obstacle, gets temporarily knocked back, then overcomes it, usually with quite intense violence. That these gender lines were so stark seemed very out of place for an otherwise really modern and boundary-pushing series. There were things I liked about it. The idea of these very different people from different cultures all coming together and learning from one another was compelling and strong. There were a number of very moving scenes between these characters. The locations were gorgeous, and the cinematography involved in filming the same scene in two places at once must have been herculean. I’d certainly say on the whole I enjoyed myself while watching it, and that it only breaks down if you think about it too much.

55  The Mindy Project 3/4

A solid end of third season, a laborious (no pun intended) 4th season on Hulu. Rehashing of old storylines, endless dragging on of this one storyline involving balancing career and motherhood, and what I can only assume was a lack of money leading to Chris Messina’s prolonged disappearance. But I can still count on Ike Barinholtz and Beverly for consistent laughs, and the addition of Garret Dillahunt (Deadwood, Sarah Connor Chronicles, Raising Hope, Justified) was a solid move.

54  Parks and Recreation 7

I was initially skeptical about the 2 year jump, but the last season was actually quite good, and the finale made me– well, not cry, but whatever Ron Swanson does when his face scrunches up. Ah right, eat steak.

53  The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Well, I technically may have missed an episode or two, but I saw most of them, and guess what, he’s still funny without the conservative windbag persona. In fact, it was fascinating, especially at the start, to see his interviewing style, which is so genuine and thoughtful, which was clearly throwing people off at the beginning. Expecting to be on the defensive the whole time because “Stephen Colbert” would trounce on weakness, there was noticeable hesitation and confusion on the part of many of his first guests. But Stephen not only throws that style out the window, but kind of subverts the fluff-piece style of late night interviews altogether, digging for the real human moments, like in his amazing Joe Biden interview. He is also a bit more political than his counterparts, as you might guess. But I think was struck me most was the absolute joy he exudes every night up there, casting off the jaded irony of his previous persona, and embracing a lighter, more sincere and optimistic brand of comedy. I dig it.

52  Agents of SHIELD 2/3

While certainly not without its stumbling points, Agents of SHIELD is certainly finding a bit more of a solid rhythm in the past year. While Season 1 felt small and claustrophobic, especially with its limited cast, the show is perhaps overcompensating, with a sprawling universe and a cast that is now too big. I’m uncertain why they haven’t been using the less successful characters to die off and raise the stakes, but now would be a good time for that. But aside from them, some of the better characters are feeling more fleshed out and compelling. And one of the best hours on TV this year was a tightly scoped episode that just focused on Simmons’ space adventures, and Elizabeth Henstridge really ran with the opportunity and did a fantastic job. Plus, Coulson becoming a kick-ass action star, the still surprisingly watchable Ward, and Fitz as Indiana Jones, all highlights. Oh sorry, almost forgot Kyle MacLachlan’s awesome work. Hope he comes back.

51  Portlandia 4

50  Helix 2

Some really weird shit. Some of it worked.

49  Doctor Who 9

Well, this season was a far cry from the stink-fest that was Season 8. It had a number of solid episodes and legitimately thrilling moments. But for my money, it still just hasn’t managed to bring back the wild fun from the Smith years, or give a satisfying resolution to a convoluted Moffat plotline. But I really liked Capaldi this season, and his chemistry really cemented with Clara. Maisie Williams’ turn was kinda fun, but I never really got her character. Any season without Danny Pink is a step up in my book though.

48  Togetherness

Along with Casual, one of the two quirky spawn of Six Feet Under this year that didn’t really know what it was trying to say. Still amusing at times.

47  Casual

Along with Togetherness, one of the two quirky spawn of Six Feet Under this year that didn’t really know what it was trying to say. Still amusing at times.

46  Bob’s Burgers

Still funny.

45  House of Cards 3

Solid: Doug’s whole arc. Less solid: The rest of it.

44  New Girl 4

Getting funny again.

43  Transparent 2

I was kinda struggling through this season. Those Pfefferman kids are just the worst, and really didn’t slow down heading into this season. In fact, the one character that gave some relief last season, Maura, started showing her narcissistic side as well, and I was ready to sign out completely. But the last few episodes kinda redeemed it for me. I really liked how the flashbacks to thirties Germany connected with the present day, and gave a really interesting context for their family. I also liked the Womyn festival storyline, and how there was a bit of a persecution competition that I wouldn’t have expected. (And as much as I love Kathryn Hahn, I really hope she gets as far away from those people as possible. RUN!)

42  Wet Hot American Summer

More ridiculous Wainy goodness. But this time, with more amazing Jon Hamm comedy.

41  Community 6

In some ways, Harmon has gone off the deep end, but mostly in a good way. It felt like he was leaning less on past gimmicks (somehow despite yes, another paintball episode), and was back to playing around with format in the way he does. They weren’t all winners, but all in all a pretty funny season of Community (probably the last).