Puffed-up pop culture pontificators such as myself tend to take the end of the calendar year as the correct prompt for writing up lists of the pinnacle offerings of the media field that earns their focus. For the most part, I do the same. I make an exception for television, though. The folks who dole out the Emmy Awards stick with an antiquated notion of where to set the dividing lines for eligibility, basing it on the idea of a shared broadcast network season that is increasingly irrelevant. Still, that’s the way they do it, so that’s the way I do it, too.

I offer my usual caveat that my prodigious, sharply curated viewing habits aren’t robust enough to rope in absolutely everything that might plausible contend for this tally. Also per usual, I still feel like this list wouldn’t change all that much with additional shows to consider. That’s especially certain at the top, where I have the same series for the third year in a row.

#1 — Reservation Dogs, season 3 (FX on Hulu). In its final season, the brainchild of Sterlin Harjo remained emotionally potent, wisely funny, and grandly inventive. Yes, the program’s deepest strength came from giving narrative voice to a the notably underrepresented — and regularly misrepresented — community of Indigenous Americans, but Reservation Dogs truly excelled with storytelling that was exceptional in any context.

#2 — The Bear, season 2 (FX on Hulu). The season-long effort to transform a sandwich shop to a posh restaurant for the finest of fine dining brought out the best in The Bear. Individual episodes were as precise and focused as the fictional dishes churned out by Carmy Berzatto and his crew. Even as “Fishes” earned its shellshocked raves, the season’s true standout was “Spoons.”

#3 — Fargo, season 5 (FX). Noah Hawley’s loving riff on the oeuvre of the brothers Coen had a splendid comeback after the muddled, messy fourth season. Essentially reimaging the namesake film‘s kidnapping victim as a fiercely resourceful survivor and going from there, the show gives Juno Temple an enviable showcase. As a bonus, Jennifer Jason Leigh gets her best role in years.

#4 — Shōgun, season 1 (FX). This adaptation of the famed James Clavell tome is moving and epic at once. There are tremendous, thrillingly charismatic performances across the cast, most notably by Hiroyuki Sanada, Anna Sawai, Tadanobu Asano, and Cosmo Jarvis. No matter how large the scope, co-creators Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks keep the storytelling tender and rich in humanity.

#5 — Hacks, season 3 (Max). This showbiz comedy had its best season yet, bolstered by a strong season-long arc that finds Deborah Vance (the ever-invaluable Jean Smart) pursuing her long-thwarted goal of hosting a late night show. It was wickedly smart and brightly astute throughout. Hannah Einbinder carried her already impressive performance as put-upon writer Ava Daniels to a whole other level of frazzled insight.

#6 — Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, season 2 (Paramount+). With only the merest feints towards extended story arcs, this iteration of the sprawling Star Trek franchise revives the freewheeling imagination of the original series. Through the formidable skills of the cast and crew, material that could be weighed down by gimmickry — a musical episode, a crossover with the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks — are instead bursts of joy.

#7 — How to with John Wilson, season 3 (HBO). John Wilson closed on his series filled with esoteric, comic visual essays on modern life with a season that tacitly acknowledged he could only take the approach so far, especially in a very meta episode that tipped his occasional sleights of hand. The defining spirit of the show is Wilson’s ability to find poignance in the oddities he documents. “But, in the end, everyone has a vacuum.”

#8 — Abbott Elementary, season 3 (ABC). It was another winning season for Quinta Brunson’s sitcom tracking the travails of a staff of endearing educators in a Philadelphia school. In the current broadcast network landscape, the existence and persistence of this kind-hearted comedy is like a little miracle.

#9 — True Detective: Night Country (HBO). New showrunner Issa López rescued HBO’s True Detective franchise from the pretentious machismo that made the anthology series borderline unwatchable after its strong first season. The storytelling is messy yet consistently gripping, and Jodie Foster is an irascible powerhouse in the lead role.

#10 — Lessons in Chemistry (Apple TV+). Adapted from Bonnie Garmus’s much-loved novel of the same name, the firmly feminist Lessons in Chemistry is engaging enough to be the TV equivalent of a page-turner. In the lead role, Brie Larson builds her character from the inside out, clearly enlivened by finally getting the first role since Room to truly test her talents.

My top ten lists for previous seasons can be found by clicking on the “Top Ten TV” tag.