How do you sum up a year in television?
I knew 2018 was off to a bumpy start when Fox debuted “LA to Vegas” on Jan. 2, an early candidate for worst new show of the year. But January also brought us FX’s “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” one of the year’s best.
We knew the year was going to be weird when Omarosa showed up on CBS’s “Big Brother” in February.
March brought the return of FX’s experimental and compelling satire “Atlanta.” “Trust” also debuted on FX, a gorgeous series from director Danny Boyle, easily among the year’s finest, even if it did rattle on for an episode or two too long.
March saw the return of ABC’s “Roseanne.” As I predicted, “Roseanne” was scuttled by Roseanne, canceled by ABC in May.
In April, HBO showcased Al Pacino as “Paterno,” aired “Elvis: The Searcher” and the second season of “Westworld” over the course of two weekends. Over on Hulu, “The Handmaid’s Tale” returned for a second harrowing season, one no longer tethered to Margaret Atwood’s 1985 novel.
Starz debuted “Vida” in May, a compelling tale of class, identity and family. Showtime imported Benedict Cumberbatch and the miniseries based on the “Patrick Melrose” novels, and “The Americans” finally came in from the cold.
FX continued to dominate with “Pose,” launching in June. Passionate as well as deliberately overwrought and angry, “Pose” commanded (and deserved) one’s attention. “Dietland” also debuted in June, a sad and quirky mystery series eventually canceled by AMC. June was the month “Roseanne” was abruptly revived and renamed “The Conners,” and Kevin Costner saddled up for “Yellowstone” on Paramount.
HBO launched “Sharp Objects” in July, a demanding series so harrowing that its star (Amy Adams) admitted she could not endure a second season. July also saw the debut of the underrated “Castle Rock” on Hulu.
AMC offered “The Big Lebowski”-esque enigma “Lodge 49” in August, and USA returned that month with the superior “The Sinner.”
September, a month for broadcast debuts, saw NBC return to the “Lost” formula with “Manifest” and ABC mine “This Is Us” weepiness with “A Million Little Things.”
“Last Man Standing” and “Murphy Brown” returned in September, but only one is left “Standing.” Amazon’s always surprising “Forever” put a wry spin on the hereafter. Netflix’s “Bojack Horseman” returned for a superior fifth season. It deserves to be considered television’s best comedy.
“Mad Men” creator Matthew Weiner returned with the hit-and-miss anthology “The Romanoffs” in October, and “Mad Men” star Kiernan Shipka arrived as the title character in the deeply creepy “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” on Netflix. That streaming service also imported the huge British hit “Bodyguard,” a series that disturbed Americans with the notion of a beefy protector calling his assignment (and lover) “Mum.”
Julia Roberts made her TV debut on Amazon’s “Homecoming”; Netflix stole a Coen brothers’ film (“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”) from the movie theaters, and HBO adapted the international best-seller “My Brilliant Friend.” All in November.
Syfy kicked off December with the space epic “Nightflyers” from “Game of Thrones” author George R.R. Martin, and Netflix premiered “Roma,” the movie, TV and streaming event of 2018.
Can you have TOO much television? This was certainly a year that put that question to the test.
TONIGHT’S OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
— CBS repeats “Garth: Live at Notre Dame!” (8 p.m., TV-PG).
— Residents resist witches on “Midnight, Texas” (8 p.m., NBC, TV-14).
— Vanessa’s mother descends on “Last Man Standing” (8 p.m., Fox, r, TV-PG).
— Screen envy on “The Cool Kids” (8:30 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).
— “20/20” (9 p.m., ABC, r) recalls a 2002 murder.
— Elizabeth Stanton and James Maslow host “Popstar’s Best of 2018” (9 p.m., CW, TV-PG).
— “Great Performances” premieres the “Leonard Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood” (9 p.m., PBS, check local listings), a symphonic tribute to the great conductor and composer, who would have turned 100 in August.
— A journalist gets too close to a case on “Blue Bloods” (10 p.m., CBS, r, TV-14).
CULT CHOICE
The 1964 musical “A Hard Day’s Night” (8 p.m., TCM) never mentions the word “Beatles.”
SERIES NOTES
Good intentions on “Fresh Off the Boat” (8 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … Aspiring illusionists audition on “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” (8 p.m., CW, r, TV-PG) … New Year’s Eve tensions on “Speechless” (8:30 p.m., ABC, r, TV-PG) … Chinese is on the menu on “Hell’s Kitchen” (9 p.m., Fox, r, TV-14).
LATE NIGHT
Melissa McCarthy and Phoebe Robinson are booked on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” (11:35 p.m., CBS, r) … Jimmy Fallon welcomes Dolly Parton and Nick Kroll on “The Tonight Show” (11:35 p.m., NBC, r) … Ellen DeGeneres, Pete Holmes and Cole Swindell appear on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” (11:35 p.m., ABC, r).
Howie Mandel, Danielle Macdonald and Mehdi Hasan sit down on “Late Night With Seth Meyers” (12:35 a.m., NBC, r) … Maya Rudolph, Nick Kroll and Rufus Wainwright appear on “The Late, Late Show With James Corden” (12:35 a.m., CBS, r).
(Kevin McDonough can be reached at [email protected].)
