20 Best TV Shows Of 2018
1. Atlanta
Donald Glover had had an absolute year, and for all the hype around This Is America or his performance in Solo, his best work is found on Atlanta. Billed as "Twin Peaks with rappers", the show follows Earn (Glover), a can't-do-right guy who, well, tries to do right as he navigates life in the titular city, and attempts to manage his cousin Alfred (who goes by the moniker Paper Boi)'s burgeoning rap career.
The first season, which aired back in 2016, was excellent itself, but this sophomore outing - titled Atlanta Robbin' Season - takes the show to dizzying new heights, with a range of episodes that are timely, weird, and fascinatingly human.
Those instalments all sort of standalone, but with enough threads around Paper Boi's career or Earn and Van's relationship to keep the overarching plotline moving, and they each play around with genre and tone in surprising ways. This is a show that never does what you expect it too, whether it's in the Oktoberfest-fuelled nightmare Helen or the Michael Jackson-inspired Teddy Perkins, the thrilling Woods or heartbreaking FUBU.
The show has its own visual language, which largely comes from Glover and his frequent collaborator Hiro Murai, who infuse the realistic Atlanta setting with a dreamlike quality, ensuring that the place feels just slightly off and allowing us to buy into the world and, as a result, the show. Comedy or drama, romance or horror, crime thriller or fantasy - Atlanta wears all of these hats brilliantly, and melds them together for something really special.
What were your favourite TV shows of 2018? Let us know down in the comments.