The 10 best (and 3 worst) TV shows of 2021

10. Dr. Death (Peacock)

Joshua Jackson gives a career-best performance as Christopher Duntsch, a Texas neurosurgeon whose cocksure charisma hides deadly ineptitude. An arresting blend of body horror and agonizing suspense — with a dash of buddy-comedy banter from Alec Baldwin and Christian Slater as docs who help take Duntsch down — Dr. Death is a true-crime triumph. (Full review)

9. Dopesick (Hulu)

With his adaptation of Beth Macy's opioid- crisis best-seller, Danny Strong lured us in with acutely human characters — a kind Appalachian doctor (Michael Keaton), an injured coal miner (Kaitlyn Dever) — then crushed our hearts like so many pills under a pestle. Purdue Pharma is no more, but Dopesick remains a damning testament to the Sackler family's legacy of pain. (Full review)

8. Squid Game (Netflix)

A bleak allegory about the systemic exploitation of the global working class. A pulpy survival thriller set against a candy-colored deathscape. Creator Hwang Dong-hyuk took the "Why not both?" approach, transforming kids' games into terrifying instruments of torture, and a debt-ridden dad (Lee Jung-jae, endlessly endearing) into an unlikely hero.

7. Chad (TBS)

Did you hate Chad? I get it. This cringe comedy — starring Nasim Pedrad as a 14-year-old Persian boy — can be very uncomfortable. It's about an adolescent trying to fit in, always a painful (exhilarating, strange, hilarious) struggle. Give Chad another shot. To quote the heroically de- voted Uncle Hamid (Paul Chahidi), "We're screaming because we're happy! Join us!" (Full review)

6. Midnight Mass (Netflix)

A small-town priest (Hamish Linklater) and a drunk driver fresh out of prison (Zach Gilford) receive an awesome power. What follows is a little masterpiece of grief and guilt — a rumination on faith, addiction, and free will filtered through a genre lens. Doubters called it "talky," but Midnight Mass made two men talking in a church rec room feel like a minor miracle. (Full review)

5. The Other Two (HBO Max)

Savage and sweet, this family comedy parodies the inanity of celebrity culture with blithe brilliance. Season 2 launched the Dubek clan (Molly Shannon, Drew Tarver, Heléne Yorke, and Case Walker) to new heights of fame, only to cut them down via sublimely ridiculous mishaps (an awkward nude selfie goes viral; a loose-lipped Lyft ride leads to a lawsuit). On The Other Two, no joke is too inside. (Full review)

4. Succession (HBO)

Season 3 exposed the Roy family scions for who they really are: profoundly damaged kids playacting at adulthood. A coup is derailed by well-timed doughnuts; a family photo becomes a father-daughter power struggle; a lavish birthday party ends with a tearful meltdown. It seems the more these brokenhearted billionaires act out, the harder it is to look away. (Full review)

3. Hacks (HBO Max)

Two comedy writers on the brink of losing everything — Las Vegas legend Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and millennial malcontent Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder) —reluctantly team up to save themselves. As the comedians chip away at each other's defenses with weaponized one-liners, the two stars reveal the fragile hearts of the gifted, deeply flawed women underneath. (Full review)

2. The Good Fight (Paramount+)

The law may belong to the people — but what if we the people can't be trusted? In the insidiously quirky fifth season of Robert and Michelle King's legal drama, an eclectic "judge" (Mandy Patinkin) opens a "court" in the back of a copy shop, and it doesn't take long for the dangerously delicate guardrails between democracy and mob rule to start crumbling.

1. Reservation Dogs (FX on Hulu)

Four teenagers — Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), Elora (Devery Jacobs), Bear (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai), and Cheese (Lane Factor) — bum around their Oklahoma reservation, dreaming of a better life in California. Their friend Daniel (Dalton Cramer) is dead. "This place killed him," fumes Elora. "I'm not letting it kill me." Co-created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi, Reservation Dogs immerses us in a fully realized world from the outset, a place where hangout humor and magical realism nod hello on the street. As Elora and her buds try to scrape together cash, they learn lessons — sometimes under duress — from their elders, including Officer Big (played with mesmerizing equanimity by Zahn McClarnon). Frequently heartbreaking and always funny, Reservation Dogs is the coming-of-age comedy I never saw coming.

And the 3 Worst...

Clarice (CBS)

It places Thomas Harris' indelible character into a lifeless, grim-gray CBS crime procedural. It adds low-rent Silence of the Lambs "flashbacks" whenever it's told.

American Horror Stories (FX on Hulu)

The Dick Wolf-ization of TV continues with this slapdash, self-referential spin-off — a lazy pastiche of gore and titillation.

James Corden on Friends: The Reunion (HBO Max)

The host was just doing his job, sure. But his Flavor Flav hopped up on a case of Red Bull energy served as a grating contrast to the reunion's genuinely moving moments with the cast reminiscing on their own. (Full review)