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Best and worst TV of 2016: shows that made us think, laugh and despair

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Top five TV shows - not to be missed

If you're paralysed by the seemingly endless deluge of television program choices, entertainment reporter Michael Idato picks his top five.

It's been another big year in television – and another year in which the old verities continued to be shredded. Early evidence of our post-truth world emerged when various members of Federal Parliament managed to watch David Attenborough: Australia's Great Barrier Reef and somehow come away with precisely the opposite impression the great man was trying to convey – perhaps by sticking their fingers in their ears during the entire final episode.

In another sign of the times, one of the best shows on TV wasn't actually on TV at all: Horace and Pete could only be viewed on Louis CK's own website. The brilliant Ryan Murphy – the most famous showrunner no one's ever heard of – completely rewrote the book on the true crime genre with American Crime Story: The People v OJ Simpson; while Blackfella films completely rewrote half-a-dozen genres at once with the ambitious Cleverman.

Streaming and catch-up TV kept on chipping away at established viewing habits, with only the big sporting events and the even bigger reality franchises getting people in front of their TVs in real time. But amid all the tumult some things remained reassuringly the same.

The Good Wife bowed out this year with a final episode that was every bit as polished, intelligent and satisfying as every episode that had preceded it, proving that mainstream, prime-time television can still match it with its sexier pay TV cousins.

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The Bachelor dominated both watercooler and social-media conversations with its button-pushing casting of divisive Keira, endless supply of salacious tabloid headlines and a climactic twist that possibly not even the producers anticipated.

And My Kitchen Rules was once again the most-watched series on television, proving that whatever else changes, the appeal of daft people crying, shouting and burning themselves remains eternal.

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Mostly, though, as the television universe continued to expand, there really was something for everyone.

Shows that made us think

Ever dreamed of spending a month inside a US correctional facility? Me neither, but that didn't dim the appeal of one of the most gripping factual debuts of 2016, 60 Days In.

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The best TV shows of 2016

Whether you came to it as a bleeding heart or a hard-right warrior, established ideas of right and wrong, crime and punishment had to be left in the locker room along with our belts and shoelaces when we came face to face with the reality of prison life.

And if, yes, they were generously larded with moments of rank exploitation, Married at First Sight and Seven Year Switch were just as confronting – in a good way.

If you have any interest in what makes intimate relationships succeed or fail, both series provided raw, compelling and often confronting insight into the most fascinating of human dynamics.

I hope it wasn't just me who completely re-thought their attitude to eating other animals after seeing Matthew Evan's For The Love of Meat.

And a shoutout to those elitist chardonnay-sipping cheese-eaters at the ABC for once again rolling out 12 months worth of magnificent factual programming including (but not restricted to): Afghanistan: Inside Australia's War, Keeping Australia Alive, Man Up, 4 Corners, and the brilliant – and brilliantly simple – You Can't Ask That.

Raw and confronting, <i>Seven Year Switch</i> became of this year's most talked shows.

Raw and confronting, Seven Year Switch became of this year's most talked shows. Photo: Seven

Shows that made us stay up all night

If the modern era of television is defined by one thing, it's watching episode after episode of your favourite series until smoke starts issuing from your eyeballs. And 2016 delivered plenty of bingealicious contenders.

Foxtel served up old favourites and new. Lovers of serious TV had all those worthy Netflix dramas to feast on, while lovers of less-than-serious TV also had their share: iZombie was at least as moreish for its buoyant vibe as the what-happens-next factor, while Preacher kept you watching just to figure out what the heck was going on. But the surprise binge highlight of the year was the suddenly super-charged SBS On Demand, which served up a smorgasbord of classy European drama. The term Scandi-noir had to be expanded to Nordic Noir to include the addictive Trapped, set in Iceland. And check out the new Swedish-French thriller Midnight Sun – they don't come any bleaker, or sexier.

Dominic Cooper plays a Texas minister in <i>Preacher</i>, co-created by Seth Rogen and adaptated from the cult comic books.

Dominic Cooper plays a Texas minister in Preacher, co-created by Seth Rogen and adaptated from the cult comic books. Photo: Matthias Clamer

Shows that made us laugh

It's been a great year for comedy, and we're not just talking the US election. Internationally, the sublime Catastrophe from Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney managed to combine excoriating insight, surgical timing and freewheeling improv to create a comedic work of art. Closer to home, though, the real riches emerged. In its second season, Black Comedy improved on its first run and this time round offended just about everybody. We wondered if, given the state of the actual world, Shaun Micallef's Mad As Hell would have anywhere to go in the absurdity stakes. Turns out, it did.

Speaking of absurd. And offensive. And improv. And surgical timing. Hello No Activity! You've done it again, with a season that was even more deadpan and deliriously silly than the last. But the trophy must go to Here Come the Habibs: a show that convinced the Nine network's core audience that they were laughing at those funny Lebanese while a whole other cohort had the pleasure of laughing at the way the Nine network's core audience didn't realise the joke was on them.

<i>Here Come the Habibs</i> follows a Lebanese family who move from Sydney's west to a waterfront mansion in Vaucluse.

Here Come the Habibs follows a Lebanese family who move from Sydney's west to a waterfront mansion in Vaucluse. Photo: Channel Nine

Shows that gave us hope

If the Golden Age of television was distinguished by intense, gloomy dramas about dysfunctional middle-aged men, the Diamond Age* (*trademark pending) is notable for its sunny optimism. And thank goodness for that. MasterChef, River Cottage Australia, The Great Australian Bake Off, The Great Australian Spelling Bee – they were all characterised by a wholesome, collegiate good-nature that left you smiling at the end of every episode.

Even Australian Survivor managed to bring a distinctly Aussie fair-go vibe to its backstabbing and double-crossing. Revolution School reminded us that good things can happen in public education when good people make it so. A flurry of series from the US, including Younger, The Girlfriend's Guide to Divorce and of course the Gilmore Girls reboot, reminded us that actually, most people are pretty nice most of the time and when bad things happen most of us manage to muddle through. And then there's Gogglebox, which proved once again that fans of the idiot box are not idiots.

<i>Australian Survivor</i> brought a fair-go vibe to the outwit, outplay, outlast mantra.

Australian Survivor brought a fair-go vibe to the outwit, outplay, outlast mantra. Photo: Nigel Wright/Network Ten

Shows that made us despair

But it wasn't all good news. Along with the shows that made you glad to be alive (and watching telly) there were the shows that sort of made you lose the will to live. Some of that was still remarkable television – like the SBS doco Pauline Hanson: Please Explain, which with a straight face and an even hand encapsulated exactly why this country is going to hell in a hand-basket.

The Girlfriend Experience did its utmost to undo decades of female emancipation under the doubly-disreputable banners of "empowerment" and "art".

At least Australia's Next Top Model doesn't pretend to be art, but it does continue to mine ratings gold by exploiting – and insulting – vulnerable young women and then pretending to be "helping" them. Everyone involved seemed to think it was all aces, but for viewers, pitting poor people against other poor people in pursuit of entertainment made The Briefcase one of the low points of the televisual year.

And then there are the shows that are so bad they seem to bend time and space. You know how when you're in a car crash or about to drop a beloved piece of glassware on to the tiles, everything seems to occur in agonising slow motion? You can see the catastrophe unfolding but are powerless to stop it? That was what it felt like watching You're Back In The Room.

Mesmerising? Nine's hypnotism show <i>You're Back in the Room</i>, hosted by Daryl Somers.

Mesmerising? Nine's hypnotism show You're Back in the Room, hosted by Daryl Somers.

Melinda Houston's top five

1. Stranger Things (Netflix): Perfection.

2. Ripper Street (BBC First): Like Deadwood, only with fewer guns, it's rich, complex, violent, tender, morally murky, and utterly addictive.

3. Game of Thrones (Showcase): What do you mean you're "over" GoT? What's wrong with you?

4. American Horror Story: Roanoke (Ten): Forget Unreal – for hard-core satire of reality TV, check out this blood-soaked piss-take.

5. Family Feud (Ten): Six nights a week, 50 weeks of the year, the indefatigable Grant Denyer brings a little ray of sunshine into our lives. Bless.

Melinda Houston is the Sunday Age's TV critic and the author of Kat Jumps the Shark.

Paul Kalina's top five

1. Happy Valley (BBC First): This raw slice of British drama explores a world where hope and tenderness emerges from tragedy and violence.

2. Transparent (Stan): The Pfeffermanns are self-absorbed and messed up; spending time with them is a mad pleasure.

3. Catastrophe (ABC): With their imperfections and misjudgments, Rob, Sharon and their posse may be the most perfect people on TV.

4. No Activity (Stan): No longer is Australian comedy something to cringe about; this is a hilarious, irreverent and amazingly good-spirited reflection of who we are.

5. Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life (Netflix): It took three generations of Gilmores to transport us to a place where goodness prevails.

Paul Kalina edits The Age Green Guide and Sydney Morning Herald Guide.

Goodness prevails: <i>Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life</i>.

Goodness prevails: Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.

Craig Mathieson's top five

1. The Kettering Incident (Showcase): A fascinating Australian thriller with a compelling Elizabeth Debicki performance that became a science-fiction labyrinth.

2. Transparent (Stan): Three seasons in and Jill Soloway's depiction of a Los Angeles clan remains heartbreakingly sublime.

3. The Man in the High Castle (Amazon): An evocative alternate-history espionage thriller that celebrates freedom and possesses an otherworldly undertow.

4. Stranger Things (Netflix): The only 1980s revival that matters: adolescence is the lens for both the everyday and the fantastic.

5. The Girlfriend Experience (Stan): A young woman's life as a lawyer and escort is detailed but never explained in this powerful psychological study.

Craig Mathieson is a film and TV critic.

Debi Enker's top five

1. The Night Of (Showcase): Built around a whodunit and graced by knockout performances, a riveting slow-burn dissecting crime and punishment, New York-style.  

2. The Americans (FX): Gripping Cold War espionage thriller continues its probing and provocative exploration of love and loyalty.

3. Happy Valley (BBC First): Gritty crime drama series starring Sarah Lancashire as one of TV's great heroines, a fierce and flawed Yorkshire mother, grandmother and policewoman living in a cold, hard world.

4. The Night Manager (BBC First): Tom Hiddleston and Hugh Laurie shine in a gleaming adaptation of the John le Carre thriller about murky arms deals, deception and revenge.

5. No Activity (Stan): Deadpan comic delight that depicts the misadventures of cops, robbers, police dispatchers and kidnap victims with sly, absurdist humour.

Debi Enker is a TV critic and author.

No Activity, season 2

No Activity, season 2 Photo: Patrick Stevenson

Michael Idato's top five

1. The Crown (Netflix): Crisp, compelling slow burn which brilliantly blends soap opera, period drama and constitutional tutorage.

2. The Kettering Incident (Showcase): Faded colours and elevated cinematography blend a crime thriller into post-Twin Peaks noir.

3. Wolf Creek (Stan): Stunning, disturbing reboot of one of Australia's most chilling horror films.

4. Stranger Things (Netflix): Delightfully unsettling homage to 1980s genre cinema pumped with nostalgia and nocturnal horror.

5. Midnight Sun (SBS On Demand): Scandi noir set on top of the world which proves subsequent iterations can build rather than deplete.

Michael Idato is Fairfax Media's Los Angeles-based entertainment writer.

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