I still am amazed it took me until last year to do a year end review of the new television I watched, but it’s really a testament to how much I’ve regressed to my pre-Lenten TV fast state. Almost all of the TV I watched this year was new but it still feels like an awful lot, doesn’t it?

For a comprehensive look at every show I watched, not just those released this year, as well as all the other media I consumed this year, you can have a look at my 2022 Media Log.

But here are the new seasons of TV I watched this year, where the season finale was released this year:

1. The Book of Boba Fett
2. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (S4)
3. Upload (S2)
4. Bridgerton (S2)
5. Our Flag Means Death
6. Abbott Elementary (S1)
7. Moon Knight
8. Heartstopper
9. Halo
10. Prehistoric Planet
11. Black Lady Sketch Show (S3)
12. Obi-Wan Kenobi
13. Stranger Things (S4)
14. The Boys (S3)
15. Ms. Marvel
16. Westworld (S4)
17. Never Have I Ever (S3)
18. Baymax!
19. She-Hulk: Attorney at Law
20. The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power
21. Frozen Planet II
22. Zootopia+
23. Andor
24. Interview With the Vampire
25. The Sex Lives of College Girls (S2)

I remain in the grips of the Disney+ machine, unable to not watch their shows even though I found myself a lot less interested in them this year. But I felt so trapped by my desire to not have things spoiled as well as by my desire to show Disney that shows starring women and people of color were compelling and worth continuing to fund. That burden felt heavy by the second half of the year, when I had basically zero interest in She-Hulk or Andor, and I really only watched Andor because of the incredible reviews it was getting. (Spoiler: it is one of my favorite season of TV this year, maybe… ever…?)

Peer pressure felt like a much bigger factor this year, maybe because it was one of the ways I desperately clung to my relationships in a year where I felt like everyone was returning to “normal life” and I had not. No one wants to do Zoom parties anymore, but watching TV is generally still either a more intimate affair or something that can be discussed remotely and/or asynchronously.

There was a lot of fatigue with these expensive franchise shows, although there are a lot of gems in that space. For example, video game shows tend to be supremely disappointing (Halo was somehow more disappointing than The Witcher??) and this years Marvel and Star Wars shows on average were not as good as years past.

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What were your favorite new seasons of TV this year?
Mine were Abbott Elementary (both seasons!), Andor (which has reinvigorated my enthusiasm for both television and Star Wars), and Interview With the Vampire (a surprising entry on this list, let alone on my favorites, but it was exquisitely done from the acting to the cinematography to the set design to the costumes to the everything).
Special shout-out to Oscar Isaac and May Calaway from Moon Knight for being so wonderful and compelling to watch, and to Mohamaed Diab for the great direction and music selection, but ultimately it was just shy of being a favorite this year even though I had fun watching.

What shows are you looking forward to next year? Honestly, I’m kind of exhausted by television and want a break haha. I’m not sure how many new shows I want to start. I am looking forward to the return of Shadow & Bone and Ted Lasso, but I’m tired. We’ll see how I feel next year, but I kind of don’t want to start anymore new shows let me be please