What to watch and what to skip from TV and streaming services from 2023.
Sex Education Season 4 Image: Netflix.
So, we already covered the first half of TV shows here, from F*Boy Island (high) to the final season of Ted Lasso (low, don't @ me).
But if you were too busy watching The Block or that terrible Victoria's Secret doco and now want those weird days between Christmas and New Year's when nobody knows what day it is to smash out some series, we gotchu.
Here's what to watch, and what to give a miss before the new seasons come along in 2024.
The best TV shows to watch and stream from 2023 - Part 2
Best final season: Sex Education S4 (Netflix)
Oh we laughed, we cried, we gasped at the crazy woke futurist school from Gen Z's AI-implanted dreams. For those of us who have been there from Season 1, the final chapter brought a new setting after the closure of Moordale High. Instead, our oversexed students find that they're somewhat... basic when they enter the doors of Cavendish College.
While some viewers couldn't hack the... shall we say... "over progressiveness," I just loved following the characters I cared about on the path from adolescence to adulthood. I'd say if you can just focus on them, you'll enjoy it. I laughed, I cried, and reader, in the final episode, I balled my eyes out. A truly fantastic finale from a fresh and ground-breaking series. We'll miss you!
Watch it if you like: Heartbreak High, The Inbetweeners
Best drama based on real life: Tiny Beautiful Things (Disney)
A story based on the woman that the film Wild was also based on, Tiny Beautiful Things follows Cheryl Strayed's path to becoming a 'Dear Abbey' of sorts.
Starring everyone's Hollywood bestie Kathryn Hahn, the show follows the ups and downs of Cheryl's life, a woman in the midst of a divorce who has a daughter that hates her, and a job on the brink. But Kathryn's performance also shows a woman of great talent and empathy, and made for an intriguing and hypnotising watch.
Watch it if you like: Wild, Life and Beth
Best batshit doco: Last Stop Larrimah (Amazon)
This was cooked, and also, only two episodes, so easy to smash and not have to devote too much time to.
In what people are calling Australia's Tiger King (well, I read that once in passing), Last Stop Larrimah focuses on the seriously weird units who live in the small town of Larrimah, Australia. And when I say small town - I mean, literally 11 people live there, and one mysteriously disappeared.
You soon learn that even though the amount of people in this town could fit on a single wedding table, there's a lot bubbling beneath the surface - grudges, divorces, court visits and warring businesses. But was it enough to murder a town member?
Watch it if you like: Tiger King, Upper Middle Bogan
Best true story: The Billionaire, The Butler and The Boyfriend (Netflix)
Okay, this is another doco series, but tbh, with the Writer's Strike, I got into more of these than normal. Full disclosure: It is French, but I was lazy and put the English dubbing on cos I just wanted to scroll, play with my dog and still listen, you know?
Anyway. A crazy story about the heiress to the L'oreal fortune, the richest woman in the world. The story follows the people around her and what happens when money makes you go crazy - from a gay boyfriend trying to steal a billion Euros to a bitter daughter and very public political scandal, it's got it all - juicy af.
Watch it if you like: The Curious Case of Carlos Ghasn, Heist, White Lotus
Best drama: Gen V (Amazon)
Okay, so this was hard-CORE. Definitely not for the faint of heart, but still a smashingly good ride.
As a spin-off from The Boys, Gen V focuses on the superhero students accepted into the prestigious college where members of 'The 7' tend to come from. Expect major cover-ups, corporate spin, crazy powers and seriously f*cked up sex scenes.
Watch it if you like: The Boys, Stranger Things
Best easy show to scroll your phone to: Only Murders in the Building S3(Disney)
Was this as good as Seasons 1 and 2? No. Is it getting a bit tired? Yes. But do they know this and cheekily reference to it? Also yes, and that's what kept me going. While not as 'binge-able' as previous seasons, the third serving still brought good mystery, intrigue, and a song I seriously cannot get out of my head (Which of the Pickwit triplets did it... look, #iykyk).
There was a cliff-hanger which is a set-up for S4, which even though the story seems improbable, I'll undoubtedly watch for the sheer on-screen charisma of Steve Martin and Martin Short (and definitely not for the increasingly wooden Selena Gomez. I said what I said).
Watch it if you like: The Afterparty, Father of the Bride
Most cooked cult expose: Escaping Twin Flames (Netflix)
Ugh guys, this is one of the most f*cked up things I've watched in a while. However, if you're like Nic and I and love yourself some cult drama (maybe you're in a cult and you don't even know), this is for you.
Twin Flames is a cult started by some loser, uneducated American couple who somehow convinced a bunch of people that the universe has given them a single 'twin flame' in life, and that this is their soulmate - even if that person is your ex-boyfriend or husband. Cue stalking, restraining orders, and more and more control over these people's lives as they become more indoctrinated, from who they date ('callings' from the couple who proclaim to be Jesus reincarnated, even if the 'flame' is an older, abusing stranger), to the money they hand over, and the work they do for free, increasingly reporting in and getting manipulated and controlled on their every move.
Where it gets seriously even more f*cked up is when they start demanding people change gender in order to form a couple with both a 'divine masculine and feminine' in each partnership. Harrowing.
Watch it if you like: Seduced: Inside the NXVIUM Cult, Shiny Happy People, The Family
Best show to watch when you get the TV to yourself: Strife (Binge)
Loosely inspired by Mia Freedman's biographical story, about building Mamamia from the ground up, Strife takes this story for an Aussie show about this wave feminism, office politics, girlbossings, culture clashes and just trying to do the damn netball oranges properly. Headed by Asher Keddie (Offspring), I really loved watching a story set in 2012, when digital was kind of like maybe taking over, but not everyone could see it just yet, and just having the belief that telling womens' stories online was the future.
I also really liked that they didn't sugarcoat the protagonist - she was doing her best, but made frequent mistakes, was politically incorrect at times, had inappropriate outbursts or conversations which rounded her into a fuller, and more real person. Looking forward to what S2 brings in the world of online womens publishing.
Watch it if you like: Younger, The Newsreader
Honourable 2023 TV mentions: Beckham, Robbie Williams, Upload, Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street, The Murdaugh Murders: A Southern Scandal Pt 2
TV shows you can give a miss from 2023
Worst overhype: Beef (Netflix)
Yeah, I said it, so don't @ me. I know critics were obsessed, but I don't know. Bit Emperor's New Clothes for mine. The story centres around two people who get in an altercation at a parking lot, both feeling it was the other's fault. However, instead of just putting up a finger or a honk, they take it to extremes, raising the stakes higher and higher until they are so embedded in the act of ruining each other's lives, that something seriously bad is about to happen.
While it was an interesting premise, the characters were just so unlikeable and the premise so ridiculous that I couldn't really get around it - not to mention a stupid af ending. I won't be tuning in for S2.
Worst flogging of a dead horse: Lupin (Netflix)
I loved the first two seasons of Lupin, the fun French series about the gentleman thief. However, I was surprised when a third season was announced, as S2, like Hacks, seemed to have the story wrapped up nicely.
And herein was the problem. Season 3 began a new chain of events, kind of pretending it related to earlier happenings but it really didn't. Additionally, a large part of the 'trouble' Lupin was in was because of his own selfish and reckless behaviour, so I found it hard to really relate to him or want the best for him when he was acting like a d*ck. I mean, I'll still try S4... but I'm not super pumped about it.
Worst attempt at secretssecretslieslies: Who is Erin Carter? (Netflix)
I thought this was gonna be a sick Gone Girl-style show. Who is Erin Carter? What is her backstory? Why is she in this small town? But to be honest, I bailed a few eps in. Partly because it was so unbelievable that this young, beautiful, skinny woman was some crazy trained fighter, but mostly because her daughter was so bratty and she was so bad at parenting her that it was a turn off. My mumma would never.
Dishonourable mentions: Upload S3 (what is even happening?), The Following Is Based On A Pack Of Lies (not as interesting as it sounds), Wolf Like Me (so dumb).
