Ohhhh, my television is a whole lot gayer than yours…
Since 2026 is trying to burst through the clouds and clutter in the wake of 2025, I thought a lot about top ten lists for both film and television. I sometimes wonder how self-conscious we are when we declare what our favorites of the year are in relation to how we think they will look. A few years back, I posted my list and someone left a note to inform me that my selection failed to include shows that they (an anonymous commenter) assumed would be on everyone’s top ten since “they are clearly the best shows of the year.” With so much to watch and so little time to do so, maybe just appreciate that we have more than the same sitcoms, true crime, and limited series to choose from?
While I gave myself more time to catch up with a few shows, I still need to finish HBO’s Task, Apple’s Palm Royale, Netflix’s Stranger Things, Peacock’s All Her Fault and, I’m sure, many more. These are shows that I am savor, and I refuse to rush through them.
Honorable Mentions
- Brett Goldstein: The Second Best Night of Your Life for its little pot of cum…
- Canada’s Drag Race for giving us tons of drama and proving, yet again, that it is one of the best franchises…
- I Love LA for Rachel Sennott, Rachel Sennott, Rachel Sennott and one of the most underrated ensembles on TV
- IT: Welcome to Derry for its practical effects and making me terrified to go to the grocery store…
- Jerrod Carmichael Don’t Be Gay for that D’Angelo memory
- The Studio for making me wonder about the life of every zany, stupid movie set from this point on…
- The White Lotus for looking inward, Lorazepam, keeping us on the edge of our seats, and all that brotherly love
These are not lumped together because they all carry a gay quotient but because they were shamessly canceled after only one season. Mid-Century Modern was advertised as a queer take on The Golden Girls, but it allowed Nathan Lane, Matt Bomer, and the late Linda Lavin truly sing beautiful. bawdy music together. But it was Nathan Lee Graham who finally got a chance to play with material fit for him. He’s a treasure.
The cancellation of Netflix’s Boots shocked me the most of these three freshman seasons, because it felt like all of the strapping men were everywhere–hey, that just might be my algorithm. Angus O’Brien, you have my heart. Miles Heizer turns in a surprisingly physical performance about a young man who joins the Marines in order to avoid being out. There’s a reason why we keep exploring masculinity and ecpectations of being tough.
Okay, I swear not everything on this list is gay…just a lot of it. What a pleasure to be wrong about a show’s intentions. Overcompensating could have been nothing but raunch or nothing but cheeky sexcapades (which would’ve aged poorly–look at American Pie), but Benito Skinner’s comedy is steeped in heart. Yes, most of the bodies are chiseled, and this first season tried its best to make us think that Adam DiMarco wasn’t hot (I am for that stache, thank you very much). You come for the partying but stay for the emotion. Skinner’s Benny and Wally Baram’s Carmen are a dynamic duo.
This is the best comedic ensemble on television, and not enough of you are watching and talking to me about it every week. The writing and directing have become even sharper, as this fifth season hits another confident stride. Halloween and Christmas are dependable pit stops every season–with an angry mummy and a Flower possession–but these spirits have upped their game. Season after season, these ghosts gets injected with even more life.
After you tackle Broadway and then Hollywood…where do you go? Back home, of course.
6. Netflix’s The Residence
Much like the aforementioned cancelled gay hour, I am also ticked about this show being left out in the dust. When a murder happens during a crowded party in the White House, you only call one person: Cordelia Cupp. Uzo Aduba deserves at least two more seasons to show off her theatrical prowess as her bird-obsessed sleuth tracks down the culprit. I have never seen a comedy series’ editing make me laugh so consistently, and the crafts are exquisite.
Seeing everyone catching up with this medical drama as the season went on was the definition of a water cooler show. “Have you watched The Pitt yet?” was a question lobbed to me a lot throughout the year probably because my husband is a doctor? Also, because it was one of the most steadily directed, well-acted ensembles we have seen in a long time. The cast, writers, and directors all deserve their kudos, but don’t count out those editors (and that blocking!) for passing us off from one moment to the next with the precision of a scalpel.
It took me a while to watch Matt Wolf’s affectionate deep dive into the life of Paul Reubens and the creation of his Pee-wee Herman. Much press has come out about Wolf and Reubens’ relationship when they filmed this two-part doc about an artist who could never be pinned down by someone else’s expectations of them. The more Reubens looked directly into the lens, the more I missed him. He gave us such permission to be weird, to be loud, and to be colorful. We will never be able to thank him enough but Wolf’s work is about challenging the ones we love as much as we celebrate them,.
I met up with Rozanov and Hollander at the cottage much later than everyone else (yowza, it’s crowded in here!), and some may quibble with how high I placed this sensation on my list. Oh well. It’s juicy, it’s fun, it’s romantic. From their first gym meeting, creator Jacob Tierney establishes a sense of touch between these two secretive hockey players, and all we need for a spark is to pass a water bottle back and forth. When was the last time a mainstream romance telegraphed such yearning and want? In this landscape of gimme culture, Tierney, Connor Storrie, and Hudson Williams (not to mention François Arnaud and Robbie Grant-Kuntz!) know how to keep us begging for more.
I don’t remember the last time a show or program made me afraid of young people. Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham’s searing portrait of young, male anger has captured something threatening to burst through the surface. Is it too late to help young people to feel isolated, alone, violent, and out of control? Sometimes silence can form between father and son or son and mother to such an intense degree that entire relationships change and that communication becomes entirely severed. Director Philip Barantini directs each episode like a rollercoaster, but you realize that you are not strapped in as you hear the click-click-click of the coaster’s ascension. Erin Doherty, Owen Cooper, Christine Tremarco, Ashley Walters, and Graham were rightfully nominated time and time again for their work, but I couldn’t help but think about Amélie Pease as Lisa Miller, Jamie’s sister. Will she be brushed too far aside? As she tried to shake off the name of “Jamie Miller’s sister,” will she find darkness of her own?
