Our Drink in the Movies team have compiled a comprehensive year-end piece that provides a shared look at each of our top 5 Limited Series and Television Show selections of 2023. Our team compiled their lists based on titles that had a finale air between January 1st, 2023 and December 31st, 2023. You can see their selected titles below in the text list or by pressing the arrows on the Poster Carousel Images.
5.
Alexander Reams: ‘The Bear’ (dir. Christopher Storer, Joanna Calo, Ramy Youssef; Season 2)
Chaos is key in Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto’s (Jeremy Allen White) kitchen. Picking up shortly after the first season ended, Carmy and Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) began plans for the renovation of the restaurant. The season is immediately on the clock, with three months to get back up and running. This puts more stress on Natalie “Sugar” Berzatto (Abby Elliott) as she is further pulled into the madness of the restaurant, all while Marcus (Lionel Boyce) is sent to Copenhagen to learn about the art of baking pastries from Chef Luca (Will Poulter). Now might be a great time to mention the cast of “The Bear” Season 2, it’s insane. So many performers who can, and should, be turning in this level of performance everywhere show up, from Olivia Colman in the iconic “Forks” episode to the slew of notable performers who flesh out the Berzatto family.
We’ve met Uncle Jimmy (Oliver Platt), but in the episode “Fishes” more and more Berzatto’s appear. Carmy, Sugar, and Mikey Berzatto’s (Jon Bernthal) mother, Donna (Jamie Lee Curtis) is running around like a chicken with her head cut off in the kitchen (showing where Carmy gets his temper from), then Uncle Lee (Bob Odenkirk), Michelle Berzatto (Sarah Paulson) and her boyfriend Stevie (John Mulaney) all show up, and the mixing of tempers (Donna), addicts (Mikey), volatile scam artists (Uncle Lee) leads to disastrous consequences, and gives more and more insight into the mind of Carmy.
Jeff Sparks: ‘The Idol’ (dir. Sam Levinson; Limited Series)
Raúl Mendoza: ‘This Fool’ (dir. Pat Bishop & Matt Ingebretson; Season 2)
Taylor Baker: ‘Special Ops: Lioness’ (dir. John Hillcoat, Anthony Byrne, Paul Cameron; Season 1)
4.
Alexander Reams: ‘Barry’ (dir. Bill Hader; Season 4)
Jeff Sparks: ‘Waco: The Aftermath’ (dir. John Erick Dowdle & Drew Dowdle; Limited Series)
Raúl Mendoza: Gen V (dir. Nelson Cragg, Phil Sgriccia, Steve Boyum, Clare Kilner, Rachel Goldberg, Shana Stein, Sanaa Hamri; Season 1)
Taylor Baker: ‘Bupkis’ (dir. Jason Orley & Oz Rodriguez; Season 1)
3.
Alexander Reams: ‘Succession’ (dir. Mark Mylod, Becky Martin, Lorene Scafaria, Andrij Parekh, Shari Springer Berman & Robert Pulcini; Season 4)
The suffocating air of finality was explicitly shown throughout the marketing of the final season of HBO’s latest s-tier show, “Succession.” A King Lear-inspired tale of deception and utter ineptitude that had its obsessors in a chokehold over the simplest gags, “You can’t make a Tom-lette without breaking some Greggs.” The final season was among many shows delayed because of the pandemic but you’d never know. As each episode plays out, the scale of power that these people mindlessly wield is ever prevalent with the early exit of patriarch Logan Roy (Brian Cox). The mad scramble for power has been the point of no return for the show.
Jeremy Strong has been the face of the success of “Succession,” his work is undeniable and while he had his season (the first), his weight over the frame from Season 1 returns, his control of the scenes is more prevalent, to the point of it feeling like an imitation of Brian Cox, but never in a bad way. Strong channels his on-screen father so well, that it’s highly unsettling in a show full of those moments. However it’s Roman Roy (Kieran Culkin) who finally enters into the leading spot that has been waiting for him and Culkin’s interpretation of the text is at its finest in “Church and State” (the penultimate episode) in which he delivers a performance that in the grand tapestry of the show, makes sense, but when it happens it’s shocking.
Jeff Sparks: ‘Lucky Hank’ (dir. Peter Farrelly, Dan Attias, Jude Weng, Nicole Holofcener; Season 1)
Raúl Mendoza: ‘Loki’ (dir. Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, Dan DeLeeuw, Kasra Farahani; Season 2)
Taylor Baker: ‘A Murder at the End of the World’ (dir. Brit Marling & Zal Batmanglij; Limited Series)
2.
Alexander Reams: ‘Justified: City Primeval’ (dir. Michael Dinner, Jon Avnet, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Kevin Rodney Sullivan, Sylvain White, Katrelle Kindred; Limited Series)
Jeff Sparks: ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty’ (dir. Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Trey Edward Schults, Todd Banhazl, Tanya Hamilton; Season 2)
“Winning Time: The Rise of The Lakers Dynasty” unique visual style and indie style editing dazzled us once again in this busy year for series. One of the many great things about the first season was that it brought out a plethora of career-best performances from its cast, most notably John C. Reilly who shines once again along with the always-on Adrien Brody among others. But the most memorable actor this time around is Jason Segel who stands out in his role as Lakers coach Paul Westhead who plays a much larger role compared to the first season. Chronicling a larger span of time, the most sizeable chunk of the season is spent on the beef between Westhead and star player Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) and subsequently Brody’s Pat Riley. This particular section is where “Winning Time” is at its best. Over the course of multiple episodes, we see the conflict go from a disagreement to a major controversy. Following this enthralling storyline, season two does lose a bit of steam from its multiple time jumps that make the series feel as if multiple hours or even seasons had been cut which makes me wonder if the showrunners knew of the looming cancellation long before the rest of us. Even so, the final few episodes finish strong and send the show out with a bang.
Raúl Mendoza: ‘The Last of Us’ (dir. Craig Mazin, Neil Druckmann, Peter Hoar, Jeremy Webb, Jasmila Žbanić, Liza Johnson, Ali Abbasi; Season 1)
Taylor Baker: ‘The Idol’ (dir. Sam Levinson; Limited Series)
1.
Alexander Reams: ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ (dir. Mike Flanagan & Michael Fimognari; Limited Series)
Jeff Sparks: ‘Copenhagen Cowboy’ (dir. Nicolas Winding Refn; Limited Series)
Raúl Mendoza: ‘The Bear’ (dir. Christopher Storer, Joanna Calo, Ramy Youssef; Season 2)
Taylor Baker: ‘Full Circle’ (dir. Steven Soderbergh; Limited Series)
Steven Soderbergh’s “Full Circle” employs a vast ensemble to tell a far-reaching contemporary noir written by Ed Solomon who also wrote the feature film “No Sudden Move” and the limited series and new media app experience “Mosaic” for Soderbergh. “Full Circle” details how different families become entangled in criminal money laundering, kidnapping, robbery, and murder. Set in motion long ago, patriarchs and matriarchs come to terms with their choices and actions, while youngsters have illusions shattered and torn away, wishing again for the life’s they ran away from. With a strong sense of place and expert performances from a vast ensemble of veterans and relative newcomers including but not limited to CCH Pounder, Timothy Dalton, Dennis Quaid, Zazie Beetz, and Claire Danes. “Full Circle” is at the pinnacle of this year’s television and limited series storytelling.