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My Picks for 2025
Sup. Been a minute. Please excuse the hiatus, it has been a madhouse of new projects (googly eyes emoji here) and lots to do on some of our favorite older projects, and that meant I needed to push pause on bringing you cool things for a few weeks… but we’re back. We’re so frikin’ back.
In case you were too busy watching the Vikings and Falcons kick field goals Sunday night, it was the 77th Emmys, TV’s biggest night, or more notably, what has become a celebration of all things Apple TV+ and Netflix and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.
So in honor of the small (but not smallest) screen, I am going to take you through my selects for the best TV of the year.
In this article… A Not So Unbiased Note on Survivor, Rose Byrne, Post-Apocalpytic Drama, Are Zombies Necessary, Food Porn, Jason Isaacs, Hot Wings, Fantasy Football.
And looking ahead on Oh, Cool we have: Fall Fashion, How to Thanksgiving Properly (at your parents), and Best Autumn Escapes. Tell your friends.
Missed you so bad. We’ll be bi-weekly until further notice. Thank you for reading.
#1: Keeping It Real
So Sunday night at the Emmys, Traitors took home the trophy for best reality series. Let me just say as the completely biased co-host of the official Survivor podcast, the Traitors is fun, and Alan’s fits are amazing, but Survivor is the best reality show on television.
Seriously. Just ask Variety.
Survivor is the most watched Emmy-nominated series with a massive 462.4 million total viewing hours. That's more than twice as many viewing hours as any other show nominated for best drama, comedy, limited or reality competition series.
Ok so it’s the most watched. (Double the amount of viewing hours of The White Lotus, and five times as much as Traitors. For those of you keeping score at home.)
It is also the best made. Their approach to gameplay, to cinema, and to storytelling is apparent in every twist and turn of the series. There is no show about social politics like it. Drama, challenges, a true test of the human spirit, a murder mystery with a killer cliffhanger at every turn… Survivor is the real deal. And to answer my mother (who has never watched an episode nor listened to an episode of the podcast)… No. It’s not about eating bugs. Trust me. You’re going to fall in love.
You can go binge every season or start with the new season, Survivor 49, airing September 24th at 8P on CBS. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t watched an episode since Richard Hatch. Truly.
#2: Best of the Rest
I already gave you my take on The Studio, and it won lots of awards for good reason. Go watch that if you haven’t.
There were also several other not-nommed shows I loved this year and would tell you to binge in a heartbeat.
They are (in no particular order):
Dept Q - Peak British Whodunnit. Bloody peak.
Silo - Scifi your wife won’t bawk at. It’s post-apocalyptic, but also, what isn’t?
Platonic - Rose Byrne forever.
Your Friends and Neighbors - Our friends who live in Greenwich said this was “too real.”
The Last of Us - Honestly I could give or take the zombies. That’s how good it is.
Industry - Succession but make it Euphoria about finance. I bet that’s how they pitched it!
Slow Horses (ok this had noms) - Gary Oldman forever.
Paradise* (this too) - Also postapocalyptic, also too real, also James Marsden.
Top Chef - I like to cook. I like to watch people who are good at cooking cook.
If this looks like a who’s who of HBO and Netflix and Apple with the occasional other, well, you’re right. Perhaps I am their target demo. Perhaps they are just doing what they do best, which is unbeatable Sunday night TV. It’s all gold, baby. Or at least, it’s a great way to kill a weekend.
I heard Jason Isaacs on the red carpet say it best: “judging art like this is really stupid. Still, someone’s gonna win.”
#3: Football Guy
In the weeks that swept by without Oh, Cool, one very big deal has occurred… it is officially football season.
As my wife likes to say, “you said you didn’t like sports on our first date.” Got her!
I am a red-blooded American man, and even though I am one who lives in Brooklyn and likes prestige dramas, I also like to watch seven blissful hours of commercial free football every given Sunday.
And football is back. Here’s how I do Sunday:
Wings.
This is mandatory. 2ish pounds of chicken wings from the butcher, on the grill, coated in Kozlik’s Chicken Rub. Frank’s Red Hot on the side for dipping.
Outdoor TV.
I store a 50” TCL underneath my steps all year round for 10 glorious weeks of outdoor football. You are invited! Every Sunday. 1PM.
2 Beers.
It’s Sunday. Can’t go too hard.
Yell at your fantasy team.
It’s 100% their fault you’re losing. Not yours.
See you in two weeks.
XOX
Jay