Our 2021 Annual Report continues with our Top 25 TV Shows list. As the year winds down, stay tuned for more awards, lists, and articles about the best music, film, and TV of 2021. You can find it all in one place here.
While the past year wasn’t easy, one thing that once again helped us get through it was television. Whether it was keeping us entertained during those pre-vaccine months inside or making us feel connected through watercooler moments, the best shows of the year rose up to keep us feeling sane and whole and maybe just a little bit less alone.
The series that Consequence chose to highlight for 2021 often overlap in subject matter, whether it be the AIDS crisis, the world of music, or the disintegration of reality as the MCU knows it. But they also represent the wide depth of storytelling made possible by this medium, making small-town Pennsylvania or a mysterious Korean island or antebellum Georgia or the chambers of the Vampiric Council feel like a part of our everyday lives.
It was a good year for new points of view and new voices. A good year for fresh takes on tired genres. A good year for singing and dancing just because that’s the only way all those feelings can be felt. A good year to confront the trauma of the past and look forward to a better future. A good year to be inspired by heroics, both super and ordinary. In short — a good year for television.
— Liz Shannon Miller
Senior Entertainment Editor