2022 has been a great year for TV shows. There have been all kinds of new shows that have caught the eyes of viewers, but it has also been the year when some of TV's best shows have said goodbye. Here are the best TV shows that ended in 2022.
Atlanta
This Donald Glover show has been many things over the years: the story of Earn and Paper Boi, an anthology about Blackness, a surreal show, an Amelie homage, a love story between a couple who got pregnant too soon after they met, and one of the most imaginative, unique shows in television. When you sat to see an Atlanta episode, you never knew what was about to happen, and that was a feature, not a fault. After a great fourth season back at home, and a finale, that, like always, did things a little bit differently than the rest, Atlanta has ended.
In five or ten years, people are still going to be talking about the show, and the whole team is going to be working in Hollywood for a while: Brian Tyree Henry, Zazie Beetz, and LaKeith Stanfield are more in demand than ever before, and so are director Hiro Murai and multi-hyphenate genius Donald Glover, be it as a writer, actor, director, showrunner, and even all of the above at the same time. We can't wait to see what they all do next.
Better Call Saul
Not since Fraser, has a spinoff become just as good as the original, and, in the case of Better Call Saul, it might be an even bigger feat as Breaking Bad is in the pantheon of greatest TV shows ever. The story of how Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) becomes Saul Goodman has been longer, richer in detail, and more complicated than what we would’ve thought when we first saw him as the flashy lawyer on Breaking Bad.
The show's seasons have gone from great to even better, as we enjoyed getting to know Saul and all the new players from this show; from Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn) to Nacho (Michael Mando) and Lalo (Tony Dalton). Better Call Saul also gave us an opportunity to revisit old characters from Breaking Bad, like Mike (Jonathan Banks) and Gus (Giancarlo Esposito). What’s even more fascinating about the ending of Better Call Saul is that it not only had a great show finale, but also gave closure to every character in Breaking Bad.
Better Things
Pamela Adlon’s Better Things was a frank comedy about being a single mother and an actress-comedian. The show earned Adlon a Peabody Award in 2017, and a couple of Best Actress nominations at the Emmys. Adlon created, wrote, directed, and acted in this TV series, so saying that it was her baby would be an understatement, and she knew when to give her character struggling moments, and when to give her a break. Sadly, there are not many stories on TV about women in their forties and fifties, so Better Things told some funny, real stories about womanhood and getting older, which is still pretty new for the medium, and Better Things did them perfectly.
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow
One of the better stories about transformation and evolution, as it went from a show with a boring first season into a funny, time-traveling circus of a series, and we were all better for it. DC’s Legends of Tomorrow was a musical in one episode, a story about the Romans in the next, and one where a devil unicorn wanted to eat nipples in the next, and they all made perfect sense together, showing the chameleonic ways of the show and its many genres.
The show was canceled without a proper ending, but the last season was already living on borrowed time, so although we don’t know how Sara (Caity Lotz), Ava (Jes Macallan), Nate (Nick Zano), Zari (Tala Ashe), and the rest of the Legends end their lives, we're sure that it was in a wacky, heartfelt, one-for-all and all-for-one kind of way.
The Expanse
The Expanse was called Game of Thrones in space, as it had many players and stories that only intersected after we had already met and fallen in love with each of its characters. There were stories on The Rocinante spaceship, on Mars, in the Belters stations, and on some unknown planets still waiting to be explored. The show also changed genres from season to season, as it started as a noir in space, and ended as a political-war drama. The Expanse was dead at SyFy when Amazon saved it and gave it three more seasons, and although it lost some steam in its final year, the series earned its right to be talked about in the same sentence as Battlestar Galactica, as one of the greatest sci-fi shows of this century.
About his time on the show, actor Wes Chatham told Horror Geek Life: “I’ve learned so much not only about my specific craft but also about the writing, producing, and everything that is involved in making a show. My whole knowledge base has grown so much, I’ll forever be grateful to The Expanse for that.”
Grace and Frankie
Grace and Frankie told the story of Grace (Jane Fonda) and Frankie (Lily Tomlin), who used to be nemeses, but became friends when their husbands (played by Sam Waterson and Martin Sheen) announced they were in love with one another and were going to get married. Although the show had a divisive seventh-season ending, it was still heartwarming to see the life these two women had made together, in what was, surprisingly, Netflix's longest-running scripted series ever.
Peaky Blinders
Peaky Blinders was a surprise when it came out and showed a different side of lead actor Cillian Murphy as Tommy Shelby. This thrilling, violent, drama with a great soundtrack pit the Shelby clan against all kinds of mobsters and villains. It was always led by great actors, from Sam Neill to Adrien Brody and, especially, Tom Hardy. The show always knew how to have incredible moments, and its season finales were always spectacular in their scope, action sequences, and surprises. Although the show ended this year, there’s going to be a movie that will continue its story, so we still haven’t said our last goodbye to this unique family of criminals.
This Is Us
This is Us surprised everyone when it started in 2016, as it became one of the last successful broadcast TV shows, reigniting the careers of Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore, and making Sterling K. Brown a known commodity in Hollywood. The show was always emotional and a tear-jerker, full of big moments, proving that people still want to see shows about normal people with normal problems. This is Us also proved that after years of Lost and other breaking format series, the audience is savvy enough to enjoy a show with two timelines at the same time and a mystery on how they connect, enjoying and crying along the life of the Pearson family.
The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead might’ve stayed too long to be remembered as one of the great shows of the century, but its first four seasons were thrilling, scary, and surprising, and brought zombies back to the mainstream after many decades of these creatures only appearing on B and C movies. Even if the mother show ended this year, there are still many spinoffs to come, so we’ll still be watching some of the most beloved characters in the future: Daryl (Norman Reedus) has his show; Rick (Andrew Lincoln) and Michonne (Danai Gurira) have their show, and Maggie (Lauren Conrad) and Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) have their show, so if you're a fan of zombies (walkers), you'll still have many series to watch.
All these shows ended this year, but it was such a great crop, that it won't be forgotten easily, as they changed the medium and inspired all those that have come after, making TV the place where you can watch the most original, unique, surprising stories, as all these shows did.