Making a best of anything related to 2020 feels fruitless. This has been a wild and depressing year with few blessings to count.

And yet, I feel for any creator who put art into the world that was made before COVID-19, which now feels forever ago. As such, I didnt want to completely abandon Streamlines annual best shows of the year list. But this is certainly an altered version.

Ill say right off the bat I dont feel like I can objectively rate good or bad in this altered state of 2020. Ive found that I only felt like watching Anthony Bourdain travel shows for most of this year because those globe-trotting episodes offer the opportunity of going out into the world vicariously. I had no time for challenging shows, even if they were beautifully written and constructed. That disqualifies a ton of great art right off the bat.

But the most significant caveat of all is that COVID-19 kept many shows from even debuting. There was no Atlanta or Watchmen or Fleabag or Russian Doll this year. So any best of the year list is inherently more of a best of what even aired this year list.

That said, 2020 still gave us a few shows well worth checking out.