6: Dear White People
Few shows felt as relevant as Netflix’s sequel to the movie of the same name, ‘Dear White People.’ The show follows the fall out of the Black-Face party from the end of the movie, and despite recasting several of its characters, including the lead role, it was still an incredibly powerful slice of television.
The season had many standout moments, but one scene in episode 5, which saw one of the students being confronted with a gun, really drilled out the show’s themes and cemented its place as one the best new TV shows of 2017.
5: American Vandal
Who drew the dicks? was the central question at the heart of Netflix’s mockumentary, American Vandal, and it quickly became the question on the tip of all of our tongues. Parodying their own documentary format could have been a self-indulgent move, but Netflix smashed it out of the park here, mixing parody, genre tropes and a real sense of social conscience to give us one of the best shows of the year.
The show was full of excellent performances and memorable characters, and the writers of the show have confirmed that a second season is in the works. Though, now we all know the answer to that initial question, where will this show take us from here?
4: Big Mouth
Tackling puberty is always going to be a difficult task but, doing it using animated monsters is a whole different ball game together. Big Mouth was one of the most pleasant surprises of 2017, an honest, and often hilarious take on teenage life, the show was easily one of Netflix’s finest from the last twelve months.
3: Mindhunter
Of all the shows on this list, few received the hype that Mindhunter did. Produced by the master of neo-noir crime himself, David Fincher, the show arrived in October with some heavy expectations, and it duly delivered.
While it initially appeared as the show was going to give us a standard police procedural TV show, it soon became clear that the series was an in-depth examination of morality, and evil, focusing not on who the murderers are but rather, what motivates them to do what they do. This gave the show some of its chilling and most memorable moments, with the interviews with the serial killers often being a highlight of each episode.
Mindhunter is compelling television and the best new show Netflix has released in 2017.
2: BoJack Horseman Season 4
Few TV shows are as challenging as BoJack Horseman, let alone animated ones about a previously famous horse. The show has been one of Netflix’s low key best shows for the last four years, and season 4 showed that this show still has plenty of fuel left in the tank.
With BoJack absent from the opening episode of the show, season 4 set about focusing on the struggles of the show’s other characters, and it may well have been the show’s finest outing to date. Not only did it allow the show to mature once again, but it also explored the potentially damaging effects of depression, addiction and self-loathing on the generations that will follow us, exploring the backstory of BoJack’s Mother, and the arrival of BoJack’s supposed daughter. It also managed to be one of the funniest shows of the year as well.
The show really excelled itself with two episodes, in particular, this year – episodes 9 and 12 were two of the emotionally challenging TV episodes of 2017, ones that really showed just what a powerful show BoJack Horseman really is.
1: Master of None Season 2
All hail Aziz Ansari. Master of None season 1 is one of the finest seasons of TV Netflix has ever created, and season 2 is no different. The show dropped, surprisingly, earlier this year and after just one episode it was clear that Ansari had done it again.
As any good show should do, season 2 of Master of None felt more polished, and more mature than its predecessor and from the moment the end credits rolled, it was difficult to imagine any Netflix property topping it this year. The season featured so many beautiful moments, the New York episode was beautiful, while the Thanksgiving episode was one of the finest episodes of television this year. No other show on television gives such an honest, and often hilarious portrayal of modern life, and every episode is full of such warm, and lovable characters that its difficult not to fall head over heels for the show. Roll on season 3!
What Netflix shows have you enjoyed the most this year? Let us know in the comments below, and let Liam know on Twitter @liamhoofe
