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a lack of something to watch. 
The# 
choices are ne

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Jeffrey Brown consults some 
critics as part# 
of our arts and culture series, 
Canvas.

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JEFFREY BROWN: And to help 
guide# 
us through this year's best 
shows,##

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I'm joined by Lorraine Ali, the 
news# 
and culture

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and Jen Chaney, TV critic for# 
Vulture and "New York Magazine."

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And hello to both of you. 
Thanks for joining us.

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Why don't we start with new 
shows?

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Jen Chaney, you want to start? 
Give us two.

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JEN CHANEY, "New York 
Magazine": Sure.

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One of the b

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was "The Last of Us," which was 
a big# 
HBO series based on a

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enduring video game, also 
telling a story of# 
a pandemic, but a different 
kind of pandemic,##

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but certainly shades of that 
catastrophic# 
situation that people have to 
endure through.

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I thought it was a wonderful# 
series with two terrific 
lead##

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performances from Pedro Pascal 
and Bella Ramsey.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Connected with 
people# 
because of

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JEN CHANEY: Yes. So, I thought# 
that was a terrific show.

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Another really great new show 
that I feel# 
like not enough people watched 
is "

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Davis." It was on Peacock. It 
was created by Tara# 
Hernandez and Damo

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and "Watchmen." And it's so 
hard to explain# 
this show in a brief manner, 
but it's about a##

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nun who is opposed to this 
algorithm that is --# 
everybody's kind of using to 
guide their lives.

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And the algorithm challenges 
her that if she finds# 
the Holy Grail, the algorithm 
will delete itself.

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ACTRESS: The Holy Grail?

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ACTRESS: The what now?

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JEFFREY BROWN: A nun, an#

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JE 
N CHANEY: Right. I mean,# 
we have seen

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but it's really good in this

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JEFFREY BROWN: I got it. 
(LAUGHTER)

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LORRAINE ALI, The Los Angeles 
Times: My# 
first one is one that

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a lot of people saw. It's 
called# 
"The

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it is a dark comedy kind of 
along# 
the lines of a "Sweeney Todd" 
urban##

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tale mixed with horror. And it 
takes# 
place in a gentrified 
neighborhood##

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in New York. And this woman 
gets out of# 
prison. She's played by Justina 
Machado,##

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who you might know from "One 
Day at a Time,"# 
the reboot, and also from "Six 
Feet Under."

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She gets out of prison, returns 
to her old# 
neighborhood, only to find that 
it's totally##

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been gentrified. How does she 
survive? She moves# 
in with the only person that 
she still knows,##

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who runs an empanada shop. 
Murders# 
begin to happen. And then all 
of a##

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sudden there's this new mystery 
meat# 
in the empanada that everybody 
loves.

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(LAUGHTER)

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but funny series is that it# 
looks at gentrification as a##

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form of cannibalism. And then 
it kind# 
of turns it on itself. It's 
brilliant.

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JEFFREY BROWN: All right. You 
got another one?

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LORRAINE ALI: I do.

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(LAUGHTER)

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My other one is "Poker Face." 
And that is a# 
series. It's kind of like a 
detective se

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starring Natasha Lyonne. And 
she really takes# 
the grid of the old series 
"Columbo" and turns##

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her own character out of that. 
And so she is# 
kind of like the female 
Columbo. Each episode,##

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she is in another place in the 
country solving# 
a crime. She just plays this so 
wonderfully.

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Natasha Lyonne, with her 
gravely voice, chomping# 
on a cigarette in this old late 
model car,##

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it's just fantastic. And 
there's# 
something really charming 
about##

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taking that old network idea of 
a# 
detective show and modernizing 
it.

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JEFFREY BROWN: How about, Jen, 
two older# 
series? There were a number of 
big ones##

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this year, including some that 
came to an end.

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JEN CHANEY: Well, when I had to 
make my# 
list of the top 10 shows and 
decide w

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number one was going to be, I 
had a# 
long debate internally with 
myself,#

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and then I was like, you're 
lying to# 
yourself if you don't put 
"Succession"...

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JEFFREY BROWN: At the top?

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JEN

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I mean,

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JEFFREY BROWN: You and a lot of 
people.

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JEN CHANEY: And a lot of people.

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JEN CHANEY: I just thought they 
ended that# 
series perfectly. There was so 
much tension,##

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just so many great 
performances.# 
I mean, the death of Logan 
Roy,##

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sort of the patriarch of the 
family,# 
that episode alone where the 
ki

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finding out that their father 
died was# 
just an incredible hour of 
television.

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So I'm sad that it's gone,# 
but a perfect way to go out.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Another one?

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JEN CH

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This is -- was only the second 
season,# 
but it had such a strong first 
season.

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It's about a man in Chicago who 
loses# 
his brother and has to take 
over the

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family restaurant business. And 
in# 
the second season, he's trying 
to##

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do something totally different 
and do like a# 
more elevated, s

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it's just so much fun to watch. 
You# 
fall in love with the 
characters. I

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literally miss these characters 
every day that##

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that show is not on. I can't#

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JE 
FFREY BROWN: Lorraine, do you 
have a couple# 
of older or perh

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LORRAINE ALI: "Reservation 
Dogs."# 
It was its third and final 
season.##

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And this series did so much to 
kind of# 
open up the everyday life on 
reservation.

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And the characters are 
indigenous. And# 
they're playing kids that are 
kind of facing,##

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do we leave the reservation? Do 
we stay here?# 
This final season wrapped up an 
incredibly##

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nuanced and quirky series with 
tons of heart,# 
but also this magic surrealism, 
and then also##

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wrapping a lot of the history, 
painful history, of# 
Native Americans and what they 
have gone through##

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into a modern tale. And I love 
that series so# 
much and those characters will 
stay with me.

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My second pick would be 
"Barry," which also# 
wrapped up. The entire show 
wrapped up. This is,##

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of course, the 
hit-man-turned-actor. It's# 
Bill Hader's HBO show. And I 
thought the##

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ending of this would not be 
easy to# 
wrap up, but they really nailed 
it.##

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And they nailed it in a way 
that this hit# 
man kind of comes off looking 
like a hero.

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And it just so speaks to our# 
times of like everything 
being##

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upside down and not what it 
should be morally.

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(LAUGHTER)

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JEFFREY BROWN: You know, just 
in our last coup

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The -- can't really talk about 
this here without# 
thinking about the strike. What

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te 
rms of any impact? Or, maybe 
more importantly,# 
what are you looking toward? 
What will happen?

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JEN CHANEY: My concern going 
into 2024 is# 
that, in the wake of the 
strike, there was##

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already a little bit of 
reticence to take risks# 
in Hollywood, both in film and 
in television.

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And my concern is that it's 
going to be even more# 
stark, that people are going to 
be I.P.-focused##

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and not necessarily as 
interested in original# 
stories. I hope I'm wrong, but 
I'm getting the##

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sense from people in the 
business that that# 
is kind of the direction, at 
least for now.

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And I think we're going to see# 
constriction. We have so many 
platforms,##

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so many TV shows. Everyone's 
saying# 
peak TV is over. And we'

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going to have as many shows, 
which# 
is probably better for my 
sanity.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.

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that aren't represented on TV 
to have# 
a place where they can be 
represented.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Lorraine, what 
do you see?

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LORRAINE ALI: Much the same.

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And I also see, when I'm 
looking forward to# 
ev

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it's looking pretty stark. It's 
just there's# 
not a lot there, and which 
makes me really##

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grateful for what came out in 
2023, because# 
we have always complained, at 
least over the##

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last five or six years, I'm 
never going# 
to have enough time to watch 
everything.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Right.

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to be -- it's going to be kind 
of, like,# 
scarce and scant pickings for a 
while.

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And I do -- I'm also concerned 
about the idea# 
that we're not going to get as 
much creative##

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programming, but that's yet to 
be seen.# 
Just go back, find what you 
haven't seen,##

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which there's probably a lot of 
it. You will have# 
plenty of time to binge in the 
beginning of 2024.

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JEFFREY BROWN: Lorraine Ali and 
Jen# 
Chaney, thank you both very 
much.

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JEN CHANEY: Thank you.

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LORRAINE ALI: Thank you.