The year has ended, somewhat mercifully, and it wasn't the best year for TV, either. Strikes, endless streaming service turnover, and leftover COVID production and script delays led to one of the oddest and most scattershot years in TV history. Our TV critics, Matthew Ehrlich, Omar Gallaga, Scott Gold, and Neal Pollack cover it all.

There is plenty of good to mine. Omar loved shows like 'Fallout' and 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith', but he and Neal talk in detail about Julio Torres's 'Fantomas' and John Mulaney's 'Everybody's In L.A.' Scott pops in to join the Shōgun discourse. Neal had problems with the Anglo lead, Cosmo Jarvis, but Scott and Omar both assure him that the Japanese cast takes over by the end.

Scott's favorites included Guy Ritchie's 'The Gentlemen,' and both he and Neal fanboy over Theo James for a few minutes. It's the rare TV continuation of a movie that actually improves on the original. Neal's picks include the Australian sitcom 'Colin From Accounts,' which he and Omar both agree is totally delightful.

Now for the bad news. Matthew Ehrlich thinks 'The Perfect Couple' is ridiculous, a bad Netflix version of Succession that includes a cheesy murder mystery. He's also not high on the new network procedurals, like 'Elspeth,' 'High Potential,' and 'Matlock,' which like AI wrote them. In addition, he offers a counter-attack on 'Hacks,' which does a disservice to the memory of Joan Rivers, and he offers the perspective that Rivers was actually friends with Donald Trump and might have been a victim of cancel culture if she had lived to see the day.

Omar likes Hacks, but has his pans too, and he and Matthew take turns battering the "icky" and weird and unappealing Baby Reindeer, which is getting praise around the joint but does not meet our approval.

Neal then goes off on several shows, including 'Last Bite Hotel,' a weird semi-horror-themed Food Network show starring Titus Burgess, 'The Acolyte,' and especially the new season of Doctor Who, which featured a character who was literally the spirit of Christmas, and some gross, weird, "Space Babies."

Here's hoping for a better 2025 for all TV viewers! A new season of The White Lotus is coming.

BFG Podcast #178: 2024 TV Year In Review

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