2022 is now in the books! But before we look ahead to 2023, let’s look back on the year that was in television; What was the best show? What streamer holds the championship belt? And who will win 2022 Television Madness? Find out all that and more with The Circuit’s 2022 Television Awards!
Circuit Artwork
If you’ve been following along all year (where the hell have you been if you haven’t!), you know that every quarter poll the number of nominees is half of the number of things I watched, or half rounded up if it’s an odd number. But for the yearly awards, we’re doing 10 nominees across the board (with some smaller categories getting 5). And we’re adding a bunch of new categories to further celebrate the year in television!
Here is the complete list of shows I caught in 2022:
1st Quarter: 2nd Quarter:
Bel-Air S1 Moon Knight S1
Euphoria S2 Ms. Marvel S1
How I Met Your Father S1 Obi-Wan Kenobi S1
Ozark S4 Stranger Things S4
Peacemaker S1 The Boys S3
Severance S1 The Offer S1
Space Force S2
The Book of Boba Fett S1
Winning Time S1
We Crashed S1
3rd Quarter: 4th Quarter:
Grey’s Anatomy S18 Andor S1
HSMTMTS S3 Blockbuster S1
House of the Dragon S1 Bob’s Burgers S13
Only Murders in the Building S2 Fleishman is in Trouble S1
She-Hulk S1 GotG Holiday Special
The Bear S1 I Am Groot shorts
The Flash S8 The Santa Clauses S1
The Old Man S1 The White Lotus S2
The Rehearsal S1 Wednesday S1
The Rings of Power S1 Werewolf By Night Special
The Terminal List S1 Welcome to Chippendales S1
Uncoupled S1
39 shows! But there were still a number of shows I didn’t get to. Here is a list of some of the more notable shows I didn’t catch in 2022 (so if you don’t see your favorite show nominated for anything, it’s probably because I didn’t watch it).
Abbott Elementary S2
Atlanta S3
Barry S3
Better Call Saul S6
Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story S1
Slow Horses S2
We Own This City S1
Willow S1
Yellowstone S5
1923 S1
Favorite Action/Superhero Show in 2022
1- Peacemaker season 1
2- Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
3- The Boys season 3
4- Moon Knight season 1
5- Ms. Marvel season 1
This category was a major disappointment in 2022. The Marvel shows all were relative flops, yet little else stepped up to fill the void. However one show did stand out above them all; Peacemaker! The shocking humor and violence was quite refreshing for the genre, and was easily the best superhero/action show of 2022.
Favorite Comedy/Musical Show in 2022
1- Wednesday season 1
2- The Bear season 1
3- Only Murders in the Building season 2
4- Bob’s Burgers season 13
5- High School Musical: The Musical: The Series season 3
Apologies to The Bear, as that show held the lead until mid-December when I finally got around to Jenna Ortega’s masterpiece. Wednesday was an absolute thrill, and that’s coming from someone who doesn’t like any previous iteration of the Addams Family. A wonderful show filled with dead-pan laughs due to Ortega’s brilliant performance.
Favorite Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show in 2022
1- House of the Dragon season 1
2- Stranger Things season 4
3- Severance season 1
4- Obi-Wan season 1
5- Andor season 1
It is criminal that Stranger Things doesn’t come away with a win, but HotD was just special. It took us all back to Westeros and peak Game of Thrones. Perhaps if Netflix had released ST weekly, it could have built even more momentum and maybe won, but they didn’t so it doesn’t. Congrats to all the Targaryens on this award!
Favorite Drama/Prestige Show in 2022
1- Winning Time season 1
2- The White Lotus season 2
3- The Offer season 1
4- Euphoria season 2
5- Ozark season 4
Another incredibly close call between Winning Time & White Lotus, but my Laker fandom pushes the basketball drama over the top.
Favorite Episode of 2022
1- “Dear Billy” (Stranger Things S4 E4)
2- “Second of His Name” (House of the Dragon S1 E3)
3- “Review” (The Bear S1 E7)
4- “The Massacre at Hawkins Lab” (Stranger Things S4 E7)
5- “The Theater and It’s Double” (Euphoria S2 E7)
6- “Woe What a Night” (Wednesday S1 E4)
7- “The Lord of the Tides” (House of the Dragon S1 E8)
8- “That’s Amore” (The White Lotus S1 E5)
9- “Part VI (Obi-Wan Kenobi S1 E6)
10- “Ribbit and Rip It” (She-Hulk S1 E8)
What. An. Episode. Sadie Sink had us all in puddles by the end, and this episode even revived the career of Kate Bush and gave us the song of the summer. There were some great episodes in 2022, but “Dear Billy” was clearly the best.
Favorite Performance by a Supporting Actress in Television in 2022
1- Sadie Sink as Max Mayfield (Stranger Things)
2- Julie Garner as Ruth Langmore (Ozark)
3- Aubrey Plaza as Harper Spiller (The White Lotus)
4- Maya Hawke as Robin Buckley (Stranger Things)
5- Meghann Fahy as Daphne Babcock (The White Lotus)
6- Natalia Dyer as Nancy Wheeler (Stranger Things)
7- Haley Lu Richardson as Portia (The White Lotus)
8- Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys (House of the Dragon)
9- Emily Carey as Alicent Hightower (House of the Dragon)
10- Saylor Bell Curda as Maddox (HSMTMTS)
The same reasons for my favorite episode apply for favorite supporting actress. Sadie Sink was incredible on the latest season of Stranger Things, and has us all terrified for what’s in store for Max Mayfield.
Favorite Performance by a Supporting Actor in Television in 2022
1- Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen (House of the Dragon)
2- Caleb McLaughlin as Lucas Sinclair (Stranger Things)
3- Freddie Stroma as Adrian Chase/Vigilante (Peacemaker)
4- Joe Keery as Steve Harrington (Stranger Things)
5- Matthew Goode as Bob Evans (The Offer)
6- Quincy Isaiah as Magic Johnson (Winning Time)
7- Ethan Hawke as Arthur Harrow (Moon Knight)
8- Tom Hollander as Quentin (The White Lotus)
9- Theo James as Cameron Babcock (The White Lotus)
10- Victor Dorobantu as Thing (Wednesday)
I mean, do I need to explain this one?
Favorite Performance by a Lead Actress in Television in 2022
1- Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams (Wednesday)
2- Laura Linney as Wendy Byrde (Ozark)
3- Anne Hathaway as Rebekah Neumann (We Crashed)
4- Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk (She-Hulk)
5- Zendaya as Rue Bennett (Euphoria)
6- Millie Alcock as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (House of the Dragon)
7- Millie Bobby Brown as Eleven (Stranger Things)
8- Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan (Ms. Marvel)
9- Morfydd Clark as Galadriel (The Rings of Power)
10- Selena Gomez as Mabel Mora (Only Murders in the Building)
Anne Hathaway & Laura Linney were incredible this year, but there was just something about what Jenna Ortega did as Wednesday Addams that was magical. The whole gothic Nancy Drew going to Hogwarts thing worked for me, so she wins this award.
Favorite Performance by a Lead Actor in Television in 2022
1- Jeremy Allen-White as Carmy Berzatto (The Bear)
2- John C. Reilly as Dr. Jerry Buss (Winning Time)
3- Miles Teller as Al Ruddy (The Offer)
4- Oscar Isaac as Marc Spector/Steven Grant/Moonknight (Moon Knight)
5- Jesse Eisenberg as Toby Fleishman (Fleishman is in Trouble)
6- Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi (Obi-Wan Kenobi)
7- Jared Leto as Adam Neumann (We Crashed)
8- John Cena as Christopher Smith/Peacemaker (Peacemaker)
9- Kumail Nanjiani as Somen “Steve” Banerjee (Welcome to Chippendales)
10- Diego Luna as Cassian Andor (Andor)
This category was surprisingly difficult. There wasn’t a performance that really stood out to me (like there were 3 in the actress category), so ultimately I landed on Allen-White. Maybe it’s because I grew up working in restaurants, I don’t know. But he was great, and the show deserves some love.
Least Favorite Television Show in 2022
39- The Terminal List season 1
38- Space Force season 2
37- The Book of Boba Fett season 1
36- The Old Man season 1
35- She-Hulk season 1
With all due respect to Chris Pratt, I thought this show was awful. I really only gave it a chance because of Pratt. But every episode was a slog to get through, and I was thrilled when I finished it. I will say the ending was actually interesting, but nothing else was. I’m sure plenty of people loved this show, but the whole ex-marine genre just isn’t for me.
Favorite Television Show in 2022
1- House of the Dragon season 1
2- Stranger Things season 4
3- Winning Time season 1
4- The White Lotus season 2
5- Wednesday season 1
6- The Bear season 1
7- The Offer season 1
8- Peacemaker season 1
9- Severance season 1
10- Obi-Wan Kenobi season 1
Again, it kills me to not give this to Stranger Things. This season was fantastic, and it breaks my heart. But I loved House of the Dragon, so it wins. It’s like picking my favorite kid, if I had kids. And loved them all equally.
Streamer Rankings
1- HBOMax
2- Netflix
3- Hulu
4- Disney+
5- Amazon Prime
6- Apple TV+
7- Paramount+
8- Peacock
HBOMax ran away with this award in almost embarrassing fashion. Netflix did have a couple huge hits, but overall they didn’t put out nearly the quality or quantity of shows that HBOMax did. Hulu was a big surprise, edging out platform giants like Apple & Prime, and then there was Peacock. What on Earth are they doing over at Peacock???
Television Scoreboard: Nominations (Wins)
Stranger Things- 10 (2)
House of the Dragon- 8 (3)
The White Lotus- 8
Wednesday- 5 (2)
Peacemaker- 4 (1)
The Bear- 4 (1)
Winning Time- 4 (1)
Obi-Wan Kenobi- 4
The Offer- 4
Euphoria- 3
Moon Knight- 3
Ozark- 3
She-Hulk- 3
Andor- 2
High School Musical: The Musical: the Series- 2
Only Murders in the Building- 2
Severance- 2
We Crashed- 2
Bob’s Burgers- 1
Fleishman is in Trouble- 1
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special- 1
Ms. Marvel- 1
The Boys- 1
The Rings of Power- 1
Welcome to Chippendales- 1
Now here is how the 2022 Television Madness tournament shook out! What is Television Madness you may ask? Well, I took the concept of the NCAA tournament and applied it to television (and the movie version is coming soon on The Streaming Circuit podcast, so look out for that!). I created a 33-team tournament to determine the most significant show of 2022. I designed 4 regions of 8 teams, plus a play-in game for the final spot. I treated each streamer as a college conference; Amazon Prime, HBOMax, Disney+ & Netflix all got 3 automatic bids while Peacock, Paramount+, Apple TV+ & Hulu each got 2. Then 13 shows were selected as at-large bids. It sounds confusing, but here are the conferences broken down:
Netflix: 3
Automatic Bids: Stranger Things, Wednesday, Ozark
At-Large Bids: None
HBOMax: 8
Automatic Bids: Winning Time, House of the Dragon, The White Lotus
At-Large Bids: Peacemaker, The Rehearsal, Barry, We Own This City, Euphoria
Amazon Prime: 3
Automatic Bids: The Boys, Rings of Power, Better Call Saul
At-Large Bids: None
Disney+: 6
Automatic Bids: Ms. Marvel, Andor, Obi-Wan Kenobi
At-Large Bids: She-Hulk, Moon Knight, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series
Hulu: 6
Automatic Bids: The Bear, Fleishman is in Trouble
At-Large Bids: Only Murders in the Building, Atlanta, The Old Man, Welcome to Chippendales
Apple TV+: 3
Automatic Bids: Severance, Slow Horses
At-Large Bids: We Crashed
Paramount+: 2
Automatic Bids: The Offer, 1923
At-Large Bids: None
Peacock: 2
Automatic Bids: Yellowstone, Bel-Air
At-Large Bids: None
**The play-in game was High School Musical: The Musical: The Series defeating Bel-Air, just for some context.
The way the shows are selected and the brackets are filled out is simple; I used 3 categories to determine the most significant show of 2022:
Quality of the show (how good the show is)
Significance of the show (how much are people talking about the show)
Personal preference (how much did I like the show)
But enough chatter, here are the brackets!
King’s Landing Region (South)
Bracket HQ
This region was mostly chalk, with the exception of The Bear taking down Yellowstone in the semis. Admittedly I’ve never seen Yellowstone, but I’ve heard this season isn’t quite as strong as previous installments. But in the end, the most valuable power to have is still dragon power.
Staples Center Region (West)
Bracket HQ
Big upsets out west! Winning Time was one of my favorite shows of the year, but the TikTok memes have spoken and Wednesday Addams murders the top seed. But Severance is able to split the minds of both Saul and Wednesday and take an ominous elevator to the Fin Four.
Sicily Region (East)
Bracket HQ
Another 1-seed falls! This is a prime example of how these brackets are not simply my favorite shows. I enjoy White Lotus way more than Andor, but it seems to me that the latter has been more significant than the former. Barely.
Hawkins Region (North)
Bracket HQ
Was there ever a doubt? In the battle of ill-behaved teenagers in the finals, the nerds of Stranger Things take down the drama tweens of Euphoria.
Fin Four
Bracket HQ
What a finish! Andor & Severance made great runs to get to the Fin Four, but we all knew the two shows that would be battling it out for supremacy. In the end, Eleven stretching out her arms and screaming at dragons would not get the job done. I present to you, your 2022 Television Madness King, House of the Dragon! Long may they reign.
There you have it! The Circuit’s 2022 Television Awards in all their glory. Check back next week for the 2022 Film Awards, and make sure to check out all of our great content & podcasts here at The Circuit!