Little Fires Everywhere (2020)

This miniseries adaptation of Celeste Ng's New York Times bestseller is good, not great, but certainly interesting in its deviations from the source material. First is the casting of Kerry Washington. In the novel, Mia is not racially ambiguous but by casting an African American actress, it reified layers of racial subtext. The racial undertones are extremely uncomfortable, intentionally so. Reese Witherspoon as the "well-meaning", oblivious white lady is very unlikable, kind of curious that she would cast herself in what is surely the villain role. For the first several episodes, Washington isn't very likable either. The way she plays Mia is very off-putting. If she was just a little more sociable, she would be more sympathetic. The actress that plays young Washington nails her mannerisms precisely. But the young Elena and Bill look nothing like Witherspoon and Joshua Jackson--he actually looks older than Jackson. The second half of the series is better than the first, in my opinion, after all the secrets have been revealed to us. I think that's because I didn't care much for the secrets.

Schitt's Creek (2015-20)

Schitt's Creek is the delightful Canadian import that surprised Emmy prognosticators last year when it nabbed nominations Best Comedy Series. Since coming to American Netflix, it has found new audiences looking for something positive and uplifting in these uncertain times. That's right, this was our Coronavirus binge. And we watched six seasons in about a month. The Rose family gets scammed out of their immense wealth, left only with the deed to a town they bought as a joke, called Schitt's Creek (serious tinges of Arrested Development). Naturally, they come to make a home at the motel in the small town in the middle of nowhere comprised of an array of charming and infuriating characters. And that is when the show really starts to get into its stride after the first couple seasons, when they've gotten past the fish-out-of-water jokes. The family was unfortunately very relatable. Alex, David, Johnny and Moira are hilariously quotable. It was tender, sometimes verging on saccharine, but that's kind of what we all need, isn't it? We all need a Patrick, a Ted, a Stevie, a Twyla. Even the supporting characters have their moment in the sun, some musical. Stevie's rendition of Maybe This Time was perhaps the show's finest moment. Oh, and David's outfits are fabulous.

Modern Family (2009-20)

Modern Family has been on for eleven years, and in many ways it represents a past era of television. Modern Family was arguably the last great network sitcom amidst the takeover of cable and streaming (and maybe the last great mockumentary after slew of hits like The Office and Parks and Recreation while the gene was in vogue), 24 episodes of sustained excellence per season, a big ensemble cast, and multiple star-making turns. We've watched the child actors grow up. New Lily and Joe grew on me as time went on, assigned funny one-liners. The earlier seasons have become iconic in syndication. There were some less funny bits in the later seasons, but I always appreciated its Shakespearean sense of comedy, relying on miscommunication and mistaken identity. The writers balanced comedy and emotion nicely.

Modern Family came at a time when Obama was newly elected president. And in the intervening years, Obgerfell v. Hodges legalized gay marriage across the country. Mitch and Cam had their own wedding in the show. What Will and Grace did for our society's acceptance of gay men, Modern Family has done for a gay couple. It normalized a non-traditional, wholly modern, and newly socially acceptable family. And several seasons in, Trump became president. And progress was not only halted but our society regressed. Modern Family never really reckoned with that new reality. Rather than recognizing this as a fault, it actually provided some reprieve from the infuriating reality that we live in. TV had the power to change the way people think in the days when we had network shows that everyone was familiar with. In the golden age of television when there is simply so much quality programming, I'm afraid these impactful cultural touchstones get lost in the inundation.