30 Excellent TV Performances from the Past Decade

Our Best of the Decade lists continue with our favorite performances by actors in the past ten years.

A lot goes into making a successful TV show. Excellent writing, wardrobe, cinematography, directing–it’s all essential in making the best content possible.  

A show can’t fully come alive without its cast, though, and occasionally, an actor will come along who inhabits a role so spectacularly, they make you forget you’re watching a piece of fiction. 

Whether they were villains or heroes, robots or meth dealers, supernatural beings or old fashioned family men, there has been an exceptional number of truly extraordinary performances on the small screen in the past decade.

It would be impossible to list every actor who has blown us away, but in no particular order, here are 30 excellent TV performances from the past decade: 

*Keep in mind, there are spoilers ahead!*

1. Joseph  Morgan (Klaus Mikaelson, The Vampire Diaries/The Originals)

Klaus was written as a villain far before Joseph Morgan ever showed up on the screen. For the majority of the second season of The Vampire Diaries, the lore of Niklaus Mikaelson built a reputation as one of the most intimidating antagonists to ever grace TV.

That reputation was an immense standard to live up to, and audiences wondered if meeting the big bad Klaus: Original Vampire, would inevitably be a letdown. After all, who could really live up to that kind of hype on a CW show?

Joseph Morgan could, and his performance of Klaus was a home run from his first reveal. Savage, intimidating, and thirsty for power, Morgan’s portrayal of Klaus hit every terrifying beat necessary and heightened the overall quality of The Vampire Diaries as a program.

His performance was so powerful, he was able to land his own spin-off with The Originals, where he continued to wow audiences with the complex antagonist to ever land on a show about vampires and werewolves.

Klaus was steadfast in his brutality–written as unbelievably powerful and unshakeable. Yet, Joseph Morgan created an empathic nature to his character.

With a slight softening of the eyes or perhaps a single tear, he added small, subtle moments of compassion, allowing depth. Because of Morgan, a softness buried deep within Klaus was able to show itself at the most unexpected of times.

It was enough to fear Klaus, but also enough to root for Klaus, regardless of his past atrocities. 

2. Rachel Brosnahan (Midge Maisel, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)

Not just anyone can bring an Amy Sherman-Palladino script to life.

Known for its tongue-twisting dialogue and record fast pace, Palladino’s scripts are notoriously difficult to curate from page to screen, and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is no different.

Luckily, the Palladions found Rachel Brosnahan, who brings titular character Midge alive with a grit and moxie perfectly crafted for the character.

Brosnahan’s steeliness is enough to propel the show forward on her own, but her tenacity and brightness mixed with the carefully designed dialogue are what make the show a total smash.

Midge Maisel isn’t perfect, and Brosnahan finds a way to portray her flaws without making her unlikeable. She’s self-centered and at times, blind to the plight of the people around her, but she’s progressive enough to get behind, even when she doesn’t realize it.

If anything, Brosnahan brings self-confidence to Midge that is overwhelmingly aspirational, reminding women if you can dream it, you can absolutely do it.

3. Sterling K. Brown (Randall Pearson, This Is Us)

This Is Us is one of the decades best shows. Randall Pearson, is the best character on This Is Us. 

A businessman man, father, husband, and adopted child, Randall Pearson is a complex man. Pulling from his own experiences, Sterling K. Brown is able to curate Pearson in a way that defies his past, giving him an undeniable charm.

Brown’s biggest accomplishment, however, may be in the way he portrays Randall’s issues with mental illness. 

In the Season 1 episode “Jack Pearson’s Son,” the show opens up about Randall’s battle with panic attacks. Brown plays those scenes with painstaking realism, incorporating small moments–shaking hands, loss of focus, inability to communicate–that perfectly encapsulate what real panic disorder feels like.

Randall’s panic is a pioneering moment for men’s mental health, wiping away the toxic mentality that men (specifically black men) don’t struggle also with mental illness. 

It’s a standout acting moment for Brown, who doesn’t look like he’s acting at all. Panic attacks are notoriously famous for making you believe you’re about to die, and that’s exactly what Brown exudes.

4. Dylan O’Brien (Stiles Stilinski, Teen Wolf)

Dylan O’Brien has gone on to become one of the biggest up and coming actors of this generation, but before he was starring in blockbuster hits like American Assassin and The Death Cure, he paved his way on the little MTV show that could, Teen Wolf.

Without O’Brian, Teen Wolf probably would have struggled to gain much notoriety. The story itself was enjoyable, but it was the delivery of O’Brien’s Stiles Stilinski, a whip-smart know it all with an endless supply of punch lines, that truly put the show on the map.

In Season 3, O’Brien elevated his performance even more by taking on the role of antagonist. Swapping from comedic relief to the shows all-time best villain, O’Brien played a void version of himself,  who slowly spirals into a terrifying ancient relic set out to destroy the town of Beacon Hills.

From the pilot, everyone who watched Teen Wolf knew O’Brien could be funny, but Season 3 displayed just how much range and talent he actually was capable of. 

5. D’arcy Carden (Janet, The Good Place)

How do you make a robot lovable? It’s the question D’arcy Carden had to ask herself when being cast on The Good Place. 

Janet may be a robot, but she’s funny, endearing and somehow, extremely relatable. Watching Janet learn what love is, is slightly akin to watching the Tin Man find his heart in The Wizard Of Oz. You can’t help but grow more attached to her with each passing episode.

What makes Carden really stand out as an actor is her ability to portray other characters beyond just original Janet. Bad Janet, for instance, is a potty-mouthed reject from The Bad Place, and Carden delivers her lines with deadpan comedic beats that leave you roaring with laughter.

Carden’s most impressive moment, however, is in the Season 3 finale, “Janet(s).” Not only is she tasked with playing endless varying Janets on screen, making each one slightly different from the last, she also has to take the form of the shows core four: Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani and Jason.

Carden embodies each of the main characters with a finesse that should earn her an award, bringing even the smallest of character mannerisms to the forefront of her performance, truly selling the believability.

6. Ryan Eggold (Max Goodwin, New Amsterdam)

With so many medical dramas out there, you have to wonder what a new one could possibly bring to the table. 

For New Amsterdam, the answer is Ryan Eggold.

Based on real-life internist Eric Manheimer, Eggold plays Max Goodwin, the shows selfless rookie medical director. Goodwin is a doctor determined to make a change, and Eggold gives him the beating heart necessary to warm the story. 

It’s absolutely vital you fall in love with him as a character, and Eggold doesn’t skip a beat. Like an energizer bunny, he portrays Goodwin with drive and passion that has you rooting for him every episode. 

Sick or grief-stricken, Eggold plays with Goodwin with unwavering hope. You love Max, and you certainly worry for Max, but you still feel like he’s somehow taking care of you.

7. Aden Young (Daniel Holden, Rectify)

Aden Young delivered a breathtaking performance with every moment on screen as Rectify’s Daniel Holden. The critically acclaimed series centered on Daniel once he was released from prison, now finding that adjusting to life outside of solitary confinement was difficult — particularly since the people of his home town believed he was guilty of murder.

That ambiguity made the character especially interesting. Holden was a tortured soul and one we wanted to love, but the question of whether or not he was capable of murder remained throughout the series. Young’s performance was strongest in the quiet moments that gave us insight into his character’s complex emotions, captivating the audience in a show that deserved so much more attention.

8. Daniel Ezra (Spencer James, All American)

All American — “Coming Home”– Pictured: Daniel Ezra as Spencer — Photo: Tina Thorpe/The CW — © 2019 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved

Carrying a show would be difficult enough on its own, but carrying it as a black man breaking down age-old TV stereotypes is an entirely new level of artistic difficulty. 

Daniel Ezra manages to do it all with his portrayal of Spencer James on All American.

As a UK native who had never played football before being cast, it’s shocking Ezra embodies the fictional version of real-life ex-NFL star Spencer Passenger so impeccably.

Ezra’s convincing American accent alone is almost enough to earn him a place on this list, not to mention the way he fakes being a football prodigy. But it’s in Spencer’s moments of humanity that Ezra truly shines.

Ezra plays James tough yet soft, strong yet damaged, impenetrable yet delicate, and knows exactly when to bring out every varying facet. His range as an actor shines in every scene, and his delivery of James is mesmerizing.

9. Nina Dobrev (Katherine Pierce/Elena Gilbert, The Vampire Diaries)

Right out of the gate, Nina Dobrev was clearly a perfect choice for Elena Gilbert on The Vampire Diaries. Angelic and soft, she was born to play the role of leading heroine, torn between her love for two brothers.

That’s not what earns her a spot on this list. 

It was when Katherine, Elena’s vampire doppelganger, came around that Dobrev’s acting chops shined. Katherine was fierce, sexy and devious. She was everything Elena Gilbert wasn’t, yet Dobrev was able to bring both characters to life with astounding realism.

They looked identical, but they could not have been more different. Dobrev was so acute in her portrayal, it was easy to forget they were only one person. Down to the smallest mannerisms or dialect, the doppelgangers never morphed into one persona.

She would later go on to play two other versions of herself, finding unique ways to portray each individual every time, but it was the dichotomy Dobrev created between Katherine and Elena, that lands on this list.

10. Bryan Cranston (Walter White, Breaking Bad)

Breaking Bad was an enigma of a show. Even as the seasons progressed, it always limited its scope to a few key players, choosing to showcase a more in-depth look at its characters rather than expanding its world. 

That’s what made it spectacular. 

This was never more apparent than with the character of Walter White, who goes down as one of the most brilliantly written complex villains of all time.

Many of White’s actions over the course of Breaking Bad caused visceral reactions within its audience, but through Bryan Cranton’s impeccably nuanced acting, rooting for White’s character continued to be an inevitability. 

Somehow, Cranston always made White the underdog. You were always on his side, even when he did unspeakable things. His performance was particularly distinctive in its physicality. Subtle clenches in his jaw, and other tics that developed over time, perfectly mirrored his character’s spiral into villainhood.

11. Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag, Fleabag)

Fleabag has been called the best show on television, and Phoebe Waller-Bridge wrote it.

She also stars in it, and boy is she brilliant.

Fleabag herself is described as a “dirty and pervy, messed-up woman” dealing with grief from her best friend’s death. She is raw and isolated, spiraling out against everyone who’s ever loved her.

Still, you root for her. Probably because you root for Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who manages to make Fleabag likable in her own way. Fleabag is always fully equipped with zippy one-liners and perfectly timed fourth wall breaks, gazing seductively into the camera each time she’s impressed with herself.

Waller-Bridge invites you into Fleabags world, and presents a conflicted woman whose lost, but desires something good. She’s low, but she hasn’t given up yet, and with Waller-Bridge’s charm, you’re endlessly on the edge of your seat, hoping for Fleabag’s ultimate peace of mind.

12. Winona Ryder (Joyce Byers, Stranger Things)

Winona Ryder said she cried so much on the set of Stranger Things Season 1, she was forced to chug water bottles every day in order to keep from getting too dehydrated.

That’s a commitment to acting.

Playing a woman who has lost her son is no easy feat, and Winona delivered the frantic nature of a woman scrambling for answers with impeccable authority. The role asked her to be completely vulnerable, yet also forced her to find strength despite her pain.

Pushed to her wit’s end, Ryder played Byers in Season 1 as a human tornado; untouched by outsider judgments, only concerned with one specific goal: saving her son.

Impulsive, powerful and slightly hysterical, Joyce is an endearing matriarch. Giving Ryder the opportunity to bring her to life, was the on-screen comeback she so deeply deserved. 

13. Dan Levy (David Rose, Schitt’s Creek)

It would be so easy to hate David Rose. Entitled, spoiled, and self-centered, he is just asking to be despised. But David Rose from Schitt’s Creek is absolutely adored, and that’s thanks to Dan Levy. 

A genius with comedy, and facial expressions that land with flawless poignancy, Dan Levy portrays Rose in a way that’s an absolute joy to watch. 

One of the first canon pansexual characters on television, Levy is able to bring that representation to life throughout the show, playing Rose with nuanced attractions towards varying characters of multiple genders.

Until he meets Patrick.

David’s (DA-VID!) dynamic with Patrick is where Levy really delves into creating vulnerability. He breaks down walls for his character, and even performs a Grammy worthy lip-sync rendition of “Simply The Best.”

Rose’s quick wit and darker nature never cease, but Levy’s softness of the character does, which is what keeps Rose funny, but manages to make him all the more loveable the longer you know him.

14. Rami Malek (Elliot Anderson, Mr. Robot)

Not many actors have made a mark on this decade like Rami Malek has. While he’s been rather successful in the film industry, it’s his role as Mr. Robot’s elusive, black hoodie-wearing protagonist, Elliot Alderson, that we won’t soon forget.

From the start, Elliot has had us believing we know exactly who he is, when in fact there’s still so much we don’t know about our mysterious hacker protagonist. Malek balances this moral dilemma of a character well, winning us over with Elliot’s calculated brilliance and captivating narrative early on in the series.

He then smacks us in the face with a realization: Elliot’s meek appearance and good intentions are not always what they seem.

Regardless of what hacking scheme Elliot is caught up in, he will find a way to make the audience feel every repercussion of his actions, good or bad. Elliot’s questionable narrative and various mental illnesses push Malek to take hold of the series with damning performances

We never know what we’re going to get with Elliot, but Mr. Robot fans have long since realized that with Malek at the wheel, it’s going to be something good.

15. Amy Poehler (Leslie Knope, Parks and Recreation)

Amy Poehler was born to play Leslie Knope on Parks and Recreation. 

The role was actually written specifically for her, but that’s beside the point. Poehler brought Knope to life in ways no one else ever could have.

The character was merely a low-level government employee with big dreams who wanted to build a park over an empty parking lot. Stakes were low, and Poehler had to find a way to bring the audience on board with her character. She had to give them a reason to care. 

She also had to make people laugh. 

Poehler made it look easy, and Knope was loveable from the get-go. Full of passion and selflessness, she was always willing to shell out a compliment when needed.

Beyond her uplifting demeanor, Poehler also managed to build exceptional chemistry with her co-stars, creating endless hilarity at every turn.

Leslie Knope never gave up, and Poehler played her with unwavering hope and a dash of naivety. It was just enough for audiences to root for her, without feeling the need to roll their eyes.

16. Jessica Lange (Constance Langdon, American Horror Story: Murder House/American Horror Story: Apocolypse)

Jessica Lange set the tone for American Horror Story when she debuted as Constance Langdon.

She played the mother of more than one murderer, but Lange’s performance set her up as the most terrifying character in all of American Horror Story: Murder House.

The overly doting mother. 

Intimidating and obsessive, Constance stopped at nothing to protect her children, and Lange portrayed her with a chilling vengeance. 

When Lange returned for American Horror Story: Apocalypse and reprised her role as Constance, she was given the task of delivering an expositional 10-page monologue, setting the tone for the entire back half of the season. Lange nailed the emotional delivery, before immediately going on to her final scene of the series–Constance’s suicide by overdose. 

It’s a ludicrous and illogical scene, but Lange gave everything she had into Constance’s final moments. Playing it with total abandon, she embraced the gut-punching physical and emotional aspects of a broken woman’s final moments. 

It was horrifying, shocking and borderline distasteful, but Lange looked like she was having the time of her life.

17. Ellen Pompeo (Meredith Grey, Grey’s Anatomy)

One of the most complex and inspiring characters on network television, Grey’s Anatomy’s Meredith Grey has grown and evolved in fascinating ways over the course of the past decade, with Ellen Pompeo delivering one powerful performance after another.

Pompeo has shown a range of emotion while offering a nuance that’s certainly award-worthy, from seeing her react to her husband’s shocking death, to watching her recovery from being beaten nearly to death by a patient.

The complexity of Meredith comes from the ways she’s only grown stronger, kinder, and more patient throughout adversity — and a better, award-winning doctor who isn’t afraid to bend the rules, even if it means putting her job on the line.

18. Jodie Comer (Villanelle, Killing Eve)

19. Kyle Chandler (Eric Taylor, Friday Night Lights)

Kyle Chandler had to make a small-town coach realistic enough for Friday Night Lights to come alive and likable enough to make audiences root for him. He needed to be someone you could pick out of any Texas town, while also being sympathetic enough you’d side with him in difficult moments.

Considering Friday Night Lights famously allowed the cast members some leeway with they said and did on the show, Chandler’s performance is that much more remarkable.

Chandler successfully made Eric Taylor one of the most realistic characters on TV for five straight seasons. He was a loving husband, an adoring father and a great coach. He was also a deeply flawed man who found growth in his experiences, losses, and missteps.

20. Uzo Aduba (Suzanne, Orange Is The New Black)

Orange Is The New Black’s Uzo Aduba had to embody an inmate being denied proper mental health attention while providing enough laughs to elevate a show about women living out their prison sentences.

She also had to make Suzanne, nicknamed “Crazy Eyes,” seem real.

Aduba was able to all those things with staggering success, perfectly portraying a woman living in a state of utter confusion. Many times that portrayal was achieved without dialogue but with looks, silent reactions, and movements throughout her body. 

She was able to incorporate subtleties that gave empathy and compassion to Suzanne. Instead of being afraid of her, the audience was able to grow an attachment to the character. Suzanne was slightly off-center, but she was always smart and kind.

At the very least, Suzanne was someone you’d want to be friends with if you ever found yourself serving time in prison.

21. Gina Rodriguez (Jane Villanueva, Jane The Virgin)

Gina Rodriguez was the perfect choice for lovable, innocent Jane Villanueva. She’s funny, relatable, talented and a fantastic Latina lead. 

Structured in telenovela style, Jane The Virgin is known for its over the top plot points. Many of the characters play their storylines in overdramatic fashion, but Rodriguez isn’t given the same margin available to the other actors. Jane is the grounded character of the series, so every extreme circumstance has to be played in realism.

Rodriguez knows how to play it real. 

For instance, on Season 3’s heartbreaking episode “Chapter Fifty-Four,” Jane finds out her husband Michael has died, and Rodriguez explodes instantly, crumbling to the floor in hysterics. Screams wailing from her mouth, she almost sounds inhumane. This boisterous reaction is a jarring juxtaposition to the quiet and monotonous circumstances of Michael’s death, and it leaves the audience totally stunned.

Another standout moment for Rodriguez comes in Season 5, when Jane finds out Michael is alive. In a single take, Rodriguez delivers a seven-minute monologue after re-meeting her amnesia stricken husband.

It isn’t simply seven minutes of memorization regurgitated onto the screen. It’s Jane working through every conflicting and ineffable emotion. It’s an absurd situation, but Rodriguez allows Jane to feel everything in a shockingly grounded way. She cries, laughs, and yells; she completely unravels.

Utterly frantic, Rodriguez plays it as both hopeful and grief-stricken, happy but resentful, and somehow manages to find the humanity in a most preposterous situation.

It’s an outstanding example of the magic Gina Rodriguez brings to every scene as Jane Villanueva.

22. Stephanie Beatriz (Rosa Diaz, Brooklyn Nine-Nine)

To understand how iconic Stephanie Beatriz’s portrayal of Rosa Diaz on Brooklyn Nine-Nine is, you have to know who Stephanie Beatriz is in real life.

You also need to hear her voice.

Beatriz is a light, smiley woman with a voice that lands somewhere in the 5th octave. All of which happens to be completely opposite of her character Detective Diaz.

Diaz speaks in baritone, drives a motorcycle and would never be caught dead in a dress. She doesn’t make a habit of smiling, and while she’s one of the funniest characters from the 99, her sense of humor is a dark deadpan sarcasm.

Watching Beatriz in an interview is staggering; it’s unbelievable how realistically she portrays a character so vehemently different from her own personality. This isn’t simply a case of nice playing mean–this is someone completely embodying a new persona.

As tough as Beatriz plays the role, she’s sure to give Diaz moments of soft complexity, as well.

In Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s fifth season, Diaz comes out as bisexual to her less than understanding parents. While Rosa Diaz would never be one to shed a tear, Beatriz plays a rejected daughter with perfect delicacy, allowing her wounded heart to show itself in front of her best friend Jake Peralta.

Diaz’s underlying desire for parental acceptance is relatable and raw, highlighting how even the strongest of us need love and acceptance from the people we care about.

23. Antoinette Robertson (Coco Conners, Dear White People)

Coco Conners is one of the most complex and compelling characters on Dear White People.

She’s ambitious with career goals to keep her driven but feels the need to strip herself of the past in order to make a name for herself. Coco Roberts has two speeds: go and go faster. It isn’t until she finds out she’s pregnant, more facets of her personality spill out into the story.

An unplanned pregnancy is not something someone like Coco Conners is going to share with other characters, so Robertson has to find a way to showcase her inner struggles without actually getting to talk about it.

What results, is the need for Robertson to flip emotions at a moment’s notice. She notoriously holds her “boss bitch” attitude high until camera angles change, and her face sinks in a moment of private distress.

While you don’t get to see Coco’s abortion taking place, Robertson and Dear White People do something many shows are wouldn’t dare–depict a dark-skinned black woman working through her options.

Robertson’s talent shows through Coco’s persistent nature to crawl her way to success, but her battle with an unplanned pregnancy is what lands her a spot on this list.

24. Elizabeth Moss (June Osborne/Offred, The Handmaid’s Tale)

Sometimes the most impressive part about an actor making a character spectacular is how they manage to stay mentally safe while portraying a role that demands an extraordinary amount of darkness.

This is true for anyone involved with a show as ominous as The Handmaid’s Tale, but especially for Elizabeth Moss, who leads the show with her depiction of Offred.

Moss plays the role of a woman who has been taken from her husband and family and routinely raped, abused, and tortured. She’s not given leeway for even the smallest moments of levity, as anytime her character is given anything worthy of pleasure, it’s promptly ripped away.

Inhabiting such a bleak existence has to be a monumental undertaking, but Moss is tasked with being the face of rebellion–Offred is meant to be the key to survival, the promise of autonomy for all those suffering in Gilead.

With only a meager amount of dialogue permitted given her character’s circumstances, Moss uses her facial expressions to exemplify her strength and determination. Her steadfast resolution only falters in regards to her children, in which Moss quickly flips to frantic mother, desperate to reconnect with her daughters.

The show Is joyless, but it lands on the shoulders of Moss’s character to keep it from turning hopeless, and she succeeds with flying colors. She keeps audiences tuning in each episode, hoping maybe this time, Offred will reach the liberation she deserves.

25. Steve Carell (Michael Scott, The Office)

Michael Scott said his goodbyes to The Office early in the decade, so it could almost be considered cheating for including Steve Carell on this list.

I’m including him anyway, because he’s just that iconic of a character, and he deserves all the recognition he can get. It’s also because of his final episode “Goodbye, Michael,” which will go down as one of the best episodes in television history.

Throughout the years, audiences got to see every facet of Michael Scott:  his most reckless, most passionate, most ridiculous, and most pathetic. In “Goodbye Michael,” we see him at his most authentic. Playing it true to the end, Carrell lets Scott feel all the emotions of a tearful goodbye and leaves the audience weeping. 

Characters on The Office pretend to hate working for Michael Scott but secretly love being a part of his world. That’s what the audience needs to feel too, and Carrell is able to create that momentum through a character who is totally outrageous, but never loses his thumping heart.

The Office continued after Carell left the show, but was never quite the same. His comedic excellence brought Dunder Mifflin alive in ways no one else able to achieve.

26. Jon Hamm (Don Draper, Mad Men)

27. Rachel Bloom (Rebecca Bunch, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend) 

28. Anna Torv (Olivia Dunham, Fringe)

29. Grant Gustin (Barry Allen, The Flash)

Some people are meant to be superheroes. 

Grant Gustin, was meant to be The Flash. 

Gustin inhibited his role before he was even given a show of his own, making appearances on Arrow as Barry Allen. From the moment he stepped on screen, you knew he was the perfect choice for bringing Flash to life. 

The Flash is the soft-natured superhero; driven by light and love. Grant plays Allen with an ingenue of goodness, giving the gentle touch needed to inhabit the persona. 

What’s especially impressive about Gustin is his range as an actor. He’s able to deliver on incredibly emotional performances almost weekly, while also allowing Barry a whimsical sense of humor, hitting all the comedic notes needed to give The Flash the quirky, light-hearted nature it’s known for. 

30. Tatiana Maslany (Sarah Manning/Clones, Orphan Black)

One of the strongest relationships on Orphan Black is the ever-developing sisterhood between Sarah and Helena. That is just the beginning of the unique and special bonds between all of the cloned sestras on the sleek BBC smash. 

Kat Pettibone

Kat Pettibone is an aspiring TV writer, artist, and poet. As a Pacey Witter Fan Club lifer who never missed a TGIF, she has dreams of becoming your generations small screen Nora Ephron. She's also an avid lover of coffee, dogs and all things spooky.