Janelle’s Top 10 TV Dramas of 2020

2020 has been nothing if not dramatic. TV has kept in step with the year, sometimes eerily mirroring real-life events. Whether a respite, a reflection, or a catharsis, TV has played an important role in our lives this year.

For me, TV dramas have given me sweet escape this year. I immersed myself in the romance and deadly games on my screen. It wasn’t just that, though.

TV shows also allowed me to feel the great relief of a full-on sob. Some gave me a place for my righteous anger at the injustices of this world. Others gave me hope for a life filled with sultriness and, you know, actual physical touch in the future. 

My favorite TV dramas in 2020 worked together to give me what I needed when I needed it. I remain thankful for the variety of shows that brought excellence to the screen to entertain and save me during this dark year. 

Here, in no particular order, are my top 10 TV dramas of 2020. 

1. Unstoppable/Desenfrenadas (Netflix)

This Netflix drama Unstoppable/Desenfrenadas has gone largely under the radar, but it deserves a spotlight. The road trip tale centers on four young women who are each going through transformative conflicts in their personal lives. 

The show makes the smart move of giving the characters legitimately hard conflicts, such as the loss of a sister, while also giving each woman flaws that are not overlooked just because of past traumas. The result is a feminist story that is grounded and fresh, even while following a fairly standard trope. 

The true majesty of Unstoppable Season 1 is the standout performances from Coty Camacho, Tessa Ía, Bárbara López, and Lucía Uribe as Marcela, Vera, Rocío, and Carlota, respectively. I simply can’t rave enough about these actors; they should be at the top of call lists in 2021 too. 

Unstoppable/Desenfrenadas has an enemies-to-lovers ship, to boot. Don’t miss this top 2020 drama!

2. Vida (Starz)

Vida Season 3 ended the series will as much heart and style as it started. The Hernandez sisters continue to spill truths on the screen by virtue of their incredibly open-minded characterization. 

This show is ultimately a love story between Lynn, Emma, and the legacy their mom left behind. The ships are fabulous. Johnny and Lynn and Nico and Emma (OTP!) continue to draw our complicit hearts near.

The pop-culture references are on point in the Starz show’s final season and it enhances the intimacy of the moments, as we wish. Mari’s story goes deeper and she gets an unexpected happy ending; it’s what she deserves.

The music leveled up even higher, as well. What a playlist Vida gifts us!

We may never recover from this very special TV show ending too soon. But, like the titular bar itself, we know Vida will find a way to stay alive and relevant past 2020. 

3. Normal People (Hulu)

Normal People stomps on my heart in the best way. Marianne and Connell welcome us into their hurt and their heat and, oh, wow, how it burns. 

The acting on Normal People is simply impeccable. Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal are stunning and flawless in their roles. 

The sex scenes are incredibly intense. But the intimacy is most acutely shown in the scenes where Connell and Marianne are at their breaking points. It’s raw and uncomfortably real, and I adore it. 

The music and the cinematography elevate the fantastic performances to a new superb level. The moodiness of the setting knocks against our characters and sometimes infiltrates them. From Sweden to Ireland to France, the place sets a tone and lets us go there with the characters. 

Watching this show is taking a journey with these two people. Even though there isn’t a whole lot that happens, the real moments that are captured make Normal People darn dramatic. 

Also, the sex scenes are fire, thanks very much, Connell’s chain.

We would love Hulu to give this limited series a second season, but this couple may have just moved on from 2020. 

4. All American (The CW)

All American Season 2 builds on what worked on Season 1 and adds some new twists and turns. The drama on the show is consistent with CW offerings in that it never gets too dark to handle while covering difficult real-life topics. 

The All-Star cast on All American Season 2 continues to make the writing shine. Every single lead in the ensemble brings depth and compassion to their character. 

It is also worth noting how lovely it is to see a Black show with Black characters continue to get renewed. 

Even where the series makes choices that don’t give me what I want, Asher and Olivia, ahem, it makes me care about these people. We understand where they are coming from and we root for their success. I am going to need Coop to get her act together for Season 3, but that is nothing too new. She gives out the best advice, but needs to take that wisdom to the mirror!

Unlike Normal People, where nothing much happens, pretty much everything goes down on All American! And that makes this show exciting and fun to watch. It is refreshing to have a 2020 show that unravels week by week, instead of in a 48-hour binge.

If you have yet to see All American, make sure you watch that tape before 2020 is over. 

5. Elite (Netflix)

Elite has to be the sexiest show ever made. The sexual relationships between the couples are indeed characters in themselves and they drive the plot as much as the murders do!

As Lu would say, just the way I like it, bitches. 

Elite Season 3 gives us the impossible: an honest to goodness throuple. Cayetana as a character becomes so much more interesting and appealing when she brings Valerio into her situation with Polo. Amazingly, it isn’t just for thrills. The relationship is real and has emotional weight. 

Importantly, the threesome drama pulls our attention entirely away from the one other unspeakable sexual relationship that shall never be mentioned again. 

Nadia and Guzman are OTP for days. Season 2 is the hot and heavy one for these two, but the growth and bittersweet closure we get on Season 3 is perfect for our 2020 reality. Some kind of happyish ending is the only way this year. Other couples also get a brand of closure that hits the spot. Rebeka and Samu will get another season to figure it all out!

Elite Season 3 absolutely stuns and surprises. Even with the third murder mystery of the season, the most shocking reveal is the enemies to lovers friendship between Lu and Nadia.

Who knows what new messy drama Season 4 will bring. All I know is that Elite does drama damn right!

6. P-Valley (Starz)

P-Valley is a drama with a pulsing power that just won’t quit. The sleek drama centered on a struggling strip-club in the Missippi (M-I-Crooked Letter-Crooked Letter-I-Hump Back-Hump Back -Ayyy) Delta easily slides and flips and grinds onto my top ten list for the year.

Mercedes is a force of nature. Each moment she graces the screen is unforgettable. As we get deeper into the season, we learn that she learned how to excite an audience into giving her cash from her mother. The complex mother-daughter relationships on the new Starz series is just icing on the drama cake.

No one is a one-trick character on this show. Everyone is both scammer and dreamer. The murky allegiances and duplicitousness fuels the conflict that is always about to boil over.

The Pynk is the perfect place for all the emotional and other baggage of our key characters to be unpacked. The way the show gives respect to the establishment is important for how we as an audience come to take the stories as more than a smoke show.

The pole dancing is yet another reason P-Valley is on my top ten list. The performances are absolute art. Not only are the performers talented athletes, but their loves and losses are also just as valid as those of the people sitting in the pews on Sunday morning. 

P-Valley is the gritty and grounded drama you should be watching right now. 

7. Hightown (Starz)

No lie, Monica Raymund sarcastically solving crimes by day and bedding hot young women by night as lead Jackie Quiñones is more than enough to land Hightown on my top ten list. Luckily, the freshman drama offers so much more. 

The raw exploration of addiction, love, and survival on the Starz show is authentic and resulting often painful. The betrayals ad tragedies hit hard.

This is one of those shows that isn’t an escape from the troubles of 2020, but instead is a way to reckon with them because of the similar helplessness and grief the show elicits. It’s not directly about a pandemic, so it somehow feels safe in a weird way. 

For me, the relationship between Renee and Ray, especially their sex life, is a fascinating draw to the show. He takes such pleasure in her pleasure and he legitimately prioritizes it. He doesn’t talk it up and make promises; he just delivers. It’s really fun to see Renee realize that she can like having sex and not just use it as a tool.

There are many other intimate relationships that make Hightown a meaty top drama of 2020. 

8. Sanditon (PBS Passport)

Sanditon is the romantic drama on my top ten list. It also happens to be the one I have re-watched the most. Not a coincidence!

The PBS series based on the unfinished Jane Austen novel of the same name transports us to the elegant ballrooms of the regency period. The lavish gowns and the sweeping coastal scenes are breathtaking. 

What truly leaves us breathless on Sanditon is the ship between Sidney and Charlotte. Their enemies to lovers path, an Austen stronghold, is a delight to experience. A Season 2 is an absolute must for this show so we can see this couple overcome seemingly impossible barriers, as the late author would have intended. 

Even if Sanditon Season 1 Episode 8 is the true end of the series, the thoroughly dramatic lives of the people of Sanditon will forever be part of my TV-soul. 

Sanditon is the prize I am after. Sorry you didn’t get yours, Stringer!

9. The Good Fight (CBS All Access)

The Good Fight edges right up to the wounds of 2020 and presses. It hurts, but I don’t mind. I trust Diane Lockhart, it really is as simple as that. 

The Good Fight Season 4 doesn’t hold back (even when it gets obsessed with a certain memo). The politico-legal drama thrills and shocks with its dramatic cliffhangers and cases.

The actors are fantastic and carry the super-relevant plots to new heights. Audra McDonald as Liz Reddick is particularly good this season.

The CBS drama is as near to perfect as a semi-serialized procedural will get. It is not just the show we need in 2020, it is the one we deserve. 

10. The Queen’s Gambit (Netflix)

I must confess, I know nothing about chess. After The Queen’s Gambit, I still know nothing about chess. The real magic of the hit Netflix series has little to do with chess. 

The Queen’s Gambit follows Beth’s journey to figure out who she is and how she fits in a world that is always making power moves and trying to knock her out of it. In many ways, the pieces on the chessboard are easy compared to the unpredictable realities of people. 

The series is certainly dramatic, starting with a car crash and an orphanage and ending with a life-altering Russian adventure. Each stage of Beth’s life contains its own special intrigue. 

Beth is a character that invokes a deep abiding curiosity in us. Her mystique remains intact, even as we come to know her well. I ship her with Benny, personally. But, romance is incidental to the most pivotal relationship, that with herself. 

It is such a joy to watch genius unfold on screen on The Queen’s Gambit. That joy is even more acute because of the aptly developed characters that portray extreme intelligence. 

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What were your favorite TV dramas in 2020? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

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