Posted in: Amazon Studios, BBC, HBO, Max, Netflix, Opinion, TV, TV | Tagged: bbc, gen v, HBO, max, netflix, one piece, prime video, scott pilgrim, the gallows pole, the last of us

Scott Pilgrim, Gen V & More: Bleeding Cool's 2023 Top 5 New TV Series

Congratulations to Gen V, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, The Last of Us, The Gallows Pole & One Piece for making our 2023 Top 5 New TV Shows.

There's no other way to put it. 2023 was a brutal year for television – at least, behind the camera. Long before the WGA & SAG-AFTRA strikes shut down productions across the board, studios & streamers had been engaging in some brutal practices to course-correct some really bad streaming decision-making that had finally come home to roost with Wall Street. It was on longer about shows being canceled – we're now in a time when a series or season green light is only as good as the press release it was announced on. As if completed seasons left in limbo without homes weren't bad enough, we continued to see programming not just disappear from streamers but also be used as tax write-offs & financial boosters, essentially eliminating their existence for the sake of the bottom line. But in front of the camera? Creatively, our "Golden Age of Television" continued to thrive – and while an argument can be made that there's too much quality programming going unseen in a growing sea of content, the five new series chosen by Bleeding Cool's television/streaming writers represent the best that the medium has to offer when it comes to its unmatched storytelling possibilities. With Netflix's Scott Pilgrim Takes Off & One Piece, Prime Video's Gen V, and HBO's The Last of Us, we had projects that challenged expectations and put an end to the argument that there are projects that television could never do right by – with BBC's period crime drama The Gallows Pole telling a tale of 18th Century rebellion & revolution that also spoke truth to power as a reflection of where things stand today.

2023 Top 5 New TV Series: The Last of Us, Scott Pilgrim, Gen V & More

(5) "The Last of Us" (HBO): Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann's Pedro Pascal & Bella Ramsey-starring HBO adaptation was one of those series that wasn't supposed to work. To many, the beloved video game franchise was one of those things that television could never do justice to – that too many changes would need to be made. Oh, how they were wrong – with Mazin & Druckmann maintaining the emotional truths of the game and the core dynamic between Joel (Pascal) & Ellie (Ramsey) while making the changes necessary to fit a video game storyline into a serialized series format. While expectations are high for Season 2, Mazin & Druckmann should be credited for some bold decision-making that made it possible for a conversation about the second season to be happening.

(4) "The Gallows Pole" (BBC): Adapted by Shane Meadows from Benjamin Myers' novel of the same name, the Michael Socha-starring The Gallows Pole was a slow-burn that's more than worth the patience that it deserves because of the three-episode payoff. Set during the start of the industrial revolution in 18th-century Yorkshire, the story of David Hartley (Socha) & the Cragg Vale Coiners' need to break out of what's deemed their lot in life through a life of crime is less of a history lesson and more of a cautionary tale about the dangers that society faces by not learning from the past.

(3) "Gen V" (Prime Video): Showrunner/EP Eric Kripke's The Boys proved that you can be in the superhero series business and succeed by being different from what Marvel and DC were doing – and doing it well. Showrunner/EP Michele Fazekas' Gen V proved that there's no such thing as "superhero fatigue" if you're offering viewers compelling storylines and characters that they can care about – even if they don't exactly always like them or the things that they do. While threading itself just enough to the flagship series to keep things interesting, Gen V establishes itself very early on as its own show – and we can't wait for class to be back in session.

(2) "One Piece" (Netflix): After what went down the streamer's take on "Cowboy Bebop," we were nervously curious to see how "One Piece" fans would respond to Netflix adapting the long-running anime/manga into a live-action series. Along with that, the streaming service would also have to tackle promoting the adaptation without the cast due to the then-ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. Taking those pressures into consideration, it makes what showrunners Matt Owens & Steven Maeda, the cast, writers, and production team were able to accomplish – with manga creator Eiichiro Oda on board to offer important creative consulting (and serve as one of the show's biggest public supporters). More than setting the foundation for what could be a big tentpole franchise for the streamer, Netflix's One Piece created a blueprint for others to adopt when looking to adapt a popular manga or anime.

(1) "Scott Pilgrim Takes Off" (Netflix): Why so "greedy," Bryan Lee O'Malley? You weren't content to have an influential graphic novel series that blew our minds on a number of levels, so you had to go and have Edgar Wright whip up a big-screen adaption in 2010 that is still discussed, debated & appreciated – even 13 years later. But that wasn't enough, so you, BenDavid Grabinski, and Wright had the "audacity" to reunite the cast from Wright's film (including Michael Cera, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Kieran Culkin, Chris Evans, Brie Larson, Aubrey Plaza, Brandon Routh, Jason Schwartzman, and more) to voice an anime series adaptation. And then… just when you think you know where everything is heading… O'Malley & Grabinski knocked us on our collective asses by offering us a take on "Scott Pilgrim" that takes our title character off the playing field in the first episode – and Ramona Flowers & the rest of the ensemble cast are better for it. By allowing the spotlight to shine on Ramona and the others, we gain a better appreciation for Scott – failings and all. And it worked in ways that demand repeated viewings, as the characters you thought you knew gain some interesting (and surprising) new layers.

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