To say that 2022 was the year that streaming and television shows surpassed motion pictures in quality and quantity is an understatement. In the aftermath of the 2-year COVID lockdown, a lot of media companies pushed their prime content to television to satisfy their captive audience. And with the proliferation of streaming services, the need to release content to counteract churn has sent a flood on shows that make it almost impossible to watch everything you think is interesting.
Normally for these lists, I like to keep it to a tight “10” picks. But in 2022, containing yourself to that is next to impossible. There were some interesting shifts for me. Out were zombies, and back in were vampires. Marvel shows just didn’t ‘hit’ the same this year, so extensions of other franchises are more appealing. Contrary to a lot of trolls, this became the year of The Leading Woman. Quality shows with women in front and behind the camera but prevalent. Let’s hope that a lot of these trends extend to 2023.
Okay, enough of the pontificating… let’s get to the content.
Television/Streaming Show of The Year
When I first watched the Tom Cruise/Brad Pitt adaptation of Anne Rice’s Interview with The Vampire, I thought it was a bit underwealming compared to what I read in the book. So when I saw that AMC was creating a TV version, I was pretty optimistic that devoting a dozen episodes to the story instead of 90 minutes would do the story more justice. What we got was an excellent take on the original book (even though it does take steer in its own direction a lot of the time).
Jacob Anderson and Sam Reid are casted perfectly as Louis and Lestat. At first I wasn’t feeling Bailey Bass in the role of Claudia, but man… by her second episode I was captivated. These three seemed like the perfect tragic modern family dynamic stuck in 1900’s. And the commentary of race in that time period without being preachy was masterful. Eric Bogosian as Daniel brings a great intensity to the role of the reporter, who returns from the movie to try and get the real story out of Louis (since his first interview in the movie wasn’t the entire truth).
What I heard was a lot of people avoided even giving it a shot, due to the amount of homo-erotic themes, but it didn’t bother me. It wasn’t gratuitous at all. It was very well done and was very integral to the story.
Add to it, that the story actually does tie in to the movie, and gives it a light reboot at the same time. I’m praying that this show gets enough acclaim to give us additional seasons. My advice– dispel all our preconceived prejudices and give this show a chance. A guarantee after the first episode you’ll be hooked.
Best of the rest
