The 10 Best Shows Of The Year...So Far

EW critics Kristen Baldwin and Darren Franich spend most of their day bantering with each other as they devour as much TV as possible. (The life, right?!) Here’s a peek at their online chat about their favorite shows of 2018.

KRISTEN Can you believe it, Darren? We’re already halfway through the year! In many ways, 2018 has been a trial, to say the least, but one saving grace in the morass of news-cycle negativity is the blessed release of good TV. That said, I honestly think my blood pressure goes up a few points every time I watch an episode of my No. 5 pick, Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. With compelling tension, the show has done an excellent job of expanding the world of Margaret Atwood’s book in season 2, and I’m as anxious as ever to know what’ll happen next.

DARREN My No. 5 is barely less dystopian—but much funnier. Comedy Central’s Corporate is a maniacal workplace comedy, juggling the existential despair of the modern office drone with a chaotic humor encompassing darkas-a-black-hole gags (9/11 jokes! But, like, funny 9/11 jokes!) alongside cheerful absurdity (a Black Mirror parody that doubles as a lacerating critique of Black Mirror fandom). The confident first season was little seen, but the network blessedly ordered a second season. Catch up now, people!

KRISTEN Huzzah for second seasons of little-seen shows! It is the stuff that TV-critic dreams are made of.TheNo.4series on my list was also dreadfully under watched: Starz’s adaptation of E.M. Forster’s Howards End. Starring the absolutely wonderful Hayley Atwell (and featuring an excellent turn by Alex Lawther), this four-part period piece was a brisk and beautiful take on the eternally relevant classic.