Once upon a time, television told stories about intelligent machines that take over the world and algorithms that prevent people from making their own choices, and it felt like distant, fanciful science fiction. This year, as actors and writers remained on strike for half of it-in part over the threat AI poses to human artistry and the opaque algorithm that dictates which streaming shows get placed in front of which eyeballs-this same kind of storytelling felt more present than future tense. And there was a fair amount of it in 2023: some made by streaming platforms most likely to succumb to the machines, others developed through traditional cable platforms most likely to rage against them. If there's anything we can take away from our season of list-making, it's that a technological anxiety loomed over our picks for the best television of 2023. And that after years of optimism or, at the least, openness to a sparkling new future of streaming TV, the best of the best demonstrate that the past is not totally behind us.
KATHRYN VANARENDONK: TV in 2023 was all about the algorithm, a natural next step for a medium with a long history of making shows about itself. We used to have The Dick Van Dyke Show and Murphy Brown and 30 Rock; now, we have an episode of Netflix's Black Mirror where the premise is that Netflix uses AI to scrape the lives of its viewers, turns that data into barely fictionalized Netflix shows, then algorithmically serves the shows back to those viewers like a form of content-based Soylent Green.
Esta historia es de la edición December 18, 2023 de New York magazine.
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Esta historia es de la edición December 18, 2023 de New York magazine.
Comience su prueba gratuita de Magzter GOLD de 7 días para acceder a miles de historias premium seleccionadas y a más de 8500 revistas y periódicos.
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Reality Check
Joseph O'Neill's realist novel embodies the best and worst of the genre.
An Atlas Who Can't Carry
J.Lo's AI-friendly flick flattens its own world.
Billie Doesn't Have to Do It All
The singer's gleefully disorienting third album doesn't hit every note it reaches for.
A Hollywood Family's Grudges
In Griffin Dunne's memoir, The Friday Afternoon Club-about growing up the son of Dominick Dunne and the nephew of John Gregory Dunne and Joan Didion-both acid and names are dropped.
Quite the Tomato
A summer appetizer from a seriously ambitious restaurant.
This Cooking Can't Be Pinned Down
Theodora's menu is all over the map. That's what makes it great.
Answered Prayers
Brooklynites Cristiana Peña and Nick Porter had a dream to live in an old church upstate.
INDUSTRY Goes for Broke
With a new Sunday-night time slot and Game of Thrones's Kit Harington co-starring, can this buzzy GEN-Z FINANCE DRAMA finally break out?
THE SECRET SAUCE
As Marcus on THE BEAR, LIONEL BOYCE is the guy everyone wants to be around. He's having that effect on Hollywood too.
The Love Machine
LOVE IS BLIND creator CHRIS COELEN drops a new group of singles into his strange experiment-and wrestles with all the lawsuits against the series.