The top TV shows of 2024

By Karl Puschmann*

It's been a big year on the box. Here are the top 10 shows that stood out for reviewer Karl Puschmann.

Best Comedy: Curb Your Enthusiasm

After 24 years and 12 seasons, Larry David put the kibosh on his brilliant sitcom. The overarching plot commented on Atlanta's voter suppression laws and saw his curmudgeonly character becoming an unlikely American folk hero, while still finding time to obsess over life's little annoyances.

Obviously still niggled by the poor reception to his Seinfeld finale back in 1998, David also seized the opportunity for a do-over. Only this time however it was pretty, pretty, pretty good. Watch it on Neon.

Best Sci-fi: Fallout

This post-apocalyptic action-drama was a total blast. Set 200 years after a catastrophic nuclear war - is there any other kind? - the series followed a young woman on her violent and bloody quest into the atomic wasteland of Los Angeles in search of her kidnapped father.

The show's thoroughly entertaining story was filled with dark humour, brutal action sequences and a gloriously kitschy retro-futuristic aesthetic. The end of the world shouldn't be this much fun. Or this cool. Watch it on Prime Video.

Best Reality Show: Married at First Sight Australia

It feels deeply unpatriotic to hand this award to our frenemies across the ditch. But the cold, hard fact is that the Aussies have us beat when it comes to making reality shows about strangers who get married.

Our plucky local effort put up a decent courtship, but the more glam MAFS AU won my heart thanks to its bigger cast and bigger budget which led to many more moments of explosive, manipulated drama. Ah well. At least we still have the rugby. Watch it on Three / ThreeNow.

Best Documentary: Chimp Crazy

A totally bananas four-part doco from the team behind Tiger King. This time the focus swung onto people who thought keeping a chimpanzee as a pet was a good idea. Spoiler alert: It was not.

Chimp Crazy was wild viewing full of unexpected twists and turns. Frequently flabbergasting, often quite funny but also absolutely horrific when it explores the blood-soaked fates that befell some of these chimp owners and their captive "babies". Watch it on Neon.

Best Crime: The Penguin

Colin Farrell essentially did a Tony Soprano impression while portraying Oz Cobb - aka the titular Penguin, aka Batman's famous villain - to lead this engaging mob drama.

Fitting into a fatsuit and piling on the facial prosthetics Farrell was unrecognisable as he huffed, puffed and waddled his way through this high-stakes thrill ride that saw his mid-level gangster Cobb attempting to seize power. While some might consider a Batman-less Batman spin-off a crime, this is one crime that paid off. Watch it on Neon.

Best Local Show: Dark City: The Cleaner

Violent, gory and murderously funny, this dark crime thriller about a serial killer was anchored by Cohen Holloway's socially awkward performance as Joe, aka the Christchurch Carver.

Comparisons to America's serial killer dramedy Dexter were inevitable, but this was its own thing, with unpredictable twists, wince-inducing horrors and a low-key Kiwi vibe. Nice to see Christchurch on screen too. Even if it was covered in blood a lot of the time. Watch it on Neon.

Biggest Surprise: Ted

I wasn't expecting much from this prequel series to Seth MacFarlane's forgettable Ted movies. But pass the dutchie to the left-hand side because boy, was I wrong.

This foul-mouthed sitcom about a wise-cracking, stoner teddy bear living with a stock-standard nuclear family danced up to the line of being problematic but didn't cross it. Instead, Ted was an odd mixture of gleeful offensiveness, juvenile silly humour, and subversive sitcom sentimentality. Watch it on TVNZ+.

Best News and Current Affairs: New Zealand Today

Sadly many competitors for this prestigious award were ruthlessly eliminated in the first half of the year. But had that sorry business not occurred, the outcome here would remain unchanged. New Zealand Today was current affairs at its most raw, with comedian Guy Williams travelling across Aotearoa in pursuit of the everyday stories, issues and concerns that truly define who we are as a people.

The results, while extremely funny, were eye-opening. Gotta say, we're an odd bunch. Watch: it on Three Now.

Best New Game of Thrones: Those About to Die

Set in ancient Rome, the big-budget, blockbuster series loosely merged factual history with fictional bloodthirsty gladiatorial combat and political intrigue.

The show followed a mid-tier gangster's attempt to infiltrate Rome's rich and powerful elite during a tumultuous power struggle for the throne. Its historical roots mean no dragons or snow zombies - thank the Gods - but this swords and sandals historical drama is the closest we've got yet to being the elusive "next Game of Thrones". Watch it on Prime Video.

Best Family Show: Time Bandits

Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi relived their childhood by time-warping 1981's classic, absurdist film Time Bandits into the present. Reassembled as a series it was a whimsical, funny old-school style family adventure story, with a delightful 80s aesthetic and terrific performances, notably from Clement as baddie Pure Evil, and head time bandit Lisa Kudrow.

The series quickly became a family favourite in this household, but sadly not enough other family households tuned in and Apple cancelled the show after one season. If someone could go back and time to fix this travesty, that'd be appreciated. Watch it on Apple TV+.

* Karl Puschmann is a freelance entertainment writer.

Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.