2023 in TV: 'The Bear' was the best, while 'Slow Horses' kept pace

Lately, most of us have been glued to a never-ending TV show called the news, and I’ll admit that there have been times when the drama portrayed in the many excellent news features on the local networks have been more compelling to me than any fiction series could be. That said, there have been a number of terrific series and movies shown on streaming channels in 2023, both from around the world and from Israel, well made and entertaining enough to help us escape reality for a little while, and that is no mean feat.

1. The Bear

The second season of this series was released in 2023, and while the first season was good, the second is transcendent. This story of a master chef, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White), who returns from Europe to run his family’s Chicago sandwich joint after his brother’s suicide, becomes more interesting in its second season, when Carmy decides to open a high-level restaurant, using what he learned at Noma in Denmark. But while the food-talk is interesting, what makes it so fun are the characters, whom you will come to love even more.

Even Richie (Ebon Moss-Bachrach), the annoying best friend of the late brother (Jon Bernthal, who appears in flashbacks), has an episode – where he finally finds his calling – that is a near-perfect piece of writing and acting. Jamie Lee Curtis joins the series for two memorable episodes, playing Carmy’s mentally ill, alcoholic mother – notably one in which all the characters assemble for a Christmas dinner from hell, one of the best depictions of a dysfunctional family ever.

Many people have told me they have a beloved series that they turned back to in these troubled times for comfort, such as Friends, and when things have been especially bleak I have re-watched The Bear’s second season. It also features a terrifically varied soundtrack, and you can expect it to clean up at the Emmys this year.

2. Slow Horses

The British drama about a bunch of lovable MI5 rejects sent on hopeless missions, led by the irascible but brilliant Jackson Lamb (Gary Oldman), was back for its third season. The writers keep the suspense going, and if it gets a little improbable it’s still fun to see such appealing characters catch bad guys.

3. Red Skies

The story of a friendship between an Israeli and a Palestinian who end up on opposite sides of the Second Intifada seems fresher and more tragic than ever right now. It’s based on a novel by Daniel Shinar and features superlative acting by Amir Khoury and Maor Schwitzer as the young men locked in a deadly conflict.

4. Unsilenced

This series based on the Moshe Katsav scandal, starring Ya’akov Zada Daniel, is told through the eyes of the young assistant to the president and is brilliantly done. Nelly Mira-Rubin gives a star-making performance as the assistant.

5. The Crown

While The Crown’s final season may not have measured up to the earlier ones, most of us nevertheless watched every minute of it. There were occasional scenes that matched the beauty of the early seasons at their best. While the conclusion of the Princess Diana story was the big draw, her storyline was fun as eye candy but short on substance; while her sons’ grief over her death was moving, as was the deepening of the queen’s relationship with her sister as they age.

6. Sovietzka

This Israeli series featuring rising star Suzanna Papian as a university student from a Russian family fighting stereotypes and trying to develop her identity was sensitive and often funny, showing us a nuanced look at Israel’s Russian community.

7. Fleishman is in Trouble

Fleishman (Jesse Eisenberg at his most winning), a Manhattan physician, is coping with a divorce from his high-strung wife (Claire Danes) who suddenly disappears, leaving him to raise their two children. Lizzy Caplan plays his best friend, who is going through her own midlife crisis in this well-acted and often funny look at growing up and getting older.

8. Only Murders in the Building

This series, which I have dubbed, “Seinfeld with Murder,” released its third season, in which the characters played by Steven Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez continue to solve murders on their doorstep, but also work on a new play that Short’s character is producing. Meryl Streep gives her most interesting performance in years as an obscure actress who gets cast in it, and Paul Rudd plays an arrogant TV star who gets the lead.

9. You Are So Not Invited to My Bat Mitzvah

This television movie starring Adam Sandler and two of his daughters is about a girl preparing for her bat-mitzvah who gets into a feud with her best friend and is an unexpectedly believable, witty, and sweet look at a tween rite of passage.

10. Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty

This second season of the series was perhaps the most purely enjoyable show on television this year – even for someone like me who doesn’t care much about basketball – but unfortunately it ended with a whimper when HBO pulled the plug. It had seemed that future seasons would trace how Magic Johnson (Quincy Isaiah) and the team’s reckless owner, Jerry Buss (John C. Reilly), coped with Johnson’s AIDS diagnosis in 1991, but the second season ended suddenly and inconclusively when it was abruptly canceled after depicting the 1984 NBA championship final.