‘The People V. O.J. Simpson’ And ‘Atlanta’ Top Uproxx’s Television Critics’ Poll

Welcome to the First Annual Uproxx Television Critics’ Poll! (Or, if you prefer, welcome back for the Fifth Annual HitFix Television Critics’ Poll!)

When plans began to merge the two sites earlier this year, everyone on the combined TV team was clear that we wanted to keep the poll going, since it provides a fascinating snapshot of critical opinion in the age of Peak TV.

This year, we polled 59 critics, asking for their lists of the 10 best overall shows of the year, and the 10 best new shows, ranked in order. (Then, when we put them all together, a 1st place choice was worth 10 points, 2nd place 9 points, etc.) Our critics (myself included) cast votes for 103 different shows on the overall poll, and 67 shows on the new poll. When there are so many interesting viewing choices, it’s hard to achieve consensus, even among critics who allegedly all like the same kinds of shows.

But if there’s one channel on which the majority of critics seem to agree these days, it’s the great work being done at FX (which I wrote about earlier this year). Fargo won the overall poll the previous two years (and the new shows poll in 2014). With that show taking 2016 off, The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story slipped into the top spot, with FX’s The Americans and Atlanta rounding out the top 3, way ahead of any other choices. (Our fourth place finisher was the year’s other O.J. Simpson miniseries: ESPN’s O.J.: Made in America.)

Interestingly, though we made clear to voters that they could consider The People v. O.J. for the new shows poll as well, since it was the inaugural season of the American Crime Story anthology, it finished second there to Atlanta. Some critics I spoke with weren’t comfortable voting for an anthology series (or, for that matter, a miniseries) as a “new series,” while others simply preferred to spread the wealth, dropping Marcia Clark and company just enough for Donald Glover’s hip-hop dramedy to win that one.

Due to the transition to the new site, the poll is both a bit later and more bare-bones than it’s been in recent years. (You can, for now, find the previous polls here; eventually, they’ll all become part of Uproxx proper.) In future polls, we hope to go back to all the old bells and whistles, which allowed you to click on any show or any critic’s name for more information, but this year, it’s three pages: the overall shows poll, whose results are listed below; the best new shows poll; and a complete list of everyone’s ballots. (Thanks, as always, to Josh Lasser for riding herd over the whole thing and making sure this particular HitFix-to-Uproxx transition went smoothly, and to Kris Maske, Keith Phipps, Jerry Thompson, Ralph Ordaz, and all the other Uproxxers who made this a priority and powered it through.)

So take a look, and then let us know what you think about what the critics thought.

The 2016 Uproxx Television Critics’ Poll:
The Best Overall Shows

Rank
1	The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story 391 points
2	The Americans 315 points
3	Atlanta 289 points
4	30 for 30 – O.J.: Made in America 185 points
5	Game of Thrones 138 points
6	Veep 117 points
7	BoJack Horseman 110 points
8	Full Frontal with Samantha Bee 106 points
9	Better Call Saul 104 points
10	Rectify 91 points
11	Halt and Catch Fire 65 points
12	This is Us 64 points
13	The Night Of 62 points
14	Stranger Things 61 points
15	Westworld 61 points
16	Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 60 points
17	Transparent 58 points
18	American Crime 52 points
19	The Crown 50 points
20	You’re the Worst 40 points
21	Black-ish 40 points
22	Fleabag 37 points
23	The Girlfriend Experience 36 points
24	Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt 35 points
25	Insecure 33 points
26	Better Things 33 points
27	Silicon Valley 29 points
28	Happy Valley 26 points
29	The Good Place 25 points
30	Last Week Tonight with John Oliver 23 points
31	Orange Is the New Black 23 points
32	Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life 22 points
33	Catastrophe 21 points
34	Horace and Pete 21 points
35	Quarry 20 points
36	Jane the Virgin 19 points
37	High Maintenance 18 points
38	Documentary Now! 18 points
39	Soundbreaking: Stories from the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music 12 points
40	Speechless 11 points
41	Difficult People 11 points
42	Detectorists 10 points
43	Vikings 9 points
44	Adventure Time 9 points
45	Togetherness 9 points
46	Search Party 9 points
47	Schitt’s Creek 8 points
48	Late Night with Seth Meyers 8 points
49	Animal Kingdom 7 points
50	Mr. Robot 7 points
51	Person of Interest 7 points
52	Black Mirror 7 points
53	Bates Motel 7 points
54	People of Earth 7 points
55	The Night Manager 6 points
56	Frontline: The Choice 2016 6 points
57	Gotham 6 points
58	iZombie 5 points
59	Degrassi: Next Class 5 points
60	Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown 5 points
61	The Middle 5 points
62	The 100 5 points
63	The Get Down 5 points
64	The Chris Gethard Show 5 points
65	One Mississippi 5 points
66	Last Chance U 5 points
67	The A Word 5 points
68	Survivor’s Remorse 4 points
69	The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Live Shows at RNC & DNC 4 points
70	The Carmichael Show 4 points
71	Mozart in the Jungle 4 points
72	Shameless 4 points
73	On Cinema at the Cinema 4 points
74	Casual 4 points
75	Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee 4 points
76	Ash vs Evil Dead 4 points
77	Broad City 3 points
78	Comedy Bang! Bang! 3 points
79	Lady Dynamite 3 points
80	The Great British Baking Show 3 points
81	Narcos 3 points
82	Survivor 3 points
83	Queen Sugar 3 points
84	Preacher 3 points
85	Kim’s Convenience 2 points
86	Downton Abbey 2 points
87	Saturday Night Live 2 points
88	Take My Wife 2 points
89	The Flash 2 points
90	Luke Cage 2 points
91	Bosch 2 points
92	Brooklyn NIne-Nine 1 points
93	Billions 1 points
94	Blue Bloods 1 points
95	Love 1 points
96	Odd Mom Out 1 points
97	Real Time with Bill Maher 1 points
98	RuPaul’s Drag Race 1 points
99	The Walking Dead 1 points
100	Mom 1 points
101	Easy 1 points
102	Girls 1 points
103	Steven Universe 1 points