2023 Media Review: Top Rated Shows

Today, we are wrapping up our 2023 media review as we look at IMDB’s top rated shows from last year. We’re going to go through the top 10 list, highlight some of the messages and give you our take on whether or not those messages are healthy. Did your favorite show from last year make the cut?

IMDB's top 10 highest rated shows from 2023 were:

10. Gen V

9. The Bear

8. Ted Lasso

7. The Fall of the House of Usher

6. One Piece

5. The Mandalorian

4. Black Mirror

3. Succession

2. Ahsoka and coming in at number 1

1. The Last of Us

So, a video game adaptation, 2 Star Wars spin-off series’, a live action remake of a beloved anime series, shows about a restaurant, a trio of siblings trying to take over their father’s media empire, a soccer team, an irreverent college for genetically enhanced super powered young adults, an Edgar Allen Poe’s greatest hits mashup and Black Mirror! IMDB’s highest rated shows from last year were definitely an eclectic mix. As varied as they were, however, there still were a few common threads between many of last year's top shows that might surprise you.

The two themes that really stood out to us were relationship dynamics, especially family relationships, and purpose. In the Bear, they exhibited both of those to an extremely high degree. The series lead is “Carmy” Carmen Berzatto, played by Jeremy Allen White. The season follows Carmy, his crew, his girlfriend and family, as he works towards turning their sandwich shop into a higher scale restaurant. The recurring message of the season is every second counts, which is restated multiple times as the season progresses. Episode 6 gives the viewers a flashback to a family Christmas which gives a deeper understanding to the difficulties and entangled feelings Carmy now carries into his work and relationships.

The Fall of the House of Usher explores the dark and macabre results from selling your soul and your family for riches and success. Gen V follows a group of young adults whose parents have chosen to put in a program where they will be given a serum for superhuman enhancement in hopes of becoming bonafide superheroes one day. Succession sees three siblings scheming and fighting to gain control of their father’s wealth and influence. On the other side, Ted Lasso gave us the conclusion of Ted’s story of coming to Britain as a professional soccer coach after the failure and dissolution of his marriage. In his new home, he learns to overcome his fears of failure and rejection while helping his team to unite and build towards success both on and off the pitch. Ahsoka, the Madolorian and The Last of Us all center around the idea of found family struggling against great odds to learn how to be what those around them need. Family and purpose. At their roots, so many of the top shows of last year really came down to two of the biggest questions that every one of us will ask ourselves throughout the course of our lives: What and who are our lives really about?

In the fall of the house of usher, the characters are offered a choice to have the life they could only dream of, but the cost would be paid out by their children, a price which they agree to. The decadence and excesses of their lives are on full display until, one by one, their sins find them out. This reminds me of a verse found in 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.” - 1 Corinthians 15:32

Here, Paul is responding to challenges some have had against the physical resurrection of Christ. Already, some back then were casting doubt that such a miraculous event literally took place and began to teach that it was a spiritual or even metaphorical resurrection rather than a physical one. Paul, in no uncertain terms, rebuked those teachings saying that if Christ had not been raised from the dead, then our whole faith was in vain and, if that was the case, then we might as well have as much fun as we can right now because if there is no life after this one, then what’s even the point? Paul heavily anchors our purpose for this life in the life to come. The reason we preach, the reason we struggle, the reason we obey, the reason we resist temptation is because this life is not all that there is. There is a transcendent reality that our lives on earth are accountable to and the resurrection of Christ is the evidence of that! Now, that is an extremely condensed version of a very thoughtful argument, so if you have questions, I’d recommend reading 1 Corinthians in its entirety to get the full context. That being said, the connection I see to that verse from these shows is that they are conveying the same truth but in the negative.

The reason anyone can watch a show like The Fall of the House of Usher, or Succession and being rightfully repulsed at the decisions and behaviors portrayed is because we all have a real sense of that transcendent reality that Jerrod was talking about. Like Richie’s character in “The Bear,” many of us struggle to find our purpose in this life and will look to our jobs, our friends, our families to fill that hole. The problem is, your job will end, friends move, family will let you down. None of these are bad in themselves, but none of them are enough to fulfill your life and be its meaning. They will never fully satisfy because they were never intended to. In response, many of us have decided that that means there must not be any purpose, that it’s all just subjective and so we should just do whatever we want to do when we want to do it, i.e. the fall of the house of usher. And, doesn’t that sound an awful lot like what Paul was writing to the Corinthians? So many of the shows that people all around the world can’t help but watch are, in different ways, all shooting at the same target, but all missing the mark.

You won’t find your purpose in wealth, vanity, sex or success. Even for Monkey D. Luffy in One Piece, becoming King of the Pirates is still would never be enough. When we have the wrong idea for our purpose, it ends up not only hurting us, but everyone around us will be affected, as well. For the reluctant heroes of Ahsoka, The Mandolorian and even The Last of Us, they struggle so much with being able to care, protect and provide for those entrusted to their care because they are constantly wrestling with their own identities. How can they be the hero they need to be for everyone else when they don’t even know who they are for themselves? Purpose and identity can only be found in the One who created us. He made us, so He knows who we are meant to be and what we are meant to do. As your watching your favorite series, take a deeper look at the underlying messages. What is the idea that draws you in and connects you with these characters? Is the answer given in the show a satisfying conclusion for the issues facing you in your life? If not, that means it’s time to look a bit deeper for the transcendent reality that our lives all exist in.