The Best TV Performances of 2024
The best performances don’t always come from the best TV shows, but they often do.
It sounds obvious, but this saying also rings true: Great television often comes from great performances.
Even when scripts are lagging and production is unimaginative, ace casts and on point performances can rescue or elevate any TV production. And 2024 was filled with superlative stuff.
So I’m going to offer my favorite performances from this past year, with an effort to dip into some less discussed achievements (so, I’m warning in advance, no Matlock, Elsbeth or other quirky procedural sleuths).
Gary Oldman, Slow Horses — The best actor who hasn’t yet won an Emmy, Oldman’s take on the intentionally grubby-yet-effective manager of the most inept branch of British intelligence is pure genius.
Anna Sawai, Shogun - In different moments, she’s steely, tender and/or heartbreaking as duty-bound translator Toda Mariko, the emotional center grounding FX’s epic series.
Harrison Ford, Shrinking — It’s taken decades, but Ford’s turn as endearingly crusty therapist Dr. Paul Rhodes seems to mirror how the star has come to terms with fame and his legacy in real life.
Billy Bob Thornton, Landman — so much about this series is wrong, from its infantilizing of most female characters to its relentless messaging on the oil industry as a necessary evil. But Thornton is picture perfect as the world-weary, seen-it-all fixer behind M-Tex Oil, capable of facing down everything from a pissed-off drug cartel boss to a pissed-off ex-wife.
Liza Colon-Zayas, The Bear — On a show packed with buzzed-about guest stars, it is the regular cast members who still often deliver the show’s most compelling moments. That’s especially true for Colon-Zayas, whose turn in the episode “Napkins,” telling the origin story of line cook-turned-sous chef Tina Marrero, brought tears to my eyes.
Aldis Hodge, Cross — He so perfectly embodied the forensic psychologist/police detective/unapologetically Black crusader Alex Cross, Hodge earned the ultimate compliment: He made you forget that Morgan Freeman and Tyler Perry had played him before.
Conan O’Brien, Hot Ones — Far as I know, no one had the courage to turn their entire appearance on the talk show where celebrities answer probing questions while eating hot wings into a bit, until O’Brien — who showed up with a fake “doctor” and loads of exuberance that nearly broke the Internet.
Allison Janney, The Diplomat — In Netflix’s series, the vice president is a pitiable woman about to be edged aside for her husband’s scandal until Janney showed up in the second season, playing VP Grace Penn as deftly manipulative, incisively intelligent and the surprising center of a towering conspiracy.
Cristin Millioti, The Penguin — Yes, star Colin Farrell’s transformation into the fat, hairy, disfigured mobster of the show’s title was impressive. But so was Millioti’s scene-stealing performance as mob daughter Sofia Falcone, who burst from Arkham Asylum determined to take over her father’s criminal empire.
Tim Bagley, Somebody Somewhere — I think the most touching moment I saw on TV last year was Bagley’s buttoned down Brad Schraeder taking a leap to serenade his partner Joel with an original song aimed at showing how much he appreciated their new lives together.
Beyonce, The Beyoncé Bowl — Her Christmas Day halftime show during Netflix second NFL game was the best televised musical performance of the year — including the Super Bowl halftime. (sorry, Usher!) Dozens of dancers in white cowboy hats, live performances of songs from her Cowboy Carter album, Post Malone, Shaboozey, daughter Blue Ivy…it all felt like a fever dream dragged from the heart of the Beyhive and splashed all over streaming TV.
