THE MASKED TEN - HALFWAY THROUGH

There's been a lot of really good television so far this year. As we approach the halfway mark I thought that i would share with you the MASKED TEN for 2016 so far. As always I never call these shows the best because that is a personal evaluation. Rather, these are the ten ( actually 14) shows that I especially enjoyed this year. 

The one criteria for being on the list is that the show has finished it's run or, in the case of streaming series, I have watched the entire cycle. There are some shows like PREACHER on AMC and UNREAL on Lifetime that are currently on and may well knock off current MASKED TEN shows.

There are 14 shows on the list because, in three situations, I gave a platform credit for something beyond simply one show. i guess that was my attempt t being cool and creative. I don't think that this is a radically offbeat list and I have a feeling many of you enjoy these shows as well. We may differ on the order but that's simply subjective. So here are the mid-year MASKED TEN listed in the order of my enjoyment. 

• THE AMERICANS (FX)
• THE PEOPLE vs. OJ SIMPSON (FX)
• BETTER CALL SAUL (AMC)
• SILICON VALLEY (HBO)
• HAPPY VALLEY/RIVER - NETFLIX BRITISH PROCEDURALS
• ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK (NETFLIX)
• GAME OF THRONES (HBO)
• CW MONDAY - CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND/JANE THE VIRGIN
• ABC FAMILY COMEDIES - FRESH OFF THE BOAT/THE GOLDBERGS/MODERN FAMILY
• THE NIGHT MANAGER (AMC)

There are five honorable mentions that will miss the cut this year but still had excellent cycles:

• BILLIONS (SHOWTIME)
• THE OUTSIDERS (WGN AMERICA)
• LONDON SPY (BBC AMERICA)
• GIRLS (HBO)
• CATASTROPHE (AMAZON)

Let me know your thoughts