Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.

While TV and streaming offer fresh programming year-round, December remains one of the quieter TV months — that makes it a good time to catch up on shows you’ve missed.

Below, you’ll find my favorites of 2022 and where to watch them, but there is this caveat: One person cannot watch every show, so it’s possible I missed something you liked. I’ll use December to play catch-up, too.

1. “The Patient” (Hulu): An intense thriller about a patient (Domhnall Gleeson) who kidnaps his therapist (Steve Carell), this FX-produced limited series was the most satisfying program of the year thanks to strong performances by the lead actors and smart scripts by writers Joel Fields and Joe Weisberg (“The Americans”) that showed as much interest in the characters’ psychologies as in plot and right-sized episode lengths (around 30 minutes for most of the season).

2. “Better Call Saul” (AMC, AMC+): Others can argue the merits of whether “Breaking Bad” or its prequel was the better series, but “Better Call Saul” certainly gave its fans a fitting final run of episodes, fast-forwarding to after the events of “Breaking Bad” to wrap up the stories of the show’s primary duo, Jimmy McGill/Saul Goodman (Bob Odenkirk) and Kim Wexler (Rhea Seehorn, who really, really deserves an Emmy Award for her performance).

3. “Andor” (Disney+): Easily the best-written “Star Wars” project for streaming — and probably ever in the 45-year history of the franchise — “Andor” delivers a more sophisticated, adult form of storytelling. It proffered less fan service than “Obi Wan Kenobi” and taken as a whole had far more interior logic than what I presume was the noted-to-death “Book of Boba Fett.” Yes, “Andor” started slowly, but, by the end of the 12-episode season, those sluggish early episodes paid off in full as the show’s disparate threads came together.

4. “The Gilded Age” (HBO, HBO Max): A thoroughly entertaining follow-up to “Downton Abbey” that retains some sense of “Upstairs/Downstairs” while expanding the scope of the usual Julian Fellowes story to include a more diverse cast, thanks largely to co-executive producer Sonja Warfield. Christine Baranski is a hoot as this show’s version of the Dowager Duchess and Cynthia Nixon plays against her “Sex and the City” type, while Carrie Coon steals the show as a new money matriarch. Can’t wait for season two.

5. “The Serpent Queen” (Starz): A period piece with a punk rock vibe as Catherine de Medici (Liv Hill and Samantha Morton, both excellent) breaks the fourth wall in this soapy historical fiction told at a propulsive pace.

6. “Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire” (AMC, AMC+): Forget that 1994 Tom Cruise-Brad Pitt movie: This series adaptation proves more compelling as it forsakes dour creatures of the night for vamps who love hard, play hard, fight hard — and, most importantly, laugh hard. This iteration of the story allows for lighter, even comedic moments and the presence of a cynical, caustic interviewer (Eric Bogosian) makes all the vampiric lore and self-­absorbed vampire narcissism go down easier.

7. “House of the Dragon” (HBO, HBO Max): There’s a lot one can complain about in this “Game of Thrones” prequel — the impossible-to-see dark episode, telling the characters apart, the way-too-fast storytelling resulting in time jumps and recastings — but the show also became that rare social media watercooler hit, far more so than Amazon’s “Lord of the Rings” prequel. “Dragon” started strong and ended strong despite missteps in less successful mid­season episodes.

8. “Hacks” (HBO Max): No sophomore slump here. The “Hacks” writers found a way in season two to keep the tension between Deborah Vance (Jean Smart) and her young writer, Ava (Hannah Einbinder), without completely backpedaling on advances in their mentor-mentee relationship from season one. And “Hacks” better developed its secondary characters, particularly agent Jimmy (series co-creator Paul W. Downs) and his dim but devoted assistant, Kayla (Megan Stalter).

9. “This Is Us” (NBC, Hulu): The partially Pittsburgh-set family drama ended with a bittersweet, tear-inducing finale that resolved the Pearson family story with heart and hope for the next generation. But will there be another broadcast network drama of its ilk or are we doomed to subsist on procedural dramas on broadcast forevermore?

10. “Ghosts” (CBS, Paramount+)/“Abbott Elementary” (ABC, Hulu): At least the broadcast network comedy lives with the delightful, zany but warm-hearted CBS comedy “Ghosts” and the funny, relatable ABC comedy “Abbott Elementary.” Their style of comedy differs, but they share an affection for their characters and relationships that avoids the cynical without getting overly saccharine.

Honorable mentions: “The Afterparty” (Apple TV+), “Alaska Daily” (ABC), “Atlanta” (FX), “Archive 81” (Netflix), “Dark Winds” (AMC), “Evin” (Paramount+), “The Flight Attendant” (HBO Max), “Fleishman Is in Trouble” (Hulu), “For All Mankind” (Apple TV+), “Gaslit” (Starz”), “The Good Fight” (Paramount+), “Halo” (Paramount+), “I Love That for You” (Showtime), “The Lake” (Amazon Prime Video), “Loot” (Apple TV+), “Our Flag Means Death” (HBO Max), “Pam & Tommy” (Hulu), “Promised Land” (ABC), “Reservation Dogs” (Hulu), “Severance” (Apple TV+), “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” (Paramount+), “The Time Traveler’s Wife” (HBO), “The White Lotus” (HBO), “We Own This City” (HBO), “Winning Time” (HBO).

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