Top 10 Television

Here it is, my top 10 Television shows, moments, scenes, etc. for the year. It doesn’t include Dexter (sorry, AC) but mostly because I just started watching it. I still have a little residual association to Six Feet Under, which I think is the worst show of all time. Yes, even worse than According to Jim (sorry, Dad). But here it is.

 

10. The New Adventures of Old Christine

Elaine who? The Julia Louis-Dreyfus led comedy solidified itself as a jewel in the CBS crown. Christine might be uncouth, a little racist, a tad homophobic, and completely self-absorbed, but she’s always hilarious. The ensemble is one of the strongest on TV right now

 

Throwback of the year: Two and Half Men has the ratings and How I Met Your Mother has the buzz, but Old Christine is still the most consistently funny four-camera show since the heyday of Friends and Frasier.

 

09. The Office

Like sex and pizza, even when it’s bad it’s still pretty good. Some consider this past year weaker than usual, but for me it still provides solid laughs while existing in some nebulous zone of being completely real and completely ridiculous.

 

Cast Addition of the year: Amy Ryan. With such a distinct style and such a difficult character, Ryan managed to not only carve out a space in the ensemble but she damn near outshined everyone around. It’s not unexpected from this Oscar nominee, but it’s still pretty impressive.

 

 

08. Lost

I think my estimation for this show went on the rise at the same point I realized I didn’t have to get so mired in it. You know what, I don’t care about the secret of the black smoke monster, or how absurd the notion of time travel is. All I care about is that week in/week out, I get a fast-paced, exciting show with some killer performances and decent writing. Lost still delivers.

 

Series evolution of the year: Yeah, that whole time travel. It’s usually tricky to change the way you’ve been telling stories for several seasons, but Lost expanded an already complex narrative without sacrificing style or weight.

 

07. Skins

This UK import demonstrated once again that the lives of regular people are infinitely more interesting than the supremely rich denizens that populate US shows of adolescents (suck it “Gossip Girl”). These kids smoke, shag, and sing (the number in the finale was one of the most electrifying moments in television, even as it reveled in its own ridiculousness) and never fail to eminently watchable.

 

Scene of the year: Cassie explains her anorexia. Where other shows might veer into movie-of-the-week territory with a storyline about an eating disorder (“Jenny! Eat something!”), Skins played it real, as an open secret that no one really talked about. When Cassie demonstrated to one of her friends (in such nonchalant charm no less) how she gets away with not eating, it’s fascinating in its obviousness, and yet horrifying just the same.

 

 

06. Doctor Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog

Sure, it never actually aired on television, but Joss Whedon¹s internet opus showed a new model for serialized storytelling. This internet sensation straddled genre lines (comedy! supervillains! musical numbers!)­ but was still more engaging in forty five minutes than most series are for a full season. That the final act of Horrible packed the emotional punch that it did after such limited time with the characters is a credit to the writers, actors and especially Whedon himself.

 

Song of the year: “My Eyes.”  The second act opening duet between the titular evil mastermind played by Neil Patrick Harris and his lady love played by Felicia Day was a rousing anthem worthy of Broadway.

 

05. Mad Men

It’s as slick and stylish as they ad campaigns they come up with on the show. Eschewing the standard TV narrative, Mad Men is a show that simmers where other shows skip right to the boil. It’s no surprise that the mastermind behind this show, Matthew Weiner, cut his teeth on The Sopranos, another series which favored subtlety over flash, and thought-provoking drama over crime scene investigations.

 

Upgrade of the Year: January Jones. I was fairly ambivalent to Jones in the first season but in season 2 I was floored. Betty, Jones’ put-upon wife of main ad-man Don Draper fully shifted into the foreground, as her struggles in marriage, motherhood, and femininity came to a head. 

 

04. South Park

How is it possible that “South Park” has now had more solid seasons of animated hilarity than The Simpsons? The showed mined humor in ‘08 from such likely and unlikely sources as Britney Spears, AIDS, the writer¹s strike, racism, the presidential election, the High School Musical phenomenon, breast cancer, and, naturally, Peruvian flute bands.

 

Challenge of the Year: Vampires vs. Goths. Taking on Twilight and the Hot Topic generation, the show perfectly captured the manufactured angst of the vampire trend versus the good old-fashioned disaffection of the goth crowd, through the eyes of one of Park’s most hilarious and unique creations-Butters.

 

03. Battlestar Galactica

It’s a sci-fi show that’s not about vast futuristic societies so much as it is about the world we live in today. The struggle between politics and religion has never been more timely, or effective. The first batch of season 4 wasn’t without it’s share of the shock value though, from the new masters of labyrinthine storytelling.

 

Performer of the year: Tricia Helfer. In a cast that features such a strong ensemble (and my personal favorite actress right now in Katee Sackhoff), it’s hard to get noticed, much less stand out. Helfer was saddled with more characters than anyone (it makes sense in context), and was able to present each one as an individual without losing sight of the unifying characteristics that make them all the same. If that doesn’t make sense, then you’re clearly not watching one of the best shows out there.

 

02. Friday Night Lights

Someone else pointed out how there’s not a bad character on this show, bad as in villainesque; bad as in walking plot devices. On Lights, it’s merely an absorbing peek into the private lives of real people struggling with real problems and trying to make the best decisions possible (though not always succeeding). It’s an uplifting show without ever resorting to treacle. It’s engrossing while eschewing melodrama.

 

Moment of the year: Matt’s Breakdown in “Leave No One Behind.” Poor Matt Saracen had been sidelined by the writers for part of the second season. While the focus shifted to other characters, Matt struggled with a breakup, and the usual family drama, mostly off-camera, which is what made his screaming fit with the coach so hard-hitting. After yelling about everyone leaving him behind and forgetting about him, it was clear the audience fit in there as well. As always, Zach Gilford (Matt) acted the shit out of it, with the naturalistic grace that every actor on this show seems to possess.

 

01. 30 Rock

There’s something to be said for flat out showmanship. No matter how many times I watch this show, no matter what episode, it always delivers. Something new pops out, the anticipation of a joke I’ve heard several times still makes me snicker. And is there a more quotable show on the air? I love 30 Rock so much I want to take it behind the middle school and get it pregnant.

 

Episode of the year: Episode 210. People like to think the musical number at the end (“Midnight Train to Georgia”) was just a quick tack on because of the looming writer’s strike. Maybe it was, but it was also an astute meta treatise that thematically tied in to all three storylines. The job 30 Rock does of straddling between intelligent humor and absurd comedy is nothing short of phenomenal.