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| Walt, Jesse, & co. continue to cook up the best TV has to offer. |
There's a prevalent myth in our society that watching television is bad. That it melts the brain. That it's really just a waste of time when you could be working, exercising, sleeping, or reading a book instead. When someone mentions they don't watch much television, or don't even own one, they usually say so with pride. It should come as no surprise I think these people are idiots. Now that's not to say parents should let their kids watch TV for 8 hours a day, that television can't be mind numbingly stupid (see: 96% of reality TV), or a complete waste of time (see: 92% of CBS programming), but that, if one looks in the right places, the medium of television is now providing more emotionally resonant, intelligent, & original stories that its cinema counterpart & much of modern literature. It is for that reason that I proudly say for the 21st consecutive year of my life I watched more television than the year prior &, as always, I'm thankful for that. Now here are the best* programs I watched over the last calendar year.
*"Best" is, of course, a largely subjective word when talking about entertainment. Certainly if one were to claim that "Two and a Half Men" were the best comedy of 2012 we could label that person an idiot but, there are dozens of shows that one could make a legitimate claim. Furthermore for as much TV as a watch I'm still a student who must occasionally study & go to class & not a television critic so there are plenty of shows I missed this year. Some of those shows (e.g. "Luck" & "Treme") I wish I'd at least watched a few episodes of because they might've made this list, others may be shows you love ("30 Rock," "The Walking Dead," "Dexter," "Sons of Anarchy," "Spartacus") that I'm sure I'd have enjoyed but didn't have the time or feel the need to watch, & others ("The Big Bang Theory" & almost everything else on CBS) I just don't want to watch but good for you for enjoying them (Actually that's not good at all. Why weren't you watching "Community" or "Parks and Rec" instead? You suck). My point here is this isn't a definitive top 10, heck I'll probably disagree with some of the shows I chose or at least the order I put them in minutes after I post this, merely my thoughts at the moment & a recommendation for shows you might enjoy if you haven't yet checked them out.
10. Louie (First 2 seasons available on Netflix)-Last year I had Louie at #8 & in retrospect that was probably way too low for such a fantastic season of television & I fully recognize I'm likely to feel the same way in a year when I look back & realize I had one of my all time favorite comedies all the way down at number ten. With that said there were just too many good shows this year & I remember while Louie was airing that I felt its FX time slot neighbor Wilfred, which didn't quite make this list, outperformed it so here Louie shall lie. Still this was another hilarious & experimental season of Louie that revealed his ex-wife to be black (though both of his daughters are white as can be), had him buy a motorcycle, develop a man crush in Miami, visit China, date a mentally off balance woman for a couple episodes, & try to replace David Letterman on The Late Show. These last two, with their serialized nature, were a major departure for Louie & the Letterman storyline in particular paid off by providing a real momentum the show's last few episodes. My favorite segment of all though was one where he & Robin Williams were the lone attendees to a funeral which eventually led them to go to the strip club the deceased had always asked them to come to. It's an absolutely brilliant 6 minutes of television that perfectly encapsulated the honesty & humor that defines the show.
2012 MVP: Louis C.K. finally found someone else to edit the show but he still does just about everything else which may explain why he's taking 2013 off from the show. 2014 can't come soon enough.
Essential Episodes: "Miami," "Barney/Never," "Late Show Part 3," & "New Year's Eve."
9. Justified-For the second straight year Raylan Givens & company nab the spot just ahead of Louie. Like it's FX counterpart Justified couldn't quite match its fantastic second season but its third remained among the best on television. With the loss of Mags Bennet matriarchal villainy from the previous season the show added a number of potential villains most notably a drug addicted sadist from Detroit in Robert Quarles & the pragmatic Harlan crime-boss Ellstin Limehouse. Both proved fine additions but as always the story revolved around Timothy Olyphant's Raylan, in one of the more underrated performances on TV, & the equally fantastic Walton Gogins as Boyd Crowder as Boyd took greater control over Harlan crime & Raylan dealt with his relationship with his ex-wife falling apart again, a frame up for murder, his father trying to kill him, as well as the assortment of bad guys. It's third season is already wrapping up in the next couple weeks, & will likely find itself on this list again, so if you haven't been watching it may be too late to catch this season but you should absolutely watch this modern day western.
2012 MVP: Olyphant is one of my favorite actors working today, few people are as adept at playing the wise cracking bad-ass.
Essential Episodes: "Thick as Mud," "Watching the Detectives," "Coalition," & "Slaughterhouse."
8. Parenthood-click for the clip (3 seasons on Netflix, all on Hulu Plus)-With Friday Night Lights off the air I needed a show that ensures my tear ducts still work every week & not surprisingly it's FNL showrunner Jason Katims new show that so ably filled that role. Amid all the anti-heroes on television today it's nice to just watch a bunch of people you genuinely like & are rooting for & the show even upped its game, & the tears, with its fantastic handling of a cancer storyline that brought out great work from Peter Krause & Monica Potter. I haven't watched every season of Parenthood but the second half of the third season was strong & I have to imagine that the fourth was its best, making it the best network drama on today.
2012 MVP: The aforementioned Krause & Potter. Bringing on a cancer storyline is risky because if you don't completely nail it, from writing to acting, it can feel like nothing more than a cheap way to raise the stakes but they were absolutely fantastic (even if they didn't start selling meth).
Essential Episodes: "There's Something I Need To Tell You," "One More Weekend With You," "What To My Wondering Eyes," & "Keep on Rowing."
7. Girls-Lena Dunham's creation got blasted by some for having a cast of characters that was too white, too privileged, & too unlikeable. That first criticism was somewhat fair, as Dunham later admitted, but truthfully most shows are too white & the latter two are fairly ridiculous. Are some of the characters spoiled and/or bitches? Yes, but that's part of the point, they're all young people generally lacking in self-awareness & with little experience in hardship (though they think otherwise). I can understand why some wouldn't want to watch a show like that, & with a fair amount of uncomfortable sex scenes to boot, but I'm partial to Judd Apatow TV shows (If you haven't seen them go check out Freaks and Geeks & Undeclared on Netflix right now) & anything willing to do a, hilarious, abortion storyline in its second episode is good by me. Girls––my favorite new show of 2012.
2012 MVP: Lena Dunham, as creator/star/writer/director, is the obvious MVP but I'd also like to give a shout out to Adam Driver, as her character's offbeat boyfriend, whose performance went from unbelievably creepy, to likable, to vulnerable. It was quite a feat & the show benefited greatly from it.
Essential Episodes: "Vagina Panic," "The Return," "Welcome to Bushwick a.k.a. The Crackcident," & "She Did."
6. Homeland-In 2011 Homeland stormed television, yanking away the title of best new show from Game of Thrones, & establishing itself as the anti-24––a thoughtful, methodical, character driven look on the War on Terror––while being run by two of the guys who ran the last few seasons of 24. Heck it even unseated Mad Men at the Emmys. It's second season started off even stronger, its 5th episode had the best 10-15 minutes of any show all last year, but waxed & wained a bit over its second half as the show sometimes went too outlandish* but just when it seemed like it was truly going too far it would dial things back for a quieter character moment & you'd be reminded why it was one of the best shows on TV. In many ways that made it a maddening season as it veered back & forth, much like the state of its two main characters' mental health, in quality but whatever faults it had it it was always fascinating & ultimately pulled it all together for a powerful finale.
*Whenever it did this it got, not surprisingly, criticized for "pulling a 24." To be clear "24" was a fantastic show for 5 seasons, & then kept going another 3, but its everything dialed up to 12 ridiculousness was part of its charm whereas "Homeland" is a show that needs to stay more grounded to be fully effective.
2012 MVP: Mandy Patinkin is better known for being Inigo Montoya in The Princess Bride, or his 2 seasons on Criminal Minds, but playing CIA higher up Saul Berenson is the role of his career. On a show filled with unstable or sinister characters he brings a steadiness & warmth (& this beard!) that are as vital as anything else on the show.
Essential Episodes: "New Car Smell," "Q&A," "The Clearing," & "The Choice."
*I'm not sure if it's Dean Pelton or Troy's interest in butt stuff that's rubbing off on me.
2012 MVP: It's hard to single any one person out but I'll go with Danny Pudi as Abed, & his fears, became ever more central to the show & he was always up to the task.
Essential Episodes: "Pillows and Blankets," "Basic Lupine Urology," "Virtual Systems Analysis," "Curriculum Unavailable," & "Digital Estate Planning."
4. Game of Thrones-HBO used to have the slogan, "It's not TV it's HBO," which certainly was a bit pretentious but with shows like The Sopranos, Deadwood, & the greatest show of all time, The Wire, it was also earned. Now for the first time since the last of those went of the air in February of 2010 HBO once again has a show worthy of that claim. Truly GOT is unlike anything else on TV, not so much because it has dragons or magic or its nominal lead is a dwarf (the real, not mythical, kind) but because of the depth of its world & characters & the way at any one time you could be rooting for 3 or 4 different characters whose ultimate goals completely conflict with one another. Granted it owes a great deal of that to George R.R. Martin's books but the work done to adapt them & cast every role so perfectly should not be understated (it's the most expensive show in history), nor should the fact it produced one of the most impressive episodes in TV history with the epic battle that was "Blackwater."
2012 MVP: Peter Dinklage may have won his Emmy for the first season but he was even better in the 2nd as Tyrion was granted real power & responsibility for the first time in his life, & dealt with that success & the seemingly inevitable downfall from it.
Essential Episodes: "What is Dead May Never Die,""A Man Without Honor,""Blackwater," & "Valar Morghulis."
3. Parks and Recreation (4 seasons on Netflix, all on Hulu Plus)-The Emmys can claim Modern Family's been the best comedy for the last 3 years all they want but Parks & Rec owns the rightful claim to that throne as it continued to be televisions most upbeat, consistently funny, sitcom. The latter half of its fourth season brought the fantastic campaign storyline as Leslie ran for a city council seat, which began with the hilariously disastrous launching of her campaign in "The Comeback Kid" & concluded with her touching victory over her Bobby Newport, a likable but dense Sweetums heir played to perfection by Paul Rudd, in "Win, Lose, or Draw." Of course the campaign wasn't everything as Andy found time to take a Woman's Studies course at the local college, we discovered Ron's love for riddles & scavenger hunts, Louis C.K. returned to try to win Leslie back, & then in the fifth season Ron finally found a non-Tammy to fall in love with, April took a real interest in her work, & Leslie & Ben got engaged. While The Office has fallen off & Community & Happy Endings seem to be on their last legs Parks and Rec continues to chug on as funniest, most likable, sitcom on television.
2012 MVP: I want to pick just about everyone in the cast so I'll just wimp out & pick Amy Poehler who doesn't always get the biggest laughs, though she's certainly capable of getting them, but is undoubtedly the beating heart of this show.
Essential Episodes: "Campaign Ad," "The Debate," "Win, Lose, or Draw," & "Halloween Surprise."
2. Mad Men (All 5 seasons available on Netflix)-After being absent for the entirety of 2011 Matthew Weiner's brilliant tale of... Well I'm not honestly sure what Mad Men's about. It's part a search of identity, an examination of how we deal with the knowledge of our own mortality, a look at the 1960s & how the world changed (even if some people didn't), & probably 2 or 3 other things I'm forgetting or haven't even picked up on. That's why I can never agree with those who find the show boring because there's actually a lot going on, even if a lot of it is subtext & smaller character moments. Further the deeper we get into the series the more the layers are pulled back on the characters & the more interesting the show becomes. Though in truth season five was in many ways the most eventful season of the series as Don embarked on a new marriage, this time not built on lies; Pete embarked on an affair* with a troubled woman that made him further realize how broken he is; Roger did LSD & broke off his second marriage; Lane up & killed himself; Joan divorced** her rapist husband & became a partner through tragic means, & Peggy left for greener pastures (O & Betty got fat!). In addition the show became more existential, & both more willing to spell out its themes & to experiment in its storytelling. It was a hell of a ride & one that thankfully will continue for two more seasons.
*Pete does a lot of unlikeable things but cheating on Alison Brie may be the worst. Ok... proposing Joan whore herself out to get a new client was definitely the worst.
**It was not a good year for marriages at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce.
2012 MVP: Jon Hamm's the obvious choice & a number of other actors gave great performances but Christina Hendricks had her best season yet as Joan had to make it on her own, & thus make some very difficult & heartbreaking decisions. If the world were fair she'd have won an Emmy, but alas it isn't.
Essential Episodes: "Signal 30," "Far Aways Places," "The Other Woman," "Commission and Fees."
1. Breaking Bad (First 4 seasons available on Netflix) -For the second year running (third if I'd watched Breaking Bad's third season live & published a top 10 list) Breaking Bad tops my list of the best television shows. Certainly the first half of the show's final season (the latter half airs this summer) was not at the same level of its previous two, which are two of the best seasons of TV I've had the privilege to watch, but it remained television's most compelling show.* After becoming more of an ensemble in season 3 &, especially season 4, the first 8 episodes reestablished the show as a character study of Walter White as he dealt with ramifications of his victory over Gus & the continued disintegration of his marriage. While that focus limited how much we got to see of one of the two best performances on TV (Aaron Paul's brilliant turn as Jesse) it allowed us to see even more of the other as Bryan Cranston continued his masterful work as Walter reached even greater lows, murdering Mike & ordering the murder of many others, & at last alienating Jesse, before Skyler finally broke through his hubris & made him realize that he had already far exceeded his original goal of being able to provide for his family. Of course a bit of toilet reading by Hank looks to bring it all crashing down when one of the greatest shows in the history of the medium resumes for its final run.
*I flirted with picking "Mad Men" & I wouldn't argue too vehemently if you made a case for any of the other four shows in my top 5, but still nothing quite topped "Breaking Bad" in my book.
2012 MVP: Jonathan Banks deserves a mention, & hopefully an Emmy nomination, for his wonderful work as Mike but Cranston is king of the show & all of television.
Essential Episodes: "Madrigal," "Dead Freight," "Buyout," "Say My Name," & "Gliding Over All."
Honorable Mention:
Archer-FX's animated combo of James Bond & Arrested Development continues to be one of the most consistently hilarious shows on TV.
Awake-The second Kyle Killen created show (Lonestar was the first) to be cancelled despite a strong product was a heartbreaking & challenging show about a detective who, after a car crash, finds himself living in two different realities––one in which his son survived & another where his wife did.
Boardwalk Empire-On the verge of making my top 10 every year few shows build each season to as satisfying a conclusion as HBO's look at 1920s Atlantic City & the man who runs it.
Bob's Burgers-The "other" animated show with H. Jon Benjamin as the voice lead is every bit as good as Archer with a fantastic voice cast all around & a wonderfully bizarre sense of humor.
Chuck-Last year's number ten show didn't air enough episodes for me to put in this year but it finished the series with one of my favorite finales, including a perfect final scene.
Happy Endings-At its best this may well be the funniest show on television with jokes flying at an astounding rate from a fantastic cast.
It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia-As old as this show is, this last season was its 8th, it ought to be getting stale but the gang from Paddy's Pub continues to be absolutely horrible & hilarious.
New Girl-This has slowly morphed into one of the best comedy's on TV & should challenge for a spot on this list next year behind Jake M. Johnson's curmudgeonly performance.
Suits-There are few shows I look forward to more each week & if only they could wrap up storylines as well as they lay them out it probably would've made the list.
Wilfred-There were times in its first season where I wondered why I kept watching, in its second, much darker & weirder, season there were times I wondered if it was the best comedy on FX. It's to the point now where I associate Elijah Wood, giving a career best performance, with this more than The Lord of the Rings––no small accomplishment.
Other Shows* I watched: 666 Park Ave, Awkward., Ben and Kate, Bent, Burning Love, Castle, Children's Hospital, Go On, How I Met Your Mother, Last Resort, The League, Luther, The Mindy Project, Modern Family, Nashville, The Newsroom, NTSF:SD:SUV, One Tree Hill, Psych, Suburgatory, Teen Wolf, Veep. (That's 42 shows total, which is absolutely ridiculous).
*I only listed scripted shows because I don't think it makes much sense to compare them to late night, reality (which I watch little of anyway), or things like ESPN's "30 for 30" but for kicks here's how I'd rank the various late night shows.
1. The Colbert Report
2. The Daily Show
3. The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
4. Jimmy Kimmel Live!
5. Conan
6. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
7. The Late Show with David Letterman
8. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno
Till next year!
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