Best TV Shows of 2009-2010 Season

On the eve of the new television season and a full summer under my belt to catch up on some shows, why not take a look at the best TV shows from 2009-10. I mention it every year I do this list, but I never understand why critics do a best of television list at the end of year in December when a lot of the shows have not completed their seasons. I take into account shows that premiered from June 2009 and wrapped up by May 2010.


10. Archer (FX)

Animation is the perfect medium for pushing the boundaries that live-action television shows are usually confined to. Years after the heyday of Beavis and Butthead and South Park, it's nice to know that it's still finding ways to appall and offend while still making you roar with laughter. Archer, FX's first serious venture into animation, is centered around the title character who is an immature yet seemingly capable secret agent and the rest of the employees at the agency, which includes his overbearing mother, who also happens to be his boss. The retro visuals give the show a flashy old-school feel and the scripts are filled with raunchiness and sharp one-liners, but the main appeal to the show is the excellent voice cast they have, which includes H. Jon Benjamin, Jessica Walter, Chris Parnell and Judy Greer. It's some of the best comedic talent currently gathered on basic cable today.

Ten On Tuesdays: Ten Most Influential Survivor Players of All-Time

With the season finale of what has arguably been one of the best editions, Heroes vs. Villains, this Sunday night and after 20 seasons of cutthroat strategy and boneheaded mistakes, what better time than now to look back at some of the most influential players the game has ever seen. I based influence not exactly on if a person won or not, but how their gameplay has made an impact on all future editions of Survivor and on the contestants, for better or worse. While I did not rank these and decided to do the list chronologically, I believe in my heart that Richard Hatch is without a doubt the overall most influential player of all-time. If he had not won in that first season, the game of Survivor would have turned out completely different and the use of strategy would not be as evolved as it is right now at this point 20 seasons on.


Richard Hatch (Borneo, All-Stars)
Placed: 1st; 14th

He is the grandfather of Survivor strategy, the man who first coined the term "alliance," which is now as neccessary as fire to survive in this game. By getting the idea of gathering a group of people to all vote the same way, it would ensure that they would have strength in numbers to advance in the game. When I first started watching Survivor, I originally thought that it would be a game of strength and endurance, but Hatch reminded us that along with outplay and outlast, outwit is also apart of the Survivor motto. His voting bloc was so unthinkable at the time that the opposing Pagong tribe members were easily picked off one by one, spreading their votes everywhere instead of focused one member, which is now the usual course. If Richard's strategy did not earn him the million dollars in the end, the game of Survivor would look completely different.

Best TV Shows of 2008-2009 Season

The Emmys will be handed out soon, so what better time to reflect on the best television shows of the 2008-2009 season? I never understood the logic of most critics discussing their favorite shows at the end of the calendar year instead of after the season has ended in May, but such is the way of life. I've always preferred waiting till the season has run its course.

10. The Game (The CW)

The best soap opera in primetime last season was The Game, hands down. The show, which centered around pro football athletes and the women in their lives, quitely evolved from a standard sitcom with obvious punchlines to a juicy, drama-filled half hour dramedy. The Game hit its stride this season whenever it played down the laughs in favor for more serious moments, which were handled adeptly with simple direction and solid acting. In television's ever-growing quest to deliver the most ambitious and high-concept programming, it's nice to know that good old-fashioned entertainment exists to provide a balance.

Ten On Tuesdays: Ten Best Cartoons of the 90's

After a few recent conversations with friends, I thought what better idea for a Ten On Tuesdays then to pick my 10 favorite cartoons of the decade in which I grew up. I don't use the word "cartoon" very lightly. For some reason, cartoons imply something targeted towards children, which is exactly what I'm going for. I'm not dealing with any of the adult-oriented, more distinguished sounding "animated series" for this list. That means no Simpsons, no South Park, no Beavis and Butthead, no King Of The Hill. None of the stuff that aired in prime time initially. I based this list on how much I enjoyed a show as a kid and how well it has stood the test of time.


1. The Tick (FOX, 1994-1997)

Oh, oddball humor. You are sorely missed on Saturday mornings. Filled with absurd plots and nonsensical monologues (courtesy of the title character), The Tick was required viewing every Saturday. Based on Ben Edlund's comic book of the same name, the show centered around a dim but noble superhero and his nebbish sidekick, Arthur, who wore a moth suit that was often confused for a bunny. The villains, who were even weirder, included the Midnight Bomber, who talked to himself all the time, Thrakkorzog, the alien who lived across the hall from The Tick and Arthur's apartment, and Chairface Chippendale, a man, who well, had a chair for a face. I look back at some of the old episodes and I'm sometimes astonished as to how The Tick made it on to children's programming considering how zany it was. This show is probably to blame a little bit for my warped sense of humor.

Best Shows of 2007-08 Season

You know what I hate? When it's year-end list time and all the publications list their top television programs of the year. It has always frustrated me because half of the programs on these lists have seasons that are still in progress and they are therefore being judged on only half of the episodes. I understand how empty it would be to not include television shows when it's year-end time, but why don't people ever wait until the season is over and then come up with a list? As a lifelong TV addict, the season ends in May, not late December for me. With the upcoming Emmy nominations, now is a good time as ever to look at the best shows of the 2007-08 season (I counted shows that started and completed within June 2007 thru May 2008). Looking at my list, I can't help but wonder how different it would have been if it hadn't been for the strike. Heroes, which slumped for most of its second season, finally started to find its footing with the last three or four episodes. At that pace, it could have easily reached the heights of its debut season. And who knows? Shows like Reaper could have been bumped up a few extra spots with a full 22 episode season and the pieces were definitely set in place for Bionic Woman to become compelling. If the season hadn't been cut short, it could have eventually hit its stride, but a little thing like a strike could never stop me from making a list.


20. Celebrity Rehab (VH-1)
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the world's greatest trainwreck captured on tape. I will give credit to A&E's Intervention for being the classier show, but there's an added sense of intrigue when looking into the not so fabulous lives of celebrities after the cameras go off. This is a side of them that we've never seen before and is unexplored terrain in the vastly diminishing land of ideas in reality television.

Ten On Tuesdays: Ten Best TV Freshmen Classes

The fall network television season officially kicks off next week (although FOX and The CW are getting a bit of a headstart) and each new show will be under the microscope. The pressure is always higher for new shows since they have only 13 episodes or less to win viewers or produce a strong enough product that may win some favor from the network execs and allow a stay of execution. There is no telling which of this season's new shows will become the next sensation or even if there will be one, but it's always exciting to follow, at least to me.

In honor of the upcoming fall tv season (one of my favorite events of the year), I've decided to do a top ten list of what I feel are the seasons that had the best freshmen line-up. I based this on the ratings success of the show, longetivity, quality, importance to the history of television and its lasting impact on pop culture. This list is also not limited to just shows in the fall line-up, but shows that were midseason replacements as well. I also didn't include every new show for each particular season, mainly because they didn't fit the criteria. Any shows not on the fall line-up are noted with an asterisk (*).


10
1982-83

The A-Team*
Cheers
Family Ties
Knight Rider
Newhart
Remington Steele
Silver Spoons
Square Pegs
St. Elsewhere

The A-Team, Cheers, Family Ties and Knight Rider are cornerstones of 80's television and shows that people will often remain nostalgic for, but the enduring quality of St. Elsewhere and Newhart, not to mention Square Pegs' groundbreaking look at adolescent life is what earns the 1982-83 crop a spot on this list.


9
1996-97

7th Heaven
Buffy The Vampire Slayer*
Cosby
Everybody Loves Raymond
The Jamie Foxx Show
Just Shoot Me!*
King Of The Hill*
Millenium
The Practice*
Spin City
The Steve Harvey Show

Raymond went on to become one of the best sitcoms of all-time. Buffy revived a network and re-ignited serial storytelling in primetime. The Practice was definitely one of the best dramas on television for at least its first three or four seasons. King Of The Hill continues to remain consistent to this day. Those fours shows alone are impressive enough, but once you add the importance of the Jamie Foxx and Steve Harvey-led sitcoms in an era where FOX was slowly phasing out African-American centered programming from their schedule and 7th Heaven's longevity, you have one of the most well-rounded group of freshmen in this season.

Emmy Nominations

Nominees for the 58th Annual Emmy Awards were announced Thursday. Yes, there were some surprising snubs, but for once, there was a lot of good news. Let's do a category-by-category breakdown, shall we?

Outstanding Comedy Series
Arrested Development FOX
Curb Your Enthusiasm HBO
The Office NBC
Scrubs NBC
Two and a Half Men CBS

The biggest WTF here is Two And A Half Men's nomination. I understand it's the highest rated comedy on television, but just because Raymond, Friends and Sex And The City are no longer on the air doesn't mean that this field has to be diluted it's inclusion. Arrested Development and Scrubs are two of the biggest surprises, in my opinion, since AD was on and off the air so many times over the course of the season, that it's a wonder that anyone still remembered it, but then again, it won this same category only two years ago and was nominated last year as well. Scrubs hasn't been doing as well in the ratings either, but it's still one of the funniest shows on television.

Overlooked: Gilmore Girls, Everybody Hates Chris


Outstanding Lead Actor In A Comedy Series
Larry David Curb Your Enthusiasm HBO
Kevin James The King Of Queens CBS
Tony Shalhoub Monk USA
Steve Carell The Office NBC
Charlie Sheen Two and a Half Men CBS

Carell was pretty much a no-brainer, and it's also nice to see that Kevin James' fine, underrated work on The King Of Queens getting its recognition. Jason Lee of My Name Is Earl was robbed. It hurts too much to even it call it overlooked.

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Comedy Series
Lisa Kudrow The Comeback HBO
Jane Kaczmarek Malcolm in the Middle FOX
Julia Louis-Dreyfus The New Adventures of Old Christine CBS
Stockard Channing Out Of Practice CBS
Debra Messing Will & Grace NBC

Don't really watch any of these shows except for Malcolm In The Middle, and I'm kind of tired of seeing Kaczmarek being nominated long after the show's creative peak. I know a lot of people who were high on Kudrow's work on The Comeback, but I've never seen the show. Seems like the only interesting nominee in this bunch.

Overlooked: Lauren Graham-Gilmore Girls, Felicity Huffman-Desperate Housewives, Tracee Ellis Ross-Girlfriends

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series
Will Arnett Arrested Development FOX
Jeremy Piven Entourage HBO HBO
Bryan Cranston Malcolm in the Middle FOX
Jon Cryer Two and a Half Men CBS
Sean Hayes Will & Grace NBC

Arnett should have been nominated all three seasons that AD was on the air. Just watch any episode where Europe's "The Final Countdown" appears. Or that one where he says "I've made a huge mistake." Yeah, those are all good. Cranston deserves the nod, but mainly because his work wasn't recognized when the show was still good.

Overlooked: Neil Patrick Harris-How I Met Your Mother, Rainn Wilson-The Office, Terry Crews-Everybody Hates Chris, Donald Faison-Scrubs

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series
Cheryl Hines Curb Your Enthusiasm HBO
Alfre Woodard Desperate Housewives ABC
Jaime Pressly My Name Is Earl NBC (Pictured above)
Elizabeth Perkins WeedsShowtime
Megan Mullally Will & Grace NBC

Jaime Pressly's Joy is one of the funniest scene-stealers on television today. It's still a shame that Jason Lee didn't get a Best Actor nod, but it would have truly been a tragedy if Pressly was overlooked. The Alfre Woodard nomination is a head scratcher though. As tortured and as great as her performance was, there was really nothing funny about it. If the they wanted to go that route, Marcia Cross should have gotten the nod instead, who dealt with an equally dark season, but also brought more lols. The moment where she slapped her over-mourning mother-in-law at the table gave me as big a laugh as any moment this season.

Overlooked: Judy Reyes-Scrubs, Tichina Arnold-Everybody Hates Chris, Nicolette Sheridan-Desperate Housewives, Marcia Cross-Desperate Housewives

Outstanding Drama Series
Grey's Anatomy ABC
House FOX
The Sopranos HBO
24 FOX
The West Wing NBC


Ugh. Who is still voting for The West Wing? Hell, is anyone still watching it? Hasn't the damn thing been nominated in this category every single year it's been on the air? With any luck, it won't win, thanks to the amazing seasons of Grey's Anatomy and 24. I'm very biases towards 24 since it's one of my favorite shows period, and it just had one of its best season's ever. I still have to catch up on Grey's Anatomy (haven't seen any eps since November), but I've seen enough to know that it belongs in this group. If the Academy wanted to give an episodic series the nod, that slot shoud have gone to Law & Order: SVU instead, whose value did not go unnoticed as proven by the lead acting nods for Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay.

Overlooked: Lost(!), Alias, Veronica Mars


Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series
Christopher Meloni Law & Order: Special Victims Unit NBC
Denis Leary Rescue Me FX
Peter Krause Six Feet Under HBO
Kiefer Sutherland 24 FOX
Martin Sheen The West Wing NBC

Once again, who in the hell is still watching The West Wing? It's nice to see Sutherland back in the running, but his best work was in the first and third season (when he was frickin' junkie!). As great as this season was, I'm not sure there was that much of an emotional arc to Jack's character to get Sutherland a win. The Meloni nod is a very welcome surprise, but he pretty much doesn't have a chance in hell of winning.

Overlooked: Hugh Laurie-House, William Fichtner-Invasion, Matthew Fox-Lost

Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series
Kyra Sedgwick The Closer TNT
Geena Davis Commander In Chief ABC
Mariska Hargitay Law & Order: Special Victims Unit NBC
Frances Conroy Six Feet Under HBO
Allison Janney The West Wing NBC

Just imagine how many more nominations Commander In Chief would have garnered if it had mainatained the success it had earlier in the season. I'm still undecided if that's a good thing or a bad thing since the show delved into cornpone here and there, but dammit, I just couldn't stop watching. Geena Davis was one of the main reasons why. The POTUS can be one of the most endearing roles if played right (see Josiah Bartleet, David Palmer) and Davis does a great job of making us wish she was the President in real life. Looking over the nominees, this category looks pretty weak. I think Sedgwick could probably win, and I don't even watch The Closer.

Overlooked: Jennifer Garner-Alias, Kristen Bell-Veronica Mars

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series
William Shatner Boston Legal ABC
Oliver Platt Huff Showtime
Michael Imperioli The Sopranos HBO
Gregory Itzin 24 FOX
Alan Alda The West Wing NBC

This might be the only time that I ever root for President Logan. Itzin played the most loathsome character on television and had us rooting for his downfall every episode. I also loved the subtle change from the bumbling inepititude he displayed last season to the slightly inept but still weasely scoundrel he was this past season. I didn't keep up with Boston Legal this season, but Shatner always bring the lols on that show. Everyone else seems like they belong here.

Overloooked: Terry Quinn-Lost

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series
Candice Bergen Boston Legal ABC
Sandra Oh Grey's Anatomy ABC
Chandra Wilson Grey's Anatomy ABC
Blythe Danner Huff Showtime
Jean Smart 24 FOX

Let's be honest. This race was over the moment that Jean Smart dunked her head in the water during that opening scene. Everyone else here had great seasons as well, but Smart's role as the president's wife was definitely the most talked about. Looking at this category actually makes me the most happiest.

Outstanding Writing For A Comedy Series
Arrested Development Development Arrested FOX
Entourage HBO Exodus HBO Leverage and Closest to the
Extras Kate Winslet HBO
My Name Is Earl Pilot NBC
The Office Christmas Party NBC

Who could forget "Yankee Christmas" during the Christmas party at Dunder-Miflin? One of the best episodes from a season that was filled with hilarious moments. The Earl pilot was funny and sweet, but it's little consolation for snubbing Jason Lee. "Development Arrested" was a nice way to end the series, but it felt as if it was trying to wrap things up too quickly.

Outstanding Writing For A Drama Series
Grey’s Anatomy It’s the End Of The World, As We Know It (Part 1 & 2) ABC
Grey’s Anatomy Into You Like A Train ABC
Lost The 23rd Psalm ABC
Six Feet Under Everyone’s Waiting HBO
The Sopranos Members Only HBO

"It's The End Of The World..." is that Super Bowl episode that everyone was talking about, right? Gotta see check that one out. "Into You Like A Train" was pretty intense and heartbreaking. Hope they don't cancel each other out.

Outstanding Animated Program (for Programming Less Than One Hour)
Camp Lazlo Hello Dolly / Over Cooked Beans Cartoon Network
Family Guy PTV FOX
Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends Go Goo Go Cartoon Network
The Simpsons The Seemingly Neverending Story FOX
South Park Trapped in the Closet Comedy Central

"PTV" was probably one of the most consistent episodes of Family Guy I've seen. I don't even remember what Simpsons episode was about. And obviously that South Park ep is the class of the bunch.

Overlooked: The Venture Bros., King Of The Hill

Outstanding Reality-Competition Program
The Amazing Race CBS
American Idol FOX
Dancing With The Stars ABC
Project Runway Bravo
Survivor CBS

The nominations here are pretty predictable. Hopefully that family edition won't tarnish the Amazing Race's chances.