You’ll notice that this list is weighted heavily toward the end of the decade rather than the early part and that’s all because I didn’t watch much tv in high school (2000-2004). The list is also pretty small because I didn’t have access to most tv shows during my years at the university unless I went and bought box sets (2004-2008).

Firefly

It may have come out early in the decade, but I was way late to the party, since I first started watching Firefly during the summer of 2008. I’m not what you’d call a Whedonite. To this day I’ve never seen an episode of Buffy or Angel, but, between Firefly (and Serenity) and Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, I’ve come to see that he’s a damn good writer capable of creating interesting worlds filled with great characters. Firefly is definitely not the first space opera to hit the airwaves, but it’s definitely one of the few I’ve ever seen to focus on fringe members of society like Captain Reynolds instead of prestigious members of an organized army. The world of Firefly is not that different from ours, save for space, and it feels like an accurate representation of what space would be like in its exploratory infancy. If the wild west was possible on Earth, it seems more than likely that the space frontier would develop similarly. Firefly makes me happy because the crew is amazing. Each character (…minus Simon) is interesting, well acted, and hilarious at any given time. FOX did the world wrong by canceling this show and bringing back Family Guy

Arrested Development

Once in a while a great show comes along that revolutionizes the way you experience television for the rest of your life. Arrested Development is that show for me. I didn’t start watching until the third season (final) was set to start, but I fell in love with the show from the first zany episode. One of the leaders in the recent American movement to serialized television, Arrested Development is probably the first serialized comedy I’ve ever seen and that may have been its downfall. Rather than go with the typical American sitcom style of status quo ante episodes and unrelated plots, Arrested Development episodes depended and borrowed heavily from every episode that preceded it, a trait that blocked out potential future viewers who felt like they were continuously out of the loop with the jokes. Those of us who were in on the joke loved experiencing every minute of the Bluth Family’s fall from grace in this show that proves that smart comedy can be hilarious. Unfortunately, it also proved that smart comedy doesn’t sell. FOX canceled it during its third season, tragically ending the best show I’ve ever seen in my adult life.

Lost

4, 8, 15, 16, 23, and 42. Oceanic Flight 815. The DHARMA Initiative. The Others. Jacob. The Smoke Monster. If you know what any of these things are, you know something about the best drama of the decade. I initially avoided Lost because of all the hype. If that seems petty and stupid, that’s because it is. People hear a lot about the show and how it never seems to answer questions or come to any satisfying conclusion, but I think that’s the talk of people unused to these long, serial dramas and the pace at which they move. Of course, ABC wasn’t helping any with the pacing when they were refusing to give the creators a firm end date. Lucky for us, the staff held their ground and told ABC they wouldn’t continue the show without a firm end date. Since then, things have moved along briskly (if confusingly) as the cast tumbles toward the dramatic conclusion of the most puzzling show of the decade. Will we all be satisfied by the ending when it airs in 2010? Expectations are running high, but I’m trying to keep mine neutral to low so that I’m able to enjoy the ending they’ve got planned for us. So long as it doesn’t go out like The Sopranos, I’m game.

The Office (US)

Bringing hit shows to America from across the pond doesn’t guarantee success. The television environment in the UK is just too different for that. Many of the best shows are extremely limited in scope and know when they’ve run their course. The original run of The Office in England comprised 12 episodes over two seasons and one two-part Christmas special. Within two seasons The Office (US) surpassed the episode count of its parent and finally managed to come into its own identity. No longer borrowing from its roots, The Office has stumbled here or there and struggled with the Homer Simpson effect (as I like to call it), but overall blossomed into a fine show all its own with a much happier outlook that reflects American tastes more than anything. Beyond that, Steve Carell has emerged as one of the premier comedy actors in the business thanks to his ability to express very human pathos into his comedic roles. While I personally think that NBC shouldn’t push the show beyond next season, it’s certainly been a funny ride so far.

Extras

While we’re already talking about shows written/created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, we may as well progress to the fantastic look at the life of a television/movie extra as told by Ricky Gervais. It’s unclear to me how much of the story is auto-biographical, but one can’t help but get a peek into the difficulties that Gervais must have faced trying to earn notoriety and bring The Office to television while also getting a glimpse into how different The Office could have been if Gervais and Merchant didn’t keep their standards up while chasing fame. Spoiler alert, but the first season deals with Gervais’ character, Andy Millman, and his struggle to both sell his idea for a show (a blue-collar workplace comedy with an obnoxious boss (ring any bells?)) and gain notoriety. Each episode features a cameo by a known (usually) British star in film or television as an exaggerated version of themselves and Andy eventually gains enough attention from the BBC to produce his show. Unfortunately, they turn it into a laugh track, lowest common denominator comedy to attract the highest audience possible and Andy continues to compromise his vision just to hold onto the scraps of fame that he has gained. It’s a sad story with a slightly uplifting ending that’s absolutely worth watching for no reason other than to see Orlando Bloom act like a self-centered jerk who hates Jonny Depp.

Weeds

This show has really gone and changed from year to year. What started as a satire on suburban misery has really ballooned into a far-reaching comedy tackling some seriously complex issues (maternity, masculinity vs. feminism, maturity, rape, murder, addiction, etc.) without ever getting too dark for too long. Just watching the opening shows how much the show has changed, since “Little Boxes” hasn’t played past season 3 when they, spoiler alert, burned down everything you knew and moved on. While some of the stereotyping jokes have gotten a little old (WE GET IT, SANJAY IS GAY! HAHAHA….MOVE ON), the show does still seem relevant and interesting in its fifth season and the most intriguing developments seem to come where you least expect it: from Nancy’s kids. Let’s hope that the show continues strong into 2010 with some fresh, interesting plotlines as Nancy delves deeper and deeper into a world she used to only scratch the surface of. It’d be nice to see Conrad again too…Extra bonus reason to watch: Mary-Louise Parker is seriously hot for an older lady.

30 Rock

I almost missed the boat on 30 Rock. iTunes gave me one free episode (the one where Jack things Liz is a lesbian) and I thought “Good, but not great” and didn’t watch through the rest of the first season. The critical buzz brought me back for season two and I fell in love with the show. Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin are comedic powerhouses in this, the second best comedy of the ’00s. In fact, 30 Rock and this most recent presidential election have both proved that Tina Fey was probably the only funny thing about SNL when she was still head writer while Mean Girls proved that she’s just plain good at writing. 30 Rock is brilliant in its subversive, but fair humor and takes the best parts of Tina Fey’s improv heritage and applies them to a sitcom that will have you guffawing every episode unless you lack a soul. It’s a must watch.

Dexter

I love shows that take place in Miami. More than that, I love shows that are unique in premise. Cop shows are a dime a dozen. Shows where the main character is the real villain are harder to come by. If you’ve been living under a rock, you don’t know that Dexter is about a cop who is also a serial killer. It’s not a unique plot in movies/literature/comic books, but it’s one of the few times I’ve seen it on tv and I love it. Dexter Morgan is a sociopath struggling with living with the urges that drive him to kill and staying out of the electric chair. The first season was based heavily on the book Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay, but subsequent seasons have had more creative freedom to mold Dexter beyond Lindsay’s strict characterization. I’m a little behind on seasons 3 and the current season, but I feel like the character is maturing rather nicely, if not a little unrealistically (he seems to exhibit more feeling than a sociopath should, but I’m no expert) and the show usually brings me back for more each season.

Pushing Daisies

Bryan Fuller had a great premise on his hands. Ned, the piemaker, could touch dead things back to life, but the renewed life had two rules: If he touched them a second time, they were dead forever and if he let them live longer than a minute, another life would be taken in its place. Abandoned by his father and harboring a power he does not really appreciate, Ned grows up to be a rather distant man who doesn’t let anyone get too close to him. He also teams up with a private detective, Emerson Cod, to solve murders once Emerson spots him using his powers. The status quo he develops (baking pies using rotten fruit that he brings back to life and solving murders for the reward money) comes crashing down when he revives a childhood sweetheart that was his one true love. While the show is often too sweet for its own good, the development of its themes of affection and intimacy (without touching, of course) are both interesting and well done. The storylines were clever and the show was funny, but it was ultimately too expensive to produce for the limited ratings it received and the show died before giving the viewers true resolution with all of its dangling plot threads. Worth watching because it is the most unique show of the decade.

Honorable Mention: Battlestar Galactica

There was so much promise here. The first two seasons of BSG were the best sci-fi I’d seen on television. How can you screw up the paranoia of the Cylon threat and the powerful storylines about a race driven to the brink of extinction? I’ll tell you how: haphazard decisions and haughty religious overtones. The Final Five were not decided upon when the show began. As I heard it, they shoehorned cylon origins onto characters who they never intended to make cylons and the see-sawing quality of the final episodes make that very apparent. When you combine that with one of the stupidest finales in the history of television (let’s just say it goes something like “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”) you’ve gone and ruined what could have been the most significant show in recent science fiction history.

EDIT:

How did I forget The Wire?

The best police serial I have EVER seen. It deconstructs everything you know about television cop dramas by showing you both sides of the fence and the reality that good almost never triumphs over evil. David Simon must have really been affected by his days in Baltimore, because this love letter to the city tells the truth, giant warts and all, about how drugs have destroyed Baltimore and how the police are rendered powerless by bureaucracy to do much of anything about it. The show is a bit of a downer, but the acting is superb and the plotlines (save for one that I really hated in Season 5), will keep you interested through the five seasons. This show is a must watch.

SPOILERS!

Wow, what a crazy season it’s been! The finale went and blew away everything we’d all been expecting. Who could have guessed that the final episode would be Jacob-centric? What the heck happened? Where is this going next year?

It’s the home stretch for Lost. Sixteen episodes left and you can bet that Abrams, Cuse, and Lindelof know that there’s no more space for filler. It’s balls-to-the-wall time.

I have to admit that I didn’t guess that Locke was the body in the crate, but I knew it was someone. What I did know was that Locke was somehow being manipulated by Jacob’s nemesis (hereafter known as Esau, cause, why not?) because, as a bunch of characters have stated, dead is dead, even though it really isn’t. What does it mean that Ben killed Jacob? What will happen to the island now?

I’m 99% sure that the bomb Juliet managed to detonate at the Swan will not eradicate the future. That would invalidate the recent murder of Jacob and I don’t think the show wants that to happen so soon. I predict that the bomb and the electromagnetic energy will combine in some way to just send them somewhere else in time. I don’t think that the Lost folk would want to sacrifice Juliet, Miles, Hurley, Jack, Kate, Sawyer, and Jin to this, although they might :sob: keep Juliet dead.

No, I don’t think they will erase the five seasons before it and start anew, although that would be pretty ballsy, wouldn’t it? For the show to just throw away everything that’s already happened, start from status quo ante collisio (fragor is supposedly Latin for crash, but it’s also Latin for crack, so it could be just the sound…I’ll use the Latin word for collision instead) and go from there in what is turning out to be the epic struggle between Jacob and Esau.

Just when you think you’ve got it figured out, they elevate things higher. You go from it being about Widmore and Ben to this new conflict.

Things we learned:

- Jacob interacted with most of the main characters
- He did not interact with anyone currently dead on the island, Juliet, Rose, Bernard, Lapidus, Miles, or Ben, that we know of
- He physically touched each one of them in some way at pivotal moments in their lives
- He was unable to be killed directly by Esau
- Esau is able to assume forms. We can probably assume that he was the Alex who commanded Ben and that he might be the smoke monster, another creature known to assume forms (Christian, a spider, the horse, Locke, Walt, Mr. Eko’s brother Yemi)
- Richard Alpert probably came to the island on the Black Rock
- Someone hijacked Jacob’s cabin. Since it’s not Jacob and since Christian has appeared in there, it’s probably Esau
- I think Ilana is another ageless one like Richard. Either that or she knows about Richard from Jacob. Since they’re both servants of Jacob, I’m going to assume the former.

Things We Still Don’t Know:

- Why does the statue foot only have four toes?
- Why the ancient Egyptian motif?
- Where the heck is Claire?
- What happened to the people in 1977? Quick aside: it’s pretty clear that Jack did what he was supposed to do and as Miles said in causing the incident. The fact that Dr. Chang got his hand impaled supports this, since it probably wouldn’t have happened that way without Jack and the gang showing up and shooting the place up. The environmental dangers on the island probably stem from fallout of some type. This is probably why babies die on the island too.
- What is Jacob?
- How is Richard Alpert kept alive?
- Will dead Jacob mean aging Alpert?

That’s all I can think of right now. Too bad we have to wait for January to see the next one.

SPOILERS! You have been warned…

This week we got a bit of explanation as to how Jin got to be driving a van around the island in the 70s. It seems that the Losties who were left behind after Locke left ended up, after a few flashes, on the island during the reign of the DHARMA initiative. They quickly gained the trust of the initiative by solving a problem that the Others started, but they were ostensibly getting the blame for. After that event, they integrated into island society, mostly into security just so that they can comb the island looking for the O6 and Locke.

Now for my major gripe about the episode: Sawyer and Juliet?! NOOOOO! Oh well, I guess they just want to create as much tension as possible when Kate and Jack return, creating a love square, of sorts. It really is too bad that they did this to LOST. I enjoyed Sawyer and Juliet’s playful snarky relationship more. In a way, it makes a lot more sense, I suppose, since the show always really wanted to put Kate with Jack. We’ll see where this plot point ends up in…TWO WEEKS! Why the gap? New timeslot coming up too, apparently: Lost at 2000…strange

If it’s Thursday, it means one thing for me nowadays: I’ve just watched the latest episode of LOST!

WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW!

Unfortunately, in a season featuring episodes jam-packed with action or intrigue, I think that “The Life and Death of Jeremy Bentham” falls kind of flat. On one hand I kind of understand swapping the order of this episode and the previous one (“316″), but on the other hand, all they’ve gone and done is interrupt the action and events that were set in motion last episode. As of last episode we saw that Kate, Jack, Hurley, and Jin were alive and well on the island, but then we had to flashback and watch Locke’s death again. I think it would have been cool to see that there were these other survivors on the island, including Cesar and the new Marshall, before they were introduced in “316.” In any case, it will be interesting to see where these characters go, especially Locke now that he’s got Ben hurt and under his control. Also interesting was how Locke kept asking for a passenger manifest. Clearly he is looking to start his work as an Other on the right foot so that he can start capturing the “chosen” ones to take to the camp.

This episode also featured an interesting encounter with Charles Widmore. Is he a good guy? I doubt it. All I know is that Ben is a liar and a bastard. It brings me some degree of joy to see him always portrayed as beat up in this show, be it S2, the end of S3, start of S4, or now. I only hope that he didn’t hurt anyone in the Desmond Hume household. It looks like we’ll be with Sawyer, Juliet, Daniel, and Miles next episode, but when they are is in question. Will this just be an episode to set up their involvement in DHARMA, because I really don’t want to see one of those unless it’s jam-packed with answers. Overall, just a mediocre episode, but at least it’s the first of the year so far.

PA

I think it’s worth mentioning that the guys at Penny Arcade are universally hilarious. I was tooling around their site today and I found a couple of oldies, but goodies that I thought I would share:

There’s one about Pokémon that shows Gabe at his training worst. If nothing it’s a hilarious take on the oftentimes frantic and crazy love of the game that you usually witness in small children.

Then there’s the running gag that Gabe loves Patrick Swayze and Dirty Dancing. I’ve seen the ending to that movie. I think this does accurately represent it.

There’s also Gabe dominating children’s games and deciding that he needs a new group of friends.

And, finally, we have Doritos. I think the less said about that the better. Let the professionals do the talking.

The Guild

I’ve never seen The Guild, but I love Felicia Day and the premise of a WoW guild who decides to meet in real life just sounds like too much of a delicious premise for me to pass up. I’ll probably start watching today, but if any of my readers has seen it and knows if it’s good or not, let me know. Season 2 is debuting every Tuesday on XBL.

LOST!

It’s been about half a year since we saw just what happened to the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815 and I’ve gotta say I’m itching to get back into the swing of things. I got my hands on Season 4 on Blu-Ray and I’ve been working my way through the disappointingly short bank of episodes to fully recap all the plot points I’ll be expected to have at my fingertips on 21 January.

Supposedly the new season will feature less flashbacks and flash forwards, but I’ve gotta say that I don’t really mind those. I’m just insanely curious about how the (SPOILER ALERT!) Oceanic Six are going to find their way back on the island. How is Jack going to convince Kate to get back on a plane? What happened to Locke and the rest of the folks still out there? T-36 days until I can finally find out at least one or two answers…

Heroes

Despite a lukewarm season so far, Heroes managed to put together a rock-solid mid-season finale ending to Volume 3: Villains.

Contrary to what most people have been saying about the show, I think this season has been as strong as S1 in a lot of places and certainly way stronger than S2. Still, they could use some refocusing and I hope that they learn from the finale (which was amazing because of Sylar) about how to effectively tell these human stories in the future.

Just remember guys, Hiro is not a moron, so stop making him act like one!

Two days ago I found myself at the Smithsonian museum checking out the NEW exhibit they created dedicated to Jim Henson. With exhibits showcasing every aspect of his work, from his early commercials to his work on Sam & Friends, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and Sesame Street, it was actually a really neat showcase of the professional life of a very gifted entertainer.

The Smithsonian did have a Henson exhibit before, but it was just a corner in the American History museum and not wholly impressive. This new showcase is in another gallery (the American History museum is being renovated) and it spans about three rooms complete with drawings, projection screens showing Henson’s work, and display cases filled with felt muppets.

It’s definitely a cool piece that they have and, if I’m not mistaken, it is a limited engagement that will be ending next month. Go and check it out if you get a chance.

I leave you with Muppet Media:

These puppets are in the museum:

Bork bork bork…

After three and a half years of refusing to succumb to the pressure, I finally caved and started watching Lost last month thanks to my Blockbuster.com membership. I’ve burned through the first two seasons and 1/4 of the third season. Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, Lost is about a group of castaways who crash landed on a tropical island in the Pacific. Anyway, it’s Sunday and I’m feeling pretty lazy, so just know that Lost is worth a watch if you don’t mind a mystery that won’t be solved until 2010, I think I last heard. Also, if you’ve got a blu-ray player and a TV that can display in HD, you MUST get Lost Season 3 on blu-ray, there’s no other way to watch it.

This Thursday marks the return of all four of NBC’s sitcoms to the Thursday night lineup (My Name is Earl, 30 Rock, The Office, and Scrubs), with all but Scrubs showing a new episode.

I’m most excited for the return of The Office, one of the earliest victims of the Writer’s Strike. They started off Season 4 with an experiment, of sorts, with three or four (I can’t remember the exact number and I can’t be bothered to, so bugger off) hour-long (read: 45 minutes) episodes that only served to highlight the fact that The Office belongs in the half-hour (read: 21 minutes) range for it to be effectively funny. The more zany Michael Scott/Dwight Shrute behaviors and situations have been compared to the ridiculous Homer Simpson-centered years of The Simpsons, which actually does have me concerned. My least favorite laugh is when they actually had Michael Scott drive his car into a lake because of GPS. It takes a lot for a sitcom to throw me out of the moment, but this really took me out of suspension of disbelief mode and into “What is this show becoming?” mode. Honestly, I worry that they’re dumbing down or awkward-ing down The Office to satisfy the more conventional sitcom fan. we’ll see how or if this changes tonight and maybe we’ll see a shift back toward the stellar second season.

The first few episodes of 30 Rock’s freshman season failed to impress me. Lured back in by claims of brilliance, I’m now a regular 30 Rock viewer despite its marginally above average quality, IMHO. This isn’t to say the show isn’t funny, it’s hilarious. It’s just that the situations are boring and predictable. Tina Fey’s dialogue is where the quality shines through. The great lines will have you clutching your sides and Alec Baldwin is, without a doubt, one of the best comedic actors on air.

I’ll admit straight up that I’m not totally up to date on news about Scrubs, but last I heard they will be forced to finish off the show on ABC next season as rising costs and falling ratings and viewers are combining to force it off of NBC. I’m pretty sure it will be coming back at some point this season to finish off half of its final season, but this is also a show whose antics are beginning to wear thin. I just want them to be able to finish off the story and put what’s been a great series to rest. The show isn’t dead by any means, it’s just not eliciting the same laughs out of me that it used to. We’ll see what the return and rest of the season have in store for me.