2011 in Review: Television

It’s funny for me to think back 6 years ago to when I didn’t think TV was a worthwhile place to get entertainment, save catching movies on TBS or something.

Sure there were a few shows I watched and really enjoyed (LOST, 24, and Arrested Development), but those were, in my mind, the exception that proved the rule: the movie theater was a significantly better place for me to turn for my entertainment.

This year, however, has proven quite the contrary to this mindset. Movies were a big letdown, while TV has taken me on a journey that has brought a smile to my face, tears to my eyes, fingernail imprints to the palms of my hands (or a part of the chairs I sat in), and such great joy that I had no idea just what to do with myself.

This year, television has filled a void I never really knew I had.

So, for my rundown of my favorite television shows this year, here’s how it’s going to work: I’ll list off some special mentions first off, then award my first “Better Late Than Never Award”, and then my 10 favorite shows of the year.

Sound good?

Well, let’s get into it!

Special Mention

Beavis and Butt-head

Confession: I never watched Beavis and Butt-head as a child. My parents wouldn’t allow me to watch MTV. However, since the show has come back I’ve tuned in every week, and what a delight it has been. Whether it is the plot centric (I’m using this term very loosely) parts of the episode, or the interstitial segments where Beavis and Butt-head make fun of MTV shows (Jersey Shore, 16 and Pregnant, True Life, etc.), music videos, or a new segment where they discuss “movie classics” (Their first classic? Human Centipede, of course) the show brings the laughs.

Childrens Hospital/NTSF:SD:SUV::

Adult Swim has been adding live action shows to it’s lineup over the last several years, and it is better for it, despite belonging to a network called Cartoon Network. Started as a web series lampooning Grey’s Anatomy during the writer’s strike in 2007-2008 writer’s strike, Cartoon Network picked up the the series in 2010, and doubled the episode run time to 11 minutes. This is the kind of show where you never know what you’re going to get week after week, but it is always outrageous. And the best part of this show, and sister show NTSF:SD:SUV:: (which originated as a fake commercial during the season 2 premiere of Childrens) is that the stories are played completely straight. The jokes pile on one after another (somehow at a quicker rate than 30 Rock or Community), so if one doesn’t land for you, well, there’s another 20 coming up right behind it.

Fringe

There was a point near the end of season 3 of Fringe where I was excited to see where the show was going because it was building to what looked like an apocalyptic scenario. And while I wasn’t exactly disappointed with where it has gone in the wake of that, the show just hasn’t been thrilling me quite so much as it did going out of season 2 and into season 3. I still love watching this one week after week, whether it is for the mythology building stories or case-of-the-week fare, I still love spending time with these characters (alternate reality versions and all).

The Heart, She Holler

The weirdest show I’ve seen all year. From the creators of MTV’s Wonder Showzen, this series is about a small southern town whose patriarch died from working too exhaustively on his extensive video will (a brilliant running joke through the series where, through the video will, he interacts with the still living, perfectly predicting exactly what their reactions will be, with no regard to how much he interacted with them while alive) he leaves the leadership of the town to his long hidden away son. This decision doesn’t sit too well with his daughters, who begin planning to take the position away from him. After the first couple of episodes, the series ramps the insanity up to 11, and never lets off. The biggest disappointment is that it was only 6 episodes long.

How I Met Your Mother

I still love this show, even if it isn’t quite at the highs of season 2 and 3. This year saw some great acting work by Jason Segel and Neil Patrick Harris dealing with different kinds of daddy issues. I don’t really care that we haven’t met the mother yet, and some story lines seem to be around just to take focus away from what Ted isn’t doing (meeting the mother), but as long as they stay as entertaining as they have been, I won’t really mind. These are people I enjoy spending time with week after week.

Sons of Anarchy

Overall I enjoyed season 4 of this series more than season 3, with my feelings on their respective finales somewhat flipped. I can understand the decisions made regarding the fizzling out of fires that had been building all season, but it is still somewhat disappointing the way things worked out. Kurt Sutter has said he has a 7 year plan for the series, so I’ll wait to pass judgment. The biggest accomplishment of the season was the turning of Clay Morrow from kind-of bad guy to a full-on-bastard-of-a-human-being. I am excited to see where they take things next year, even if there were some clunks along the way of setting it up, I remain optimistic. I like to think shows can learn from their mistakes.

Better Late Than Never Award: Terriers

Here’s the deal with my “Better Late Than Never” Award. I’ll give it out to a series that didn’t air in the current year, and is easily accessible (most likely on Netflix), and is completely worth your time to check out.

Terriers was a show where I watched the first couple of episodes when they aired, and then because of my DVR deleting episodes to make space for other shows, I wasn’t able to continue at the time. But nearly a year later, I was finally able to watch through its solitary first season, and boy was I glad I did. This show mixed humor and drama in ways I’ve never seen on television. The characters were perfectly crafted from the get go (or at least they sure seemed that way). The show centers on two unlicensed private eyes in California who have a tendency to get in over their heads, yet somehow find a way out of it. Hank is an ex-cop who talks his way in to and out of many a situation, and lost his job and wife to drinking, and his sobriety is a constant struggle as the series progresses. Britt is a soft spoken former crook who you just can’t help but love.

The show deftly moves from case-of-the-week to master plot stories, finding time to really develop the characters out and make their relationships evolve in really natural ways. There was only one eye-rolling indiscretion later in the season, but with the great character moments it led to, it was well worth it. And, though it wasn’t planned as a series finale, the last episode of the season works unexpectedly well (similar to the season 3 finale of Deadwood). And did I mention the theme song? It is easily in my top 3 TV themes ever, and somehow has found a way to blend the light hearted nature of the show with the darkness that is constantly brewing beneath the surface.

The Top 10 (Alphabetically)

Archer

Terms of Enrampagement

Season 2 of Archer effortlessly built on everything that worked in season 1, and brought one of the funniest seasons of television this year. Plus, we got a mini-season (see TV movie spread out over 3 weeks). My favorite part of the show this past year was it’s tendency to introduce story developments that could completely rewrite the DNA of the show, and then completely throw them out the window an episode or 2 later. On any other show this could be maddening, yet here, it is done with such style, and hilarity that it can be completely forgiven.

A particular highlight of the season was Archer getting breast cancer and then finding out that his meds were switched with Zima and candy and going on a rampage to find the person responsible for making the switch. This leads to a hilarious Family Feud inspired interrogation scene where a sick Archer grills Irish mobsters for information. His cancer is completely gone after 2 episodes, but the story of getting there was just so hilarious I can deal with it. If they can continue writing themselves into a corner and working their way out of it in such a hilarious fashion, I can’t wait to see what sitcom game changers they throw at us next.

Highlight episodes: “Pipeline Fever”, “Stage Two”, “The Placebo Effect”, “El Secuestro”, and “White Knights”.

Breaking Bad

I think something funny happened?

I think we might be living in the end times. Seriously. The last 3 episodes of Breaking Bad‘s fourth season could easily be seen as the second coming. That’s how good it was. My jaw was pretty much stuck to the floor for 3 straight weeks, while my heart raced, and my brain tried to figure out what was going to happen next.

The season started off with a box cutter and ended…unexpectedly. It took its time getting from point A to point B. Hell, it took time figuring out exactly where point B was. But the show was seriously firing on all cylinders this year. This season found Walter White in an elaborate chess game with local kingpin Gus Fring, who incidentally was holding his own against both Walt (not the biggest threat, honestly) and the Mexican Cartel. The supporting cast was out in full force this year (except for Walter, Jr.) and characters who have been short shifted in the past (Marie coping with Hank’s recouperation) were given time to shine. Season 3 MVPs Skylar and Hank were given plenty to do as well. Skyler was brought more into the fold of Walt’s business by stepping up to handle the money laundering side of things, and Hank spent some time wallowing around in self pity, but a special delivery from a former colleague and a poorly thought out, drunken rant from Walt at a dinner party, kicks his ass into gear. Jesse became more of a badass even, after getting a special job that boosted his opinion of himself (though it certainly took a few episodes of his own wallowing to get there).

I will admit I was somewhat worried in the beginning that this season wouldn’t measure up to season 3, and that somehow the creative staff behind the show would fumble.

I was an idiot.

Highlight episodes: “Box Cutter”, “Problem Dog”, “Crawl Space”, “End Times”, and “Face Off”.

Community

Troy freaks out over the arguing

Indefinite hiatus and canceled are 2 different things.

That’s what i keep telling myself, and anyone who says this show is canceled.

Mainly because I can’t imagine not having this excellent show around anymore.

In 2011, we got Dungeons and Dragons, a fake clip show, an hour long paintball sequel, parallel universes, a Glee parody, and much more. The silliness certainly ramped up, but at the same time, the characters went through many struggles, mainly with each other, but have grown as a result of it. The creative minds behind this show are not afraid to take risks, and truth be told, they don’t always land exactly for me, but I completely respect the effort.

I’m sure that sounds like a negative criticism, but it really isn’t. I still enjoy the hell out of this show, even on weaker episodes.

Plus the current season brought such faculty members as John Goodman, Martin Starr, and Michael Kenneth Williams, all of whom I love, and hope they get to use more when the show comes back from hiatus to fulfill its destiny of having #sixseasonsandamovie.

Highlight episodes: “Advanced Dungeons and Dragons”, “Critical Film Studies”, “Paradigms of Human Memory”, “Remedial Chaos Theory”, and “Documentary Filmmaking: Redux”.

Doctor Who

Who is River Song?

Since her introduction in series 4′s “Silence in the Library”, fans of Doctor Who have wondered just who River Song was. This year, we got our answer.

I won’t tell you who she is (“Spoilers.”) because this show is absolutely worth watching and finding out for yourself, but the payoff is completely worth it.

But let’s get into what I can talk about without fear of ruining anything for you. Such a trip to 1960′s America involving the moon landing and a new monster that puts the Weeping Angels to shame. They’re called the Silence and they have this crazy ability to distort your memory so that as soon as you look away from them you forget you ever saw them to begin with. Plus they can psychically influence you to do whatever they say.

Plus we got an episode written by sci-fi/fantasy mastermind Neil Gaiman that took a look at a special companion of The Doctor that is rarely thought of in the way he presents her. The episode was a perfect example of all the things this show can do, and just why I love watching it.

As the season begins, The Doctor tells his friends “I’ve been running, faster than I’ve ever run, and it’s time for me to stop.” This season tells the story of why he is running, and where he is running to, exactly. And it is such an incredible ride.

Highlight episodes: “The Impossible Astronaut”, “Day of the Moon”, “The Doctor’s Wife”, “A Good Man Goes to War”, and “The Wedding of River Song”.

Friday Night Lights

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

I watched nearly this entire series this year. There were only a handful of episodes that aired in 2011, and those episodes are good enough to make this list.

Here’s the thing: I don’t like football. I don’t like high school shows. People from Texas tend to be annoying. But, somehow, despite being about all 3 of these things, I love this show. I have no problem admitting that. I also have no problem admitting that it frequently brought me to tears, especially in it’s final season.

After season 4 saw Eric Taylor sent to a new school (that was brought out of nowhere?) and coach a team of inner city kids who never had the benefit of a privileged upbringing, season 5 was about giving those kids a reason to believe in themselves. Coming off of a season with a single win, the East Dillon Lions had the cards stacked against them from the get go. But everything turned around at the end of the second episode when Coach Taylor wrote a single word on their dry erase board: State. and the goal was set.

The final 6 episodes of this season, and series, aired in 2011, and the finale was one of the most satisfying ends to a series I have ever seen.  This was not a show bogged down by mythology or pessimism. It was an optimistic little show, that got lucky to last more than 2 seasons, and left a lasting impression.

Highlight episodes: “Fracture”, “Don’t Go”, “The March”, “Texas Whatever”, and “Always”.

Game of Thrones

Winter is coming

Okay, between horse decapitations and horse-heart-eatings, this show can be kind of cruel to horses. But it’s okay because they aren’t real.

Somehow the people behind this TV series were able to take the dense first novel in George RR Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, and turn it into a not only manageable TV series, but one of the best things I’ve watched this year.

Granted, the first few episodes have so many characters to introduce and plotlines to put in motion, it can be a little bit disorienting. There are certainly touchstone characters who feel familiar in some way, so we gravitate to them. For instance Sean Bean plays Eddard Stark, a lord of the northern part of Westeros, who you may recognize from Lord of the Rings as well as other things, so he is easy to see as the protagonist, even though he has an overbearingly pessimistic view of the world (as would most people who life in a place where winter lasts years). And Peter Dinklage is better than you could believe as Tyrion Lanister, a man who was given the short end of the stick in life and has in turn used what gifts he has in abundance to make up for his lack of stature. Or Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, a beautiful girl sold into marriage so that her brother can reclaim the throne in Westeros after their family was usurped from power and exiled.

And that’s only 3 characters. The cast is as sprawling as The Wire‘s was, and the story is more about political machinations than fantasy tropes, but it sucks you in and leaves you wanting for more by the time it is over.

Seriously, I watched the first season in a day.

Highlight episodes: “Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things”, “The Wolf and the Lion”, “You Win or You Die”, “Baelor”, and “Fire and Blood”.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

The gang gets wasted before their high school reunion

I feel like I’m one of the few people who have still absolutely loved this show for the past several seasons. Sure they haven’t recaptured the genius of season 2 and 3 (this seems to be a trend for me with comedy shows…), but seasons 4, 5, and 6 have all been consistently funny to me. They have had their highs and lows, sure, but I’m somewhat disappointed when I hear people maligning the inconsistency of the show recently.

I have been happy to see that many seem back on board with this season. Once again, not quite as strong as the glory days where we met the Men (of the Green, Day, and Night varieties), but hilarity ensued. We have the confirmation that Dennis is a full-on sexual predator who is in to some really weird shit, though it was never exactly stated outright until the very end of the season. We saw Charlie have the night of his dreams with the Waitress in the Jersey shore of all places, as well as seeing him vomit fake blood over some poor, poor woman. Frank continued to degenerate, and was helpful for us in learning the rules of Chardee MacDennis: The Game of Games. Plus, he got an episode centered around him, which, while not quite as funny an episode as this show can do, was still entertaining enough, and I respect the hell out of the writers for trying something new. Dee bounced back from her pregnancy and was as awful and pathetic as we’ve ever seen her (remember how she sent hair to some stranger on the Internet? So sad).

And of course, we had Mac, who became the gift that kept on giving in the form of Fat Mac. Even knowing of this development before the season began, it didn’t stop this idea from being hilarious. Rob McElheney had the thought that on every TV show around, as the series goes, characters get better looking because the actors get more well off. But he had the idea, why not gain 50 pounds, and work it into his character’s story for the season? And he did, and it was hysterical. Early on, it was hard to see more than an excuse for him to just eat as much as he wanted on camera, but as the season went, his continued insistence that he was just packing on mass to turn into muscle only got funnier and funnier as it became more and more apparent that he was just to lazy to turn the “mass” into muscle. Oh, and we learned just what his real name is, but I’ll leave that for you to find out on your own.

Plus, we got to see just how pathetic the gang’s glory days actually were at their high school reunion, and their delusion only makes it funnier (I’m looking at you Plan B).

Highlight episodes: “The Storm of the Century”, “Chardee MacDennis: The Game of Games”, “The Anti-Social Network”, “The Gang Gets Trapped”, and “High School Reunion Part 2: The Gang’s Revenge”.

Justified

Raylan Givens has a, ehem, friendly chat with Mags Bennet

While the first season of this fantastic, modern western ended with a hail of gunfire (exactly where the second season began), season 2 ended somewhat more quietly, though don’t you dare say it was with a whimper.

Season 2 expanded the world of Harlan County where US Marshall Raylan Givens was forced to return at the start of the series. Raylan calmed down, and showed his human side as he started seeing his ex-wife Winona again. He was trying to turn over a new leaf, and give his superiors reason to keep him around because he had something to stay for (even if that something could have nearly landed him in prison because of a stupid, poorly timed decision).

But that isn’t to say Raylan wouldn’t have had reason to pull out his gun and unload it into one of several people. His father was still running around trying to be some sort of elderly outlaw. Boyd Crowder was having a crisis of conscience, and resisting the urge to turn back to a life of crime (which justified keeping Walton Goggins around longer than originally planned in season 1), but some of his idiot white supremacist friends were still running around picking up jobs bringing prescription drugs into Harlan. And that’s not to mention the Bennets.

Oh the Bennets. There were brothers Coover and Dickie, who were trying to set out to expand their drug selling beyond the family’s crop of marijuana into prescription drugs. Dickie especially had a need to put a hurtin on Raylan for giving him a bum leg at a baseball game years before. Coover, on the other hand, was the muscle, and though he was a bit slow, he had a lot of fight in him. Then there was Doyle, the cop, who was good at staying one step ahead of the law to keep his family out of trouble when Raylan came looking. And then there was Mags, the matriarch, who makes a mean apple pie. Just make sure to pick out your own jar! She was sweet, and really had her family’s best interests at heart. But when the time came, the claws came out, and she could put a man in the ground if need be.

Highlight episodes: “For Blood or Money”, “Cottonmouth”, “Brother’s Keeper”, “Reckoning”, and “Bloody Harlan”.

Louie

Louie takes a duckling sightseeing on a USO tour of Afghanistan

Recently I was thinking about Louis CK’s unprecedented level of creative control in his brilliant FX series Louie. The network basically gives him a shoestring budget, and he gets to do whatever he wants, as long as it clears standards and practices, really. He doesn’t have to adhere to a specific genre or type of show, as most shows do. He gets to make whatever short films he wants to make, and is clearly having a great time doing this. He writes, directs, edits, contributes on making the music for, and stars in the series.

Honestly, the only person I can think of who has had this much control over telling the stories he wants to is George Lucas. But while Lucas has a seemingly unlimited budget and an army of sycophants surrounding him, Louis CK comes off as an incredibly grounded guy who wants to tell little stories with humor thrown in for relief, and doesn’t really care much about making toys of himself and the people who inhabit the universe of his show.

Instead he wants to tell stories about a less successful, road comic friend who stops by to say his goodbyes before going to kill himself and refuses to be talked out of it. Instead he wants to tell stories about taking his kids to see his great aunt, and sing “Who Are You?” for an extended sequence, just to realize the aunt says horribly racist things to his daughter. Instead he wants to tell stories where he sees a homeless man undressing in a subway station while a violinist plays a beautiful song mere feet away from one another. Instead he wants to tell stories of his daughters sneaking the class duckling into his luggage before he goes to Afghanistan on a USO tour and he must take care of it. Instead he wants to tell stories of confronting a man who he knows stole from him, and asking that man for a favor. He wants to tell stories of horribly unrequited love and teenage nieces who don’t give a shit about who you are and what you do.

Louie is a perfect example of what a creative genius can do if given the freedom to tell the best stories he knows how, and the television landscape is all the better for having him around to do just that.

Highlight episodes: “Bummer/Blueberries”, “Subway/Pamela”, “Oh Louie/Tickets”, “Eddie”, and “Duckling”.

Parks and Recreation

The Pawnee Parks Department (and friend) present a Christmas gift to Leslie

In 2011 we got 26 episodes of Parks and Recreation. Let me say that again: 26 episodes. And there wasn’t a dud in the bunch. Unlike The Office, this series was able to continue the momentum it had built up at the send of season 2 right on in to season 3. maybe that could have had something to do with their odd shooting schedule for the beginning of season 3. Maybe it has something to do with how much Pawnee, IN is the kind of place I would want to live, no matter how crazy things get there.

Starting with the government shutdown that ended season 2, season 3 started up in January with the Parks Department scrambling to find a way to make money so they could get back to work. Even Ron Swanson, who hates the government and everyone involved in it, seemed eager to get back to work, because, though he’d never admit it, we know that he loves the people he works with. And what’s not to love? There’s the always enthusiastic Leslie Knope, who found love in the form of a new budget advisor. There’s April Ludgate, who really gets the frequency Ron is operating on, and herself found love with the delightfully dimwitted Andy Dwyer. The flashy and douchey Tom Haverford, who embarked on starting his own company with the equally (if not more so) douchey Jean Ralphio (I will never not laugh at the sing-song way he says “I got run over by a Lexus!”) Plus the perpetually dating Donna Meagle. Really, the only person who it sucks to be around is Jerry. That guy sucks. I’m not even gonna say his last name because he doesn’t deserve it.

This show brings so much joy to my week, and I am always happy to visit Pawnee to see what shenanigans these people are getting up to. There isn’t a mean spirited bone in this series (except towards Jerry), and it is all the better for it. Last year I said that I would want to work with the people in this show, while I’d prefer to live my life with the characters in Community. This year, I’ve come around to wanting to live in Pawnee. I want to mourn the loss of Li’l Sebastian. I want to go to the End of the World, Going Out of Business Party for Entertainment 720. I want to hate on Eagleton. I want to go to the Harvest Festival.

Highlight episodes: “Media Blitz”, “Andy and April’s Fancy Party”, “Li’l Sebastian”, “End of the World”, and “Citizen Knope”.

 

So, there you have it. Next week I’ll rundown my year in film. Get ready!