When Eleven Equals Ten
Yet another television season has come to a close, and it's yet another year in which I have 11 top-10 shows. I guess that math was never my strongest subject.
Anyway... onto the best of the 2006-2007 television season:
10 (tie) How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
How I Met Your Mother truly came into its own in season two… and if you didn’t laugh out loud while watching the “Robin Sparkles” episode, then you wouldn't recognize true situation comedy if it hit you in the face... which, by the way, would be funny.
10 (tie) 30 Rock (NBC)
I loved 30 Rock’s first pilot… which NBC went on to scrap… and I found myself disappointed with its retooled pilot. However, something unusual happened as the season wore on: 30 Rock improved. Markedly so. The show became tighter and funnier… Tina Fey’s character became the straight center of the show (around which all of the inanity revolved), and Alec Baldwin’s character was allowed to truly blossom. Slowly, but surely, 30 Rock is turning into my new Arrested Development.
9. Heroes (NBC)
Heroes took a page out of the Lost playbook, and spun it into new directions... and gave NBC its first breakout hit in many years. However, a disappointing season finale took a lot of the wind out of the sails of our Heroes, leaving us to wonder if season two will live up to season one.
8. The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)
Christine is still a classic-in-the-making. To the producers: I implore you to get the brother out of Christine’s house and to upgrade Wanda Sykes to series regular. With just a couple of tweaks, in no time at all you’ll be able to shed your “classic-in-the-making” moniker for the title of “modern classic.” And that's a promise.
7. The Simpsons (Fox)
The Simpsons… well, it ain’t what it used to be. Not even close. Take out your season four and season five Simpsons DVDs for a viewing party, and then you’ll see what I mean. That being said… even a lukewarm episode of The Simpsons in its 18th season is better than most of what passes for comedy on television these days.
6. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC)
Studio 60 has to be the biggest disappointment of the season. After viewing the Studio 60 pilot last spring, I had proclaimed it to be the best pilot that I had ever seen. Yes, it was that good. Yet something happened as the season progressed: the quality of the show dropped. By the end of the season, that drop had become precipitous... and when all was said and done, Studio 60 was relegated to the cancellation heap. What a shame.
5. Jericho (CBS)
If Studio 60 was the season’s biggest disappointment, then Jericho would have to be this season’s most pleasant surprise. Dark and claustrophobic, Jericho follows the Lost manual of storytelling (that Lost playbook was popular this year, wasn't it?) in its portrayal of a small Kansas town struggling to survive in a post-nuclear-bombs-hit-America world. Kudos to CBS for trying something different from its usual spate of crime procedurals, and double-kudos to the Eye for reversing its original Jericho cancellation order.
4. I Love New York (VH1)
I Love New York was without a doubt this season’s guiltiest (and most addictive) pleasure. A spin-off of the outrageous Flavor of Love, the equally outrageous I Love New York shined its spotlight on two-time Flavor of Love runner-up Tiffany Pollard as she attempted to find love in a mansion filled with twenty eligible bachelors. It played as a kind-of retread of ABC’s The Bachelorette... on crack, that is. Word of advice: do not miss I Love New York 2, coming later this year on VH1.
3. Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
There’s no better person who mixes political humor with political commentary than Bill Maher.
2. The Sopranos (HBO)
Well, this is really the end of the line for The Sopranos... and that end came in the form of a series finale that'll go down as one of the greatest series finales in television history. If you saw the closing scene of the finale, then you'll never look at a basket of onion rings in the same way again.
1. Lost (ABC)
Scheduling snafus by ABC aside, Lost truly was once again this year the best of the best. And after seeing Lost's extraordinarily-good, game-changing season finale, the idea of having to wait until next February to see our favorite island castaways again becomes that much more painful. I'm counting the days already...
Anyway... onto the best of the 2006-2007 television season:
10 (tie) How I Met Your Mother (CBS)
How I Met Your Mother truly came into its own in season two… and if you didn’t laugh out loud while watching the “Robin Sparkles” episode, then you wouldn't recognize true situation comedy if it hit you in the face... which, by the way, would be funny.
10 (tie) 30 Rock (NBC)
I loved 30 Rock’s first pilot… which NBC went on to scrap… and I found myself disappointed with its retooled pilot. However, something unusual happened as the season wore on: 30 Rock improved. Markedly so. The show became tighter and funnier… Tina Fey’s character became the straight center of the show (around which all of the inanity revolved), and Alec Baldwin’s character was allowed to truly blossom. Slowly, but surely, 30 Rock is turning into my new Arrested Development.
9. Heroes (NBC)
Heroes took a page out of the Lost playbook, and spun it into new directions... and gave NBC its first breakout hit in many years. However, a disappointing season finale took a lot of the wind out of the sails of our Heroes, leaving us to wonder if season two will live up to season one.
8. The New Adventures of Old Christine (CBS)
Christine is still a classic-in-the-making. To the producers: I implore you to get the brother out of Christine’s house and to upgrade Wanda Sykes to series regular. With just a couple of tweaks, in no time at all you’ll be able to shed your “classic-in-the-making” moniker for the title of “modern classic.” And that's a promise.
7. The Simpsons (Fox)
The Simpsons… well, it ain’t what it used to be. Not even close. Take out your season four and season five Simpsons DVDs for a viewing party, and then you’ll see what I mean. That being said… even a lukewarm episode of The Simpsons in its 18th season is better than most of what passes for comedy on television these days.
6. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (NBC)
Studio 60 has to be the biggest disappointment of the season. After viewing the Studio 60 pilot last spring, I had proclaimed it to be the best pilot that I had ever seen. Yes, it was that good. Yet something happened as the season progressed: the quality of the show dropped. By the end of the season, that drop had become precipitous... and when all was said and done, Studio 60 was relegated to the cancellation heap. What a shame.
5. Jericho (CBS)
If Studio 60 was the season’s biggest disappointment, then Jericho would have to be this season’s most pleasant surprise. Dark and claustrophobic, Jericho follows the Lost manual of storytelling (that Lost playbook was popular this year, wasn't it?) in its portrayal of a small Kansas town struggling to survive in a post-nuclear-bombs-hit-America world. Kudos to CBS for trying something different from its usual spate of crime procedurals, and double-kudos to the Eye for reversing its original Jericho cancellation order.
4. I Love New York (VH1)
I Love New York was without a doubt this season’s guiltiest (and most addictive) pleasure. A spin-off of the outrageous Flavor of Love, the equally outrageous I Love New York shined its spotlight on two-time Flavor of Love runner-up Tiffany Pollard as she attempted to find love in a mansion filled with twenty eligible bachelors. It played as a kind-of retread of ABC’s The Bachelorette... on crack, that is. Word of advice: do not miss I Love New York 2, coming later this year on VH1.
3. Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
There’s no better person who mixes political humor with political commentary than Bill Maher.
2. The Sopranos (HBO)
Well, this is really the end of the line for The Sopranos... and that end came in the form of a series finale that'll go down as one of the greatest series finales in television history. If you saw the closing scene of the finale, then you'll never look at a basket of onion rings in the same way again.
1. Lost (ABC)
Scheduling snafus by ABC aside, Lost truly was once again this year the best of the best. And after seeing Lost's extraordinarily-good, game-changing season finale, the idea of having to wait until next February to see our favorite island castaways again becomes that much more painful. I'm counting the days already...
posted by TV Boy at 11:00 PM
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