2005 TV Top Ten
December 25, 2005
Choosing a list of the ten best television shows is nearly impossible, considering the plentitude of great shows on right now, and the fact that some shows, because of time restrictions, a normal viewer just can’t find time to watch. Picking the best films of the year is a walk in the park compared to the vast landscape of television, where a whole string of episodes has to be considered rather than just one sitting, as is the case with a movie, but weeding out the good from the great is something most critics take pride in being able to do, so to the extent that I can consider myself a TV critic, I’ve finalized my list, with some erasing, and much agonizing, involved in the process. The final ten, in my view, are all artistic and commercial TV triumphs, blending seamless writing with ensemble cast acting that excels week after week, sometimes redefining the very meaning of their specific genre.
Naturally, besides being great weekly watches that any TV fan would enjoy, they are my personal favorites, and picking just ten has left out a number of shows that very well could, and maybe will in the future, grace such a prestigious list. Some of the also-rans include HBO’s “Rome”, a grisly and technically marvelous fictionalization of Julius Caesar’s reign and eventual murder (it recently scored a Best Drama nod from the Golden Globes), “The West Wing”, back in fine form the past two years with the casting of Alan Alda and Jimmy Smits as presidential candidates (their live debate during sweeps was a highlight), “The Office”, NBC’s continually improving, awkwardly hilarious adaptation of Ricky Gervais’ BBC classic, “Over There”, the sadly cancelled brave Iraq war drama from FX, and the toughest cut, “24”, which had one of its best seasons last year, rendering Jack Bauer without an identity, and creating much anticipation for the new season starting January 15th. I’m still fond of “Entourage”, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”, “Survivor”, and “Desperate Housewives”, and with “The Sopranos” finally returning in March, next year’s list will probably be even harder to compile, but we’ll leave that until then, so for now, here are my personal thoughts on ten of TV’s best offerings.
10. The King of Queens: Now in its eight season on CBS, Kevin James’ working man’s comedy remains the best laugh track, three-camera comedy on TV, but hardly gets the recognition it deserves from national TV critics and the dunderheaded Emmy voters, though it continually does good in the ratings, and the veteran cast is one of the highest paid in the biz. The episode this season that found Doug and old friend Ray Barone (Ray Romano) clubbing while the wives were away received the most attention because of Romano’s return to TV, less than a year after “Everybody Loves Raymond” bid farewell, but the season’s funniest episode was an earlier show where Carrie’s (Leah Remini) computer transcribed a particularly nasty fight she had with Doug, proving just how much the two spitefully scheme against each other to have their way. Of course the Heffernan’s have one of the strongest marriages on TV, but “The King of Queens” is at its best when James and the always-funny Remini are at each other’s throats, like a modern day Ralph and Alice.
9. Deadwood: Season three of HBO’s brilliantly muddy and profanity riddled Shakespearian anti-western is still a few months off, but they’ve earned the long break, because season two was riveting drama, filled with politics, backstabbing, American progression, and American villainy, all wrapped up in one grungy S. Dakota 19th Century settlement. Ian McShane’s masterful performance as Gem Saloon owner, and de facto town boss Al Swearengen should have won the Emmy for Best Actor, but no matter what the lame Academy ultimately thinks, Swearengen may be TV’s most fascinating character, capable of almost anything, including incurring our sympathy, as was the case when he nearly died from debilitating kidney stones. Only on a show as raw and believable as “Deadwood” can kidney stones in a villainous brothel kingpin be considered must see TV. Addictive and skillfully detailed, “Deadwood” belongs right alongside “The Wire” and “The Sopranos” as HBO’s trio of dramatic masterworks.
8. The Shield: Each season of this unconventional Los Angeles cop drama features a main story arch, and last year, the show’s fourth, and possibly penultimate season, belonged to Glenn Close as new Captain Monica Rawling, a no-holds-barred moralist with one eye on reforming the fictional urban Farmington, and another on her most important asset, Vic Mackey (Michael Chiklis). Anthony Anderson had his best role to date as the season’s primary villain, Antwon Mitchell, a community leader, and gang boss, who formed an unholy alliance with former Strike Team member Shane Vendrell (Walton Goggins), and Chiklis is always a bull in a china shop as the conflicted Mackey, but Close was the real deal as Monica, and her too brief story arch will leave something to be desired from the new season, starting early next month. Whether or not new star Forest Whitaker can fill Close’s shoes remains to be seen, but either way, “The Shield” remains the best cop show (take that all 251 “CSI’s”, and 632 “CSI” clones) on TV.
7. Invasion: Not quite as exciting as “Lost”, and not as highly rated, keeping only a percentage of its predecessor’s huge audience, this ABC Sci-Fi mystery nonetheless is the channel’s best new show, and one of the strangest hours on TV. The gist: after a hurricane strikes a small Florida town, survivors, particularly town doctor Mariel (Kari Matchett), begin to experience life, and its watery pleasures, with weird blankness. The implication, as seen in the last new episode before the mid-season break, is that glowing alien fishes have killed and infiltrated the bodies of the victims, leading to what, is anybodies guess. The alien stuff is all well and good, but the crux of “Invasion” is how the alien story mirrors the show’s themes of divorce and joint custody, as the two main families, mixed products of divorce and remarriage, try to deal with the strange happenings in kind and accepting manners, which is often impossible, given the situations. I have little clue as to where the show is headed, but as long as creepy William Fichtner is on screen as Sheriff Tom, possibly the head alien, than I’m a happy viewer.
6. Everybody Hates Chris: The show that finally put the little seen UPN network on the map, and into the ratings, Chris Rock’s warm and hilarious autobiographical comedy benefits not only from a wonderful sense of idealism and growing up in a slightly harried, yet wholly loving family, but from a funny and perfectly suited cast. Tichina Arnold is great as Chris’ ghetto snob mother Rochelle, Terry Crews deserves a comedy Emmy as Julius, the over-worked, cheapish patriarch of the family, and Tyler James Williams, with his bug eyes, glowing smile, and exasperated put upon older child status, is a real find as Chris, rounding out the best family ensemble since “Malcolm in the Middle”. I worry that as the kids grow older, like on ‘Malcolm’, “Everybody Hates Chris” will get awkward and less cute, but as it is now, in this inspired first season, it’s an irresistibly sweet delight.
5. Prison Break: The implausibility factor on this Fox drama runs at a cool 90 percent, but like “24”, that’s half the fun. The premise is silly: Michael Scofield (breakout star Wentworth Miller) gets himself sent to prison, a prison he designed mind you, to carefully, and methodically, break out his older brother, death row inmate Lincoln Burrows (Dominic Purcell), while two family friends frantically try to uncover the plot that framed Burrows in the first place, a conspiracy that stretches all the way up to the very wicked Vice President. “Prison Break” is escapism at its most literal meaning, but it’s a blast, and the March 20th second half start date couldn’t come soon enough.
4. Arrested Development: The most inventive and continually wacko comedy since “Seinfeld” is inexplicably non-existent in the ratings, causing Fox to cut the third season production number nearly in half, all but sealing its fate to the TV Gods. Now 48 episodes strong, “Arrested Development” mines smart comedy, filled with references and in jokes sometimes hard to grasp upon a first view (no show on TV benefits more from repeat viewings on DVD), out of one boozy, utterly corrupt and inept family whose constantly scheming jailbird father (Jeffrey Tambour), thwarts the progressive, respectable eldest son (Jason Bateman) as he tries to right the sinking ship. Last week’s jam packed episode featured a fake Colombian kidnapping, a botched facelift, a severed hand (again!), “Boy Fights” featuring the antics of Baby Buster, frozen banana stand hookers, divorce court attorney Bob Loblaw, and a hilariously lame “Yellow Submarine” song parody. When the history of television comedy is written, will there be a more anarchic family than “Arrested Development’s” Bluth family? Maybe the Simpsons, and that’s a big maybe.
3. My Name is Earl: The only reason this ranks one spot higher than “Arrested Development” is because it’s new, and when a new comedy is as funny and sweet as ‘Earl’, it deserves as much praise as humanly possible. Jason Lee has created a lovable oaf out of Earl J. Hickey, a reformed low life who dedicates his winning lottery money to righting the past wrongs of his life, such as throwing a primo wedding for his ex wife (Jaime Pressly), helping his annoyed dad (Beau Bridges) run for mayor, and giving his teddy bear of a brother (Ethan Suplee) the chance to score a high school touchdown, 20 years past the age limitation. There’s slapstick in Earl’s schemes, merry charm in his voice over narration, and genuine heart in his dedication to his list of deeds and to his dim brother, making “My Name is Earl” a fully rounded treat, and coupled with “The Office”, makes for the best hour of comedy on TV. A real gem.
2. House: As far as medical drama’s in their second season goes, “Grey’s Anatomy” gets most of the press, but I’d rather watch Fox’s masterful “House” any day, if just for Hugh Laurie’s winning performance as diagnostics genius, and resident grouch, Dr. Gregory House, and the carefully scripted story lines that generally focus on one puzzling case per episode. A recent episode called “The Mistake” was the flashiest episode of the season, a flashback structured ep as young Dr. Chase (Jesse Spencer) misdiagnosed a patient, due to the news of his estranged father’s death, that led to the patient’s death, and disciplinary actions against his superior, House, but the season’s shining hour occurred early in the season, as Dr. House questioned the validity of faith, and the necessity of hope in a little girl dying of Cancer. As cynical as House is, even he was moved by the girl’s remarkable determination, and at that you have the heart of this great show; that even a professional jokester and S.O.B. like House can still find sympathy and humanity in a world filled with lies and disease. Bracing, funny, touching, and packed with medical jargon you won’t hear on “Grey’s Anatomy”, “House” is the finest hospital drama since the glory days of George Clooney’s “ER”.
1. Lost: Nine episodes into its stunning second season, following an equally stunning Emmy award wining first season, ABC’s blockbuster remains the most fascinating and eagerly anticipated hour of the week, as the lives of various plane crash island survivors is tested by internal, and quite possibly, external motives and forces. As the mythology of the show continues to deepen (likely to branch out further into religious parallels and theories with January 11th’s hiatus comeback episode, titled “The 29th Psalm”), and the overriding mystery of everything from the season one monster (“security device”), the hatch doomsday computer, The Others, and Walt’s kidnapping continues to remain enticingly vague, the show proceeds weekly with characterizations that provide needed sustenance and emotion to the strange mysteries of the island. You know a show has something magical about it when a man is reunited with his missing son’s dog and it makes you weep like a baby.
This season has been filled with emotional highlights that perfectly counterbalance the mythology and clue-finding obsession of hardcore fans with well-structured back-stories and characterizations. In episode seven, “The Other 48 Days”, recounting the other side of the island as the Tailies deal with death and survival, had its fair share of action and mystery, but the key scene of the episode saw the religious strongman Mr. Eko (Emmy worthy Adawale Akinnuoye-Agbaje) coddling the reluctantly emotional Ana-Lucia (Michelle Rodriguez) in his big arms as she breaks down after 40 long days and nights on the troubled island. No scene this year has better shown the kind of frustration and psychological torture being stranded, lost from everything you know, can have on somebody, even if their land lives, like Ana’s, was filled with grief and pain.
Blending emotional and interesting personal characterizations with intriguing mystery story lines is what makes “Lost” such an intense, and intensely scrutinized drama, and the brilliant ensemble cast makes us care deeply for these poor stranded survivors, as the parallels between the island stories and the flashbacks blend ever so seamlessly, suggesting that maybe things are happening for a specific reason, like someone’s grand design on destiny, and experimentation with the human condition. In a television landscape that features such a wide range of exciting and original programming, from the dizzying wordplay of “Deadwood”, to the mirth making free form anarchism of “Arrested Development”, nothing even comes close to perfecting the kind of storytelling happening on “Lost”, and for said perfection, it’s the hands down pick as the best show on TV. If the second half of the season is one third as good as the first, and I believe it’ll be even better, than color me one blessed TV obsessed couch potato.
by Adam Suraf