I decided to expand on last year's lists of books, movies and music to further show off my fabulous taste in all things and because I realized that depriving you of my valued opinion on more topics is just mean. Never let it be said that I'm not a giver.
So it turns out that there were a few good things on TV last year. I have to say that far and away the most watchable, riveting thing that aired in 2007 wasn't a drama or a comedy and it for damn sure wasn't a reality show. It was Planet Earth on the Discovery Channel. Seriously.
Eleven episodes that divided the earth into different segments and then showed you things in those segments that you'd never seen before. That NO human had ever seen before in many cases. It was so visually stunning that you can watch it with the sound off and still be utterly fascinated by it though I would suggest it as the narration is amazing too. I kid you not, if you haven't seen this then you need to stop what you're doing and lay hands on it. Now. You will love it.
On to more mundane things, The Office continued to impress. I normally despise remakes but this one is, for me, the best comedy on TV. It finds the right balance between old fashion laughs and Ricky Gervais/Larry David squirm humor. The new season was supposed to be extra long before the writer's strike brought the entire industry to a screeching halt. Very sad that I won't get to see them.
Speaking of Gervais, Extras put out a one shot series finale. Extras managed, in just two seasons, to become one of the funniest shows of all time. I mean that, it's right up there with Python and Fawlty Towers and Curb Your Enthusiasm and The Larry Sanders Show and so on and so on. It really is that funny.
30 Rock was also hysterical much more often than not. Alec Baldwin is without a doubt the best actor going in a comedy series. Every single line his character speaks he turns into comedy gold. Tina Fey has turned her little show that could into the funny show that is.
I also continue to love Lost. The season started a little slow but by mid-season it was chugging along, by the final episode it was screaming down the tracks and then, as usual, the final ep of the season was a mushroom cloud layin' motherfucker. This show has its hooks in me and I love it.
My Name is Earl continues to be the most intelligently written comedy and one of the more intelligently written series period on TV. A show about a redneck that changes his life and starts to follow karma but manages to never get preachy or pretentious.
The best new show that I watched was Reaper. It's a show about an average guy whose parents sold his soul to the devil before he was even born. Now he has to work for Old Scratch to hunt down and trap souls that have escaped from hell so they can be returned. His hyper best friend Sock and levelheaded friend Ben help him in his misadventures. It sounds stupid but when I heard that Kevin Smith was directing the pilot I was on board. I really really hope this show catches on.
Also mostly worth DVRing or Tivoing:
Bones
How I Met Your Mother
Scrubs
Big Love
There are still some shows I've never managed to watch even though they come highly recommended which I will give some lip service to now:
Battlestar Galactica
Weeds
Dexter
The Bionic Woman
Dirty Sexy Money
Without a doubt the dumbest fucking show that dropped last year was Cavemen. They based an entire TV show around a series of car insurance commercials. I of course condemn it without having watched so much as a single second of it. Sometimes I will do nothing to hold back my inner snob.
Reality TV continues to be a big draw and I continue to not watch it. None of it. Not a single episode of any of the mind numbing bullshit. Please stop making this idiotic tripe. PLEASE.
I also don't watch and of the CSI shows. When asked why, I always respond that they're just not believable on any level. But, they say, you watch Lost and other shows that aren't exactly believable. Yes, I respond, but they aren't supposed to be. After watching a few of those CSI shows I just couldn't take it any more. Crime scene investigators are not police. They do not make arrests or conduct interviews or lead investigations and there is not a single lab in any police department on earth that is one tenth as equipped as these places and, finally, the bad guy is caught every episode without fail. Sorry, it's just stupid.
The worst creative slump go to Heroes. Last season the show was perfect. Well written, well acted and each episode built tension in itself and built toward the overarching plot all without missing a single beat. This season it just kind of meandered in its own way and couldn't decide what it wanted to do. Massive bonus points to the series creators though for coming out and say sorry, we fucked up and then promising that they'd start to fix it right away. Then the writer's strike. Ugh.
Best part of the strike? The canceling of boring and not even close to relevant or credible awards shows. Good job there.
TV's biggest mystery remains how Jay Leno continues to draw more Viewers than David Letterman. Leno is not now and has never been funny nor has he ever been a good interviewer or done good bits. He took Carson's show and ran it into the ground. It absolutely sucks.
Letterman on the other hand is still razor sharp, funny as all hell and smart as a whip. He's a phenomenal interviewer and should have been the one to inherit Carson's show. Maybe that's it, he's too smart for the majority of mouth breathing trogs that worship at the light of their master, TV.
It should be noted that I make no mention of The Wire, the greatest show in TV, because it did not air in 2007. Season 4 ended in very late '06 and season 5 started at the beginning of '08. Expect to see it on next year's list, right at the top.
7 comments:
Great list, of course. Definitely agree with Planet Earth and The Office, I didn't watch much else this year. You should get into Weeds, I really enjoyed Season 3 once it found it's legs... the cliffhangers are getting to me, though, how long can I hang on the cliff? How long must I? But yeah, it's nice to have a comedy that centers around pot but isn't just stoner humour. And when it is, it's better than default stoner humour like hmmmm Grandma's Boy (watched that this weekend on my mate's recommendation... disappointed).
I'm yet to watch a single episode of Battlestar Galactica. All the wrong people in my life -- real life versions of "Dwigt" from The Office -- tell me it's the duck's nuts. So that puts me off. And then all the people that are on board with my music, movies and TV Shows don't watch it either. So that doesn't make me rush out to rent or buy it (or rush back in to download it).
Nice shout out to Larry Sanders... it really was one of the best, wtf is up with Season 2 not being available for me to buy and hug and put on my shelf or even down my pants? Boooo!
Noq hate Letterman. Want gnaw face.
Me like-y the TV. WAAAAAY too much. And somehow I've never actually seen the Wire Don't kill me, don't kill me
Letterman can sometimes feel stale, but it's usually Shaffer running the joke into the ground. But compared to Leno, he's a fucking God. Neither is as watchable as Conan, though, so it's a moot point.
I bought you the Battlestar Galactica miniseries that launched the new show. It's your Christmas present. Merry Christmas. One day I'll actually fucking mail it. You really ought to get better friends. I suck.
Damo you should never have to do without things to buy and hug and put down your pants. Boo indeed.
Hate...Letterman? Does not compute. Consider his recent interview with Paris Hilton. He prodded her about her stay in jail while she was trying to talk about whatever shit she was selling that week. He refused to let her talk about it and finally she said she didn't want to talk about jail. Letterman replies with, "That's ALL I want to talk about."
Paris is almost reduced to tears and wishes, right there on the show, that she'd never come on. Love the Dave.
Suyapi, I shit you not that it's the best show on TV.
I actually am starting to go for Craig Ferguson on the late night talk show front. He's hitting all my sweet spots.
BATTLESTAR AT LONG LAST! YAY!
Correct.
Planet Earth = <3 The part where the giant white wolf hunts down that baby caribou? I've never switched sides to root for so many times within such a short amount of time. Rocked my world.
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